Edit History

The arrival of the giant, floating, undead orb put the Hunters on the back foot for several seconds. However, being powerful, experienced warriors themselves, they managed to push themselves through the fear and counterattack.

Even as the battle recommenced, the THRUMM from the portal continued to increase in both intensity and volume. It was obvious to any who even happened to glance in that direction that the shimmering ring of eldritch energy was definitely getting bigger. It appeared to have grown several yards in diameter over the last few heartbeats, and the pinpoint of absolute darkness that had appeared in it's center just seconds ago had already grown into a sphere at least five feet across. The very air within the area defined by the small black sphere roiled, snapping and popping, and the whole thing, portal and sphere, gaze off an ever stronger scent of ozone.

Despite the encroaching danger, the Hunter's focus remained, as it must, on defending themselves, as well as taking the fight to their most fearsome, undead foes.

Cal, overcome with a mixture of horror and rage was the first to turn his awesome power on the undead beholder. Beams of pure, life-giving energy lashed out, impacting square on the Death Tyrant's bone white hide. The great, fanged mouth opened wide, and a high pitched screech erupted from the creature as the beam played across it's flesh, burning away several scales with bright white 'flame'. The flames, unfortunately, failed to 'catch', quickly dripping off of the creature's tough hide. But first 'blood' definitely went to Cal.

After that, several things happened near-simultaneously. Using their telepathic link to coordinate, the remaining Hunters unleashed hell on their foes.

Monique released her latest pet project, a massive Earth elemental, to stand at her side. The elemental was easily as large as the floating Death Tyrant, but being so close to it made it look even larger. Siphoning off a piece of it's essence, Monique infused one of her flashbangs and flung it at the floating death orb, coating one side of it in a sheet of acid, causing the undead beholder's hide the bubble and hiss, and the thing to once more screech in agitation.

Near Monique, Devlin and Nivel both reacted to their large foes with skill and panache.

Nivel flashed in and out of his misty, vaporous form, and caused one of his foes to spin around, continually trying to target him, and missing. Taking advantage of the creature's confusion, the assassin slashed at the Zyclops several times, leaving massive wounds on the creature, the final one severing it's spine at the base of it's skull, and dropping the monstrosity to the dirt, unmoving...dead, finally, and hopefully, at peace.

Another heartbeat, and Nivel once more faded into mist, moving rapidly away. The female Zyclops which had been menacing him a moment before, seemed unable to find him, much less target him with her huge fists, and the assassin got away cleanly.

Devlin, meantime, spun, leapt, and attacked like a dervish. His mad antics seemed to disorient the nearby Zyclops, and neither of them were able to launch an effective attack against him...something that the nattily dressed mage took shameless advantage of. During one particularly flashy spin, he sent a flashbang sailing across the town to slam into the downed guard, coating it and the other undead in a blanket of smoking acid. The two creatures screeched and thrashed, but both appeared to still be functional, if rather nastily damaged.

Turning his attention to the closer of his foes, Devlin blasted one of the Zyclops with a potion fueled punch, completely shattering all the ribs on the woman's left side...and getting a blast of roaring necrotic flames racing up his arm for his trouble. Nevertheless, he managed to use the energy generated by his attack, and snatched a small spark of quintessence from the undead, using it to fuel his own powers, and summoning another 'Devlin' from a parallel time stream. The first Devlin kicked himself away, using the momentum of his strike to launch himself across the dusty road, even as he tossed a small ovoid at the heavily damaged Zyclops. The ovoid impacted the woman directly on the side of her head, detonating, and sending a burst of blood, bone, and brain matter spraying across the area...much of which landed on the second 'Devlin' who suddenly appeared in the middle of the street.

Both Devlin's were so affronted by this development, that they barely registered when the woman's huge form slumped, bonelessly, to the street, unmoving. The time displaced Devlin, looking thoroughly irritated, snapped a hand out, sending a cluster of small, colorful ovoids at the second Zyclops, all of which impacted on the creature's hide. The series of bombs devastated the creature, sending hunks of it flying, and even tearing an arm completely away. Unfortunately, despite the massive damage, the undead monstrosity, somehow, remained standing, even with half it's torso, most of it's head, and even part of one leg completely shredded.

Alternate timeline Devlin looked down at himself, turned a baleful gaze on primary timeline Devlin, gave himself a rude gesture, then faded back into the timestream.

Alone in the alley, Blaidd, surrounded, tore into his foes. The first of his enemies, the simply townie whom he'd first attacked, went down in a welter of gore as the shapeshifter's first two blows nearly tore the undead in half. Using the momentum of his attack, he spun into the second of his two enemies, launching himself at it, ripping with his claws even as he savaged it's head and neck with his transformed fangs. Ichor and half-rotted entrails spilled out into the dirt, while liberally coating the tattooed warrior as well. Such was the power of the blows, he then knocked the former shepherd down, allowing Blaidd to slam his heel into the things chest, clearly cracking several of it's ribs.

Meanwhile, Yukito, as per their telepathic plan, hesitated for the briefest of instants, just long enough to allow the others to attack their foes. He then launched himself into the air, looking to put some distance between him and his closest foes. Both the Zyclops took swipes at him, but between his speed and ready shield, he easily avoided both blows. And though he was now out of immediate attack range, the armoured Zyclops nevertheless looked to be gauging the distance for a leaping attack. Ignoring that potential threat for the moment, the swordsman concentrated, instead, on the many-eyed orb of death floating above them. The blast of frigid power that Yukito unleashed flashed across the battlefield in an instant, far too quick for the massive beholder to dodge.

Ichor spurted from the creature's body as the wave of force from Yukito's blade slammed into it, and immediately began to freeze, surrounding the Death Tyrant in a thick shell of ice. Even as the shell rapidly formed, all ten of it's small eyes snapped around, focusing on the puny swordsman.  Yukito was left with no doubts as to the presence of a ravenous, malevolent, intelligence residing in those bleak, black orbs. Luckily for Yukito, the ten madly waving eyestalks were encased in ice a split second later. Another, lesser, wave of power burst out from the swordsman, causing minor lacerations to appear on several of the nearby Zyclops, but the wounds were mostly superficial.

The attack on the Tyrant sent the Zyclops into a frenzy, and fresh howls rang out all along the street. The two Zyclops nearest Yukito both attempted to leap up at him, the smith attempting to batter him with an oversized hammer, and the guardsman with his massive sword. Neither connected, not even coming close to hitting the flying Hunter.

The mob charging from the south of the portal all attempted to converge on Yukito as well. Two of them aimed straight for him, gathering themselves for a leap. The other two, however, charged just as blindly forward...and both crossed the event horizon of the wildly fluctuating portal. The first, the one garbed as a smith, simply clipped the edge of the flickering ring. The creature froze for an instant, a steamwhistle shriek ripping from it's long dead throat. A bolt of black lightning ripped from it's chest, spun around the circle of the portal, and flashed across the distance between the creature and the floating Death Tyrant. The Zyclops dropped to the ground, a marionette with it's strings cut, and moved no more.

