How have people handled the first appearance of Rowyn Kellani?
It seems to me that in the module as written she lurks at the end of her corridor like a FPS baddie or something, and doesn't seem particularly mobile or proactive when the PCs start dismantling her guild. And perhaps more of a concern to me - how do you establish who she is? My PCs are all out-of-towners, and aren't going to be able to recognise her from any other redhead with a rapier. Unless she's dumb enough to tell them her real name (in the six seconds she has to make her offer before the PCs cover the width of her tiny study and start whacking her) or have signed any of her correspondence with her real name (unlikely, since she insists the Dragons call her 'Lady Lotus', though Vanthus' love letters might be an exception) they won't even be able to identify her or to connect her to the rest of the Kellani family at all.
Is there any not-too-intrusive way of at least introducing her and her family before the PCs run across her in the guild? A chance meeting in Castle Teraknian when Lavinia goes to open the vault, for instance (surely the Kellanis have a vault there too)? Has anyone else managed to make Rowyn's appearance in the guildhall anything other than an exercise in 'um, who are you'?
Since two of my PCs would have had reasonable chance to have run across her (one from Azure District, the other from Noble), I allowed a Knowledge (Local) to see if they knew her.
In your case, I think the Castle Teraknian solution you have is the best. Have Rowyn approach Lavinia to offer her belated condolences... it'll be setting the knife to twist when the PCs read the love letters later.
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If you type Rowyn in the search box there are a few really excellent intros to be found - both here and in the archives. One of my favourites is this:
LINKAGE
There was also one where she chatted up a male member of the party in a bar and used her pickpocketing skills to impress him. I know it was funny and clever, but haven't spotted it yet.
... Have Rowyn approach Lavinia to offer her belated condolences... it'll be setting the knife to twist when the PCs read the love letters later.
That is GREAT! I wish I had thought of it.
IMC, the PCs fled and rested after the room with the illusionary wall and the crocodile. They came back the next day at full strength, with help and minor buffs.
I had them met by a lotus-dragon-wannabe kid (an expendable) who brought them to meet with Rowyn. I re-speced Tavey for this role (he became the cabin boy because his old job died with the Lotus Dragons). Since the PCs were full strenght, I moved Rowyn and Gut Tugger up to the sparring-room ambush. This made for a tough fight, but added to the previous day's work the guildhall was pretty much cleared by the time it was over.
Unfortunately, my solution will offer you no help at all.
All my PCs in the Savage Tide are locals who grew up in Sasserine, so I included it in a couple of character backgrounds (for the rogues) that they knew her and trained with her.
So recognizing her when they see her won't be a problem.
I'm still planning on making her a little more proactive in the defense of her guild and hideout.
Rowyn first appeared in my campaign in a backstory I wrote for one of my characters. Long story short, she took him in and seduced him, thinking she could make him a Lotus Dragon (already unsure of Vanthus' allegiance), but he escaped her clutches, intercepting a note from a Lotus Dragon (he still had no idea of her role in the guild) which led him to Lavinia.
I agree that foreshadowing Rowyn's role will give her presence in TINH more meaning. I like some of the previous posts recommendations to have her be an acquaintance of Lavinia, etc.
Overall, I recommend making her deceptively benevolent. She might approach the PCs with a minor job (one they are probably too busy to take up...or maybe not), but one she'll pay them for, like Lavinia. Make her a patron/friend/lover/face-in-the-crowd, and her defeat will be all that much more impacting.
I did eventually end up going with the belated-condolences thing, having her happen across Lavinia and the PCs at the clerk's desk in the Castle Teraknian vaults. The politically ambitious wizards PC is feeling very clever about having seemingly made such a useful noble contact, heh. He even went to her for info when looking for Vanthus after the vault, reasoning that since both the Kellani manor and the place where Brissa lived with Vanthus were in the district, she might have heard something. He even asked her if she'd heard of this rumoured new thieves guild called 'the Lotus Dragons'!
My main problem now is that Rowyn is the only major female character other than Lavinia I've introduced, so when the PCs read about 'the Lady of the Lotus' then it's quite likely they'll make the connection, from a metagaming point of view. Oh well, I'll deal with it. If there was a way to accept Rowyn's offer without killing Lavinia then I'm sure they'd take it. As is, it's 50-50. (They still don't know that Vanthus and Rowyn killed the senior Vanderborens, after all!)
My main problem now is that Rowyn is the only major female character other than Lavinia I've introduced, so when the PCs read about 'the Lady of the Lotus' then it's quite likely they'll make the connection, from a metagaming point of view. Oh well, I'll deal with it. If there was a way to accept Rowyn's offer without killing Lavinia then I'm sure they'd take it. As is, it's 50-50. (They still don't know that Vanthus and Rowyn killed the senior Vanderborens, after all!)
It's a fun moment, really, and one that's sure to test your PCs' alignments sooner than later. (My party outright refused Rowyn; but hey, the option's pretty tempting, in a way.)
Just a suggestion: if they don't go for joining up with Rowyn, you might want to expand the room she's stationed in within the Lotus Dragons' Guildhall. It was so cramped in there, she didn't even have space to use her Tumble in combat, let alone drink her potions without provoking.
hmm, our group captured her alive (after a very low will save versus the [I]suggestion[/] "you are outnumbered, surrender and drop your arms" ), which gave them all the time in the world to figure out who she was and the implications of it..... and made the players pretty queasy as to do with her.
Due process (with a likely corrupt court and follow-up hostility from the Kellanis), blackmailing the Kellani clan or making her "disappear" ?
Nice roleplaying, although in the end they handed her over to the Kellanis to avoid undue tension and enmity, and very sure that decision would bite them in the posterior (sure did, too ! )...
It's a fun moment, really, and one that's sure to test your PCs' alignments sooner than later. (My party outright refused Rowyn; but hey, the option's pretty tempting, in a way.)
Just a suggestion: if they don't go for joining up with Rowyn, you might want to expand the room she's stationed in within the Lotus Dragons' Guildhall. It was so cramped in there, she didn't even have space to use her Tumble in combat, let alone drink her potions without provoking.
Well, one of my PCs has a background as a gamekeeper in one of the Vanderboren's more distant undeveloped landholdings, so I expect that to tip the balance of the decision, but it'll be fun to make them sweat at least.
I did notice that Rowyn's office room was rather tight. I was either going to have her move out of there to meet the PCs in a more open space, or else merge her office and bedroom with the bath room, with a few flimsy painted screens etc to provide privacy (and cover). It's still going to be interesting to see if I can get her out alive though...