Cry, Little Sister

 

"When I was a young imp, Grandmother Gloom told me that far to the north there lies a fire island, though it's fire is long quiet. The walls of this island are sheer rock a thousand feet tall, rising from the sea, unclimbable, unbreachable. But for one who knows, there is a shallow beach and above that beach a cave. And through that cave, lava tunnels lead through the rock wall and open out into a lush bowl miles wide, the center of that island.

And in the center of that valley is a lake. And in the center of that lake, is an island. And on that island lived a dragonborn druid, old as the mountain itself.

He was a strange man, solitary and eccentric. Surrounded and guarded by a tribe of kobolds, he also made friends and servants of all the plants and animals that lived in that island. However he was never satisfied with their capabilities, always striving to improve upon them. Never satisfied with the state of things he made the trees walk and the rocks fly.

After many years of such experiments, the island was overrun with strange creations, twisted plants and animals, magically deformed and "improved" upon.

The key to his magic was a mighty oak staff that he carried with him at all times, a staff that could awaken plants and animals and give them the intelligence of men, among many other powers.

Eventually, my grandmother told me, one of his creations turned upon him and destroyed him in a mighty battle that shook the foundations of the island. And there his bones lie to this day, his skeletal hand still grasping his mighty staff. A lesson to all who would twist the power of nature in unnatural ways."

And now Michael Gloom stood on that very beach, starting at the very cave that his Grandmother had told him about so many years ago. He had to admit he had always been a bit skeptical her stories had been real. But everything had been just like she had said it was.

Behind him, he could hear his siblings dragging the longboat up on the beach. He turned, and gazed at his tiny family.

The Glooms very obviously carried their demonic heritage for all to see, hooves, horns, red skin, the whole package. He had heard of some Tielfings where the Blood was less obvious, some that could even pass for human if they filed off their horns and used the right makeup. Not the Glooms. Never any doubt what they were. And they had certainly suffered accordingly over the years, the people of the Thousand Isles were not fond of the demon blooded.

David was doing most of the work of pulling the boat up of course. He had always been the strongest of the four siblings, so it was natural, little Lydia could barely lift a hammer, and Star was far too pretty to sully herself with menial labor. Both women were happy enough to advise on the activity of course.

"Make sure you get it above the high tide line" Star ordered. "We'd be pretty doomed if our only way off this rock drifts away".

"Don't squish that starfish" Lydia interjected.

Michael smiled.

The siblings never knew their father, and even the eldest had only vague childhood memories of their mother, who died giving birth to Lydia. They had been raised primarily by their grandparents.

Most of their early life was spent as a troop of traveling entertainers, roaming the length and breadth of the The Inner Archipelago. Their demonic heritage wasn't all downside, it gave them an exotic beauty and grace, and their blood gift of fire magics allowed them to perform dazzling displays of pyrotechnics. Combined with natural talent in music and acrobatics they managed to deliver an amazing show that rarely failed to delight a crowd.

The prejudice inherent with their Tiefling blood combined with their relatively loose allegiance to the rules of property ownership often got them in trouble with local authorities, it was true Still, they never did much actual harm with their thievery and always managed to stay one step ahead of the law.

Michael's memories of his youth weren't bad. However, when Michael, was twelve, Grandfather Gloom had finally succumbed to old age and the families fortune had startred to change for the worse. Michael, lost in revere frowned.  That was the beginning of the period he thought of as the "hard times". With the wise old man gone, their lives had gotten significantly harder.  Grandmother had lasted a couple more years before she too passed, leaving the children on their own, and their lives had become desperate. Michael, the oldest, had been twelve.

Times were extremely hard for the small family over the next few years as the children attempted to make their way on their own in the rough and unforgiving world of the The Thousand Isles. Michel and Star had done the best they could taking care of the younger ones, however doing so had been extremely difficult.

They spent many nights on the streets, cold and hungry and several times almost succumbed to starvation or disease. However, they always hung together, and managed to squeak by through a mixture of busking and outright thievery until eventually they grew up and learned to survive on their own.