The huge floating orb, still encased in it's frigid coating, ROARED, sending cracks and crazes through the coating of black, ichorous ice that surrounded it.

The second Zyclops, the one dressed in homespun and carrying a shepherd's staff, also impacted the outer edge of the portal, and the same lightning effect occurred, causing even more ice cracking roars to emanate from the creature. The shepherd, however, had enough momentum to carry him forward, just enough, that his outflung hand impacted the matte black sphere in the center of the portal.

There was a flash of..."not-light"...a burst of pure, sight stealing darkness, that covered the entire area for the space of a single heartbeat, and then...grayish-black wisps of smoking dust drifted down to the ground, and the shepherd was nowhere to be seen.

All through the town, each of the still functional Zyclops hestitated, freezing in place, when their two brethren impacted the portal. Another ear splitting roar from the floating Tyrant, rattled the town, and they all began to move once more, zeroing in on whatever target was nearest.

The remaining two Zyclops from the southern end of the town, ignoring their downed fellows, converged on Yukito's floating form, though neither were close enough to threaten him as of yet.

The three Zyclops on the upper balcony that Devlin had hit with his nullmetal bomb seemed to shake off it's effects and all leapt down to the street. Two of them converged on the alley where Blaidd was fighting their fellows, and the third charged towards the melee between Devlin, Monique, and Nivel.

The two Zyclops who had fallen foul of the tripwire when exiting the chapel scrambled to their feet and both charged the rather distracted Cal, but neither were able to get close enough to attack just yet.

The two heavily damaged former townsfolk went after their nearest targets, one orienting on Devlin, and the other immediately launching a flurry of blows at the nearby Earth elemental.

In the alley, the Smith unleashed a hail of blows at Blaidd with it's oversized hammer, while the Shepherd lumbered to it's feet. The latter lashed out with it's staff, connecting with a solid blow just as Blaidd was dealing with the Smith's flurry of attacks.

Meanwhile, far above the half destroyed inn, the ice surrounding the Death Tyrant continued to pop and crack, and was already beginning to show signs of imminent breakage.

From within the shell of ichor, another steamwhistle shriek echoed, and multiple lances of potent black energy burst through the coating, spearing randomly into various parts of buildings and wreckage. Everywhere the rays of darkness touched, wood rotted, instantly drying out and cracking with age, only to burst into flames a heartbeat later. Fortunately, none of the deadly beams landed anywhere near the six Hunters, though a couple did come dangerously close to the ever more unstable portal.

Even more fortunately, the pencil thin beams, though powerful, seemed to do much more than melt slender holes in the icy shell, and the behemoth remained, for now, trapped.
.
.
.
.
.
Suddenly, as if appearing from nowhere, a small, spherical being popped into existence, hovering a few feet in the air, not far from where Nivel floated in his mist form. A tiny, high pitched voice whined in complaint.

"OW!! OWOWOWOWOWOW!!!! Hurts! WarpyBuzzyBadPortal Hurts Anima! OW! OW! OWWWWW!!!"

Glancing towards the voice, all of the nearby Hunters were able to see a tiny, bluish-purple floating orb. The little beholder appeared to be a perfect version of one of the creatures, re-created in miniature...only...somehow...cute?

Turning to orient it's central eye towards Nivel, it's other eyestalks, none larger than one of the Hunter's fingers, moved about to orient on all those surrounding it.

"Erm..." it somehow managed to look both mildly fearful, and somewhat sheepish all at the same time. "No hurt Anima? Anima comeses in peace."

A massive roar from above the inn caught everyone's attention. More black eyebeams lashed out, burning more holes in the icy coating on the floating terror, though, for now, the prison still held. The little beholder's eyes all snapped to the floating behemoth, and it let out a terrified "EEP!!" before flitting around and hiding itself behind Nivel, putting the misty assassin between itself and the undead Tyrant.

"NO NO NO!! Strangers gotta go! Gotta GO GO GO! Death Orb BadScaryDangerous! Portal BadScaryDangerous! Gotta GO! NOW!!"

Even as it made it's demands, the little creature continued to hide within Nivel's shadow, peeking around him with it's eyestalks, then quickly ducking back in evident fear every time it spotted the floating hulk encased in black ice.

The arrival of the giant, floating, undead orb put the Hunters on the back foot for several seconds. However, being powerful, experienced warriors themselves, they managed to push themselves through the fear and counterattack.

Even as the battle recommenced, the THRUMM from the portal continued to increase in both intensity and volume. It was obvious to any who even happened to glance in that direction that the shimmering ring of eldritch energy was definitely getting bigger. It appeared to have grown several yards in diameter over the last few heartbeats, and the pinpoint of absolute darkness that had appeared in it's center just seconds ago had already grown into a sphere at least five feet across. The very air within the area defined by the small black sphere roiled, snapping and popping, and the whole thing, portal and sphere, gaze off an ever stronger scent of ozone.

Despite the encroaching danger, the Hunter's focus remained, as it must, on defending themselves, as well as taking the fight to their most fearsome, undead foes.

Cal, overcome with a mixture of horror and rage was the first to turn his awesome power on the undead beholder. Beams of pure, life-giving energy lashed out, impacting square on the Death Tyrant's bone white hide. The great, fanged mouth opened wide, and a high pitched screech erupted from the creature as the beam played across it's flesh, burning away several scales with bright white 'flame'. The flames, unfortunately, failed to 'catch', quickly dripping off of the creature's tough hide. But first 'blood' definitely went to Cal.

After that, several things happened near-simultaneously. Using their telepathic link to coordinate, the remaining Hunters unleashed hell on their foes.

Monique released her latest pet project, a massive Earth elemental, to stand at her side. The elemental was easily as large as the floating Death Tyrant, but being so close to it made it look even larger. Siphoning off a piece of it's essence, Monique infused one of her flashbangs and flung it at the floating death orb, coating one side of it in a sheet of acid, causing the undead beholder's hide the bubble and hiss, and the thing to once more screech in agitation.

Near Monique, Devlin and Nivel both reacted to their large foes with skill and panache.

Nivel flashed in and out of his misty, vaporous form, and caused one of his foes to spin around, continually trying to target him, and missing. Taking advantage of the creature's confusion, the assassin slashed at the Zyclops several times, leaving massive wounds on the creature, the final one severing it's spine at the base of it's skull, and dropping the monstrosity to the dirt, unmoving...dead, finally, and hopefully, at peace.

Another heartbeat, and Nivel once more faded into mist, moving rapidly away. The female Zyclops which had been menacing him a moment before, seemed unable to find him, much less target him with her huge fists, and the assassin got away cleanly.

Devlin, meantime, spun, leapt, and attacked like a dervish. His mad antics seemed to disorient the nearby Zyclops, and neither of them were able to launch an effective attack against him...something that the nattily dressed mage took shameless advantage of. During one particularly flashy spin, he sent a flashbang sailing across the town to slam into the downed guard, coating it and the other undead in a blanket of smoking acid. The two creatures screeched and thrashed, but both appeared to still be functional, if rather nastily damaged.

