Counsellor Manasi,

Witness to the event was Raborc, the halfling druid.

Sequence of events is as follows: 1. Outside the inn, a man in a dress approached Raborc and myself demanding "you" unhelm. An unclear order, as both Raborc and I were helmed, as was a passer-by. Considering that it is not necessary to comply with the wishes of any wandering transvestite, nor was it clear who was supposed to unhelm, we ignored the cross-dresser and proceeded to the stairs.

2. When walking to the stairs, he yelled ou, "you stop" - which was again unclear. Who was supposed to stop? Myself? Raborc? Any number of other citizens in the area?

3. The man in the dress followed us up the stairs and said that we were under arrest for minor crimes of not following the orders. On whose authority, it was not stated. Seeing we were dealing with a madman, we both unhelmed as per his unclear request, then got our weapons ready for a trip outside the gates.

4. The transvestite then called for help, cast a spell of paralysis on me and arrested me.

5. In the jail, he demanded 300 coins as a fine for unspecified charges. On request for a councillor - which you were clearly available since you were in the Rock Bottom no more than 5 minutes earlier, he left for a while and returned - all without making a sending for a counsellor.

6. On return, he again demanded the payment of the fine, with the threat of force if not paid.

7. On payment, he refused to release me, and refused to issue a reciept for the payment. Both are required, as I understand Sanctuary arrest procedure.

8. While waiting out my sencence, a second individual was placed in the cell, some mad dwarf I was forced to subdue when he attacked me. Once again, I believe this is against arrest procedures - when apprehending dangerous criminals, the safety of other prisoners is the ressponsibility of the arresting officer, and as such we should have been placed in separate cells. This is clearly showing a lack of forethought and consideration for safety on the part of the arresting officer.

9. After release from jail, I found out the arresting officer was named as Agent Rey.

The events can be confirmed with Raborc, who I believe stays at the Rock Bottom from time to time.

I would like the 300 coin fine returned to myself, and a further 300 coins as compensation for his clearly unprofessional conduct, should he be found lacking in his following of procedures. Additionally, a written apology, and a formal reprimand should be issued to his superiors regarding his conduct.

Finally, I suggest that formal accounting procedures be instituted to prevent those in authority from using arresting as a means to extort coin from honest citizens. [[OOC: donation bowl equivalent and requirement that payment be logged in the forums]]

Morthomios Tarmikos

[[ letter copied and left for Raborc at the Rock Bottom Inn ]]

Dear Sir,

I find it unfortunate that you have chosen to demean our chosen defenders with such groundless attacks on their masculinity. Nonetheless, any accusations of abuse of power by our institutions are a serious matter and worthy of investigation. I fear I will not be able to do much for you in your particular case, but it does bring up issues that may be helpful to citizens in the future. One thing you must recognize is that Sanctuary is far from the enlightened metropolises some of us may be used to. It is, in many ways, a frontier town, and so does not have many of the legal protections some of us may be accustomed to in the larger states of the surface.

It is unfortunate that you feel mistreated by the Spellguard, however, they seem to have acted well within their authorities.

I regret that I cannot offer you any help in your current case, however, I do think that the city has grown enough that it is time we codify certain rules of procedure for our law enforcement authorities, so as to not have citizens feel mistreated when they have a regrettable meeting with the Law.

As I have said, I cannot do much for you in your current case, as it has been shown that the Spellguard acted within their authority. I do thank you for providing me an opportunity to reevaluate how our defenders approach their duties however. Good Luck, Councilor Manasi