the great hound Kelebos to three scraps of [Uncured Corpse Hide] and a [Patch of Mouldering Leather].
“Well done, guys,” said Morag. “That was pretty clean. I know we’ve done this a lot and we overgear it, but a bit more focus next time early on. If we DPS the heads right, there’s no way anyone should get hit by the Howl.”
“Yeah, good job, guys,” added Bjorn. “Jacob, your DPS was nearly as good as mine. I’d feel threatened if I wasn’t so awesome. Really nice work on the transitions there, tanks. And quality work from the healing team, as ever.”
Drew shifted a bit in his chair. He knew he was a good tank, and he’d done a good job, but in Anni he’d only ever been told when he screwed up, and he wasn’t sure how to handle having someone say he’d done well. Especially if it was Bjorn.
They pressed on through the maze and a few packs of trash mobs to Thornheart. He was kind of an evil, corrupted Ent rip-off and basically just a gear check. There was lots of nasty spike damage on the tank and a hard enrage timer, but nothing a halfway decent guild couldn’t handle this late in the expansion. It was Drew’s least favourite fight because he had literally nothing to do except stand in one place and mash his rotation.
Also, back when he ran with Anni, there’d been an enormous amount of pressure to get your gearscore up to spec and everyone yelling at everyone else for letting the guild down. The healers always thought the tanks were too squishy, the tanks always thought the healers weren’t gemmed right, and every DPSer thought none of the others were pulling their weight. And then, after that phase, came months of people doing stupid crap like trying to swap in alts to gear up or do it with only one healer and blaming Drew when he couldn’t stay alive through the Arboreal Frenzy.
There was none of that this time, so it was just a straight tank and spank. And Dave sounded almost happy when the [Bracers of Blackened Oak] dropped.
“Hey guys, can I stone back to Ash to get these gemmed?”
There was a pause. Then Morag said no in a slightly incredulous voice.
“But I’ll do better DPS.”
“I’m not going to keep nine people standing around with their thumbs up their arses while you go shopping for bling.”
“Um,” offered Drew, “I think I’ve got some rubies in my backpack.”
[Raid][Ignatius]: And I guess I can chant them for you.
[Raid][Dave]: woot
“All right,” said Morag. “Take five. But only five. Rebuff, eat fish, but nobody go make coffee, and if you need the loo, you hold it until Arachnia.”
Drew flicked open his professions menu, carved a [Puissant Cataclysmic Ruby] for Dave and handed it over.
[Raid][Dave]: thx
Something had been bugging Drew for a while. “I know I’m new, and this might not be the best time to ask, but why are you called Dave?”
[Raid][Dave]: lol
[Raid][Ialdir]: lol
[Raid][Prospero]: lol
“When I rolled my DK, all the names I could think of were taken, so I typed it in for a joke, and then it went through and the cutscene was really long, so I thought I’d just go with it.”
Bjorn: “If you want, I can report you so you can get a forced name change.”
“But then I’d have to think of a new one and I’d be right back where I started.”
“You make me a sad Viking, David.”
Morag called the raid to order, and Drew was slightly surprised that they had genuinely only taken five minutes. Everything they’d said about casual guilds back in Anni had made him think that a five-minute raid break would turn into a ten-minute toilet break which would turn into half an hour of amateurish faffing.
The maze darkened around them as they pushed through thorns and cobwebs into the realm of Arachnia the Spider Queen. They passed under an archway onto a wide circle of webbing, and Drew dashed into the centre to pick up the vast tide of enemies that he knew were about to drop onto them.
[Yell][Arachnia the Spider Queen]: FEAST, MY CHILDREN AND BRING ME THEIR WITHERED CORPSES.
Tiny spiders began raining from the ceiling, but Drew had Circle of Corruption ready to go.
“I’ve never understood that.” Dave sounded oddly meditative. “Cos if they feast on us, there won’t be any corpses for them to bring to her.”
A long sigh gusted over Mumble. Drew was pretty sure it was Bjorn. “Spiders, Dave, feed by injecting