Turning his attention to the closer of his foes, Devlin blasted one of the Zyclops with a potion fueled punch, completely shattering all the ribs on the woman's left side...and getting a blast of roaring necrotic flames racing up his arm for his trouble. Nevertheless, he managed to use the energy generated by his attack, and snatched a small spark of quintessence from the undead, using it to fuel his own powers, and summoning another 'Devlin' from a parallel time stream. The first Devlin kicked himself away, using the momentum of his strike to launch himself across the dusty road, even as he tossed a small ovoid at the heavily damaged Zyclops. The ovoid impacted the woman directly on the side of her head, detonating, and sending a burst of blood, bone, and brain matter spraying across the area...much of which landed on the second 'Devlin' who suddenly appeared in the middle of the street.

Both Devlin's were so affronted by this development, that they barely registered when the woman's huge form slumped, bonelessly, to the street, unmoving. The time displaced Devlin, looking thoroughly irritated, snapped a hand out, sending a cluster of small, colorful ovoids at the second Zyclops, all of which impacted on the creature's hide. The series of bombs devastated the creature, sending hunks of it flying, and even tearing an arm completely away. Unfortunately, despite the massive damage, the undead monstrosity, somehow, remained standing, even with half it's torso, most of it's head, and even part of one leg completely shredded.

Alternate timeline Devlin looked down at himself, turned a baleful gaze on primary timeline Devlin, gave himself a rude gesture, then faded back into the timestream.

Alone in the alley, Blaidd, surrounded, tore into his foes. The first of his enemies, the simply townie whom he'd first attacked, went down in a welter of gore as the shapeshifter's first two blows nearly tore the undead in half. Using the momentum of his attack, he spun into the second of his two enemies, launching himself at it, ripping with his claws even as he savaged it's head and neck with his transformed fangs. Ichor and half-rotted entrails spilled out into the dirt, while liberally coating the tattooed warrior as well. Such was the power of the blows, he then knocked the former shepherd down, allowing Blaidd to slam his heel into the things chest, clearly cracking several of it's ribs.

Meanwhile, Yukito, as per their telepathic plan, hesitated for the briefest of instants, just long enough to allow the others to attack their foes. He then launched himself into the air, looking to put some distance between him and his closest foes. Both the Zyclops took swipes at him, but between his speed and ready shield, he easily avoided both blows. And though he was now out of immediate attack range, the armoured Zyclops nevertheless looked to be gauging the distance for a leaping attack. Ignoring that potential threat for the moment, the swordsman concentrated, instead, on the many-eyed orb of death floating above them. The blast of frigid power that Yukito unleashed flashed across the battlefield in an instant, far too quick for the massive beholder to dodge.

Ichor spurted from the creature's body as the wave of force from Yukito's blade slammed into it, and immediately began to freeze, surrounding the Death Tyrant in a thick shell of ice. Even as the shell rapidly formed, all ten of it's small eyes snapped around, focusing on the puny swordsman.  Yukito was left with no doubts as to the presence of a ravenous, malevolent, intelligence residing in those bleak, black orbs. Luckily for Yukito, the ten madly waving eyestalks were encased in ice a split second later. Another, lesser, wave of power burst out from the swordsman, causing minor lacerations to appear on several of the nearby Zyclops, but the wounds were mostly superficial.

The attack on the Tyrant sent the Zyclops into a frenzy, and fresh howls rang out all along the street. The two Zyclops nearest Yukito both attempted to leap up at him, the smith attempting to batter him with an oversized hammer, and the guardsman with his massive sword. Neither connected, not even coming close to hitting the flying Hunter.

The mob charging from the south of the portal all attempted to converge on Yukito as well. Two of them aimed straight for him, gathering themselves for a leap. The other two, however, charged just as blindly forward...and both crossed the event horizon of the wildly fluctuating portal. The first, the one garbed as a smith, simply clipped the edge of the flickering ring. The creature froze for an instant, a steamwhistle shriek ripping from it's long dead throat. A bolt of black lightning ripped from it's chest, spun around the circle of the portal, and flashed across the distance between the creature and the floating Death Tyrant. The Zyclops dropped to the ground, a marionette with it's strings cut, and moved no more.

The huge floating orb, still encased in it's frigid coating, ROARED, sending cracks and crazes through the coating of black, ichorous ice that surrounded it.

The second Zyclops, the one dressed in homespun and carrying a shepherd's staff, also impacted the outer edge of the portal, and the same lightning effect occurred, causing even more ice cracking roars to emanate from the creature. The shepherd, however, had enough momentum to carry him forward, just enough, that his outflung hand impacted the matte black sphere in the center of the portal.

There was a flash of..."not-light"...a burst of pure, sight stealing darkness, that covered the entire area for the space of a single heartbeat, and then...grayish-black wisps of smoking dust drifted down to the ground, and the shepherd was nowhere to be seen.

All through the town, each of the still functional Zyclops hestitated, freezing in place, when their two brethren impacted the portal. Another ear splitting roar from the floating Tyrant, rattled the town, and they all began to move once more, zeroing in on whatever target was nearest.

The remaining two Zyclops from the southern end of the town, ignoring their downed fellows, converged on Yukito's floating form, though neither were close enough to threaten him as of yet.

The three Zyclops on the upper balcony that Devlin had hit with his nullmetal bomb seemed to shake off it's effects and all leapt down to the street. Two of them converged on the alley where Blaidd was fighting their fellows, and the third charged towards the melee between Devlin, Monique, and Nivel.

The two Zyclops who had fallen foul of the tripwire when exiting the chapel scrambled to their feet and both charged the rather distracted Cal, but neither were able to get close enough to attack just yet.

The two heavily damaged former townsfolk went after their nearest targets, one orienting on Devlin, and the other immediately launching a flurry of blows at the nearby Earth elemental.

In the alley, the Smith unleashed a hail of blows at Blaidd with it's oversized hammer, while the Shepherd lumbered to it's feet. The latter lashed out with it's staff, connecting with a solid blow just as Blaidd was dealing with the Smith's flurry of attacks.

Meanwhile, far above the half destroyed inn, the ice surrounding the Death Tyrant continued to pop and crack, and was already beginning to show signs of imminent breakage.

From within the shell of ichor, another steamwhistle shriek echoed, and multiple lances of potent black energy burst through the coating, spearing randomly into various parts of buildings and wreckage. Everywhere the rays of darkness touched, wood rotted, instantly drying out and cracking with age, only to burst into flames a heartbeat later. Fortunately, none of the deadly beams landed anywhere near the six Hunters, though a couple did come dangerously close to the ever more unstable portal.

Even more fortunately, the pencil thin beams, though powerful, seemed to do much more than melt slender holes in the icy shell, and the behemoth remained, for now, trapped.
.
.
.
.
.
Suddenly, as if appearing from nowhere, a small, spherical being popped into existence, hovering a few feet in the air, not far from where Nivel floated in his mist form. A tiny, high pitched voice whined in complaint.

