[A weary and ill-looking Ordinant Laramie Lathae walks briefly from the Chapterhouse with a folder under his arm. He takes from the foulder to sheets of paper filled with writing and nails them side-by-side or the first above the second to each surface next to be mentioed: The sign of the Steady Hand, the wall outside of the Crone, and the wall outside of the Rock Bottom. He then returns to the Chapterhouse, his normally errect posture somewhat slumped and his hair untidey.]
[The two page essays reads:]
FOOTHOLD: THE STEADY HAND
IT SHOULD be understood that the Society of the Ordered Mind is not affiliated with the city of Sanctuary, its government, or its official businesses. That said, the government of Sanctuary is not responsible for the destruction of the tavern named the Steady Hand and surrounding edifices. Any blame placed upon official elements of the upper quarter of Sanctuary are is completely false and should be regarded as malicious finger-pointing. There are only two elements involved with this calamitous event, both of whom are neither members of the city, nor act upon the city’s behalf. These elements are, namely, the Society of the Ordered Mind (whose presence and location within the upper quarter of Sanctuary are condoned by Mayor Bresley, but whose actions and motives are completely its own) and the rogue illithid Intryzz (who is the proprietor of the Pyrimo Inn, an ex-urban establishment which has repeatedly proven to be a dangerous and subtle threat to the city).
THUS, a third-party war fought in the premise of the city of Sanctuary should not be dividing its citizenry, it should be bringing it together to stop such an occurrence from re-occurring. Persons pointing fingers and spoon-feeding the populace malice, especially directed at the government and organizations of Upper are either ignorant of the situation, using the situation to gain personal power and recognition, or both
WE WOULD also like to note, nay stress, that the actions of the Society of the Ordered Mind were a surprise to, and were not condoned by, the Spellguard, the Watch, the Tigereyes, the council, nor the Mayor. In fact, the Tigereyes and the Watch collaborated in the investigation of the actions of Ordinant Waters and Ordinant Lathae after the event. That included several house arrests and jail time due to a level of obstructionism on the part of Ordinant Lathae.
NOW WE will explain the events behind the destruction of the Steady Hand and the details of these events. We would have the readers take into mind that this summary is not a justification of the actions of Ordinants Lathae and Waters and the Society of the Ordered Mind. Rather, it is for the information of the citizenry of Sanctuary, for it to reflect and judge upon.
THE SVIRFNEBLIN barkeep of the Steady Hand tavern was known to hand out keys to the Pyrimo Inn. Thus the Society of the Ordered Mind assumed him to be an agent or thrall of the illithid proprietor Intryzz. Now it should be obvious of the danger behind the machinations of any sort which spawn from the mind of an aberrant of nature such as an illithid. Ordinants Waters and Lathae went to investigate the gnome in his establishment and slew him upon apparent proof of his thralldom. The corpse’s head and neck were ripped open to reveal a plethora of macabre implants, devices, and organisms of illithid design. The gnome’s key was taken and used to extensively investigate the backrooms of the establishment revealing: bizarre equipment, hostile and dangerous psionic monsters and aberrations, a kennel for such monsters, a torture chamber, and a portal to Intryzz’s personal lair – the Pyrimo Inn. Before much decision could be made by the two ordinants, our foe, Intryzz, who we are sworn to slay and destroy, sent through his portal sucidal goblin thralls armed with explosives.
ORDINANT WATERS held the main door to the portal chamber as Ordinant Lathae went to the Societal Chapterhouse. Citizens may recall hearing or sensing several repeated thuds from lower. These were the goblins. Waters repelled wave after wave behind the stone door before Lathae returned with several barrels of alchemist’s fire. Waters released the door after Lathae (and two other citizens left unnamed due to their ignorance of their actions) planted the barrels and the next goblin bomber detonated the charges. Unfortunately, several citizens had began to gather inside of the tavern after hearing the goblin bombs in an otherwise clear war-zone the Society of the Ordered Mind was operating in. The Ordinants attempted to usher as many as possible out of the building, but the detonation was made by Intryzz’s bomber, not the Society, therefore the slower citizens were caught in the rubble.
THE CONCLUSIONS we draw from this event are such, and we hope that the citizenry will also conclude: - Despite the rash decisions of the Society of the Ordered Mind, its actions destroyed a huge foothold within the city and prevented the incineration of and the possibility of an internal invasion of Lower through the portal to the Pyrimo Inn at the cost of a single building in the Canal Ward. - It was not the place of the Society of the Ordered Mind to act with authority within the city walls of Sanctuary without the word of Sanctuary’s people or government. - This city has allowed illithid threats to infiltrate the city while the people and organizations of Sanctuary have been paying all of their attentions to much more blatant (though, arguably, as dangerous) threats to the city. It should be made a priority of the city to pay more careful attention to outside threats of a more guileful nature and of aberrant origin. This requires citizens to report unusual and suspicious persons or findings to one of the three main defense organizations: The Tigereyes, the Watch, and the Spellguard.
AND SO the Society of the ordered Mind takes full responsibility for the destruction of the building once known as the Steady Hand, but it was done as a favor to the city and its people, and, more importantly to us, it was done to fulfill our duty and credo. Slander us if you will, oust us if you will, threaten us with murder if you will (and all of these things have already begun since the day we detonated those charges in the Canal Ward), but do not let this divide your city. Cease fighting each other, know your true foes.
-- Ordinant Lathae, Laramie On behalf of the Society of the Ordered Mind and its sworn bretheren.