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The six Hunters took their leave of Hardblade and her princely cousin. The Guildmaster's final notice of their time limit rang in their ears, as she barked a reminder just before the door swung shut.

The six headed out to handle their various chores, as well as meet to discuss strategies, or to have one last round at the bar. Regardless, the six found themselves back at the main hall as the time of departure drew near. With just a few minutes to spare, a Guild page arrived, beckoning to the Hunters to follow. It was hard to tell the exact age or the sex of the child...Guild Pages tended to blend into the woodwork as all wore the same uniform and had the same haircut...all of them looked like little cutouts of the exact same 10 year old moppet, dressed in gray pants and tunic, with a tabard in the Guild colors thrown over all. If it weren't for the fact that not all of them were human, it wouldn't surprise any of you if they really were identical copies of a single, perfect servant.

But the child knew their business and quickly lead the group to a room deep within the bowels of the Guild building, leaving them at the door after gesturing them inside. Once they entered, the six found themselves in a cavernous, square room, at least fifty paces on a side, with a high, vaulted ceiling. A raised dais, at least thirty feet across, stood in the exact center of the room, and on it was the familiar shape of one of the Guild Teleportals, a polished basalt arch, inscribed with copious amounts of runes and positively humming with magic energy. The Teleportals were well known to you all. Every Guild Chapterhouse had at least one, bigger ones often as many as a half dozen, and they could be targeted at any other Teleportal as the user desired.

This one, however, appeared to have been rather extensively modified. Thirteen large, glittering diamonds, each as big as an apple, and scintillating in a rainbow of colors, were mounted equidistantly around the arch. At the peak of the Portal was a massive, water clear stone easily the size of a man's head. Lightning, in all the colors of the spectrum, flashed and flickered through the stone, flowing to and from each of the other dozen diamonds in an intricate, convoluted dance.

Spaced just as evenly around the Arch were a dozen wizards, each dressed in the robes of a Maester of the Collegium Arcane. None of the wizards paid the least bit of attention to the Hunters, as each appeared to already be deeply involved in their spellcasting. The air smelt of incense and ozone, and small wisps of smoke drift up from small braziers at the feet of each of the spellcasters. Occasionally one of another of them would toss a small pinch of some substance into the flame, and further scents would perfume the air...some were quite pleasant, others unutterably vile.

Standing at the head of the circle is Cryoleptus, though, unlike the rest, he was facing outward, conversing quietly with his cousin, Hardblade, who stood to one side, beside a table covered in several satchels and other bits of equipment. The two of them glanced up at the Hunters as they entered, Cryoleptus with a welcome smile and Hardblade with a more worried look. Both quietly greeted the six and Hardblade beckoned them over to the table.

Once everyone was gathered around, the Guildmaster nodded towards the piled gear. The Hunters could see that there were six small leather satchels, meant to be belted around the waist or slung crossways over the chest. Each didn't look like it would hold more than a few items, but, one and all, they appeared to be exquisitely made.

On a square of watered silk rested six silver bracelets, each of which sported a plethora of sparkling sapphires, offset with tiny white topaz in between each dazzling blue stone. Amidst the decorative whorls and filigree could be seen tiny, etched runes, each painstakingly carved into the metal directly, then washed with some type of caustic agent to highlight them.

And finally, resting on a nest of piled silk was another water clear diamond, about the size of a hen's egg. The stone was absolutely and utterly flawless, and was perfectly cut in the shape of a dodecahedron. At the center of the stone, rainbow lightning flashed, perfectly mimicking the power of the massive diamond that surmounts the Portal.

Hardblade reached out and grabbed up the six packs, tossing one to each of the Hunters. "Those are your supplies. Enough food and drink in each to last you a month, along with pretty much every type of basic gear imaginable. There's also some alchemical supplies...healing salves, other goodies, even a few things that go boom in the night." She gave them a bright, savage grin and continued. "I had the Quartermaster pull out all the stops. She jammed everything she thought you might possibly need. They each hold as much as a top flight bag of holding, but they only weigh half a stone, no matter what you shove in em. The mouths expand to be large enough to fit a pony keg into them...there's a couple dozen in each, filled with water, in case you were wondering. And as a bonus, they work like a typical Lyrican Haversack...you reach in, think about the thing you want, and suddenly it's in hand. Only takes a second to get whatever you're after." She nodded in Cryoleptus' direction. "The bags themselves are a gift of the Collegium, and according to his nibs, there are a couple rather important limitations. The packs are, themselves, magic, so if you're withing an anti-magic zone, you wont be able to take anything out or put anything in. They'll just be empty leather satchels for the duration. But being in an AMZ wont actually harm them...they've been extensively tested. The other limitation is, you cant put anything magic into them...mundane items only. Interferes with the phlebotinum or some other ridiculous magey words." She rolled her eyes and grinned. "Basically, if you try to put anything enchanted in them, they might stop working, they might do nothing...or they might explode. And by all the Powers, DO NOT try and put any Nullmetal into them. They're protected from the outside, so proximity, even contact shouldn't hurt them. But DONT try to store any in them. Other than that, nothing alive can be put in them, but you can put all the dead stuff you want in there. It'll be perfectly preserved until you pull it back out."

She leaned forward, and added, sotto voce, "They dont "officially" exist...they're still in the experimental stage. But I worked it so you all get to keep them when this mission is done...part of your bonus. Plus, I got one for myself!" With a happy smile, she pulled back her fur cloak and showed that she already had one of the packs slung around her waist. Reaching in, she pulled out a long wooden pole...and kept pulling and pulling, until it's entire ten foot length was in her hand. With a bark of laughter, she quickly re-stowed it, then waved to Cryoleptus. "He'll brief you on the other doodads. And make it quick, Cousin,", she added, glancing at the large water clock mounted on a nearby wall, "There's only a quarter of an hour left before you have to get that ritual going."

With a small chuckle of his own, the Vizier gave Hardblade a small, half-bow, then turned to the Hunters. Taking up the bracelets, he held them out, handing one to each of the six. "Put them on, quickly." He gave them an impatient look until they complied. "Oh...there might be a...slight pinch." Six yelps accompanied his comment as each of them felt a sting on the inside of their wrists. Cryoleptus winced, giving them an apologetic nod. "Sorry...the bracelets need the blood link to bond them to each of you. It'll help to counteract the interference that you'll run into on the island...that's the theory, at least. Anyway," he went on quickly, "now you'll all be able to communicate mentally with one another. You'll be able to 'speak' normally, just as though you were standing next to one another. And you can speak to one, all, or any combination of your fellows. Quite ingenious, really." He grinned, seemingly rather proud of his invention, but the Guildmaster's cleared throat quickly brought him back on task.

"Right...Now, normally, you'd be able to speak to one another over a distance of many miles. As it stands, I wouldn't count on more than five hundred yards...possibly as many as a thousand, if we're lucky. But the communication range will be spherical, so even if you're separated by a significant distance vertically as well as horzontally, you'll still be able to stay in touch. In addition, those sapphires are linked to these." He and Hardblade each held up a wrist to show they were wearing identical bracelets, though theirs were heavier, and each sported even larger stones.

"When you need to communicate with us, any one of you can touch one of those sapphires and will it to connect to us. It will connect with both of us, by the by. The stone will crumble, but the mana stored within will enable...again, we hope...you to be able to reach out clear to the mainland to speak. Each gem will allow only about five minutes worth of communication, and each bracelet has twenty sapphires, so that's a total of six hours of communication. Use it wisely. Oh!" He blinked, tapping the side of his head with the heel of his palm. "I almost forgot. Even when the sapphires are depleted, the topaz will continue to keep the mental link between you active."

Turning back to the table, he plucked up the large diamond. "This is the anchor which you'll use to contact us when you're finished with the job. I'll be blooding it during the ritual and linking it with the central diamond on the Portal. As my mana core recharges, the stone will slowly grow warmer, and the rainbow within it will brighten. When it reaches the point of being just uncomfortably warm, and the lightning seems to fill the stone, it will be ready, and any time after that, you can call for the Portal. All you'll need to do is hold the crystal in the palm of your hand, smear it with a drop of blood, and call my name aloud. After that, everything will proceed on it's own. Just dont forget, it takes a full hour for the portal to form, and it cant be moved once it's started, so be prepared to defend the portal with your lives once you activate it...or make sure everything hostile is already in the afterlife." He gave them a sharp, razor thin smile.

Before the prince could say anything more, one of the wizards in the circle softly muttered "It is time, My Lord Vizier." With a nod, Cryoleptus turned to the portal, beckoning the six to follow him. Waving them forward, he spoke softly, even as he had raised his hands and begun making passes in the air. Softly glowing lights, like tiny arcs of lighting, began to flicker and flow around his hands and his eyes were half closed. Nevertheless, he was able to continue speaking to them, guiding them to their places.

"Quickly, my friends, stand in the circle, in front of the Portal. Do not, under any circumstances, break the circle. The consequences would be...disastrous. Now, forgive me, I must bend my concentration wholly to the ritual. I will signal you when it is time to enter the portal." So saying, the mage closed his eyes fully and began muttering ancient, puissiant words of power, began his invocations.

It turned out, watching a bunch of other people perform a complex, multi-step, extremely arcane and esoteric ritual, while you had to stand in center of their formation, unmoving, not talking, and generally just doing your best to make like a hole in the air...is incredibly boring.

Hardblade stood nearby, providing her own signature brand of motivation to both remain silent, and alert. Mostly in the form of icy glares when one of the Hunters dared to breathe too loudly, or shuffle their feet overmuch. Powers help anyone who made the nearly unforgivable mistake of coughing!

Eventually, and fortunately for their sanity, the ritual finally seemed to be nearing it's crescendo. The voices of the participants sped up and got louder, their movements more purposeful, almost frantically so. With what seemed to be only a minute or so left, Cryoleptus held aloft the diamond that was the key to opening the portal on the Island. With a gesture, he caused a small slice to appear across his palm, then wrapped his fist around the stone. The Vizier's clenched hand practically exploded in a coruscating sphere of rainbow colored light, pushing back the shadows in the large room, and forcing the six Hunters to avert their eyes. Seconds later, the light dimmed and, when it was once again safe to look, they saw that Cryoleptus was holding, in his now healed palm, a crimson diamond that pulsed with a soft, inner light. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the stone to Cal, who happened to be closest, then turned his attention fully to the final steps of the ritual.

From her position to one side, Hardblade called out. "Call in when you need to, but I want at least twice daily reports. Dawn and Dusk will be when I'll set aside time to wait, but if you need to get ahold of me before that, do so. I dispatched a fast ship about an hour ago, and it's heading straight for Oculus. There's a weather witch on board, so it should only take them about four or five days to get there. They'll have additional supplies, a couple of healers, and some guards. Unfortunately I had to dispatch your peers to some of those other border conflicts that are, as you surmised, already heating up, so you six will still be the big dogs in the yard. But if you get in the soup, just hunker down, because help is already on the way."

Cryoleptus interrupted, his voice tight with strain. "Thirty seconds. Anything else you have to say, make it quick."

Rather than respond, the Guildmaster drew herself stiffly to attention, feet coming crisply together, and closed fist coming across to thump solidly against her chest. Her one good eye shone with pride as she swept the six with her gaze. "Hunters, the Hunt beckons. Bring honour to your Guild, Honour to your House, Honour to yourselves."

"The portal is active! GO! NOW!!" Barked the prince, as a soundless burst of heat and light erupted behind the six Hunters standing on the dais. Turning, they saw that the basalt arch of the Portal was filled with milky white fog, swirling violently and streaked through with flashes of bright blue energy. The thirteen massive diamonds mounted on the stone hummed and popped with the incredible amount of power channeled into and through them, and arcs of what looked like real lightning forked and danced across all the surface, even grounding out on the stone dais.

The six jumped forward, even as, behind them, Hardblade once more barked. "Hunters...HUNT WELL!!"

The world went dark...

...heat...

...cold...

...PAIN!!!...

...violent, gut wrenching spasms hammered each of the Hunters, sending agonizing tremors racing through their bodies. For a split second that seemed to last hours, each of them would later swear that they felt like they were simultaneously burning to death, freezing, and struck by lightning...

...and then they erupted into bright sunlight, and a warm, tropical breeze, smelling strongly of iodine and salt. They can see, in rapid, pain and nausea filled flashes, several large wooden buildings, each seemingly built to accommodate both human and cyclops sized individuals. All of the buildings appear damaged in some fashion, some more than others. There are lots of what appear to be streaks of spell damage, a few slices where thin stripes have been disintegrated, and a few places are smashed in, as though large bodies have flown through walls and doors.

Unfortunately, since the six literally erupted onto the island, all of this passes by in a flash...some of it painfully close. All of the Hunters were violently spat out by the Portal, and found themselves sailing through the air, slamming into and through various (fortunately) wooden structures. Or...in one unfortunate case...directly into the earth below...

Apparently, the portal was less 'stable' than even their most pessimistic predictions prognosticated.
.
.
.
To add the cherry to the top of the 'crap sundae' that was their rather ignominious translation from one location to another...was when, from all round them, came incredible basso roars' and the ground shuddering thud of massive feet.

The six Hunters took their leave of Hardblade and her princely cousin. The Guildmaster's final notice of their time limit rang in their ears, as she barked a reminder just before the door swung shut.

The six headed out to handle their various chores, as well as meet to discuss strategies, or to have one last round at the bar. Regardless, the six found themselves back at the main hall as the time of departure drew near. With just a few minutes to spare, a Guild page arrived, beckoning to the Hunters to follow. It was hard to tell the exact age or the sex of the child...Guild Pages tended to blend into the woodwork as all wore the same uniform and had the same haircut...all of them looked like little cutouts of the exact same 10 year old moppet, dressed in gray pants and tunic, with a tabard in the Guild colors thrown over all. If it weren't for the fact that not all of them were human, it wouldn't surprise any of you if they really were identical copies of a single, perfect servant.

But the child knew their business and quickly lead the group to a room deep within the bowels of the Guild building, leaving them at the door after gesturing them inside. Once they entered, the six found themselves in a cavernous, square room, at least fifty paces on a side, with a high, vaulted ceiling. A raised dais, at least thirty feet across, stood in the exact center of the room, and on it was the familiar shape of one of the Guild Teleportals, a polished basalt arch, inscribed with copious amounts of runes and positively humming with magic energy. The Teleportals were well known to you all. Every Guild Chapterhouse had at least one, bigger ones often as many as a half dozen, and they could be targeted at any other Teleportal as the user desired.

This one, however, appeared to have been rather extensively modified. Thirteen large, glittering diamonds, each as big as an apple, and scintillating in a rainbow of colors, were mounted equidistantly around the arch. At the peak of the Portal was a massive, water clear stone easily the size of a man's head. Lightning, in all the colors of the spectrum, flashed and flickered through the stone, flowing to and from each of the other dozen diamonds in an intricate, convoluted dance.

Spaced just as evenly around the Arch were a dozen wizards, each dressed in the robes of a Maester of the Collegium Arcane. None of the wizards paid the least bit of attention to the Hunters, as each appeared to already be deeply involved in their spellcasting. The air smelt of incense and ozone, and small wisps of smoke drift up from small braziers at the feet of each of the spellcasters. Occasionally one of another of them would toss a small pinch of some substance into the flame, and further scents would perfume the air...some were quite pleasant, others unutterably vile.

Standing at the head of the circle is Cryoleptus, though, unlike the rest, he was facing outward, conversing quietly with his cousin, Hardblade, who stood to one side, beside a table covered in several satchels and other bits of equipment. The two of them glanced up at the Hunters as they entered, Cryoleptus with a welcome smile and Hardblade with a more worried look. Both quietly greeted the six and Hardblade beckoned them over to the table.

Once everyone was gathered around, the Guildmaster nodded towards the piled gear. The Hunters could see that there were six small leather satchels, meant to be belted around the waist or slung crossways over the chest. Each didn't look like it would hold more than a few items, but, one and all, they appeared to be exquisitely made.

On a square of watered silk rested six silver bracelets, each of which sported a plethora of sparkling sapphires, offset with tiny white topaz in between each dazzling blue stone. Amidst the decorative whorls and filigree could be seen tiny, etched runes, each painstakingly carved into the metal directly, then washed with some type of caustic agent to highlight them.

