Session 3 - Rotten Ronnie

This is the third session of the campaign Echoes 2.

Summary
The group of adventurers began a parley with Rotten Ronnie. He wanted to know how they all managed to get down into the Bottom City. The group managed to avoid telling Ronnie about the hidden tunnel beneath the Jaunt. Ronnie talked about how the tunnels down here were unfamiliar to him as they used to be old tunnels run by The Pocket. They discussed what it would take to release Ziggy, and pay the ransom. Ronnie told the group much about who the person he hired might be with various facts: Ronnie freely admitted that he was a middleman to this whole scenario, much like the party themselves were caught in between. He also said that he would value the ransom, so long as the group promised to convince the Buyway Triplets to leave the Jaunt. The party refused and were able to still convince Ronnie to let Ziggy go, and that if he were hired again to attack the group that he would give them a warning, if he can a week's warning.
 * 1) Based on the voice of the person Ronnie assumes that the person who hired him is a man.
 * 2) The person who hired Ronnie was rich enough to leave Sending Stone around for discussing his plans.
 * 3) Ronnie suspects that they are a high ranking government official.
 * 4) Ronnie imagines that the plan was to track down someone who had escaped through the hidden tunnel beneath the Jaunt, force out the owners, have the government seize control of the building, and the person in question could discreetly track whoever went through the tunnels.
 * 5) Ronnie also suspects that the person who hired him would be closely watching the building, and in the coming days come back to try again.

The party is brought to the Kegger base known as The Hole, and see the wide tent-like structures that envelop every wall of the cavernous interior. They see the namesake hole and the hundreds of people living in and around it. They are brought to this massive dugout animal-like face on one of the walls. There are many more Keggers living inside the structure. Ronnie brings them to a back room where they meet another Kegger named Adano who will be handling the money counting for the 1000 gold piece ransom. He was trying to read some books that Ronnie had brought back, but because he can't read undercommon he isn't able to read what they say. They chat with Adano while Ronnie gets Ziggy, and learn that while not all of the Keggers want to be down here they don't really have a choice since they can't come to the surface and that they want to make the place down here a community.

Ronnie arrives back covered in blood. He explains that his men acted without his consent. Ziggy was being kept on the Cold Cliffs, and every day was offered a pendant to the Builder, or Dust. Every day Ziggy chose the pendant, but they kept giving him the Dust. He was addicted again, and so Ronnie took to dispatching the men who forced this to happen. He offers the group 500 of the thousand gold back, and the deaths of his men as payment for what they did. Ziggy is brought out and given to the party. Ronnie and Emeran give each other a blood cut handshake to seal the deals they made today. And the party leaves with the last lament of Ronnie being that he both does and doesn't look forward to seeing the group again, reminding them of his reputation.

The party brings Ziggy back beneath the Jaunt, and they hear footsteps above them in the bar. Guardsman Paul has been ordered by District Warden Sazo Greatbelly that the guards need to be moved back to active duty and that some of them, Paul included, needed to go to the Heroes Promenade to help with the riots going on in the city. Sazo meets with the party and suspects where they have been. They accuse him of not being mindful to the issues with the Jaunt or the fact that someone died there. He seems like the sort of District Warden who seeks reelection and not much else. He excuses himself and leaves. For a moment the party suspects it might be him orchestrating the plans for the Jaunt, but they agree that he seems too obvious, and Paul can testify that Sazo can be easily bought out by someone else.

The Buyway Triplets are reunited once again, Seren and Joy thanking the group profusely. They are made aware of Ziggy's forced relapse, but count it thankful that he's back in one piece, and keep the hope that he's beaten it once, he can beat it again.

The party decides to continue to help any way they can and to see the secret of the Jaunt through. They decide to earn a little money on the side and to help out the community.

The group decides to help out Agnis Detter who has a rat problem in her basement. When they arrive at her dilapidated home in the Gullies they see many people jeering and watching with bated breath as they enter her home. She seems to be an old curmudgeon set in her ways, she offers the group tea and beats up Elias when he was messing around trying to fix her door. She tells them about how she was attacked by the rats who shoved her to the ground and began speaking to her. The party heads down the stairs and meets the "rats" who are in actuality three young micefolk brothers named Gottfried, Martin, and Simon who had to break into Agnis's home from the sewers into her basement to get away from a "garbage monster" who killed their parents. The party decides to help these mice boys, who give them 200 gold since they don't need any.

The party ventures into the sewers. Emeran seems to start feeling unwell. The group enters the cistern and fights the garbage monster. Themus gets knocked unconscious, but the group manages to kill the beast.