Art by  torenth original posting here!

The mysterious kobold who served at the hand of the Twin Emperors had many names. The Crimson Queen. The Talon of the Empire. High Sorceress. Not that her real name was hidden, but only the very foolish ever wanted the undivided attention of Ana Soknusom, Emissary of the Hollow Sun

So, in our recent D&D campaign, we had a lot of kobold-related plots in the low level 'intro to adventuring' so I thought it would be neat if my 'Big Bad' was also a kobold. But I knew the party tended to sympathize with them easily - particularly our kobold rogue, Hotfoot - so I had to plan this carefully and make sure they knew they weren't dealing with the average kobold fighter any more. Let's see if I remember the biggest ones:

First Red Flag: She is introduced as part of an Imperial parade, standing atop one of the floats in red robes and a mask, hidden eyes contemptuous at the crowd both literally and figuratively beneath her. She is part of the Sunlit Emperor's entourage, which includes a full on adult dragon bodyguard, Elven generals seasoned from decades of campaigning, and a literal lich (who makes a polite effort to hide their undead nature but it's clearly token for social niceities) - and it's seeing HER that makes the crowd nervous.
First Failure - "A kobold that everyone, even/especially elves, fear? YES FINALLY" - Hotfoot

Second Red Flag: Let's emphasize she's not super stable and prone to violence. Ah, our very rogue is trying to sneak up on the Twin Emperors. Rather foolish for a level 5 character. She blasts him right out of the roof the instant she spots suspicious movement with Power Word: Stun. Tossing an eighth level spell at shadows just in case should show she's not someone to hang out near.
Second Failure - "She takes her duty so seriously, I respect that! Also getting knocked senseless meant the Dragon Emperor I've got a dragoncrush on had to catch me to save my life." - Hotfoot

Third Red Flag: She's also got some seriously weird trauma. Ah, our very rogue snuck into her private wing of the Imperial palace to learn more about her. She spots him, and yanks him into her chamber. Hands him a knife. Then disrobes right in front of him, save for her mask, showing some ugly scarring of some draconic curses carved into her hide and tells him "They're starting to heal up. I want them clean and deep."
Third Failure - "Well, I don't strictly approve, but if ritual scarification is part of her culture, it's not my place to decide! Plus I got to see her naked!" - Hotfoot

Fourth Red Flag: Also she is not on their side. The party overhears her meeting with one of the lich's undead minions. She was expecting the lich, and is annoyed, but it's clear the lich is kind of afraid of her - and the minion finds out why when she demonstrates she can hurt undead in ways they don't understand. Then she rants about now she'll just have to possibly kill this other character that is the party's ally - not that she super wants to mind, but they're in the way.
Fourth Failure - "Well no one likes liches. And I am sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this and we just have to get everyone to talk their problems out!" - Hotfoot

Fifth Red Flag: Well well well. The party got caught forging documents to pass as an Imperial military unit. Let's just have them get interrogated, and standing behind the door is the head of Imperial Intelligence - Ana Soknosum. She'll threaten them with death or exile to a remote arctic prison.
Fifth Failure - "If you wanted us dead you would have blown us up when we walked in, and if you wanted us in prison you have all these guards at your command who would have done it. Clearly, you need us!" - Hotfoot (Okay fair, the Emperors had decided they needed a deniable asset to do a Thing, and the party bumbling around the capital made them a good target for 'recruitment')
"Fine spoil my fun why don't you? Yes, you miscreants work for me now." - Ana Soknusom
"Aw, I'm sorry. Can I buy you dinner?" - Hotfoot, chasing after her after she left.
"...What?" - Ana Soknusom
"Take you on a date?" - Hotfoot
"...what? You think you... You couldn't even afford the dress code of the waitstaff of the places I... you know what, this will be hilarious to watch you try, fine." - Ana Soknusom

So. Note to self. When designing your end-game villain, make sure you don't hit all of a PC's 'perfect lady' bullet points (powerful kobold ladies in positions of authority who enforce their will ruthlessly, apparently).
And watch out for kobold rogues with really good dinner plans!

Ana Soknusom by  galis