And finally, resting on a nest of piled silk was another water clear diamond, about the size of a hen's egg. The stone was absolutely and utterly flawless, and was perfectly cut in the shape of a dodecahedron. At the center of the stone, rainbow lightning flashed, perfectly mimicking the power of the massive diamond that surmounts the Portal.

Hardblade reached out and grabbed up the six packs, tossing one to each of the Hunters. "Those are your supplies. Enough food and drink in each to last you a month, along with pretty much every type of basic gear imaginable. There's also some alchemical supplies...healing salves, other goodies, even a few things that go boom in the night." She gave them a bright, savage grin and continued. "I had the Quartermaster pull out all the stops. She jammed everything she thought you might possibly need. They each hold as much as a top flight bag of holding, but they only weigh half a stone, no matter what you shove in em. The mouths expand to be large enough to fit a pony keg into them...there's a couple dozen in each, filled with water, in case you were wondering. And as a bonus, they work like a typical Lyrican Haversack...you reach in, think about the thing you want, and suddenly it's in hand. Only takes a second to get whatever you're after." She nodded in Cryoleptus' direction. "The bags themselves are a gift of the Collegium, and according to his nibs, there are a couple rather important limitations. The packs are, themselves, magic, so if you're withing an anti-magic zone, you wont be able to take anything out or put anything in. They'll just be empty leather satchels for the duration. But being in an AMZ wont actually harm them...they've been extensively tested. The other limitation is, you cant put anything magic into them...mundane items only. Interferes with the phlebotinum or some other ridiculous magey words." She rolled her eyes and grinned. "Basically, if you try to put anything enchanted in them, they might stop working, they might do nothing...or they might explode. And by all the Powers, DO NOT try and put any Nullmetal into them. They're protected from the outside, so proximity, even contact shouldn't hurt them. But DONT try to store any in them. Other than that, nothing alive can be put in them, but you can put all the dead stuff you want in there. It'll be perfectly preserved until you pull it back out."

She leaned forward, and added, sotto voce, "They dont "officially" exist...they're still in the experimental stage. But I worked it so you all get to keep them when this mission is done...part of your bonus. Plus, I got one for myself!" With a happy smile, she pulled back her fur cloak and showed that she already had one of the packs slung around her waist. Reaching in, she pulled out a long wooden pole...and kept pulling and pulling, until it's entire ten foot length was in her hand. With a bark of laughter, she quickly re-stowed it, then waved to Cryoleptus. "He'll brief you on the other doodads. And make it quick, Cousin,", she added, glancing at the large water clock mounted on a nearby wall, "There's only a quarter of an hour left before you have to get that ritual going."

With a small chuckle of his own, the Vizier gave Hardblade a small, half-bow, then turned to the Hunters. Taking up the bracelets, he held them out, handing one to each of the six. "Put them on, quickly." He gave them an impatient look until they complied. "Oh...there might be a...slight pinch." Six yelps accompanied his comment as each of them felt a sting on the inside of their wrists. Cryoleptus winced, giving them an apologetic nod. "Sorry...the bracelets need the blood link to bond them to each of you. It'll help to counteract the interference that you'll run into on the island...that's the theory, at least. Anyway," he went on quickly, "now you'll all be able to communicate mentally with one another. You'll be able to 'speak' normally, just as though you were standing next to one another. And you can speak to one, all, or any combination of your fellows. Quite ingenious, really." He grinned, seemingly rather proud of his invention, but the Guildmaster's cleared throat quickly brought him back on task.

"Right...Now, normally, you'd be able to speak to one another over a distance of many miles. As it stands, I wouldn't count on more than five hundred yards...possibly as many as a thousand, if we're lucky. But the communication range will be spherical, so even if you're separated by a significant distance vertically as well as horzontally, you'll still be able to stay in touch. In addition, those sapphires are linked to these." He and Hardblade each held up a wrist to show they were wearing identical bracelets, though theirs were heavier, and each sported even larger stones.

"When you need to communicate with us, any one of you can touch one of those sapphires and will it to connect to us. It will connect with both of us, by the by. The stone will crumble, but the mana stored within will enable...again, we hope...you to be able to reach out clear to the mainland to speak. Each gem will allow only about five minutes worth of communication, and each bracelet has twenty sapphires, so that's a total of six hours of communication. Use it wisely. Oh!" He blinked, tapping the side of his head with the heel of his palm. "I almost forgot. Even when the sapphires are depleted, the topaz will continue to keep the mental link between you active."

Turning back to the table, he plucked up the large diamond. "This is the anchor which you'll use to contact us when you're finished with the job. I'll be blooding it during the ritual and linking it with the central diamond on the Portal. As my mana core recharges, the stone will slowly grow warmer, and the rainbow within it will brighten. When it reaches the point of being just uncomfortably warm, and the lightning seems to fill the stone, it will be ready, and any time after that, you can call for the Portal. All you'll need to do is hold the crystal in the palm of your hand, smear it with a drop of blood, and call my name aloud. After that, everything will proceed on it's own. Just dont forget, it takes a full hour for the portal to form, and it cant be moved once it's started, so be prepared to defend the portal with your lives once you activate it...or make sure everything hostile is already in the afterlife." He gave them a sharp, razor thin smile.

Before the prince could say anything more, one of the wizards in the circle softly muttered "It is time, My Lord Vizier." With a nod, Cryoleptus turned to the portal, beckoning the six to follow him. Waving them forward, he spoke softly, even as he had raised his hands and begun making passes in the air. Softly glowing lights, like tiny arcs of lighting, began to flicker and flow around his hands and his eyes were half closed. Nevertheless, he was able to continue speaking to them, guiding them to their places.

"Quickly, my friends, stand in the circle, in front of the Portal. Do not, under any circumstances, break the circle. The consequences would be...disastrous. Now, forgive me, I must bend my concentration wholly to the ritual. I will signal you when it is time to enter the portal." So saying, the mage closed his eyes fully and began muttering ancient, puissiant words of power, began his invocations.

It turned out, watching a bunch of other people perform a complex, multi-step, extremely arcane and esoteric ritual, while you had to stand in center of their formation, unmoving, not talking, and generally just doing your best to make like a hole in the air...is incredibly boring.

Hardblade stood nearby, providing her own signature brand of motivation to both remain silent, and alert. Mostly in the form of icy glares when one of the Hunters dared to breathe too loudly, or shuffle their feet overmuch. Powers help anyone who made the nearly unforgivable mistake of coughing!

Eventually, and fortunately for their sanity, the ritual finally seemed to be nearing it's crescendo. The voices of the participants sped up and got louder, their movements more purposeful, almost frantically so. With what seemed to be only a minute or so left, Cryoleptus held aloft the diamond that was the key to opening the portal on the Island. With a gesture, he caused a small slice to appear across his palm, then wrapped his fist around the stone. The Vizier's clenched hand practically exploded in a coruscating sphere of rainbow colored light, pushing back the shadows in the large room, and forcing the six Hunters to avert their eyes. Seconds later, the light dimmed and, when it was once again safe to look, they saw that Cryoleptus was holding, in his now healed palm, a crimson diamond that pulsed with a soft, inner light. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the stone to Cal, who happened to be closest, then turned his attention fully to the final steps of the ritual.

From her position to one side, Hardblade called out. "Call in when you need to, but I want at least twice daily reports. Dawn and Dusk will be when I'll set aside time to wait, but if you need to get ahold of me before that, do so. I dispatched a fast ship about an hour ago, and it's heading straight for Oculus. There's a weather witch on board, so it should only take them about four or five days to get there. They'll have additional supplies, a couple of healers, and some guards. Unfortunately I had to dispatch your peers to some of those other border conflicts that are, as you surmised, already heating up, so you six will still be the big dogs in the yard. But if you get in the soup, just hunker down, because help is already on the way."

Cryoleptus interrupted, his voice tight with strain. "Thirty seconds. Anything else you have to say, make it quick."

Rather than respond, the Guildmaster drew herself stiffly to attention, feet coming crisply together, and closed fist coming across to thump solidly against her chest. Her one good eye shone with pride as she swept the six with her gaze. "Hunters, the Hunt beckons. Bring honour to your Guild, Honour to your House, Honour to yourselves."

"The portal is active! GO! NOW!!" Barked the prince, as a soundless burst of heat and light erupted behind the six Hunters standing on the dais. Turning, they saw that the basalt arch of the Portal was filled with milky white fog, swirling violently and streaked through with flashes of bright blue energy. The thirteen massive diamonds mounted on the stone hummed and popped with the incredible amount of power channeled into and through them, and arcs of what looked like real lightning forked and danced across all the surface, even grounding out on the stone dais.

The six jumped forward, even as, behind them, Hardblade once more barked. "Hunters...HUNT WELL!!"

The world went dark...

...heat...

...cold...

...PAIN!!!...

...violent, gut wrenching spasms hammered each of the Hunters, sending agonizing tremors racing through their bodies. For a split second that seemed to last hours, each of them would later swear that they felt like they were simultaneously burning to death, freezing, and struck by lightning...

...and then they erupted into bright sunlight, and a warm, tropical breeze, smelling strongly of iodine and salt. They can see, in rapid, pain and nausea filled flashes, several large wooden buildings, each seemingly built to accommodate both human and cyclops sized individuals. All of the buildings appear damaged in some fashion, some more than others. There are lots of what appear to be streaks of spell damage, a few slices where thin stripes have been disintegrated, and a few places are smashed in, as though large bodies have flown through walls and doors.

Unfortunately, since the six literally erupted onto the island, all of this passes by in a flash...some of it painfully close. All of the Hunters were violently spat out by the Portal, and found themselves sailing through the air, slamming into and through various (fortunately) wooden structures. Or...in one unfortunate case...directly into the earth below...

Apparently, the portal was less 'stable' than even their most pessimistic predictions prognosticated.
.
.
.
To add the cherry to the top of the 'crap sundae' that was their rather ignominious translation from one location to another...was when, from all round them, came incredible basso roars' and the ground shuddering thud of massive feet.

The six Hunters took their leave of Hardblade and her princely cousin. The Guildmaster's final notice of their time limit rang in their ears, as she barked a reminder just before the door swung shut.

The six headed out to handle their various chores, as well as meet to discuss strategies, or to have one last round at the bar. Regardless, the six found themselves back at the main hall as the time of departure drew near. With just a few minutes to spare, a Guild page arrived, beckoning to the Hunters to follow. It was hard to tell the exact age or the sex of the child...Guild Pages tended to blend into the woodwork as all wore the same uniform and had the same haircut...all of them looked like little cutouts of the exact same 10 year old moppet, dressed in gray pants and tunic, with a tabard in the Guild colors thrown over all. If it weren't for the fact that not all of them were human, it wouldn't surprise any of you if they really were identical copies of a single, perfect servant.

But the child knew their business and quickly lead the group to a room deep within the bowels of the Guild building, leaving them at the door after gesturing them inside. Once they entered, the six found themselves in a cavernous, square room, at least fifty paces on a side, with a high, vaulted ceiling. A raised dais, at least thirty feet across, stood in the exact center of the room, and on it was the familiar shape of one of the Guild Teleportals, a polished basalt arch, inscribed with copious amounts of runes and positively humming with magic energy. The Teleportals were well known to you all. Every Guild Chapterhouse had at least one, bigger ones often as many as a half dozen, and they could be targeted at any other Teleportal as the user desired.

This one, however, appeared to have been rather extensively modified. Thirteen large, glittering diamonds, each as big as an apple, and scintillating in a rainbow of colors, were mounted equidistantly around the arch. At the peak of the Portal was a massive, water clear stone easily the size of a man's head. Lightning, in all the colors of the spectrum, flashed and flickered through the stone, flowing to and from each of the other dozen diamonds in an intricate, convoluted dance.

Spaced just as evenly around the Arch were a dozen wizards, each dressed in the robes of a Maester of the Collegium Arcane. None of the wizards paid the least bit of attention to the Hunters, as each appeared to already be deeply involved in their spellcasting. The air smelt of incense and ozone, and small wisps of smoke drift up from small braziers at the feet of each of the spellcasters. Occasionally one of another of them would toss a small pinch of some substance into the flame, and further scents would perfume the air...some were quite pleasant, others unutterably vile.

Standing at the head of the circle is Cryoleptus, though, unlike the rest, he was facing outward, conversing quietly with his cousin, Hardblade, who stood to one side, beside a table covered in several satchels and other bits of equipment. The two of them glanced up at the Hunters as they entered, Cryoleptus with a welcome smile and Hardblade with a more worried look. Both quietly greeted the six and Hardblade beckoned them over to the table.

Once everyone was gathered around, the Guildmaster nodded towards the piled gear. The Hunters could see that there were six small leather satchels, meant to be belted around the waist or slung crossways over the chest. Each didn't look like it would hold more than a few items, but, one and all, they appeared to be exquisitely made.

On a square of watered silk rested six silver bracelets, each of which sported a plethora of sparkling sapphires, offset with tiny white topaz in between each dazzling blue stone. Amidst the decorative whorls and filigree could be seen tiny, etched runes, each painstakingly carved into the metal directly, then washed with some type of caustic agent to highlight them.

And finally, resting on a nest of piled silk was another water clear diamond, about the size of a hen's egg. The stone was absolutely and utterly flawless, and was perfectly cut in the shape of a dodecahedron. At the center of the stone, rainbow lightning flashed, perfectly mimicking the power of the massive diamond that surmounts the Portal.

Hardblade reached out and grabbed up the six packs, tossing one to each of the Hunters. "Those are your supplies. Enough food and drink in each to last you a month, along with pretty much every type of basic gear imaginable. There's also some alchemical supplies...healing salves, other goodies, even a few things that go boom in the night." She gave them a bright, savage grin and continued. "I had the Quartermaster pull out all the stops. She jammed everything she thought you might possibly need. They each hold as much as a top flight bag of holding, but they only weigh half a stone, no matter what you shove in em. The mouths expand to be large enough to fit a pony keg into them...there's a couple dozen in each, filled with water, in case you were wondering. And as a bonus, they work like a typical Lyrican Haversack...you reach in, think about the thing you want, and suddenly it's in hand. Only takes a second to get whatever you're after." She nodded in Cryoleptus' direction. "The bags themselves are a gift of the Collegium, and according to his nibs, there are a couple rather important limitations. The packs are, themselves, magic, so if you're withing an anti-magic zone, you wont be able to take anything out or put anything in. They'll just be empty leather satchels for the duration. But being in an AMZ wont actually harm them...they've been extensively tested. The other limitation is, you cant put anything magic into them...mundane items only. Interferes with the phlebotinum or some other ridiculous magey words." She rolled her eyes and grinned. "Basically, if you try to put anything enchanted in them, they might stop working, they might do nothing...or they might explode. And by all the Powers, DO NOT try and put any Nullmetal into them. They're protected from the outside, so proximity, even contact shouldn't hurt them. But DONT try to store any in them. Other than that, nothing alive can be put in them, but you can put all the dead stuff you want in there. It'll be perfectly preserved until you pull it back out."

She leaned forward, and added, sotto voce, "They dont "officially" exist...they're still in the experimental stage. But I worked it so you all get to keep them when this mission is done...part of your bonus. Plus, I got one for myself!" With a happy smile, she pulled back her fur cloak and showed that she already had one of the packs slung around her waist. Reaching in, she pulled out a long wooden pole...and kept pulling and pulling, until it's entire ten foot length was in her hand. With a bark of laughter, she quickly re-stowed it, then waved to Cryoleptus. "He'll brief you on the other doodads. And make it quick, Cousin,", she added, glancing at the large water clock mounted on a nearby wall, "There's only a quarter of an hour left before you have to get that ritual going."

With a small chuckle of his own, the Vizier gave Hardblade a small, half-bow, then turned to the Hunters. Taking up the bracelets, he held them out, handing one to each of the six. "Put them on, quickly." He gave them an impatient look until they complied. "Oh...there might be a...slight pinch." Six yelps accompanied his comment as each of them felt a sting on the inside of their wrists. Cryoleptus winced, giving them an apologetic nod. "Sorry...the bracelets need the blood link to bond them to each of you. It'll help to counteract the interference that you'll run into on the island...that's the theory, at least. Anyway," he went on quickly, "now you'll all be able to communicate mentally with one another. You'll be able to 'speak' normally, just as though you were standing next to one another. And you can speak to one, all, or any combination of your fellows. Quite ingenious, really." He grinned, seemingly rather proud of his invention, but the Guildmaster's cleared throat quickly brought him back on task.

