I send this letter thrice, to each of the men who were mentioned by the wicked Chosen. I regret the fact that the circumstances surrounding the scrivening of this letter even exist. I am glad that you did what you did. The Chosen are evil monsters, but they are an evil we are unlikely to defeat, and certainly cannot defeat in conventional warfare so far as my understanding of the opposition and our own manpower stands.

Thus, I write to suggest to you all-- back down, for the sake of what you stand for. There is certainly nothing wrong in dying for a righteous cause, and the eradication of these monsters is just that, but the enemy has made it perfectly clear that they are willing to bring suffering on the people of Sanctuary for the actions of its leaders.

While their attacks have been persistant over the years, I do believe that it is very much worth noting the fact that although Upper Sanctuary was attacked, Lower Sanctuary was left entirely unravaged. That being said, Lower Sanctuary will remain out of this open warfare, including myself to prevent a mirror occurance to what happened today in Upper. If this frustrates you, I am sorry. I personally wish we could do more to help you in your time of need, but I'm afraid that after years of impoverished existance (and other reasons which I'll refrain from mentioning) we are quite incapable of having our own militia, much less a fighting force of an elite enough calibur to tackle the Chosen threat.

Lastly, as great as it would be for all of Sanctuary, it is not time for the lycanthropes to fall. The city's domestic troubles are far too grave for such a task. Cooperation must be garnered; not through force, but through mutual building and betterment.

We must have peace amongst men so that we can create peace abroad. Too much is risked to do otherwise.

I hope that you take time to consider my words. Be careful, and may Lord Ilmater protect you.

Painbearer of Lord Ilmater Protector of Lower Sanctuary

Lucius,

Have you received my plans yet? Your lack of response toward this matter is... dissapointing.

As for the Chosens and their strategy, they are much smarter than I had anticipated. An old saying from a preacher of the Red Knight reminded me of that:

"Always leave a way out to an army. Do not surround it by all four sides, but simply by three for if an army has no way out, it will be desperate and fight to the death like a caged animal and that is when said army will be the most dangerous."

The Chosen are leaving us a way out to fracture our people. If you take that bait and remain secluded in your division, you will fall in their trap and we shall surely be defeated. Do not let yourself be manipulated. We are not being overzealous. We are being realistic while facing an army of ratmen who would see us all dead if they had the chance.

Their numbers might be huge, but they are disorganized and facing other threats such as the Conclave of Machine Savant. We'll take greater precaution to ensure they never set foot on Sanctuarian soil again. Mark my words.

- Lieutenant Lothor

I have recieved nothing, Lieutenant. I eagerly await your missive. ((Link it to me please, perhaps I just missed it!))

While the adage is certainly wise, I do not think it is appropriate in this situation. The Chosen, as far as I know, have never been seen outside of Sanctuary in the Underdark. Also, they seem rather content on using us as a buffer so that they can continue on with whatever they are doing down in the pits of the machine. Also, they have not pushed Upper Sanctuary but in fact condense the forces of Sanctuary.

If you believe the Chosen can be defeated, by all means, let me know how it can be done and that will be that. Aside from toppling down half of Dunwarren atop them and all of our children suddenly growing up as hardy, well trained men, I don't see how the four hundred to six hundred fighting men of Sanctuary will be able to enter their domain and defeat them.

All this aside, I do believe you've missed two important facts about Lower Sanctuary. Its men do as they please. They will not help you, even if I supported it. And if I do help you, that leaves the Lowersmen who had nothing to do with it all vulnerable. Lower and her people absolutely cannot afford, in every sense of the word, to wage war upon the Chosen.

Lucius

I have no idea what you are talking about

Andrew Deepingdale

Anything worth fighting for requires sacrifice. I will not condone backing down once again. Never again.

If it is Tempus' will that I fall fighting the rat-men plague, SO BE IT.

-Headmaster Frank Dederich