Some copies of letters

First article for Sanctuary Times:

People of Sanctuary, is it by strange accident that we linger here in the ruins of Dunwarren unmolested by our enemies? Is it by virtue of secrecy or strength of arms that our enemies refrain from re-enslaving all of us, and dragging us back to their flesh-factories and labors unceasing?

Is it the Watch that keeps us safe? Or the Spellguard? No! On the contrary, we live here in Dunwarren free - or, at least, freer than we might be - by reason of the great and holy Machine that benevolently keeps us safe from the many dangers of the Underdark.

Centuries past divine knowledge was passed on to the gnomes of old Dunwarren, knowledge of how to construct something of its own intelligence and power, something that would perform many tasks for them and keep their city safe. Something that, when completed, would break open the gates of paradise and bring happiness unending to their people.

It is our holy purpose to learn of the secrets of old Dunwarren, to complete this machine, to finally bring the paradise to the world that has been denied to us.

Even now evil forces act as parasites and obstacles to this holy purpose, even now the Spellguard feed upon the labors of the Machine and seek to subjugate the people of Sanctuary to their own benefit.

The way of Frederick Bresley was not to move upward, for paradise and freedom can be had here in Dunwarren. But first, we must understand the path before us, the promise it offers, and the obstacles we must defeat - chief among them, the Spellguard. Only through the completion of the Great Machine will finally acheive paradise here in the mortal realm.

Letters to the Seeker Kor'us:

Seeker,

The following report details an incident that I believe may be of interest to your organization.

It was earlier today that a stuttering, shy man named "Talek Brier" made a sending requesting adventurers to aid him in an expedition to the Spire. Upon meeting it was gradually revealed that he'd been contracted by the goblin known as Gobbler and the purpose of the expedition was to find Gobbler's old tribe and escort them into Sanctuary. Supposedly the tribe was located in a region of the Underdark called The Spire.

Along with Brier, our group composed of the gnome Denten Foliwinkle, Osmyr, Vruuk, Marten Briars, Toman, and Spellguard Associate Captain Kayne Baalesman.

I believe there is also a strong possibility that we were followed by an unknown and invisible Spellguard tyrant, for at least part of the journey.

Our journey to the Spire was largely uneventful, but in the course of searching for the goblins themselves we were accosted by a very pale and stealthy vampire. She claimed to be working for one known as the "Queen" and warned us to stay out of the Spire, as it was the territory of the Queen. Possibly charmed by my good looks, or conceivably frightened of my spear, she left us alone after the warning. We decided attacking her would be a distraction to the mission and continued searching for the goblins.

Eventually we found them, and managed to convince them to come to Sanctuary and enjoy the freedom of our home in exchange for a promise to abide by the laws of free men. They seemed enthusiastic about the idea after being assured we were not vampires ourselves and that the whole thing wasn't an elaborate ruse.

They did, however, insist on our aid in getting vengeance on a group of ogres who had apparently murdered and consumed the wife of their chief. We set out to do so, and did battle with a band of extremely dangerous ogres who were slain.

We escorted the whole tribe of goblins, less than thirty in number, back to Lower Sanctuary without incident. It is worth noting that the goblins seem to have claimed a quarter of their own directly in the abandoned alleys south of the Canal and of the main part of Lower Sanctuary.

There are two major implications to the report as I see it -

(1) There is now a population of perhaps 30+ wild and uncivilized goblins living in Lower Sanctuary, which represents both a great opportunity to help them improve themselves but also the obligation to ensure that their neighbors are well protected and safe. The goblins themselves seemed mostly peaceful and amenable to the ways of Sanctuary, but I do not think we should be naive about the nature of many goblins.

(2) The Vampires within the Spire feel sufficiently powerful that they are willing to openly proclaim their dominion of territory, and are not at all concerned with their activities there becoming known to Sanctuary. They are a clear threat to Sanctuary due to their reliance on (as I understand) a continuous supply of fresh blood. I strongly recommend that efforts be made to discover their exact lair, a means of entrance, and a strong group formed to destroy them as soon as possible before they grow any stronger.

Orison Hallafat

Orison Hallafat,

You are either the bravest or the stupidest man I have ever met There are not many in sanctuary who would have stood strong in the presence of a Vampire, against warning…ventured further into the Spire to rescue goblins, then slaughter Ogres at the goblins request, then lead the goblins back to the safety of Sanctuary. I am a complete loss of words...