"Right...Now, normally, you'd be able to speak to one another over a distance of many miles. As it stands, I wouldn't count on more than five hundred yards...possibly as many as a thousand, if we're lucky. But the communication range will be spherical, so even if you're separated by a significant distance vertically as well as horzontally, you'll still be able to stay in touch. In addition, those sapphires are linked to these." He and Hardblade each held up a wrist to show they were wearing identical bracelets, though theirs were heavier, and each sported even larger stones.

"When you need to communicate with us, any one of you can touch one of those sapphires and will it to connect to us. It will connect with both of us, by the by. The stone will crumble, but the mana stored within will enable...again, we hope...you to be able to reach out clear to the mainland to speak. Each gem will allow only about five minutes worth of communication, and each bracelet has twenty sapphires, so that's a total of six hours of communication. Use it wisely. Oh!" He blinked, tapping the side of his head with the heel of his palm. "I almost forgot. Even when the sapphires are depleted, the topaz will continue to keep the mental link between you active."

Turning back to the table, he plucked up the large diamond. "This is the anchor which you'll use to contact us when you're finished with the job. I'll be blooding it during the ritual and linking it with the central diamond on the Portal. As my mana core recharges, the stone will slowly grow warmer, and the rainbow within it will brighten. When it reaches the point of being just uncomfortably warm, and the lightning seems to fill the stone, it will be ready, and any time after that, you can call for the Portal. All you'll need to do is hold the crystal in the palm of your hand, smear it with a drop of blood, and call my name aloud. After that, everything will proceed on it's own. Just dont forget, it takes a full hour for the portal to form, and it cant be moved once it's started, so be prepared to defend the portal with your lives once you activate it...or make sure everything hostile is already in the afterlife." He gave them a sharp, razor thin smile.

Before the prince could say anything more, one of the wizards in the circle softly muttered "It is time, My Lord Vizier." With a nod, Cryoleptus turned to the portal, beckoning the six to follow him. Waving them forward, he spoke softly, even as he had raised his hands and begun making passes in the air. Softly glowing lights, like tiny arcs of lighting, began to flicker and flow around his hands and his eyes were half closed. Nevertheless, he was able to continue speaking to them, guiding them to their places.

"Quickly, my friends, stand in the circle, in front of the Portal. Do not, under any circumstances, break the circle. The consequences would be...disastrous. Now, forgive me, I must bend my concentration wholly to the ritual. I will signal you when it is time to enter the portal." So saying, the mage closed his eyes fully and began muttering ancient, puissiant words of power, began his invocations.

It turned out, watching a bunch of other people perform a complex, multi-step, extremely arcane and esoteric ritual, while you had to stand in center of their formation, unmoving, not talking, and generally just doing your best to make like a hole in the air...is incredibly boring.

Hardblade stood nearby, providing her own signature brand of motivation to both remain silent, and alert. Mostly in the form of icy glares when one of the Hunters dared to breathe too loudly, or shuffle their feet overmuch. Powers help anyone who made the nearly unforgivable mistake of coughing!

Eventually, and fortunately for their sanity, the ritual finally seemed to be nearing it's crescendo. The voices of the participants sped up and got louder, their movements more purposeful, almost frantically so. With what seemed to be only a minute or so left, Cryoleptus held aloft the diamond that was the key to opening the portal on the Island. With a gesture, he caused a small slice to appear across his palm, then wrapped his fist around the stone. The Vizier's clenched hand practically exploded in a coruscating sphere of rainbow colored light, pushing back the shadows in the large room, and forcing the six Hunters to avert their eyes. Seconds later, the light dimmed and, when it was once again safe to look, they saw that Cryoleptus was holding, in his now healed palm, a crimson diamond that pulsed with a soft, inner light. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the stone to Cal, who happened to be closest, then turned his attention fully to the final steps of the ritual.

From her position to one side, Hardblade called out. "Call in when you need to, but I want at least twice daily reports. Dawn and Dusk will be when I'll set aside time to wait, but if you need to get ahold of me before that, do so. I dispatched a fast ship about an hour ago, and it's heading straight for Oculus. There's a weather witch on board, so it should only take them about four or five days to get there. They'll have additional supplies, a couple of healers, and some guards. Unfortunately I had to dispatch your peers to some of those other border conflicts that are, as you surmised, already heating up, so you six will still be the big dogs in the yard. But if you get in the soup, just hunker down, because help is already on the way."

Cryoleptus interrupted, his voice tight with strain. "Thirty seconds. Anything else you have to say, make it quick."

Rather than respond, the Guildmaster drew herself stiffly to attention, feet coming crisply together, and closed fist coming across to thump solidly against her chest. Her one good eye shone with pride as she swept the six with her gaze. "Hunters, the Hunt beckons. Bring honour to your Guild, Honour to your House, Honour to yourselves."

"The portal is active! GO! NOW!!" Barked the prince, as a soundless burst of heat and light erupted behind the six Hunters standing on the dais. Turning, they saw that the basalt arch of the Portal was filled with milky white fog, swirling violently and streaked through with flashes of bright blue energy. The thirteen massive diamonds mounted on the stone hummed and popped with the incredible amount of power channeled into and through them, and arcs of what looked like real lightning forked and danced across all the surface, even grounding out on the stone dais.

The six jumped forward, even as, behind them, Hardblade once more barked. "Hunters...HUNT WELL!!"

The world went dark...

...heat...

...cold...

...PAIN!!!...

...violent, gut wrenching spasms hammered each of the Hunters, sending agonizing tremors racing through their bodies. For a split second that seemed to last hours, each of them would later swear that they felt like they were simultaneously burning to death, freezing, and struck by lightning...

...and then they erupted into bright sunlight, and a warm, tropical breeze, smelling strongly of iodine and salt. They can see, in rapid, pain and nausea filled flashes, several large wooden buildings, each seemingly built to accommodate both human and cyclops sized individuals. All of the buildings appear damaged in some fashion, some more than others. There are lots of what appear to be streaks of spell damage, a few slices where thin stripes have been disintegrated, and a few places are smashed in, as though large bodies have flown through walls and doors.

Unfortunately, since the six literally erupted onto the island, all of this passes by in a flash...some of it painfully close. All of the Hunters were violently spat out by the Portal, and found themselves sailing through the air, slamming into and through various (fortunately) wooden structures. Or...in one unfortunate case...directly into the earth below...

Apparently, the portal was less 'stable' than even their most pessimistic predictions prognosticated.
.
.
.
To add the cherry to the top of the 'crap sundae' that was their rather ignominious translation from one location to another...was when, from all round them, came incredible basso roars' and the ground shuddering thud of massive feet.

The six Hunters took their leave of Hardblade and her princely cousin. The Guildmaster's final notice of their time limit rang in their ears, as she barked a reminder just before the door swung shut.

The six headed out to handle their various chores, as well as meet to discuss strategies, or to have one last round at the bar. Regardless, the six found themselves back at the main hall as the time of departure drew near. With just a few minutes to spare, a Guild page arrived, beckoning to the Hunters to follow. It was hard to tell the exact age or the sex of the child...Guild Pages tended to blend into the woodwork as all wore the same uniform and had the same haircut...all of them looked like little cutouts of the exact same 10 year old moppet, dressed in gray pants and tunic, with a tabard in the Guild colors thrown over all. If it weren't for the fact that not all of them were human, it wouldn't surprise any of you if they really were identical copies of a single, perfect servant.

But the child knew their business and quickly lead the group to a room deep within the bowels of the Guild building, leaving them at the door after gesturing them inside. Once they entered, the six found themselves in a cavernous, square room, at least fifty paces on a side, with a high, vaulted ceiling. A raised dais, at least thirty feet across, stood in the exact center of the room, and on it was the familiar shape of one of the Guild Teleportals, a polished basalt arch, inscribed with copious amounts of runes and positively humming with magic energy. The Teleportals were well known to you all. Every Guild Chapterhouse had at least one, bigger ones often as many as a half dozen, and they could be targeted at any other Teleportal as the user desired.

This one, however, appeared to have been rather extensively modified. Thirteen large, glittering diamonds, each as big as an apple, and scintillating in a rainbow of colors, were mounted equidistantly around the arch. At the peak of the Portal was a massive, water clear stone easily the size of a man's head. Lightning, in all the colors of the spectrum, flashed and flickered through the stone, flowing to and from each of the other dozen diamonds in an intricate, convoluted dance.

Spaced just as evenly around the Arch were a dozen wizards, each dressed in the robes of a Maester of the Collegium Arcane. None of the wizards paid the least bit of attention to the Hunters, as each appeared to already be deeply involved in their spellcasting. The air smelt of incense and ozone, and small wisps of smoke drift up from small braziers at the feet of each of the spellcasters. Occasionally one of another of them would toss a small pinch of some substance into the flame, and further scents would perfume the air...some were quite pleasant, others unutterably vile.

Standing at the head of the circle is Cryoleptus, though, unlike the rest, he was facing outward, conversing quietly with his cousin, Hardblade, who stood to one side, beside a table covered in several satchels and other bits of equipment. The two of them glanced up at the Hunters as they entered, Cryoleptus with a welcome smile and Hardblade with a more worried look. Both quietly greeted the six and Hardblade beckoned them over to the table.

Once everyone was gathered around, the Guildmaster nodded towards the piled gear. The Hunters could see that there were six small leather satchels, meant to be belted around the waist or slung crossways over the chest. Each didn't look like it would hold more than a few items, but, one and all, they appeared to be exquisitely made.

On a square of watered silk rested six silver bracelets, each of which sported a plethora of sparkling sapphires, offset with tiny white topaz in between each dazzling blue stone. Amidst the decorative whorls and filigree could be seen tiny, etched runes, each painstakingly carved into the metal directly, then washed with some type of caustic agent to highlight them.

And finally, resting on a nest of piled silk was another water clear diamond, about the size of a hen's egg. The stone was absolutely and utterly flawless, and was perfectly cut in the shape of a dodecahedron. At the center of the stone, rainbow lightning flashes, perfectly mimicking the power of the massive diamond that surmounts the Portal.

Hardblade reached out and grabbed up the six packs, tossing one to each of the Hunters. "Those are your supplies. Enough food and drink in each to last you a month, along with pretty much every type of basic gear imaginable. There's also some alchemical supplies...healing salves, other goodies, even a few things that go boom in the night." She gave them a bright, savage grin and continued. "I had the Quartermaster pull out all the stops. She jammed everything she thought you might possibly need. They each hold as much as a top flight bag of holding, but they only weigh half a stone, no matter what you shove in em. The mouths expand to be large enough to fit a pony keg into them...there's a couple dozen in each, filled with water, in case you were wondering. And as a bonus, they work like a typical Lyrican Haversack...you reach in, think about the thing you want, and suddenly it's in hand. Only takes a second to get whatever you're after." She nodded in Cryoleptus' direction. "The bags themselves are a gift of the Collegium, and according to his nibs, there are a couple rather important limitations. The packs are, themselves, magic, so if you're withing an anti-magic zone, you wont be able to take anything out or put anything in. They'll just be empty leather satchels for the duration. But being in an AMZ wont actually harm them...they've been extensively tested. The other limitation is, you cant put anything magic into them...mundane items only. Interferes with the phlebotinum or some other ridiculous magey words." She rolled her eyes and grinned. "Basically, if you try to put anything enchanted in them, they might stop working, they might do nothing...or they might explode. And by all the Powers, DO NOT try and put any Nullmetal into them. They're protected from the outside, so proximity, even contact shouldn't hurt them. But DONT try to store any in them. Other than that, nothing alive can be put in them, but you can put all the dead stuff you want in there. It'll be perfectly preserved until you pull it back out."

She leaned forward, and added, sotto voce, "They dont "officially" exist...they're still in the experimental stage. But I worked it so you all get to keep them when this mission is done...part of your bonus. Plus, I got one for myself!" With a happy smile, she pulled back her fur cloak and showed that she already had one of the packs slung around her waist. Reaching in, she pulled out a long wooden pole...and kept pulling and pulling, until it's entire ten foot length was in her hand. With a bark of laughter, she quickly re-stowed it, then waved to Cryoleptus. "He'll brief you on the other doodads. And make it quick, Cousin,", she added, glancing at the large water clock mounted on a nearby wall, "There's only a quarter of an hour left before you have to get that ritual going."

With a small chuckle of his own, the Vizier gave Hardblade a small, half-bow, then turned to the Hunters. Taking up the bracelets, he held them out, handing one to each of the six. "Put them on, quickly." He gave them an impatient look until they complied. "Oh...there might be a...slight pinch." Six yelps accompanied his comment as each of them felt a sting on the inside of their wrists. Cryoleptus winced, giving them an apologetic nod. "Sorry...the bracelets need the blood link to bond them to each of you. It'll help to counteract the interference that you'll run into on the island...that's the theory, at least. Anyway," he went on quickly, "now you'll all be able to communicate mentally with one another. You'll be able to 'speak' normally, just as though you were standing next to one another. And you can speak to one, all, or any combination of your fellows. Quite ingenious, really." He grinned, seemingly rather proud of his invention, but the Guildmaster's cleared throat quickly brought him back on task.

"Right...Now, normally, you'd be able to speak to one another over a distance of many miles. As it stands, I wouldn't count on more than five hundred yards...possibly as many as a thousand, if we're lucky. But the communication range will be spherical, so even if you're separated by a significant distance vertically as well as horzontally, you'll still be able to stay in touch. In addition, those sapphires are linked to these." He and Hardblade each held up a wrist to show they were wearing identical bracelets, though theirs were heavier, and each sported even larger stones.

"When you need to communicate with us, any one of you can touch one of those sapphires and will it to connect to us. It will connect with both of us, by the by. The stone will crumble, but the mana stored within will enable...again, we hope...you to be able to reach out clear to the mainland to speak. Each gem will allow only about five minutes worth of communication, and each bracelet has twenty sapphires, so that's a total of six hours of communication. Use it wisely. Oh!" He blinked, tapping the side of his head with the heel of his palm. "I almost forgot. Even when the sapphires are depleted, the topaz will continue to keep the mental link between you active."

Turning back to the table, he plucked up the large diamond. "This is the anchor which you'll use to contact us when you're finished with the job. I'll be blooding it during the ritual and linking it with the central diamond on the Portal. As my mana core recharges, the stone will slowly grow warmer, and the rainbow within it will brighten. When it reaches the point of being just uncomfortably warm, and the lightning seems to fill the stone, it will be ready, and any time after that, you can call for the Portal. All you'll need to do is hold the crystal in the palm of your hand, smear it with a drop of blood, and call my name aloud. After that, everything will proceed on it's own. Just dont forget, it takes a full hour for the portal to form, and it cant be moved once it's started, so be prepared to defend the portal with your lives once you activate it...or make sure everything hostile is already in the afterlife." He gave them a sharp, razor thin smile.

Before the prince could say anything more, one of the wizards in the circle softly muttered "It is time, My Lord Vizier." With a nod, Cryoleptus turned to the portal, beckoning the six to follow him. Waving them forward, he spoke softly, even as he had raised his hands and begun making passes in the air. Softly glowing lights, like tiny arcs of lighting, began to flicker and flow around his hands and his eyes were half closed. Nevertheless, he was able to continue speaking to them, guiding them to their places.

"Quickly, my friends, stand in the circle, in front of the Portal. Do not, under any circumstances, break the circle. The consequences would be...disastrous. Now, forgive me, I must bend my concentration wholly to the ritual. I will signal you when it is time to enter the portal." So saying, the mage closed his eyes fully and began muttering ancient, puissiant words of power, began his invocations.

It turned out, watching a bunch of other people perform a complex, multi-step, extremely arcane and esoteric ritual, while you had to stand in center of their formation, unmoving, not talking, and generally just doing your best to make like a hole in the air...is incredibly boring.

Hardblade stood nearby, providing her own signature brand of motivation to both remain silent, and alert. Mostly in the form of icy glares when one of the Hunters dared to breathe too loudly, or shuffle their feet overmuch. Powers help anyone who made the nearly unforgivable mistake of coughing!