"OW!! OWOWOWOWOWOW!!!! Hurts! WarpyBuzzyBadPortal Hurts Anima! OW! OW! OWWWWW!!!"

Glancing towards the voice, all of the nearby Hunters were able to see a tiny, bluish-purple floating orb. The little beholder appeared to be a perfect version of one of the creatures, re-created in miniature...only...somehow...cute?

Turning to orient it's central eye towards Nivel, it's other eyestalks, none larger than one of the Hunter's fingers, moved about to orient on all those surrounding it.

"Erm..." it somehow managed to look both mildly fearful, and somewhat sheepish all at the same time. "No hurt Anima? Anima comeses in peace."

A massive roar from above the inn caught everyone's attention. More black eyebeams lashed out, burning more holes in the icy coating on the floating terror, though, for now, the prison still held. The little beholder's eyes all snapped to the floating behemoth, and it let out a terrified "EEP!!" before flitting around and hiding itself behind Nivel, putting the misty assassin between itself and the undead Tyrant.

"NO NO NO!! Strangers gotta go! Gotta GO GO GO! Death Orb BadScaryDangerous! Portal BadScaryDangerous! Gotta GO! NOW!!"

Even as it made it's demands, the little creature continued to hide within Nivel's shadow, peeking around him with it's eyestalks, then quickly ducking back in evident fear every time it spotted the floating hulk encased in black ice.

The arrival of the giant, floating, undead orb put the Hunters on the back foot for several seconds. However, being powerful, experienced warriors themselves, they managed to push themselves through the fear and counterattack.

Even as the battle recommenced, the THRUMM from the portal continued to increase in both intensity and volume. It was obvious to any who even happened to glance in that direction that the shimmering ring of eldritch energy was definitely getting bigger. It appeared to have grown several yards in diameter over the last few heartbeats, and the pinpoint of absolute darkness that had appeared in it's center just seconds ago had already grown into a sphere at least five feet across. The very air within the area defined by the small black sphere roiled, snapping and popping, and the whole thing, portal and sphere, gaze off an ever stronger scent of ozone.

Despite the encroaching danger, the Hunter's focus remained, as it must, on defending themselves, as well as taking the fight to their most fearsome, undead foes.

Cal, overcome with a mixture of horror and rage was the first to turn his awesome power on the undead beholder. Beams of pure, life-giving energy lashed out, impacting square on the Death Tyrant's bone white hide. The great, fanged mouth opened wide, and a high pitched screech erupted from the creature as the beam played across it's flesh, burning away several scales with bright white 'flame'. The flames, unfortunately, failed to 'catch', quickly dripping off of the creature's tough hide. But first 'blood' definitely went to Cal.

After that, several things happened near-simultaneously. Using their telepathic link to coordinate, the remaining Hunters unleashed hell on their foes.

Monique released her latest pet project, a massive Earth elemental, to stand at her side. The elemental was easily as large as the floating Death Tyrant, but being so close to it made it look even larger. Siphoning off a piece of it's essence, Monique infused one of her flashbangs and flung it at the floating death orb, coating one side of it in a sheet of acid, causing the undead beholder's hide the bubble and hiss, and the thing to once more screech in agitation.

Near Monique, Devlin and Nivel both reacted to their large foes with skill and panache.

Nivel flashed in and out of his misty, vaporous form, and caused one of his foes to spin around, continually trying to target him, and missing. Taking advantage of the creature's confusion, the assassin slashed at the Zyclops several times, leaving massive wounds on the creature, the final one severing it's spine at the base of it's skull, and dropping the monstrosity to the dirt, unmoving...dead, finally, and hopefully, at peace.

Another heartbeat, and Nivel once more faded into mist, moving rapidly away. The female Zyclops which had been menacing him a moment before, seemed unable to find him, much less target him with her huge fists, and the assassin got away cleanly.

Devlin, meantime, spun, leapt, and attacked like a dervish. His mad antics seemed to disorient the nearby Zyclops, and neither of them were able to launch an effective attack against him...something that the nattily dressed mage took shameless advantage of. During one particularly flashy spin, he sent a flashbang sailing across the town to slam into the downed guard, coating it and the other undead in a blanket of smoking acid. The two creatures screeched and thrashed, but both appeared to still be functional, if rather nastily damaged.

Turning his attention to the closer of his foes, Devlin blasted one of the Zyclops with a potion fueled punch, completely shattering all the ribs on the woman's left side...and getting a blast of roaring necrotic flames racing up his arm for his trouble. Nevertheless, he managed to use the energy generated by his attack, and snatched a small spark of quintessence from the undead, using it to fuel his own powers, and summoning another 'Devlin' from a parallel time stream. The first Devlin kicked himself away, using the momentum of his strike to launch himself across the dusty road, even as he tossed a small ovoid at the heavily damaged Zyclops. The ovoid impacted the woman directly on the side of her head, detonating, and sending a burst of blood, bone, and brain matter spraying across the area...much of which landed on the second 'Devlin' who suddenly appeared in the middle of the street.

Both Devlin's were so affronted by this development, that they barely registered when the woman's huge form slumped, bonelessly, to the street, unmoving. The time displaced Devlin, looking thoroughly irritated, snapped a hand out, sending a cluster of small, colorful ovoids at the second Zyclops, all of which impacted on the creature's hide. The series of bombs devastated the creature, sending hunks of it flying, and even tearing an arm completely away. Unfortunately, despite the massive damage, the undead monstrosity, somehow, remained standing, even with half it's torso, most of it's head, and even part of one leg completely shredded.

Alternate timeline Devlin looked down at himself, turned a baleful gaze on primary timeline Devlin, gave himself a rude gesture, then faded back into the timestream.

Alone in the alley, Blaidd, surrounded, tore into his foes. The first of his enemies, the simply townie whom he'd first attacked, went down in a welter of gore as the shapeshifter's first two blows nearly tore the undead in half. Using the momentum of his attack, he spun into the second of his two enemies, launching himself at it, ripping with his claws even as he savaged it's head and neck with his transformed fangs. Ichor and half-rotted entrails spilled out into the dirt, while liberally coating the tattooed warrior as well. Such was the power of the blows, he then knocked the former shepherd down, allowing Blaidd to slam his heel into the things chest, clearly cracking several of it's ribs.

Meanwhile, Yukito, as per their telepathic plan, hesitated for the briefest of instants, just long enough to allow the others to attack their foes. He then launched himself into the air, looking to put some distance between him and his closest foes. Both the Zyclops took swipes at him, but between his speed and ready shield, he easily avoided both blows. And though he was now out of immediate attack range, the armoured Zyclops nevertheless looked to be gauging the distance for a leaping attack. Ignoring that potential threat for the moment, the swordsman concentrated, instead, on the many-eyed orb of death floating above them. The blast of frigid power that Yukito unleashed flashed across the battlefield in an instant, far too quick for the massive beholder to dodge.

