As Summer lurched forward the extra hours of daylight were greatly appreciated by the non-Vampire majority present in the Slums. Even into the late hours of the night the sounds of anxious citizens and moving supply caravans could be heard in every dark corner as the citizens of the Slums prepared for the actual war on their doorsteps. News of Weapons and supply caravans moving into the Vampire district travelled fast on the words of the Oracle as many of the residents sat up in arms with their doors locked tight. The creation of the Hellion Court continued to increase the power of the Rat Court as a whole with assistance from a new ally. While it was unsettling for many, including the Caretakers, in the beginning the idea of working together to crime and the power of the Slums outside of the Holy City appealed to many early naysayers. The Dead Men’s attempt to target the Red Court’s supplies was almost immediately thwarted by agents of Mathieu Taraunt who had heard nearly every detail of their plans and were prepared well ahead of time with an ambush, taking out a good portion of their men and injuring their leaders in the process. Haelmir managed to prove his mettle by clearing out half of the Red Court assailants on his own, though wound up with a nasty bite to the left leg. Nace similarly proved his ability by taking out the remaining half on his own, leaving only a single Vampire fleeing on his heels back to the Vampire district. Nace wound up with a much more severe injury, finding his left arm to be broken while bashing in the skull of a Sanguine. While the broker was able to discover the exact routes and quantities of the items delivered to him, this information came much too late to be of any use to the Dead Men. Through a series of connections he established by trading information and discussing the Red Court’s supply routes he was able to add a considerable amount of money to his pocket, bolstering not only his funds by a significant amount but also adding the the Court as a whole. The Black Mares had recruited most of those who were willing to join their cause, failing to find anymore donors willing to either join or contribute supplies to them. Their attempts to seize more “territory” for themselves did succeed, however, as many of the citizens around their base were content to hoist the Black Mares banners in exchange for some degree of protection. The Justicar arrived with the Rat Queen on the doorstep of Donais Kroff, only to have Moji turned away by the leader of the Planetouched while Tullius was welcomed inside. Moji had not one the favor of Kroff in the weeks past, many of the Planetouched dubbing her a “false Silven” for not having dealt with the machinations of the Red Court through more violent means. Tullius was able to not only raise a number of Planetouched to his newly formed slum Militia, but also gain a small increase in both favor and personal manpower from the Planetouched. As the Citizens’ Union scrambled to elect a new leader they found solace in Tullius as well, adding to the militia and his personal manpower. The Scribe’s attempt at sending Emissaries was unremarkable as she had very little pull with the existing community, being relatively unknown. The Dread Allegiance seemed apathetic, listening to the emissary but ignoring their requests and their sweet talking. The Citizens’ Union acted in a similar fashion, but at least send them back with a “we’ll think on it”. The Planetouched agreed to many of the things being said and agreed to contribute a handful of mages to future efforts. The leader of the Fervent, Jakkel the Mad, saw it fit to send the charred remains of the Faith of Estel Emissary back in a box to the newly appointed Scribe, making a point that the Fervent had little faith in what the Scribe was doing. Her attempts at reconnaissance were also fairly underwhelming, returning only to confirm knowledge that was already known by the Broker involving Red Court trade routes. The Red Rooks and Sophie Perrot found a bit of victory in their working with the Red Court. They managed to turn the formerly dilapidated Asylum into a literal fort, kicking out many of the squatters and non-sanguine before boarding up the windows with heavy wood and scrap metal, as well as placing barricades in front around around the building. As they finished however, the Rooks and Sophie would find themselves evicted and thrown the the curb, the Red Court claiming the Asylum as their new home. Now the growing army not only had weapons, they also had a castle to defend themselves with. For Mathieu Taraunt, it seemed nearly too good to be true.
