Mistral has already wrapped himself in his wings, eyes closing wearily.

Pocketing the small tome, Sirithal wisely searches for another way out of the lair. Following the faint light to its source, he finds an opening. It is smaller than the other entrance, but large enough for Dixie and the Pika to use for egress. The blizzard is still in full swing, fierce wind and swirling snow.

Blackbur wearily searches their shelter for signs of any spider kings that may have escaped the destruction before settling in himself. There’s just nothing more he can bring his body to do today.

Using Hurdrak as a pillow, Dixie has fallen asleep without listening to the information Whisker has to offer. She snores lightly, cuddling the spider and completely forgetting about his capability to deal deadly damage. She giggles then wiggles her nose in her dream...a temporary relief from all the misery and woes of life.

‘We have a way out after the blizzard ends...’ wheezes Sirithal. He then takes the blue cloak he found earlier, and gives it to Heidi for the mouselings, before finding a corner and falling into a deep sleep...

A small brown mouse squeezes out of a bundle. He carries an old lute made of pine bark and a thin sword is sheathed at his waist, over Mouse Guard clothing. He pauses for a moment before speaking. "Thank you. I wasn't sure I was going to live through that. But who are you? I'm Anspec."

Hurdrak is surprised when Dixie uses him as a pillow.  He was going to protest but stopped, he had lost his right to do so by injuring the others.  Instead he figured he would take 1st watch.  

In response to Anspec he says, "We are also Mouse Guard but not all of us are mice.  We came after mouselings and had been returning when the storm hit.  We took shelter here.  I guess be glad for the  storm or else we wouldn't have found you."

As Anspec clears the webbing from his eyes, they adjust to the dim light reaching inside the lair, and he recognizes Whiskers. And he knows Tenzi the pika, of course, whom his patrol had been escorting back to Lonelywood- before they were set upon by the ice spider, that is.

Could that be Healer Heidi and her brood..? He also recognizes Blackbur, from another patrol, though he is not sure about the eclectic assortment of irregulars present. A rabbit, a lizard, a bat, and a spider..?   Introductions are brief, as the exhausted patrol seems to be bedding down where they are. 

"I expect so. Eucatastrophe. It's an odd word. But this is just as odd. Why is a spider among you? And a bat?"

Whiskers replies to the room in general "I, I have no idea how I got here." He continues to look suspiciously at the spider, even after Dixie falls asleep against the beast. The mouse will sit on the far side of the room, as far from the spider as he can get, but, he will keep an eye on him.

The patrol manages some much-needed rest, in their requisitioned billet. They still feel somewhat depleted, and the cold is never far, even in their sleep; the ice spiders feature heavily in the dreams of some. When they awaken, some find they had pulled webbing about them for warmth, and the dozens of twisted spiderlings still caught up in the webs, take a moment to register. 

"Nirvel?! Jarvis?! Nimh?! Where are ye, lads?!"  The party awakens to a brief panic, with the mouselings missing, yet again. They quickly turn up this time, however, entering back into the lair from the direction of the cavelet with the obstructed constriction.

"Ma! We found a snake!"  A hurried interrogation reveals it was just a sleepy earth snake they had discovered in the tiny, unexplored tunnel. Apparently they had fed it a few of the dead spiderlings, and it had returned to its slumber, no wish to face the bitter cold above. 

Erhard has gone missing, however, without a trace; and Kilmorrow has not been seen since before the clash with the ice spider matriarch. The losses of the ranger, and especially the tenderpaw, do not sit well with Blackbur. Guardsmice, and even whole patrols, going missing... It has become the norm. It is one of the reasons the mice have banded together with the other small creatures of the wood.

Tenzi the pika is still in poor condition, unable to speak clearly, and will need to be pulled in Dixie's sled if they are to travel. Tenzi, Whiskers, and Anspec are all alarmed when they notice Blackbur's feather, for they recognize it is a symbol- one borne by those who sacrifice to Auril the Frostmaiden and her chosen.

Hurdrak will approach the exit to see if the storm has reduced or ended.  With all they have been through, he is still physically and now emotionally exhausted.  Though it pains him to leave the two missing, the healer and her mouslinga are priority one.

Dixie has her legs tucked under herself, head resting on her front paws. Suddenly she lifts her head, both of her ears point upwards to sense the presence of any kind of threat. She sniffs in the cold air, not feeling well enough to move further from her sprawling position. 

Perception: 7 (rolled with disadvantage)

On waking, before he does anything else, Sirithal pulls out the book he found earlier, taking a quick leaf through the pages...

Dixie's sharp senses now pick up the diminutive serpent's scent, though it does not register as a threat, nor does anything else.

Sirithal peruses the small tome he has found:

A look outside reveals that the long arctic night has yet to end, but beautiful auroras light the sky in hues of purple and green. The blizzard has passed, leaving new snow twice the height of a mouse in its wake, but the winds have died down. The frigid temperatures remain, of course, but conditions are about as favorable as they get, these past two years running now.

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2018/12/15/USAT/2e7b9863-85ac-4faa-aad3-096fc1826c20-GettyImages-841647034.jpg

"It's beautiful out here. When you're always trying to survive in the snow, you don't really notice that."

Blackbur looks at the sky but shrugs. “It’s not food or shelter. Let’s move. The town is still waiting on us to return, and we can’t keep their healer from them too long.”

"I guess so, but beauty like this is just as important."

Hurdrak walks on.  More to himself than anyone else he say, "Take a moment to enjoy the beauty while you can fore one knows not when the dark talon of despair will sink into your soul."