We rested, and made final preparations to go after Karzoug. When we were ready, we returned to the room with the giant spinning sphere, where we fought Lucretia and Ceoptra. Below the sphere was a fire, and above it was a platform, with stairs leading up to it. Gulnyr stood on the platform, and from there he could see into another plane, which appeared to be overlapping with this one.

What he saw was a large room where the floor consisted of stone platforms above lava flows. Several golden pillars rose up from the lava. In the center platform was a runewell that was filling up with souls, and a soul lens was positioned above it.

Roy studied the sphere, and determined that a person could enter the other plane by standing on the platform, and then touching touching the fire within a few moments. As we prepared to do this, a number of giants approached from the way we had come. Thord and Phillipe stayed behind to hold them off, while the rest of us proceeded to the other plane.

The first to arrive were Gulnyr, Roy, and Takar. We could now see that the room was populated, though it appeared empty when we saw it as a mere vision. Karzoug stood before the runewell, accompanied by a blue dragon. A rune giant was also present, as well as two advanced storm giants, known as Wardens of Thunder.

After we arrived, Gulnyr moved forwards, away from the arrival platform. Karzoug then cast Meteor Swarm at Roy and Takar, greatly injuring Takar. He then cast Time Stop, which allowed him to cast several more spells before we could react. He cast Cloud Kill onto the arrival platform, followed by Prismatic Wall to shield himself from us. He also cast a spell that put himself into a protective sphere.

Roy and Takar began by attacking one of the storm giants, since those giants were on our side of the Prismatic Wall. Meanwhile, the dragon began attacking Gulnyr with lightning. Gulnyr used Dimension Door to position himself to fight the storm giant that Roy and Takar attacked.

Next, Karzoug cast Horrid Wilting on Takar and Roy, and Takar went down. At this point, Zacartas arrived. Karzoug once again cast Time Stop, and cast more spells to turn his skin to stone, put a Wall of Force between Gulnyr and the storm giant, and put Black Tentacles on the arrival platform. Zacartas put Freedom of Movement on Takar, in anticipation of Devin healing him when he arrived.

Ash arrived next. Karzoug cast fireball, hitting her and Takar, and Takar was killed. Devin arrived, and was caught by the tentacles, so Roy cast Freedom of Movement on him. Meanwhile, the dragon hit us with lightning, and Karzoug sent two more fireballs at us.

Zacartas then cast Mage’s Disjunction on him, which destroyed several of Karzoug’s wands, and dispelled the Prismatic Wall. With the wall down, the rune giant approached us to attack, so Devin cast Wall of Stone to slow him down. The dragon came at us as well, so Devin cast Holy Aura, affecting himself, Zacartas, Ash, and Roy. Meanwhile, Gulnyr struck the storm giant with a mighty blow, causing her to become confused for a while.

Karzoug disintegrated the stone wall. The dragon electrocuted Devin, killing him. Since he had been flying over the lava, his body fell in. Meanwhile, Gulnyr killed the storm giant.

Suddenly, Ayla showed up, and resurrected Takar, who assisted Gulnyr in fighting the rune giant. Zacartas cast Polar Ray on the dragon, killing it. Karzoug cast Wail of the Banshee on Ash and Roy, killing Roy. Ayla then resurrected him as well.

Takar and Gulnyr killed the rune giant. However, Karzoug resurrected him, and then fully healed himself and his remaining allies. As the battle went on, we killed the rune giant again, while the second storm giant killed Gulnyr. Roy killed the storm giant in response.

With only Karzoug left, we focused our attacks on him. At one point, he tried to cast Limited Wish, but Zacarcas disrupted the casting. When Karzoug was close to death, he put himself into a temporal stasis. Zacartas dispelled it, though it took him several attempts. Ash delivered the finishing blow to Karzoug.