The morning arrived in Venway city and Cypress was, as always in the sunlit hours, no where to be seen. His crusaders rested by day, and many of them seemed as though they had retreated into the deepest cover to escape the wrath of the warlike, burning sol in the skies behind the perpetual layers of stormclouds in the tempestuous cauldron of the Vennish heavens. The dragons who had been sent to aid the Mutiny Alliance by the Godslayer hearth had already met with Cypress Dreadslay the night before. He had given them their own encampment, outside the city and its carping, soul-chilling masses of hopelessness and anguish. The youthful dragon guard were positioned atop the mountains of one of the outlying Venway isles, where the air was still clean and sharp against the lungs in its frigid aspects. Away from the city was where the Mutiny Alliance had traveled, leaving the usual guard behind in their place for the defensive purpose of protecting Venway City. From the capitol building to the outskirts of the sprawling urban blotch upon the surface of the Earth, Kaine Dreadslay's secret police watched with devious shade, ready to call upon a mobilized and organized strike team to any part of the town should the Order somehow want to test the MA defenses again.
Counterattacks against the Warlock Order's broken and beleaguered invasion force could be made from this vantage point upon the highest elevations in the country against virtually any position in the Venway Isles. Cypress Dreadslay wasted no time in doing so, as he ruthlessly sent out two artillery barrages an hour to bombard the Warlock Order ranks. Launched from afar, the shelling against the Order's soldiers gives them two choices - remain on the run, in a disheaveled pack that is constantly being mercilessly thinned in numbers, or die in a wholesale genocide.
Over the last week, the Mutiny Alliance closed off the astral escape routes from the Order's soldiers. They might have gotten in through the Umbra, but getting out would be another matter alltogether. Cypress, leading them into battle himself, has positioned his elite squadrons of sword and machine-gun specialists in the Penumbra of the Venway isles to wait and watch for an Order retreat or a rescue mission.
In addition to the 48 artillery strikes per day, the Warlock Order is constantly being harassed by mechanized Mutiny Alliance soldiers on motorbikes. These "raiding squadrons" always pull back before the next shelling begins, and are covered by 2 of the Mutiny Air Force's "Reaper" Umbral-Air attack fighters. The pair of sleek, black biplane's blitz through the air at horrific speeds, but remain relatively defensive. The most nihilistically spectacular sight of the week, however, is perhaps the greenish, baleful gouts of energy which are sent blitzing into the midst of a few Warlock Order companies from the Reaper biplanes when the enemy attempts to give chase to the fleeing bikers.
Once a glorious advent of conquest and a show of might by the Warlock Order, the reality of waging total war with Cypress Dreadslay has reduced them to a ragged and disheaveled force under siege from all sides, constantly under attack, and trapped behind enemy lines by a murderous blocade.
By the middle of the week, Mutiny Alliance airships, guarded by the two "Reapers," are showering the Order's encampments with paper pamphlets and fliers - imbued with messages that denounce Jaelen Westlock as an incompetent megalomaniac. Surrender now or be annihilated is the message of the day. There is no escape, and no way out.
For now, Cypress sits back and waits for news of the invaders' surrender. He knows that his hated enemy, Jaelen Westlock, will not be so easily defeated. But his troops in Venway can be counted on to either throw their weapons down ot die.
He pens out letters to Archos Godslayer and Ethan Dreadslay, one sent across Venway, by Air Ship this time, to the Godslayer encampments, the other sent by way of the Umbral Railroad directly to his brother in Odindrust.
Dear Archos,
With out using an overly large amount of my soldiers, I have trapped the Order's invaders in Venway as they ran head-on into my ambush away from your advance, as you predicted.
Thank you for the company of your followers that you sent me. In return, I have sent you this squadron of Mutiny Alliance swordsmen to be applied at your disposal. Their leader is Knight Captain Vincent Oswald, of the Ice Thugz, with descent from the bloodline Ventrue antitribu. The other six sworsmen are personally trained and commanded by him and are Cainites, as well, so they will require shelter during the sunlit hours. At night, however, I hope their skill and efficiency is well-proven.
We await the surrender of the Order's invasion force, known for lack of a declared title as their "first army," and have no qualms about continuing to put them down by the dozens each day they refuse to give it up. Your sword could either strike a deathblow to these ragged individuals and we could fully secure the Venway isles as a fortress in and of itself against further attack, or you could move on to Galen Thal in your requested assault as I continue to organize my forces - most of which are located near the Castle's s-called "freestate" pressing MA influence there or in Odindrust, mobilizing Ethan Dreadslay's navy.
To ever push our campaign on to the capitol and homeland of the Warlock Order, one has to knock out their citadels in Galen Thal. I believe your request of a first assault on the country is more than reasonable. Perhaps you could enter Galen Thal from the beaches where you once maintained rule, and the M.A. could sweep upwards, using the swiftness and mobility of our Airship fleets and Naval vessels, to land on the far North (the mountains there were the territory of the old Black Tiger company, if you remember?) and enter the Galen Thal exterior like a sword crashing down upon the head of the Order's rule there, while your forces push inland. Merely ideas, of course. We first need reconaissance on what the Order has in Galen Thal, to determine where our respective factions' talents would be most useful.
What do you think, Archos? Any ideas of your own you would like to throw into the mix?
Please let me know.
Sincerely,
-Cypress Dreadslay
* * *
Dear brother,
What's up Ethan? How is the construction of the Mutiny Alliance navy coming along?
Inspired by your letter of the old Manifesto that I wrote during our former days of uncertainty and revolution, I have decided we should ressurect many of our old titles and orders to maintain a sense of ritualistic elitism amongst all members of the Mutiny Alliance. Never should we forget that we are the crusaders, and we should always fucking act like it. Don't you agree?
Therefor, since we have brought the Ice Thugz into full service again, let's keep its knightly motiff and society in existance as well. You, myself, and Kaine will be its Archknights. Rathian, you can give a fitting title as soon as possible. Also note that the Ice Thugz Archknights all should have a noteworthy weapon that will draw notoriety and fear on the battlefield. I have Number One Assassin, what is your weapon of choice called, again?
What title would you like to assume upon yourself as the leader of our Navy? Let me know and it is your's.
Our current different theatres of battle, are defined as follows:
Venway - The Order's "first army" is surrended with no conceivable means of escape. We are awaiting a rescue mission, although with the inconsistancy of the Warlock Order and their blatant disregard for the lives of their own soldiers, I do not count a rescue attempt as a certainty or even a probability, merely a tactical possibility.
The MAF consists currently of two A-13 "Reaper" biplanes, three fully-armed and manned Air Corsairs, five aerial attack gunboats, and a squadron of assorted other airships, biplanes, and derigibles. Most of our airships are used for troop and supply transport, when the Umbral Railroad is not a necessity, though the Reapers, Air Corsairs, and aerial attack gunboats, should prove useful in the transition between physical and Umbral combat in the future.
Please call for the Hermetic who is in charge of our War Engineers to come to Odindrust immediately, and begin utilizing the ephemeral and industrial resources there for the war effort.
I will look into Midgar with you as soon as Venway is secure.
Meridian:
FUCK Meridian. I've rallied the Sabbat packs of San Diablo to invade the Camarilla's only remaining citadel in that region. I will apply Escape Card and spend a fair amount of my free time on organizing various Sabbat vampires for the Crusade on the vile Camarilla hierarchy there.
The Castle:
Hahahahahahahahahaha...
Ahem...
Sorry about that, brother. Shadowchaser and some raving lunatic do not constitute as a theatre in a war.
That's all I can think of for now, Ethan. Stay in touch.
-Cyp