A more general question: If I want to currently recruit her, can I chat with her before knocking her out or will that stop her from appearing at Moonrise? I got a little confused, by what I read on the subject.
Talking to her is fine as long as you don't pick dialogue that causes her to become hostile. You can even do Sazza's quest and get the reward from it.
You must cause her to become *
Temporarily Hostile* which happens from things like attacking her while she's not hostile, stealing stuff in her room, getting caught pickpocketing her, breaking the drum that summons reinforcements, what have you. When her status is Temporarily Hostile, that's when knocking her out works and she'll appear in Moonrise later. It must be done in her initial location, it cannot be done in front of the druid grove.