I trust all of your companions made it back safely? Let me be among the first to tell you congratulations in making it back to Sanctuary safely. This was no small feat you accomplished...even if most (including myself) would disagree with you leading the goblin tribe back to sanctuary for refuge. You have done great work this day, and I will be providing you very useful intelligence report to the other seekers within the Hall.

Continue to Travel Safe and Hunt Fearlessly,

*signed* Kor'us Corcael

Seeker Kor'us,

I assure you I am neither particularly brave or stupid, simply a young man with a taste for adventure. I'm glad to say we suffered no fatalities during the course of our expedition.

I'd suggest you'd give the presence of the goblins in Sanctuary more thought. Have not Gobbler and Grulpo faithfully followed kept the peace? Would an entire tribe of civilized, peaceful goblins not be a great boon to the cause of freedom, and the cause of Sanctuary? Still, I can certainly see how you might be concerned and indeed that is partially why I wrote. My only hope is that the goblins turn out in the long run to be an asset to the town.

I've another report about the vampires living in the Spire that I thought might interest you. Myself and a small group of others were hired by a local rothe herder to investigate why a herd he purchased from Fort Mur had not yet arrived.

We decided the quickest way to go would be to travel by ferry, and it was in the course of our travels through the Grunstubhle mines that we noticed a strange and very pale man following us. Suspicious of vampires, we accosted him but he explained he was simply being cautious and we hurried to the ferry and from there to Mur.

Once at the Fort, we met up with our employeer's partner and learned that he'd subcontracted the job of herding the rothe to Sanctuary to a duergar named Smyrr.

We headed out into the wilderness, and soon stumbled upon Smyrr and another pale figure who turned out to be a vampire. Smyrr gave us the slip, and the vampire attacked us. The vampire was defeated. It became clear to us that Smyrr was working for the Vampire at the Spire, and channeling them rothe herds presumably to feed their thirst.

We entered into a series of cave that Smyrr had fled into, and there found a large number of bugbear rothe handlers. We killed them all, and eventually found the rothe herd itself.

On the way out, we stumbled into Smyrr and his duergar partner. We captured Smyrr, and he pleaded for his life so pitifully that we finally made an arrangement with him. In exchange for his life, and assurances from us not to tell his fellow duergar at Fort Mur of his treachery, he agreed to cooperate with us as needed in order to bring down these vampires and find an entrance to their lair.

I've personally snooped around the Spire a bit invisible, and I'm fairly sure the vampires are making their home behind a large crypt door. The door itself is very securely sealed, so a key would be a necessity.

Hopefully Smyrr will turn up with a key, but I'm not holding my breath. I've a few other ideas for how we might get the all-important key if necessary, which I'd be glad to discuss in person. One way or another I've no doubt that with time we'll bring down these vampires.

Please consider my interest in your organization as strong as ever, and let me know if there's anything I can do to prove my value as a Seeker Agent.

Orison Hallafat

P.S. My good friend Denten the Gnome (he actually built my arm) is interested too, I hope you've had a chance to meet him as he's a really very remarkable and capable gnome.

Plans for the future:

- Help Denten figure out a way to make my new arm help me kick even more ass

- Make the Sanctuary Times big and be there on the ground floor

- Join the Seekers

- Bring down the Spellguard Tyrant Parasites

- Make Sewer Town nicer

- Get a ship! A Seeker ship, maybe. Sailing around the Dark Lake would be the best.

- Figure out who I can trust in the Watch, and try to clean them up (Aida?)

- Complete the Machine

- Get rich

- Destroy those damn vampires out at the Spire: Need a key, and a lot of heroes

- Help clean up Lower: is the Lower Council a good idea, or bad?

- Get Cyrus to give me a life time supply of free booze, for being such a hero

Sketches

Denten:

A sketch of a small gnome with a hat with an outrageous plume trying to attach a metal arm onto a passed out Orison, surrounded by ale bottles. Blood pools fill the sketch

Tommy:

A sketch of a big burly man with an axe beating up someone in a street, he's saying, "Time to introduce you to Big Daddy Bane!"

Osmyr:

A sketch of a man standing in chain and pot helm with a heavy flail slung over his shoulder, there's a big question mark over his head.

Barton and Liss:

A sketch of a grizzled, musty man furiously yelling at a a much larger, very strong looking woman who's crying into her hands

Wes:

A picture of a nice, older man with a staff smiling

Cap'n Salty:

A sketch of a man with a staff and helm saying, "Arr!'

Tandra:

A sketch of a covered, stooped young woman wearing a pot helm.

