A month has passed since the huge blowup at The Festival of Spirits. Shade and Kitsuno were admissioned into the hospital for immediate care. Shade was main priority for the main hospital staff as her blood loss and internal injuries were becoming serious by the time they got her in. Kitsuno on the other hand, were in the hands of the mages as her body was overloading from overuse of magic. Wilhelm stated, "She is lucky that her own body responded to her limitation. Any further and her own magic would have caused unwanted consequences to her own soul."

Shade was released from the hospital a week after Kitsuno woke up from her own slumber. The younger twin was unconscious for a few days due to her overload, while the elder twin was unconscious from sheer exhaustion and obviously her own internal damages. The latter however, has some of the doctors concerned with her as some injuries, such as the cracks in her ribs, was meant to heal over a very long period of time. Something about Shade's genetics cause her healing process to rapidly speed up the procedure.

Nobody thought about it back when the two first started out when Shade took an arrow directly into her shoulder. Some thought it was sheer luck and a miracle. Now, people are starting to have doubts on what she is.

Talk even began as people were starting to question now why two kitsunes were out in the open without disguises. Some legitimately mistook the two for foxes due to the similarity they have with their non magic enhanced brethren. Much to a point that some were slowly becoming afraid of them.

But, despite that fear was washing over some, there was still those around that cared about the two and still gave them something to do or mill around about. After the whole situation with The Chancellor, Zhutto made an executive decision with the rest of the guild, that both of them are to not take jobs that are heavy staked or leading deeper into Sarydia. This was made due to the foreboding message The Chancellor left them with of the princess's hounds were watching.

The bigger concern for that was having everyone confused. And it was who the princess was. The only indication was something involving a kingdom Dwénshire. Not much is written about the kingdom, but a princess was never established. According to records held as the last known documentation from two thousand years ago, labeled only a king, queen, and prince.

Over time, everyone has become wary of the imminent danger. Despite the tension, some tried to get things back into a normal flow. And with winter knocking on everyone's doorstep, preparations for the season has started.

Morning had passed and a cold breeze blew through the city as snow started accumulating on everything. The streets were not as busy as the last few weeks as the cold air was keeping some indoors longer. Those that did venture out were ones coated in thick fur or those that layers up well enough to stave off the chills.

Over at a small tavern, Shade was alongside her sister and their friend Liam as the three had gotten together for breakfast. With the twins on a heavy restriction of their duties, not many jobs have been fitting for them, leaving it to some of the others to handle. This has been giving them a little more free time to where they have been hanging around the local areas in the regular districts they frequented.

Liam himself was still dutifully progressing as a mage and has been making sure to keep tabs on things a lot better. One thing he made a goal to do now was to watch over Kitsuno as the magic overload she had gave him a bit of a scare. Looking out the window from the table they were seated at, he watches as snowflakes were clinging onto glass before the heat from the firepit inside warmed it up to slide down slowly. "Winter really is a quiet time of the year, isn't it?"

Kitsuno was sipping away at her tea for a moment. The fresh batch perked her up from the cold day, "Indeed. Despite the last few winters being abrasive to Shade and I, we still enjoy the season." She turns to look at Shade, who was tearing into a waffle, "Wouldn't you say so sis?"

The fluffy ridged confection crunches from the fork Shade was using and she lifts a large piece up. Small drips of syrup fall from the piece and down onto the plate, "Definitely going to agree. Mainly because we actually have a proper roof over our heads that doesn't belong to someone else." Opening her maw, she shoves the whole piece in and starts chewing.

Liam, looks in slight concern at the elder twin, "Shade please. Might you consider smaller bites?" Kitsuno stiffles a giggle as she lifts up her cup again, "No chance Liam. When she's hungry, she's hungry. Plus, good way to tell that she enjoys the food." She then takes another sip of her tea, "Mmm... now that you mentioned that sis, I wonder how Onn is doing?"

