Scarlet Fever

Last night saw the Scarlet Crusade's incursion toward Undercity take a major setback, as the Brood proceeded to wreak havoc in Scarlet Monastery. This was the first outing with the group for initiate Haxrot, who powered his way to Brood level in record time. He was sitting in for Xantir, who was absent on a what we assumed was a monastic study trip in Silvermoon...

We were all sitting at 28, which is the lowest level for entry into the Monastery, being populated by 30's above, many of them elites. And for the first time in a while it felt like a good challenge - we were tested instead of dominating. Dawnsinger took the lead this time, with Denmother marking up mobs.

The incursion started with the Graveyard, the first wing of four. We made short work of the first corridor, Haxrot learning the ropes as he went, ably coached by Dawn & Den. Attack from behind, skull-cross-diamond, leave the moon/sheep, etc.

Theoretically we were then due to clear the next room of mobs before taking on Interrogator Vishas, but in keeping with the Brood's chaotic starts, Judelder stepped slightly too far into the room and managed to pull the boss and his guard. The funny thing was we didn't really realise it was the boss, taking down the bodyguard first before turning our attention to, oh, the boss! He went down smooth though, in a flurry of focussed fire and holy smiting.

The graveyard itself proved trickier - multiple mobs all over the shop, who seemed to love adding themselves to the controlled pulls we were trying. We seemed to be constantly fighting about 8 mobs across the courtyard, which called for some great ad-libbing and concentration.

SM Graveyard

One particularly memorable encounter saw the adds eventually overwhelm Dawnsinger, which meant that Haxrot had to change roles mid battle from melee DPS to chief healer, a switch he handled like a pro. As the battle progressed, a mana emergency started developing and it began to look like Hax might have to start tanking so Den could start healing! Thankfully that didn't eventuate, but three healers is definitely ftw (and makes Neit and ET's solo Elder efforts all the more impressive).

Despite some accidental pulls and close combat step fighting - Haelo was using her staff a bit too often for comfort - we battled through the rest of the 'yard, before downing Bloodmage Thalnos with barely a scratch. Which left... the Library.

Full of bravado and gung ho, we plunged in. We were fully prepared for not being able to handle this one - 33 and 34 elites, and we were all 28. But you'll never never know if you never never go.

So go we did. And it was brilliant! For an amazing half hour we fought our way methodically down the first corridor in the Library. Red elites went down, one by one, with all sorts of struggles and resists. Denmother had a huge job just drawing their agro, due to taunt resists and parries. Dawn kept attracting attention due to her healing prowess, and did an amazing job keeping both Den and herself alive. Haxrot, by this stage wishing he'd never heard of this 'Brood' no doubt, pounded relentlessly, and even took on some healing and offtanking along the way. Haelo was forced to abandon everything but bog standard auto shots, due to the agro sinks anything else created, and Judelder did an incredible job sheeping mobs who were simply not interested in being woolly.

Alas, just as we'd finally cleared the first corridor, the respawns started! Our DPS was so hampered by Haelo's reduced firepower, and Jud's need to sheep and resheep and resheep and resheep that we just couldn't take them down fast enough. So an honourable retreat ensued, fighting our way back out - with no wipes for the night.

So a brilliant night, definitely the highlight of the Brood's adventures so far. So - to 30, and we'll be back in amongst it!