Kelidara's Favor

Server: Khadgar (US) - PVE
Character: Kelidara (80 human deathknight)
Other characters: Keleili (80 human priest), Keliki (70 nightelf druid)
Other friends: Roxxlor (28 human paladin)


[OOC Disclaimer]: I don't have anything against my aunt's adorable little pally. But if any of you have read http://www.lady2beetle.com/dkdiary/, you'll understand that... well, some characters just have a personality that you can't dismiss. And those characters can be the most fun to play. ;)

I met with Keleili and Keliki at the tavern in Valgarde Keep today. This in itself isn't unusual, as Keleili and I usually meet for breakfast in Dalaran. Today we shifted the venue to Valgarde so that Keliki, newly arrived to Northrend, could join us.

Most of the meal was reasonably pleasant. Keliki is learning to be a tank, but despite my few experiences as a tank, I had really no advice to offer her, since a deathknight tank is very different from a druid tank. But still, she told her stories and we commiserated. Then Keleili dropped the bomb on me.

"Kelidara, I need you to do me a favor."

What does it seem like the biggest pains always start with that little phrase? At least Kel didn't bother to suggest that it was a "little" favor. *sigh* She did, however, managed to weasel me into agreeing to help out with this little pet project that Keleili has taken on.

The name of this "project" is Roxxlor. Roxx is a human paladin. I know this because I have already been enlisted once, to make her some armor. At the time she was still exploring Westfall [level 12]. That was... 2 weeks ago? Geez, they grow up fast! Now she's apparently a hop, skip and a jump away from being ready to dip her toes into the great Stranglethorn Jungle [almost level 30].

Okay, that's great, I can be happy for her, this adopted padawan of my sister. What does this have to do with me, I wanted to know. Apparently, Roxxlor is having trouble with her current questing locations - Duskwood, Redridge and Ashenvale. Keleili wants to help her get to the Wetlands to quest there, even though she's already a bit too powerful for those quests. The catch? Kel wants me to take Roxxlor to the Wetlands.

Why? I asked. I mean... seriously? Why can't Keleili do it? Kel says that I need to go because Roxxlor has already met most of the other sisters. She played with Kelisse for a while and even Keliki has gone to visit. It's my turn, apparently. My turn to do what? Play babysitter to some self-righteous holy knight who is probably some elite noble's first born daughter? Please kill me now!

The first person who points out that I'm already dead is going to become ghoul-food. Did you think my ghoul's name was "Bonechewer" for shits and giggles?

Anyway, I won't tell you what Keleili did to get me to agree to this.* Honestly, it wasn't pretty. But alas, there are some things that you just have to do. Apparently, giving Ms. Noble Paladin a tour of the Eastern Kingdoms from Stormwind to the Wetlands is one of those things. So, that's what I will apparently be doing tonight. While everyone else is fighting Arthas and the Scourge, I'll be taking a sightseeing trip through Loch Modan with some Paladin baby.

Why do the gods hate me so?


*Pointing out the look on Roxxlor's face when I summon my skeletal steed might have helped. A little. *evil grin*

Two Paladins and a Warlock.

Server: Khadgar (US) - PVE
Character: Keledine
Others: Olorina, Fashadin

Good morning!

On Saturday, I introduced all of my sisters. I'm not sure why it was my job, since I'm the youngest, but shit rolls downhill, I guess. Anyway, today I can actually talk about me. Maybe.

I was born this last Friday in Northshire. My sisters were quick to outfit me... of a sorts. When I hit level 10 and made my way to Westfall on Saturday, I was wearing a mish-mash of quest rewards, copper armor that Kelidara had made, used heirlooms and wielding a shovel that I had picked up from the kobolds that I'd fought in Elwynn. Talk about your fashion statement.

When I arrived in Westfall, I met up with a short gnome with bouncy pink pig-tails and a large blue shadow demon pet. That's right, a gnome warlock with pink pigtails. Now I've seen everything. Olorina is actually the little sister of one of Keleili's best friends, Olorin. Both being the baby sisters of the family, Olorina and I hit it off immediately and decided to quest together.

