Weekend (7 Feb) - Murdering the Scarlet Crusade and More

Weekend (7 Feb) - Murdering the Scarlet Crusade and More

There was pvp on Friday night, but there was even more murderous activity in the halls and chambers and graveyard in the level 34-45 dungeon of the Scarlet Monastery. Level 80 death knight DER chaperoned high 20s level Lao and EZ through all four wings, some of them more than once. Wild joined in for an escort run with Ando so that Ando, too, could earn some experience and pick up some gear while DER took a break. A level 80 set loose in a dungeon for under level 50s is a truly destructive force. We lower level toons pretty much just tried to stay out of the way, and avoid dying when straggler mobs slipped past DER's death and decay. Mostly the escaping mobs were too petrified to bother us, and DER would come back to finish the job. Lao and EZ amused ourselves by attacking the strays because it was somehow funny watching all of our spell casting missing their mark against the much higher level foes and our weapon strikes finding nothing but thin air.

When it was all over around 1am, Ando had improved from level 29 to 30; Lao had upped her level from 29/30 to 32; and EZ had pushed forward all the way from 24 to 27.

On a much slower pace, Philly nonetheless ground her way from level 70 to level 71 earlier in the day. Philly also got in a few pvp rounds before the rest of the group arrived Friday night, participating in an Alterac Valley match and two Eye of the Storm battles. Philly needs to build up her pvp honor totals as she desperately needs to get a pvp gear set together. Philly played in disc spec and healed the matches, which seemed to work better than trying to DPS as shadow.

As the weekend progressed it seemed a sort of levelling fever had hit the Wild clan, stirring thoughts of glory from as far away as Outland to the quaint and empty edifice of Silvermoon City. And, unexpectedly, a baton got passed.

When EZ was born, we all knew she was born for pvp. Even so, she has always had something of an identity problem. After all, she was little sister to JB, both of them shaman. JB had grown up as a wilder child than Wild himself, with a large reckless streak, and a love for steel and face to face combat. Later, when JB decided to step out of her level 70 boots and push to level 80, she changed, becoming a more mature caster, delivering blinding spells instead of sharp steel. But at 80 some of that young recklessness returned as she was drawn into the world of pvp.

EZ's path was not intended to stray far from direct pvp. Her path would be different from JB's. Her life would be in the battlegrounds of Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and every other BG as she progressed through the ranks with partners Ando and Lao. But the temptation of speeding up that progress, and moving into higher and higher pvp brackets, proved too tempting to resist, and the threesome marched ever faster forward, hitting the countryside for questing and blazing through dungeons with their elder brethren. And EZ seemed to lose her way. She was no longer sure what she wanted to become.

EZ spent some time with JB, and it became clear to EZ that she needed to step back and re-assess her life. So, with Wild's blessing, EZ is going to take a slower path until she better understands herself. But she also knew that would leave Lao and Ando missing one pillar of their triune. That just wouldn't do.

JB took the issue to Wild, and Wild solicited the Wild family for volunteers. It was Jocelyne who stepped forward. Jocy is a blood elf paladin, level 14. Wild had always wished for a horde paladin, someone to balance the other paladin in the family, the wayward alliance Draenie, Mocharum. Jocy got off to a great start, advancing quickly in the lands of Eversong Woods and the Ghostlands. She became entranced with the beauty of the Woods, however, and after a time it became clear that she intended to stay. Wild had to let his aspirations for her go, and later set his hopes that another paladin might emerge when the upheavals of Cataclysm came upon us all.

But now Jocelyne has returned to the fold. She knew she was not much use to the triune as a level 14. She pleaded her case, and level 62 death knight Melasahnd decided to help. It took some time to arrange things so that two family members could be out and about at the same time (ie, bringing the second computer up to speed with patches and addons), but soon the two were hard at it. They made an odd pair; Jocy's airy beauty and nature side by side with the sober, serious Melasahnd. Mel was what Jocy needed, though, and the two of them plowed through dungeons like it was their life's work.

Jocy climbed to level 15 feasting on the lowest level of dungeons, Ragefire Chasm, below the city of Ogrimmar. Mel wanted to see what Jocy was made of before attempting anything more challenging. Pleased with what she saw, Mel brought Jocy to Wailing Caverns, clearing the huge dungeon and coming home with both more experience and more goodies. Jocy wanted more. So, at level 16, Mel introduced Jocy to Razorfen Kraul. RFK was something of an unusual choice. It was full of high level 20s elite quilbore, a kind of pig people living among the roots and thorns of a vast underground warren. But it proved to be a rich killing ground, and the six leaders of the quilboar had riches of their own.

RFK was exciting and the pair cleared it thrice, raising Jocy to level 18. Jocy pressed for even greater challenges, her imagination stoked by their victories.

A short trot from RFK was Razorfen Downs. RFD is also a quilboar place, but where RFK was alive and warm with a thriving population, RFD was a cold, dank warren that had been taken over by the Scourge. Mel and Jocy had to fight their way through many villages of quilboar outside RFD before even getting close to the entrance. The quilboar were trying to take back their home from the undead, and didn't understand that Mel and Jocy could help them in that task (perhaps gutting RFK had left them the impression we weren't too friendly to either undead or quilboar). At last the two reached the entrance, only to be disappointed. Entry into RFD requires level 25. There would be no assault of RFD.

The two returned again to RFK, and did well, but Jocy's rested xp was gone and the experience was coming harder and longer even with the heirloom gear borrowed from Philly. With great respect and admiration, Jocy thanked Melasahnd for her help and bid her safe return to her home in Shattrath.

Jocelyne did not go home to Silvermoon City, though, as some might have thought. No, Jocy headed for the Crossroads in the Barrens, and loaded up on quests. It was time for Jocelyne to show what she could do on her own. The quests took her all over the Barrens, one of the largest zones on the continent, and Jocy learned to appreciate the open spaces almost as much as her lush homeland. Jocy had a goal in mind, too, that kept her going. Late Sunday night she finally achieved that goal, reaching level 20 and visiting the paladin trainer in Orgrimmar to buy her ground mount, a beautiful, armored warhorse. Jocelyne retired to her new home at the Inn in Orgrimmar. She washed and tended her sore feet, knowing she would not have to travel on foot ever again.

Jocelyne knows she still has a long way to go to take EZ's place, but she made a pledge to work hard and not disappoint Lao and Ando. The press to catch up with them will continue. In the interim, the triune may take a slight turn. Should Ando and Lao need a third, level 35 hunter Mery has agreed to dust off her gear to help out. The other option is for Jocy to coax the rich level 20s crowd to form a second triune from such luminaries and upcoming pvpers such as Andro and Jabita, or even the young warlock, Bot. One way or the other, the pvp will continue.