Ichor spurted from the creature's body as the wave of force from Yukito's blade slammed into it, and immediately began to freeze, surrounding the Death Tyrant in a thick shell of ice. Even as the shell rapidly formed, all ten of it's small eyes snapped around, focusing on the puny swordsman.  Yukito was left with no doubts as to the presence of a ravenous, malevolent, intelligence residing in those bleak, black orbs. Luckily for Yukito, the ten madly waving eyestalks were encased in ice a split second later. Another, lesser, wave of power burst out from the swordsman, causing minor lacerations to appear on several of the nearby Zyclops, but the wounds were mostly superficial.

The attack on the Tyrant sent the Zyclops into a frenzy, and fresh howls rang out all along the street. The two Zyclops nearest Yukito both attempted to leap up at him, the smith attempting to batter him with an oversized hammer, and the guardsman with his massive sword. Neither connected, not even coming close to hitting the flying Hunter.

The mob charging from the south of the portal all attempted to converge on Yukito as well. Two of them aimed straight for him, gathering themselves for a leap. The other two, however, charged just as blindly forward...and both crossed the event horizon of the wildly fluctuating portal. The first, the one garbed as a smith, simply clipped the edge of the flickering ring. The creature froze for an instant, a steamwhistle shriek ripping from it's long dead throat. A bolt of black lightning ripped from it's chest, spun around the circle of the portal, and flashed across the distance between the creature and the floating Death Tyrant. The Zyclops dropped to the ground, a marionette with it's strings cut, and moved no more.

The huge floating orb, still encased in it's frigid coating, ROARED, sending cracks and crazes through the coating of black, ichorous ice that surrounded it.

The second Zyclops, the one dressed in homespun and carrying a shepherd's staff, also impacted the outer edge of the portal, and the same lightning effect occurred, causing even more ice cracking roars to emanate from the creature. The shepherd, however, had enough momentum to carry him forward, just enough, that his outflung hand impacted the matte black sphere in the center of the portal.

There was a flash of..."not-light"...a burst of pure, sight stealing darkness, that covered the entire area for the space of a single heartbeat, and then...grayish-black wisps of smoking dust drifted down to the ground, and the shepherd was nowhere to be seen.

All through the town, each of the still functional Zyclops hestitated, freezing in place, when their two brethren impacted the portal. Another ear splitting roar from the floating Tyrant, rattled the town, and they all began to move once more, zeroing in on whatever target was nearest.

The remaining two Zyclops from the southern end of the town, ignoring their downed fellows, converged on Yukito's floating form, though neither were close enough to threaten him as of yet.

The three Zyclops on the upper balcony that Devlin had hit with his nullmetal bomb seemed to shake off it's effects and all leapt down to the street. Two of them converged on the alley where Blaidd was fighting their fellows, and the third charged towards the melee between Devlin, Monique, and Nivel.

The two Zyclops who had fallen foul of the tripwire when exiting the chapel scrambled to their feet and both charged the rather distracted Cal, but neither were able to get close enough to attack just yet.

The two heavily damaged former townsfolk went after their nearest targets, one orienting on Devlin, and the other immediately launching a flurry of blows at the nearby Earth elemental.

In the alley, the Smith unleashed a hail of blows at Blaidd with it's oversized hammer, while the Shepherd lumbered to it's feet. The latter lashed out with it's staff, connecting with a solid blow just as Blaidd was dealing with the Smith's flurry of attacks.

Meanwhile, far above the half destroyed inn, the ice surrounding the Death Tyrant continued to pop and crack, and was already beginning to show signs of imminent breakage.

From within the shell of ichor, another steamwhistle shriek echoed, and multiple lances of potent black energy burst through the coating, spearing randomly into various parts of buildings and wreckage. Everywhere the rays of darkness touched, wood rotted, instantly drying out and cracking with age, only to burst into flames a heartbeat later. Fortunately, none of the deadly beams landed anywhere near the six Hunters, though a couple did come dangerously close to the ever more unstable portal.

Even more fortunately, the pencil thin beams, though powerful, seemed to do much more than melt slender holes in the icy shell, and the behemoth remained, for now, trapped.
.
.
.
.
.
Suddenly, as if appearing from nowhere, a small, spherical being popped into existence, hovering a few feet in the air, not far from where Nivel floated in his mist form. A tiny, high pitched voice whined in complaint.

"OW!! OWOWOWOWOWOW!!!! Hurts! WarpyBuzzyBadPortal Hurts Anima! OW! OW! OWWWWW!!!"

Glancing towards the voice, all of the nearby Hunters were able to see a tiny, bluish-purple floating orb. The little beholder appeared to be a perfect version of one of the creatures, re-created in miniature...only...somehow...cute?

Turning to orient it's central eye towards Nivel, it's other eyestalks, none larger than one of the Hunter's fingers, moved about to orient on all those surrounding it.

"Erm..." it somehow managed to look both mildly fearful, and somewhat sheepish all at the same time. "No hurt Anima? Anima comeses in peace."

A massive roar from above the inn caught everyone's attention. More black eyebeams lashed out, burning more holes in the icy coating on the floating terror, though, for now, the prison still held. The little beholder's eyes all snapped to the floating behemoth, and it let out a terrified "EEP!!" before flitting around and hiding itself behind Nivel, putting the misty assassin between itself and the undead Tyrant.

"NO NO NO!! Strangers gotta go! Gotta GO GO GO! Death Orb BadScaryDangerous! Portal BadScaryDangerous! Gotta GO! NOW!!"

Even as it made it's demands, the little creature continued to hide within Nivel's shadow, peeking around him with it's eyestalks, then quickly ducking back in evident fear every time it spotted the floating hulk encased in black ice.

The arrival of the giant, floating, undead orb put the Hunters on the back foot for several seconds. However, being powerful, experienced warriors themselves, they managed to push themselves through the fear and counterattack.

Even as the battle recommenced, the THRUMM from the portal continued to increase in both intensity and volume. It was obvious to any who even happened to glance in that direction that the shimmering ring of eldritch energy was definitely getting bigger. It appeared to have grown several yards in diameter over the last few heartbeats, and the pinpoint of absolute darkness that had appeared in it's center just seconds ago had already grown into a sphere at least five feet across. The very air within the area defined by the small black sphere roiled, snapping and popping, and the whole thing, portal and sphere, gaze off an ever stronger scent of ozone.

Despite the encroaching danger, the Hunter's focus remained, as it must, on defending themselves, as well as taking the fight to their most fearsome, undead foes.

Cal, overcome with a mixture of horror and rage was the first to turn his awesome power on the undead beholder. Beams of pure, life-giving energy lashed out, impacting square on the Death Tyrant's bone white hide. The great, fanged mouth opened wide, and a high pitched screech erupted from the creature as the beam played across it's flesh, burning away several scales with bright white 'flame'. The flames, unfortunately, failed to 'catch', quickly dripping off of the creature's tough hide. But first 'blood' definitely went to Cal.

After that, several things happened near-simultaneously. Using their telepathic link to coordinate, the remaining Hunters unleashed hell on their foes.

