In my campaigns ...
I was playing the computer game. The computer party freed Countess Tillahi, and was told about Thrommel. Elmo was in the party, and I know who he is, but there’s no option to “alert the authorIties”. Not the Tower, Jaroo, Otis, or Church. So I had Elmo leave the party - traveling to report it. And the computer party got TPK’d shortly afterward, trying the Broken Tower but notmbeing prepared for missile fire taking out the casters. And then computer hard drive also died soon after, so a true TPK!
But ...
My 20+ year old email campaign that was on downtime after many adventure, and is led by a Furyondian Fighter who was at the Warmaster College, a reward for his adventures. So they got the call for the secret rescue mission, and hooked up with Elmo. Elmo told them his old party were apparently dead or captured, being missing a month, and he suspected they got ambushed on their usual way in, but they had learned of another way in ... called the Broken Tower.
The PC’s bullied their way in - Fireball as a fine how-do-you-do - and won with some repairable damage. Long story short, they killed Smigsmal &Falrinth, found Golden Skull, found Thrommel and pulled him out.
Golden Skull has been studied by Veluna for about two months, so I am going to give them the mission to find the Elemental Gems - I figure the Church of Rao figured out what is needed (but not where they are precisely) and that it can destroy the TOEE. So that’s next. They also got the poem from an agent of Melf, who IMC is Thrommel’s old adventure buddy (Heartstone theory of Melf, Thrommel, and Warduke).
So should I throw in Wonnilon - who Elmo’s first party met - or forget him? He could be a spy for the Kron Hills Assembly of Gnomes ... in my campaign, the gnomes and Verbobonc are at odds — Fenward Left-Handed is the Viscount and uninterested in the TOEE.
And what about the half-elf spy? I figure she is a spy for either Melf/Knights of Luna or the Gnarley Rangers, so maybe they should have orders from Thrommel to check in with her and extract her once they have the gems?