As they grew older, they continued their wandering, performing and thieving, eventually making the The Inner Archipelago too hot for them to handle, fleeing to the Northern Reaches and eventually making their way to Skull River Bay. They had fit in well at the pirate haven, there was a steady stream of demand for their entertainment, pirates tended to be liberal with their coin, and thus the town had turned into the closest thing they'd ever known to a home.

However as the children approached maturity their powers grew and matured as well. Fire (or at least the illusion of fire) was their to command, in addition, each sibling manifested their own special abilities.

Through a variety of unconventional instruction, Michael had developed into quite the swordsman. In addition, he had learned that the special concoctions he used for his fire breathing act, when concentrated, were also surprisingly effective in a combat situation

Star had not only developed into an exotic beauty, but had demonstrated a knack for magic. While the variety of hedge witches, smitten sorcerers and paid instruction had only partially harnessed her talent, the spells and charms she had learned  were no joke to be on the wrong end of.

David had grown strong and disciplined in both mind and body. While the fire magic the other siblings wielded were strictly illusionary, David's mental training had made his burn hot enough to char and kill. When angered or threatened, the twin lashes of his flames were deadly.

Lydia, the baby of the family, was an odd child, quiet and contemplative. For some reason the shadow part of her heritage was more pronounced then her brothers and sisters. She could sometimes see beyond the veil that separated the living from the dead, often conversing with ghosts and spirits, especially the shade of her dead mother. When desperate the screams she could draw from that dark realm were enough to rend the flesh of the living.

The Gloom family was growing strong, to the point where they were becoming discontented with the life of street performers and started seriously discussing adventuring as occupation.

Grandmother Gloom knew many things and had been a great adventurer and treasure hunter in her time. She had told them copious stories of her exploits. These stories also often included hints to lost treasures or ancient ruins still waiting to be plundered.

Hence when the famous and powerful Elven Druid, Whisperleaf of the Northmost Groves  put out a call for adventurers willing to seek an ancient druidical staff, the Glooms knew of a possible location for the item. They volunteered for the quest.

And now, after a harrowing sea voyage here they were.

"I found the cave" Lydia called out, pointing up to a dark space a hundred yards up the steep slope of the mountainside. 

"The boat is secure, from anything except a hurricane anyway, and it's still too early in the season to worry about those." David reported. 

"Saddle up" Michael grinned. "Adventure awaits!"

A few minutes later the siblings stood next to the cave mouth, starting into the darkness.

Michael squared his shoulders. 

"Ok, let's do this" he instructed his family. "No lights, keep to the shadows, move as quiet as Grandfather taught us. We are here to steal a staff, not to get in a tussle. No telling what waits for us in those caves."

Lydia sniffed the fetid air emanating from the cave. "Smells like kobolds to me." she said.

"No fire either." Michael continued. "We will move in darkness, rely on our infernal sight, and hopefully pass through without attracting attention. David, establish the mental link. No noises, no speaking."

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It was, in fact, Kobolds. The tribe that had formerly served the Mad Druid had made the lava tunnels into a lair. And in typical Kobold fashion, they had seeded the caverns with devilish traps.

"This lock doesn't seem too complex"  Michael commented, as he crouched down and  carefully examined it. "Poison needle trap guarding it, but pretty simplistic. Evidentially the Kobold craftsman have only rudimentary skills."

Michael drew the tools of his trade from a small pouch around his belt and began working on the lock. After a few moments there was a satisfying "click" and even in the total darkness, the rest of the family's demonic vision could see his smile beam back at them. 

"Carefully and slowly now" he thought at them, and began to open the door.

The darkvision was strange, not like normal sight. From where she stood, near the back and off to the side, Star could clearly see the outlines of her brother opening the door, but his figure was dim and washed of color. As the door swung inward, she caught a glimpse of ... something, some mechanism moving, inside the door, near the top, out of sight of anyone close to the door. 

She gasped, and froze, wasting a few crucial moments trying to decide whether what she saw was s threat. By the time she cried out it was too late.

