TOBY'S Steve had been growing tense as snippets of conversation leak in. He's already sure he loathes most of the people who 'belong' in this room, but the confident young woman stepping up to the stage sets off a lot of alarm bells (the look in her eye alone) and he tensed. As soon as all hell broke he launched himself behind cover, grabbing anybody nearby who wasn't reaching for a gun.
He's got his pistol, he's ready to fire at anybody threatening one of the Derlethians, and the white hat means as a secondary reflex he's not going to let anybody near him get hurt if he can stop it purely out of reflex, whether they deserve it or not. [This applies to human, hostile host/non-hostile host].
Varric sensed shit was weird by the second paragraph. Before the end of the speech he'd identified a sermon, if he ever heard one. Slinking towards the wall, as soon as the mayhem started he grabbed his shotgun and blew away one of the 'bankers' he'd heard bragging about tormenting some 'gutter rats', checked himself for wasting ammo, and started looking for an exit and his friends in the mayhem.