Eventually, and fortunately for their sanity, the ritual finally seemed to be nearing it's crescendo. The voices of the participants sped up and got louder, their movements more purposeful, almost frantically so. With what seemed to be only a minute or so left, Cryoleptus held aloft the diamond that was the key to opening the portal on the Island. With a gesture, he caused a small slice to appear across his palm, then wrapped his fist around the stone. The Vizier's clenched hand practically exploded in a coruscating sphere of rainbow colored light, pushing back the shadows in the large room, and forcing the six Hunters to avert their eyes. Seconds later, the light dimmed and, when it was once again safe to look, they saw that Cryoleptus was holding, in his now healed palm, a crimson diamond that pulsed with a soft, inner light. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the stone to Cal, who happened to be closest, then turned his attention fully to the final steps of the ritual.

From her position to one side, Hardblade called out. "Call in when you need to, but I want at least twice daily reports. Dawn and Dusk will be when I'll set aside time to wait, but if you need to get ahold of me before that, do so. I dispatched a fast ship about an hour ago, and it's heading straight for Oculus. There's a weather witch on board, so it should only take them about four or five days to get there. They'll have additional supplies, a couple of healers, and some guards. Unfortunately I had to dispatch your peers to some of those other border conflicts that are, as you surmised, already heating up, so you six will still be the big dogs in the yard. But if you get in the soup, just hunker down, because help is already on the way."

Cryoleptus interrupted, his voice tight with strain. "Thirty seconds. Anything else you have to say, make it quick."

Rather than respond, the Guildmaster drew herself stiffly to attention, feet coming crisply together, and closed fist coming across to thump solidly against her chest. Her one good eye shone with pride as she swept the six with her gaze. "Hunters, the Hunt beckons. Bring honour to your Guild, Honour to your House, Honour to yourselves."

"The portal is active! GO! NOW!!" Barked the prince, as a soundless burst of heat and light erupted behind the six Hunters standing on the dais. Turning, they saw that the basalt arch of the Portal was filled with milky white fog, swirling violently and streaked through with flashes of bright blue energy. The thirteen massive diamonds mounted on the stone hummed and popped with the incredible amount of power channeled into and through them, and arcs of what looked like real lightning forked and danced across all the surface, even grounding out on the stone dais.

The six jumped forward, even as, behind them, Hardblade once more barked. "Hunters...HUNT WELL!!"

The world went dark...

...heat...

...cold...

...PAIN!!!...

...violent, gut wrenching spasms hammered each of the Hunters, sending agonizing tremors racing through their bodies. For a split second that seemed to last hours, each of them would later swear that they felt like they were simultaneously burning to death, freezing, and struck by lightning...

...and then they erupted into bright sunlight, and a warm, tropical breeze, smelling strongly of iodine and salt. They can see, in rapid, pain and nausea filled flashes, several large wooden buildings, each seemingly built to accommodate both human and cyclops sized individuals. All of the buildings appear damaged in some fashion, some more than others. There are lots of what appear to be streaks of spell damage, a few slices where thin stripes have been disintegrated, and a few places are smashed in, as though large bodies have flown through walls and doors.

Unfortunately, since the six literally erupted onto the island, all of this passes by in a flash...some of it painfully close. All of the Hunters were violently spat out by the Portal, and found themselves sailing through the air, slamming into and through various (fortunately) wooden structures. Or...in one unfortunate case...directly into the earth below...

Apparently, the portal was less 'stable' than even their most pessimistic predictions prognosticated.
.
.
.
To add the cherry to the top of the 'crap sundae' that was their rather ignominious translation from one location to another...was when, from all round them, came incredible basso roars' and the ground shuddering thud of massive feet.

The six Hunters took their leave of Hardblade and her princely cousin. The Guildmaster's final notice of their time limit rang in their ears, as she barked a reminder just before the door swung shut.

The six headed out to handle their various chores, as well as meet to discuss strategies, or to have one last round at the bar. Regardless, the six found themselves back at the main hall as the time of departure drew near. With just a few minutes to spare, a Guild page arrived, beckoning to the Hunters to follow. It was hard to tell the exact age or the sex of the child...Guild Pages tended to blend into the woodwork as all wore the same uniform and had the same haircut...all of them looked like little cutouts of the exact same 10 year old moppet, dressed in gray pants and tunic, with a tabard in the Guild colors thrown over all. If it weren't for the fact that not all of them were human, it wouldn't surprise any of you if they really were identical copies of a single, perfect servant.

But the child knew their business and quickly lead the group to a room deep within the bowels of the Guild building, leaving them at the door after gesturing them inside. Once they entered, the six found themselves in a cavernous, square room, at least fifty paces on a side, with a high, vaulted ceiling. A raised dais, at least thirty feet across, stood in the exact center of the room, and on it was the familiar shape of one of the Guild Teleportals, a polished basalt arch, inscribed with copious amounts of runes and positively humming with magic energy. The Teleportals were well known to you all. Every Guild Chapterhouse had at least one, bigger ones often as many as a half dozen, and they could be targeted at any other Teleportal as the user desired.

This one, however, appeared to have been rather extensively modified. Thirteen large, glittering diamonds, each as big as an apple, and scintillating in a rainbow of colors, were mounted equidistantly around the arch. At the peak of the Portal was a massive, water clear stone easily the size of a man's head. Lightning, in all the colors of the spectrum, flashed and flickered through the stone, flowing to and from each of the other dozen diamonds in an intricate, convoluted dance.

Spaced just as evenly around the Arch were a dozen wizards, each dressed in the robes of a Maester of the Collegium Arcane. None of the wizards paid the least bit of attention to the Hunters, as each appeared to already be deeply involved in their spellcasting. The air smelt of incense and ozone, and small wisps of smoke drift up from small braziers at the feet of each of the spellcasters. Occasionally one of another of them would toss a small pinch of some substance into the flame, and further scents would perfume the air...some were quite pleasant, others unutterably vile.

Standing at the head of the circle is Cryoleptus, though, unlike the rest, he was facing outward, conversing quietly with his cousin, Hardblade, who stood to one side, beside a table covered in several satchels and other bits of equipment. The two of them glanced up at the Hunters as they entered, Cryoleptus with a welcome smile and Hardblade with a more worried look. Both quietly greeted the six and Hardblade beckoned them over to the table.

Once everyone was gathered around, the Guildmaster nodded towards the piled gear. The Hunters could see that there were six small leather satchels, meant to be belted around the waist or slung crossways over the chest. Each didn't look like it would hold more than a few items, but, one and all, they appeared to be exquisitely made.

On a square of watered silk rested six silver bracelets, each of which sported a plethora of sparkling sapphires, offset with tiny white topaz in between each dazzling blue stone. Amidst the decorative whorls and filigree could be seen tiny, etched runes, each painstakingly carved into the metal directly, then washed with some type of caustic agent to highlight them.

And finally, resting on a nest of piled silk was another water clear diamond, about the size of a hen's egg. The stone was absolutely and utterly flawless, and was perfectly cut in the shape of a dodecahedron. At the center of the stone, rainbow lightning flashes, perfectly mimicking the power of the massive diamond that surmounts the Portal.

Hardblade reached out and grabbed up the six packs, tossing one to each of the Hunters. "Those are your supplies. Enough food and drink in each to last you a month, along with pretty much every type of basic gear imaginable. There's also some alchemical supplies...healing salves, other goodies, even a few things that go boom in the night." She gave them a bright, savage grin and continued. "I had the Quartermaster pull out all the stops. She jammed everything she thought you might possibly need. They each hold as much as a top flight bag of holding, but they only weigh half a stone, no matter what you shove in em. The mouths expand to be large enough to fit a pony keg into them...there's a couple dozen in each, filled with water, in case you were wondering. And as a bonus, they work like a typical Lyrican Haversack...you reach in, think about the thing you want, and suddenly it's in hand. Only takes a second to get whatever you're after." She nodded in Cryoleptus' direction. "The bags themselves are a gift of the Collegium, and according to his nibs, there are a couple rather important limitations. The packs are, themselves, magic, so if you're withing an anti-magic zone, you wont be able to take anything out or put anything in. They'll just be empty leather satchels for the duration. But being in an AMZ wont actually harm them...they've been extensively tested. The other limitation is, you cant put anything magic into them...mundane items only. Interferes with the phlebotinum or some other ridiculous magey words." She rolled her eyes and grinned. "Basically, if you try to put anything enchanted in them, they might stop working, they might do nothing...or they might explode. And by all the Powers, DO NOT try and put any Nullmetal into them. They're protected from the outside, so proximity, even contact shouldn't hurt them. But DONT try to store any in them. Other than that, nothing alive can be put in them, but you can put all the dead stuff you want in there. It'll be perfectly preserved until you pull it back out."

She leaned forward, and added, sotto voce, "They dont "officially" exist...they're still in the experimental stage. But I worked it so you all get to keep them when this mission is done...part of your bonus. Plus, I got one for myself!" With a happy smile, she pulled back her fur cloak and showed that she already had one of the packs slung around her waist. Reaching in, she pulled out a long wooden pole...and kept pulling and pulling, until it's entire ten foot length was in her hand. With a bark of laughter, she quickly re-stowed it, then waved to Cryoleptus. "He'll brief you on the other doodads. And make it quick, Cousin,", she added, glancing at the large water clock mounted on a nearby wall, "There's only a quarter of an hour left before you have to get that ritual going."

With a small chuckle of his own, the Vizier gave Hardblade a small, half-bow, then turned to the Hunters. Taking up the bracelets, he held them out, handing one to each of the six. "Put them on, quickly." He gave them an impatient look until they complied. "Oh...there might be a...slight pinch." Six yelps accompanied his comment as each of them felt a sting on the inside of their wrists. Cryoleptus winced, giving them an apologetic nod. "Sorry...the bracelets need the blood link to bond them to each of you. It'll help to counteract the interference that you'll run into on the island...that's the theory, at least. Anyway," he went on quickly, "now you'll all be able to communicate mentally with one another. You'll be able to 'speak' normally, just as though you were standing next to one another. And you can speak to one, all, or any combination of your fellows. Quite ingenious, really." He grinned, seemingly rather proud of his invention, but the Guildmaster's cleared throat quickly brought him back on task.

"Right...Now, normally, you'd be able to speak to one another over a distance of many miles. As it stands, I wouldn't count on more than five hundred yards...possibly as many as a thousand, if we're lucky. But the communication range will be spherical, so even if you're separated by a significant distance vertically as well as horzontally, you'll still be able to stay in touch. In addition, those sapphires are linked to these." He and Hardblade each held up a wrist to show they were wearing identical bracelets, though theirs were heavier, and each sported even larger stones.

"When you need to communicate with us, any one of you can touch one of those sapphires and will it to connect to us. It will connect with both of us, by the by. The stone will crumble, but the mana stored within will enable...again, we hope...you to be able to reach out clear to the mainland to speak. Each gem will allow only about five minutes worth of communication, and each bracelet has twenty sapphires, so that's a total of six hours of communication. Use it wisely. Oh!" He blinked, tapping the side of his head with the heel of his palm. "I almost forgot. Even when the sapphires are depleted, the topaz will continue to keep the mental link between you active."

Turning back to the table, he plucked up the large diamond. "This is the anchor which you'll use to contact us when you're finished with the job. I'll be blooding it during the ritual and linking it with the central diamond on the Portal. As my mana core recharges, the stone will slowly grow warmer, and the rainbow within it will brighten. When it reaches the point of being just uncomfortably warm, and the lightning seems to fill the stone, it will be ready, and any time after that, you can call for the Portal. All you'll need to do is hold the crystal in the palm of your hand, smear it with a drop of blood, and call my name aloud. After that, everything will proceed on it's own. Just dont forget, it takes a full hour for the portal to form, and it cant be moved once it's started, so be prepared to defend the portal with your lives once you activate it...or make sure everything hostile is already in the afterlife." He gave them a sharp, razor thin smile.

Before the prince could say anything more, one of the wizards in the circle softly muttered "It is time, My Lord Vizier." With a nod, Cryoleptus turned to the portal, beckoning the six to follow him. Waving them forward, he spoke softly, even as he had raised his hands and begun making passes in the air. Softly glowing lights, like tiny arcs of lighting, began to flicker and flow around his hands and his eyes were half closed. Nevertheless, he was able to continue speaking to them, guiding them to their places.

"Quickly, my friends, stand in the circle, in front of the Portal. Do not, under any circumstances, break the circle. The consequences would be...disastrous. Now, forgive me, I must bend my concentration wholly to the ritual. I will signal you when it is time to enter the portal." So saying, the mage closed his eyes fully and began muttering ancient, puissiant words of power, began his invocations.

It turned out, watching a bunch of other people perform a complex, multi-step, extremely arcane and esoteric ritual, while you had to stand in center of their formation, unmoving, not talking, and generally just doing your best to make like a hole in the air...is incredibly boring.

Hardblade stood nearby, providing her own signature brand of motivation to both remain silent, and alert. Mostly in the form of icy glares when one of the Hunters dared to breathe too loudly, or shuffle their feet overmuch. Powers help anyone who made the nearly unforgivable mistake of coughing!

Eventually, and fortunately for their sanity, the ritual finally seemed to be nearing it's crescendo. The voices of the participants sped up and got louder, their movements more purposeful, almost frantically so. With what seemed to be only a minute or so left, Cryoleptus held aloft the diamond that was the key to opening the portal on the Island. With a gesture, he caused a small slice to appear across his palm, then wrapped his fist around the stone. The Vizier's clenched hand practically exploded in a coruscating sphere of rainbow colored light, pushing back the shadows in the large room, and forcing the six Hunters to avert their eyes. Seconds later, the light dimmed and, when it was once again safe to look, they saw that Cryoleptus was holding, in his now healed palm, a crimson diamond that pulsed with a soft, inner light. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the stone to Cal, who happened to be closest, then turned his attention fully to the final steps of the ritual.

From her position to one side, Hardblade called out. "Call in when you need to, but I want at least twice daily reports. Dawn and Dusk will be when I'll set aside time to wait, but if you need to get ahold of me before that, do so. I dispatched a fast ship about an hour ago, and it's heading straight for Oculus. There's a weather witch on board, so it should only take them about four or five days to get there. They'll have additional supplies, a couple of healers, and some guards. Unfortunately I had to dispatch your peers to some of those other border conflicts that are, as you surmised, already heating up, so you six will still be the big dogs in the yard. But if you get in the soup, just hunker down, because help is already on the way."

Cryoleptus interrupted, his voice tight with strain. "Thirty seconds. Anything else you have to say, make it quick."

Rather than respond, the Guildmaster drew herself stiffly to attention, feet coming crisply together, and closed fist coming across to thump solidly against her chest. Her one good eye shone with pride as she swept the six with her gaze. "Hunters, the Hunt beckons. Bring honour to your Guild, Honour to your House, Honour to yourselves."

"The portal is active! GO! NOW!!" Barked the prince, as a soundless burst of heat and light erupted behind the six Hunters standing on the dais. Turning, they saw that the basalt arch of the Portal was filled with milky white fog, swirling violently and streaked through with flashes of bright blue energy. The thirteen massive diamonds mounted on the stone hummed and popped with the incredible amount of power channeled into and through them, and arcs of what looked like real lightning forked and danced across all the surface, even grounding out on the stone dais.

The six jumped forward, even as, behind them, Hardblade once more barked. "Hunters...HUNT WELL!!"

The world went dark...

...heat...

...cold...

...PAIN!!!...

...violent, gut wrenching spasms hammered each of the Hunters, sending agonizing tremors racing through their bodies. For a split second that seemed to last hours, each of them would later swear that they felt like they were simultaneously burning to death, freezing, and struck by lightning...

...and then they erupted into bright sunlight, and a warm, tropical breeze, smelling strongly of iodine and salt. They can see, in rapid, pain and nausea filled flashes, several large wooden buildings, each seemingly built to accommodate both human and cyclops sized individuals. All of the buildings appear damaged in some fashion, some more than others. There are lots of what appear to be streaks of spell damage, a few slices where thin stripes have been disintegrated, and a few places are smashed in, as though large bodies have flown through walls and doors.

Unfortunately, since the six literally erupted onto the island, all of this passes by in a flash...some of it painfully close. All of the Hunters were violently spat out by the Portal, and found themselves sailing through the air, slamming into and through various (fortunately) wooden structures. Or...in one unfortunate case...directly into the earth below...

Apparently, the portal was less 'stable' than even their most pessimistic predictions prognosticated.
.
.
.
To add the cherry to the top of the 'crap sundae' that was their rather ignominious translation from one location to another...was when, from all round them, came incredible basso roars' and the ground shuddering thud of massive feet.

