In the County of Coivra, the people continue to riot and protest their ruler. Despite the Finance minister agreeing to the financial settlement with the Anahera, and a slight increase in the economic situation in both Coivra and the Anahera lands, the political situation in Coivra continues to destabilize. The Anahera Cabal sends a series of angry letters to the Chancellor, accusing the Finance Minister of undermining their lands anyway to get the money demanded in the past back through underhanded means, as they have evidence of political demagoguery and inciting of the local populace against the Anahera Coivra puppet. House Fristadvlom courts the Kerwolf Duke to ask about their stance with Viduggla versus Typhonus. With the building tension in the regions, as well as the Viduggla weapons stockpiling, the punitive tax on House Viduggla by the state, the Typhonus military courting of alliance with the Margraves, the Kerwolf Duchy states they intend to support House Viduggla in their sovereign defense. They furthermore mention that, despite it not being their will, they perceive the actions of the state as forcing an ultimatum or confrontation with the northern states that will once more plunge the region into military chaos, but they mention that this time they will be better prepared than they were during the Burning of the North. House Yaotl spends a considerable sum of money on the Soor-Rassa-Allar to produce a dust combustible. The Soor-Rassa-Allar provides a crate of modified Obscura, which (while still causing the usual Obscura effects) also spreads out a thin glittery dust over the explosive area, thus producing both a bright flash that blinds for five seconds, and spreads visible dust over a large area. Yaotl further also sends a Dexai immigrant back to the Sihai lands to investigate the astrological features, but provides this mission no finances, and the Dexai immigrant returns home, not having been able to secure any meetings or contacts. House von Drachenburg invests some money into the application of von Treppewitz hand-held cannon usage against the Kathar. von Treppewitz, due to the Chain of the Dragonclaw, allows von Drachenburg access to their military hardware, but they all quickly conclude these weapons are currently not in a state of being mass-produced. At best, a few crackshot soldiers could be trained to use these expensive weapons, but the fine machinery inside of it is far more complicated than even Puretek, and cannot be produced more than a handful times per year by a single smithy. Avalorn invests money into increasing their commerce, succeeding in doing so. Furthermore, the Sol also invests finances into the Altalar Portalkey, but is unable to reach any sort of results. The investigators theorize that the Portalkey has a fixed end point, but there is no way to tell without sending someone into it, which poses a massive risk. They recommend that their Sol contacts a Vampire Zikiel who is able to trace the location of a person and then send that person through, and to use a /very/ expendable person. In the Viduggla lands, Reverend Aelfric Harhold and the Guiding Eye missionaries are banned from entering the Northland Confederacy. Furthermore, discussions among the other Drixagh lords causes an agreement to be brought up by Zastorzy and the Kerwolf Duke in which Reverend Aelfrid Harhold and his missionaries are essentially barred from the whole of Drixagh, on the punishment of death for inciting rebellion and bringing false witness to divinity. Viduggla sends some troops to train the West Dragenthal Duchy against Harhold, but fails to actually make an impact as no finances are provided and the officers train at most 10 men. Finally, the Velheim Commune reinforces the embargo against the Guiding Eye, taking up positions around ports and the borderlands to try and catch any Guiding eye missionaries or Aelfric Harhold should they try to enter. Viduggla finally also produces some stability investments, paying off. Other Velheim Commune mercenaries also travel to Carmoor to encourage the struggle against Talath, but neither of these states seem very interested right now in an open war, so the situation remains stagnant. In Tirgunn, with the lack of response from House du Brierüst, another number of Barons are assassinated. It becomes pretty obvious that Leufred du Brierüst's loyalists are being toppled one by one, with the source and cuplrit or motivation still unknown, but negatively affecting the stability of their realm. House Harhold summons the levy troops, sending all troops to the capital, while the West Dragenthal Duchy sends its troops across the border and lays into the siege of Voortheer, one of the border cities. With the Viduggla supplies and morale among troops high, this siege appears to be well set-up, with the additional promise from the Barons that while they will pillage the countryside, unlike Harhold, they choose to spare the cities utter destruction. Finally, House Avalorn activates another Artifact, producing an Artifact douser. Artifact dousers were used by the Altalar to track down magical items. This item is stored in the Avalorn Estate treasury in their homeland, which when acquired, allows the wielder to rapidly track down an artifact on a one-time use, giving House Avalorn an edge in finding the next Artifact should one show up. If they can keep in control of the douser, that is.