We were shortly met up with Fashadin, who turns out to be the baby brother of another of Keleili's friends. Fashadin is a paladin, like me. When we first grouped, I had not yet technically met Fashadin. I couldn't help making a comment about at least one paladin having a fashion sense - get it - Fash-adin? Yeah, not my best joke. But Fashadin thought it was funny and proceeded to run with it, and we spent the next 5 minutes talking about the height of paladin fashions while I rode the griffon from Stormwind to Westfall.

For several hours, Fashadin, Olorina and I quested in Westfall. We slaughtered anything and everything that opposed us and left behind us the trail of bodies of hundreds of defias thieves of varying rank. The two paladins and the warlock. (We're still not sure who is corrupting who).

Later, Olorina and I wandered to Loch Modan and quested there for a while. Oh, and I did make it to the Exodar to train my new skills in Jewelcrafting.

Now I'm level 16 and looking forward to hitting level 20 so that we can go kill Edwin VanCleef. Last night, I spoke with Olorina and she's hit level 18. I need to hurry and catch up!

Everything I need to know about life, I learned from the PUG.

So, this morning I have found, amongst the various WoW blogs that I subscribe to, no less than 3 posts on lessons and advice that have come up in running PUGs through WoW's new LFG system. Everything from "why we hate dps meters" to "mistakes healers make" to "why new tanks are terrified of the PUG". It's all interesting and as I read them, I can't help nodding my head, "Yup... yup... uh huh... oh, yeah..."

Anyway, it occurred to me that perhaps all these "lists" can be condensed into just a few useful lessons.

1. Take your job seriously.

When you join a PUG, you sign up for a role, and with that role comes an unspoken but understood agreement. A contract, of sorts. You have agreed to tank, heal or dps that instance until one or all of the people in that group put an end to that contract. You should know what your job entails, and what will be expected of you. No one is expecting you to be perfect, and there is nothing wrong with still learning how to do your job, but even so, you should handle your role with respect.

Let me offer a few examples.

In Top Mistakes Healers Make, Pyoska pointed out that when a wipe occurs, it is not the healer's responsibility to rez "that lazy bum" who can't be bothered to run back with everyone else. However, she does point out, "On the contrary, if only one or two people die in a pull, REZ THEM. Don't be a jerk." I would put this (very good) advice under the category of taking your job seriously.

Last night, Katria and I ran some instances, with her as tank and myself as the healer. We were way overpowered for the instances, so we tried an experiment. Katria ran several instances in her dps gear, which put quite a bit more weight on my healing than normal. Does this mean that Katria was not taking her job as tank seriously? NO. On the contrary, the entire time we were running these instances, Katria was highly attuned to how well I was able to keep her healed. Whenever her health dropped below a certain threshold, she immediately asked me if it was getting too rough for me. And when one boss fight during which she tanked in dps spec led to the death of another party member, she immediately switched back to her tank spec. Katria was pushing herself and me, to see how far we could go to do our jobs. She would never have attempted this with a healer who she didn't trust and who didn't trust her, and in the process, we both learned several tricks that will help us do our jobs better when we find ourselves in more challenging fights.

2. Mind your own little red wagon.

As I have just mentioned, when you get into a random PUG, you have signed a contract to fill a role in the party. YOUR role. You have not signed anyone else's contract. Therefore, your responsibility is not to ensure that anyone else fulfills their contract, especially not to your satisfaction. So, your job is to make sure that YOU are doing your job, not to ensure that everyone else does theirs.

To this advice, I will offer 2 caveats.

Sometimes you will enter into a secondary agreement with another party member, either before or during a run, to offer advice. This may be a one-time or continuous thing. When this occurs, you should take this responsibility seriously and respectfully.

A while back, I was in a HoL PUG where I noticed that when the tank pulled a group of mobs to him, the hunter would send his pet in before the mobs reached the tank, forcing the tank to move forward to where the pet had caught them. After this happened a couple times, I politely asked the hunter if I could offer a suggestion. He agreed, and I explained what I was seeing and suggested that he wait a couple more seconds for the mobs to reach the tank before sending his pet in. Suggestion offered, I went back to my job of keeping everyone alive, and I honestly don't know if he took my advice or not. It wasn't my business any longer.

