The set-up: in TINH, Team Anthrax (the PCs) raided the Lotus Dragon lair and killed half of the group of thieves before leaving to rest/recover spells. On their return to the lair, they were caught by surprise in the training hall by Rowyn, Gut Tugger, and several of the remaining thieves. Impressed with their prowess in dispatching half of her guild, Rowyn offered Team Anthrax jobs with her organization, which they accepted (they really thought that Rowyn had them caught by the short hairs; plus they thought that they could continue to work for Lavinia and tell her about Rowyn’s involvement with the Lotus Dragons after they returned from taking care of Vanthus). Rowyn told the party that Vanthus had gone to Kraken’s Cove, and asked them to follow him since she didn’t totally trust him to return with the treasure that he promised. Team Anthrax journeyed to the Cove, dealt with the savage creatures, and returned to rescue Lavinia from the bullywugs. Then they took a week off (prior to starting SWW) without doing anything about Rowyn…
After their week of R&R, the PCs were given the following information:
It has been a week since Team Anthrax’s harrowing rescue of Lavinia Vanderboren and the Jade Ravens from the warforged pirate Sharkbait (yes, we’re in Eberron) and his bullywug cohorts. Sasserine has returned to a semblance of normalcy following the exuberance of the annual Wyrmfall Festival. In particular, the Sasserine harbor seems to be operating much more efficiently now that Rowyn Kellani (on behalf of her ailing mother, Heldrath Kellani) has taken over the duties of harbormaster following the murder of Keltar Islaren.
Coincidentally, Rowyn Kellani has been instrumental in solving the mystery of the murder of the former harbormaster. With the help of the Sunrise Watch, young Lady Kellani uncovered evidence linking Keltar Islaren’s murder to a notorious local thieves guild known as the Lotus Dragons. In particular, it appears that the murder was committed by the leader of the guild, none other than the missing young noble, Vanthus Vanderboren! To the shock of the citizenry of Sasserine, young Lady Kellani also revealed how Vanthus had been threatening several of the noble families (her own family included), and how he had even orchestrated the murders of his own parents, the late Verik and Larissa Vanderboren!
Shortly after the Wyrmfall Festival, Rowyn led the Sunrise Watch in a raid upon the secret lair of the Lotus Dragons located beneath the Taxidermists Guildhall located on Water Street. A heated battle resulted in the deaths of all of the Lotus Dragon thieves present, although it is assumed that some of the members of the thieves guild were away at the time of the raid. Several documents retrieved from Vanthus Vanderboren’s secret lair corroborated young Lady Kellani’s information, and revealed that Vanthus was aided by a changeling lieutenant. A changeling was not found among the dead thieves; therefore, it is assumed that Vanthus Vanderboren’s lieutenant remains at large. The Dawn Council has rewarded Rowyn Kellani with the Spire of Sasserine, which is awarded to those who perform great service to the city. Local opinion holds that young Lady Kellani may be elected to lead the Dawn Council when Lord Worrin Lidu’s term ends.
Following the raid on the Lotus Dragons’ lair, Rowyn met with Lavinia Vanderboren to share with her the evidence of Vanthus’ perfidy. Rowyn also returned to Lavinia most of the funds that Vanthus had stolen from the Vander family vault beneath Castle Teraknian, which Rowyn and the Sunrise Watch recovered during the raid. She also recovered a journal penned by Lavinia’s father, Verik, detailing the establishment of a colony named Farshore far to the south near fabled Xen’drik at a place known as the Isle of Dread. Rowyn has offered to help Lavinia fund an expedition to re-supply the colonists at Farshore.
The look on Team Anthrax's faces when they realize they've been 'spun' by one of the best.......Priceless :)
Another wonderful use of Savage Tide's most versatile NPC antagonist (I've had tons of fun with my own twist on her). Well played Max!!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
nasty !
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Wow, that's sweet, Max! Did you decide up front that Rowyn wouldn't be the stowaway later, or are you still thinking about working that in?
My players haven't given me as much time to work with. One evening they killed Nemien, ventured into the lair, and in the first ambush (the dining room, where the Dragons were eating when the alarm rang) took out seven thieves, Kersh Reftun, and Gut Tugger. Rowyn fled after being disarmed; they ran after her and reached her bedroom without finding her. A DC 25 Track check eventually found her footprints on the wall in the guardroom -- I had added a wooden ceiling throughout the lair, which the PCs assumed was to stop drips from the roughly worked stone, but was really to give the thieves a crawlspace to sneak around in.
