The next few minutes consisted of Colin rushing to Deirdre's side, ensuring the elven woman was okay, Deirdre rushing to Moonwhisper's side, ensuring her wolf was well, and Alice and Bridgette rushing to each other. Once everyone was satisfied that everyone was alive, if injured, Alice triaged the wounds and began spending the remnants of her healing energy to patch up the worst injuries. Once spent, she finally remembered she had no clothes on anymore and whatever lusty haze that had dampened her sense of embarrassment also faded. With a shriek, Alice covered her nudity with her hands, blushing furiously and screaming "Turn around! I need to put clothes on!"

  "Hey babe, I think you got some new tattoos," Bridgette mentioned, casually admiring her lover's nude but panicked body.

  Alice gnced down at herself, seeing that the pink glowing lipstick tattoos that had traced their way up her leg to her pubic bone for the st year had continued their march north, tracing their way up the side of her rib cage and across to her left breast. "Huh," she said, unsure of what to think about them. So far they hadn't really ever done anything useful, aside from looking erotic and keeping her in a constant state of arousal as she could feel Aphrodite's kisses on her body, but maybe some day they'd do something of value.

  Alice looked around, not immediately seeing her healer's dress, and instead pulled a t-shirt from her storage ring and pulled it on over her head, wincing as she raised her still sore shoulder. The t-shirt hung long, past her waist, which was good because she couldn't find any shorts or leggings in the ring at the moment. As she watched, the front of the shirt morphed into an image of a woman's face with a tentacle in her mouth and a stylized chart, the sign reading "0 Days Since My Last Tentacle-Monster Gang-Bang."

  Deirdre snorted in amusement at the shirt, asking, "Will the number change tomorrow?" Alice shrugged, honestly not sure of the answer.

  "I guess it depends on whether she falls into a tentacle monster tomorrow or not," Bridgette replied, walking by, still naked. "Aha! Found them!" The tall woman triumphantly held up a tiny fabric bundle. "My armor!"

  "It's still incredible that it counts as armor," Colin said, refusing to look at any of the women and instead staring off into the trees. "For how little it actually covers. I have socks that weigh more than every article of clothing you're wearing combined."

  Bridgette spun on her heel, dressed now in her goddess-provided chainmail bikini armor, sticking her hands out with a "Tada!" Alice cpped enthusiastically, happy to see the redhead actually wearing clothes for a change, if only to keep Colin's eyes safe. Alice found her own dress, folded nicely and cleaned, sitting in a pile near where the orc chief had died. She stowed it in her storage ring, deciding to get changed ter rather than being naked once more in front of the elves.

  The group slowly worked their way through the orc camp, looting the bodies for anything of value and dragging all the corpses into a single hut that they pnned to light on fire at the end. They ended up getting a rge amount of both leather armor and weapons, which should prove to be quite valuable as trade goods. Colin also found a supply of spell components that the orcish casters must have had hidden, including several fist-size diamonds and other gemstones.

  "Holy shit, I've never seen anything this big before," Colin said in wonder, holding the precious stone up to the sun's rays, a prism of light reflected on his face.

  "That's what she said," Bridgette immediately joked. Alice ughed, both Deirdre and Colin blushing.

  Colin cleared his throat, trying to move past the innuendo. "Ahem, anyway. I think we're just about done looting here. What should we do next?"

  "Seek shelter," Deirdre said, pointing at the sky. They had spent several hours recovering from the fight and engaged in their looting, and now it was early afternoon. A rge system of dark clouds had been moving in from the west and the temperature had dropped about five degrees in the previous hour, the wind picking up as well. "I know a good cave."

  "That storm sure came out of nowhere," Alice said. "Is that normal?"

  "Mountain storms move fast, even before. It's normal," Deirdre assured her. "Let's go." She led the way, starting off at a trot toward the north, following a trail the others scarcely recognized. Over the next hour, Deirdre kept them moving rapidly, dropping back to press a hand to Colin and channel a spell into the wizard when he was looking exhausted. Moonwhisper ran silently alongside, occasionally vanishing into the trees for several minutes before reappearing. By the time they drew close to Deirdre's destination, the storm was nearly upon them, and they could see that it was a te fall snowstorm, full of fury, and dumping huge quantities of snow on the mountain range. The temperature had dropped another ten degrees, their breath starting to fog the air as they ran, and a curtain of freezing rain began falling upon them, instantly drenching the adventurers and chilling them to the bone.