The six Hunters took their leave of Hardblade and her princely cousin. The Guildmaster's final notice of their time limit rang in their ears, as she barked a reminder just before the door swung shut.

The six headed out to handle their various chores, as well as meet to discuss strategies, or to have one last round at the bar. Regardless, the six found themselves back at the main hall as the time of departure drew near. With just a few minutes to spare, a Guild page arrived, beckoning to the Hunters to follow. It was hard to tell the exact age or the sex of the child...Guild Pages tended to blend into the woodwork as all wore the same uniform and had the same haircut...all of them looked like little cutouts of the exact same 10 year old moppet, dressed in gray pants and tunic, with a tabard in the Guild colors thrown over all. If it weren't for the fact that not all of them were human, it wouldn't surprise any of you if they really were identical copies of a single, perfect servant.

But the child knew their business and quickly lead the group to a room deep within the bowels of the Guild building, leaving them at the door after gesturing them inside. Once they entered, the six found themselves in a cavernous, square room, at least fifty paces on a side, with a high, vaulted ceiling. A raised dais, at least thirty feet across, stood in the exact center of the room, and on it was the familiar shape of one of the Guild Teleportals, a polished basalt arch, inscribed with copious amounts of runes and positively humming with magic energy. The Teleportals were well known to you all. Every Guild Chapterhouse had at least one, bigger ones often as many as a half dozen, and they could be targeted at any other Teleportal as the user desired.

This one, however, appeared to have been rather extensively modified. Thirteen large, glittering diamonds, each as big as an apple, and scintillating in a rainbow of colors, were mounted equidistantly around the arch. At the peak of the Portal was a massive, water clear stone easily the size of a man's head. Lightning, in all the colors of the spectrum, flashed and flickered through the stone, flowing to and from each of the other dozen diamonds in an intricate, convoluted dance.

Spaced just as evenly around the Arch were a dozen wizards, each dressed in the robes of a Maester of the Collegium Arcane. None of the wizards paid the least bit of attention to the Hunters, as each appeared to already be deeply involved in their spellcasting. The air smelt of incense and ozone, and small wisps of smoke drift up from small braziers at the feet of each of the spellcasters. Occasionally one of another of them would toss a small pinch of some substance into the flame, and further scents would perfume the air...some were quite pleasant, others unutterably vile.

Standing at the head of the circle is Cryoleptus, though, unlike the rest, he was facing outward, conversing quietly with his cousin, Hardblade, who stood to one side, beside a table covered in several satchels and other bits of equipment. The two of them glanced up at the Hunters as they entered, Cryoleptus with a welcome smile and Hardblade with a more worried look. Both quietly greeted the six and Hardblade beckoned them over to the table.

Once everyone was gathered around, the Guildmaster nodded towards the piled gear. The Hunters could see that there were six small leather satchels, meant to be belted around the waist or slung crossways over the chest. Each didn't look like it would hold more than a few items, but, one and all, they appeared to be exquisitely made.

On a square of watered silk rested six silver bracelets, each of which sported a plethora of sparkling sapphires, offset with tiny white topaz in between each dazzling blue stone. Amidst the decorative whorls and filigree could be seen tiny, etched runes, each painstakingly carved into the metal directly, then washed with some type of caustic agent to highlight them.

And finally, resting on a nest of piled silk was another water clear diamond, about the size of a hen's egg. The stone was absolutely and utterly flawless, and was perfectly cut in the shape of a dodecahedron. At the center of the stone, rainbow lightning flashes, perfectly mimicking the power of the massive diamond that surmounts the Portal.

Hardblade reached out and grabbed up the six packs, tossing one to each of the Hunters. "Those are your supplies. Enough food and drink in each to last you a month, along with pretty much every type of basic gear imaginable. There's also some alchemical supplies...healing salves, other goodies, even a few things that go boom in the night." She gave them a bright, savage grin and continued. "I had the Quartermaster pull out all the stops. She jammed everything she thought you might possibly need. They each hold as much as a top flight bag of holding, but they only weigh half a stone, no matter what you shove in em. The mouths expand to be large enough to fit a pony keg into them...there's a couple dozen in each, filled with water, in case you were wondering. And as a bonus, they work like a typical Lyrican Haversack...you reach in, think about the thing you want, and suddenly it's in hand. Only takes a second to get whatever you're after." She nodded in Cryoleptus' direction. "The bags themselves are a gift of the Collegium, and according to his nibs, there are a couple rather important limitations. The packs are, themselves, magic, so if you're withing an anti-magic zone, you wont be able to take anything out or put anything in. They'll just be empty leather satchels for the duration. But being in an AMZ wont actually harm them...they've been extensively tested. The other limitation is, you cant put anything magic into them...mundane items only. Interferes with the phlebotinum or some other ridiculous magey words." She rolled her eyes and grinned. "Basically, if you try to put anything enchanted in them, they might stop working, they might do nothing...or they might explode. And by all the Powers, DO NOT try and put any Nullmetal into them. They're protected from the outside, so proximity, even contact shouldn't hurt them. But DONT try to store any in them. Other than that, nothing alive can be put in them, but you can put all the dead stuff you want in there. It'll be perfectly preserved until you pull it back out."

She leaned forward, and added, sotto voce, "They dont "officially" exist...they're still in the experimental stage. But I worked it so you all get to keep them when this mission is done...part of your bonus. Plus, I got one for myself!" With a happy smile, she pulled back her fur cloak and showed that she already had one of the packs slung around her waist. Reaching in, she pulled out a long wooden pole...and kept pulling and pulling, until it's entire ten foot length was in her hand. With a bark of laughter, she quickly re-stowed it, then waved to Cryoleptus. "He'll brief you on the other doodads. And make it quick, Cousin,", she added, glancing at the large water clock mounted on a nearby wall, "There's only a quarter of an hour left before you have to get that ritual going."

With a small chuckle of his own, the Vizier gave Hardblade a small, half-bow, then turned to the Hunters. Taking up the bracelets, he held them out, handing one to each of the six. "Put them on, quickly." He gave them an impatient look until they complied. "Oh...there might be a...slight pinch." Six yelps accompanied his comment as each of them felt a sting on the inside of their wrists. Cryoleptus winced, giving them an apologetic nod. "Sorry...the bracelets need the blood link to bond them to each of you. It'll help to counteract the interference that you'll run into on the island...that's the theory, at least. Anyway," he went on quickly, "now you'll all be able to communicate mentally with one another. You'll be able to 'speak' normally, just as though you were standing next to one another. And you can speak to one, all, or any combination of your fellows. Quite ingenious, really." He grinned, seemingly rather proud of his invention, but the Guildmaster's cleared throat quickly brought him back on task.

"Right...Now, normally, you'd be able to speak to one another over a distance of many miles. As it stands, I wouldn't count on more than five hundred yards...possibly as many as a thousand, if we're lucky. But the communication range will be spherical, so even if you're separated by a significant distance vertically as well as horzontally, you'll still be able to stay in touch. In addition, those sapphires are linked to these." He and Hardblade each held up a wrist to show they were wearing identical bracelets, though theirs were heavier, and each sported even larger stones.

"When you need to communicate with us, any one of you can touch one of those sapphires and will it to connect to us. It will connect with both of us, by the by. The stone will crumble, but the mana stored within will enable...again, we hope...you to be able to reach out clear to the mainland to speak. Each gem will allow only about five minutes worth of communication, and each bracelet has twenty sapphires, so that's a total of six hours of communication. Use it wisely. Oh!" He blinked, tapping the side of his head with the heel of his palm. "I almost forgot. Even when the sapphires are depleted, the topaz will continue to keep the mental link between you active."

Turning back to the table, he plucked up the large diamond. "This is the anchor which you'll use to contact us when you're finished with the job. I'll be blooding it during the ritual and linking it with the central diamond on the Portal. As my mana core recharges, the stone will slowly grow warmer, and the rainbow within it will brighten. When it reaches the point of being just uncomfortably warm, and the lightning seems to fill the stone, it will be ready, and any time after that, you can call for the Portal. All you'll need to do is hold the crystal in the palm of your hand, smear it with a drop of blood, and call my name aloud. After that, everything will proceed on it's own. Just dont forget, it takes a full hour for the portal to form, and it cant be moved once it's started, so be prepared to defend the portal with your lives once you activate it...or make sure everything hostile is already in the afterlife." He gave them a sharp, razor thin smile.

Before the prince could say anything more, one of the wizards in the circle softly muttered "It is time, My Lord Vizier." With a nod, Cryoleptus turned to the portal, beckoning the six to follow him. Waving them forward, he spoke softly, even as he had raised his hands and begun making passes in the air. Softly glowing lights, like tiny arcs of lighting, began to flicker and flow around his hands and his eyes were half closed. Nevertheless, he was able to continue speaking to them, guiding them to their places.

"Quickly, my friends, stand in the circle, in front of the Portal. Do not, under any circumstances, break the circle. The consequences would be...disastrous. Now, forgive me, I must bend my concentration wholly to the ritual. I will signal you when it is time to enter the portal." So saying, the mage closed his eyes fully and began muttering ancient, puissiant words of power, began his invocations.
 

It turned out, watching a bunch of other people perform a complex, multi-step, extremely arcane and esoteric ritual, while you had to stand in center of their formation, unmoving, not talking, and generally just doing your best to make like a hole in the air...is incredibly boring.

Hardblade stood nearby, providing her own signature brand of motivation to both remain silent, and alert. Mostly in the form of icy glares when one of the Hunters dared to breathe too loudly, or shuffle their feet overmuch. Powers help anyone who made the nearly unforgivable mistake of coughing!

Eventually, and fortunately for their sanity, the ritual finally seemed to be nearing it's crescendo. The voices of the participants sped up and got louder, their movements more purposeful, almost frantically so. With what seemed to be only a minute or so left, Cryoleptus held aloft the diamond that was the key to opening the portal on the Island. With a gesture, he caused a small slice to appear across his palm, then wrapped his fist around the stone. The Vizier's clenched hand practically exploded in a coruscating sphere of rainbow colored light, pushing back the shadows in the large room, and forcing the six Hunters to avert their eyes. Seconds later, the light dimmed and, when it was once again safe to look, they saw that Cryoleptus was holding, in his now healed palm, a crimson diamond that pulsed with a soft, inner light. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the stone to Cal, who happened to be closest, then turned his attention fully to the final steps of the ritual.

From her position to one side, Hardblade called out. "Call in when you need to, but I want at least twice daily reports. Dawn and Dusk will be when I'll set aside time to wait, but if you need to get ahold of me before that, do so. I dispatched a fast ship about an hour ago, and it's heading straight for Oculus. There's a weather witch on board, so it should only take them about four or five days to get there. They'll have additional supplies, a couple of healers, and some guards. Unfortunately I had to dispatch your peers to some of those other border conflicts that are, as you surmised, already heating up, so you six will still be the big dogs in the yard. But if you get in the soup, just hunker down, because help is already on the way."

Cryoleptus interrupted, his voice tight with strain. "Thirty seconds. Anything else you have to say, make it quick."

Rather than respond, the Guildmaster drew herself stiffly to attention, feet coming crisply together, and closed fist coming across to thump solidly against her chest. Her one good eye shone with pride as she swept the six with her gaze. "Hunters, the Hunt beckons. Bring honour to your Guild, Honour to your House, Honour to yourselves."

"The portal is active! GO! NOW!!" Barked the prince, as a soundless burst of heat and light erupted behind the six Hunters standing on the dais. Turning, they saw that the basalt arch of the Portal was filled with milky white fog, swirling violently and streaked through with flashes of bright blue energy. The thirteen massive diamonds mounted on the stone hummed and popped with the incredible amount of power channeled into and through them, and arcs of what looked like real lightning forked and danced across all the surface, even grounding out on the stone dais.

The six jumped forward, even as, behind them, Hardblade once more barked. "Hunters...HUNT WELL!!"

The world went dark...

...heat...

...cold...

...PAIN!!!...

...violent, gut wrenching spasms hammered each of the Hunters, sending agonizing tremors racing through their bodies. For a split second that seemed to last hours, each of them would later swear that they felt like they were simultaneously burning to death, freezing, and struck by lightning...

...and then they erupted into bright sunlight, and a warm, tropical breeze, smelling strongly of iodine and salt. They can see, in rapid, pain and nausea filled flashes, several large wooden buildings, each seemingly built to accommodate both human and cyclops sized individuals. All of the buildings appear damaged in some fashion, some more than others. There are lots of what appear to be streaks of spell damage, a few slices where thin stripes have been disintegrated, and a few places are smashed in, as though large bodies have flown through walls and doors.

Unfortunately, since the six literally erupted onto the island, all of this passes by in a flash...some of it painfully close. All of the Hunters were violently spat out by the Portal, and found themselves sailing through the air, slamming into and through various (fortunately) wooden structures. Or...in one unfortunate case...directly into the earth below...

Apparently, the portal was less 'stable' than even their most pessimistic predictions prognosticated.
.
.
.
To add the cherry to the top of the 'crap sundae' that was their rather ignominious translation from one location to another...was when, from all round them, came incredible basso roars' and the ground shuddering thud of massive feet.

The six Hunters took their leave of Hardblade and her princely cousin. The Guildmaster's final notice of their time limit rang in their ears, as she barked a reminder just before the door swung shut.

The six headed out to handle their various chores, as well as meet to discuss strategies, or to have one last round at the bar. Regardless, the six found themselves back at the main hall as the time of departure drew near. With just a few minutes to spare, a Guild page arrived, beckoning to the Hunters to follow. It was hard to tell the exact age or the sex of the child...Guild Pages tended to blend into the woodwork as all wore the same uniform and had the same haircut...all of them looked like little cutouts of the exact same 10 year old moppet, dressed in gray pants and tunic, with a tabard in the Guild colors thrown over all. If it weren't for the fact that not all of them were human, it wouldn't surprise any of you if they really were identical copies of a single, perfect servant.

But the child knew their business and quickly lead the group to a room deep within the bowels of the Guild building, leaving them at the door after gesturing them inside. Once they entered, the six found themselves in a cavernous, square room, at least fifty paces on a side, with a high, vaulted ceiling. A raised dais, at least thirty feet across, stood in the exact center of the room, and on it was the familiar shape of one of the Guild Teleportals, a polished basalt arch, inscribed with copious amounts of runes and positively humming with magic energy. The Teleportals were well known to you all. Every Guild Chapterhouse had at least one, bigger ones often as many as a half dozen, and they could be targeted at any other Teleportal as the user desired.

This one, however, appeared to have been rather extensively modified. Thirteen large, glittering diamonds, each as big as an apple, and scintillating in a rainbow of colors, were mounted equidistantly around the arch. At the peak of the Portal was a massive, water clear stone easily the size of a man's head. Lightning, in all the colors of the spectrum, flashed and flickered through the stone, flowing to and from each of the other dozen diamonds in an intricate, convoluted dance.

Spaced just as evenly around the Arch were a dozen wizards, each dressed in the robes of a Maester of the Collegium Arcane. None of the wizards paid the least bit of attention to the Hunters, as each appeared to already be deeply involved in their spellcasting. The air smelt of incense and ozone, and small wisps of smoke drift up from small braziers at the feet of each of the spellcasters. Occasionally one of another of them would toss a small pinch of some substance into the flame, and further scents would perfume the air...some were quite pleasant, others unutterably vile.

Standing at the head of the circle is Cryoleptus, though, unlike the rest, he was facing outward, conversing quietly with his cousin, Hardblade, who stood to one side, beside a table covered in several satchels and other bits of equipment. The two of them glanced up at the Hunters as they entered, Cryoleptus with a welcome smile and Hardblade with a more worried look. Both quietly greeted the six and Hardblade beckoned them over to the table.

Once everyone was gathered around, the Guildmaster nodded towards the piled gear. The Hunters could see that there were six small leather satchels, meant to be belted around the waist or slung crossways over the chest. Each didn't look like it would hold more than a few items, but, one and all, they appeared to be exquisitely made.

On a square of watered silk rested six silver bracelets, each of which sported a plethora of sparkling sapphires, offset with tiny white topaz in between each dazzling blue stone. Amidst the decorative whorls and filigree could be seen tiny, etched runes, each painstakingly carved into the metal directly, then washed with some type of caustic agent to highlight them.