Shade swallows what was in her mouth and licks her lips of any syrup on them. "I'm sure he's doing alright. He did say the blacksmithing stuff he did was a hobby after all. His main job was what? Carpentry?" Kitsuno nods, "Something along those lines. Just food for thought as he's the first protogen we've met."

The ferret had a confused look on his face, "Protogen? I remember you two talking about this Onn fellow before, but you never explained what he was. What is a protogen?" The two kitsunes pause and look at each other. Shade leans on her left hand on the table, "Well... how do we even explain what Onn is? Besides having furry like features of a... wolf, right?"

"Sorta? He would have to explain himself on those parts. Other parts of him are... futuristic like." Kitsuno takes another sip of her tea before placing the cup down. "Should we ever head back to Orvanellia and take you with us, we'll look for him and you two can talk it over."

Shade smiles before jabbing her fork into another piece of her waffle, "Just a heads up though, he can be a bit of an oddball. Nice guy though." She then begins to gnaw on the other part of the waffle. Liam himself felt like he got little answers and more questions to what a protogen was.

The front door of the tavern opens up and in comes a wolf coated in some snow. The gray feline tavernkeeper walks out from the kitchen with a plate of pancakes and sees the wolf, "Morning Vern. I'll get you a hot drink in a second." Brushing off some of the snow from his face, the brown wolf breathes in the warm air from the tavern, "Ah, much appreciated Jakob as always."

Vern watches as the tavernkeeper heads to the table where the trio was sitting at, "Here we go, three pancakes dusted with powdered sugar. Fresh off the grill for you Liam." He places the plate down in front of the ferret and turns to look at Kitsuno, "I'll be right back out with your crépes Kitsuno."

He walks away back into the kitchen to bring out Kitsuno's meal. The wolf walks over to the table and Kitsuno looks up to meet his gaze, "Hello Vern. How has it been?" Shaking his head and pulling up a seat next to Shade to sit down, "Eh, odd jobs here and there. Some still aren't fond of some of us because of what we did. I can at least be happy that Ken and Blake are doing alright. Those two had a more rough start than I did."

A plate of crépes with mixed berries on top of it was placed on the table in front of Kitsuno, followed by a hot cup of coffee in front of Vern. "Here you both go, enjoy." Jakob places a hand on Shade's shoulder, "Care for another plate of waffles Shade?" She flashes him a smile and nods, "Yes please. These waffles are nice and crisp, yet fluffy goodness on the inside." The feline returns with a warmer smile, "A good meal always makes due with good company."

He walks away back into the kitchen to begin making another plate of waffles for Shade. Vern takes a sip of his coffee as Liam and Kitsuno began digging into their meals. "So, how have things been for you three? Aside from some of the things I have heard that is." Kitsuno and Liam pause while eating and Shade winces a bit as he was mentioning the incident at the festival. He notices this and raises a hand up, "Look, you don't have to go into detail or anything. I already know what you three are capable of." He then gestures towards the twins, "Especially you two."

Shade sighs before leaning back in her chair, "Well, Kit and I have been keeping busy with our mercenary stuff. Kinda been all over the place a bit here in Sarydia with that, even out of the city a few times. Liam here has been busy with he duties as a mage. Though, that's all to him to say how he is going. Right Liam?"

The ferret swallows the piece of pancake he had in his mouth, "Yes. My studies have increased a bit since the investigation of the dryad. Master Wilhelm said that I have been getting better with some of the spells I have been tasked in studying. Some of the other higher mages have been saying I've been progressing faster than a normal student would." His ears seem to flatten down a bit, "Though I feel like I might end up hitting a stopping point eventually."

Kitsuno cocks her head, "Why do you say that Liam?" He shakes his head, "Just a hunch. I've been doing really well as of late, but I have this odd feeling I am about to hit a roadblock in my studies." Vern smiles and places a hand on his head, "Heh, we all have that. Hell, I remember when Rachel was struggling preparing wild game. Girl could fight and hold her ground, but preparing with meat, she had the most saddened expression I have ever seen."

