Sheriff and kinsman [to Ronus only]

Councilor [to each member of the Council]

I would like to formally charge the grey dwarf merchant that has surfaced recently in Sanctuary with two counts of assault with intent to kill in the Arena. There were many witnesses to the debacle, and I'd like a formal investigation to bring the honorless scum to justice.

This Duergar felt the need to rain insults upon myself and another good shield dwarf by name of Tuur. This honorless dwarf first presented himself as a shield dwarf in our company several sleeps ago, and even drew his weapon in on a Tormite named Iria in denial when she declared him a dark-hearted Duergar! When Tuur had stepped in front of his Thane as custom dictates to defend the honor of our names, race and clan, the thug demanded a duel in the Arena... which Fist Tuur accepted with honorable intent.

After we arrived, I prayed with Fist Tuur and gave him the blessings of Berronar Truesilver to gird him for this contest. A human mage named Tor felt the need to go and inform the Duergar that I had done so, when I had made no effort to hide my actions. When the Grey One arrived, he began raining insults upon Fist Tuur questioning his courage and honor for being a good and pious stout and accepting the blessings I had conferred upon him..

The mage Varlam Nikitovitch, formerly of the Spellguard offered to dispel any magics from both, which Tuur and myself readily agreed to after the Duergar's protestations of unfair intent. He then in typically foolish fashion shown by his race, commanded the mage to not dispel the mother's blessing, although the mage had already dispelled magics upon the Duergar himself.

After agreeing to Duergar's suggestion to duel with the other's armor as the stake, Fist Tuur defeated the Duergar quickly. The mage Varlam Nikitivitch quietly mentioned that the Duergar was ensorceled and was not sure that all of his magics were dispatched.

I would add that I healed the Duergar to full health to show the honor of a Faenor and that of Clan Stoutheart. I did so without looking for gain or coin, and received not even a word of thanks for the badly needed healing I provided him.

The craven one then demanded another duel, this time offering one thousand gold to buy back the armor he had lost but still wore. Fist Tuur, agreed and demanded that the blessing he yet bore be dispelled. The second contest was quite long, yet it was apparent that Tuur had not recovered from his first bout as his swings were ineffective as the Duergar adopted a fighting style centered about defense.

So Tuur gradually fell to this new tactic, yet the Duergar continued to pound him mercilessly after he fell unconscious, even slamming his head against the wall several times after the duel was over.

I rushed to defend my clansman, intending to heal Tuur before this honorless cur would slay him. As I entered the arena with my mace of holy healing to revive Tuur, the Duergar turned to stare at me, and began to advance. I stopped and made no move, but saw that it was too late, and he rushed toward me with the dark malice that all his kind bear my Shield Dwarf people. I quickly asked for a blessing of protection from the motehr as I saw that this madman would attack me without cause, as he shortly did.

I said nothing to provoke him, nor did I make any effort to attack him, yet he covered a good span of five dwarves height in a rush and began to swing his war hammer at my person. At this point, I cast further blessings upon myself to withstand the assault of this madman, yet still I did not begin to fight or dishonor the Arena, yet the rabid dog continued his assault upon me.

A Vuddar of the Clan rushed to my defense, and called several animal minions to allow me to disengage from my assailant, and go to bring poor Tuur to health before he bled out from his wounds suffered after the duel had concluded. I would point out that no others of the many viewing this assault upon my person attempted to help me, and after a short battle, we were able to subdue the Duergar and make our way from the Pit. We did not continue to strike him in the cowardly fashion that he had shown previous, and made only to escape from one that would so fragrantly attack another without cause.

Then, a unamed human made his way over to this Duergar, and began to state that it was an unfair contest. Sheriff, there was no duel between us, my kinsman merely tried to block his insane attack so that I might heal the fallen member of my Clan. I did have to fight the cur when he followed me over to Tuur's side and made to attack me as I healed his most grievous wounds.

In most humorous fashion, the Duergar then went to the Herald's and attempted to spread bold lies about the encounter and portrayed it as if we had all rushed him without cause. The mage Nikitovitch then recounted an accurate version of the assault via a sending, yet later the grey dog sent another message to the citizens fraught with lies and dishonor.

Our Clan is currently contracted to defend the area now known as Barak-Tor, and are working closely with the Watch to defend Sanctuary. I would ask that you call for witnesses including Varlam Nikitovitch, and bring this Duergar madman to justice.

Is this grey dwarf even a citizen of this town? If so, he violated the honor of a duel, and then assaulted me with a weapon with intent to kill.

I hope that you take care of this matter quickly, and allow our Clan to return to our patrols of Barak-Tor without fear of one such as this making an effort to finish the illegal acts which he has began.

The Duergar's name is Cthkel, or some such, and all citizens are unsafe with a madman such as this running amok.

Thane Rollo Stoneshield High Priest of the Stoutheart Clan Defender of Barak-Tor Citizen of Sanctuary

Rollo,

I'll look into it. I'll contact Varlam myself- if you could put your other witnesses in touch with me, that'd be great.

-Shane

*Fawkes opens and reads the note while filing other correspondences directed to the Watch and then provides his response and the original note for the Sheriff to review.*

Eleasis 21, 151 Faenor Rollo Stoneshield Barak-Tor Regard Complaint Against Chk

I hope to remind you about the proper chain of command with this situation. The Sheriff and the Council do not investigate criminal activity on their own. That is the job of the Watch itself, the Sheriff is an administrator for the most part but I am confident holds a personal interest in seeing this resolved quickly by this institution.

