Esteemed Councilors of Sanctuary,

I feel that I am forced to contest and request that you reconsider your recent decree preventing members of the Watch from entering Lower without the express permission of Sheriff Azzam. No doubt you feel that this gesture will serve to temper the flames of indignation that the residents of Lower feel, after several costly blunders on the part of my Privates and their ilk. The settlements below are not another sovereign government for you to negotiate with, however; they are a township of anarchy, ruled only by the strength of the blade and force of will. The actions undertaken against the citizens of Upper Sanctuary by the residents below were not the actions of a sovereign city-state responding to an intrusion upon its territory; they were only the murderous, criminal whims of the morally bankrupt of the settlement below us. You cannot barter with criminals, and you cannot attempt to placate them by ceding them sovereignty and freedom from the justice they so rightly deserve.

The goal of the Sanctuary Watch is to defend the people of Sanctuary. Lower may no longer be a part of this city, but those of Lower who come into our lawful, governed settlement and commit crimes against our citizens must be pursued and brought to justice, wherever they choose to go to cower from our defenders. Placing unreasonable restrictions on our Privates entering Lower-where nearly all of the criminals who harm our citizens choose to dwell-means that our ability to bring them to justice and to stop them from escaping us after committing a crime is unduly and absurdly handicapped. Furthermore, dictating where our Privates may and may not go utterly dampens their activities, their ability to gather information and allies to defend this city, and their focus in recruiting others into our ranks. In short, your restriction on our activities is a restriction the criminals of Lower will never reciprocate-and it is only harming this Watch and the Sanctuary it is sworn to defend.

I ask you to consider the folly of this decree with Sheriff Azzam, and rescind its applications to the Watch immediately-lest we risk our Watch becoming ineffective, ineffectual, or worse.

On an unrelated note, I also wish to inquire as to the potential for renting the abandoned Society Chapterhouse. I understand there have been some esoteric ideas about its use, but I believe it would be best put to use in the manner it was previously, except for a different organization. I have no doubt I could make a convincing offer along the lines of the previous tenant's agreement.

-Lieutenant Sunellar

A copy of this reply is made available to other councilors if they are interested in reading other responses...

Lt. Sunellar,

First, we hold no misconceptions about Lower being "sovereign" - it is just another lawless patch of Underdark as far as I'm concerned; it just also happens to be somewhat unified in its desire to keep us out (not unlike the Svirfneblin of the Blue Mushroom banning Sanctuary officials a while back). Antagonizing Traensyr is an endangerment of Sanctuary; luckily, Lower is not known for supporting large Drow societies. Still, we have no intention of increasing hostilities or legitimizing reasons to attack them downstairs. Continuing your precise but apparently undocumented and thus unprovable elimination of gang leaders can only galvanize them against us, and then we would be forced to respond to attacks by occupying Lower and, though I usually try to avoid euphamisms, "suppressing" criminal activity.

But the Watch should be preventing known criminals from entering Sanctuary in the first place; failing that, bounties should suffice to bring them to justice or keep them from continuing to pay unwanted visits. I dare say the privates of the Watch are richer than some council members, and can afford to pay others to capture those they fail to arrest.

I cannot understand why you don't wish to inform your Sheriff about operations in Lower before we receive complaints about Watchmen massacring Lowerfolk, or mobs forming and crying for Watch blood when you're sighted. Documentation simply ensures that your Sheriff knows who is responsible for what, and when, and gives him a chance to deny reckless or unnecessary missions, and maybe gives us a chance to defend or even applaud your actions.

The Society of the Ordered Mind was granted their chapterhouse by the late Yorrick Bresley on mayoral authority with no conditions or taxes. We will not be approving any similar arrangements in the foreseeable future.

Varlam Nikitovich 23 Flamerule 152

Councilor Nikitovich,

The entire system and position of the Watch is one of trust. Sheriff Azzam is still only one man, and if he is required to authorize every potentially controversial action our Privates undertake-if exercising any initiative or authority is to become a grounds for question-then I believe the Council has a far more serious problem with the Watch than this decree claims. I find the suggestion that we hire out others to bring criminals to justice in lieu of acting on our own ludicrous; we are given this equipment to arrest criminals for a reason. Bounties are meant to allow adventurers to work in conjunction with the Watch-never to do our work entirely for us. Furthermore, sending hired adventurers into Lower to deal with criminals would have no tangible difference from our Privates entering Lower themselves; Upper and the Watch would still be blamed for the action. I think you have an incredibly naive notion of the criminals that plague our society if you believe they can be easily stopped from sneaking into Upper Sanctuary, or if they remain in place in Lower long enough for the Sheriff to personally approve a strike to arrest them.

In regards to informing the Sheriff, I am not discussing "operations." Any strikes into Lower that allow the time to be discussed with Sheriff Azzam will be accorded such. But if our Privates are faced with an immediate pursuit, a sighting of a criminal, or the simple necessity to meet with an informant in Lower Sanctuary, placing the insane restriction upon them that they must first inform the Sheriff before deigning to enter Lower means as often as not they need not bother at all. I do not like having the trust of our Privates questioned, and placing inane restrictions on their activities only harms our Privates and the city they are protecting. Our Privates have been held accountable for every indiscretion that has been committed in Lower Sanctuary, if they were at fault; prior "documentation" will not affect their appropriate punishment in the slightest.

You have been an official of the Herald's Office and the library for some time. The Watch's activities are not a collection of books and files that can be properly ordered, with appended documentation and legitimate seals, so as to eliminate any problems with their care. You cannot justify the utter lack of faith in the Watch your decree asserts; nor can you justify the utter inanity of suggesting it is reasonable to expect us to hire adventurers to bring to justice every criminal who flees into Lower, or to inform the Sheriff before one of our number pursues a criminal or handles an affair in Lower. Your decree is styming the Watch's duties and preventing us from fulfilling our law enforcement mandate. Unless you intend to suggest we merely become a parade force to defend against invasions, the imposition of our duties with inept political statements needs to stop. The Council may choose to stay out of Lower all it wishes, but it should not be endeavoring to make that choice for the Watch.

On the matter of the Chapterhouse, I fully expected to discuss a conditional agreement with rent or outright payment for the use of the building.

-Lieutenant Sunellar

Lieutenant Sunellar,

Apparently the sheriff did not feel this to be a problem seeing is how he stamped it for approval. I will not waste a scroll link in parchment filled with a bunch of ten gold coins worth of words in order to state this. As far as you "expecting" to discuss a agreement for the property you may start by sending in your petition for council review. After deliberations we will decide.

Councilor Fizzwiggle

Councilor Fizzwiggle,

I do see a problem with this, as do a number of Privates. If you find justifying your rationale for unduly prohibiting our dictated duties a waste of your coin, your parchment, and your time, then I am also forced to question why this Council is issuing decrees its members are unwilling or unable to adequately defend. Sheriff Azzam may have "stamped" this decree; that does not mean the Council and he are infallible. You have made a mistake in negating the duties of the Watch, and as an officer, it is my duty to request that this mistake be rectified-by both the Council and the Sheriff. Your statement in response to my own assertion that this decree is contrary to the best interests of Sanctuary makes it clear you have no defense for your inhibition of our duties, apart from a vague and pointless political gesture. Councilor Nikitovich's letter likewise shows a clear lack of understanding for the demands and necessities of Watch duties. Our Privates are not going to accept a stamp and a forceful yet baseless reply as justification-and neither will I.

You have failed twice to provide any semblance of appropriate rationale for your restrictions on the activities of the Watch. Do the remaining three Councilors intend to take a turn, or will you consider modifying your untenable decree?

-Lieutenant Sunellar