One of the clerics clears his throat. "Everyone. I am sure the chaos and anarchy gripping Korvosa have been quite terrifying and disruptive. In these trying times, we feel new leadership is needed. I am Ricard Santaren, the new archbishop of Asmodeus in Korvosa. We will make further announcements within the coming days."

He walks inside the temple. The procession follows him.

That is definitely not an announcement that he's claiming the throne. Hmmm. Well, it's not one yet.

Maybe she was wrong. It is theoretically possible she was wrong. This is still incredibly suspicious timing.

She purses her mouth and turns to the Captain. "I hate to say this again, just one day after the last time, but I think the Citadel needs to hear about this. If they haven't already." Sigh. "Probably someone else too, but I don't know who."

Obviously at least the other churches, but the guards will pass it to the Abadarans without an issue, and they can probably talk to everyone quickly. No need for her to mention that. Mother should know but that can wait for her to go home, it sounds like they have at least a few days. There isn't a monarch right now to be informed. Wizards have this habit of knowing things, no point telling them. She's probably still missing someone, but it's not really worth her time to figure out who.

A grave expression covers his face. "Indeed. We must return immediately."

The captain leads them down the Heights. The cross into Midland near its southern end. Soon enough, they're back within Citadel Volshyenek.

The captain heads straight for the Field Marshal's office.

The squad is off duty for now. Tencednil should return to the Office of Spells. Captain Paras will meet her there once he's done with his debriefing.

Hmm.

Did anyone say, or imply, she shouldn't go off and talk to other people? If there was even an implication, she will stay right here. If not, though, she will run back home quickly and update Mother before coming back to the Citadel. It probably won't help to get that message passed now rather than in a few hours, but if she can, she may as well.

Tencednil is being paid for her patrol shift, which is not yet over. She shouldn't leave the Citadel until she's dismissed for the day.

Reasonable. She waits and gossips with the squad, then. Nobody actually knows what's going on, but there is no shortage of speculation.

Around ten minutes later, Captain Paras returns. "The higher-ups have been informed. This matter is out of our hands now. We're going to continue our patrol. I'm sure the papers will be full of this tomorrow morning, but when we're out there keep the discussion to a minimum. We don't want to cause a panic."

She stops the increasingly implausible speculation as he comes in. It's not quite that direct, but a quick shift like she's about to talk gets the next person to hesitate a moment, attention turns to her, and when she glances to the door they follow her gaze, see the captain walking in, and conversation doesn't start back up. It's always nice when things just work out like that.

An energetic nod, and she starts talking before anyone else can. "That sounds good! I'm sure someone will know more by the end of the shift anyway." That should set the tone, and the guards are probably professional enough to wait when they're reminded it's just a few hours and they will have more information to chew on if they do.

They patrol for long hours. The exterior around the Temple of Asmodeus has returned to normal. There seems to be elevated street gossip, but the speculation from the pedestrians isn't informative. Citadel Crest seems otherwise the same as it always is. Nothing particularly interesting happens. The guards in their squad mostly stay quiet about current events.

That's almost half of a normal guard shift! They really do exist! If this could just happen for two halves of a shift in a row, she would feel like a real guard.

It's good that there's nothing else obviously about to happen right now. There are enough things going on already, she doesn't know where they would find space to handle another cult. She spends her time trying to figure out what the Asmodeans are doing now that they have a new leader, but it seems they have enough competence to not leak information too blatantly. Oh well.

Eventually, in the early evening, the squad heads back to the Citadel. Tencednil's shift is over for the day. Her payment has been transferred.

Oh good. Back home, and she updates Mother on the events of the day.

<Well done informing me.>

A pause. Mother would never leak information with her body language, and she wouldn't insult Tencednil by pretending to, even when both of them would know it to be intentional. She has the time to be slow and deliberate about her communication right now.

<I will handle the necessary. We will not remain under the rule of a human slave of Asmodeus, nor under a dynasty as young as the Arabastis and with so much less to recommend it. You will have one layer of the Portable Hole. Be prepared to go within one hour of my word.>

The proper weaving of phase spider webs is apparently one of the secrets humans recovered from the drow long ago, or so she was told. It is the only form of spidersilk they know the proper handling of. Proper handling makes it much easier to harvest the ingredients, but Mother didn't have the circle depth to craft a Portable Hole, and she wasn't going to sell the information. (Starlight is easier to gather on the surface, and she has heard stories of drow parties emerging from the World Beneath just to collect it. It's not as hard here. Unfortunately, that doesn't help if you can't push in the power it needs to work.)

That might have changed. Even if it didn't, Mother still has a Hole from... her flight. Giant spiders are hard to transport, but not impossible, it turns out. She might have more than one, Tencednil didn't need to know the exact details. One layer is restrictive, but she can manage it.

She spends the rest of the night organizing her belongings, setting aside what she would need and what she could lose, and ensuring everything is easily collected in five minutes if she needs to. One hour means ten minutes to cast a Sending, five to excuse an immediate need to flee from her shift, possibly thirty to get back, and that leaves fifteen minutes to actually do anything necessary. Best to leave herself time.

Late at night...

Toff Ornelos walks through the Ornelos Hall at the Acadamae. Tall windows line this corridor. Soft moonlight shines past the open curtains. Most everyone is already asleep by now. 

He stops before a majestic painting depicting the Varisian wilderness beneath a red sun.

The painting is pretty.

He will wait.

An invisible portal shimmers into existence behind him. An invisible butler steps out from it. They bow.

Took you long enough. He turns around and steps through the portal.

Toff steps out of a large magic mirror. Its surface reflects the hallway he arrived from.

The room is dark and cluttered. Artistic carpets cover the floor. Shelves full of magic items and alchemical equipment and knickknacks from a dozen worlds line the walls. Tapestries depicting the Great Beyond hang from the ceiling.