neatly on the southwest corner of the pillar while clouds of scalding vapour billowed around them.
[Group][Solace]: group hug
When the steam cleared, Ella dived out from behind the pillar to meet the oncoming dragon, and Solace and Ialdir scattered to the opposite edge of the platform, clinging tight to Irontongue’s sides to avoid the tail-swipe. The boss was creeping towards fifty-percent health when it pulled back from Ella and soared into the air.
[YELL][IRONTONGUE]: BOIL ALIVE!
[Group][Ialdir]: n
They snuggled up on the north side of the pillar this time, and let Irontongue spew his scalding rage over the empty platform.
[Group][Solace]: no impale :( :( :(
[Group][Ialdir]: i’m sure you’ll get it soon
[Group][Orcarella]: lol
Then it was back to a screenful of dragon face, Orcarella pounding mercilessly against the dragon’s iron scales with her twin maces. Things settled into a rhythm. Ialdir got impaled, then Ella again. They hid from another couple of scalding rages, and Irontongue’s health ticked steadily down. They’d got it to about four percent when the dragon suddenly wheeled away from Ella and lashed its tail towards Solace.
[Yell][Irontongue]: IMPALED!!!
[Yell][Ialdir]: IMPALED!!!
[Yell][Orcarella]: IMPALED!!!
[Group][Solace]: yay
Drew strafed around the platform, dodging superheated oil, and lobbed his one ranged attack, a slightly feeble DoT called Traitor’s Curse, at the dragon.
[Group][Solace]: Look ma, no hands
On the other side of the platform, Ialdir sprayed volley after volley of glittering arrows into Irontongue’s underbelly.
[Group][Solace]: I can see my house from here
For want of anything better to do, Drew renewed Traitor’s Curse, and only then noticed that Ialdir had stopped firing.
[Group][Ialdir]: hold dps
Just then, Traitor’s Curse, which had been ticking away barely tickling the dragon, critically hit, shaving the last few points off Irontongue’s health. He dropped out of the sky like an enormous block of inert metal, whistling straight past the platform, taking Solace with him.
There was a brief silence and then Solace’s portrait greyed out.
Solace was killed by Solace: fall damage (0)
Solace has died.
[Group][Solace]: . . .
Before Drew could say anything a little gold box popped up in front of him.
Achievement unlocked: Rage Against the Machine
[Defeat Irontongue in Steamworks Furnace on Heroic Difficulty with no member of the group taking damage from Scalding Rage.]
[Guild][Ignatius]: grats
[Guild][Sindarella]: grats
[Guild][Dave]: gz
[Guild][Heurodis]: gratz
[Guild][Jargogle]: grats
[Guild][Solace]: He doesn’t deserve your grats
[Guild][Solace]: He just killed me
[Guild][Solace]: He shot Irontongue while I was impaled
[Yell][The Forge Master]: MORE STEEL, MORE FIRE, MORE SERVANTS FOR THE GREAT MACHINE!
[Guild][Ignatius]: lol
[Guild][Heurodis]: lol
Orcarella has now been demoted to Guild Peon
[Guild][Orcarella]: I’m really sorry
[Guild][Solace]: Hee hee
[Guild][Solace]: You so owe me now
[Guild][Solace]: I’m going to make you my pocket tank
[Guild][Solace]: And you have to do ALL the optional bosses
[Guild][Solace]: ALL the time
[Guild][Orcarella]: i’m okay with that
They ran back to the entrance to meet Solace, who seemed genuinely fine about what had happened. Drew drifted between confusion and relief—a mistake like that would not have been well-received in Annihilation. But, then, if he’d been running with Anni, they wouldn’t have been faffing about with optional bosses anyway.
Thankfully, the rest of the run went off without a hitch. They battled their way through the trash and down into the depths of the furnace, taking a short detour into the temple complex to deal with Arch Priest Garaxis, a skinny human in an outrageous robe who worshipped the Hand of Zoth-Arun and was the final boss of the previous raid tier. People had been smashing the Hand to pieces for a good six months, but Drew guessed the Arch Priest hadn’t got that memo. They beat heavily on him with pointy objects, and he fell over, dropping his [Mantle of Hydraulic Communion].
[Group][Solace]: omg need
Drew did a quick inspect. Solace’s shoulders were way better, and the mantle was healer gear so it couldn’t have been for her offspec.
[Group][Orcarella]: ?
[Group][Solace]: Have you seen how awesome these look?
[Group][Solace]: I’m working on a steampunk set
She put them on. Her angel wings disappeared, replaced by a disproportionately huge pair of shoulder pads filled with a mesh of wires and rotating gears.
Then she bounced up and down while Ialdir applauded and Drew grinned at the monitor like an idiot.
[Group][Solace]: Hmm
[Group][Solace]: I’d better switch back
[Group][Solace]: Thinking I’m giving off a bit of a mixed message fashion-wise
They pressed on through the Furnace, knocked over the Smelter and the Smith without too much trouble, and finally came face-to-face with the Forge Master.
[Yell][The Forge Master]: INTRUDERS! AUTOMATA TO ME! DEFEND THE FORGE!
[Group][Ialdir]: I always kind of feel sorry for this guy
[Group][Ialdir]: he’s just trying to do his job and a bunch of complete jerks bust in and start brokking his shit up
[Group][Solace]: What’s this guy’s deal anyway?
[Group][Ialdir]: did