Jharm's first reply elicits Soul Reaver to answer with an empathic hand on his shoulder.

"Let us know if the burden becomes too much.  We can carry it for you."

The reply to his second, mentally-asked question is more terse and strained.

I see.

It sounds like Soul Reaver has made up his mind about something.

As everyone files into their positions in the Aesgim, Soul Reaver addresses Veldanya directly.

"My lady, you have our thanks for your skillful assistance in this battle.  It is an honour to fight alongside you."

He gives a slight bow before straightening up again.

"However, I could not help noticing that when the Shaiton's crystal erupted, it released a surge of negative energy that washed over us, evoking momentary feelings of dark rage and hostility... except for Jharm, who the energy seemed to outright injure..."

Soul Reaver's gaze is unwavering but betrays no emotion.

"...and you, who seemed to absorb the energy into yourself.  I am sure you can understand my concerns in this regard.  Do you know - or suspect - why this might have been the case?"

As this is kind of the interim point/in between battles im kinda planning/intending to (if warranted) respond to posts "individually" as I just did to Soul Reavers.  Of course this will be expanded should more then 1 person post close together.  Basically this is the period where, should characters be so inclined, can banter a little with Jharm, Veldanya, each other.  Going to kind of treat it as "once each person has posted we might move on".  Soul has posted (course feel free to respond further if you want, may or may not get another response before "move on post") so once the other 3 post (or time limits are hit) I will move forward.  Given that 1/4 members are likely not overly interested in chitchat my plan isnt for the downtime to feel like its a significant amount of time (Gulgrim...feel free to prove me wrong here lol, but me thinks the Warboss cares more about more krumpin then figuring out weird shenanigans or whatnot :-p ).

There is a small sense of relief for Soul Reaver as his plan works, with cracks rapidly spreading over the crystal's structure.  Apparently there was a limit to the crystal's self-repairing powers, as he had hoped.

When the crystal erupts into a wave of darkness, that feeling is momentarily replaced with feelings of rage and hate - almost involuntarily, Soul Reaver lunges forward to skewer the opponent that, in that same instant, has melted away into little more than insubstantial vapour.

Though the feeling is only momentary for Soul Reaver, and he senses the spiritual effects as brief flickers for most of his companions, the same cannot be said for Jharm.  Even without his abilities, Soul Reaver would have been able to see Jharm fall to his knees from the effects and give a grunt that sounded like he was in physical pain.  Natural, perhaps, that Jharm would be so affected: after all, the energies released must have been the complete antithesis of his being.  More concerning perhaps however was how the wave seemed to impact upon Veldanya: not only did it do her no harm, but she almost seemed to absorb it, like a body of water might absorb a smaller drop.  Almost imperceptibly, Soul Reaver's brow draws into a frown.

When the wounded Shaiton general speaks, Soul Reaver's attention snaps to him.  The destruction of the crystal had not taken this foe with it.  But before Soul Reaver can act, their foe is spirited away by a dark hand.  Soul Reaver listens to the taunting voice, and his expression darkens: there was no doubt this was not the last they had seen of this particular enemy.  Even without his continued survival, the remaining crystals were likely to pose a larger challenge - the addition of a now vengeful and likely better-prepared Shaiton general would only serve to make things even harder.

As Jharm calls on the the companions to rejoin them on the Aesgim, Soul Reaver quietly walks up next to him and puts a hand on his shoulder.  He speaks quietly.

"Jharm, I saw the effect of the crystal's destruction on you.  We seemed to weather it without major effects but..."

He leave the thought hanging for a moment.

"As you said, this is a process that we will need to repeat.  Will you suffer similarly in the future?  Or worse?  Should you even be present when we destroy these crystals?"

Without speaking, Soul Reaver then communicates to him more subtly.

And I am sure that the effects of the dark energy wave upon Veldanya did not escape your attention either.  What do you make of that?

By then he has arrived at the Aesgim, where his Daemonic cohort already await him.  They seem to have weathered the assault rather well, with only moderate injuries amongst the Cruelbeasts - the Daemonspawn, with their regenerative abilities, held back the bulk of the assault under Blightwing's capable direction.  Thanks to the speed of their success, Soul Reaver felt he could keep the Daemons around for the next assault as well.  Once more he Discorporated them into black mist and with a wave of his hand had them take up their swirling position in the rear of the craft.

Meanwhile he looked over at Jharm, one eyebrow raised, silently prompting him for answers...

Well, everyone's voted and it's a unanimous "yes", so Veldanya should feel no pressure to post until 12/12.
The above doesn't let anyone else off the hook though - though it currently looks like that's not likely to be an issue.

Alrighty, well done all.  First crystal down.  Lots of stuff happened so here is kind of a list of what may or may not be sensed.  The wave of darkness spreading over each of you seems to do little more then radiate a sense of anger, violence, an almost need to attack, kill, or destroy something but then the sensation just as quickly fades.  Those attentive enough and whatnot can both visually see the slight glow/aura around Veldanya as well as a small spike in her powers before they seem to normalize.  When the booming voice sounds all can sense significant power radiating from the general direction they are headed.  At this point the Aisgeim is on the ground and can be boarded.  Those with critters summoned, feel free to deal with them how you want and interact with each other and such as you want.  Once all are on board the Aisgeim the story will advance and battle will ensue once more.