Finally found it. Earlier in this thread there's something about food being slower to rot in colder areas, but that's not true. I present an IRC quote from 2008:
13:51 < chaostrom> there's a temperature factor in IVAN?
13:52 < J_Kahvi> i'm quite sure there isn't
13:52 < J_Kahvi> but there should be one
Azhael, the master guard is pretty tough as well. Maybe not on par with the archangel, but close. I've also unleashed hell on Attnam once only to have the smith as the sole survivor, don't underestimate him. Of the service providers he's second only to Merka.
No, if you only saw 4 of them that wasn't it. Izzy is more than a match for any handful of mages, but the reason the mage room is so dangerous is because there's about 20 of the bastards in there and through sheer numbers they can cast more than Izzy. It's also locked with an octiron door, so there's no chance in hell you're getting in without being hit by 100 spells. You did good in taking out the mages first on Oree's level though.