Sanctuary Town Council,

It is with deep regret that I am forced to write this address to you. The political machinations of your government are of little interest to me, but the fact that these machinations have led to the death sentence of a man who has given freely and completely of himself to and for Sanctuary-Seeker Emanuel Lucas-forces me to ask you to intercede and halt the spiralling efforts of the Watch and Spellguard to force myriads of petty violations upon the free citizens of Sanctuary.

Seeker Emanuel Lucas has been convicted to die by public stoning by Councilor Demetrius Bhast, ostensibly because he resisted arrest by engaging in combat with two Watch Privates when he refused an order to sheathe his weapon within the city. However, Councilors, I bring to you the obvious point-there is no law that prohibits the open carry of weapons within the city's gates. At any given time, there are several citizens around Upper Sanctuary who bear weapons openly, and the Watch makes no attempt to arrest them. A dwarven warrior carrying a crossbow held open station outside the Council Hall itself for several weeks, and he was not arrested once. Further, as Seeker Lucas is a valuable agent of the city, who has repeatedly risked death to provide accurate information on threats to Sanctuary, his weapon is very much a part of his identity, and his station.

You may claim it was folly to resist this arrest by engaging in combat with the arresting Privates. I do not disagree, but consider the Seeker's mindset-he was being arrested for an act that is not a violation of Sanctuary's laws. The Watch recently brutalized a group of gnomes in their cells, and was even prepared to order the execution of these unarmed, defenseless gnomes, without a trial. In Seeker Lucas' mind, if he was arrested for a violation of a law that does not exist, then what is to prevent the Watch from enacting further injustice against him when he was in their cells? His reaction was inappropriate and illegal, but so were the actions of the Watch Privates who arrested him.

Furthermore, at his trial, he was sentenced to a death by stoning, by Councilor Demetrius Bhast. Bear in mind that Seeker Lucas' only crime was resisting the Watch's illegal enforcement of power, and that none were killed as a result, and Sanctuary was not endangered. In contrast, the halfling "Clover," who endangered Sanctuary by consorting with Drow at its gates, which led to the deaths of three Watch Privates, was not sentenced to death by stoning, but to restitution of coin upon threat of exile. Seeker Lucas has given far more to Sanctuary than this "Clover-" his scouting of Ssal'teesh during the recent conflict with the lizardfolk, and his martial contributions to that conflict, can be attested to by many of Sanctuary's citizens. Seeker Lucas' crimes were not nearly of that magnitude, and his only fault was standing up to the Watch's attempt to illegally arrest him-something that may warrant punishment, but by no means a death sentence.

Given Seeker Lucas' recent postings inspiring citizens to disobey the Watch's illegal arrest orders, and his reports of a slaying of a group of innocent slaves by a Watch Private, it becomes clear that Seeker Lucas was given a death sentence to silence him, not because he committed any crimes worthy of such a penalty.

Yet further, his flight, with the fugitive Ferius Worn, is an act of civil disobedience, but it is still not enough to warrant a sentence of death upon him. Those of you who were enslaved-are you not free now because you refused the unjust, dark, and vile motives of your slavers to work you to death, to slay you, or to destroy your very being? Seeker Lucas fled his punishment because it was injust, and not a punishment he deserved-something that all of you would do, I suspect, if you believed you were wronged. The flight of men from unjust captivity and sentencing is what lead to the creation of Sanctuary.

Given all of the above facts, I call upon the Sanctuary Town Council to establish a tribunal to review the sentencing and judgment of Seeker Emanuel Lucas, and to lessen the penalties against him for his acts of civil disobedience.

Further, I call upon the Sanctuary Town Council to act to prevent the Watch from arresting citizens for carrying armed weaponry, when no such law to that effect gives the Watch the authority to do so. I call upon the Sanctuary Town Council to investigate and halt the recent abuses of power by the Watch, and to prevent such occurrences from occuring in the future by more clearly-defining the Watch's limits of power.

Sanctuary's freedom has come at a heavy price of valorous lives. Seeker Lucas is a true proponent of freedom, who was willing to resist the disenfranchisement of his freedoms, and the illegal actions of the Watch, at risk of his own life. His resistance may have been inappropriate, but at the core of his being, it was not -wrong- to him. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Seeker Lucas, who saw the blossoming regulation of the Watch and Spellguard as a means for them to revoke the freedom of Sanctuary's people, resisted with every fiber of his being.

The price of freedom may be death, but it is a price that any Seeker would pay, if necessary. Seeker Lucas is prepared to pay that price, but I ask that the Sanctuary Town Council review his case, and show Sanctuary, and Seeker Lucas, that the price of freedom is not his death.

-Agent Earas, Hall of the Seekers