  Finally, Deirdre slowed as they finished climbing a hill and entering a small clearing, the mountain jutting up around them. She quickly walked over to the cliff face, rolling a rge rock out of the way with surprising ease, and beckoned the friends inside. Alice gnced at Bridgette and shrugged, entering the cave. Bridgette and Colin entered next, followed by Moonwhisper, before Deirdre entered as well, rolling the rock closed again. The cave became pitch bck, causing Bridgette to stumble with a curse before Colin summoned a small light, illuminating the space.

  "Is this your home?" Colin asked, gncing around. The opening in the rock face had led about twenty feet into the mountain, then curved sharply down and opened into an area roughly fifty feet in diameter. Small belongings had been left in a corner, some food and a bedroll, but otherwise it was vacant.

  Deirdre's lip curled in amusement, "No, just a convenient spot to spend a night when hunting te. My home is to the north. Much nicer than this."

  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply your home wouldn't be nice! I just was surprised you knew of such a rge space to hide in the mountains, that's all." Colin babbled his apology, trying to backtrack.

  Bridgette ughed and slugged him on the arm pyfully. "So what's the pn? Do we need to set watches or just camp out until the morning?"

  "No need for watches, it's magically concealed and an arm will sound if anything even enters the clearing above."

  "Brr," Alice said suddenly, shivering while cd in just her t-shirt, which was now soaked through with the frozen slush. Her breath continued to be visible in the chill air, the temperature dropping even further as the storm reached the mountain they were sheltering in. "Can we warm this pce up at all?"

  Deirdre paused, looking sheepish. "No, a fire in here would be bad. I have some bnkets, but not enough."

  "It's okay, we can survive. We've got sleeping bags, although they're only three-season bags, not really rated for winter temperatures. I can buddy up with Alice and keep her warm," Bridgette said. "Are you going to be okay, Colin?"

  Colin nodded, rubbing his hands together for warmth, shivering under his wet robes. "Yea, I'll be fine. My robes keep me decently warm, so between them and my sleeping bag, I'm sure it'll be enough. I'll set up a dim light spell over in the corner just so we've got something to see by, then I'm going to call it a night. Elven trances or no, I need sleep today."

  Alice and Bridgette quickly zipped their sleeping bags together, the two women shucking their clothes and hanging them to dry. They then climbed in to the sleeping bag, pressing together for warmth. Colin gnced over, briefly jealous but refusing to look toward Deirdre, as he id out his sleeping bag a little bit away from his friends. He climbed into the bag, teeth ccking together as he shivered in his wet robe, and tried to curl into a ball for warmth.

  Deirdre considered the situation, gncing around the cave, momentary frustration on her face. The elven woman gnced over to where Alice and Bridgette y in their sleeping bag, curled together and gazing curiously back at her. Deirdre stepped over to where Colin y, kneeling down and unzipping his sleeping bag and attaching her own to it, providing a bit more room.

  "Undress," she ordered. Colin stared up at her, brain completely unable to process what he just heard. "Undress," she said again, turning her back to give him privacy. Colin stammered, then started to remove his wizard's robe and the t-shirt and jeans he habitually wore under it, pushing them out of the sleeping bag. Deirdre turned back around, lifting the corner of the sleeping bag and peering in. "Fully," she said, turning back around. Colin gnced around, making eye contact with Alice and Bridgette, his expression one of confusion. Bridgette mouthed, "You go, nerd boy" at the stunned wizard. Alice grinned and gave him a thumbs up as he blushed in return.

  Colin cleared his throat a minute ter saying, "Okay." Deirdre quickly hung his wet clothes, then stripped, her figure backlit by the dim light. Alice and Bridgette averted their gazes out of respect for the woman, and Colin had his eyes cmped shut to avoid accidentally seeing her in a state of undress. Deirdre quickly slid into the sleeping bag behind Colin, her small frame acting as a humorously small 'big spoon' to Colin, her arms curling around his upper chest in the sleeping bag as he stared at the wall, body stiff with shock at the incredibly warm and naked woman pressed up to his back. Her head nuzzled into his shoulder, her incredibly soft hair cascading across him. Oh fuck, he thought to himself. What am I ever going to do?