Once rested we rose to examine the portal which barred our way and the way of Vuldorv before us. This portal was thirty feet high and to all appearances impassable. Our goblin captive, now psionically compelled to amiability, explained that the two humans Vuldorv had taken prisoner were historians and had been in the process of decoding access to the portal when their lives were so suddenly shortened the previous day. Using a minor cantrip I located a device on either side of the portal that generated magical auras. Once found it was the work of mere minutes for Ur to unlock the arcane door. A field of teleportatic energy burst into existence and my companions, our captive, and I made our way forth and through.

We made our way down a short hallway and into a large chamber where stood a warforged of prodigious proportion. Some fifteen tall the creature stood, not hunched and hand-less like the warforged titans I battled and repaired during the war, but a scale replica of the true warforged. Ur moved to the giant's flank with an arrow notched to his bow while Darkwood attempted communication.
"We mean you no harm! Brother, can you speak?"
The construct could speak but knew only the ancient language of the giants and his response fell on uncomprehending ears. Whatever it was saying soon became irrelevant as it raised it's huge machete to strike.
Ur released his arrow but the bolt snapped against the giant's metal skin.
Darkwood engaged the construct but still weakened from the previous battle he soon fell to the weighty blows of the 'forged.
Ur's ceaseless stream of arrows did little damage but managed to distract our foe while I cast a spell of reparation upon Darkwood. Darkwood rose, conscious again, but still on the brink of demise. The valiant fighter would have charged in to battle again, heedless of his injuries but i used the opportunity Ur's distraction had given us to cast a spell of invisibility upon him. With Ur, Pennerath, and myself keeping the juggernaut off balance with missiles psionic, arcanic, and mundane and with Darkwood hewing at it's legs from the cover of my obfuscating magic we were finally able to bring the giant down.
This room contained eight portals activated again by reciting the names of specific constellations. Six were broken leaving us with only the door we came in and one other. And so on we went. Through the portal. Into another realm of being. My study of the planes is minimal so i cannot say for certain where we were teleported but the sky was an ugly shade of purple and I felt as if the place resented my existence there. Across a bridge spanning an infinite nothing and up a winding trail to the apex of a three hundred foot spire we were confronted with a palpable wave of evil. Here floating above a puddle of darkness between three huge pointed teeth, each the length of my arm, was a lusterless black orb: the Grankari sphere. We stood and stared for a moment suddenly unsure of ourselves. Then Pennerath removed his bag of holding and using his crossbow scooped the sphere inside.