A Rogue triggering a trap was a disgrace to the entire Rogue class.
Ever since DeathScum had set off that trapped Supply Crate, he had become much more obedient and no longer dared to open crates casually.
When he saw Gabryell open a crate and loot Stratholme Holy Water along with a pile of other items, DeathScum said, "That's not fair. Why didn't the crate the Guild Leader opened have bugs?"
Gabryell said, "Some crates are traps, and some aren't. The five bottles of Stratholme Holy Water needed for the House of the Holy quest come from the real crates."
Stratholme Holy Water was good stuff. There was no harm in stockpiling it. It would always come in handy, and the more they had, the better.
Especially when progressing through Blackwing Lair, Gabryell would require everyone to prepare Stratholme Holy Water. During the final phase of the Nefarian fight, they could use it to blow up the resurrected trash mobs.
"Don't worry about triggering traps. As long as there are no mobs nearby, open any Supply Crates you see."
Gabryell was not going to hog all the crates. Only random groups fought over crates, sometimes even ignoring mobs just to rush over and open one first.
"Once each person has five bottles of Stratholme Holy Water, stop opening them and let someone else take a turn."
This run was mainly for quests. If they were not doing quests, they might as well bring 10 people and speed-farm it.
Gabryell took out Egan's Blaster and used it on the ghosts, turning them into Restless Souls.
The ghosts turned hostile, and Carlos immediately taunted them over.
"For this quest, only one person needs to use the Impactor."
Kills on Restless Souls were shared. They needed to kill 15 in total.
"Smooch, pull the patrolling Abomination over here." After killing the ghosts, Gabryell saw the Patchwork Abomination patrolling toward them and told Smooch to pull it.
The Patchwork Abomination's health was as thick as its body. A five-man party had to treat it like a mini-boss.
When fighting a Mending Abomination, they could not pull extra mobs. If they dragged in the surrounding zombie mobs too, the Main tank would definitely be unable to hold everything, and that would lead to a wipe.
After killing the Mending Abomination, they looted a Frayed Abomination Stitching.
"What's this for?" It was Bind on Pickup. If someone blindly rolled need without knowing what it did and then found out they had no use for it, they could only destroy it.
"This is useful for Warriors and Rogues. Carlos and Scum, roll for it." Gabryell did not explain too much. Very few people in current Stratholme groups knew what it was. If they did, everyone would roll need.
This thing was actually an equipment crafting material. It could be used to make Cap of the Scarlet Savant, Leggings of Arcana, Breastplate of Bloodthirst, and Breastplate of the Chromatic Flight, and it was also one of the materials for Arcanum of Protection.
Cap of the Scarlet Savant and Leggings of Arcana were not very cost-effective. Breastplate of the Chromatic Flight was decent Fire Resistance plate armor, while Breastplate of Bloodthirst was Rogue armor. Compared with PvE, it was more suited for PvP.
Generally speaking, Frayed Abomination Stitching was needed by Rogues and Warriors. Hunters who wanted to make Breastplate of Bloodthirst could also roll for it.
As for the Desert Survival Kit, that was something for after Angela opened, so there was no need to bring it up for now.
"Haha, I lost." DeathScum did not win the roll.
It was better for Carlos to get it than a Rogue. Before progressing through Molten Core, if possible, they could craft Breastplate of the Chromatic Flight and stack more Fire Resistance.
"Go left."
The left side was a dead end. If they were not doing the Smoker quest, there would be no reason to come here.
"Kill the courier."
The Stratholme courier was beside Fras's Hiabi's postbox. Killing it would randomly drop a key for one of Stratholme's postboxes.
"No Skul."
A rare elite named Skul could also spawn in this spot. It dropped a very nice Shadow Spell Damage wand, a piece of plate armor with Defense Rating 6, and leather gloves with 40 Attack Power.
Unfortunately, it had not spawned this time.
"It didn't even drop the key to Fras Shiabi's postbox."
After they killed the courier, the drop was the postbox key for Elder's Square, not the key to Fras Shiabi's postbox. Without that key, they could not summon Fras Shiabi and complete the Smoker quest.
"What's this key for?" Since Lunatori was not here, Danielly was in charge of looting.
Gabryell said, "There are a lot of postboxes in Stratholme. Each one needs the matching key to open, and this courier randomly drops one postbox key each time."
That was enough. There was no need to explain too clearly that opening three postboxes in one run would summon the boss Postmaster Malown.
Without the Fras postbox key, there was no point staying here. Gabryell led everyone to the right.
When they reached the middle passage, the door closed.
"Holy crap, so many rats." A swarm of rats suddenly appeared, startling the unprepared group.
Bang! Bang!
Only Gabryell reacted right away, using Arcane Explosion to blast all the rats to pieces.
Once the rats were dead, the door opened again.
"There's a neutral mob."
As soon as they stepped out, they ran into a neutral werewolf named Forestern.
"Nice luck." Seeing the neutral werewolf, Gabryell smiled. This werewolf wandered between the front and back gates, and they might not encounter it every run.
"Kill it."
Just because it was neutral did not mean they would leave it alone. Gabryell was the first to attack.
Forestern was not even as strong as an elite zombie and went down in just a few hits.
"Let me loot it. Let me have a try." Smooch's hands were itching, and she wanted to loot the corpse.
Given her relationship with Danielly, how could Danielly refuse? "Sure, Bingyu, you loot it."
She liked calling Smooch by her real name.
Smooch went over happily and looted the corpse.
Piccolo of the Flaming Fire (rare)
Bind on Pickup
Trinket
Requires Level 53
Use: Causes nearby players to start dancing. (1-minute cooldown)
"What is this thing?" Smooch deflated a little when she saw that she had not looted any good equipment.
Gabryell said, "It's a very good toy. Take it to the busiest spot in Ironforge and use it there. Full marks for entertainment."
This neutral werewolf did not drop much good gear anyway. Compared with that junk equipment, this highly entertaining trinket was the best drop.
Smooch's eyes lit up, and her excitement returned. "Quick, let's roll."
Since it was an entertainment trinket, everyone rolled for it.
"Ah, I didn't get it." Smooch failed to win the roll.
"Snowy, want to try the effect?" Gabryell asked.
Danielly had won the Piccolo of the Flaming Fire.
Danielly equipped the Piccolo of the Flaming Fire, waited for the 30-second shared cooldown to pass, then used it.
As the Piccolo of the Flaming Fire sounded, the characters of Gabryell, Carlos, Smooch, and DeathScum all began dancing uncontrollably. It was hilarious.
"Hahaha, this is great."
Smooch laughed and said, "Snowy, tonight I'll use your account and stand outside the Ironforge Bank. I'll blow it once every minute and make everyone dance."
A one-minute cooldown was really short. The players in Ironforge would probably be baffled and think the game had bugged out, making everyone dance together.
After the fun was over, Gabryell and the others headed left toward the Scarlet Monastery Zone. The right side led to the back door.
For a first Stratholme run, it was best to clear the whole instance. If they did not kill Magistrate Barthilas near the back entrance and get the Stratholme Key, they would not be able to enter from the back door.
After finishing the Scarlet Monastery Zone, Gabryell planned to go to the back entrance once, kill Magistrate Barthilas, and get the Stratholme Key. That would make it easier to enter the dungeon from the back door in the future.
Players were endlessly creative. Even without the back door key, there was still a way to enter from the back door. They could die at the back door entrance, have their Gabs run through the door, and resurrect inside. That way, they could enter through the back door without the Stratholme Key.
Gabryell had previously wanted to borrow Coldhands's account to run a two-mage Stratholme farm precisely so he could use that method to get inside.