None of these guards were at Castle Korvosa during the attack. Some of them work for the Bank of Abadar specifically and the most of the others have rotations in North Point.

The guards believe the story from the paper—that the dragon swooped down with the cover of fog and burned the King and his seneschal to death. The speculation about why it might've happened seems only marginally better informed than street gossip.

Oh well. It was worth the attempt.

If they don't have any useful information, that just means she should get what she can. There's no reason to make this a waste of her time more than it already is. She spends the next while talking to the nearby guards about what they do when they're not working, how they think their families are handling this, and maybe what they thought of the impressive Breaching results.

The guards give predictable answers. They do typical human things in their free time, they're worried about their families (especially if they're in bad districts), this year's Breaching was fantastic and it's a shame this disaster ruined the post-holiday season.

A few hours pass. Some vagrants and strange men yell at the wall, some stones are thrown, but no more mobs form outside the Bank.

No mobs is good! She ducks away from the stones, and doesn't even intentionally miss them with Splashes because she's being a good helpful drow who is easy to get along with and not risky. It seems like the risk is mostly elsewhere? That's for the best, maybe their home won't even be destroyed by the time they get to it. Free food for the spiders, yes, and Mother will have packed everything that matters, but that doesn't mean it's enjoyable to get to sleep in a broken bed when all the decent web-hammocks are torn up.

Eventually, Mother comes down. "All I am here for has been done. It is time we returned. Come." <You and your brother will be on watch this time, I will be floating you both.>

She passes a cord to Tencednil and her brother, and they walk past the guards. Once they are in the open, she gestures to the two of them — and they float up into the air, ascending to a height which lets them see over the nearby buildings. Then she walks off, dragging them along with her like slightly recalcitrant balloons.

Her shadow blob bobs along as Mother walks. It clearly finds this incredibly amusing.

...She might just be projecting feelings onto it. She isn't, though, she can feel it giggling at her.

By now the fog has faded and Tencednil has a view of the city. It's not looking good. There is indeed a fire at the Midland docks, and it seems uncontained. Castle Korvosa itself is no longer burning, but one of the towers looks melted and warped. A low din of unrest rumbles throughout the city.

It seems nobody feels like robbing the fancy drow and her flying companions. Their home is intact, although something has scuffed up the door a little.

She spends the next few hours playing some more with her Acid Splash. This is not a time to go out exploring on her own, and she is far too distinctive to be visibly around Castle Korvosa right now. No matter what happens, someone would blame her for it.

She might have a meeting with the others tomorrow, so she does need to sleep tonight. In this environment, seedy taverns might not be the best place to be, but she doesn't have another way to get in contact with them. Hopefully a few minutes to check if they're there won't be too much of a problem.

KORVOSAN CARRIER
STARDAY, SARENITH 6th, 4708

FLAMES QUELLED BUT PORTS REMAIN CLOSED, NIGHTTIME CURFEW IN FORCE

So far the riots have been mostly localized to Midland, Old Korvosa, and the areas surrounding Castle Korvosa. Even so, much damage has been done. The main port at Midland cannot reopen at anywhere close to full capacity until repairs are completed. The Order of the Nail dispatched a force from Citadel Vraid to help quell the chaos, and it arrived this morning. The newspapers speak nothing of the King or the Crimson Throne. The status of the city's leadership is unclear.

Nighttime curfew? That means spending all the best time stuck indoors! Humans. Fine. Best not to get herself in legal trouble for something so pointless.

"Quell the chaos" is a worrying way to put it. That might mean less risk from random people, but definitely means more from Hellknights. Yet more reason to ensure she doesn't do anything technically illegal. Oh well.

Before going down to the tavern, she heads up the hill to get her own view of what's happening with the Castle and the Academae. What does she encounter on her way?

Tencednil hears a window smash as she rounds a corner.

Broken glass is strewn across the street. The door to a shop has been wrenched open. It seems the guard have caught a gang mid-robbery, but it's not going their way. One of the guardsmen is unconscious on the floor, and the others are in a two-versus-three melee. A fourth thug fires a crossbow, which clanks as it bounces off one of the guardsmen's helmets.

She still can't steal things from the robbers, especially not with guards there. Is there any reason for her to intervene? ...no, she can't see any way getting involved here would help her. She un-rounds that corner and waits fifteen seconds before starting to move again.

When she peeks around the corner again, all of the guards are unconscious and one has a bolt sticking out of their chest.

The thieves have split off, one looting the bodies and three continuing to loot the store. After a minute, they've vanished out the back into an alley.

Once they're gone, she does rush over and check if the stabbed guard is already dead, or, for that matter, if any of the others are currently in the process of dying. Trying to keep them alive is riskless and easy.

None of the guards are dead, but they're not doing great. The one with the bolt in his chest is the worst off.

He's the first priority, then.

She needs about twenty seconds to get him back to basic stability, and ten more to reposition and bandage a second to a point which seems safe. There is only one of her, though, and three of them trying to die on her. And she's not exactly trained for this. The third chokes, spasms, and stops breathing even while she works.

The first two she works on seem to get a little better. Their breathing evens out, at least, and they're not bleeding to death.

Well, she's done what she can cheaply do. No point getting depressed about this death in the guard. No doubt they're taking a lot of losses today.

With that handled, she goes back to walking up. Is the area around the castle mostly empty?

The Grand Mastaba and the streets directly adjacent to it are sealed off by shield-walls of guardsmen and barricaded emplacements. The Heights overall is accessible but there are few people on the streets—many shops have boarded up their windows and it seems like most of the city's wealthiest are staying inside.

What a reasonable choice those wealthiest are making. Once she sees shield-walls in multiple places, she turns and starts making her way over to the Academae. The guards are probably too professional for her to get past, and even if she could she doesn't have any real reason.

The Heights are no doubt among the safer streets right now, as ever. Right now, safer doesn't mean safe. Does she pass any more robbing or looting as she walks?

On her way towards the Academae, she doesn't see any robbing or looting. Citadel Crest seems deserted.

After a few minutes of walking, her familiar becomes alarmed.

Growling cuts through the silence of the streets. A large rabid dog, the size of a crouching man, emerges from an alley. Two more round the street corner behind Tencednil. They look hungry.

That's... burning bright in day. She reads some of the newspaper articles, and while it's not going to show up as much as a stabbing fight that leaves multiple corpses on each side, the three (or possibly four) mauled to death and half-devoured by what looked like wolves still did get a mention. That was in the Shingles, though. This is... bad. Very bad. 

First hope: get out of sight. They can smell her, but they might find something better. Second hope: get them dead, quickly. 

"Block them!" She dives around a corner, pulling out her crossbow as she goes. Her shadow hovers right at the corner of the alley, bouncing to attract attention. Hopefully they'll jump on it first.

The dogs bark horribly and follow her, racing down the street, around the corner, and into the alley.

One of them goes for her shadow. The other two lunge in her direction.

Ack! She flinches back gracefully shifts out of their reach. 

Color Spray!