Flamerule 12, Year 151

Well. Dimes is dead. I'm sure he deserved it, but this fighting between Upper and Lower is no good for anyone. What we need to do is is root out the corruption in both parts of the city. Rip open all those secret doors in the Spellguard Tower, get rid of half the officer corp in the Watch, and clean up the people in Lower who are just trying to exploit people.

Talked with a Sergeant Marshall today, she just didn't seem to get how she was part of a whole tyrannical movement.

Aida apparently joined the Watch, not sure how I feel about that. She's a sensible girl, I hope she doesn't lose her way with those pigs.

Met up with some guy named Vince, Tommy and I pulled a prank on him. He owed Tommy some "debt" (I think Tommy handed over some old trash or something), and we got him to agree to deliver some goblin stew with goblin turd mixed in to Sheriff Walters. Greemio was good enough to provide both the stew and turd. I told him that the debt was cleared with the delivery alone, 200 gold if he got the Sheriff to eat a bite, and my spear if he got him to finish the whole bowl.

Well, it was hilarious but the Sheriff didn't go for it. So once the Sheriff figured out he'd just been given turd-stew he started slapping at Vince like the girly-man he is, and then we all ran out of there.

Good day, all in all.

Incredible to think that number of crazy monsters were hidden away just beneath the Canal Ward.

Orison shuffles some copies of things into his journal

While speaking in the Hall today with two ordinants of the Society of the Ordered Mind, it was mentioned that the mindflayer Intryzz had some connection with activity beneath the ruins of the Steady Hand Inn in the Canal Ward.

Ordinant Lathae several times refused to explain precisely what this connection was, except to warn Denten, myself, and Vince (a friend of mine from Lower) to stay away from it. He suggested that Intryzz had some power over the place, and warned us that we'd lose our minds if we went there. He said the Society was unwilling or unable to do anything about it due to the political climate. He said that Tane and Wesh should not be negotiated with, and would not allow the Society to do anything.

Although I'm sure the Ordinant had his reasons, it would have been helpful if he'd explained what he'd found there -- he'd only say he'd "investigated the situation" already, and refused to provide specifics except general warnings. The Ordinant also initially refused to accompany us, claiming that "he'd learn nothing new." Later he did show up, but was kicked out by Impatient and the other people down there who seem to bear the Society some sort of grudge (I guess for blowing up the Steady Hand in the first place).

At any rate, Denten and myself (later accompanied with the Golden Mercenary Tommy, Thrania of the Sanctuary Times, and a Lower kid named Vince) went and checked it out.

Turns out that in a cave beneath the ruins a large group of folks, including a gnome named "Impatient" and a big fat man named Xumar, are hanging around surrounded by old illithid equipment. The equipment, although mostly broken, seems to have been used to help the people there acheive a feeling of peace and tranquility. Obviously, that stuff is dangerous so we did our best to convince the people living there to let us take the equipment.

Eventually we got Impatient to agree, on the condition that we investigated some lower, sealed off level directly beneath where something extremely dangerous was lurking.

Eventually he ported us through to this lower level, and it was there that we discovered all manner of terrible monsters and experimental creatures.

At a rough count we destroyed:

Over 14 Umber Hulk Guardians Over 50 forms of Magic Eaters Less than five forms of hook horror experiments 2-3 giant nightmare creatures with all manner of psionic abilities Several psionic hounds A large number of nyths Various other creatures A huge minotaur guardian

And worst of all, some kind of half-illithid/half-human creature that was buried deepest in the complex. It was a creature of terrible rage and power, but was finally slain.

After destroying all of these terrible creatures, we emerged and Impatient the Gnome agreed to teleport all of the equipment in the cave into a store room in the Seekers Hall.

I'm not sure if he'll follow through on this, but if this equipment turns up don't be alarmed. I'll leave it to wiser heads than mine to decide what should be done with it.

- Orison

Everyone in the Seekers has been nothing but nice, but I'm not sure it's the thing for me. I grew up in a sewer pipe, I feel out of place in the beautiful Hall with their fancy uniform. Maybe I can really help the Brotherhood take off. Lower certainly could use a stronger voice for freedom.

Orison's History of Sanctuary

The story of Sanctuary has been that of brave souls struggling to live free. In the beginning, this took the form of escaped slaves making a new home for themselves in these old ruins. Fresh from the horror of drow, illithid, lizardfolk, beholder, duergar, and other monsters the inhabitants of this place fashioned a town where its leaders would be raised up by popular vote, and where energy was spent both to defend this town but also find a way to the surface and help others break free from their enslavement. But as the years went on, this town of freedom was gradually corrupted by the forces of tyranny.