While the PCs were thoroughly looting ("Greyhawking") her chambers, Rowyn used her wand to re-animate the thieves they'd killed. She sent zombie-Kersh into the bedroom with a note, saying that she knew what they were looking for but Vanthus wasn't here, and threatening to get them in trouble with the law for murdering a guildmaster (Nemien), whose severed head she had filched. The note directed them to the barracks, where she said she was waiting to answer their questions.
They took the bait but defeated her ambush with some great old-school dungeoncraft. (They figured out that Rowyn had set her zombies to ring gongs as the PCs approached and then follow the leading PC, so they led the zombies into a hall and then slammed the doors on them. And Rowyn had left one barracks door open and spiked the other shut to control her ambush, but they succeeded on a Move Silent check to quietly use their own spikes to drive hers out and then slipped in that door while the others distracted her with Diplomacy outside the other door). Even with four Lotus Dragons hiding behind impromptu barricades (two with fighter levels and spiked chains) and the zombie bugbear guarding her, they quickly reached Lady Lotus and started grappling her; to get Rowyn out alive I had to give up on the gaseous form potion she had on her belt, and have her use another one concealed in a false tooth.
After Rowyn got away, my party convinced the surviving Lotus Dragons to help them make off with the loot from Rowyn's quarters. (I decided that the multiple rugs on the floors of her lounge & bedroom weighed a ton, and were worth 1 gp per pound). They didn't find the treasure room, but they did find a tunnel in the ceiling leading back to the Taxidermist's. (What kind of thieves' guild leader wouldn't have an escape route from her own quarters?) So they had the surrendered thieves help them haul out these rugs & other loot, then knocked out the thieves and put them onto a whaling ship about to leave for the Pearl Ocean, earning a 20 gp sign-on bonus from the ship's press gang! They didn't take any evidence to the Watch, probably because I spooked them with the threat of trouble over Nemien's murder.
So then I had Rowyn still at large with a little less than half her thieves. Since the PC's names were written on the chalkboard in her war room, I figured Rowyn knew that capturing Kora Whistlegap would give her leverage on the party. So while the party was off liquidating Rowyn's stuff, she hired a halfling cousin of Kora's to lure her out of the house, snatched her and brought her to their lair, and sent one of Kora's fingers to the Vanderboren estate with a note saying to come to Dead Dog Alley at dawn.
What I was figuring on doing before I read your post was to use Kora to set up the croc-and-illusory-wall ambush, using all the remaining thieves' resources but leaving Rowyn to flee the city. But now I'm inspired to have her go to one of the Watch units that's in her pocket and organize a dawn raid on the Lotus Dragons - conveniently timing it so that they burst in after the PCs have killed the last of her former followers. It'd require fast work on Rowyn's part, but as a noble she has influence to throw around and as Lady Lotus she knows which parts of society have been corrupted. And her previous two encounters with the party were decisive enough that I'm sure she realizes the only way to remain in the game is to fold the Lotus Dragons and deal herself a new hand.
What kind of responses from your party are you expecting so I can be prepared for the same (especially since my guys will have more opportunities to mess up Rowyn's plan)?
That's absolutely brilliant, I love it. I think more than any other Rowyn story it demonstrates her resourcefulness and cleverness.
Thanks for the kudos!
Due to the fact that Rowyn became one of the financers of the expedition to the Isle of Dread, I decided not to use her as the stowaway assassin (she and the Kellani family had no gripes with the PCs now that Rowyn was the darling of the entire city, and the PCs really had no concrete evidence against her). Instead, I used two of the Sea Wyvern’s passengers as the assassins. We are playing in Eberron, and I decided to link Vanthus’ and the PCs’ involvement in the Big D’s Savage Tide with the Draconic Prophecy. Two of the Sea Wyvern’s passengers (an apothecary and a priest of the Sovereign Host) were actually dust-stuffed assassins (Eberron Explorer’s Handbook, pg. 114) sent by the Lords of Dust to dispatch Team Anthrax to keep them from thwarting Vanthus and the rise of the Savage Tide. The look on the Child of Winter/Planar Shepherd druid’s face when he made an astronomically high Knowledge [planes] check to determine what the dust-stuffed were and who they worked for was priceless!
With respect to the party’s response to Rowyn: they realize that she has much more power than before, so they are content to remain on her good side. Prior to leaving for the Isle of Dread, the Child of Winter/Planar Shepherd druid actually became romantically involved with Rowyn, since they both share a fascination with exotic creatures (he has had various gigantic vermin as his animal companions) and a belief in the survival of the fittest. It also helps that the entire party is neutrally aligned.