Monique released her latest pet project, a massive Earth elemental, to stand at her side. The elemental was easily as large as the floating Death Tyrant, but being so close to it made it look even larger. Siphoning off a piece of it's essence, Monique infused one of her flashbangs and flung it at the floating death orb, coating one side of it in a sheet of acid, causing the undead beholder's hide the bubble and hiss, and the thing to once more screech in agitation.

Near Monique, Devlin and Nivel both reacted to their large foes with skill and panache.

Nivel flashed in and out of his misty, vaporous form, and caused one of his foes to spin around, continually trying to target him, and missing. Taking advantage of the creature's confusion, the assassin slashed at the Zyclops several times, leaving massive wounds on the creature, the final one severing it's spine at the base of it's skull, and dropping the monstrosity to the dirt, unmoving...dead, finally, and hopefully, at peace.

Another heartbeat, and Nivel once more faded into mist, moving rapidly away. The female Zyclops which had been menacing him a moment before, seemed unable to find him, much less target him with her huge fists, and the assassin got away cleanly.

Devlin, meantime, spun, leapt, and attacked like a dervish. His mad antics seem to disorient the nearby Zyclops, and neither of them were able to launch an effective attack against him...something that the nattily dressed mage takes shameless advantage of. During one particularly flash spin, he sends a flashbang sailing across the town to slam into the downed guard, coating it and the other undead in a blanket of smoking acid. The two creatures screech and thrash, but both appear to still be functional, if rather nastily damaged.

Turning his attention to the closer of his foes, Devlin blasted one of the Zyclops with a potion fueled punch, completely shattering all the ribs on the woman's left side...and getting a blast of roaring necrotic flames racing up his arm for his trouble. Nevertheless, he managed to use the energy generated by his attack, and snatched a small spark of quintessence from the undead, using it to fuel his own powers, and summoning another 'Devlin' from a parallel time stream. The first Devlin kicked himself away, using the momentum of his strike to launch himself across the dusty road, even as he tossed a small ovoid at the heavily damaged Zyclops. The ovoid impacted the woman directly on the side of her head, detonating, and sending a burst of blood, bone, and brain matter spraying across the area...much of which landed on the second 'Devlin' which suddenly appeared in the middle of the street.

Both Devlin's were so affronted by this development, that they barely registered when the woman's huge form slumped, bonelessly, to the street, unmoving. The time displaced Devlin, looking thoroughly irritated, snapped a hand out, sending a cluster of small, colorful ovoids at the second Zyclops, all of which impacted on the creature's hide. The series of bombs devastated the creature, sending hunks of it flying, and even tearing an arm completely away. Unfortunately, despite the massive damage, the undead monstrosity, somehow, remained standing, even with half it's torso, most of it's head, and even part of one leg completely shredded.

Alternate timeline Devlin looked down at himself, turned a baleful gaze on primary timeline Devlin, gave himself a rude gesture, then faded back into the timestream.

Alone in the alley, Blaidd, surrounded, tore into his foes. The first of his enemies, the simply townie whom he'd first attacked, went down in a welter of gore as the shapeshifter's first two blows nearly tore the undead in half. Using the momentum of his attack, he spun into the second of his two enemies, launching himself at it, ripping with his claws even as he savaged it's head and neck with his transformed fangs. Ichor and half-rotted entrails spilled out into the dirt, while liberally coating the tattooed warrior as well. Such was the power of the blows, he then knocked the former shepherd down, allowing Blaidd to slam his heel into the things chest, clearly cracking several of it's ribs.

Meanwhile, Yukito, as per their telepathic plan, hesitated for the briefest of instants, just long enough to allow the others to attack their foes. He then launched himself into the air, looking to put some distance between him and his closest foes. Both the Zyclops took swipes at him, but between his speed and ready shield, he easily avoided both blows. And though he was now out of immediate attack range, the armoured Zyclops nevertheless looked to be gauging the distance for a leaping attack. Ignoring that potential threat for the moment, the swordsman concentrated, instead, on the many-eyed orb of death floating above them. The blast of frigid power that Yukito unleashed flashed across the battlefield in an instant, far too quick for the massive beholder to dodge.

Ichor spurted from the creature's body as the wave of force from Yukito's blade slammed into it, and immediately began to freeze, surrounding the Death Tyrant in a thick shell of ice. Even as the shell rapidly formed, all ten of it's small eyes snapped around, focusing on the puny swordsman, and a ravenous, malevolent, intelligence resided on those bleak, black orbs. Luckily for Yukito, the ten madly waving eyestalks were encased in ice a split second later. Another, lesser, wave of power burst out from the swordsman, causing minor lacerations to appear on several of the nearby Zyclops, but the wounds were obviously minor.

The attack on the Tyrant sent the Zyclops into a frenzy, and fresh howls rang out all along the street. The two Zyclops nearest Yukito both attempted to leap up and him, the smith attempting to batter him with an oversized hammer, and the guardsman with his massive sword. Neither connected, not even coming close to hitting the flying Hunter.

The mob charging from the south of the portal all attempted to converge on Yukito as well. Two of them aimed straight for him, gathering themselves for a leap. The other two, however, charged just as blindly forward...and both crossed the event horizon of the wildly fluctuating portal. The first, the one garbed as a smith, simply clipped the edge of the flickering ring. The creature froze for an instant, a steamwhistle shriek ripping from it's long dead throat. A bolt of black lightning ripped from it's chest, spun around the circle of the portal, and flashed across the distance between the creature and the floating Death Tyrant. The zyclops dropped to the ground, a marionette with it's strings cut, and moved no more.

The huge floating orb, still encased in it's frigid coating, ROARED, sending cracks and crazed through the coating of black, ichorous ice that surrounded it.

The second Zyclops, the one dressed in homespun and carrying a shepherd's staff, also impacted the outer edge of the portal, and the same lightning effect occured, causing even more ice cracking roars to emanate from the creature. The shepherd, however, had enough momentum, to carry it forward, just enough, that it's outflung hand impacted the matte black sphere in the center of the portal.

There was a flash of..."not-light"...a burst of pure, sight stealing darkness, that covered the entire area for the space of a single heartbeat, and then...grayish-black wisps of smoking dust drifted down to the ground, and the shepherd was nowhere to be seen.

All through the town, each of the still functional Zyclops hestitated, freezing in place, when their two brethren impacted the portal. Another ear splitting roar from the floating Tyrant, rattled the town, and they all began to move once more, zeroing in on whatever target was nearest.

The remaining two Zyclops from the southern end of the town, ignoring their downed fellows, converged on Yukito's floating form, though neither were close enough to threaten him as of yet.

The three Zyclops on the upper balcony that Devlin had hit with his nullmetal bomb seemed to shake off it's effects and all leapt down to the street. Two of them converged on the alley where Blaidd was fighting their fellows, and the third charged towards the melee between Devlin, Monique, and Nivel.

The two Zyclops who had fallen foul of the tripwire when exiting the chapel scrambled to their feet and both charged the rather distracted Cal, but neither were able to get close enough to attack just yet.

