Editing Journal - The Heart of Karmana (section)

==Karmana Suffers==

As we got closer to the Heart we could see a set of six obelisks arranged in a hexagon, and between them was a glowing, golden Elvradrak laying prone. Rays, like lightning crackling, shot out from the Elvradrak into planes that looked like gateways into other worlds, each one situated between a pair of obelisks. Five heavy flying things, the anti-dragon beasts we had seen near Sulinassauri's tower, circled slowly above the Heart, and three floating shades hovered close to the ground just outside the obelisks. As we approached I prepared some vials of water, as we were likely to need a vacuum to help close one of the portals, and at his request I passed Falcor some rods from his pack. He sent a positive energy ball into the centre of the obelisks, aimed at the golden dragon of Karmana. It was big enough to cover the three shades as well, although one seemed unaffected by it. The other two were obliterated - the first instantly, and the second after it turn to try and escape but couldn't get away fast enough. Unfortunately, what we had assumed were the rear, opaque sides of portals were actually inactive and the energy unleashed within the area activated them all at once!

Giants stepped through from Itnak Aln'a slightly to the left as we approached, a fire-headed giant from Igsol's realm stepped through in front of us, and some flying creatures emerged on the far side, climbing - the Elvraeli. I jumped off Falcor, using my mind to land safely, but everything seemed to be converging on me! I called on my patron to protect me and dispel the evil that did not belong here, aware that I was being charged down, but also knowing it was my best hope of surviving. The last shade activated what was a positive portal (we could see the friendly dog thing on the far side), turning it jet black instead, and three ragged black bat shapes flew out. Falcor conjured another positive energy ball, avoiding the portals this time, and it caught all the bats within the blast, destroying them before they could cause any damage. The shade, annoyingly, just ignored it again.

As Falcor flew over the giants he breathed fire straight down at them, doing some damage but not enough for any to falter. He called out to the Elvraeli, asking them to help defend Karmana - they were a little awestruck to learn that they were in the Goddess' presence, although they feared for their souls. They would try to help, though. Falcor banked around as I ran forward, ignoring the foes and heading for the portals. As he wheeled back towards me he was able to send a bolt of positive energy into the shade, finally destroying it. I avoided most of the giants, but the fire-headed one smacked me from behind with a massive hammer, and I barely kept my feet. I was able to use one of Falcor's wands on the Itlak Aln'a portal, and then force it to close with the Staff of the Planes, but as soon as it disappeared a beam of positive energy (which presumably had been sustaining it) struck me, veering towards me as if seeking me out. I actually felt better for a moment, but quickly the sense of an extremely powerful mind almost overwhelmed me, and I staggered slightly.

There was a flare of energy from a portal on the far side that we couldn't see, but more importantly I managed to ask (rather crudely as I tried to hold onto my senses) how to free Karmana. She just wanted us to remove the devices that were draining her, and now I had a clear vision of where the positive energy was coming from - there were rods stuck into Karmana's scales, and these were draining her energy. I dare not touch such a thing, though, knowing it could release enough power to completely destroy me! Falcor dropped an iceball on the dogs before they could reach me, ripping them apart with shards of ice, but the giants had reversed direction and were coming for me too.

I moved round to the next portal, throwing a sphere from Igsol's realm at it, but a hand reached out and caught it! Ilianna was right in the doorway, as we had been warned. I tried to close the portal anyway, but I could feel her will battling with mine and neither of us could dominate the other to exert control over the staff. The heavy flying things were attacking Falcor by now, well some of them - they were slower than he was, and those that did reach him were repelled by his protective dweomer. The Elvraeli were fighting one of the creatures, and we saw a broken body falling from the fight, but they did seem to be winning. Just to make matters worse, I saw one of my father's two-headed giants lumbering around the obelisks to join the fight! I alerted Falcor to how Karmana was suffering, but that was as much as I could do, surrounded as I was.

Falcor was using destructive spell after spell, but was struggling to affect the flying creatures; they were, after all, created to fight the Elvradrak. Now that I knew Ilianna was in the portal, I used Falcor's wand again, intending to weaken the connection the portal had with Karmana. I then focused all my will on the staff and finally managed to cut Ilianna out and activate it. In a moment the portal was gone, and her sense of will with it. Phew. Well, I was relieved at the time, but it was soon to be clear that this would bring new problems for us. I was hit by the energy beam from Karmana, as expected, and this time was able to brace myself and keep my senses. That was why I noticed that four of the dark elves had slipped through the portal at the edge before I closed it. Two ran off to my left, but the other two attacked me with daggers, doing some damage but nothing that I notice after the energy from Karmana had started to knit my wounds anyway.