The second caveat is this: While you go into a PUG with a single role to fulfill, the goal of defeating the final boss of the instance is a group accomplishment and requires some level of cooperation. Sometimes that cooperation involves ideas that might make a run go more smoothly or allow a group to get past a challenge that currently has them stumped. But when in doubt, Christian Belt's advice is a good one: "Before you link your [dps] meter in chat, ask yourself the following question: are the mobs dying? If the answer is yes, then why do you care?"

Thank you, Christian. I couldn't have said it better myself.

3. Don't be a hypocrite.

Other versions of advice include "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," or:

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Matthew 7:3-5

But I prefer the simply and concise "don't be a hypocrite." Refer back to #1 and #2. Was there a wipe? If so, the first thing you ask should not be "who screwed up?" but "what can I do within my role to help out?"

Things I love to hear after a wipe: "Would a frost trap help out with that extra mob?" (from a hunter).

Things I hate to hear after a wipe: "WTF, newb, learn to tank!"

Let me also add that even if your performance was perfect and there is nothing further you could do to make a failed attempt successful (which is highly unlikely), saying the latter of those statements will only serve to demoralize the group and MAKE you part of the problem and, thus, a hypocrite. So, don't do it.

4. Have an internal locus of control.

I actually learned about this in my counseling courses. What is a locus of control, you ask? It is, quite simply, a person's belief of what causes the good or bad things in their lives. A person with an external locus of control will believe that they will never succeed because people always push them around. Someone with an internal locus of control believes that they personally have the power to control their own destiny. You've heard the phrase "when life gives you lemons...", right? Yeah, same concept.

When you go into a PUG, you can chose to let how others treat you determine whether it is a good or bad run. Or you can chose to MAKE it a good run. Your choice.

5. You will catch more bees with sugar than vinegar.

Can you tell that I love clichés?

This actually has a much broader use than you might think. Do you have advice to offer? 100% of the time, how you offer that advice will make more of a difference than how awesome that advice is. I promise you. On a broader spectrum, do you want the strangers in your PUG to be nice to you? A cheerful "Hey there! How is everyone?" works wonders in getting the group started off on the right foot.

Sugar. It will get you just about anywhere.

So, there are my five pieces of advice to anyone who is running a PUG using WoW's LFG system. Or, really, to anyone who is doing ANYTHING at all. Go figure.

The Intro of a Kel

Server: Khadgar
Character: Keledine
Friends: Olorina, Fashadin

Lady2beetle introduced me earlier, but I've finally gotten around to making my own post. My name is Keledine and I'm the youngest of the Khadgar Kel sisters. Until recently, I was also the least experienced, but I've also worked my way past one of my sisters (not including Kelidin, who is our bank-sister).

...

Keleili is telling me that I need to tell everyone just who my sisters are. Hasn't she already done that? I guess not. Okay, let me introduce to you my sisters:

Keleili, 80 Human Priest (Disc/Shadow). Technically, Keleili isn't the oldest sister. Nor was she the first on this server. Nor was she the first to 60, 70 or 80. But she's always been the top dog. She's Lady2beetle's main. Keleili also has her own story, but she never finished it. It is the sequel to Kelirien's story. Keleili loves to raid, but she (like most of the Kel sisters) is a member of the social guild, Soulbound, which she loves to death, and she would never leave. Instead, she spends her time PUGing raids or helping a few other guildies put together spontaneous raids for fun.

Kelirien, 67 Nightelf Hunter (Survival). Kelirien is the original Kel. She was Lady2beetle's first character, and also her first 60, back before the Outlands were discovered. Kelirien even has her own story, the first of the Kel stories. Kelirien has sadly gotten very little time to play since the Outlands were discovered, though Lady2beetle goes back to play with her every once in a while.