Shade looks over to her sister as she kept eating, "Sounds like she never got the idea that butchering is a part of survival." Kitsuno nods as she sliced up a strawberry, "Sounds like it. But to be fair, you and I did have that moment too."

Flattening her ears, "Yeah, I remember that day. If it wasn't for the fact that we had to survive out in the wild, coupled with the fact that meat tastes good, I might have gone vegetarian." Vern let out a hearty laugh, "Now that's something I cannot see you doing. Someone as viscous as you not eating meat? I'll eat my own shirt if you did."

Liam stiffles some laughter as he could agree a bit. Out of the corner of his eye though, he catches glimpse of something moving outside. Turning his head, he peers outside again and sees someone walking out in the streets. Normally it would be fine to see someone walking about, but the snow was starting to pick up and the person outside was naked.

Confusion hits him for a moment, but soon turns into concern as it was a humaniod looking woman outside clutching onto her bare chest with ice frozen over parts of her hair and limbs. He immediately gets up from his seat and rushes out the door. Shade looks at him as he runs out, "Hey, Liam! Where you going?" She looks out the window as she sees the woman outside shivering, "Oh shit!" The elder kitsune gets out of her seat and rushes outside to help Liam as he approached the woman.

The woman looks at him, "Y-y-you... I r-rem-mber..." the ferret places a hand on her back and looks at Shade, "Shade get the door." She nods and goes to hold the door open. Liam escorts the woman inside and she shivers heavily. Jakob comes out of the kitchen to see what the commotion was all about, then he set eyes on the naked patron before him. "My word, a lady of your caliber should not be roaming about in these conditions."

Vern gets up from his seat and moves it over closer to the firepit and Jakob reaches onto the coat rack to take his jacket and walked over to the woman to wrap it over her shoulders. She is walked over by both the feline and ferret before sitting down on the wooden seat and continues to shiver, before letting out a loud sneeze.

Jakob bows, "I shall fetch milady a warm brew of tea." He then returns back to the kitchen, leaving the others with the woman. Kitsuno observes her for a moment before it dawned on her, "Wait? Isn't she the dryad we ran from in the grotto?"

.......

For the next half hour, the dryad stays in front of the fire to warm up and melt the ice off of her body. Jakob prepared a special field blend tea for her and she warily accepted it at first, but the moment it felt like the forest was touching her lips, did she savor the drink. More patrons had walked in and Jakob tended to them as Liam, Shade, Kitsuno, and Vern stayed near the plant hybrid.

Once she had stopped shivering, she merely glared at Shade. "If I had known the large source of mana emanating from this general direction was this demon, I would have avoided this place." Shade looks back at her from the insult, "Who are you calling a demon?" The dryad points a finger at the elder kitsune, flinging a small piece of ice at her, "The earth screams in disarray because of you. What with you scorching the lands with your own hatred you overflowing well of mana."

Others looked at the group as Shade just turned around and walked away, "Wow... and I thought I had issues." Vern looks at her for a moment before returning his gaze to the dryad. "I can only assume of her starting a fire or two is what you mean. But let's focus more on why you are here."

The woman scoffs before wrapping Jakob's coat tighter around her, "Bah, your kind is no better. I am suppose to be asleep as mother earth has deemed it necessary, yet I get rudely woken up by your brethren molesting me." Shade's ears twitch upon hearing that and turns around, "Wait, his brethren?"

Liam and Kitsuno look at each other before looking at Vern, who narrowed his eyes. "Brethren. One of them wouldn't happen to have red fur now, would they?" She stayed silent for a while, not wanting to speak further. The wolf, however, read through her silence. "Figures he's still causing trouble. Mind telling us where this happened?"

Kitsuno steps away from the dryad to give her some space as she was holding in a lot of tension. "She did say she was sleeping. Most likely in the grotto Liam and I investigated a few months ago." The ferret mage nods before heading to the coat rack to pick up his hat and cloak, "We should inform the guilds on this matter, that way we can get this situated for her."

