A Wailing Cavern Adventure...WOW

What an incedible night of WoW adventuring!

I hopped online last night just in time to join up with a bunch of Horde GWJers making another run into the Wailing Caverns. We split into 2 groups with Dramatic Marlin (Dramarlyn), Alien13z (Magritte), and myself (Omusa) grouping for the night. Plus we picked another warrior player on the way in. Two warriors, two hunters, and no one with rez skills...we were going to do this hardcore.

The goal was to track down Lord Serpentis (sp?), the last gem in the Leaders of the Fang quest that Marlin and I needed, plus some general slaying to finish up a couple of the side quests in there.

Things were going really well until we lost Dramarlyn 2 hours into our adventuring. Respawning and an absurd run back distance wiped him out for the night....so close, yet so far away. That was painful to say the least.

With one party member down, we decided to forge ahead. Not long after that, our pick-up warrior missed a jump and landed in the midst of some baddies that wiped him out. By that time we were so far in, it was not practical to attempt a run back. We were now down to Magritte and me. Rather than pack it up and go home, we decided to forge ahead. We were either going to get the job done or go out in a blaze of glory.

Two and a half hours into our adventuring, we finally made it to Lord Serpentis. That area of the caverns is extremely confusing, by the way, and we ended up making a few backtracks before finding the right path. I've never felt so lost in my life!

We set to work taking the last Fang Leader down (which turned out to be easy compared to the others) and cleared the room in preparation for one final battle. You see, the good Lord had a friend, a hulking brute of a monster that towered over us...scared the crap out me.

Since we made it that far, Magritte and I decided we might as well go for the gold and try to take this guy down with just the two of us. We buffed up with whatever we had. Mag set a trap and pulled the beast into it. I charged in an met it there, and the pummeling commenced.

My line of sight was at this things knees. It was frightening. And he was an incredibly hard hitter. I was really worried when I couldn't get a deep wound, rend, or hamstring on this thing to save my life but between the two of us we were able to do enough damage to him before he could take us out.

Here we are, Magritte and Omusa, standing proud over one the the greatest gaming kills I have ever done:

IMAGE(http://www.slambie.net/images/WC.jpg)

It was indescribably awesome to say the least. This one moment was more than worth all the repeated attempts to slog through the Caverns. I'm still basking in the afterglow.

Also, this creature drops a spectacular blue staff. Well worth the effort to get in there and give this guy a try if you're a staff user.

What a great night of gaming it turned out to be. All the sweeter because I didn't think we had much of a chance at success with just 2 party members left.

*high fives Magritte*

Wow. I''ve been dissed in both the Blackfathom and WC quests recently. I''ve taken to skulking around the Shining Flats, picking up rocket parts and muttering about wet underground death caverns...

Oh well, 30 is it''s own reward. Eagle and I are racing each other to do our quests. So it''s all good.

Omusa, you up for the Test of Endurance in the next night or two? Provided I feel better and the servers are up...

Yeah, I''m up for the Test of Endurance whenever you are. And when you''re ready for the Caverns or Blackfathom, let me know and I''ll venture back in there with you. I still have a few things to wrap up in the Wailing Caverns...some miscellaneous kills to wrap up one quest.

I wanted to get you in on the Blackfathom run over the weekend, but that was a party put together by some non-GWJ guys and I just happened to be a last moment pick-up along with Shattermaw. There wasn''t any room after that.

By the way, Robear, the 2 gems you still need for the Leaders of the Fang quest are along the same path in the Wailing Caverns, so it should be easy to pick those up in a 2 - 2 1/2 hr run.

Last night was indeed awesome. I now own a very cool staff, Living Root, thanks to Slambie''s ability to take a punch. Thank you Slambie. The only time in my life I''ve ever wanted a screenshot of something. In retrospect I should have sent Dali in for a couple of seconds on his own so that he would take the initial damage but it still worked out.

Let me know when you are all doing Blackfathom. That''s next on my instance list.

Is that a veloso (SP?) raptor I see there?

A velociraptor? Yes, it''s Magritte''s sidekick. (Although, I think they''re called something else in the game.)

I was in the other group that formed up last night. I only had an hour before I had to migrate to JO (Monday Night JO -- West coast time; sorry for the plug). We got in a bit, but did not complete our appointed rounds. If anybody wants to make another run at the WC in the next few days, please give me a call. I cannot do it tonight -- The USC game ... er, Orange Bowl is on.