Keliki, 67 Nightelf Druid (Feral). Keliki is only a little bit younger than Kelirien. She's been dusted off numerous times, most recently within the last 2 months. Lady2beetle has discovered that she loves Keliki's new feral spec and can't wait to get her to level 68 so that she can go to Northrend... but then I came along.

Keleina, 70 Draenai Shaman (enhancement). Keleina joined the Kel family shortly before Keleili. She reached 70, but while she was gearing up to join her guild in Karazhan, Keleili was born and shot to 70 and was geared and in Kara before Keleina could blink. Poor Keleina has remained dusty every since. She's still enhancement specced, and Lady2beetle has tried to take her to Northrend, but she's getting really frustrated. Now Keleina is thinking about going Resto to make surviving the cold northern continent a little bit easier, even if her leveling becomes slower.

Kelissa, 43 Nightelf Warrior (Arms). Kelissa is almost as old as Kelirien and Keliki, but she's gotten very little play time, especially since her favorite dual-wielding spec was nerfed. Now she sits in Booty Bay, collecting dust. :(

Kelidara, 80 Human Deathknight (Blood-DPS/Frost-Tank). Kelidara was the first Kel on Khadgar. She's younger than the above sisters and but she's native to the server, while the others have migrated. She was also the first to reach level 80. Kelidara has her own journal, and feel free to pester her about finishing it (we all do). Originally, Kelidara had dreams of becoming a tank, but after The Great DK Stamina Nerf of 3.1, she began to grow disillusioned and now she mostly sits around Dalaran with her Ghostly Skull pet.

Kelidin, 1 Dwarf Paladin. Kelidin is our bank sister. She doesn't like to adventure, and she's content to sit around Ironforge and sell all of our goods on the auction house. She's also good at keeping our money safe so that we won't spend it.

Kelitty, 18 Gnome Mage (Frost). Kelitty is one of the three newest members of our family. She's small, but packs a punch! When she's not being chewed on, that is.

Shadowkel, 8 Nightelf Rogue. Shadowkel is sort of the black sheep of the family. Kels have never made good rogues. EVER. Shadowkel is determined to change that... if she can ever make it out of Teldrassil.

Keledine, 16 Human Paladin (Retribution). That leaves me, Keledine. I'm the youngest, but as you can see, I've already surpassed Shadowkel in abilities, and I'm determined to get all the way to the top! My dream? To become a great tank! Hopefully before the world explodes in some gimungous cataclysm or something.



So, yeah, I wanted to talk about me, but I guess this took priority. Maybe I'll finally get to introduce you to Olorina tomorrow.

QQ! Poor Baby Pally!*

Server: Khadgar
Character: Keledine (10 Human Paladin)


Keledine joined my family of characters on Khadgar last night as the 10th of 10 girls. As such, she seems to be doomed to get nothing but hand-me downs!!



Kelirien (hunter) gave her her old heirloom chest piece that she wasn't using anymore.

Keleili (priest) purchased her an heirloom shoulder piece with emblems that she no longer needs.

Kelidara (DK) made her some mail armor with copper bars that were just sitting around in her bank.

Kelitty (mage) gave her some runecloth bags that she no longer needs.

And Keledine didn't even get any starting out money to buy herself a proper weapon, so here she is hitting the kobolds over the head with one of their own shovels!!!

QQ! Poor thing! Will she ever outgrow the shadow of her older sisters?

*Please note the intended humor. I'm not always good at expressing it over the internet. ;)

You're on notice, Arthas!

Server: Khadgar (US) - PVE
Character: Keleili (80 human priest)
Friends: Katria, Bigswede, Deathsarbs, Olorin (guildies)

Last night, I collected 4 other of my most able-bodied companions...

• Katria, warrior tank
• Bigswede, arcane mage
• Deathsarbs, death knight of blood
• Olórin, retribution paladin (and off-healer)

And with them I, Keleili, discipline priest healer, set my sights on Ice Crown Citadel. This is our story.