A massive Earth Elemental appeared between me and the death giant, but I was so surrounded now that I had no way out. I used dweomer to instantly move some distance away, but weirdly felt the death giant trying to catch hold of me as I passed, even though I was no longer really in Karmana as I did so. I managed to get there, though, and even though it just took a second it seemed like time had stopped for a minute! An iceball exploded where I had been standing a moment later... hopefully Falcor was waiting for me to move?! The fire giant was obliterated, and the Itlak Aln'a giants were killed as well, having already been hurt by Falcor's fire breath. One elf was killed and the other badly hurt as well.

Without the controlling influence of Ilianna the gates were activating at random, and all kinds of things were emerging now. Falcor fired a bolt of radiance at an evil-looking spider, then sent ice bolts flying into a fiery minotaur that had also come into view. A swirling elemental with lightning crackling through it appeared through the air gate, but stayed static as if guarding it. Another ragged black bat shade thing flew out of another portal. The death giant turned towards me as I took in all of this, and then turned that into a charge that forced me to my knees. It was unable to get a purchase to pick me up, at least. I drew Aramat in my one free hand as Falcor sent a radiant bolt into both of us, healing and energising us both! The minotaur had turned on the spider, killing it with powerful sweeps of his two large scimitars.

Falcor sent a fireball into one of the flying things, but it still had no effect. He did, though, order the Earth elemental to walk up to Karmana and pull out one of the golden rods. As the elemental passed between the obelisks it doubled in size, becoming even more impressive, but it didn't affect it's focus, and finally one rod was removed. Hopefully it gave Karmana some relief, and her wound knitted even as the barbed tip ripped the flesh on the way out. The elemental dropped the rod and started lumbering around to the next one. I released my protective dweomer, sending the death giant back to my father's realm with it, but only barely managed to stay behind as it tried to take me with it! I was just relaxing slightly, knowing that it posed the greatest threat to me, when another one appeared from a portal! Shit.

The elemental tore out another spike, so there were two removed from the six now, but I needed to close another gate if it was going to remove another. I coordinated mentally with Falcor, and he struck what was obviously the negative portal with a positive bolt just before I focused the staff's energy and it closed easily. That meant I was hit with a beam of radiant energy again, and I needed to be careful as I was starting to sweat from the heat inside me. The portal to my father's realm was still open, but I was wary of the giant there. Sure enough it lumbered forward and grabbed me just as Falcor landed behind it and transformed back to his human form.

The minotaur was just watching now, swords at rest, so at least we weren't being swamped just yet. I managed to force my way out of the giant's grip, and just in time as I could sense a portal growing around us. Falcor used his mind against the nearest flying creature, but that just seemed to enrage it. The black, bat-like thing screamed towards Falcor in an attempt to envelop him, but recoiled at the last moment. A flying creature grabbed me and lifted me up, which was actually a bit of a relief as it took me away from the giant that was trying to take me back to Kraldar! The giant struck out in anger as it flew up, causing it some damage. It's stony claws were painful on my shoulder, so I swung Aramat upwards and somehow found a weakness. Aramat bit deep and black ooze squirted out, and then it suddenly plummeted like a stone into the ground. We landed hard, and I was only just able to rip myself free and roll before the bulk of its body crushed me. Although I would normally have been badly hurt, the energy I had absorbed from Kamana protected me from harm.

As I stood up I felt a tug on my back, and sensed a mind searching - Ilianna must be back somewhere! I called on dweomer to protect me from evil, and Falcor summoned a massive hand in an attempt to hold the giant back and keep me with Karmana. I moved toward the fire gate, and for a moment thought that I'd seen Ilianna outside the gate! I realised after a moment that she wasn't fully corporeal, though, so it was a projection of some kind instead. As I approached, the scrub-like grass around me turned black and grew, trying to grasp at me, but I was able to force my way out just in time to avoid being held. The projection of Ilianna had been the source of the dweomer, so we had to do something about it.