The cunningly hidden and razor sharp spring loaded blade, easily sawed through the tightly strung rope that vanished into a carefully bored channel above the doorframe, into the roof of the cavern.

A roof that seemed suspiciously rocky now that she really looked at it. 

"Shit" Michael had time to say before a deep rumbling filled the narrow hall, and the rock roof came crashing down on all of them.

Her warning might have been too slow to help Michael and David near the front of the party, but Lydia, moving with catlike grace, manage to leap backward away from the door and into safety. Star herself escaped with only a few minor scrapes. But the two boys were lost under an avalanche of stone.

The rumbling and falling stone continued for a few moments and then gradually stopped. Lydia sneezed from the thick dust that permeated the air in the wake.

From under the pile of rock emerged a groan and then David's muffled voice.

"That....hurt."

"That was pretty clever" Lydia said admiringly.

"David, Michael, are you alright? Star called out worridly.

"Define 'Alright''" Michael replied. "Can someone help get all these rocks off us?"

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Michael knocked down one of Nadia Baptiste's special healing brews. Nadia was one of the Gloom Family's hole cards. One of the most skilled practitioners of Voodoo in Skull River Bay, or the entire Northern Reach for that matter, she was an expert brewer of potions and also a close friend of the family. She had generously put her very impressive alchemical skills at their disposal. In return for a 10% cut of the take, of course. This WAS Skull River Bay after all.

As Michael watched his gaping wounds heal at an incredible pace, he considered it money well spent.

"That rockfall made quite a noise" David pointed out. "We probably alerted every kobold for half a mile.

"Extra stealthy, family, lets get away from here before anyone comes to investigate" Michael replied, and they faded back into the shadows and continued making their way down the narrow corridor.

They didn't have to travel much further to prove David's worry true.

Ahead, the tunnel widened and for the first time since they descended, they saw torchlight. A pair of large torches, affixed to the wall on each side of the passage created a brightly illuminated bubble of light, about 30 feet in diameter, fully lighting a section of the tunnel and challenging the inky darkness.

"Well that isn't suspicious or anything" said Lydia in the telepathic channel David maintained for them all. 

"Carefully, lets ease up to the light but not enter it." Michael suggested.

"Up there, on top of that rock parapet beyond the torchlight. I see movement!" Lydia hissed. The Glooms froze and then without a sound, melted deeper into shadowed walls and crannies.

"Kobolds".  Michael agreed. "Hidden on top of that outcropping. Lydia what can you see?"

Lydia, who had the keenest senses of the group, slowly slinked up to the very edge of the torchlight, moving like a shadow. She paused, observing for a long minute, then she mentally reported what she saw.

"Three Kobolds, with crossbows, cunningly concealed in a chamber above the tunnel. I don't see any obvious way up to them. They are arguing. Speaking the Dragon Tongue, really poorly, which <a hint of smugness here> fortunately I also speak." While she was the youngest of the siblings, she was possessed of the keenest intellect and a knack for languages. From youth she had been an avid reader, gobbling down any book that crossed her path, no matter the tongue it was written in. Facts she delighted in reminding her older siblings of at every occasion. 

 "They heard the rockfall. They are arguing about whether and how to investigate. Evidentially it trips accidentally with some frequency, so they aren't convinced it's an actual intruder. I think its been a LONG time since anyone came this way,"

"Hard spot to sneak past" David offered. That patch of light gives them a perfect killing zone."

"Lets wait" replied Lydia. "I think they are going to go out to investigate. Maybe we can hide and let them pass."

Eventually the Kobold argument ended and two of the three Kobolds set out to determine the source of the noise. There must be some kind of passage or ladder connecting to the upper chamber, further down the tunnel out of sight. Two of the Kobolds disappeared from Lydia's view and then later came walking down the tunnel toward the Glooms.

 As they came into view again, they abandoned the center of the wide tunnel and began slinking along the walls, trying to stay out of view and move quietly, crossbows at the ready. 

Fortunately the chamber where the Glooms were hiding was rocky and irregular, making it relatively easy for the family to hide as the two creatures slunk past.

