Lengthy letter sent to the Legates of the Well regarding the Tlonsiyya Mission

[thegn]

[An immaculate letter fashioned with the finest parchment, scented with decadent perfumes, and written with magnificent calligraphy.]

Subat 12th, IY 7787

Dear Legates,

The diplomatic mission to Tlonsiyya undertaken yesterday has concluded most spectacularly thanks to yours truly's efforts. We discussed and assessed a myriad of things as regarding Tlonsiyya, which I shall get to giving a full account, so I needn't provide one in person and be subject to forgetfulness or interruptions.

To begin; we were led to Tlonsiyya by the sudden arrival of a queer Stonefolk by the name of "Gorl", a member of the latent Ferric Exiles, I was told, which guided us through winding tunnels and pathways into the dangerous canyons dotted with harpies. The troubles did not affect our rag-tag and uncoordinated rabble, for my strategic mastery bound them all together into one fine knot— an unassailable knot akin to the very mountains.

Naturally, we arrived in no short time, and walking up to the gates, I loudly demanded they open the gates. Tlonsiyya appeared from the onset, from the very walls of it as a filthy, ragged town of soot-faced layabouts and ragamuffins, and the look we had inside was not at all contrary.

We were welcomed by a scholarly sort, I believe a fellow of the Grand Academy of Baz'eel, Zham Tal, who said he was the vice-chancellor's advisor. He gave us a tour about the place and a history lesson on the place: apparently, Tlonsiyya was a fortress built originally by the Sultana Zainab II, in memory of her mother, Sultana Zainab I, who is commonly attributed the title of "Mother of Mountains".

You see, Sultana Zainab I was a formidable geomancer. Legend has it that in order to protect Baz'eel from the assaulting hand of Qa'im, she sacrificed herself in a ritual to the Wheel in order to raise mountains, in the valleys by the Edutu, to halt the march of the heresiarch's fell forces. In memory of her fabled mother, Sultana Zainab II endeavoured to build all across the desert strong and mighty citadels, the "Hisars". Watch fortresses of grandeur. Ghulati, Korumak, and Tlonsiyya are such examples of Hisars.

The vaunted Tlonsiyya is little more than a backwater, it seems. We wandered the streets and saw men wearing strange masks, mechanical apparatuses to breathe from, and the whole small, squalid dump of a "city" smelt like smog and filth. Strange pipes and other sorts of rubble-- scrap from their "Well" littered the streets all over, painting it in a kind of morose, amber-hue; chock-full of dust, rust, and tar. They had a great barge in their docks, which I'm sure you know is connected by the river to the great Hisar Korumak, which the Third Legion recently lost to Qa'im after they left to protect Ephia's Well during that troublesome time.

Their freighter had strange, large mechanical objects attached at its stern, which the scholarly guide called an "auto-sail". He proudly professed that this mechanisms can carry the ship in any direction, with or without the wind at top speeds, and that this vessels can carry far more than traditional crafts of equivalent size. However, their moor was rather dingy and dismal, having only one of these barges to boast.

The city was a slum, I will say, but at its centre rested the "Silver Madrassa", a college of some considerable size. In it, we found some engineers working away diligently on some scrap, and saw one of their creations: a floating automaton capable of re-assembling itself whenever broken. Its purpose was to catalogue and record all of the scrap that filters out from Tlonsiyya's Well, which was located inside the very Madrassa's core. Stepping into the Madrassa itself, it was lined with a great red carpet and had many machines which spat out smog and smoke constantly. The arch-chancellor, Pakas Oruko, was a great fat, bulbous man with a flowing mustachio, which I must say comes near to being half my own's rival, though still inferior. I should clarify as well, that the title of "chancellor" is defunct there and the vice-chancellor is the sole and supreme power in Tlonsiyya, and has governed there for over two decades already.

Upon entering he spat insults at us vigorously, though he was quickly soothed by my quick wit and genius in my proposal for reparations, you are welcome. I elegantly edged him towards our side, and extracted much intel from his person. Namely, I curled him around my finger and had him become inclined to opening trade relations with Ephia's Well, though the specifics must be discussed at hand by you, Legates (and I am willing to advise in such affairs, naturally). We had a look at their "Well", buried beneath the Madrassa, and it appears to be much like our own Gutters, only littered with all sorts of useful scrap from ancient civilizations. Most notably, they salvage a great deal of baublium, enough to fill whole boxes of cargo full of that priceless stuff.

They have many scholars and experts of scrap and engineering, and allured us with the idea of cannons, automatons, and even wind-mills to keep away the Ashstorms as an alternative to the Shade (this could be cheaper). They toyed with the idea of experts working together jointly, from the Sandstone College and the Silver Madrassa, a unity of sorts.

What they wanted from Ephia's Well is food, well-water, and most importantly, labour. Labour that we have excess of, an excess of refugees that struggle to earn their keep. Their businessmen need employees that will be paid well in exchange for hard work. Keep this in mind. They never mentioned our Gutters, so I think they are uninterested in the arteries of the Great Machine below us.

Their Well is dangerous, and full of many troubles. The most notable of which is a "silent gas", an odourless, colourless gas that can kill a full grown man in mere seconds. They have breathing apparatuses to combat this, but they are not infallible and are expensive. However, there are many treasures buried in their Well-- ours is a Well of water, theirs is a Well of scrap. They sell licenses to access the well on an individual and organization basis, and toyed with the idea of selling one to the Well wholly.

As for ideas of them being Qa'im's allies or heretics, do not worry. They have a temple to Izdu and venerate him in his form as a many-armed Elephant man, I believe the description was something akin to "counter of many-abacaci". I even asked them directly if they are Qa'im's allies (though taking a side-route in my elegant and masterful speechcraft), and they stated that they are not in any way or form affiliated with Qa'im. You needn't worry yourself over that. As for the minotaur, he is a debtor and employee of a prominent merchant of theirs (and diplomat), Raonn Otannuk, a deep-dwarf of Khurkund. I should like to remind you that we too host deep-dwarves of Khurkund in our fine citadel.

I hope I have been informative in this long-winded expository.

- Grand Strategist, Poet-Extraordinaire, Swashbuckling Bravo, Known Philanthropist, Baz'eeli Debonair, Connoisseur of the Consortium, Purple League Paragon, Official Envoy & Diplomat of Ephia's Well,
   The Most Esteemed Hamdan al-Hamdan

[thegn]

[Another copy is sent...]