My players are most of the way through book 2 and I've been able to introduce all of the missions without someone walking up and giving it to them. (Eg: players wanted to look into the burned-out buildings, a PC was arrested so heard the rumour about mercenaries being in the Salt Works, other PC is a tiefling so kept tabs on things in Redroof and found out about the murders, other PC worked at Clenchjaw's so realised something was going on... things like that.)
But now the 10th Proclamation has been released. My plan is for the players to get Marquel and bring him to Cassius (because I don't want Ella Nones to show up out of nowhere and say "I know everything about you even though you do everything you can to hide who you are!"). One of the PCs knows Marquel but hasn't thought about going to visit him since the newest proclamation.
Does anyone have other ideas on how to introduce this particular mission?
I figure Marquel's parents are keeping him isolated so another one of his friends coming to the PCs would seem weird... but maybe a sympathetic house servant has clued in a little as to what's going on in the house and gets a message to one of Marquel's friends? (Maybe the servant doesn't like the new political leanings of Mr & Mrs Aulorian).
Oh! What if Ella came to get Marquel but was turned away. Afterwards she meets some people that know both Marquel and the PC so Ella could pointed towards Longroads? (Or somewhere else that the PC is known to frequent.) Having Laria give the PCs the message of "The second in command of the Scourge of Belial was here looking for you" could get the PCs to go there...
By the end of your post you found the solution (or at least the method) I plan on using as of now (my group just rescued the group from the Salt Works and are trying to figure out who collapsed the wall in the Wasp Nest.)
I also wasn't enthused about Nones finding or apparently finding the Ravens so easily. But by that point in the AP, the Silver Ravens need to be known of (if not in detail) by at least some people in the city (unless their notoriety is 0.) So Nones should be able to get a message to the Ravens just like she could "find" the Red Jills or River Talons if she put enough effort into it.
Something else occurred to me - whether the pc's know Marquel or not, the pc's know someone who should at least be passingly familiar Marquel: Rexus. They are both of the same generation of the 9 (well, formerly 9) noble houses in Kintargo. It's seems reasonable to assume they've met - given personal histories and politics they may even like each other. Perhaps Nones comes looking for Rexus hoping he can connect with Marquel. Maybe the pc's get drawn into the story earlier when Cassius/Nones are simply trying to find/communicate with Marquel and only later does Cassius realize Marquel needs to be "rescued" and engages the Ravens for the task.
These are already some pretty decent ideas! I certainly agree the Lieutenant just finding the Silver Ravens in my first run felt pretty awkward, so I've been looking for good alternatives as well.
One that I had been thinking of using for the next time I run HR was to have Elia wander into the Tooth and Nail and first demand that Setrona and/or the whole tavern point her in the direction of any "capable troublemakers who'd like to be in the good graces of a Chelish Captain". Depending on the party's notoriety, she'd ask about the Silver Ravens by name, have heard rumors that some noteworthy upstarts frequented the area, or have simply heard that this was a good place to look for capable people with few scruples. I'd use this as a chance to point out any clues the party have left around regarding their identity and deeds. In the event that the party isn't there or doesn't respond, Nones leaves a note on the tavern notice board worded similarly to how she would have normally addressed the PCs (including the clue).
Then depending on the party's habits, they'd hear the conversation (and potentially respond then and there or tail her to her ship), see the notice, or hear the story directly from Setrona (most of my players seem to enjoy my foul-mouthed Irish lass Setrona, so there's that).
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I believe I had Marquel use his halfling servants make contact with Laria to appeal to her to use the Bellflower Network to free him. I had Laria be mortally offended by the presumption, but she did pass along his request for rescue to the Silver Ravens.
Something else occurred to me - whether the pc's know Marquel or not, the pc's know someone who should at least be passingly familiar Marquel: Rexus. They are both of the same generation of the 9 (well, formerly 9) noble houses in Kintargo. It's seems reasonable to assume they've met - given personal histories and politics they may even like each other. Perhaps Nones comes looking for Rexus hoping he can connect with Marquel. Maybe the pc's get drawn into the story earlier when Cassius/Nones are simply trying to find/communicate with Marquel and only later does Cassius realize Marquel needs to be "rescued" and engages the Ravens for the task.
