Two of the dogs slump to the ground. The third roars, blinking rapidly, and turns away from the shadow to face her.

The blob barrels into the one nearest the conscious dog. It hits it in the skull, not that hard, but it might draw attention.

The dog slams into Tencednil's chest, tearing a chunk of flesh from her side with its long teeth.

She falls over! The shadow rushes at the dog, but bounces off fruitlessly. 

She needs to be careful, here. If she gives it an opening, if it gets in another bite, she will be bleeding out in the streets, for just long enough to be devoured whole. If that bite was at a slightly better angle, she would be unconscious already from the pain. But if she does this just right—

Color Spray, again. Suddenly, this time, with less arm-waving.

The dog stumbles and falls to the ground. The alley is silent. Her wounds are bleeding.

The alley is not silent! Her breath is audible, that was far too close.

Well, nothing for it now. She looks over the dog that nearly killed her, and... shoots straight for the neck.

The bolt goes straight through the dog's neck and it ceases breathing.

Good. If it almost killed her, it's only fair for her to have an easy time killing it back.

Reload, on to the next... bolt to the neck!

The shadow launches itself happily at the same one a few times. Eventually it hits something important near the eye socket. At a bad angle, even a rock to the skull can be lethal.

She bandages herself, but she needs a channel. That was bad. The bank should have one scheduled at noon, and it's worth a shield to not be walking around like this, not to be trying to reach the Academae while halfway dead. She cuts off one of the dogs' heads, limps her way down to the bank and tells the guards she's there to wait for the channel.

She also tells them that some of the dogs that were killing people in the Shingles got out and are roaming the streets. She killed a few (and she presents the head as proof), but there may be more out there. They probably can't do anything about it, but it's possible there was a bit of a bounty, and getting the word out is free and possibly beneficial.

The guards grimace when she shows them the head. "There's not much we can do right now, but thanks for the tip."

It's a little under an hour until noon. The bank has a waiting room for channels, and it's rather full.

And that's why it cost a full shield! Usually channels are common enough that it would only be a few pinch, but recent events are what they are. 

If she's spending an hour with other wounded, she may as well listen to them. Everyone must have some story for why they're here. Some of them might be informative, and she can brag about her own bite to try to get them started. Anything interesting for an open ear?

Oh, everyone's got something to complain about.

This one got jumped, this one was in a store during a robbery, this one got bitten by a spider that somehow made it all the way down from the Shingles, this one slipped and fell down a staircase...

She nods and sympathizes. The Shingles really is leaking today, isn't it? Not that she's saying anything bad about the guards, she would never, but it's not just people making the streets dangerous today. Then there's the robberies making it worse, and the guard is trying but she saw some bleeding out in the middle of a street just an hour ago. She tried to keep them alive, of course, but who knows if it worked.

(She has no comment on the staircase. Humans.)

Eventually they're lead into a large circular room with a cleric standing in the center. After making sure everyone is within the circle, the cleric channels.

All of Tencednil's wounds close.

Alright. That was terrifying, she almost died, and she still doesn't know what's going on at the Academae.

They met around noon the first time, and she said the same place this week. She should at least check on the tavern. It's probably more crowded that way anyway, which means less risk of death by animals. Mugging, maybe, but mugging is less likely to be lethal.

The Rusted Anchor at the north end of the Midland docks is open! The windows are boarded up, and an armed man stands at the entrance, but it is open. It seems the fires did not reach this far.

A low din of discussion fills the bar. Nobody from her party is there, yet.

If they decided not to come, she can't blame them. They might just be delayed, though.

She buys something cheap to eat and takes a seat. Does anyone show up in the next ten to fifteen minutes?

Mika does! He grins when he sees her and walks over. "It's good to see you again. Everything's a right mess now. The King just had to get himself offed by a dragon."

"So I heard. Do you know how many dogs there were in the pack that was eating people? Three fewer now, but I'd not take such a risk again if I can help it."

He scratches his chin. "Oh, from the Shingles... five or six, I think it was? Those are very bad, did you get bitten?"

"I did. I know enough healing to try to treat it, but I might need to scrape together the money for a Remove. Only time will tell, at this point."

"Fair enough. If the others don't show we can't use the money from the wizard's lair. The city just had to go to shit the moment we hit it big..."

"I still have the vials from the drawer, and some of it was magic. The other two were supposed to be finding a buyer, but..." She gestures to the general everything. "Worst case I'm sure some enchanter can use it, but that would waste at least half what we could get for it."

Mika brightens up. "That's good! I'm gonna eat and then we can wait and see if they show."

He buys a drink and orders some food.

She nibbles her own food and gives him space to talk.

After half an hour passes, she's finished her own meal. "They don't seem to be coming. The streets are a mess right now, so they might be at the Academae and sensibly not walking around to get mugged for their spellbooks. I'll head up that way and see what's happening, and maybe send them a letter. Speaking of, we should have a better way to talk to each other than this. I can receive letters to 12 Lastlight, Northgate, North Point. ...No, I can't afford it on my own, and no I can't expect family money. I could find a buyer for the ring, that's about it."