Our first challenge met us before we even entered the citadel - finding it. Olorin was familiar with the layout of the icy fortress, but even so, it took a very chaotic 10 minutes for us all to find our way in. This was complicated by a strange realization that Olorin was invisible to the rest of us while right outside the citadel. This is a concept known as phasing, but no one was quite sure what Olo might have done to cause it, since we had all completed all of the missions in the Ice Crown area. We are heroes, after all. Or, as Jaina says, champions. *stands a little straighter*

Once we reached the Frozen Halls, we met up with Jaina in the Forge of Souls. She gave her speech, blah blah blah, then we turned to stare at the pair of 9 foot tall skeleton guards standing a few feet away.

Katria: "Are you guys sure we want to do this on heroic?"
Olorin: "Please, can we change it?"
Me: "I don't mind changing it, but Gimini did it on heroic the first time - I saw her ding the achievements in guild chat last night. And if she can do it, as awesome as she is, I think we can do it, too."
Bigs: "We can do this, guys."
Deathsarbs: "Let's just try it on heroic and if it doesn't work, we can change it to normal."
Katria: "Oooookay.... Olo, you know the fights, right?"
Olorin: "Sort of..."
Katria: "Alright... here goes..."

Katria pulled the skeletons and we burned them down. Afterwards, we stared at the corpses.

Katria: "That was too easy."
Bigswede: "They are just trash."
Katria: "But they are guarding the freaking door. When guards go down that quickly, you begin to suspect a trap."

Not to be dissuaded, we headed into the forge. We found the second pull to be slightly more challenging.

Me: "Wow... I can't remember the last time I actually burned half my mana bar in one pull! This is awesome!"
Bigswede: "I know what you mean, Kel. I haven't used that much mana since I began heroics!"
Me: "Heeheehee - fun!"
Katria: "..."

We pushed on, wiping up glowing skull grenades and taking out two more skeletal guards until we came to a group of 4 necromatic-looking casters and a shade. We paused to let Kat mark.

Bigswede: "I can sheep one."
Me: "I can shackle the shade."
Olorin: "I can cast repentance on one."
Katria: "I really don't like using CC, because then I break it and with my thunderclap, and it's just not pretty. It rarely works.
Me: "It's okay. We can take these guys."
Katria: "Hmm..."
...
Katria: "Who pulled!!"
Deathsarbs: *points at Bigs*
Bigswede: "Wha-at?!"

It was messy, but it worked and no one died. We moved on and shortly after found ourselves facing the first boss. Olo explained the mechanics. Unfortunately, most of our detailed questions were met with, "I'm not sure - I was too busy healing. And it was on normal." Ooooookay, let's just give it a shot.

We did give it a shot. The first time Bronjahm used his Corrupt Souls ability, we were unable to burn down Deathsarbs' "Soul" before it reached Bronjahm.

Katria: "Holy, crap, it healed him back to full!"
Me: "Well, shit."

The second time, Katria was able to kite Bronjahm around in a circle away from the soul and Deathsarbs found that he could ice chain it to the ground. After that, Bronjahm didn't stand a chance.

Me (Yelling): "SOULBOUND ROCKS!"

We continued on to the second boss of the Forge of Souls - the Devourer of Souls. And as we stood there, eyeing the massive floating stone head, I had a vision. In the vison, I was in a different world. I think this world might have been called Final Fantasy II. I was in an underground land of monsters, meeting with the queen of monsters - which of course included a fight to the death. This queen had 3 faces and each time she turned to a new face, she had a different ability. One face could heal, the others could deal damage. Strange...

And why I had that vision as I was staring at a floating head, I don't know. It turns out that my vision was more of a foresight than I realized...

As I came to, I realized that Olorin was talking.

Olorin: "There are two things that you need to know about this guy. First - he's an ugly bastard. And second - he has a retarded voice. You'll understand when you hear it."
Me: "What does he do?"
Olorin: "Oh, right."

Olo explained the fight and we charged in. From the beginning, as the healer, it was not pretty. We had an army of specters coming at us and then people just started taking damage and I couldn't keep up. Afterwards, Katria checked the auto-log of the fight.