If one of my PCs wasn't a noble of the same age as Rexus and Marquel or if Marquel hadn't been introduced to a PC yet, yeah, I'd be having Elia looking for Rexus.
Trichotome -- I like that method too. Pretty much the same as in the book but with a twist so that Elia doesn't know how the leaders of the Ravens are after only being in the city for a day or three. (Because if she can figure it out why can't Barzillai and his crew?)
Roguerouge -- Not a bad idea. I'm curious to see what happens when/if the PCs realize Cassius' halflings are slaves. And how Laria would react to that.
Thanks for the input, everyone! I always appreciate any ideas people have.
Think about what the PCs want. Information? An item? Someone freed from prison? Whatever it is, have them encounter someone who knows how to get that “thing”, then when they meet the person who has the “thing” it turns out to be Elia Nones. They might not recognize that she’s first mate of the SoB (heh), but eventually the PCs realize that they can get said “thing” by performing a favor for Captain Sargaeta
I skipped Nones entirely. There was nothing about that hook that I liked: her being all-knowing about the Raven's whereabouts, being a Chelish officer, her introduction, her attitude, and to add to that being a gunslinger (which doesn't exist in our Golarion). Also I ddin't like how passive he is, especially since I wanted him to later become an active ally of the Silver Ravens, so I had Marquel himself orchestrate his jail break by getting a message to the PCs.
I think a lot of good options are mentioned above, using Laria or Rexus as suggested. Another option is using Hetamon. I had him be the one printing and distributing Marquel's texts, so if you introduce him before the Marquel storyline you could have him deliver a message to the PCs from the poet. Frankly, anything is better than having this omnipotent cowgirl kick open the saloon doors of whatever bar the PCs happen to hide in and try to insult them into helping her boss.
Razcar -- How did you have Marquel get the message to the Ravens?
Pretty much every reason you had for not using Nones are the same reasons I was trying to figure out a different way of introducing the mission. Hetamon is known to the group but only as a tailor/healer. (I think he's going to come to the group with the murdered Rose at the same time as the Marquel mission and when Octavio tells them about the Lucky Bones. I want to give them options so that they don't know which one needs to be done first and possibly introduce consequences based on the order that the players select but I'm not sure about that last bit yet.)
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Savant, I had introduced the Poison Pen previously through rumours, but also through this grafitti handout I made (poem's nicked from Paizo's Towns of the Inner Sea book): https://imgur.com/RYuOON9 . So they knew about his alias, and during the escape from the Aulorian estate Marquel accidently drop the chest containing all his writings onto the street, blowing his cover in front of the PCs.
The way I made Marquel contact the PCs was rather convoluted, I'm afraid. During book two of HR I inserted a modified play and party from The Sixfold Trail (from Council of Thieves), but in our game both the play and the party were sponsored an hosted by house Sarini. The PCs were present at the party, were their mission was to retrieve some loot and clues belonging originally to the old Silver Ravens. Since it was such an important social event the Aulorians "had" to bring Marquel with them. The nobleman saw the PCs as mercenaries for hire and managed to approach them when his parents weren't looking. He gave them a proposal - "Free me, make it look like a kidnapping, and you will be richly rewarded". My players were more interested to get a contact inside the nobility than getting paid, but they took the bait.
So, not very helpful I'm afraid, unless you intend to throw some social event in book two that Marquel would also frequent. Another option could be that Marquel is sometimes let out of the mansion, but guarded, maybe to get some new clothes or for a walk. He manages to get free from his guards for a second, looks around for someone that looks remotely handy with a sword/spell, and slips a note or a message to them (a PC then, of course).
I could use part of that, Razcar... The Poison Pens poetry is known to the players as The Pens poetry "is a favourite of Marquel" (he gave some of the poems to the bard so that she could enjoy them as well. She, in turn, set them to music and has performed some for Marquel).
I like the idea of the PCs finding some of his unpublished/unfinished work when they go to get him out of the house.
Maybe I'll have Ella Nones trying to find the PC that is known as his friend, checking at Laria's because she's known to go there (as is Rexus) so when/if they talk to Cassius and go to get Marquel they'll see something that he's working on.
I also really like the idea of Marquel being out but under guard... I could use that to let the players know that something is happening with him so that they'll look into it themselves. That would make it so that someone doesn't have to present them with the rescue mission...
Thanks!