And finally, resting on a nest of piled silk was another water clear diamond, about the size of a hen's egg. The stone was absolutely and utterly flawless, and was perfectly cut in the shape of a dodecahedron. At the center of the stone, rainbow lightning flashes, perfectly mimicking the power of the massive diamond that surmounts the Portal.

Hardblade reached out and grabbed up the six packs, tossing one to each of the Hunters. "Those are your supplies. Enough food and drink in each to last you a month, along with pretty much every type of basic gear imaginable. There's also some alchemical supplies...healing salves, other goodies, even a few things that go boom in the night." She gave them a bright, savage grin and continued. "I had the Quartermaster pull out all the stops. She jammed everything she thought you might possibly need. They each hold as much as a top flight bag of holding, but they only weigh half a stone, no matter what you shove in em. The mouths expand to be large enough to fit a pony keg into them...there's a couple dozen in each, filled with water, in case you were wondering. And as a bonus, they work like a typical Lyrican Haversack...you reach in, think about the thing you want, and suddenly it's in hand. Only takes a second to get whatever you're after." She nodded in Cryoleptus' direction. "The bags themselves are a gift of the Collegium, and according to his nibs, there are a couple rather important limitations. The packs are, themselves, magic, so if you're withing an anti-magic zone, you wont be able to take anything out or put anything in. They'll just be empty leather satchels for the duration. But being in an AMZ wont actually harm them...they've been extensively tested. The other limitation is, you cant put anything magic into them...mundane items only. Interferes with the phlebotinum or some other ridiculous magey words." She rolled her eyes and grinned. "Basically, if you try to put anything enchanted in them, they might stop working, they might do nothing...or they might explode. And by all the Powers, DO NOT try and put any Nullmetal into them. They're protected from the outside, so proximity, even contact shouldn't hurt them. But DONT try to store any in them. Other than that, nothing alive can be put in them, but you can put all the dead stuff you want in there. It'll be perfectly preserved until you pull it back out."

She leaned forward, and added, sotto voce, "They dont "officially" exist...they're still in the experimental stage. But I worked it so you all get to keep them when this mission is done...part of your bonus. Plus, I got one for myself!" With a happy smile, she pulled back her fur cloak and showed that she already had one of the packs slung around her waist. Reaching in, she pulled out a long wooden pole...and kept pulling and pulling, until it's entire ten foot length was in her hand. With a bark of laughter, she quickly re-stowed it, then waved to Cryoleptus. "He'll brief you on the other doodads. And make it quick, Cousin,", she added, glancing at the large water clock mounted on a nearby wall, "There's only a quarter of an hour left before you have to get that ritual going."

With a small chuckle of his own, the Vizier gave Hardblade a small, half-bow, then turned to the Hunters. Taking up the bracelets, he held them out, handing one to each of the six. "Put them on, quickly." He gave them an impatient look until they complied. "Oh...there might be a...slight pinch." Six yelps accompanied his comment as each of them felt a sting on the inside of their wrists. Cryoleptus winced, giving them an apologetic nod. "Sorry...the bracelets need the blood link to bond them to each of you. It'll help to counteract the interference that you'll run into on the island...that's the theory, at least. Anyway," he went on quickly, "now you'll all be able to communicate mentally with one another. You'll be able to 'speak' normally, just as though you were standing next to one another. And you can speak to one, all, or any combination of your fellows. Quite ingenious, really." He grinned, seemingly rather proud of his invention, but the Guildmaster's cleared throat quickly brought him back on task.

"Right...Now, normally, you'd be able to speak to one another over a distance of many miles. As it stands, I wouldn't count on more than five hundred yards...possibly as many as a thousand, if we're lucky. But the communication range will be spherical, so even if you're separated by a significant distance vertically as well as horzontally, you'll still be able to stay in touch. In addition, those sapphires are linked to these." He and Hardblade each held up a wrist to show they were wearing identical bracelets, though theirs were heavier, and each sported even larger stones.

"When you need to communicate with us, any one of you can touch one of those sapphires and will it to connect to us. It will connect with both of us, by the by. The stone will crumble, but the mana stored within will enable...again, we hope...you to be able to reach out clear to the mainland to speak. Each gem will allow only about five minutes worth of communication, and each bracelet has twenty sapphires, so that's a total of six hours of communication. Use it wisely. Oh!" He blinked, tapping the side of his head with the heel of his palm. "I almost forgot. Even when the sapphires are depleted, the topaz will continue to keep the mental link between you active."

Turning back to the table, he plucked up the large diamond. "This is the anchor which you'll use to contact us when you're finished with the job. I'll be blooding it during the ritual and linking it with the central diamond on the Portal. As my mana core recharges, the stone will slowly grow warmer, and the rainbow within it will brighten. When it reaches the point of being just uncomfortably warm, and the lightning seems to fill the stone, it will be ready, and any time after that, you can call for the Portal. All you'll need to do is hold the crystal in the palm of your hand, smear it with a drop of blood, and call my name aloud. After that, everything will proceed on it's own. Just dont forget, it takes a full hour for the portal to form, and it cant be moved once it's started, so be prepared to defend the portal with your lives once you activate it...or make sure everything hostile is already in the afterlife." He gave them a sharp, razor thin smile.

Before the prince could say anything more, one of the wizards in the circle softly muttered "It is time, My Lord Vizier." With a nod, Cryoleptus turned to the portal, beckoning the six to follow him. Waving them forward, he spoke softly, even as he had raised his hands and begun making passes in the air. Softly glowing lights, like tiny arcs of lighting, began to flicker and flow around his hands and his eyes were half closed. Nevertheless, he was able to continue speaking to them, guiding them to their places.

"Quickly, my friends, stand in the circle, in front of the Portal. Do not, under any circumstances, break the circle. The consequences would be...disastrous. Now, forgive me, I must bend my concentration wholly to the ritual. I will signal you when it is time to enter the portal." So saying, the mage closed his eyes fully and began muttering ancient, puissiant words of power, began his invocations.
 

It turned out, watching a bunch of other people perform a complex, multi-step, extremely arcane and esoteric ritual, while you had to stand in center of their formation, unmoving, not talking, and generally just doing your best to make like a hole in the air...is incredibly boring.

Hardblade stood nearby, providing her own signature brand of motivation to both remain silent, and alert. Mostly in the form of icy glares when one of the Hunters dared to breathe too loudly, or shuffle their feet overmuch. Powers help anyone who made the nearly unforgivable mistake of coughing!

Eventually, and fortunately for their sanity, the ritual finally seemed to be nearing it's crescendo. The voices of the participants sped up and got louder, their movements more purposeful, almost frantically so. With what seemed to be only a minute or so left, Cryoleptus held aloft the diamond that was the key to opening the portal on the Island. With a gesture, he caused a small slice to appear across his palm, then wrapped his fist around the stone. The Vizier's clenched hand practically exploded in a coruscating sphere of rainbow colored light, pushing back the shadows in the large room, and forcing the six Hunters to avert their eyes. Seconds later, the light dimmed and, when it was once again safe to look, they saw that Cryoleptus was holding, in his now healed palm, a crimson diamond that pulsed with a soft, inner light. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the stone to Cal, who happened to be closest, then turned his attention fully to the final steps of the ritual.

From her position to one side, Hardblade called out. "Call in when you need to, but I want at least twice daily reports. Dawn and Dusk will be when I'll set aside time to wait, but if you need to get ahold of me before that, do so. I dispatched a fast ship about an hour ago, and it's heading straight for Oculus. There's a weather witch on board, so it should only take them about four or five days to get there. They'll have additional supplies, a couple of healers, and some guards. Unfortunately I had to dispatch your peers to some of those other border conflicts that are, as you surmised, already heating up, so you six will still be the big dogs in the yard. But if you get in the soup, just hunker down, because help is already on the way."

Cryoleptus interrupted, his voice tight with strain. "Thirty seconds. Anything else you have to say, make it quick."

Rather than respond, the Guildmaster drew herself stiffly to attention, feet coming crisply together, and closed fist coming across to thump solidly against her chest. Her one good eye shone with pride as she swept the six with her gaze. "Hunters, the Hunt beckons. Bring honour to your Guild, Honour to your House, Honour to yourselves."

"The portal is active! GO! NOW!!" Barked the prince, as a soundless burst of heat and light erupted behind the six Hunters standing on the dais. Turning, they saw that the basalt arch of the Portal was filled with milky white fog, swirling violently and streaked through with flashes of bright blue energy. The thirteen massive diamonds mounted on the stone hummed and popped with the incredible amount of power channeled into and through them, and arcs of what looked like real lightning forked and danced across all the surface, even grounding out on the stone dais.

The six jumped forward, even as, behind them, Hardblade once more barked. "Hunters...HUNT WELL!!"

The world went dark...

...heat...

...cold...

...PAIN!!!...

...violent, gut wrenching spasms hammered each of the Hunters, sending agonizing tremors racing through their bodies. For a split second that seemed to last hours, each of them would later swear that they felt like they were simultaneously burning to death, freezing, and struck by lightning...

...and then they erupted into bright sunlight, and a warm, tropical breeze, smelling strongly of iodine and salt. They can see, in rapid, pain and nausea filled flashes, several large wooden buildings, each seemingly built to accommodate both human and cyclops sized individuals. All of the buildings appear damaged in some fashion, some more than others. There are lots of what appear to be streaks of spell damage, a few slices where thin stripes have been disintegrated, and a few places are smashed in, as though large bodies have flown through walls and doors.

Unfortunately, since the six literally erupted onto the island, all of this passes by in a flash...some of it painfully close. All of the Hunters were violently spat out by the Portal, and found themselves sailing through the air, slamming into and through various (fortunately) wooden structures. Or...in one unfortunate case...directly into the earth below...

Apparently, the portal was less 'stable' than even their most pessimistic predictions prognosticated.
.
.
.
To add the cherry to the top of the 'crap sundae' that was their rather ignominious translation from one location to another...was when, from all round them, came incredible basso roars' and the ground shuddering thud of massive feet.

The six Hunters took their leave of Hardblade and her princely cousin. The Guildmaster's final notice of their time limit rang in their ears, as she barked a reminder just before the door swung shut.

The six headed out to handle their various chores, as well as meet to discuss strategies, or to have one last round at the bar. Regardless, the six found themselves back at the main hall as the time of departure drew near. With just a few minutes to spare, a Guild page arrived, beckoning to the Hunters to follow. It was hard to tell the exact age or the sex of the child...Guild Pages tended to blend into the woodwork as all wore the same uniform and had the same haircut...all of them looked like little cutouts of the exact same 10 year old moppet, dressed in gray pants and tunic, with a tabard in the Guild colors thrown over all. If it weren't for the fact that not all of them were human, it wouldn't surprise any of you if they really were identical copies of a single, perfect servant.

But the child knew their business and quickly lead the group to a room deep within the bowels of the Guild building, leaving them at the door after gesturing them inside. Once they entered, the six found themselves in a cavernous, square room, at least fifty paces on a side, with a high, vaulted ceiling. A raised dais, at least thirty feet across, stood in the exact center of the room, and on it was the familiar shape of one of the Guild Teleportals, a polished basalt arch, inscribed with copious amounts of runes and positively humming with magic energy. The Teleportals were well known to you all. Every Guild Chapterhouse had at least one, bigger ones often as many as a half dozen, and they could be targeted at any other Teleportal as the user desired.

This one, however, appeared to have been rather extensively modified. Thirteen large, glittering diamonds, each as big as an apple, and scintillating in a rainbow of colors, were mounted equidistantly around the arch. At the peak of the Portal was a massive, water clear stone easily the size of a man's head. Lightning, in all the colors of the spectrum, flashed and flickered through the stone, flowing to and from each of the other dozen diamonds in an intricate, convoluted dance.

Spaced just as evenly around the Arch were a dozen wizards, each dressed in the robes of a Maester of the Collegium Arcane. None of the wizards paid the least bit of attention to the Hunters, as each appeared to already be deeply involved in their spellcasting. The air smelt of incense and ozone, and small wisps of smoke drift up from small braziers at the feet of each of the spellcasters. Occasionally one of another of them would toss a small pinch of some substance into the flame, and further scents would perfume the air...some were quite pleasant, others unutterably vile.

Standing at the head of the circle is Cryoleptus, though, unlike the rest, he was facing outward, conversing quietly with his cousin, Hardblade, who stood to one side, beside a table covered in several satchels and other bits of equipment. The two of them glanced up at the Hunters as they entered, Cryoleptus with a welcome smile and Hardblade with a more worried look. Both quietly greeted the six and Hardblade beckoned them over to the table.

Once everyone was gathered around, the Guildmaster nodded towards the piled gear. The Hunters could see that there were six small leather satchels, meant to be belted around the waist or slung crossways over the chest. Each didn't look like it would hold more than a few items, but, one and all, they appeared to be exquisitely made.

On a square of watered silk rested six silver bracelets, each of which sported a plethora of sparkling sapphires, offset with tiny white topaz in between each dazzling blue stone. Amidst the decorative whorls and filigree could be seen tiny, etched runes, each painstakingly carved into the metal directly, then washed with some type of caustic agent to highlight them.

And finally, resting on a nest of piled silk was another water clear diamond, about the size of a hen's egg. The stone was absolutely and utterly flawless, and was perfectly cut in the shape of a dodecahedron. At the center of the stone, rainbow lightning flashes, perfectly mimicking the power of the massive diamond that surmounts the Portal.

Hardblade reached out and grabbed up the six packs, tossing one to each of the Hunters. "Those are your supplies. Enough food and drink in each to last you a month, along with pretty much every type of basic gear imaginable. There's also some alchemical supplies...healing salves, other goodies, even a few things that go boom in the night." She gave them a bright, savage grin and continued. "I had the Quartermaster pull out all the stops. She jammed everything she thought you might possibly need. They each hold as much as a top flight bag of holding, but they only weigh half a stone, no matter what you shove in em. The mouths expand to be large enough to fit a pony keg into them...there's a couple dozen in each, filled with water, in case you were wondering. And as a bonus, they work like a typical Lyrican Haversack...you reach in, think about the thing you want, and suddenly it's in hand. Only takes a second to get whatever you're after." She nodded in Cryoleptus' direction. "The bags themselves are a gift of the Collegium, and according to his nibs, there are a couple rather important limitations. The packs are, themselves, magic, so if you're withing an anti-magic zone, you wont be able to take anything out or put anything in. They'll just be empty leather satchels for the duration. But being in an AMZ wont actually harm them...they've been extensively tested. The other limitation is, you cant put anything magic into them...mundane items only. Interferes with the phlebotinum or some other ridiculous magey words." She rolled her eyes and grinned. "Basically, if you try to put anything enchanted in them, they might stop working, they might do nothing...or they might explode. And by all the Powers, DO NOT try and put any Nullmetal into them. They're protected from the outside, so proximity, even contact shouldn't hurt them. But DONT try to store any in them. Other than that, nothing alive can be put in them, but you can put all the dead stuff you want in there. It'll be perfectly preserved until you pull it back out."

She leaned forward, and added, sotto voce, "They dont "officially" exist...they're still in the experimental stage. But I worked it so you all get to keep them when this mission is done...part of your bonus. Plus, I got one for myself!" With a happy smile, she pulled back her fur cloak and showed that she already had one of the packs slung around her waist. Reaching in, she pulled out a long wooden pole...and kept pulling and pulling, until it's entire ten foot length was in her hand. With a bark of laughter, she quickly re-stowed it, then waved to Cryoleptus. "He'll brief you on the other doodads. And make it quick, Cousin,", she added, glancing at the large water clock mounted on a nearby wall, "There's only a quarter of an hour left before you have to get that ritual going."

With a small chuckle of his own, the Vizier gave Hardblade a small, half-bow, then turned to the Hunters. Taking up the bracelets, he held them out, handing one to each of the six. "Put them on, quickly." He gave them an impatient look until they complied. "Oh...there might be a...slight pinch." Six yelps accompanied his comment as each of them felt a sting on the inside of their wrists. Cryoleptus winced, giving them an apologetic nod. "Sorry...the bracelets need the blood link to bond them to each of you. It'll help to counteract the interference that you'll run into on the island...that's the theory, at least. Anyway," he went on quickly, "now you'll all be able to communicate mentally with one another. You'll be able to 'speak' normally, just as though you were standing next to one another. And you can speak to one, all, or any combination of your fellows. Quite ingenious, really." He grinned, seemingly rather proud of his invention, but the Guildmaster's cleared throat quickly brought him back on task.