Katria: "Well of souls? That's what killed me. It must have been that purple thing on the ground."
Me: "The adds were a pain in the ass, too."
Bigswede: "They weren't adds; they were bombs or something - we couldn't target them."
Me: "Bombs? Hmm... AOE bombs?"
Bigswede: "Dunno..."
Me: "Okay, your healer votes that we spread out, in the case that they are AOEs."
Katria: "Sounds good. And stay out of the purple circles on the ground."

The second time, we wiped the ground with the Devourer's faces - all three of them.

As the Devourer of Souls crashed to the ground, Jaina came running in with reinforcements. She opened a portal and we hopped through, finding ourselves in the Pit of Saron. Ahead of us, there was a massive frostwyrm and some other mobs. And no Jaina.

Bigswede: "She's supposed to be right here."
Me: "Is it having trouble loading? Olo? Where is Jaina supposed to be?"
Olorin: "I... don’t know. I haven't done this wing."

Finally, Katria (I think) discovered that we have to move forward to get Jaina and her reinforcements to come through the portal. When she did, she sent her regiment charging at the dragon, which one-shotted them all. Then it raised them as skeletons and sent them back to us to say hi.

Me: "Oh, shit."
...
Me: "Wow, Jaina might actually do more dps than you, Bigs."

And with that intro, we headed down into the Pit of Saron, knowing that this time we'd have even less guidance since Olorin was as new to the dungeon as the rest of us. There were some sticky but funny moments, and shortly after we started, Deathsarbs had a vision not unlike the one I had before the Devourer of Souls. I heard him say, "Skeletor" and had to laugh.

Me: "What is this, He-man meets Warcraft?"
Someone else: "By the power of Grey-scourge!"

This conversation spiraled down into a discussion another old vision, "Master of the Universe" (classic live-action He-man movie) and then to Beastmaster and finally to why my D&D druid characters always have ferret pets.

Katria: "I love you, Kel."
Me: *blush*

Eventually, we managed to make it to the first boss, Forgemaster Garfrost. Olorin cheated by snagging a short description of the fight from some mysterious source, and so we didn't go in completely blind. Even so, it was a sticky fight. And when we finally downed Garfrost, I had only one observation.

Me: "This line of sight shit SUCKS."

We moved on, rescuing more prisoners.

Deathsarbs: "Eww, the dwarf I just rescued offered to kiss me."
System emote: (Some random prisoner) needs a big man-hug. (If anyone has this actual e-mail, can you pass it to me? It was priceless, but I didn't write it down)
Me: "There totally needs to be an emote for giving "big man-hugs".
Katria: "YES!"
Bigswede: "Hey, guys, we have a friend."

Sure enough, there was a chick running around with us - a female human mage. She was helping us burn down the trash mobs.

Me: "Where the hell'd she come from?"
Katria: "I think she's one of the people we rescued."
Me: "She's wielding an ice pick and shooting magic missiles. Awesome!!!"

Moving on, we found a large flesh golems... 5 or 6 of them in fact. Behind them was Krick and Ick, bosses. Olo began researching them while Kat pulled the trash and we dpsed them down. Deathsarbs took offense to the flesh golems.

Deathsarbs: "He's dragging around a... giant... foot."
Golem: *throws down green nasty stuff*
Deathsarbs: "Ugh, I'm getting nightmare flashbacks of ToC."
Me: "I've never seen one of these guys dragging around a massive foot in ToC."
Deathsarbs: "No, the green stuff!"
Katria: "ToC has poison. This isn't poison. It's bubbling. It's, like, acid."
Deathsarbs: "It hurts!"
Olorin: "Then don't stand in it."
Deathsarbs: "..."
Me: "There's a quote somewhere about how human beings are remarkably creative in coming up with different ways to destroy one another. I think this qualifies."

A little bit later, after we took down Ick, I wiped Deathsarbs' corpse off the floor with a rez.

Deathsarbs: "...creative ways to destroy one another. Right."

As we moved up towards a spiraling pathway that would lead to what Olo warned us was a gauntlet, we realized that one of our long-lost guildies was back on-line.

