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.

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.

Bat screams towards Falcor, looking to envelop him, but recoils at the last moment. Falcor noticed that the wings had an extradimensional nature. A flying creature grabbed me and lifted me up, which was a relief as it took me away from the giant trying to take me to Kraldar. It was struck by the giant in anger as it gained height. Swipe a lucky blow and black ooze squirted out as the beast plunged to the ground.

Hit hard, and just manage to rip free before the bulk impact where I had been. I would normally have been badly hurt, but the energy from Karmana protected me. Feel a tug and a mind searching - Ilianna must be back somewhere! I call on dweomer to protect me from evil, as Falcor summoned a massive hand to try and hold the giant back. Move towards fire gate, and see Ilianna! Not corporeal, though, so a projection maybe? Strange.

Scrub-like grass in area turns black and grows, trying to grasp at me, but manage to force my way out just in time. Ilianna's projection(?) was the source. Wraith appears from Dad's gate. Giant swipes at it but gets away and another appears behind it. I force control of the staff (over Ilianna) and close the fire gate. The bolt of energy from Karmana grounded at Ilianna's image, and seemed to be feeding energy to her through the image.

Falcor dispelled her image, but she managed to dispel Falcor's Earth Elemental at the same time, so he ran over to grasp the rod and pull it out. Shocked by the energy, finding himself briefly in a blissful meadow before focusing and plunging back into the chaos of battle. The energy is almost overwhelming for him, but does pull it out so the effect stops. Sees Karmana's flesh knit as before.

Bat swoops at me, recoiling at the last moment. Wraith glides towards me as giant reaches for the second one, drawing it into himself and absorbing it, also beating the hand with his other arm. I ignore the wraith and jog past - his sword slid off my armour and felt wrong in some way. I run around and try to use staff to close death gate... but doesn't work even with crown's energy!

Giant closes on me, recoiled initially but then tries to encircle me with arm. Another one appears and now two are trying to encirle me - planar energy involved! Falcor moves beside me as I use dweomer to fly. Massive hand now in front of me. I fly up out of reach of the giants. Falcor shifts instantly away from the danger area for now. Flying creatures dive at me, but are repelled by dweomer.

Giant plucks wraith from the air, drawing it into himself again. Air portal keeps flashing, but guardian obviously dissuades anything from coming through. I close the death gate... temporarily. Giant lumbers away but explodes with energy from Karmana, but then latches onto me so I start to feel uncomfortable again. Move away and wait... need to recover my energy after closing the gate. Falcor changes back into dragon form - worried about protection wearing off. Lays into flying creature, ripping shreds out of it before it could react.

It fought back, though, although Karmana's energy meant that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Falcor finished it pretty quickly after that, although the other two had closed on him. He struck and bit one of the others, moving unnaturally fast (hasted), avoiding most of the attempts to hit back. Falcor tries breathing fire, but they are unaffected. Claws at the badly injured one, though, and it fell. Turned on the last one, ripping into it with claws and bite.

Bat joins combat, and wing scrapes Falcor's wing, and as if tendrils are trying to suck the energy from him. Falcor finished off the last dragon beast and then went for the bat. Try to get rid of giant with dweomer now recovered, but it had no effect. Falcor flies down to get something from his kit. Bat swoops down on him, and he bites at it, but jaws pass straight through. He sent a bolt of positive energy at it, striking true and obliterates it.

I try again to get rid of the giant, and this time it works. He gets thrown back towards the obelisk and fades out of view before he reaches it. We land and I try to control elemental, but instead he says "can I depart now"? Thank him for guarding the path. Steps through. Falcor places water phial in portal and I destroy water, then use staff to close the portal. Falcor hit with beam of energy. Both move back.

Falcor then uses his mind to rip the rods out of Karmana. As soon as that is done, the dragon starts to fade whilst sinking into the ground. A sense of extreme and deep gratitude is felt by both of us. Falcor had a closer connection, and a conversation, but I sensed nothing of that. Just before she faded completely, I suddenly knew how to control the leeching of energy that before was involuntary. Then we were in the temple on the island - Falcor had asked and it was done in a moment.