"Right...Now, normally, you'd be able to speak to one another over a distance of many miles. As it stands, I wouldn't count on more than five hundred yards...possibly as many as a thousand, if we're lucky. But the communication range will be spherical, so even if you're separated by a significant distance vertically as well as horzontally, you'll still be able to stay in touch. In addition, those sapphires are linked to these." He and Hardblade each held up a wrist to show they were wearing identical bracelets, though theirs were heavier, and each sported even larger stones.

"When you need to communicate with us, any one of you can touch one of those sapphires and will it to connect to us. It will connect with both of us, by the by. The stone will crumble, but the mana stored within will enable...again, we hope...you to be able to reach out clear to the mainland to speak. Each gem will allow only about five minutes worth of communication, and each bracelet has twenty sapphires, so that's a total of six hours of communication. Use it wisely. Oh!" He blinked, tapping the side of his head with the heel of his palm. "I almost forgot. Even when the sapphires are depleted, the topaz will continue to keep the mental link between you active."

Turning back to the table, he plucked up the large diamond. "This is the anchor which you'll use to contact us when you're finished with the job. I'll be blooding it during the ritual and linking it with the central diamond on the Portal. As my mana core recharges, the stone will slowly grow warmer, and the rainbow within it will brighten. When it reaches the point of being just uncomfortably warm, and the lightning seems to fill the stone, it will be ready, and any time after that, you can call for the Portal. All you'll need to do is hold the crystal in the palm of your hand, smear it with a drop of blood, and call my name aloud. After that, everything will proceed on it's own. Just dont forget, it takes a full hour for the portal to form, and it cant be moved once it's started, so be prepared to defend the portal with your lives once you activate it...or make sure everything hostile is already in the afterlife." He gave them a sharp, razor thin smile.

Before the prince could say anything more, one of the wizards in the circle softly muttered "It is time, My Lord Vizier." With a nod, Cryoleptus turned to the portal, beckoning the six to follow him. Waving them forward, he spoke softly, even as he had raised his hands and begun making passes in the air. Softly glowing lights, like tiny arcs of lighting, began to flicker and flow around his hands and his eyes were half closed. Nevertheless, he was able to continue speaking to them, guiding them to their places.

"Quickly, my friends, stand in the circle, in front of the Portal. Do not, under any circumstances, break the circle. The consequences would be...disastrous. Now, forgive me, I must bend my concentration wholly to the ritual. I will signal you when it is time to enter the portal." So saying, the mage closed his eyes fully and began muttering ancient, puissiant words of power, began his invocations.
 

It turned out, watching a bunch of other people perform a complex, multi-step, extremely arcane and esoteric ritual, while you had to stand in center of their formation, unmoving, not talking, and generally just doing your best to make like a hole in the air...is incredibly boring.

Hardblade stood nearby, providing her own signature brand of motivation to both remain silent, and alert. Mostly in the form of icy glares when one of the Hunters dared to breathe too loudly, or shuffle their feet overmuch. Powers help anyone who made the nearly unforgivable mistake of coughing!

Eventually, and fortunately for their sanity, the ritual finally seemed to be nearing it's crescendo. The voices of the participants sped up and got louder, their movements more purposeful, almost frantically so. With what seemed to be only a minute or so left, Cryoleptus held aloft the diamond that was the key to opening the portal on the Island. With a gesture, he caused a small slice to appear across his palm, then wrapped his fist around the stone. The Vizier's clenched hand practically exploded in a coruscating sphere of rainbow colored light, pushing back the shadows in the large room, and forcing the six Hunters to avert their eyes. Seconds later, the light dimmed and, when it was once again safe to look, they saw that Cryoleptus was holding, in his now healed palm, a crimson diamond that pulsed with a soft, inner light. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the stone to Cal, who happened to be closest, then turned his attention fully to the final steps of the ritual.

From her position to one side, Hardblade called out. "Call in when you need to, but I want at least twice daily reports. Dawn and Dusk will be when I'll set aside time to wait, but if you need to get ahold of me before that, do so. I dispatched a fast ship about an hour ago, and it's heading straight for Oculus. There's a weather witch on board, so it should only take them about four or five days to get there. They'll have additional supplies, a couple of healers, and some guards. Unfortunately I had to dispatch your peers to some of those other border conflicts that are, as you surmised, already heating up, so you six will still be the big dogs in the yard. But if you get in the soup, just hunker down, because help is already on the way."

Cryoleptus interrupted, his voice tight with strain. "Thirty seconds. Anything else you have to say, make it quick."

Rather than respond, the Guildmaster drew herself stiffly to attention, feet coming crisply together, and closed fist coming across to thump solidly against her chest. Her one good eye shone with pride as she swept the six with her gaze. "Hunters, the Hunt beckons. Bring honour to your Guild, Honour to your House, Honour to yourselves."

"The portal is active! GO! NOW!!" Barked the prince, as a soundless burst of heat and light erupted behind the six Hunters standing on the dais. Turning, they saw that the basalt arch of the Portal was filled with milky white fog, swirling violently and streaked through with flashes of bright blue energy. The thirteen massive diamonds mounted on the stone hummed and popped with the incredible amount of power channeled into and through them, and arcs of what looked like real lightning forked and danced across all the surface, even grounding out on the stone dais.

The six jumped forward, even as, behind them, Hardblade once more barked. "Hunters...HUNT WELL!!"

The world went dark...

...heat...

...cold...

...PAIN!!!...

...violent, gut wrenching spasms hammered each of the Hunters, sending agonizing tremors racing through their bodies. For a split second that seemed to last hours, each of them would later swear that they felt like they were simultaneously burning to death, freezing, and struck by lightning...

...and then they erupted into bright sunlight, and a warm, tropical breeze, smelling strongly of iodine and salt. They can see, in rapid, pain and nausea filled flashes, several large wooden buildings, each seemingly built to accommodate both human and cyclops sized individuals. All of the buildings appear damaged in some fashion, some more than others. There are lots of what appear to be streaks of spell damage, a few slices where thin stripes have been disintegrated, and a few places are smashed in, as though large bodies have flown through walls and doors.

Unfortunately, since the six literally erupted onto the island, all of this passes by in a flash...some of it painfully close. All of the Hunters were violently spat out by the Portal, and found themselves sailing through the air, slamming into and through various (fortunately) wooden structures. Or...in one unfortunate case...directly into the earth below...

Apparently, the portal was less 'stable' than even their most pessimistic predictions prognosticated.
.
.
.
To add the cherry to the top of the 'crap sundae' that was their rather ignominious translation from one location to another...was when, from all round them, came incredible basso roars' and the ground shuddering thud of massive feet.

The six Hunters took their leave of Hardblade and her princely cousin. The Guildmaster's final notice of their time limit rang in their ears, as she barked a reminder just before the door swung shut.

The six headed out to handle their various chores, as well as meet to discuss strategies, or to have one last round at the bar. Regardless, the six found themselves back at the main hall as the time of departure drew near. With just a few minutes to spare, a Guild page arrived, beckoning to the Hunters to follow. It was hard to tell the exact age or the sex of the child...Guild Pages tended to blend into the woodwork as all wore the same uniform and had the same haircut...all of them looked like little cutouts of the exact same 10 year old moppet, dressed in gray pants and tunic, with a tabard in the Guild colors thrown over all. If it weren't for the fact that not all of them were human, it wouldn't surprise any of you if they really were identical copies of a single, perfect servant.

But the child knew their business and quickly lead the group to a room deep within the bowels of the Guild building, leaving them at the door after gesturing them inside. Once they entered, the six found themselves in a cavernous, square room, at least fifty paces on a side, with a high, vaulted ceiling. A raised dais, at least thirty feet across, stood in the exact center of the room, and on it was the familiar shape of one of the Guild Teleportals, a polished basalt arch, inscribed with copious amounts of runes and positively humming with magic energy. The Teleportals were well known to you all. Every Guild Chapterhouse had at least one, bigger ones often as many as a half dozen, and they could be targeted at any other Teleportal as the user desired.

This one, however, appeared to have been rather extensively modified. Thirteen large, glittering diamonds, each as big as an apple, and scintillating in a rainbow of colors, were mounted equidistantly around the arch. At the peak of the Portal was a massive, water clear stone easily the size of a man's head. Lightning, in all the colors of the spectrum, flashed and flickered through the stone, flowing to and from each of the other dozen diamonds in an intricate, convoluted dance.

Spaced just as evenly around the Arch were a dozen wizards, each dressed in the robes of a Maester of the Collegium Arcane. None of the wizards paid the least bit of attention to the Hunters, as each appeared to already be deeply involved in their spellcasting. The air smelt of incense and ozone, and small wisps of smoke drift up from small braziers at the feet of each of the spellcasters. Occasionally one of another of them would toss a small pinch of some substance into the flame, and further scents would perfume the air...some were quite pleasant, others unutterably vile.

Standing at the head of the circle is Cryoleptus, though, unlike the rest, he was facing outward, conversing quietly with his cousin, Hardblade, who stood to one side, beside a table covered in several satchels and other bits of equipment. The two of them glanced up at the Hunters as they entered, Cryoleptus with a welcome smile and Hardblade with a more worried look. Both quietly greeted the six and Hardblade beckoned them over to the table.

Once everyone was gathered around, the Guildmaster nodded towards the piled gear. The Hunters could see that there were six small leather satchels, meant to be belted around the waist or slung crossways over the chest. Each didn't look like it would hold more than a few items, but, one and all, they appeared to be exquisitely made.

On a square of watered silk rested six silver bracelets, each of which sported a plethora of sparkling sapphires, offset with tiny white topaz in between each dazzling blue stone. Amidst the decorative whorls and filigree could be seen tiny, etched runes, each painstakingly carved into the metal directly, then washed with some type of caustic agent to highlight them.

And finally, resting on a nest of piled silk was another water clear diamond, about the size of a hen's egg. The stone was absolutely and utterly flawless, and was perfectly cut in the shape of a dodecahedron. At the center of the stone, rainbow lightning flashes, perfectly mimicking the power of the massive diamond that surmounts the Portal.

Hardblade reached out and grabbed up the six packs, tossing one to each of the Hunters. "Those are your supplies. Enough food and drink in each to last you a month, along with pretty much every type of basic gear imaginable. There's also some alchemical supplies...healing salves, other goodies, even a few things that go boom in the night." She gave them a bright, savage grin and continued. "I had the Quartermaster pull out all the stops. She jammed everything she thought you might possibly need. They each hold as much as a top flight bag of holding, but they only weigh half a stone, no matter what you shove in em. The mouths expand to be large enough to fit a pony keg into them...there's a couple dozen in each, filled with water, in case you were wondering. And as a bonus, they work like a typical Lyrican Haversack...you reach in, think about the thing you want, and suddenly it's in hand. Only takes a second to get whatever you're after." She nodded in Cryoleptus' direction. "The bags themselves are a gift of the Collegium, and according to his nibs, there are a couple rather important limitations. The packs are, themselves, magic, so if you're withing an anti-magic zone, you wont be able to take anything out or put anything in. They'll just be empty leather satchels for the duration. But being in an AMZ wont actually harm them...they've been extensively tested. The other limitation is, you cant put anything magic into them...mundane items only. Interferes with the phlebotinum or some other ridiculous magey words." She rolled her eyes and grinned. "Basically, if you try to put anything enchanted in them, they might stop working, they might do nothing...or they might explode. And by all the Powers, DO NOT try and put any Nullmetal into them. They're protected from the outside, so proximity, even contact shouldn't hurt them. But DONT try to store any in them. Other than that, nothing alive can be put in them, but you can put all the dead stuff you want in there. It'll be perfectly preserved until you pull it back out."

She leaned forward, and added, sotto voce, "They dont "officially" exist...they're still in the experimental stage. But I worked it so you all get to keep them when this mission is done...part of your bonus. Plus, I got one for myself!" With a happy smile, she pulled back her fur cloak and showed that she already had one of the packs slung around her waist. Reaching in, she pulled out a long wooden pole...and kept pulling and pulling, until it's entire ten foot length was in her hand. With a bark of laughter, she quickly re-stowed it, then waved to Cryoleptus. "He'll brief you on the other doodads. And make it quick, Cousin,", she added, glancing at the large water clock mounted on a nearby wall, "There's only a quarter of an hour left before you have to get that ritual going."

With a small chuckle of his own, the Vizier gave Hardblade a small, half-bow, then turned to the Hunters. Taking up the bracelets, he held them out, handing one to each of the six. "Put them on, quickly." He gave them an impatient look until they complied. "Oh...there might be a...slight pinch." Six yelps accompanied his comment as each of them felt a sting on the inside of their wrists. Cryoleptus winced, giving them an apologetic nod. "Sorry...the bracelets need the blood link to bond them to each of you. It'll help to counteract the interference that you'll run into on the island...that's the theory, at least. Anyway," he went on quickly, "now you'll all be able to communicate mentally with one another. You'll be able to 'speak' normally, just as though you were standing next to one another. And you can speak to one, all, or any combination of your fellows. Quite ingenious, really." He grinned, seemingly rather proud of his invention, but the Guildmaster's cleared throat quickly brought him back on task.

"Right...Now, normally, you'd be able to speak to one another over a distance of many miles. As it stands, I wouldn't count on more than five hundred yards...possibly as many as a thousand, if we're lucky. But the communication range will be spherical, so even if you're separated by a significant distance vertically as well as horzontally, you'll still be able to stay in touch. In addition, those sapphires are linked to these." He and Hardblade each held up a wrist to show they were wearing identical bracelets, though theirs were heavier, and each sported even larger stones.

"When you need to communicate with us, any one of you can touch one of those sapphires and will it to connect to us. It will connect with both of us, by the by. The stone will crumble, but the mana stored within will enable...again, we hope...you to be able to reach out clear to the mainland to speak. Each gem will allow only about five minutes worth of communication, and each bracelet has twenty sapphires, so that's a total of six hours of communication. Use it wisely. Oh!" He blinked, tapping the side of his head with the heel of his palm. "I almost forgot. Even when the sapphires are depleted, the topaz will continue to keep the mental link between you active."

Turning back to the table, he plucked up the large diamond. "This is the anchor which you'll use to contact us when you're finished with the job. I'll be blooding it during the ritual and linking it with the central diamond on the Portal. As my mana core recharges, the stone will slowly grow warmer, and the rainbow within it will brighten. When it reaches the point of being just uncomfortably warm, and the lightning seems to fill the stone, it will be ready, and any time after that, you can call for the Portal. All you'll need to do is hold the crystal in the palm of your hand, smear it with a drop of blood, and call my name aloud. After that, everything will proceed on it's own. Just dont forget, it takes a full hour for the portal to form, and it cant be moved once it's started, so be prepared to defend the portal with your lives once you activate it...or make sure everything hostile is already in the afterlife." He gave them a sharp, razor thin smile.

Before the prince could say anything more, one of the wizards in the circle softly muttered "It is time, My Lord Vizier." With a nod, Cryoleptus turned to the portal, beckoning the six to follow him. Waving them forward, he spoke softly, even as he had raised his hands and begun making passes in the air. Softly glowing lights, like tiny arcs of lighting, began to flicker and flow around his hands and his eyes were half closed. Nevertheless, he was able to continue speaking to them, guiding them to their places.

"Quickly, my friends, stand in the circle, in front of the Portal. Do not, under any circumstances, break the circle. The consequences would be...disastrous. Now, forgive me, I must bend my concentration wholly to the ritual. I will signal you when it is time to enter the portal." So saying, the mage closed his eyes fully and began muttering ancient, puissiant words of power, began his invocations.
 

It turned out, watching a bunch of other people perform a complex, multi-step, extremely arcane and esoteric ritual, while you had to stand in center of their formation, unmoving, not talking, and generally just doing your best to make like a hole in the air...is incredibly boring.

Hardblade stood nearby, providing her own signature brand of motivation to both remain silent, and alert. Mostly in the form of icy glares when one of the Hunters dared to breathe too loudly, or shuffle their feet overmuch. Powers help anyone who made the nearly unforgivable mistake of coughing!

