Monday (21 Jun) - Secrets

Monday (21 Jun) - Secrets

Auchindoun has been opened. The broken fortress, which once held great battles within it's high walls and deep caverns, had grown silent as the world looked past the Burning Crusade and entered the Wrath of the Lich King. But not every adventurer had left. Some still remember Outland. Some still come to the near deserted city of Shattrath, the jewel city of the great floating island in the heavens.

Auchindoun lies close to Shattrath. Three great wings brought numerous challenges and rewards for those who tested their strength and will against those that dwelt there. A stalwart pair entered Auchindoun early one morning and entered the wing called Sethekk Halls, home of the bird men called the Arakkoa. The two adventurers had very different reasons for stalking this near forgotten place. For one of them it was a test for a later journey to complete a deed long delayed. For the other . . . well, those reasons remained cloaked in the mystery of Naithipe.

Both found somewhat what they were looking for, but not all the secrets and treasure of the place were taken, and they knew they would have to return.

As Naithipe has grown stronger, her demands have become ever stranger. Happy has baffled over requests for pyrestone, and Khorium ore. The latter can be mined, but is exceedingly rare and expensive. The former is not even known in the land of Northrend in the world of the Lich King, and it's acquisition is one of Happy's toughest challenges.

The latest request from Naithipe is for nether vortex, yet another substance of uncertain value beyond the obvious - that it is difficult to obtain. Nether vortex is required of a recipe Naithipe seeks which is found only in the watery depths of Serpentshrine Cavern.

There is more. JB, who has been having difficulty sleeping of late, hears the pounding of a blacksmith's hammer at the forge in Dalaran long into the night. The stacks of armor that grow with that persistent work could equip an army.

On Monday the pair of adventurers were caught out together. Naithipe and (he now has to admit) Wild were deep within Sethekk Halls on a second foray when Wild got a whisper from a guildie.

"Aha!" whispered Wild's old shaman friend, Bf. "You trying to get the mount?"

"No," Wild whispered back, "I'm helping out a friend." Naithipe remained silent, radiating disapproval.

"Want to give it a try when you're done?" Bf has been after Wild to do heroic level Sethekk Halls. There was a time when druids had to complete a quest chain to get their swift flying form, the culmination of which was a special, very difficult battle in heroic mode Sethekk Halls. At level 70 it pretty much took a full five man group to win their way to that encounter and defeat it. One of the additional rewards from that battle were the [Reins of the Raven Lord], an extremely rare mount drop made more rare because only a druid who has completed the quest chain can summon the boss, Anzu, that drops the mount. The Raven Lord mount is one of the most sought after mounts in the game.

Wild agreed to the heroic Sethekk Halls run with Bf once he'd finished with Naithipe. Naithipe was hoping for two items she wanted there, but she was bitterly disappointed when neither dropped. Naithipe stomped off, freeing up Wild for the next run.

Bf was already waiting outside Sethekk Halls when Wild left the dungeon. We quickly buffed up, switched to heroic mode, and entered. Two level 80s, both of whom can heal, should be plenty of firepower for this level 70 dungeon, even though it is calibrated for five players. We had no trouble with the front half of the dungeon. Bf has been through this dungeon numerous times and knew what groups could be avoided and which direction to take to get to the room where we would be summoning Anzu. However, somewhat shockingly, we wiped on a quartet of elites that were able to repeatedly stun us, which stopped us from healing. After that, though, we knew to keep pulls to two when facing that particular mob.

We reached a point when Bf stopped, checked out where we were, and asked Wild, "Is this the spot where we summon Anzu?"

Perhaps this is a good spot for Wild to explain something. Anyone remember a show called Everyone Loves Raymond? We've (me and the Mrs) been watching old reruns of that recently, and right now, in the middle of Sethekk Halls, Wild was getting a sinking feeling that he was playing Raymond.

"Uh, Bf, I haven't actually completed the quest chain, so I don't know whether this is the spot or not."

"What?" a clearly baffled Bf asked. After all, Wild is a druid, so of course I would have completed the quest chain.

"It's ok, I still have the final quest, though. I just need to complete it."

Slightly mollified, Bf replied. "Well, ok, are you ready to summon Anzu?"

Wild made a face. Wild scratched his head. Wild reminded himself that only a druid can do the summons. Wild decided to read up on that quest, which he hoped would tell him how to summon Anzu. While Wild was doing that Bf dropped the other shoe. "You do have the two items you need, don't you?" Uh.

Wild re-read the quest. The first "item" was actually to kill Anzu. Well, that was annoying. I can't kill him if I can't summon him. What else? There was something called a moonstone or a healthstone or something, looked like a trinket? Whatever it was, Wild didn't have anything like that on him. Wild admitted that to Bf, and then suggested it might be in his bank.

Bf is one of the most laid back fellows I know in game. "No problem, Wild," he said," why don't you fly back to Shattrath and check to see if it's in your bank."

Things got worse, though, when Wild got to his bank could not find the item. It seemed Wild still had to complete some other quest chain to get the item that he could then use to summon Anzu. "No matter," said Bf, "when you get the quests done let me know and I'll help you kill Anzu."

Wild learned later in the day that the item is in fact called a moonstone, and that because of some quirk of the quest the item, when won, is not placed in the bags, but on the keychain. Wild wasn't sure what he was hoping for when he opened his keychain to check. Did Wild have that item with him all along? Wild was both relieved and disappointed - he didn't have it.

Wild had plowed through Sethekk Halls twice this morning, with little to show for it. Bf, nonchalant about Wild's failure with Anzu, asked Wild to join him for another two man jaunt, this time into Zul'Gurub, a twenty person raid for level 60ish raiders. [Note - in real life I was getting some long stares from the Mrs, since I was supposed to be getting the RV ready for our trip. But I felt I owed Bf the ZG run after the wasted effort in SH].

Wild had not been inside ZG since our guild had stopped raiding there long, long ago. Bf, though, again knew a route that bypassed most of the place and got us directly to the boss he was after. This boss, High Priest Thekal, has a rare chance to drop a Swift Zulian Tiger mount, another rare ground mount greatly coveted by horde players who collect such things. This is the only tiger mount available to the horde. Getting the idea that Bf likes to collect mounts?

For a five man group at level 60, this fight requires a lot of coordination, particularly in the first phase where the Priest is aided by two adds. All three elites must be killed at the same time or the fight starts over. With Wild spamming his AoE Hurricane, dropping them all at once should not be a problem.

There was one thing Bf forgot about, however - one of the elites is a rogue with a lot of abilities to stun and interrupt casting. As soon as the fight began and Wild started casting, I quickly discovered that half the time I was stunned and unable to cast at all, and the other half I had been slowed by the other elite (a shaman). The fight took a very, very long time. The boss restarted at least three times that I counted, maybe more than that. The only thing that saved us was the fact that we had so much mana and such high mana regen that it was simply impossible for the three elites to kill us. After a numbingly long time, we finally dropped all three. The second phase is a mostly tank and spank with Wild moonkin tanking a single Tiger boss while Bf kept Wild alive long enough to kill him. To complete Wild's day, the tiger mount did not drop.

So, why hadn't Wild completed the flying form quest chain after all this time? A patch was released which made swift flying form a trainable ability. Instead of an epic battle, all that was required was to spend 19g at the trainer. So Wild never completed the quest chain. Guess Wild had better go get that done.

Given that I am kind of on probation by the Mrs until I get all our preparations together, not sure if I'll be able to make it Monday night. I'll try, though.