A wraith emerged from Kraldar's gate, and the giant swiped at it as it slipped past, only for another one to emerge behind it. I concentrated and was able to take control of the staff despite Ilianna's influence, closing the fire gate. Sadly it wasn't the one she was using, but at least the bolt of energy from Karmana grounded at Ilianna's image instead of me. She seemed to be absorbing the energy from it, so I knew that she couldn't keep it up for too long. Before that mattered, though, Falcor was able to dispel her image. He was just too late to prevent her from casting one last spell through it, and that dispelled Falcor's Earth elemental. That meant we had to do something about the rods in Karmana ourselves, so Falcor ran over to grasp the one I had just exposed and pull it out. He was shocked by the energy suddenly flowing into him, finding himself briefly in a blissful meadow before he managed to focus and plunge back into the chaos of battle. Although the energy was almost overwhelming for him, he did manage with an effort of will to pull the rod out, which ended the effect. Again he saw Karmana's flesh knit quickly, leaving no trace.

The bat thing swooped down at me, but again was forced to recoil at the last moment due to the protective dweomer around me. A wraith also glided towards me, but the second one was caught by the giant; it reached out and grabbed it, and then drew it into its own body, absorbing it completely! Whilst doing so, it beat one fist down on the massive hand that was still holding it back, but it held firm. I ignored the wraith and jogged past, its sword sliding off my armour and feeling very wrong in some way. I ran around to the Death gate, trying to use the staff to close it, but it didn't work even with the crown's energy weakening the portal. Damn!

The giant saw his chance, closing on me quickly but recoiling from the protective dweomer. Unfortunately he had another trick up his sleeve, and tried to encircle me with his arms. I managed to duck backwards, but another giant stepped through the portal and tried to do the same thing. I could feel planar energy crackling within their arms, and used dweomer to enable me to fly - I had to get away! Falcor moved up beside me, causing the massive hand to hold back one of the giants, but then I was able to fly up out of reach. Falcor used dweomer to escape the area in an instant, taking a moment to catch his breath from a distance. As I rose into the air, the flying creatures that were still circling dived at me, but they were repelled by my dweomer before they could contact me.

One of the giants plucked the other wraith from the air, drawing it into himself like the last one - they really didn't like things escaping from my Father's realm! The Air portal kept flashing, but the lightning guardian obviously dissuaded anything from coming through. I was able to close the death gate with dweomer I channeled, at least temporarily, and the beam of energy that flew out from Karmana caused one of the giants to explode with radiance before it could get far enough away to escape. I was less smug about this when the beam latched on to me next, so I quickly moved away and waited. I needed to recover my energy before I could try to close another gate. Falcor changed back into dragon form, nervous that his protection was wearing off, and went on the offensive, ripping shreds out of one of the flying creatures before it could react. It fought back, but Falcor was able to finish it pretty quickly, and Karmana's energy meant that he wasn't left badly wounded.

The other two flying creatures had closed on him, though, so he had to fight on. He struck and bit one of them, moving unnaturally fast, and was able to avoid most of the attempts to hit him back. He tried breathing fire, but found that they were unaffected by it, instead having to finish the most badly wounded one with his talons, sending it falling heavily to the ground. He turned on the last one, ripping into that with talons and teeth, but then another foe joined it. The ragged, black bat joined the combat, and its wing scraped Falcor's wing, and where they connected it was as if tendrils were trying to suck the energy from him. Falcor finished off the last dragon beast as quickly as he could, and then went for the bat. His attacks were proving ineffectual, though, and he returned to his kit on the floor as it harried him. He retrieved something and sent a bolt of positive energy into it, which obliterated it completely.

I tried to get rid of the last giant with dweomer now that I had recovered, but it had no effect at all. I persisted, able to try just once more with my dweomer, and this time it worked; the giant was thrown back towards the obelisk and faded out of view before he reached it, returning to Kraldar I was sure. We landed, and when I tried to control the lightning elemental it instead simply asked "can I depart now"? I realised that he was an ally of Aergarnion and thanked him for guarding the path. He stepped back through, leaving us to use a water phial we had prepared with my dweomer to create a small vacuum. With that hopefully affecting the gate, I then used the staff to close the portal.

Falcor was immediately hit with a beam of energy from Karmana, so we both moved back to safety. Falcor was able to use his mind to rip the rods out of Karmana safely, and as soon as that was done the dragon form started to fade and sink into the ground. A sense of extreme and deep gratitude was felt by both of us intensely, although Falcor had a closer connection, and was able to have a short conversation with the Goddess. Just before she faded completely, I suddenly knew how to control the leeching of energy that before was involuntary, able to choose whether to take energy from around me or to keep my wounds and spare whatever place I might be within. Then, in a moment, we were in Falcor's temple on the island - Falcor had asked Karmana for a favour, he told me, and it was done. We felt energised after arriving, with wounds and mental exhaustion all gone.