Journal - The Heart of Karmana

A Plea for Help

The protection of Karmana was stronger than ever within the archipelago, so nothing was likely to arrive magically that shouldn't be here, and we knew that it was hard to reach by ship from the outside. The Imperial presence in the east was static according to Elvrabor, but they were busy fortifying and settling into farming to sustain themselves, and there were at least three legions within the region. There was an evil pall over the Saloroc homeland, and the few boats that left brought bedraggled, half-starved people. We spent the time training and learning more about the region, but Falcor was keen to relight the Forge when he felt ready.

Before we had the chance, though, a boat arrived from the Elvrabor carrying some unusual visitors - two of the Elvrahum. They were similar to Garrett but a little smaller and much older. One carried a carved bone staff, and the other wore bone encircling his head. There was definitely a theme, but I didn't sense death about them. They had come seeking us specifically, and approached Falcor first, bowing before him. The one with the staff addressed him as "Lord", and said that they needed him desperately. He seemed confused when Falcor didn't recognise him, and asked if he could touch his shoulder. Falcor agreed, and he did so, pausing for a moment, and then stepped back, saying that he didn't realise that Falcor's soul was incomplete - that he hadn't yet been reborn. He recognised that the time would be soon to relight the Forge, and hesitated to distract him from this task, but he was the only one that could help them.

He introduced himself as Olgarron, although the other spoke up at that, saying "Hinar Raksen Olgarron", which the older man waved away. The second one was Hinar Lonack Akallan. They said that the dead had invaded the Heart of Karmana, and that no others could hope to rid the place of the dead and ever leave again. Falcor's soul was free to travel there and back, and one born of the dead with no soul should be able to leave as well, or so he said. They would drain power from Karmana directly, so the matter was urgent. Falcor spoke of the tapestry, which the new arrivals called "Falum's Tapestry", and said that they would return in time but we should go as quickly as possible. With only two of us to stand on the right points, though, we needed some dweomer to balance the journey, but we had enough to do so safely, and transported ourselves to the island in the north, at a point that they indicated for us.

There were snow-capped mountains before us, but it was still warm and there seemed to be places we could pass through them below the snow line. I looked behind and I could see a great, fortified city that must be the home of the Elvrahum. It was clearly meant to be a fortress first and a place to live second, with concentric rings of walls, which were deep in their blunt construction and lined with battlements. There was a pillared building in the centre, which seemed to be holy to the Elvrahum. We had been warned that we were not welcome there, as only the Elvrahum could enter. We started our trek up the side of the mountains, which was hot work but otherwise pleasant.

About halfway up to the coll we meant to pass through, we saw some figures on ridge above us, maybe a mile away. We couldn't make out any details, so we headed towards them, making out four humanoids as we drew closer. They stepped off the horizon and quickly blended into the surroundings so that we lost sight of them. When we were a few hundred yards away we saw something angular occasionally sticking up over the edge - there was something else up there... something big. Falcor hardened my skin with his dweomer, as it had been so effective before, and I used the time to make it harder for him to be subject to scrying. Having prepared a little, we approached the narrow pass and as we entered we saw a bloody big, evil looking spider up ahead. It was scuttling around, but not approaching, so we got a little closer and saw that there was a second one with two of its legs stuck into the ground, seemingly sucking life from Karmana.

Falcor loosed an arrow at the life sucker, incensed by what it was doing, but it passed through it harmlessly. Undeterred, he loosed another, but this time a different kind of arrow and that one struck true... and the spider disappeared completely! Seeing he had it under control, I turned to scan around us, seeking any evil presence, and immediately noticed two dark elvrabor archers behind us! They loosed arrows, both striking me, but the armour we had taken from the last Sarn turned them both aside. Falcor loosed another arrow, causing the other spider to disappear, and then turned to face the new threat. One of their arrows finally found a weak spot in my armour, but I was saved from damage by Falcor's protective dweomer. Seeing that they weren't going to take us down quickly, the archers flipped their hoods up and moved away, all but disappearing from sight. Falcor managed to track one of them long enough to put two arrows into them, causing them to stagger backwards, but a moment later we couldn't see them at all.

I got a sense of great evil to the north, approaching quickly, but I couldn't see anything. I warned Falcor, who muttered a quick incantation. A splatter of glittering dust appeared in mid-air as it it had hit an invisible wall, and from the way it was moving we could see that there was something pressing against it from the other side, although it was unable to pass through. We closed up, standing either side of where the dust was, and stepped through. I instantly felt utterly fucker, collapsing to the ground barely hanging onto consciousness. The whole place was permeated with a positive aura, which should have been reviving, but passing through the barrier had almost completely drained me. We had definitely transitioned to another place, that much was clear. I quickly let Falcor know how bad I was, as he seemed to be unaffected. I reached for a pot of healing ointment and slapped some on to help revive me, and Falcor stepped over to help as well. I noticed then that I was drawing energy from the ground, and forced myself to stop (the first time I had been able to control it). More immediately a concern, now I was not so drained, was a tall, dark creature in front of Falcor, which was mostly corporeal but not completely. Falcor told me that the creature was being controlled and wanted to be free, but the only way it knew how was for Falcor to kill it! Apparently exhausted from trying to stop itself, it lurched into an attack, with one massive hand connecting heavily, staggering Falcor with the force of the blow.

I called on my benefactor to dispel the evil that was controlling it, moving around to touch it as it was focused on Falcor. It was instantly changed, relaxing and sinking to its knees before Falcor. It sounded grateful as it told Falcor that his "witch" had released him. He was only a guardian here, but had been controlled by another. He feared approaching the heart again, concerned that he would just be controlled again, but did indicate the right direction to find the Heart. He pointed towards a massive canyon that had come into view as we moved through the pass, and it seemed we just had to go to the centre of the canyon, although that was many miles from us. From the description of the foe, it was almost certainly Ilianna that had invaded the Heart. Bitch. She could not come here herself, though, or she would not be able to leave - instead she stood inside the doorway to cause chaos.

The guardian said that he would seek to remove other interlopers from around the edges of the canyon, but would not approach the Heart. We left and headed towards the canyon, and it didn't take long to reach the edge. There was movement within, but it must have been at least a thousand feet down so it was hard to make out what was down there. I had a vague sense of intrusion, as if I had turned up at someone else's funeral, and had I not been with Falcor, who seemed at home, I would have been uncomfortable. Falcor was angry, though, and he transformed into his Elvradrak form, larger again that he had seemed last time, and barely waited for me to climb on before launching himself into the canyon. I gripped the stave of the planes in one hand as he dived to pick up speed before gliding along the canyon towards the centre.

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.