The Cloudrest Shooting

Also known as the Cloudrest Massacre by Summerset Flame members and supporters, The Cloudrest Shooting was an incident on 5E 029, in which Aldmeri Dominion guards killed three civilians and injured six others. The incident was turned to the advantage of both rebels and Dominion government as propaganda fuel, to drive animosity toward the opposite sides.

Background
Cloudrest was (and still is) an important strategic hold for either side, but was a chore to defend; tunnels and sewer openings led inside easily, and the region Cloudrest is situated in has many potential ambush spots for patrols. The eventual encirclement of Cloudrest by rebel soldiers gave Cloudrest the bitter nickname 'The Gold Rat Nest' by civilians, referring to the Elven armour of Dominion guards and the slow corruption of the city as crime, disease and starvation rates rose.

Cloudrest civilians had begun to protest against the stubbornness of the guards' decision to not surrender, as many families began to live in the same building (most wooden ones were torn down for firewood) and stole often from the soldiers' supplies. A few rebel spies that had been caught by either guards or civilians were beaten and chased out until energy left the populace, and agents barely had to hide.

Five weeks into the siege of Cloudrest, military support and food was sent to the city, the latter being hidden from the populace and being rationed. Guards attempted to calm angry and desperate civilians, claiming that food had to be used carefully. Unfortunately, this only proved a factor to the eventual shooting as tempers rose.

As for the support, gunpowder supply lines had been attacked continuously by Dominion troops, as well as a series of night raids by battlemages. This eventually thinned the effectiveness of the rebel troops, but not the siege. However, disease had begun to spread to the Flame soldiers, who were unaware of it until more wounded began to arrive in their field hospitals; many were reported to have skin and eye problems, or would die overnight.

The tensions grew for another two weeks, and the siege was only slightly weakened by disease and supply problems. Due to the now nervous and defensive nature of guards, the already destructive civilians began to harass soldiers, with most hiding out in barracks anyway, constantly checking themselves for disease symptoms. One soldier was alienated by his despairing wife, and when he was allegedly cheated on, took his own life; the bitterness of the guards and the panic of the people merely grew.