The two heavily damaged former townsfolk went after their nearest targets, one orienting on Devlin, and the other immediately launching a flurry of blows at the nearby Earth elemental.

In the alley, the Smith unleashed a hail of blows at Blaidd with it's oversized hammer. The shepherd lumbered to it's feet. Lashing out with it's staff, it connected with a solid blow just as Blaidd was dealing with the Smith's flurry of attacks.

Meanwhile, far above the half destroyed inn, the ice surrounding the Death Tyrant continued to pop and crack, and was already beginning to show signs of imminent breakage.

From within the shell of ichor, another steamwhistle shriek echoed, and multiple lances of potent black energy burst through the coating, spearing randomly into various parts of buildings and wreckage. Everywhere the rays of darkness touched, wood rotted, instantly drying out and cracking with age, only to burst into flames a heartbeat later. Fortunately, none of the deadly beams were landed anywhere near the six Hunters, though a couple did come dangerously close to the ever more unstable portal.

Even more fortunately, the pencil thin beams, though powerful, seemed to do much more than melt slender holes in the icy shell, and the behemoth remained, for now, trapped.
.
.
.
.
.
Suddenly, as if appearing from nowhere, a small, spherical being popped into existence, hovering a few feet in the air, not far from where Nivel floated in his mist form. A tiny, high pitched voice (OOC: Imagine Dobby the elf from Harry Potter, speaking with the tone of voice of Navi from Legend of Zelda) whined in complaint.

"OW!! OWOWOWOWOWOW!!!! Hurts! WarpyBuzzyBadPortal Hurts Anima! OW! OW! OWWWWW!!!"

Glancing towards the voice, all of the nearby Hunters were able to see a tiny, bluish-purple floating orb. The miniature beholder appeared to be a perfect version of one of the creatures, re-created in miniature...only...somehow...cute?

Turning to orient it's central eye towards Nivel, it's other eyestalks, none larger than one of the Hunter's fingers, moved about to orient on all those surrounding it.

"Erm..." it somehow managed to look both mildly fearful, and somewhat sheepish all at the same time. "No hurt Anima? Anima comeses in peace."

A massive roar from above the inn caught everyone's attention. More black eyebeams lashed out, burning more holes in the icy coating on the floating terror, though, for now, the prison still held. The little beholder's eyes all snapped to the floating behemoth, and it let out a terrified "EEP!!" before flitting around and hiding itself behind Nivel, putting the misty assassin between itself and the undead Tyrant.

"NO NO NO!! Strangers gotta go! Gotta GO GO GO! Death Orb BadScaryDangerous! Portal BadScaryDangerous! Gotta GO! NOW!!"

Even as it made it's demands, the little creature continued to hide within Nivel's shadow, peeking around him with it's eyestalks, then quickly ducking back in evident fear every time it spotted the floating hulk encased in black ice.

The arrival of the giant, floating, undead orb put the Hunters on the back foot for several seconds. However, being powerful, experienced warriors themselves, they managed to push themselves through the fear and counterattack.

Even as the battle recommenced, the THRUMM from the portal continued to increase in both intensity and volume. It was obvious to any who even happened to glance in that direction that the shimmering ring of eldritch energy was definitely getting bigger. It appeared to have grown several yards in diameter over the last few heartbeats, and the pinpoint of absolute darkness that had appeared in it's center just seconds ago had already grown into a sphere at least five feet across. The very air within the area defined by the small black sphere roiled, snapping and popping, and the whole thing, portal and sphere, gaze off an ever stronger scent of ozone.

Despite the encroaching danger, the Hunter's focus remained, as it must, on defending themselves, as well as taking the fight to their most fearsome, undead foes.

Cal, overcome with a mixture of horror and rage was the first to turn his awesome power on the undead beholder. Beams of pure, life-giving energy lashed out, impacting square on the Death Tyrant's bone white hide. The great, fanged mouth opened wide, and a high pitched screech erupted from the creature as the beam played across it's flesh, burning away several scales with bright white 'flame'. The flames, unfortunately, failed to 'catch', quickly dripping off of the creature's tough hide. But first 'blood' definitely went to Cal.

After that, several things happened near-simultaneously. Using their telepathic link to coordinate, the remaining Hunters unleashed hell on their foes.

Monique released her latest pet project, a massive Earth elemental, to stand at her side. The elemental was easily as large as the floating Death Tyrant, but being so close to it made it look even larger. Siphoning off a piece of it's essence, Monique infused one of her flashbangs and flung it at the floating death orb, coating one side of it in a sheet of acid, causing the undead beholder's hide the bubble and hiss, and the thing to once more screech in agitation.

Near Monique, Devlin and Nivel both reacted to their large foes with skill and panache.

Nivel flashed in and out of his misty, vaporous form, and caused one of his foes to spin around, continually trying to target him, and missing. Taking advantage of the creature's confusion, the assassin slashed at the Zyclops several times, leaving massive wounds on the creature, the final one severing it's spine at the base of it's skull, and dropping the monstrosity to the dirt, unmoving...dead, finally, and hopefully, at peace.

Another heartbeat, and Nivel once more faded into mist, moving rapidly away. The female Zyclops which had been menacing him a moment before, seemed unable to find him, much less target him with her huge fists, and the assassin got away cleanly.

Devlin, meantime, spun, leapt, and attacked like a dervish. His mad antics seem to disorient the nearby Zyclops, and neither of them are able to launch an effective attack against him...something that the nattily dressed mage takes shameless advantage of. During one particularly flash spin, he sends a flashbang sailing across the town to slam into the downed guard, coating it and the other undead in a blanket of smoking acid. The two creatures screech and thrash, but both appear to still be functional, if rather nastily damaged.

Turning his attention to the closer of his foes, Devlin blasted one of the Zyclops with a potion fueled punch, completely shattering all the ribs on the woman's left side...and getting a blast of roaring necrotic flames racing up his arm for his trouble. Nevertheless, he managed to use the energy generated by his attack, and snatched a small spark of quintessence from the undead, using it to fuel his own powers, and summoning another 'Devlin' from a parallel time stream. The first Devlin kicked himself away, using the momentum of his strike to launch himself across the dusty road, even as he tossed a small ovoid at the heavily damaged Zyclops. The ovoid impacted the woman directly on the side of her head, detonating, and sending a burst of blood, bone, and brain matter spraying across the area...much of which landed on the second 'Devlin' which suddenly appeared in the middle of the street.

Both Devlin's were so affronted by this development, that they barely registered when the woman's huge form slumped, bonelessly, to the street, unmoving. The time displaced Devlin, looking thoroughly irritated, snapped a hand out, sending a cluster of small, colorful ovoids at the second Zyclops, all of which impacted on the creature's hide. The series of bombs devastated the creature, sending hunks of it flying, and even tearing an arm completely away. Unfortunately, despite the massive damage, the undead monstrosity, somehow, remained standing, even with half it's torso, most of it's head, and even part of one leg completely shredded.

Alternate timeline Devlin looked down at himself, turned a baleful gaze on primary timeline Devlin, gave himself a rude gesture, then faded back into the timestream.