Vern however, looks over to the kitchen as Jakob was busy inside cooking, "Jakob, if Jennette comes looking for me, tell her something urgent came in." Shade raises an eyebrow as the brown wolf walks towards the door, "Hold up there hot stuff. You're not thinking on going by yourself, are you?" He stops with his hand on the door handle, "Feel free to lend a hand or not, I don't care. I have some loose ends to take care of for good."

He opens the door and leaves, having the door shut behind him. Liam adjusts his hat as he looks over to the dryad, "I know he's a former adversary of the group, but do you think he'll be okay?" Kitsuno looks back at the dryad herself before looking at the door. "He sounded serious too. The grotto is going to be hard to traverse through with the snow." Her thoughts draw back to when she first traveled around there, "What if he runs into a basilisk?"

The dryad finally speaks up, "Basilisk in my domain follow me. When I slumber, they slumber." She then turns around to look at Kitsuno, "However, what awaits them is much worse during this time. Mother earth does not tollerate such disarray to her children. The spirits will act on their own accord." She returned to basking near the fire. "Consider this my only warning should you pursue."

Shade looks at the other two, "Alright then, let's go inform Zhutto what's going on and head out." The trio then make their leave. Jakob comes out of the kitchen to deliver a tray of omelets to one table. Once things were situated, he walked over to check up on the special guest. "Milady. Pardon the intrusion, but mayhaps you take it easy on the young ones? It seemed a bit harsh to consider Shade a demon."

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, "Feline. What you all do not know, will be much worse in the end. The kitsune in gray is a living danger. And her other half is no different. Just awaiting her awakening." Jakob frowns, "I am unclear what you mean, but if it is a warning, I'll take it in stride."

One hike through snow later

After informing both guilds what is going on, Shade and Kitsuno had to do what they could to convince the others to head outside the city in order to assist. It took a lot, mainly some arguing from Shade, to finally break through and let them leave. On the condition to be careful and to come back alive.

Vern had already made his way to the grotto and was waiting for the other three to show up. The trail was collecting snow and making it difficult to watch one's footing. Shade herself ended up slipping down a sloped end of the trail and slide part of the way, leaving snow built up in her armor. When the three arrived, Vern gave them a look and nods, "Alright. If the others are still here, then we need to make it quick."

Liam looks off into the grotto, "Vern, the dryad warned us that something else would be here. Are you certain you want to go through with this?" The wolf sighs, "Yes, I do. That coward I use to follow would do anything to survive. The fact that some of us followed him because he knew some tricks we didn't says something about his leadership. It was up until we found out that we were part of the slave trade where some of us saw how low he was willing to stoop."

Kitsuno closes her eyes, "So, you are thinking of removing him from the picture then?" He nods, "With him gone, it at least is one less slave trader around. Best that I can do, especially after the mess we caused with you three." The ferret looks at the wolf with concern, "We don't even know how many are left. You can't possibly think on taking them all on by yourself."

The wolf smiles before starting to move into the grotto, "Perhaps. But I believe some will come to reason when he is dead. Blind obedience has a grasp on who is left." The other three start moving to keep up. Kitsuno looks around the snow covered nature, "It looks very pretty around here."

Liam nods, "Yes, it does. However we must heed the dryad's warning. Something out here is wandering in her stead because of the disturbance." Shade had scooped some snow off of a low tree branch and was playing with it in shaping it, "Whatever it is, let's just hope we can either deal with it, or get ready to run." Kitsuno watches as Shade made a snowball and jabbed a smile into it with her fingers. "Liam, you can still teleport us, right?"

He places a hand on the back of his head as he looked at the group. "While I can... it is going to be very taxing since it will be four people being transported, compared to last time when it was just you and I. The farthest I believe I can get all four of us would be the entrance to the grotto."

The group ends up reaching a fork in the path and look around. Vern sniffs the air to see if he can find any familiar scents. "Let's save the teleporting as a last ditch effort. As long as we memorize the path we took, shouldn't be hard." He then moves onto the right side of the pathway.

