Hogan Nuttingham wrote:It was hard to say exactly what set off the riots.
Oh, there had been pockets of resistance, despite the news of the Prefect's capture. Revolutionaries could be like that. Some still remained around the Imperial Judex and the Temple of Mors, using the nearby canals as defensive barriers; but the bridges were being overrun from the north and southwest. And the University... well, it was practically a law of nature that universities tended to join in on revolutions. Nothing like putting a lot of young idealists together to generate notions of glory and destiny and freedom. But they'd been mostly content to occupy the school itself and barricade themselves in. Good thing, too; the railway express building just to the north was still a nest of cabbageheads.
Ohhh yes. Cabbage madness. Not just the downtown railway express, either; St. Zor up north was infested, too. The few people in a position to make guesses figured that people had carried cabbages around on the railway lines. Lots of people crammed together, heading off in all different directions... that's the way to spread a contagion, all right. Lucky for the east bank that the Apollonian Guard had taken out the nest at Mattlore Devious Station. Gave them a toehold in that part of the city, too. Supposedly they'd started getting in men and supplies from Goldshire through there, though for some reason they hadn't gotten through to the airport yet.
The Guard had been doing all right, in fact. They'd got most of the city proper, and its entrances. The fact that the three bridges into Lichbrook and Lichkeep had been knocked out had helped, even if the last one had... deconstructed the former Kaiseress. The undead seemed to want to stay out of it, anyway. Probably a good idea. As for the rest, the bridges over the East Elwynn were all in the hands of the Guards, and so were the ones on the Western and Northern Channels, except for the one nearest the University. Most of the city proper was in their hands, they were closing in on the few pockets of resistance left; cabbageheads kept popping in in places outside their zones of control, but not enough in any one place. Outside the Channels things were more spotty, but they'd managed to get a bunch of the railway lines. Made sure they had lines open to Fort Foley and the Lukedu Center for the Exploding Arts. I'm not sure which one would cause more damage if it fell into enemy hands, especially with...
some kind of creatures coming down from that way.
But then the riots started. Hard to say why. Maybe call it... a communication issue.
A lot of citizens had been staying out of it up till then, you see... but when soldiers start trooping through a city and shooting people, a loved one maybe... even if they were a cabbagehead, that kind of thing doesn't win you many friends. And rumors started spreading around. The Steward was being held prisoner in Raynor's Keep by the Guard and being made to sign off on official orders. The liches had got those weirdo mole-people friends of theirs to help create the cabbages as some kind of diabolical plot. The Elwynnese were bringing in bears to eat people while they burned down the city and took peoples' explosives away. Parts of the city were being burned down anyway, it was faster to get rid of cabbages. The folks in charge of all sides were in it together. ...that sort of thing.
And then? The Defacing of the Temple.
The Cedrist Temple was too near the front lines, you see. The Imperial Guard had taken it the day before; it'd been damaged, of course, but not so bad. But when they'd started pushing through toward the Judex, they hit the worst of the resistance, fought for hours back and forth between the two buildings. And then? Something, somewhere, hit the explosives in the basement. The Temple had a supply on hand for La Fiesta de la B0O0O0/\/\ and other holidays. It took out one wing of the Temple, one of the city's holiest sites. On the bright side, though, it did start some fires around the cabbageheads south of Raynor Village.
At any rate... no one could point at exactly who was responsible for touching off the fuse. The only thing people knew for sure was that it'd been in the hands of the Guard. For most people, that was enough.
The district around the National Stadium and the Hippodrome went first. People gathered there, angry and shouting, and the student from the University across the Channel hooked up with them. They were stopped before they reached the Lukedu Center... barely. Talk about a powder keg. But they haven't been pushed back yet.
Around the same time, people poured into Anandja Stadium a little ways north, and Dockland Stadium across the river. Neither was in the Guard's grip yet, so they started rallying and starting bonfires, getting themselves riled up. Self-contained so far, but on the boil.
And then a group started carrying on inside the Guard's zone itself, over in the Old City. That's some serious cojones, there, rioting right down the street from the government buildings. But all those twisty little streets to barricade or hide in... well, they might be better off than you might think.
The city's turning into a war zone. Welcome to Balgurd, son, 'cos that's what Shirekeep is, now.
Now if you'll excuse me... I'm gonna go duck back in the cellar. Sorry, only room for one.