"That's two" Michael pointed out. "One left on guard duty."

"At least one" Lydia corrected. "I am not positive I saw them all. There could be more further in."

"It would be pretty easy to shadowstep past that pool of light" David pointed out. "Plenty of shadows on both sides of it."

The Gloom's grandparents had not been wealthy or powerful, and hadn't left the children with much when they died. Hardly anything in the way of gold or property. However, Grandfather Gloom had not left them defenseless, he had possessed one gift to give. Not only was he an excellent tattoo artist, but he could, with much time and effort, use mystical inks, chants and ancient lore to impart his tattoos with magical abilities. Minor ones, generally, but in his desire to protect his grandchildren he had outdone himself and crafted his greatest work.

Each of the family bore an identical tattoo, a masterwork of shadows, ink and moonlight that Grandfather had spent years on. Three times a day it could allow the bearer to step sideways into the shadowrealm, and travel a short way through it, emerging back into the sunlit world a short distance from where they had started. From an observers perspective, they would disappear and a short time later reappear in a new position, as if they had teleported.

It had some limitations. It could only function three times a day for one thing, and it required shadows to step through, both at the source and destination, so it was useless in bright sunlight. Generally they couldn't take anyone or anything with them other then what was on their bodies when they shadowalked, though Lydia, for some reason seemed to have a greater mastery over the tattoo and could bring another person along, assuming they were willing. The youngest sibling was shadowtouched in general, her relationship with The Veil was ... complicated. 

Stepping into the shadowrealm wasn't always exactly safe either. There were things that lived there, spirits of the dead and worse, and even a short jaunt had it's perils. Nonetheless the ability had saved all their lives on multiple occasions.

Michael nodded. "Could work, Could work. Shadow-walk past the lit portion, sneak up to the battlement there and deal with the remaining Kobolds silently. Then either move along or ambush the others when they return. I like it. But perhaps just you and I go, David? The two of us should be able to handle it and that way the girls can watch our back in case the others return early. Save some uses of the walking too..."

"We could distract them easily enough if you want" Star said. "Just walk out into the light."

David nodded. "Lets do it" he said, moving slowly toward the edge of the lit patch of tunnel.

"Wait!" said Lydia. The entire time the boys had been talking she had been intently studying the corridor in front of them, a frown slowly emerging on her face."

"Did you notice how those Kobolds were so careful to hug the walls when they emerged? There is something about that patch of tunnel on the other side of the torches that doesn't look quite...right."

Michael mirrored his sisters frown and studied the tunnel floor.

"I don't see anything."

"Me neither" said David.

"Just stick to where the Kobold's walked. Trust me. Somethings wrong."

Michael nodded. It wouldn't be the first time their youngest sibling had noticed things that the rest of them had missed. 

After a few seconds of discussion, they finalized the detail of the plan. Michael and David reached up and touched their tattoos and walked into a nearby shadow. 

There was no brightness anywhere. It was like a late twilight under clouds at the end of November, a dour, chill, dull air in which one could see, but not clearly and not far. The light of the torches still burned but muted and murky. The tunnel mostly looked the same, but the shadows were longer and deeper and the air was colder. Overhead, the ceiling of the cave vanished up into darkness. There was, as always, the feeling of being watched.

Wasting little time, the two Tielfings hurried across the lighted area. On the other side, where a floor had been before, they marveled at a deep pit that covered most of the tunnel, leaving only a narrow walkway on each side of it, near the wall.

"Something's moving down in there" David hissed.

"Ghost." Michael replied, paling a little from the brief glimpse he had caught of the specter. "Someone died down there and their spirt is still trapped. Let step back quickly, before it notices us."

They both touched their tattoos again and walked back into the sunlit world, emerging in a deep shadow directly under the balcony. 

"You were right little sister. Pit trap on this side." David called out mentally. He didn't have to even see his sister's face to know she was smirking. 

Silent as ghosts themselves, Michael and David crept down the tunnel under the guardpost. Sure enough, a few yards around the corner a steep stair (almost a ladder really) led up to the back of the battlement. The duo crept up the stair and emerged behind the sole remaining kobold.

