In the same way that Samuel had been really surprised not only by a sudden drop but also by Etheri's strength when she alone held him up like he weighed nothing. Now it was her turn to be surprised as she suddenly felt someone clutching her right arm.
Leaving her feet dangling over the row of teeth that was waiting for food to drop in. Samuel quickly grit his teeth and pulled her back up with one arm. The pit had formed a small slope but he had shoved his sword into the ground real quick so he wouldn't slide down.
It became more like a tossing motion when he pulled her up the side of the small slope. The worm like creature realized to have lost it's prey and started shuffling about and lunged upward, but Samuel was already way ahead of it.
He held out two fingers and casted a firebolt directly into the open mouth. It sounded just like quickly evaporating water as it started trashing about and quickly pulled itself back down into the ground, escaping the area.
Creatures like these did not enjoy fire a lot, they were not too dangerous in a straight up fight as long as one could employ the proper tactics. They were mostly dangerous because of their ability to lay traps and dig holes to ambush people.
Samuel quickly dragged himself up from the slope, quickly casting a cantrip that made the ice more rough instead of slippery. Adding rough ice unto ice was certainly a way to make the footing more solid.
The others had quickly ran towards the two in the back and Bomfjeord quickly threw his arms around his daughter, crying out that she should be more careful, being painfully reminded that this was how her mother had died he simply hugged his daughter.
"Thank you so much sir mage!" He quickly looked at Samuel who had just dragged himself fully out of the hole. Samuel didn't say anything he simply nodded and sheated his blade, but not before inspecting it. The tip had been damaged, stabbing ice with a sword maybe had not been the best idea.
He sighed as he thought about getting it fixed. He whispered a quick apology to his blade, Erica was the next one to speak as she patted some snow off Samuel. "I thought Ice Crawlies didn't come this far up north?" She asked the question to Bomfjeord who dragged his daughter back on her feet finally.
"No they are not supposed to! Perhaps it's the unusually cold winter, but we don't often see ice drakes this far up either... this entire winter feels... wrong!" He nodded towards the small hole left behind by the worm creature.
"The last few winters have gotten colder and colder. We don't know what the cause is either! Perhaps you can bring this to light when you go back?" He turned towards Bregane and the older ones of the group.
Tere'he nodded, "Indeed, things have been hectic lately, more dangerous missions than normal, we have lost good people, it is almost as if nature is trying to warn us about something big.. something is coming, I will make sure to bring these reports to my masters!" She gave Bomfjeord a curteous bow.
Sarmah was on alert the entire time, checking out for any nearby dangers. "We should keep moving, things are getting colder!" She shouted over the weather that had started picking up. Bomfjeord nodded and had a brief conversation with his daughter who mostly nodded. Before they finally picked up their journey again.
Samuel kept glancing back at Erethi who was still at the back of the line and she tried her best to look away every time. But she seemed to be alright again.
For Erethi she was annoyed and embarrased and thankful all at the same time. She had saved Samuel from the crevasse earlier and gloated and reprimanded him about it. When he had saved her he had done no such thing, he just seemed genuinely worried.
Erethi had met mages from the towns before, sometimes when she travelled to the smaller towns along the southlands. They had almost all been pretentious assholes that only knew how to complain. They didn't show any respect and acted like they were the most important people around. She had never met a nicer mage let alone an entire group of them before.
She didn't know how to act anymore so she grew very unsure of herself, feeling her heart stir and her two halves being confused. Her animalistic side wanted to just run around and run around until she grew tired, because she had come to hate mages during her years.
But now that shell had cracked and she actually grew interested in these people. She was losing herself in thought so much that she walked into Samuels back, not having noticed that the group had stopped temporarily as they were one by one sliding down a smaller slope.
"You alright?" He asked which made her annoyed and happy at the same time. "Yeah I am alright, just keep going pretty boy!" She replied with a huff. Samuel nodded and went down the slope as well, followed closely by her.
After another hour or two they finally arrived at some caves in the middle of nowhere, "We have arrived!" Bomfjeord turned to the group and quickly walked forward and peered into the cave. Smelling the air just to be certain that there was no danger, after a while he nodded and motioned for everyone to follow him inside.
The entire group went inside and they realized it to be quite a long cave tunnel that was going slightly down, further and further down they arrived, lighting the area around them with magical lights that hovered above their heads. Bomfjeord seemed to know the way without the need for lights.
Lycans could of course see pretty well in the dark, but even Sonya and Tere'he could see slightly in the dark because of their respective races. Finally, light at the end of the tunnel was seen. "Prepare for quite the sight!" Bomfjeord warned them as he led them out unto a small plateu.
What awaited them was truly a sight to behold, they all gasped or opened their mouths. Taking off their gloves and hats to take in the sight better. They realized it to be quite warm, what they saw was after all.
Like an entire underground village, with natural light coming from huge warm pools of water and from light being reflected from somewhere above. There were plots of grass and other plants growing there, most importantly it was a warm and safe place.
"We will be camping here until the worst of the storm let's up, which could be anything between one or two days." Bomfjeord spoke as he started taking them down a side path that led them all the way down to the grass.
They quickly realized how much warmer it was down there and followed Bomfjeords example as he was taking off the most of his warm clothes meant for the outside snow. He pointed towards a small hill, "There are supplies for setting up a proper camp there and some better preserved food!"
"If one wishes to bathe in these waters, there are plenty of pools to choose from, but if one wants privacy you can follow the pools further in." He pointed towards the edge of the cavern.
"These caverns continue going inward and opening into more areas like this one, althought a little smaller!" He added and looked at the group. "Feel free to explore, this place is relatively safe! But a little bit of caution is always reccomended!" He grinned at the group showing them his fangs that were definitely more pointy than the rest of his teeth.
Together they all set up a proper camp as they found the supplies, there were plenty of tents to set up. Tere didn't trust anything fully and set up several detection and warning spells along the tunnel entrance.
Erethi was taking a closer look at the group of mages that were now wearing only basic clothing. "If any of you girls want to take a proper bath in peace then I can show you the best place!" She said with a nod and a poor attempt at a smile.
But all the women of the group smiled back. "That would be really nice!" Sonya exclaimed and Erica chimed in, "Yeah I definitely would like to wash off proper!" Even Tere and Sarmah seemed to enjoy the idea and had Erethi lead the way as soon as they were all done with their current task.
Leaving only Bomfjeord, Bregane & Samuel. "You can take some time to do whatever, Bomfjeord and I will be staying here!" Bregane said before holding up a finger. "Just don't go doing anything stupid!"
Samuel raised an eyebrow and saw Bregane tilting his head in the direction of where the women had all gone off to. Samuel laughed and shook his head. "No! I am not suicidal!" And he quickly took off to start exploring the caves further in instead.