a heavy heart for ten long years, the day when finally the monster that is all that remains of my beloved Anthariel falls to righteous steel and holy fire.
“She dumped you, man,” groaned Bjorn. “Get over it.”
“Hey.” That was Ialdir. “She dumped him for his best friend, then ran away with his best friend halfway across the world, where they turned evil, unleashed a magical curse that destroyed his homeland, and then he had to cast them both down into the underworld, where they remained in prison, going slowly mad, for the next five hundred years. You can see why he’s bummed.”
[Raid][Solace]: Awww, he just needs a hug.
Drew obligingly ran over to the high theurgist and hugged him.
[Solace] whispers: Hee
Solace ran over too, as did Prospero, Ialdir, and Ignatius.
[Raid][Ialdir]: Group hug!
[Raid][Heurodis]: he doesnt need a hug
[Raid][Heurodis]: he needs to shut up and let us raid
“Speaking of.” Morag. “Let’s get this show on the road. Buff up while I talk to HTV.”
[Raid][Solace]: fish on the floor
[Raid][Ignatius]: yay fish
[Raid][Dave]: nom nom
The whole raid sat unceremoniously on the floor stuffing their faces with mystically fortifying fish while Morag jogged up to the high theurgist and triggered the starting event.
High Theurgist Venric strode to the centre of the chamber and carried on declaiming, while the raid group carried on eating fish and ignoring him.
[High Theurgist Venric] says: Brothers, within this labyrinth lurk many vile and terrifying creatures. I and my men will remain here and guard the portal so that none may break free into the outside world.
“Oh, thanks for having our back, man.” Bjorn.
The high theurgist turned away from them and raised his arms, mystical light gathering between his hands. The curtain of thorns that obscured the way into the maze parted.
[Yell][High Theurgist Venric]: Anthariel, I do this for love of the woman you were!
[Yell][Lady Bloodrose]: Your compassion has always been your weakness. Face me, and die!
“See,” said Morag. “This is why I don’t do men. Well, that and not fancying them. So, anyway, welcome Drew aboard the good ship Same Crit Different Day. We won’t go for a full clear tonight. We’ll do up to Vilicus and then probably call it. I’ll be your raid leader this evening. In the event of an emergency, exits are here, here, and here. Bjorn is loot master because I can’t be arsed and he gets off on the power.”
A wild cackling laugh echoed over Mumble.
“Rules are pretty simple. Need if you need, mainspec or spec you’re running in before offspec, unless special circumstances apply, but in practice, that’s nobody tonight. Drew’s MT, I’ll be your OT, ranged deeps Ialdir, Heurodis, and Ignatius. Melee deeps Jargogle, Caius, and Dave. Our lovely healing team are Solace and Prospero.”
[Raid][Solace]: I’ll be on MT, OT, and raid in that prio.
[Raid][Prospero]: And my prio is raid, OT, and MT.
“Otherwise,” Morag continued, “let’s have fun, kill some things, and take their stuff.”
A ragged cheer went up from the fish-eaters, and they hustled through the recently opened barrier into the main dungeon.
The first boss was waiting for them on the other side. Kelebos: a vast, three-headed hound, covered in shaggy black fur tipped with fire all the way to its lashing, serpentine tail.
Thankfully, it was a dog, so it didn’t have much to say to them.
“You know the drill. Spread out to avoid chaining damage from tail. Drew, we swap on ten stacks of Chew Toy. Everybody run out of Howl, and DPS the heads when someone gets grabbed. Are we good?”
A readycheck popped up on Drew’s screen. He was, indeed, ready.
“Take it away, Drew.”
Ella pulled out her maces and jogged the surprisingly large distance up to Kelebos’s central mouth.
[Yell][Lady Bloodrose]: Welcome to my bower, foolish heroes.
Drew dumped CoC under the dog and began building threat. This was a pretty straightforward fight for a tank. As long as he didn’t let the debuff stack too high or forget to run out of the Howl, there wasn’t much that could go wrong. His screen, as usual, was full of teeth and eyes and particle effects, but Kelebos’s health was going down and Ella wasn’t dead, so everything seemed to be fine.
Suddenly, the dog turned and bounded across the room, snatching up a couple of raid members before coming back to Ella.
“And I’m in the mouth.” Ialdir.
“Me too.” Drew didn’t recognise this voice. “Solace on heals. Everyone be extra specially careful not to do anything stupid.”
That must have been Prospero.
“Prio left head.” Morag. “Get the healer back in the game.”
Drew popped Unholy Resolve to