"We are in position, he's alone, distraction please" Michael thought to his sisters.

Star and Lydia stepped into the light, and waved.

The Kobold nearly jumped out of his scales at the surprise, and while he stared stupefied, the two brothers struck from behind. He died without making a sound.

"Let's move on. David take the body, lets leave no trace."

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"That's sunlight, no doubt. From that tunnel to the right. We made it through." Star observed.

"Except for that squad of Kobold's guarding the entrance" Michael pointed out. "Have to be at least a dozen of them". 

"Well, they don't seem to be alerted yet, guess taking the kobold's body prevented the guards from sounding an alarm" David had barely gotten the words out of his mouth before the sound of a horn desperately blowing shattered the silence.

"You were saying?" Star murmured.

"Crap they're coming straight at us" Michael exclaimed. "Quick, the roof is rocky here, lets climb up among those stalactites and hide in their shadows, let them pass under."

Star was without doubt the least physically capable of the Gloom siblings. She made up for it in magical ability, and in her natural charm, she could use her beauty and wiles to manipulate others, but she wasn't up to her siblings standards in either brawn or dexterity. She wasn't incompetent by any means, but at times like this she was the weakest link. As the other siblings scampered up the rocky walls (David still carrying the body of the dead Kobold even) and wedged themselves in shadows among the stalactites, she struggled to follow. Even with Michael's help, she barely made it in time and the hiding place she managed to reach was far too exposed. 

Still, as the Kobold troop passed below, for a moment it looked like they were going to pull it off. The Kobolds were distracted and not really looking for trouble in this particular place. They almost passed below without noticing. Almost.

David saw the exact moment the Kobold saw his sister. The scrawny creature just happened to glance up at just the wrong time. As his lizard eyes started to widen and David could see the cry of alarm forming on his lips, David acted. With a feral grin he hurled the dead Kobold in his grasp directly into the center of the troop and then dropped. On the way down he somersaulted, extending both hands and manifesting the eerie green psychic blades. He landed virtually on top of a Kobold, nearly decapitating the creature in the process. 

Michael was a second behind him, dropping feet first, Rapier in both hands, point downward. He skewered a second Kobold, piercing it head to tail. 

Star elected to remain on her roof perch, holding tight to a stalactite with one hand and hurling bolts of fire with the other, down on the creatures, Lydia did the same, raining arrows down with her bow, somehow wedging herself between two stalactites with only her feet and shoulders.   

The fight was close quarters,  quick and brutal. Most of the Kobolds fell like wheat before the scythe but the two leaders of the group were considerably tougher and gave Michel and David quite a fight. One of them was a huge brute, heavily armored with a massive shield, and a wicked, curved sword that cut through both  David and Michaels defenses. As his comrades died around him, the champion never faltered, eventually he standing alone, and it still took everything the entire family had to put him down.

Eventually he fell, but not without seriously wounding both the brothers. 

"That. Was not quiet" Michael panted. And indeed the screeches of more Kobolds came from further inside the caverns, not close, but getting closer rapidly.

"Make a run for the exit!" David cried. "At least we've cleared the guards."

The two girls dropped lightly down from their perches to the floor, and all four of them ran for the sunlit tunnel that promised escape.

Behind them the sound of pursuit echoed, along with cries and screams of their pursuers. They burst from the cave entrance.

They emerged most of the way down one of the cliffs of the caldera. Before them a steep hill descended abruptly into a dense jungle. Off in the distance they could see the great lake that dominated the center of the ancient volcano. 

"Into the jungle!" Michael called out, between wheezes of pain. The four ran down the steep slope and plunged into the dense foliage. 

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The jungle was not without it's perils, but at least the Kobold's seemed unwilling to pursue the family into it's depths, even to avenge their fallen comrades. As they ran away, Lydia could hear several of them talking about something called a "BeHolder". They seemed very afraid if it. From what Lydia remembered from various references in arcane tomes, they were right to be.  

