In Deep Slumber

In Deep Slumber

At some point in a series of quests, Sista picked up her restoration artifact weapon, a nice staff with a long-winded name: "Corrupted G'Hanir, the Mother Tree." I don't have a record of exactly when that occurred, so some of the events that follow may not be in the exact order they should be.

The quest "In Deep Slumber" has become the most frustrating of any quest I have attempted in recent memory. This is a mandatory quest with an as yet unknown ending. All I know is that it is part of Sista's journey to becoming a full resto spec druid.

The quest looks easy on the surface. Sista must go down a winding tunnel called the Tel'Andu Barrow. At the bottom is a circular room with many cubicles, each with a sleeping patron. Naralax is at one of the cubicles. He directs Sista to drink a special cup of moonwater and Sista falls asleep. When she wakes, she is "on the other side" in a dream. She has to reach the target of the dream, the corrupted mothertree, G'Hanir.

The dream barrow is full of nasty monsters. The dream is on a countdown timer so speed is important. The way to the upper floors is now blocked. Between the attacking monsters, the short timer, and the difficulty in getting through the blockage, Sista has died or failed the quest a half dozen times.

So she did some more research and tried again. There are many suggestions and ideas on how to beat this quest, but so far none of them have worked for me. On this round Sista made it past the blockage once, mostly by accident, but failed the quest when the timer expired. Supposedly, Sista should have the help of Bashana Runetotem, but she has yet to encounter him. She's back to square one. She must get past the blockage, and then take on whatever comes at her beyond that point. 

Sista kept at it. Abandoning all the guidance, she fought her way to the blockage again and again until a she could leap past it without getting killed. On the other side, there were more monsters and the floor was lined with a bloody trail that she had to stay out of. She kept up a steady stream of heals (remember, she is in restoration spec). She reached the turn in the tunnel that led to the surface. Once past the entrance, though, she discovered new obstacles outside that rooted her, stopping her progress. Again and again and again. Each time she was rooted Sista changed shape to break it. Time was running out, but she could see the path ahead of her and where it ended. Still spinning her heals, Sista labored forward. She made it. Quest complete.

And then she learned that her trial was not yet over. She was taken to Nordrassil under the command of Lyessa Boomwatcher, Gaurdian of G'Hanir. Sista was given a new challenge. Kill Destromath, a dungeon level demon.

Sista blinked and complained. "I'm resto spec! Let me kill him in bear form!"
"You misunderstand," Lyessa told Sista. "You are the healer. I will join your group, along with my three companions. Together, we must defeat Destromath."

Awe, come on! Sista is going to have to actually heal a dungeon group? For the love of Wildshard, Sista has been avoiding that exact thing ever since she reached max level! Wild was the last in the family to take on the healer role in a real dungeon. Will Wild be able to make Sista into a decent healer? Is Wild even capable enough to teach her?

No one saw this coming.

I will give Sista some credit. She tried. She accepted the healer role and did her best to keep her group alive long enough to kill Destromath. Sista made four attempts. All failures. Frankly, she sucked.

So. More research is needed to see where this quest thread ultimately leads, and whether its one she has to complete. Sista/Wild also has a decision to make. The healing spec has long been abandoned. A great deal would have to be done in terms of the addons needed, re-learning spells and how to use them in a group setting, even practicing movement and "don't stand in the fire!" warnings. So much knowledge lost. So much muscle memory and reflexes in decay. It may not be possible to raise the dead spec. But Sista hasn't completely given up. Time will tell.