Hopefully that cracked the ice enough so that he could get a hold of the frozen goose and do what he'd intended to do all along.

Cliff ran like hell!

"Cover me and get the heck out of here yourselves if you can!" He figured if he was scarpering away, and they all split up? There'd be a lot more opportunity for them all to get away from the geese, both before they realized what had happened, and before they could either free their comrade or trap the three of them by the use of magic.

As for him? Cliff ran for the Research Offices. Surely even at this time of night, someone would be there, burning the proverbial midnight oil...