The forest was dense and perilous. Fortunately Michael had been something of a hunter in the families earlier days and was a decent woodsman. He skillfully led the Glooms through the dense trees, managing to avoid the various carnivores, the most dangerous of which were a group of Wyverns who nested on the interior of the volcano walls.

"We need to stay under the cover of the foliage, that's for sure" he said to the others. "I doubt we could handle even one of those beasts and there are a good half dozen flying about."

"Shouldn't be too hard, given how thick this shit is" David grumbled. He had taken the lead and was doing his best to cut a path through rhe overgrowth, but even his psychic blade and great muscles were having a hard time of it.

Progress was slow and difficult, but the shores of the lake were only a few miles away and after a few torturous hours they arrived.  The late afternoon sun colored the lake a deep magenta blue, and near the center a small island loomed, just as Grandmother Gloom had told them, so long ago,

"I see a cave about two thirds of the way up that peak. That must be it. Huh. She didn't mention the floating rocks" Lydia pointed out.

" Never satisfied with the state of things he made the trees walk and the rocks fly." Star replied. I guess she meant that literally.

"Cave seems empty from here but can't see inside it at all" David said, shading his eyes from the afternoon glare.

"Not empty" replied Lydia. "Just empty of anyone living. The druid's ghost is still there, I can see him plain as day."

Lydia had always been strange and unusual, even as Tielfings go. Even from a very young age she had been aware that she could see things that others couldn't. Spirits, ghosts of the departed, sometimes glimpses of things long past, or things yet to come.  Her grandmother had called her "Shadowtouched" and said that happened to children sometimes, especially when the mother died in childbirth, as Lydia's had. Her Grandmother had said it was a gift, though not one without a cost.

"Great" said Michael. "Well, at least we know. Do you think he's going to give us problems Lydia?"

Lydia shrugged. It was always hard to tell with the restless dead.

"Ghost notwithstanding, we need to figure out to cross this lake without becoming Wyvern food." Star pointed out. "It must be a quarter of a mile and no cover at all." 

"I have an idea" Lydia said.

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First they had waited and carefully watched the lake, to see if anything perilous lived under it's placid surface. After seeing copious birds landing, and swimming around, they had decided that PROABALY nothing lurked in its depths. Then it had taken them over an hour to to prepare the hollowed out log and another hour to make the crossing under it, but David had to give his kid sister credit, it had kept the wyverns off them. From above they'd looked like aimlessly floating driftwood. A quick rush up the bank and now they were safe on the island, hidden in the dense foliage discussing the next phase tof heir plan. 

"That hill is also pretty exposed" Star commented. "Bet those Wyverns would be on us pretty fast if we just climbed it."

"Maybe we should wait for nightfall? Are wyverns nocturnal?". They all looked at Lydia.

She shrugged. "Beats me."

"Most day hunters aren't also night hunters, especially flying ones." Michael pointed out.

"Well the sun is already below the crater rim, bet it gets dark pretty early in this valley. And we generally have the advantage in the dark. Might as well wait and see" commented David. 

The night did come on quickly, here in the deep valley. It was quite beautiful, watching the line of shadow move gradually up the wall of the crater rim. When it got about halfway, the wyverns, as a group, left off their lazy patrolling and headed back to the crater wall, where they presumably nested.

"Well, that actually worked" said Michael. "Saddle up, no time like the present to visit a ghost and steal a staff!" 

Cautiously the four siblings left their hiding place and moved toward the base of the hill that dominated the island. Rough stairs led upward toward the cave entrance. 

"Is he still up there?" asked Michael to Lydia.

"Oh yes" she replied. "Pacing back and forth in front of the cave entrance, muttering to himself."

"Well no way to sneak around him, so lets go meet the gentleman" Star suggested.

Carefully they walked up the stairs. By upspoken agreement, Lydia took the lead. Death was her domain.

"Greeting Archdruid. My name is Lydia."

The transparent figure halted his pacing and seemed to notice the Tieflings for the first time.

He took a long look at the unlikely party.

"Who comes? And for what purpose?" he asked.

