The Mother of Monsters

Teyva and Azrael found themselves at either side of the entrance to the room, not daring to pass inside just yet. They both peered into the chamber and did their best to get a decent lay of the land. Like the room they had found earlier it was ringed with small cubbies that had been carved into the dirt and stone. Large roots from the great tree above passed through the room adding points of cover and deviations to line of sight. Centered at the rear of the room was the Wightling Madcaller, sitting on its knees and staring at the ground with four bulging eyes.

The Madcaller had to be closer to Azrael’s height, no more than five and a half feet tall. Like the other Wightlings, it was covered in thick black fur that was saturated in foul ooze that dripped now and then. Teyva had already realized that the substance was probably some kind of crude oil and a little fire could have dealt with any of the monsters here in no time at all. Yet like Azrael pointed out, even a stray spark could send the monsters, themselves, the tree, and the surrounding forest up in a single titanic blaze. Teyva still wasn’t ready to test whether or not she could respawn and Azrael certainly was not capable of the same feat.

Azrael squinted at the monster, looking for exposed bone and weak points. It had two long bones jutting out from its shoulders and of course its skull, but otherwise, it had no obvious spots to target. The rest of its body was smooth and lithe, giving credence to Azrael’s assumption that it was likely more reliant on speed or abilities rather than raw physical strength. Its name served as a bit of a hint as well, she’d seen what the screams of the lesser wightlnigs had done to her Mockeries and she figured that this thing probably had at least a more advanced version of that power.

She glanced down at her satchel and frowned before looking up at Azrael, “I’ll test the waters. See if we can’t lure it toward the hall like the others. If that doesn’t work we’ll have to go at it head-on. I don’t have a lot of ways to distract it besides my Mockeries,” She reached into the bag and ran her fingers along the pile of writhing coins. “It might get scary in there sweeties, do your best for me, okay?”

The creature's strange song in the back of her mind told her that their collective will was to see through whatever their mother needed done. It was an eerie feeling that she wondered if she would ever get over. The chittering and hissing that came from the bag drew Nephral’s attention and he stared at them for a while before turning his gaze back on the monstrous thing in the room. The Sphinx settled in a bit closer to Teyva’s body as his mother drew her hand back, ice forming on her fingertips as a [Pale Bolt] formed over her palm.

“I’m ready,” Azrael said, gripping her sword tightly in her hand.

Teyva thrust out her palm, a white streak of light illuminating parts of the room as it screamed across the space and into the face of the Madcaller. It jerked its head back, staggering and letting out a series of almost articulate shrieks.

“Kieaak! Akka kieaak! Aaaieee ko!” It jabbered, rising to its feet and trying to wipe the growing patch of frost off of its head. Teyva pumped her arm, lucky shot! As [Chilling Weakness] set in on the creature she almost darted in to try to get into melee range. Instead, she felt something cold wrap around her legs and looked down as a black pool formed beneath her feet. She turned to Azrael, wide-eyed, just in time to see the Azar fall as if she had stepped over a hole in the ground. Teyva fell next, a chill washing over her as she landed on her hands and knees in the dirt. She looked up and tried to process her surroundings. She saw a large root in her way, behind her was one of the cubbies that ringed the wall of the room.

“Azrael!” She shouted.

“I’m okay!” Azrael’s voice came from the other side.

Teyva checked her stats but found that she hadn’t taken any damage nor were there any debuffs active. That narrowed down the possibilities fairly quickly. A randomized teleport ability to confuse and disorient attackers. Teyva got to her feet and reached for her bag only to find that it was empty. She reached for her shoulder next, Nephral was gone.

“Nephral?” She called, taking a few steps backward and pressing herself against the wall as she tried to spot where the Madcaller was.

“Coming mother!” Was Nephrals response, she could hear his wings flapping somewhere nearby and looked around to spot his small white form. As she did, she reached out with her thoughts to the mockery swarm. They responded with confusion and anger, their hunger for vengeance boiling beneath the surface. She didn’t deny them their rage this time, urging them to hunt down the creature that had wronged them while she met up with Nephral.

She looked left just in time to see a massive bird skull and four bulging red eyes only feet away from her.

“Holy shit!” She gasped, diving forward as a massive arm swung down at her, cleaving through the air where she had been moments before. From the look of the skull, [Chilling Weakness] had already ended. She rushed to the right, slipping past one of the roots, and called out for Nephral again. The Sphinx’s response was closer this time. She could also hear the drone of dozens of angry Mockeries and Azrael’s boots crunching against the ground.