Deathsarbs: "Yeah, Elzy got the bouquet of white roses that I sent her."
...
Me: "Wait. STOP. DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200."
Deathsarbs: "..."
Me: "You gave Elzy a bouquet of white roses, but you only gave ME a single red one?! YOU ARE SO FIRED!!!"
Katria: *ROFL* "Busted!!!"
Deathsarbs: "...I need to learn to keep my mouth shut..."
Olorin: "Can I take his place?"
Deathsarbs: "No!"
Katria: "The gauntlet has been dropped."
Deathsarbs: "grr... that's it, Olo, after this pull, we are unequiping our weapons and having a smack-down, 1-on-1."

Isn't it fun when the boys start fighting over you?

Anyway, were was I? Oh, right, the gauntlet.

Right before the gauntlet, we got to a pull of 4 melee skeletons and 2 casters. They were all undead, so sheeping (or turtleing, as Bigs corrected us), was out, but Olo and I both offered to repentance and shackle the casters. This allowed Kat to pick up the melee mobs while casters stayed in place and let us CC them. It went... BEAUTIFULLY. I didn't realize how much I had missed using my shackle undead ability. <3!>

My personal opinion was that the gaunt was fun. Not too hard, but challenging enough to keep you on your toes. I enjoyed it. And when we got through the tunnel, we found...

Scourgelord Tyrannus.

Behind us, Martin Victus led the rest of the prisoners that we had rescued into the area.

Deathsarbs: "Reinforcements!"
Me: "Do you remember what happened the last time 25 alliance reinforcements charged Scourgelord Tyrannus? He one-shotted them, then sent them back to us as scourge."

Lucky for us, we got to take on Tyrannus without the help of our friends. The first time was a very quick failure. As we headed back for a second try, Olo explained a new tactic that he had just picked up through his cheating. As we rebuffed...

Deathsarbs: "I want Martin's shield."
Katria: "Holy crap, that is one bad ass shield."
Me: "I don't get it. This is the guy who was leading the prisoners and met up with us still wearing his rags at Gorefrost's forge. How did he get a bad-ass shield like that between then and now?"
Katria: "He's obviously a bad-ass blacksmith."
Me: "...you're right! When he gave us that quest, all the other prisoners were running in to work at the forges. They must have been making all their new gear, including his shield." *pause* "That's some seriously quick work."
Katria: "Remember - this is Warcraft. It only takes like 5 seconds to make a piece of armor."
Me: "Oh. Right."

On the second attempt, using Olo's strategy, we were able to deftly smash the scourgelord's face in. Triumphantly, we headed to the next dungeon...

Only to find ourselves sucked back into the tunnel and dazed while everyone else exploded.

Katria: "What the hell? Why am I stunned?"
*mass of confused muttering and freaking out*
Jaina: "blah, blah, the ice queen is gone, blah blah..."

We realized then that the ice queen was Sindragosa - the Lich King's personal frostwyrm mount. And she had basically done a fly-by ice storm that one shot everyone who wasn't safely inside the tunnel. While Jaina mourned the death of Martin Victus and the rest of the rescued prisoners, we charged on into the Halls of Reflection.

Upon arriving in the Halls of Reflect, Katria verbalized everyone's reaction perfect, and this is a reaction that I think everyone will have upon first stepping into the hall:

Katria: "Ooooooohh..... SHINY!"
Deathsarbs followed up with an equally profound statement: "Holy shit, it's Frostmourne!"

There was a lot of "blah blah blah" between Jaina and Uther - AND I WANT TO KNOW HOW UTHER'S SOUL WAS CAPTURED BY FROSTMOURNE!!!!!!!!

No, actually, it was an awesome scene, and we were all talking excitedly as we listened and read. I won't ruin every one's experience with my own group's suspicions. Eventually:

Me: "Olo? Olo, are you listening? Am I right about that? Are you being quiet because you already know?"
Olo: "Huh? Sorry, you guys were ruining my lore moment, so I put you all on mute."
Me: "..."
Deathsarbs: "Hey, look guys, boss 1 and boss 2."
Katria: "And... trash incoming!"