Fight On!

P.S. My favorite part of the screenshot is the dialog reading ""we should get a screenshot."" Somehow, that strikes me as gaming noir.

Speaking of screenshots, is there a better way to do them than using the Print Screen key?

Wow, guess I picked the wrong group. Just kidding. All of us had to log before we got very far, although we were kicking butt nicely. I still need that last gem from Serpentis, if I can ever find his damn location in that maze. Hopefully one of you that found him can help us out... For some reason I can''t seem to let this quest go, even though I''m getting no xp for kills. I''m up for it on Wed. night.

I''d also be happy to do Blackfathom again - that place was great, especially the final boss battle (he drops a killer sword I still want). Slambie and I did it with four warriors and a rogue on Sunday. She didn''t want to do the instance without a healer, but we smashed our way through with brute force and only 3 deaths. Two of them were accidents - Slambie forgetting that Taurens can''t breathe underwater and me getting massacred by a swarm of crabs after our rogue decided to fiddle with one of the candles on the altar (you''ll see :wink:). Sorry we couldn''t include you Thag, but we filled up just before you logged on. I thought we''d probably get creamed and go back in with you shortly, but our four tanks mowed them down. Contrary to popular belief, you can make it through an instance without a healer.

I still need that last gem from Serpentis, if I can ever find his damn location in that maze.

That maze really is horrible. I was cursing Blizzard more and more harshly as the evening wore on.

Fantastic job! Congratulations, I was sorry I had to logoff. I needed to get to bed for work, but even that was spoiled by my daughter getting sick in the night. Drat.

I still need to complete the gem quest with Serpentis and I also need to kill a few more of the different monster types. To Cloke and anyone else still needing to complete WC -- let me know when you''re taking a run at it, I''d love to join!

"slambie" wrote:
I still need that last gem from Serpentis, if I can ever find his damn location in that maze.

That maze really is horrible. I was cursing Blizzard more and more harshly as the evening wore on.

It''s really the only thing in the entirety of WOW thus far that I actively dislike. It needs a couple of helper guys like at the beginning to provide some clues as to how to proceed.

I don''t know anything about the maze or anything above level 15 but couldn''t a Hunter track him down?

"Grumpicus" wrote:

I don''t know anything about the maze or anything above level 15 but couldn''t a Hunter track him down?

The maze is 3d but the map is only 2d, so you can see the guy on the minimap but have no idea how to get to him because he''s really 50 vertical feet above you. To his credit, he says ""I am the Lizard King. I can do anything,"" as if Jim Morrison had undergone a TRON-like experience. Which raises the question, is Jim Morrison TRON guy? It''s possible.

IMAGE(http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/2914/morrison_pics/jim5.jpg)

Jim Morrison

IMAGE(http://www.tronguy.net/images/headshot-web.jpg)
TRON Guy - notice the striking similarities, particularly when you consider that death cannot be kind to one''s physique

Speaking of screenshots, is there a better way to do them than using the Print Screen key?

Print Screen is pretty much it but you can clear the interface first using Alt-Z.

"Dramatic Marlin" wrote:

Fantastic job! Congratulations, I was sorry I had to logoff. I needed to get to bed for work, but even that was spoiled by my daughter getting sick in the night. Drat.

I still need to complete the gem quest with Serpentis and I also need to kill a few more of the different monster types. To Cloke and anyone else still needing to complete WC -- let me know when you''re taking a run at it, I''d love to join!

I am thinking Wednesday night would be good because I should be able to play for at least 3 hours starting at 8 pm CST.

I actually printed out a map for WC but it was no help because it''s impossible to see the proper route to the guy through all the superimposed tunnels.

Eep. Wed is out for me, I already have a committment for another WoW session with a different character. Definitely go on without me if the opportunity presents itself.

Congratulations, I was sorry I had to logoff.

Completely understandable Marlin. That was an incredibly long slog. During the last 15 minutes of gaming last night, I had Mr. Slambie hovering over my shoulder with a distinct air of annoyance. The ole relationship meter definitely dipped into the red zone for awhile there.

"Cloke" wrote:

...and only 3 deaths. Two of them were accidents - Slambie forgetting that Taurens can''t breathe underwater...

This is why I''m such a terrific party member. I''m always thinking outside the box, coming up with brilliant strategic moves to wipe myself out and save the day.