There were times to look back over one's shoulder, and there were times to run straight ahead while trying not to even think about what was coming up behind you. For Jötz, this was one of the latter. Only slightly less worrying was the eagerness in which Ivy had accepted the proffered weapon, the gun being nearly yanked out of his hand as he passed it up to her. By the sounds that followed, however, she was putting it to good use! He only winced a little when her elbows dug into his shoulder blade with each thunderous recoil; for the first time in many decades, Jötz had to wonder if he was going to have bruises. That thought was quickly driven out by the growling croak that was more scream than ribbit. Ivy had apparently scored at least one critical hit on the beast. The sounds of its brood were beginning to lessen as his pounding legs put more distance between them and the toads, and the Jaeger did everything he could to ensure that as many large boulders, trees, hummocks and other obstacles were included in that distance. 

Still... he couldn't help but notice that many of the formations were oddly rectangular in shape. He nodded in distraction as the girl suggested finding somewhere new to hide. "Dat's a gut idea!" he called back up to her. "Lessee if ve can-"

Jötz didn't have a chance to complete his sentence as the ground suddenly gave way beneath them. Even before he began to fall that first inch, he was cursing himself for not paying more attention. Trap? Sinkhole? Underground river? It didn't matter. At the stomp of one heavy heeled boot, the mossy rocks beneath them shifted to pitch them into darkness. Even as he swore under his breath, instinct kicked in. Long, green furred arms wrapped around Ivy to pull her off his shoulder and into his chest, sheltering her so that any impact would fall mainly upon his body and not hers. There was a change in sensation as they dropped. The odor was drier, staler than up above with its thick marsh stench and moldy wetness, and it was an even stone floor that he bounced across several times before rolling to a stop against some sort of wall, a shower of stone, slate and decrepit wooden slats coming down with them. Vague light filtered in from the hole they had just dropped though.

Even with his senses dealing, Jötz could see that it was a manmade chamber of some sort. Without additional light, it was hard to see any other details, but he was sure that there was little in nature that made floors and walls and ceilings so perfectly straight. Even though they had stopped, it was several heartbeats before he began to relax his protective embrace around the young woman.