This continues on for a while before a large gust of wind blows against them. Shade and Vern held up their arms to shield themselves, while Kitsuno hid behind them with Liam clutching onto his hat. Once the wind settles, Kitsuno spots a large snow pile with ice. Moving closer to it and wiping off some of the snow made her jump back as horror struck her. Vern was about to ask her what was wrong before seeing the frozen bandit, "What in the world... he's been froze solid?" Shade approaches the bandit and pokes at the ice. "This has to have been by something. It's not that cold out here."

Looking at the expression on the bandit, Liam takes notice of how their eyes were, "They saw something. The way they are frozen solid, the spirits that the dryad mentioned must be roaming around still." Shade clasps her palms together and creates a small fireball and held it near the ice. It slowly began to melt away from the head. Up until enough had melted away from the neck area did Vern put a finger on it. He sighs before letting go and placing a hand on Shade, "You can stop. He's dead."

Shade listened to the wolf and swiped her hands to fling the fireball into smaller pieces onto the snow. It sizzles out but gets covered with more snow. "So, he must have been frozen for a while now if he's got no pulse. Exactly how long ago did the dryad here wake up?"

Liam inspects the body more to make mental notes on what to describe to the mages back in Sarydia, "Even with this weather, it is still roughly two hours away." He then steps away from the body, "However, she must not have much energy left in her if she has to go dormant. For all we know, it could have taken her days."

Looking around the frosty grotto, Shade looks around to see anything that stuck out. This was becoming difficult as the snowflakes have increased in size and falling in heavier amounts, resulting in vision decreasing. "Vern, I know what you are thinking. While this guy is dead already, is HE dead?"

Kitsuno walks up to a small fallen tree and stood up on it to get a slightly better view of things. "If we stay out here for too long, we may end up like them." Squinting her eyes a bit, she spotted something glistening in the distance. "This way!"

The younger twin leaps off the tree and maneuvers around the dormant foliage. The rest of the group followed behind to where she was heading. Stopping by a small frozen pond, there was a sword half frozen against a tree. Shade ends up catching Liam on his waist as he trips over something in the snow, "I gotcha bud."

She helps him back up on his feet and Vern kneels down to brush some snow where Liam tripped. He stopped as he saw a frozen patch of fur matted to the ground. "Here's another. And not that far from the other one too."

"Then they must not have gone too far in this area. But," the ferret mage looks around the tree lining, "That could just be them. We don't really know where the dryad slept." Kitsuno nods as she looks at the frozen pond water, "Not to mention how big this place really is, as what happened with the dryad manipulating the trees to misdirect us. For all we know, this could just be the edge." She turns her head towards Liam, "Remember when we had to hide in that broken vehicle, then that power core thing?"

Brushing some of the snow on his hat off, Liam walks over to the pond, "I do. Though looking for where that use to be would be fruitless. Unless we--"

"Quiet." Vern said as his ears twitched. Another gust of wind blew through the area, but hidden within the howling gale was a slight hissing noise. "You hear that?"

Shade yelps as something hits her from behind and a large puff of misty snow expands from her. She quickly turns around and draws out her shield and spear, "Alright. The hell did that?" Liam gets on the defensive side and proceeds to create a barrier around all four of them. Looking at Shade's back, ice was crystalizing on her armor, "Shade, get closer. Something is using ice magic."

She looks at her shield as part of it got hit as well when it was hooked on her back. "Whatever did that seriously had to aim at my ass? I already have snow in my pants." Vern drew out his own sword and shield, "Liam, think you can keep this barrier up while we search?" The mage nods, "I can. Though I could end up losing concentration should whatever that was gets the jump on us. Just a fair warning."

Keeping a sharp eye out, Kitsuno watches the snow as it fell. She felt suspicious as she could have sworn she saw movement in the distance. Something that looked, hazy.

Nevertheless, the four furred warriors continued their search for the bandits. While two have been found frozen, the would be an off chance someone is still alive. But the trio knew Vern was just out for damage control. Something he believed to be a personal task that was overdue.