The initial stages of this tyranny began with Melinda Bresley, founder of the Spellguard and Sanctuary's first aspiring Tyrant. From its start, the Spellguard existed to invent absurd rules and to destroy those who spoke against it. The Order, largely made up of effeminate men in dresses or ice-bitches like Melinda, was incapable of doing little on its own. To compensate for its own inadequacies, the group cannibalized the wondrous technology of the svirfneblin and perverted it to help them crush their enemies. Anyone who manifested arcane talent but refused to join their order was denounced and destroyed.

It's likely that the Spellguard was responsible for stealing Frederick Bresley's maps and notes that he left behind on the occasion of his glorious ascent. This will be difficult to prove as long as The Tower of the Spellguard remains sealed and secret to the public, but it stands to reason that the Order would consider a safe path upwards to be a threat to the integrity of its rule over Sanctuary's frightened and complacent citizens.

On the occasion of the death of Melinda Bresley, the Spellguard saw an opportunity to destroy those who still spoke against them. Ivlysar Tal'en'qir, Seeker and close friend of Frederick Bresley, was blamed for her death. This is wholly preposterous, and ultimately proven to be the lie that it was. Of course, this hasn't stopped the Spellguard (more specifically, its prostitute annalists in the Archibald family) to continue to claim that Ivlysar was responsible for this lie in a long-waged campaign of distortion.

Lower Sanctuary from its start was made up of those uncomfortable with the tyrannical rules of the Upper Sanctuary establishment. Although for a time the district was mostly left alone, this came to a sad end when the Spellguard tyrannically seized Councilor Alexander Ubel. Councilor Ubel was a popular figure who had the guts to tell the truth about the Spellguard. As such, they deeply feared and hated him and seized him for a trumped up charge and ultimately murdered him.

His family and the people of Lower rose up to help him, but the Watch had long since been corrupted by the Spellguard and were used to brutal effect to crush Lower. Under Sheriff Dhogur, the people of Lower was broken and a brutal order imposed that rivaled the worst excesses of former drow masters. Although the Ubel Rebellion was crushed, it is rumored that some of its freedom-loving veterans remain, tirelessly waiting the end of the Spellguard Tyranny so they can return to Sanctuary.

Perhaps looking to more closely emulate the tactics of slave-keeping races, the Tigereye Mercenaries were hired by the Spellguard-dominated Council as another way to control Lower Sanctuary. Although ultimately not liked by anybody, the brutal and effective Tigereyes were able to kill most of the remaining leaders of Lower and generally work to further crush the spirit of Lower's oppressed people.

It was only recently that the long-endured weight of Tigereye rule was cast off by the long-suffering people of Lower. Unfortunately, the void of their rule was filled in with both good and bad men. Although many citizens banded together, others formed into brutal gangs that demanded tribute for passing through their territory.

Now is a momentous time for Sanctuary and its Lower region. For now, Lower is ruling itself. It is time for the people to cement the principles of self-governance and freedom. It is time to remember the spirit of Frederick Bresley, and the promise of a settlement of free men.

If you're willing to take part in a brighter, happier, and more free Sanctuary now is the time to act. The Brotherhood of the Ascension is eagerly looking to include others in its number. If you've questions about the Brotherhood, how you can help Sanctuary and its people, seek out Orison Hallafat or any Seeker.

- Orison Hallafat

So much has happened. I've gone from a crippled sewer-kid freak singing weird songs to himself to a figure of some importance. I'm a Lower Councilor now, a Seeker, the Upper Council listens to me, I've even managed to get a few things done. But I think it's all starting to get too much to me. I need to finish what I set out to do though - figure out some way for Lower to live free, but safe. I'm feeling good about a lot of the Upper Councilors now, and I'd certainly like to hash out an agreement that unites Sanctuary again while protecting against the mistakes of the past, but I'm not sure if it will happen.

Tommy! I've always admired him, always been amused him, always enjoyed fighting by his side and even running Lower with him. So much has changed though. I figure he got paid off by Grundigle the Vampire Slave to look the other way. I'm starting to hear even more rumors about him, and I can't stand the fact he worships that tyrant Bane.

He threatened me today, warned me that when he said I had nothing to fear from him long ago that times had changed.

I guess we'll see what happens next.