Eventually, and fortunately for their sanity, the ritual finally seemed to be nearing it's crescendo. The voices of the participants sped up and got louder, their movements more purposeful, almost frantically so. With what seemed to be only a minute or so left, Cryoleptus held aloft the diamond that was the key to opening the portal on the Island. With a gesture, he caused a small slice to appear across his palm, then wrapped his fist around the stone. The Vizier's clenched hand practically exploded in a coruscating sphere of rainbow colored light, pushing back the shadows in the large room, and forcing the six Hunters to avert their eyes. Seconds later, the light dimmed and, when it was once again safe to look, they saw that Cryoleptus was holding, in his now healed palm, a crimson diamond that pulsed with a soft, inner light. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the stone to Cal, who happened to be closest, then turned his attention fully to the final steps of the ritual.

From her position to one side, Hardblade called out. "Call in when you need to, but I want at least twice daily reports. Dawn and Dusk will be when I'll set aside time to wait, but if you need to get ahold of me before that, do so. I dispatched a fast ship about an hour ago, and it's heading straight for Oculus. There's a weather witch on board, so it should only take them about four or five days to get there. They'll have additional supplies, a couple of healers, and some guards. Unfortunately I had to dispatch your peers to some of those other border conflicts that are, as you surmised, already heating up, so you six will still be the big dogs in the yard. But if you get in the soup, just hunker down, because help is already on the way."

Cryoleptus interrupted, his voice tight with strain. "Thirty seconds. Anything else you have to say, make it quick."

Rather than respond, the Guildmaster drew herself stiffly to attention, feet coming crisply together, and closed fist coming across to thump solidly against her chest. Her one good eye shone with pride as she swept the six with her gaze. "Hunters, the Hunt beckons. Bring honour to your Guild, Honour to your House, Honour to yourselves."

"The portal is active! GO! NOW!!" Barked the prince, as a soundless burst of heat and light erupted behind the six Hunters standing on the dais. Turning, they saw that the basalt arch of the Portal was filled with milky white fog, swirling violently and streaked through with flashes of bright blue energy. The thirteen massive diamonds mounted on the stone hummed and popped with the incredible amount of power channeled into and through them, and arcs of what looked like real lightning forked and danced across all the surface, even grounding out on the stone dais.

The six jumped forward, even as, behind them, Hardblade once more barked. "Hunters...HUNT WELL!!"

The world went dark...

...heat...

...cold...

...PAIN!!!...

...violent, gut wrenching spasms hammered each of the Hunters, sending agonizing tremors racing through their bodies. For a split second that seemed to last hours, each of them would later swear that they felt like they were simultaneously burning to death, freezing, and struck by lightning...

...and then they erupted into bright sunlight, and a warm, tropical breeze, smelling strongly of iodine and salt. They can see, in rapid, pain and nausea filled flashes, several large wooden buildings, each seemingly built to accommodate both human and cyclops sized individuals. All of the buildings appear damaged in some fashion, some more than others. There are lots of what appear to be streaks of spell damage, a few slices where thin stripes have been disintegrated, and a few places are smashed in, as though large bodies have flown through walls and doors.

Unfortunately, since the six literally erupted onto the island, all of this passes by in a flash...some of it painfully close. All of the Hunters were violently spat out by the Portal, and found themselves sailing through the air, slamming into and through various (fortunately) wooden structures. Or...in one unfortunate case...directly into the earth below...

Apparently, the portal was less 'stable' than even their most pessimistic predictions prognosticated.
.
.
.
To add the cherry to the top of the 'crap sundae' that was their rather ignominious translation from one location to another...was when, from all round them, came incredible basso roars' and the ground shuddering thud of massive feet.

The six Hunters took their leave of Hardblade and her princely cousin. The Guildmaster's final notice of their time limit rang in their ears, as she barked a reminder just before the door swung shut.

The six headed out to handle their various chores, as well as meet to discuss strategies, or to have one last round at the bar. Regardless, the six found themselves back at the main hall as the time of departure drew near. With just a few minutes to spare, a Guild page arrived, beckoning to the Hunters to follow. It was hard to tell the exact age or the sex of the child...Guild Pages tended to blend into the woodwork as all wore the same uniform and had the same haircut...all of them looked like little cutouts of the exact same 10 year old moppet, dressed in gray pants and tunic, with a tabard in the Guild colors thrown over all. If it weren't for the fact that not all of them were human, it wouldn't surprise any of you if they really were identical copies of a single, perfect servant.

But the child knew their business and quickly lead the group to a room deep within the bowels of the Guild building, leaving them at the door after gesturing them inside. Once they entered, the six found themselves in a cavernous, square room, at least fifty paces on a side, with a high, vaulted ceiling. A raised dais, at least thirty feet across, stood in the exact center of the room, and on it was the familiar shape of one of the Guild Teleportals, a polished basalt arch, inscribed with copious amounts of runes and positively humming with magic energy. The Teleportals were well known to you all. Every Guild Chapterhouse had at least one, bigger ones often as many as a half dozen, and they could be targeted at any other Teleportal as the user desired.

This one, however, appeared to have been rather extensively modified. Thirteen large, glittering diamonds, each as big as an apple, and scintillating in a rainbow of colors, were mounted equidistantly around the arch. At the peak of the Portal was a massive, water clear stone easily the size of a man's head. Lightning, in all the colors of the spectrum, flashed and flickered through the stone, flowing to and from each of the other dozen diamonds in an intricate, convoluted dance.

Spaced just as evenly around the Arch were a dozen wizards, each dressed in the robes of a Maester of the Collegium Arcane. None of the wizards paid the least bit of attention to the Hunters, as each appeared to already be deeply involved in their spellcasting. The air smelt of incense and ozone, and small wisps of smoke drift up from small braziers at the feet of each of the spellcasters. Occasionally one of another of them would toss a small pinch of some substance into the flame, and further scents would perfume the air...some were quite pleasant, others unutterably vile.

Standing at the head of the circle is Cryoleptus, though, unlike the rest, he was facing outward, conversing quietly with his cousin, Hardblade, who stood to one side, beside a table covered in several satchels and other bits of equipment. The two of them glanced up at the Hunters as they entered, Cryoleptus with a welcome smile and Hardblade with a more worried look. Both quietly greeted the six and Hardblade beckoned them over to the table.

Once everyone was gathered around, the Guildmaster nodded towards the piled gear. The Hunters could see that there were six small leather satchels, meant to be belted around the waist or slung crossways over the chest. Each didn't look like it would hold more than a few items, but, one and all, they appeared to be exquisitely made.

On a square of watered silk rested six silver bracelets, each of which sported a plethora of sparkling sapphires, offset with tiny white topaz in between each dazzling blue stone. Amidst the decorative whorls and filigree could be seen tiny, etched runes, each painstakingly carved into the metal directly, then washed with some type of caustic agent to highlight them.

And finally, resting on a nest of piled silk was another water clear diamond, about the size of a hen's egg. The stone was absolutely and utterly flawless, and was perfectly cut in the shape of a dodecahedron. At the center of the stone, rainbow lightning flashes, perfectly mimicking the power of the massive diamond that surmounts the Portal.

Hardblade reached out and grabbed up the six packs, tossing one to each of the Hunters. "Those are your supplies. Enough food and drink in each to last you a month, along with pretty much every type of basic gear imaginable. There's also some alchemical supplies...healing salves, other goodies, even a few things that go boom in the night." She gave them a bright, savage grin and continued. "I had the Quartermaster pull out all the stops. She jammed everything she thought you might possibly need. They each hold as much as a top flight bag of holding, but they only weigh half a stone, no matter what you shove in em. The mouths expand to be large enough to fit a pony keg into them...there's a couple dozen in each, filled with water, in case you were wondering. And as a bonus, they work like a typical Lyrican Haversack...you reach in, think about the thing you want, and suddenly it's in hand. Only takes a second to get whatever you're after." She nodded in Cryoleptus' direction. "The bags themselves are a gift of the Collegium, and according to his nibs, there are a couple rather important limitations. The packs are, themselves, magic, so if you're withing an anti-magic zone, you wont be able to take anything out or put anything in. They'll just be empty leather satchels for the duration. But being in an AMZ wont actually harm them...they've been extensively tested. The other limitation is, you cant put anything magic into them...mundane items only. Interferes with the phlebotinum or some other ridiculous magey words." She rolled her eyes and grinned. "Basically, if you try to put anything enchanted in them, they might stop working, they might do nothing...or they might explode. And by all the Powers, DO NOT try and put any Nullmetal into them. They're protected from the outside, so proximity, even contact shouldn't hurt them. But DONT try to store any in them. Other than that, nothing alive can be put in them, but you can put all the dead stuff you want in there. It'll be perfectly preserved until you pull it back out."

She leaned forward, and added, sotto voce, "They dont "officially" exist...they're still in the experimental stage. But I worked it so you all get to keep them when this mission is done...part of your bonus. Plus, I got one for myself!" With a happy smile, she pulled back her fur cloak and showed that she already had one of the packs slung around her waist. Reaching in, she pulled out a long wooden pole...and kept pulling and pulling, until it's entire ten foot length was in her hand. With a bark of laughter, she quickly re-stowed it, then waved to Cryoleptus. "He'll brief you on the other doodads. And make it quick, Cousin,", she added, glancing at the large water clock mounted on a nearby wall, "There's only a quarter of an hour left before you have to get that ritual going."

With a small chuckle of his own, the Vizier gave Hardblade a small, half-bow, then turned to the Hunters. Taking up the bracelets, he held them out, handing one to each of the six. "Put them on, quickly." He gave them an impatient look until they complied. "Oh...there might be a...slight pinch." Six yelps accompanied his comment as each of them felt a sting on the inside of their wrists. Cryoleptus winced, giving them an apologetic nod. "Sorry...the bracelets need the blood link to bond them to each of you. It'll help to counteract the interference that you'll run into on the island...that's the theory, at least. Anyway," he went on quickly, "now you'll all be able to communicate mentally with one another. You'll be able to 'speak' normally, just as though you were standing next to one another. And you can speak to one, all, or any combination of your fellows. Quite ingenious, really." He grinned, seemingly rather proud of his invention, but the Guildmaster's cleared throat quickly brought him back on task.

"Right...Now, normally, you'd be able to speak to one another over a distance of many miles. As it stands, I wouldn't count on more than five hundred yards...possibly as many as a thousand, if we're lucky. But the communication range will be spherical, so even if you're separated by a significant distance vertically as well as horzontally, you'll still be able to stay in touch. In addition, those sapphires are linked to these." He and Hardblade each held up a wrist to show they were wearing identical bracelets, though theirs were heavier, and each sported even larger stones.

"When you need to communicate with us, any one of you can touch one of those sapphires and will it to connect to us. It will connect with both of us, by the by. The stone will crumble, but the mana stored within will enable...again, we hope...you to be able to reach out clear to the mainland to speak. Each gem will allow only about five minutes worth of communication, and each bracelet has twenty sapphires, so that's a total of six hours of communication. Use it wisely. Oh!" He blinked, tapping the side of his head with the heel of his palm. "I almost forgot. Even when the sapphires are depleted, the topaz will continue to keep the mental link between you active."

Turning back to the table, he plucked up the large diamond. "This is the anchor which you'll use to contact us when you're finished with the job. I'll be blooding it during the ritual and linking it with the central diamond on the Portal. As my mana core recharges, the stone will slowly grow warmer, and the rainbow within it will brighten. When it reaches the point of being just uncomfortably warm, and the lightning seems to fill the stone, it will be ready, and any time after that, you can call for the Portal. All you'll need to do is hold the crystal in the palm of your hand, smear it with a drop of blood, and call my name aloud. After that, everything will proceed on it's own. Just dont forget, it takes a full hour for the portal to form, and it cant be moved once it's started, so be prepared to defend the portal with your lives once you activate it...or make sure everything hostile is already in the afterlife." He gave them a sharp, razor thin smile.

Before the prince could say anything more, one of the wizards in the circle softly muttered "It is time, My Lord Vizier." With a nod, Cryoleptus turned to the portal, beckoning the six to follow him. Waving them forward, he spoke softly, even as he had raised his hands and begun making passes in the air. Softly glowing lights, like tiny arcs of lighting, began to flicker and flow around his hands and his eyes were half closed. Nevertheless, he was able to continue speaking to them, guiding them to their places.

"Quickly, my friends, stand in the circle, in front of the Portal. Do not, under any circumstances, break the circle. The consequences would be...disastrous. Now, forgive me, I must bend my concentration wholly to the ritual. I will signal you when it is time to enter the portal." So saying, the mage closed his eyes fully and began muttering ancient, puissiant words of power, began his invocations.
 

It turned out, watching a bunch of other people perform a complex, multi-step, extremely arcane and esoteric ritual, while you had to stand in center of their formation, unmoving, not talking, and generally just doing your best to make like a hole in the air...is incredibly boring.

Hardblade stood nearby, providing her own signature brand of motivation to both remain silent, and alert. Mostly in the form of icy glares when one of the Hunters dared to breathe too loudly, or shuffle their feet overmuch. Powers help anyone who made the nearly unforgivable mistake of coughing!

Eventually, and fortunately for their sanity, the ritual finally seemed to be nearing it's crescendo. The voices of the participants sped up and got louder, their movements more purposeful, almost frantically so. With what seemed to be only a minute or so left, Cryoleptus held aloft the diamond that was the key to opening the portal on the Island. With a gesture, he caused a small slice to appear across his palm, then wrapped his fist around the stone. The Vizier's clenched hand practically exploded in a coruscating sphere of rainbow colored light, pushing back the shadows in the large room, and forcing the six Hunters to avert their eyes. Seconds later, the light dimmed and, when it was once again safe to look, they saw that Cryoleptus was holding, in his now healed palm, a crimson diamond that pulsed with a soft, inner light. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the stone to Cal, who happened to be closest, then turned his attention fully to the final steps of the ritual.

From her position to one side, Hardblade called out. "Call in when you need to, but I want at least twice daily reports. Dawn and Dusk will be when I'll set aside time to wait, but if you need to get ahold of me before that, do so. I dispatched a fast ship about an hour ago, and it's heading straight for Oculus. There's a weather witch on board, so it should only take them about four or five days to get there. They'll have additional supplies, a couple of healers, and some guards. Unfortunately I had to dispatch your peers to some of those other border conflicts that are, as you surmised, already heating up, so you six will still be the big dogs in the yard. But if you get in the soup, just hunker down, because help is already on the way."

Cryoleptus interrupted, his voice tight with strain. "Thirty seconds. Anything else you have to say, make it quick."

Rather than respond, the Guildmaster drew herself stiffly to attention, feet coming crisply together, and closed fist coming across to thump solidly against her chest. Her one good eye shone with pride as she swept the six with her gaze. "Hunters, the Hunt beckons. Bring honour to your Guild, Honour to your House, Honour to yourselves."

"The portal is active! GO! NOW!!" Barked the prince, as a soundless burst of heat and light erupted behind the six Hunters standing on the dais. Turning, they saw that the basalt arch of the Portal was filled with milky white fog, swirling violently and streaked through with flashes of bright blue energy. The thirteen massive diamonds mounted on the stone hummed and popped with the incredible amount of power channeled into and through them, and arcs of what looked like real lightning forked and danced across all the surface, even grounding out on the stone dais.

The six jumped forward, even as, behind them, Hardblade once more barked. "Hunters...HUNT WELL!!"

The world went dark...

...heat...

...cold...

...PAIN!!!...

...violent, gut wrenching spasms hammered each of the Hunters, sending agonizing tremors racing through their bodies. For a split second that seemed to last hours, each of them would later swear that they felt like they were simultaneously burning to death, freezing, and struck by lightning...

...and then they erupted into bright sunlight, and a warm, tropical breeze, smelling strongly of iodine and salt. They can see, in rapid, pain and nausea filled flashes, several large wooden buildings, each seemingly built to accommodate both human and cyclops sized individuals. All of the buildings appear damaged in some fashion, some more than others. There are lots of what appear to be streaks of spell damage, a few slices where thin stripes have been disintegrated, and a few places are smashed in, as though large bodies have flown through walls and doors.

Unfortunately, since the six literally erupted onto the island, all of this passes by in a flash...some of it painfully close. All of the Hunters were violently spat out by the Portal, and found themselves sailing through the air, slamming into and through various (fortunately) wooden structures. Or...in one unfortunate case...directly into the earth below...

Apparently, the portal was less 'stable' than even their most pessimistic predictions prognosticated.
.
.
.
To add the cherry to the top of the 'crap sundae' that was their rather ignominious translation from one location to another...was when, from all round them, came incredible basso roars' and the ground shuddering thud of massive feet.