As he spoke, the form of an ancient Dragonborn slowly faded into common view, revealing himself for the first time to all the siblings. He was tall and lean, and still semi transparent. A great wound ravaged one of his shoulders and part of his chest, crushing and mangling him. His death wound undoubtable. 

Lydia was taken aback by the question. The obvious answer of "We came here to loot your corpse and steal your magical staff so we can sell it for a large sum of gold" somehow didn't seem appropriate.  

Smoothly Star stepped into the conversational void. She smiled her most winning smile at the shade.

"We've come to seek your wisdom of course, oh great druid. And to ask a boon of you."

"Wisdom, boon of course of course." Even the dead were not completely immune to Star's charms. "But if you wish a boon, you must first do something for me."

"And what would that be oh wise one?" Star asked sweetly.

"The Bee-Holder. You must destroy him. He vexes me. He no longer obeys me."

"huh" Lydia thought, listening. "So that's how you pronounce it. Been doing it wrong this whole time."

Star looked uncertain. None of the Glooms knew much about those dread creatures, but from what little they did know, they seemed well above their weight class. Star hesitated.

"It occurs to me that I don't actually need your agreement to this bargain" the ghost smiled. He tilted his head back and howled, piercing the gathering gloom with a cry of rage and madness so loud it made the Tielfings' ears ring. 

And from above, on the top of the mountain, something awoke and emerged from the dense foliage and trees. Something that even Lydia's keen eyes had taken for vegetation and brambles. 

Composed of wood, bark, flowers, and pure hatred it was the mad druid's creative take on the legendary monstrosity, the Beholder. For years he had labored over it, constructing it, imbuing it, enhancing it. It had been his greatest creation. It had also been his doom.  And as it's single eye opened wide, a cone of enraged bees came pouring out, engulfing the siblings, biting and stinging.

Only Lydia was spared, sheltered as she was slightly inside the cave. As she watched the huge swarm of insects engulf her family, one part of her mind connected the dots and started madly laughing to itself.

"ahh, Bee-Holder, i get it now."

After a moment of shock the Glooms began fighting back.

With a prodigious leap, and a hard scramble, Michael climbed up onto the edge where the Bee-Holder was floating. He pulled a potion from his belt and with a practiced flick, popped the top off and drank it. Another one of Nadia Baptiste's special brews, he used a weaker version of this on a regular basis as part of his act. This version was about a hundred times stronger then the one he used to dazzle and amaze the rubes. For a moment his eyes grew red and then with a horrendous belch he vomited a cone of fire on the Bee-Holder. A thousand bees crisped and died and the creature's barky shell smoldered, catching fire in places.

The Bee-Holder screamed in rage. One of it's petal-stalks glowed and fired a verdant beam at Michael striking him in the chest. Then the creature rapidly flew away, heading toward the water. Michael could feel a strange sensation radiating from where the beam had struck him, a stiffness in his body, a hardness in his skin. In terror he tore his shirt open to see a patch of what appeared to be bark spreading out from where the creatures beam had struck.

Incapable of true flight, but still incredibly fast, the Bee-Holder bounced down the side of the mountain, levitating five feet in the air. As it passed the Glooms, David lashed it with his psychic whips, Lydia with her arrows and Star sent a purple bolt, crackling with lightning directly into it's eye. 

The blows landed, but failed to destroy the abomination. With lightening speed it soared far out over the water and turned, sweeping it's swarm of stinging insects across the group once more. Another one of it's petal-stalks glowed and a black ray leapt forward, striking David this time. The ray hit his shoulder hard enough to spin him around and knock him to the ground. Where the ray touched him, a blistering wound, rotten and puss filled erupted from his skin.

"This is bad" Lydia said. "Out there over the water we can't really get at it, and it'll just take it's time cutting us down with those eye rays."

"Bah" she heard the ghost grunt from behind. She hard completely forgotten about him. "Your incompetence is vexing." The ghost put two finger to his mouth and whistled sharply. 