The search however, turned out quicker than needed to as the group began to see a few more other wolf bandits frozen solid. A few looked like they were running, some were cowering on the ground. Each one was inspected, but none was the one red furred leader.

Following the trail of frozen bodies, the group finds an area that has proper stone foundations. Almost as if they had stumbled upon an alter. Watching their steps on the snow covered stairway, they make their way up before stopping as the hissing noise echoes in the wind again.

Shade narrows her eyes a bit as she listens, before crouching down and moving forward outside the barrier. Liam looks at the elder kitsune with concern, "Shade get back in the barrier. You might get struck again." She turns around and held a finger over her lips before sneaking up the steps some more, trying to not make too much noise with the snow crunching underneath her footsteps.

Poking up the stairway, she looks around to see what was there as the hissing noise was being constant this time. There she saw another frozen body on display reaching out to something, while a misty looking naga slithered around it. Moving down slowly, she crawled back down to the others on the stairs, "Hey Liam. Know anything about frost snakes?"

He stares at her with a questioning look, "Frost snakes? What did you see up there?" Before she could answer further, the barrier flickered a bit. Vern looks at it as it fades away, "That can't be good."

Kitsuno's ears twitch as she hears something hiss in the distance behind them. She grabs ahold of Liam and pulls him down while Shade gets in front of Vern and blocks an ice spell directed at them. Her shield absorbs it and the front had an icicle sticking to it.

Shade lowers her shield and points her spear at another ice serpent in the distance, "That. Guess there is more here." Liam moves up front his position on the stairs and his eyes widen, "Shade. That's not a mere snake. That's an ice wraith!" Kitsuno quickly let go off Liam and grabbed her bow and an arrow to load it in and release. It flies fast into the wraith and it hisses greatly from the sudden attack.

The other wraith up top however was alerted and it made its way towards the edge of the stairs closer to Shade. Vern looks at both wraiths, "They got us pincered. We need to get off the stairs now!" The elder kitsune focuses her magic and her spear begins to ignite, "Got it. Clear a path, here I come!"

Liam looks at Shade as her spear soon catches fire around the edges, only to see the wraith behind her charge up energy with a large frost ball forming in its maw, "Shade move!" She leaps above them to grip onto her spear and swing it sideways, sending a small shockwave of fire towards the wraith on the bottom. This makes contact with it and it screeches before slithering away.

The mage quickly forms a fireball in his left hand and volleys it at the top wraith, hitting its attack and causing a mist to envelope it, acting as a smoke screen. The rest of them get up and down the stairs to get on more even ground together. Vern then looks at Shade and her spear as it still held some flames to it. That is where an idea pops in his head, "Shade. You can add fire elements to your weapons. Think you can do the same for me?"

Kitsuno draws her bow back with another arrow ready as she aims up top, "Are you sure she can do that safely? She's not exactly sure how her own magic works half the time." Shade backs up a bit to get closer to Vern, "Hey, there is a time and place for everything, right? Let me see it." The two trade weapons for a moment. The warmth radiating from the spear coursed through onto Vern's hands as he held it. Shade on the other hand, held onto his sword and got into an offensive stance, holding the blade up to eye level as she stares on one of the wraiths as it slithers towards them.

The wraith Kitsuno shot was reaching outwards with one clawed arm and swipes upwards, sending a wave of ice in their general direction. This causes them to split as Kitsuno and Vern were on one side, while Shade and Liam were on the other. Liam prepares another fireball and throws it at the wraith, forcing it to dodge as it slumped down forward to avoid the fire making contact.

This is where Shade locked in and sprinted forward with Vern's sword. Fire sparks into his blade as her focus was clear and the metal sears red as she swings downward on the wraith. This deals significant amount of damage as she cuts and burns a wound into its back. She smiles for a moment as not only was this succesful, but also one of the first times she's held a sword and not break it within the first swing.

Her smile did not last long as the wraith she struck swiped upward and a small blast of ice ran up her chest, causing her to stumble backwards. Liam casts another fireball and it directly hits the wraith, forcing it to retreat again. That is where he noticed the one up above, "Shade look out!"