“Korrrak?” Came a garbled voice behind her.

She spun on her heel and swung her weapon, frost bursting to life across the edge. She felt the weapon bite into flesh only to stumble a little as the substance she was hitting gave way to air. She blinked as she righted herself, looking for the creature she had just struck. It was gone again. She cursed, snarling at the floor. Nearby she heard a shout and an uttered spell, Azrael lashing out at the freakish thing before it could escape again. There was an odd shriek and then a litany of curses from Azrael.

“It won’t hold still!” Azrael shouted, “We need to trap it somehow!”

Teyva kept her head on a swivel, turning around and backing up now and then to keep an eye on her blind spots. There was a sudden whoosh of air and a weight on her shoulder that almost drew an attack from her as Nephral landed with her. The Sphinx looked stricken, his eyes wide and his tail whipping about madly.

“It was horrible mother, it-”

“I know!” Teyva quieted him, turning around again. The Mockeries hummed and droned in the air, searching for their prey.

“Mother, behind!” Nephral cried, Teyva ducked and swung her weapon again, putting as much force behind it as she could. As the creature’s powerful arm crossed through the air over her head she managed to dig her weapon into its calf. A flash of white and a spread of frost signaled the on-chance triggering of [Chilling Weakness]. Without giving it a moment’s thought she dove forward and made sure to stay close to the beast, rearing her weapon back again and stabbing its thigh this time.

The Madcaller shrieked in pain, trying to kick her off as it pulled away. The monster’s voice was a mixture of confusion and panic when it likely realized that it couldn’t use its power to vanish from Teyva’s grip. Teyva’s mind screamed out to her children, urging them to hurry to her location with all due haste. The monster shrieked again, this time driving its fist into Teyva’s open shoulder. Teyva felt the blow in her entire body and grit her teeth against the pain. Behind her, the angry hum of her swarm drew closer as the creature began to struggle even more frantically to get out of her grip. All the while, she kept [Chilling Touch] going, triggering more and more instances of [Chilling Weakness].

“You aren’t getting away!” She howled as it slammed its fist into her shoulder again and again. She could see her health dropping with each hit even as the [Hungering Cold] began to restore her health. It wasn’t going to keep up for long. “I could use some help here!” She shouted only to be drowned out by the deafening drone of her Mockery Swarm, the creatures finally finding their hated target and latching on to it. Each little mind screeched in delight in the back of her head as they bit down, their acidic fangs looking for any opportunity to cause the Madcaller pain.

Panicked and distracted, at last, the Madcaller stopped wailing on Teyva long enough for her to take stock of the situation. Her health had dropped almost to twenty, though now it was on the steady rise again thanks to her passive. The creature on the other hand was feeling the pain, its health steadily dropping towards fifty percent. Teyva kept an eye on the creature’s health while she reached out to grab its leg with [Grasp of the Mimic]. She squeezed with all her might, dropping its health to forty-nine percent just as Azrael rounded a nearby root, her sword drawn.

That was when everything went to hell.

A sudden, whoosh of air followed by stars in Teyva’s vision precluded a gush of pain and wetness across her face. She hurtled backward, skipping once against the ground as her vision flashed red. Instinct drew her eyes to her health bar which had dropped all the way to seven before beginning its climb again. She tried to sit up but was forced to cover her ears as the horror let out a horrific scream, the sound rattling in her skull and sending a chill through her blood and spine. She felt panic well up inside of the minds of the Mockeries, the poor things chittering in terror as they scattered from the mighty beast.

Teyva rolled onto her chest and crawled, scrambling away from the Madcaller while her Mockeries darted past her in a similar effort to flee. She dragged herself towards one of the cubbies in the wall, rolling inside. Behind her, Nephral swooped into the hole and put himself between the opening and his mother. Not far from her she could hear Azrael’s grunts of exertion. Teyva knew she couldn’t stay hidden long, she had to get back out there. She glanced at her health and the [Hungering Cold] buff. There were three instances of it going which meant her health was rising at twelve points per second. As her health hit forty the first of the instances fell off, then another a second later, the last faded. She was back at fifty-two health when she managed to catch her breath.

“Okay Teyva, back to it,” She urged herself, crawling back out of the cubby in time to put her hand into another solidifying pool of blackness.

“Son of a bitch!”