At first nothing happened. Then, from behind, the floating rock... flew. Like a dog summoned to it's owner it sped rapidly to the cave mouth and halted, hovering obediently in front of the spectral druid.

"Take it, Go, kill." the Druid instructed. 

"Awesome" Lydia replied.

From above, Michael stared at the spreading transformation threatening to engulf him, and focused all his will on the patch of bark and wood that now covered half his chest. He wasn't going to die like this. He wasn't going to leave his younger brothers and sisters alone. He wasn't going to turn into a damn tree.  His will was like iron and as he focused it, the patch slowly stopped spreading.

With a nod of satisfaction, his focus turned again to the fight. With a leap he jumped frm the peak of the mountain, landing smoothly on the floating rock.

"Mount up!" Michael yelled merrily, the battle euphoria taking him. "Let's take the fight to that creature"

David grinned through the pain, popped the largest of Nadia's healing brews and vaulted up next to David. 

Star looked vexed at the leap that would be required of her to answer Michael's call. With a quick experiment, Michel found the rock answered to his mental commands and he swooped down to the girls, allowing them to jump onboard as well.

With another mental command, Michael sent the rock hurtling toward the Bee-Holder. The rock was fast, and accelerated so quickly that Star almost lost her footing and nearly fell. Fortunately David steadied her in time.

A second eye ray struck out, conjuring a wall of thorny vines directly in their path, but Michael managed to react fast enough to send the rock over the top of the wall. Just barely. As they screamed past, David dragged his fire whips over the thorny structure and it burst into flame.

 

In a moment they were past the island and hurtling out over the lake, toward the creature, so fast they left a wake behind them in the water.

The Bee-Holder turned it's bee cone on them once more, but the poor bees were impacting at such velocity that they didn't really have time to sting the Tieflings before they were squashed to paste. In a second every Tiefling was covered head to foot in bee gore, but remained unharmed.

"This is disgusting" Star moaned.

The next few minutes encompassed possibly one of the strangest fights any of them had been part of. The Tieflings continued to pelt the Bee-Holder with spells and arrows, but Michael was really trying to close, and mostly being frustrated in the attempt. The Bee-Holder clearly had the advantage in ranged combat and attempted to maintain it, pivoted and spiraled, trying to both maintain distance and keep it's rays and bee-cone trained on the Tieflings. 

It was like an odd aerial ballet. With bees. And fire.

The rock was faster, but the creature was much more experienced at flying.

Star screamed in frustration as she hurled a fire bolt at the creature only to have one of the petal rays shoot it out of the air and dispel it. "This isn't working" she moaned. The Tieflings were starting to flag, stung and cut, poisoned and bleeding from a hundred wounds.

"No, it isn't. For one thing it seems to be healing itself somehow and we are almost out of Nadia's potions. We need to hit it HARD and end this" Lyida observed.

"Ok, I have any idea. I am going to overshoot it on purpose and then snap a 180 and we hit it from behind with everything we have. Try not to fall off. Got it?"

"Use fire." Lydia said. "I don't think it can heal from fire."

David grinned and also popped one of the fire breathing potions. "Let's do it."

Michael gunned the rock straight at Bee-Holder. As was it's pattern, it waited until the last second and then dodged to the side. With a grunt, Michael spun the rock completely around and snapped behind the creature.

With a cry, unable to keep her footing through the maneuver, Star went flying. But even as she fell, she kept her focus on the Bee-Holder, fire bolts springing from her hands on the way down, right before she impacted the lakes surface.

David and Michel both breathed out fire, a solid wall of crackling flame engulfing the creature even as it turned to confront them. Eye stalks withered, so many bees popped it sounded like popcorn.

Lydia reached deep into herself, into the dark place, the shadow place, the dark place, and as her daggers struck she screamed. Darkness bellowed from her throat, engulfing the wounded creature.

And then Michael Gloom plowed his flying rock right into the creature, ramming it with tons of stone. And finally, it died. But as it died, it's great maw opened, filled with ragged wooden teeth, opened it one last time and it BIT Michael, a savage bite, almost severing his arm. 

And Michael fell.