It was too late as when she looked up towards the other wraith is when the cold frost attack it prepared was finished and it leaned forward and exhaled heavily towards the two. A strong blast of wind and ice assaulted the two, but Shade held her shield up as she back up closer to Liam. "Stay behind me Liam! I can--"

Ice quickly forms around her and she is cut off. The winds soon stop and Liam looked in shock to see the kitsune encased in ice. Vern and Kitsuno saw what happened and grew furious. Kitsuno acted quickly and pulled back her bow hard before loading two arrows into the notch, "Say goodbye to your throat." Loosing her grip, the arrows fly fiercely and the wraith had one impact into its neck, the other went into its mouth and shatters one of its fangs.

Vern charged ahead and leapt up onto the stairs, both hands on Shade's spear and thrusts the flaming weapon up. The angle that they were at allowed Vern to pierce the spear into its stomach, causing it to screech in pain as the spear seared into its icy flesh. The wraith flails a bit before fleeing into the snow.

That is when things got quiet again. Only the sounds of their own breaths and the snow falling around them could they here. Vern waited a moment before looking down towards Liam and Kitsuno, "I think we drove them off for now. Let's hurry and thaw Shade out and get out of here before those things come back."

Kitsuno hopped over the jagged ice to rush over to her sister and felt around her ice capsule, "Liam, we gotta get her out of this quick!" He got closer to the younger kitsune and held out his hand as it glows orange, "I'll see how fast I can get her thawed out. If I use actual balls of fire, I might break her." She looks at his hands as he placed it on her sister and watched as the ice slowly started to melt. "Grrr... this isn't going fast enough." This is where he moves one hand to her left hand and holds onto it, "Focus Kitsuno. If you want to assist, then let me guide you."

Kitsuno looks at his hand as he moved her hand over onto the ice, "Channel your own mana. Steady and warm. Don't let it flow out too fast." She stares for a moment at her hand before taking a deep breath and began to focus.

Vern looks at the two as they work together to thaw Shade, but then turns his attention to the frozen bandit. Ignoring the others, he moves forward to look at who was frozen. As he got closer, the brown wolf wiped away at the ice. "Figures. Of course he is the one who molested the dryad. Ungrateful bastard." Stepping back a bit, he looks at the display of his former boss. "Guess this is well deserved karma for you. And here I was out to kill you myself."

His grip on the spear tightens before raising it up, "Though, just to be thorough." With one strong thrust, he impales directly into the chest, causing the ice to shatter and pierce clean through the body. Waiting a moment, he drags the spear out and looks throught he hole as the fire from the spear burnt the insides of the bandits flesh. "Now he won't have a "second chance" again.

Turning around, he walks back down the steps to see that the ice around Shade had cracks forming. Liam had warmed up Shade's right side more, while Kitsuno was working on her left side. Full concentration went into the younger kitsune as her hands were glowing a steady warm orange as she worked on thawing her sister.

The cracks grew bigger and soon started to twitch, causing both Liam and Kitsuno to step back. Shade jerks a bit before forcibly shattering the ice around her, "Gah! Fuck! Cold! That's cold!" She then shudders and attempts to wrap herself up with her own tail as she drops Vern's sword and her shield.

Kitsuno sighs in relief before hugging her sister, "Don't worry sis, I got you. Liam and I helped get you out of there." Shade shivers more before looking at Liam and then nuzzles into her sister, "Thanks. I owe you both."

Liam smiles at both the fact that Shade is now safe and alive, but that Kitsuno also successfully performed her first magic spell without signs of overexertion. Vern approaches the three and held a hand on the back of his head, "Erm... sorry about that. I know I was suppose to help, but..." shaking his head, "Ah, nevermind. Let's get going now while we have the chance." The three agreed. Vern picked up his sword and resheathed it and lifted up Shade's shield to attach her spear to the slot inside it. "Let me know if we need to trade keeping her warm." Thus began the hike out of the grotto and back to Sarydia.