Keya's Dungeon Run (Sort of)

Keya's Dungeon Run (Sort of)

It's Saturday morning and Keya is already on the move. Legion invasions have begun in Highmountain. The whole mountain seems to be alive with Legion soldiers and their beasts. Keya fought demons almost solo in the early battles, and she seemed to be at the forefront of those battles. With every eruption from the Legion, Keya was there, tagging and killing the elites and clearing quests. Sometimes solo, sometimes with two or three following the same path, there was never a lack of targets to take down. Keya has to admit that the caliber of elites we were fighting wasn't scaring anyone. Keya could solo them relatively easily, it just took her a little longer to bring them down.

Having nearly cleared entire mountains of Legion demons, Keya found herself alone on a high snow bank. Below was a deep depression of hard packed snow. At the center of the depression was a fearsome elite, "Drugon the Frostblood." This beast was no simple elite, it was among the higher caliber of Legion elites.

Drugon is a Level ?? Boss, one of only eleven World Bosses in Legion. It waited, a trap ready to be sprung. Keya was determined to pit herself against this boss. She made herself be patient, and eventually a second player arrived. Now there were two of us waiting to see what would develop. Others arrived. We were five. No one seemed to want to start the thing. Keya shrugged to herself. She is "sort of" a tank. Well, since no one said anything and no one moved, Keya decided to try her luck. What's the worst that can happen? She dies in an embarrassing way?

She went for it. Keya started the battle, and it was pure hell. But Keya acquitted herself well,  and in the early going Keya kept pace with the monster, keeping it locked on her while others pounded it with DPS. This was no quick kill, either. The battle raged, and Keya had to start using up her save me spells. Keya also had to go on the move, the monster still locked on her, avoiding the attacks and trying to stay behind the monstrous thing and away from the tree sized club it wielded. Keya hoped there was a healer among the group of players, but she got almost no relief. Twice Keya saw she'd received small heal spells, but if there were any other help out there they had their own hands full keeping themselves alive.

The fight went on so long Keya used her Fiery Brand FOUR times (each have a one minute reset). It was the only thing keeping her alive by then, but that minute wait between casts was deadly to her.

Keya died. Drugon died less than two minutes later.
Keya got no credit for the kill.
But Keya knows what she accomplished. She took on a Boss elite and very nearly killed it.

For the sake of accuracy, Keya also has a small confession to make. Keya entered the fight without a single health potion or other means of gaining instant health. For the lack of a health potion, Keya might have remained in the battle for those last two minutes, and, perhaps, gotten credit for the kill.

Keya refused to give up, however. Instead, she got mad. She flew to Skyhorn. She contacted Chaitee and had potions and elixirs flown out to her. Keya went back to Drugan. It was still there, waiting for new blood to spill. She waited for others to come. It took awhile. Several came and went, refusing to stick around. Eventually, though, there were five of us. Two DPS, a hunter and a warrior, Keya, acting as the tank, and a healer! In addition, Keya now had her health potions. This group was better organized, too. "I'm going in," Keya advised those circling Drugan. No one objected, and Keya went to work.

The battle took an hour. Okay, it only seemed that long. It took at least five minutes, though. Keya cast Fiery Brand six times. Even with a healer, who had to keep himself alive, too, Keya needed and used his healing potion and made good use of Metamorphis for added health. This time we won.

Drugon the Frostblood, Level ?? CORPSE (Boss). Slain by Keya and company. So, not exactly a dungeon run, but it felt that way. Keya is feeling pretty good about herself.

With the success of the Highmountain invasion and her victory over the Boss elite, Keya felt  different. Something had changed. She's always been the cautious type. She uses her underwater swimming form to reach most locations without fear of coming across things she hadn't accounted for. She favors the strike and retreat methods, a slower but more controllable combat. Her thirst for nethershards is becoming insatiable, however, and bolstered by her Boss success, she is becoming more reckless as well.

As the day grows longer Keya is strolling through the interior of the Broken Shores like she belongs there. She followed under the Sentinax and lofted beacons at it, slaughtering everything that poured out of the portal. A special portal caught her attention. Several players were waiting around. Why are we waiting? Keya asked herself. She entered the portal, killed the guards and then killed the elite that was inside.

Keya has 4,771 nethershards now. She needs 229 more to roll the dice with a relinquished token. When she gets to 5,000, she's hoping for a good roll on a trinket, currently an i855 with an expectation of at least an i880.

Keya got her 5,000 against a 112 level elite guard. It was a long slog, but Keya never wavered and the guard died. She originally tried the blubber girl elite. Keya had killed her once before. However, she appears to be bugged. She randomly resets her health and Keya finally had to walk away.

Keya went for a Trinket to replace her i855. Keya was anxious to see what level her new trinket would have. She rolled the dice. An 885! That's a 30 slot upgrade! Then it all fell apart. The trinket was not an agility trinket, or even a stamina one. It was a Versatility trinket. What  . . . a . . .  ripoff! The trinket that cost her 5,000 nethershards is useless. It dawned on her that every time she rolls those dice she might get versatility specs. That makes the chances of getting something truly valuable even harder. Keya is down to 102 nethershards.

Keya tries to be philosophical about it all. Random chance got her that i940 legendary. It was inevitable that chance would turn the other way sooner or later. The grinding will continue.