Alone in the alley, Blaidd, surrounded, tore into his foes. The first of his enemies, the simply townie whom he'd first attacked, went down in a welter of gore as the shapeshifter's first two blows nearly tore the undead in half. Using the momentum of his attack, he spun into the second of his two enemies, launching himself at it, ripping with his claws even as he savaged it's head and neck with his transformed fangs. Ichor and half-rotted entrails spilled out into the dirt, while liberally coating the tattooed warrior as well. Such was the power of the blows, he then knocked the former shepherd down, allowing Blaidd to slam his heel into the things chest, clearly cracking several of it's ribs.

Meanwhile, Yukito, as per their telepathic plan, hesitated for the briefest of instants, just long enough to allow the others to attack their foes. He then launched himself into the air, looking to put some distance between him and his closest foes. Both the Zyclops took swipes at him, but between his speed and ready shield, he easily avoided both blows. And though he was now out of immediate attack range, the armoured Zyclops nevertheless looked to be gauging the distance for a leaping attack. Ignoring that potential threat for the moment, the swordsman concentrated, instead, on the many-eyed orb of death floating above them. The blast of frigid power that Yukito unleashed flashed across the battlefield in an instant, far too quick for the massive beholder to dodge.

Ichor spurted from the creature's body as the wave of force from Yukito's blade slammed into it, and immediately began to freeze, surrounding the Death Tyrant in a thick shell of ice. Even as the shell rapidly formed, all ten of it's small eyes snapped around, focusing on the puny swordsman, and a ravenous, malevolent, intelligence resided on those bleak, black orbs. Luckily for Yukito, the ten madly waving eyestalks were encased in ice a split second later. Another, lesser, wave of power burst out from the swordsman, causing minor lacerations to appear on several of the nearby Zyclops, but the wounds were obviously minor.

The attack on the Tyrant sent the Zyclops into a frenzy, and fresh howls rang out all along the street. The two Zyclops nearest Yukito both attempted to leap up and him, the smith attempting to batter him with an oversized hammer, and the guardsman with his massive sword. Neither connected, not even coming close to hitting the flying Hunter.

The mob charging from the south of the portal all attempted to converge on Yukito as well. Two of them aimed straight for him, gathering themselves for a leap. The other two, however, charged just as blindly forward...and both crossed the event horizon of the wildly fluctuating portal. The first, the one garbed as a smith, simply clipped the edge of the flickering ring. The creature froze for an instant, a steamwhistle shriek ripping from it's long dead throat. A bolt of black lightning ripped from it's chest, spun around the circle of the portal, and flashed across the distance between the creature and the floating Death Tyrant. The zyclops dropped to the ground, a marionette with it's strings cut, and moved no more.

The huge floating orb, still encased in it's frigid coating, ROARED, sending cracks and crazed through the coating of black, ichorous ice that surrounded it.

The second Zyclops, the one dressed in homespun and carrying a shepherd's staff, also impacted the outer edge of the portal, and the same lightning effect occured, causing even more ice cracking roars to emanate from the creature. The shepherd, however, had enough momentum, to carry it forward, just enough, that it's outflung hand impacted the matte black sphere in the center of the portal.

There was a flash of..."not-light"...a burst of pure, sight stealing darkness, that covered the entire area for the space of a single heartbeat, and then...grayish-black wisps of smoking dust drifted down to the ground, and the shepherd was nowhere to be seen.

All through the town, each of the still functional Zyclops hestitated, freezing in place, when their two brethren impacted the portal. Another ear splitting roar from the floating Tyrant, rattled the town, and they all began to move once more, zeroing in on whatever target was nearest.

The remaining two Zyclops from the southern end of the town, ignoring their downed fellows, converged on Yukito's floating form, though neither were close enough to threaten him as of yet.

The three Zyclops on the upper balcony that Devlin had hit with his nullmetal bomb seemed to shake off it's effects and all leapt down to the street. Two of them converged on the alley where Blaidd was fighting their fellows, and the third charged towards the melee between Devlin, Monique, and Nivel.

The two Zyclops who had fallen foul of the tripwire when exiting the chapel scrambled to their feet and both charged the rather distracted Cal, but neither were able to get close enough to attack just yet.

The two heavily damaged former townsfolk went after their nearest targets, one orienting on Devlin, and the other immediately launching a flurry of blows at the nearby Earth elemental.

In the alley, the Smith unleashed a hail of blows at Blaidd with it's oversized hammer. The shepherd lumbered to it's feet. Lashing out with it's staff, it connected with a solid blow just as Blaidd was dealing with the Smith's flurry of attacks.

Meanwhile, far above the half destroyed inn, the ice surrounding the Death Tyrant continued to pop and crack, and was already beginning to show signs of imminent breakage.

From within the shell of ichor, another steamwhistle shriek echoed, and multiple lances of potent black energy burst through the coating, spearing randomly into various parts of buildings and wreckage. Everywhere the rays of darkness touched, wood rotted, instantly drying out and cracking with age, only to burst into flames a heartbeat later. Fortunately, none of the deadly beams were landed anywhere near the six Hunters, though a couple did come dangerously close to the ever more unstable portal.

Even more fortunately, the pencil thin beams, though powerful, seemed to do much more than melt slender holes in the icy shell, and the behemoth remained, for now, trapped.
.
.
.
.
.
Suddenly, as if appearing from nowhere, a small, spherical being popped into existence, hovering a few feet in the air, not far from where Nivel floated in his mist form. A tiny, high pitched voice (OOC: Imagine Dobby the elf from Harry Potter, speaking with the tone of voice of Navi from Legend of Zelda) whined in complaint.

"OW!! OWOWOWOWOWOW!!!! Hurts! WarpyBuzzyBadPortal Hurts Anima! OW! OW! OWWWWW!!!"

Glancing towards the voice, all of the nearby Hunters were able to see a tiny, bluish-purple floating orb. The miniature beholder appeared to be a perfect version of one of the creatures, re-created in miniature...only...somehow...cute?

Turning to orient it's central eye towards Nivel, it's other eyestalks, none larger than one of the Hunter's fingers, moved about to orient on all those surrounding it.

"Erm..." it somehow managed to look both mildly fearful, and somewhat sheepish all at the same time. "No hurt Anima? Anima comeses in peace."

A massive roar from above the inn caught everyone's attention. More black eyebeams lashed out, burning more holes in the icy coating on the floating terror, though, for now, the prison still held. The little beholder's eyes all snapped to the floating behemoth, and it let out a terrified "EEP!!" before flitting around and hiding itself behind Nivel, putting the misty assassin between itself and the undead Tyrant.

"NO NO NO!! Strangers gotta go! Gotta GO GO GO! Death Orb BadScaryDangerous! Portal BadScaryDangerous! Gotta GO! NOW!!"

Even as it made it's demands, the little creature continued to hide within Nivel's shadow, peeking around him with it's eyestalks, then quickly ducking back in evident fear every time it spotted the floating hulk encased in black ice.