Moments later, we were all dead. When Olo explained that this fight was supposed to be waves of mobs, according to his cheat-sources, we stepped back in and prepared to give it another shot.

Katria: "Everyone stay back down this hall. I'll pull them back to you."

We did as we were told and when Kat pulled, we backed up further. I was just close enough to see the door slam shut in my face when the event began...

With Kat and Olo on the inside, and Sarbs, Bigs and I locked on the outside.

...oops.

Needless to say, that is one of the funniest wipes I've ever experienced. We laughed so hard we were crying. Hysterically.

The next attempt led us to face the only weakness of the warrior tank. Kat was having trouble picking up agro of the random waves. Kat was getting frustrated, and I don't blame her.

Katria: "Seriously, guys. Do not attack until I get agro. I'm serious."
Deathsarbs: "That was two seriouslies."
Me: "Seriously, don't mess with Kat's seriousness, it's seriously important that you seriously not pick up the adds until she seriously has serious agro. Seriously.
Katria: "Seriously."

In the end, we decided to drop the instance back to normal mode and head in again to get an idea for the fights. We managed to get through the waves and both bosses, then facerolled the third boss before reaching the Lich King. Jaina had a sliver of her life left, trying to beat the Lich King with a stick.

Me: "What... do we do?"
Jaina: *ice blocks the lich king and takes off out the side door."
Deathsarbs: "Run?"
Bigswede: "RUN!"

We ran. Unfortunately some of us (*glare at Sarbs and Olo*) ran too fast, and ended up on the wrong side of the ice wall. Kat, Bigs and I took down the adds while the Lich King approached. At each following wall, he got closer. On the third (fourth?) wall, we died.

Ow.

At that point, it was very late in the night, so we called it. But, all in all, I consider last night a very successful experience for all of us. Even if I didn't get any loot. :)

A new look, a new you (er... me)!

Server: Khadgar (US) - PVE
Character: Keleili (80 human priest)
Achievements:

• I am a pilgrim!
• I have completed 500 daily quests and earned 500 dungeon/raid emblems
• Salt and Pepper (10-man)
• Explored Darkshore
• Timear Foresees (All the normal daily dungeon quests)
• I Cleared the Antichamber and Siege area of Ulduar and have earned assorted achievements there-of (10-man Ulduar)
• Fishing Grandmaster (and Skills to Pay the Bills)

That's, of course, the short list. I know I have been slacking on the updates. So, let's see... where to start?

I've continued to raid as much as possible. This week, I was able to down Onyxia in both 10-man and 25-man style. I didn't get any loot, but that's okay - I did get emblems which I am saving for my T9.5 piece.

I also got into an Ulduar 10-man group which went really well! We made it all the way to Freya in one night. That's right, we downed 7 bosses: Flame Leviathan, Razorscale, Ignis, Crybaby (XT-002), Kologarn, Assembly of Iron, and Aurelia. We wiped a couple times on Freya before calling it a night. Pretty perfect, right? Well... almost...

I got the feeling that the other healer (a druid, who happened to be the raid leader's wife) didn't think much of my healing. I don't know why, I just... I don't know. She was nice, but... eh. Anyway, afterward, the raid leader said that he would send out calendar invites for another attempt to finish up Ulduar later that weekend. And, just as I suspected, I never got an invite. That's kind of a bummer, but oh, well. I believe that I did well, so I'm happy.

I also got into a 10-man ToC, and this one ran smoothly and quickly. Yay! I did not, however, find a 25-man ToC group this week. Oh, well.

This week was also filled with Pilgrim's Bounty activities. I got my title and my turkey (guess which one I'm more excited about), and ate lots and lots of food. Two of my guildies helped me clear Oculus up through the constructs, which let me finally finish the last of my Timear daily quests. Then I looked at my achievements and... I realized that I don't have the Proof of Demise achievement - I thought I did! :( I'm missing the Gundrak one, but I didn't realize I needed it, or I would have saved it. Ugh. So, now I'm crossing my fingers and praying that Gundrak is a heroic daily sometime before Icecrown Citadel opens - because when it opens, that achievement will be forever out of my grasp. *crosses fingers*