Of course, the entire Watch shares your concerns if the law has been broken. I will be contacting all parties for a written statement and have already obtained one from former Agent Varlam Nikitovich. I will compare all of these statements to the one you graciously prepared for the Council and Sheriff. If there are inconsistencies, it will be investigated. If there is clear evidence of wrong doing it will be punished.

I wish to inform you also that the paladin Iria herself was nearly arrested for brandishing a weapon in public while threatening Chk on the mere basis of her "paladin's sight" and his heritage. Sanctuary however, values its relationship with the Druegar clans in this region and we can not haphazardly ruin this relationship with hatred of a clan of dwarfs regardless of their ancient and unfortunate history with the shield dwarfs.

In summation, this is being handled by the Watch and you will obtain a copy of the report once it is concluded. I trust this will meet with your satisfaction.

Respectfully,

Private Barrister Fawkes

Councilor Fawkes,

I was under the belief that the Arena and duels are not regulated nor under the jurisdiction of the Watch. I found this difficult to believe, but nonetheless I notified both to ensure the proper authorities were notified.

Although it is true that there is deep hatred between our two races, I have been able to tolerate the presence of the Grunstubhles, their representatives in town, and have even developed a respect for the Duergar mercenary named Mordur Ironadze, formerly of the Tigereye organization.

This other individual I wrote to you previously, continued to beat a foe fairly beaten in what was thought to be a duel of honor. The Duergar even spoke that the duel was for armor and honor, yet violated his own claim when his hatred for our Shield Dwarf people was revealed as he savagely beat his downed foe.

His unprovoked attack upon me is clearly assault with a deadly weapon, and I fully expect him to be charged and convicted as per Sanctuary Law.

Thane Rollo Stoneshield High Priest of the Stoutheart Clan Defender of Barak-Tor Faenor of Berronar Truesilver

*another letter, apparently more hastily penned as the script is not quite as flawless as the others arrives*

Councilor Fawkes,

I have heard that a notice concerning the incident was posted by Varlam Nikitovitch. I would like to affirm that the events he posted are quite true, and that they clearly state that the Duergar attacked me first, without provocation from myself, nor any warning from himself.

As the victim of an assault with clear intent to kill, I fear to not prosecute such a heinous crime sets a dangerous precedent in Sanctuary. Nikitovitch states that I entered the arena and that the Duergar construed this as a hostile act, but I did the exact same when I stepped in to cast strong healing magics on this Chk as you name him.

The fact that this deranged individual incorrectly determined that I was going to attack him in no way excuses him from this wanton act of criminal assault.

I thank you for your prompt response concerning this matter, and once more am impressed by your apparent good character and judgement in yet another matter. It seems the people of Sanctuary have chosen a man of law who understands both the spirit and the letter of such, which pleases the children of the Soul Forger and The Mother greatly.

Faenor Rollo Stoneshield Thane and High Priest of Clan Stoutheart Defender of Barak-Tor Citizen of Sanctuary

Eleasis 21, 151 Faenor Rollo Stoneshield Barak-Tor Regard Complaint Against Chk

Faenor, I wish to clarify. I am a Watchman. Crimes committed against citizens of Sanctuary are our domain regardless of where they occurred. The Arena furthermore is clearly within our domain.

For the record, I am not sure your "assault" was entirely unprovoked. You did rush into a duel with a weapon drawn. The main focus of my investigation will be whether the duel was indeed concluded per the terms of the combatants and whether Tuur's life was indeed in danger and whether your rush to Tuur's side could easily have been mistaken as an assault on Chk. The Council can investigate, but lacks the power to do anything about their findings except advise the Watch to then open their own investigation.

Respectfully,

Private Barrister Fawkes

Watchman Fawkes,

Thank you for correcting my misconception concerning your position and organization. I must admit that without a public roster posted of the Watch, and the ungodly turnover in the Council due to less than natural causes, that I understandably made a faulty assumption.

I do not know who has cast a shadow of doubt upon my sworn testimony which was supported by Varlam Nikitovitch's own. But I would once again like to elucidate on these issues you seem to hold in question.

1. My kinsman was clearly beaten in the duel, was quite unconscious and therefore unable to protect himself from the Duergar's repeated blows that clearly put his life at risk. In fact, I know of no fighting style which honors the repeated bashing of an unresponsive opponant's head into a wall, while screaming insults at the fallen's race and gods.

2. As I had the first contest, I walked into the arena to heal the fallen. I stopped a good 6 human strides away from my fallen kinsman and the brute who was screaming insults to the dwarven pantheon while he visited his anger and pain upon his beaten opponant.

In view of this primal hatred, I spoke a blessing to strengthen my armor, a purely defensive spell, to be able to withstand the certain vicious attack that the maniac would soon launch.

And I was proven correct, as he sprinted the good distance from the insensate Tuur, and commenced to attack me without challenge, provocation nor spoken reason.

3. I have read Sanctuary law, and it clearly states that an attack with deadly magic or a weapon constitutes assault with intent to kill. There is no clause that allows an attacker to be excused for their own demented conception of reality.

Are citizens then able to randomly attack any that they think might be attacking them despite absolutely no indication whatsoever? Should the insane be able to run amok blithely striking those whom they fear are surely about to come at them, although it is only their own mind that portrays others as monsters when they clearly are not?

I am confident in your integrity, and that the sworn testimony of Varlam Nikitovitch is identical my own and clearly shows that the Duergar assaulted me with deadly force without cause.

Justice shall prevail in this case Watchman, of that I am sure.

With my word as my bond and honor,

Faenor Rollo Stoneshield Thane and High Priest of the Stoutheart Clan Defender and Governor of Barak-Tor Citizen of Sanctuary