Most of the mobs on the Scarlet side came in groups of four, usually a mix of casters and melee.
"I'll sheep one," Gabryell said. "Kill the casters first."
He opened by sheeping the Crimson Conjuror.
This kind of mage mob could summon Water Elementals. As a proud Mage player himself, Gabryell found that deeply offensive. He could not even summon one until level 70, yet these mobs were already doing it here.
Ridiculous.
Of course, "caster" did not only mean Mage-type mobs. Any mob that could heal counted too.
Everyone immediately focused the healer first. Only after the healer died could they kill the rest properly.
"Why are there Scarlet Crusade mobs here too?" DeathScum asked. "Feels like this organization is everywhere."
The Scarlet Crusade in Stratholme was actually quite tragic.
They had been deceived into Stratholme by Grand Crusader Dathrohan, who had already been replaced by the dreadlord Balnazzar. In the end, Balnazzar turned many of them into the very undead they hated most.
"Faith can make people lose their minds," Gabryell said.
"Azeroth has plenty of fanatical organizations, and every one of them is full of lunatics. The craziest one is still Sargeras. He wants to remake the whole universe through madness."
Sargeras was undoubtedly one of World of Warcraft's ultimate endgame threats.
Once his true form appeared and was destroyed, the game itself would probably be reaching the end of its life.
After the healer died, they switched to the melee mobs and left the sheeped caster for last.
"Good. Keep clearing at this pace."
With a Mage in the group, the Scarlet side was not too difficult.
For a melee-heavy party with no Mage, however, the difficulty would jump by at least a full tier.
"Clear all the mobs here."
Once all the mobs outside the bastion were dead, an undead boss named Timmy the Cruel appeared.
With the Scarlet Crusade no longer guarding the outer perimeter, the undead finally had a chance to rush in.
Timmy the Cruel was only a level 56 elite boss. He was not strong and went down easily.
After they killed him, Smooch, who had started enjoying the act of looting, immediately said, "Let me loot one more."
Danielly said, "I don't mind. Mentor?"
Smooch had always had decent roll luck, so she probably was not cursed.
"Sure," Gabryell said. "Let Smooch loot. If she gets something awful, Snowy can take over."
Smooch cheerfully walked up and looted the corpse.
Grimgore Noose
Rare
Binds when picked up
Waist
Cloth
47 Armor
+10 Spirit
+9 Stamina
+17 Intellect
Durability 30 / 30
Requires Level 54
Timmy did not have much good loot to begin with.
This cloth belt had solid stats and counted as one of the better things he could drop.
"Snowy, take it," Gabryell said. "I already have the hit belt."
He did not need it. He already had Ban'thok Sash from the Ring of Law, and Grimgore Noose was better for improving Danielly's overall stats.
Danielly took the belt and equipped it right away.
Seeing that the item she had looted was useful for Danielly, Smooch was very pleased.
"Danielly, I'll loot a few more pieces for you later."
Carlos and DeathScum could not see each other's faces. Otherwise, they probably would have exchanged bitter smiles.
If everything that dropped turned out to be Priest gear, how cursed would that luck be?
Were Warriors and Rogues even allowed to play?
"Let's go inside."
Gabryell stepped forward and opened the door.
This door could be opened with the Scarlet Key.
There were more mob types inside the Scarlet Bastion than outside. Among the caster mobs, there were Crimson Monks, Crimson Battle Mages, and Crimson Sorcerers.
"I'll sheep the Crimson Sorcerer," Gabryell said. "Kill the Monk immediately. Use CC on the Battle Mage whenever you can."
Crimson Sorcerers could Polymorph.
If Danielly got turned into a sheep and no one could remove it, the tank would probably go down.
That was why Gabryell sheeped the Crimson Sorcerer immediately and saved it for last.
Crimson Monks could heal. If they were not killed first, the other mobs became much harder to bring down.
Crimson Battle Mages could use Arcane Explosion and Blast Wave, giving them nasty AoE damage. They had to be controlled as much as possible, or the whole party would take too much damage and overload the healer.
"Why didn't this boss drop anything?"
They easily killed the first named mob inside the bastion, Malor the Zealous, but he dropped no gear.
Gabryell opened the nearby chest and found a Medallion of Faith.
"What's this for?" Carlos asked.
"No idea," Gabryell said. "But since it was in a chest, there's no harm in taking it."
Of course he knew what the Medallion of Faith was for.
Take it to Aurius on the Undead side, and Aurius would help fight Baron Rivendare.
Gabryell deliberately kept quiet.
Once they reached the service entrance, everyone would naturally find out.
They fought deeper into the bastion. More mobs appeared, and they had to keep watching for patrols.
"Don't rush," Gabryell said. "Pull them back and kill them here."
Humanoid mobs would run when their health got low. If even one runner dragged in another pack, the party could wipe.
"Prioritize Crimson Initiates too."
Those mobs could heal as well.
As expected of the Scarlet Crusade, they had far too many mobs that could heal.
Could they let people play the game properly or not?
Crimson Gallants were basically weak Retribution Paladins, while Crimson Defenders had Divine Shield. Those could be left for later.
Crimson Guardsmen were Warrior-type mobs and could Charge, easily interrupting the healer's casts. Among the melee mobs, they had the highest kill priority.
Crimson Inquisitors were Shadow Priest-type mobs with mana burn, so their priority came right after the healer mobs.
"There are way too many mobs here," Smooch complained.
She hated this place.
The space was cramped, the mobs were dense, and there was barely any room for a Hunter to play comfortably.
"Recover quickly," Gabryell said.
After clearing about a third of the way in, he told everyone to eat and drink quickly and leave the bodies on the ground unlooted for now.
Before they had fully recovered, a group of undead mobs rushed in from outside.
"Holy crap, how did the undead get in?" DeathScum asked in shock.
"We cleared out the Scarlet Crusade outside," Gabryell said. "With no one guarding the place, of course the undead came rushing in."
Fortunately, the undead that rushed in were not strong.
They only needed to gather them up and AoE them down.
"Blade of Eternal Darkness Mages are seriously broken," DeathScum said.
He watched Gabryell spam Arcane Explosion with ridiculous AoE damage, feeling both jealous and helpless.
Rogues only had one fake AoE skill: Blade Flurry.
It lasted fifteen seconds and had a two-minute cooldown.
For five-man dungeons, Blade of Eternal Darkness was extremely useful, especially in places with lots of mobs. Gabryell could go wild with it. In this kind of situation, it was better than having twenty or thirty more spell damage.
As more Mages on every server acquired Blade of Eternal Darkness, more and more discussions about it appeared on the Azeroth National Geographic forum.
By now, everyone understood what the weapon could do, and it had already been hyped into a god-tier tool.
Many Mages planned to go back and farm Princess runs in Maraudon after reaching level 60, become permanent guests in Princess Theradras's room, and farm themselves a Blade of Eternal Darkness.
Of course, figuring out how to solo-farm Princess would take them some time.
For now, Blade of Eternal Darkness still belonged only to a small number of absurdly lucky Mage lords.
Once the undead were cleared, they finally looted the bodies on the floor.
"Huh, a green item dropped."
Among the humanoid corpses they had left unlooted earlier, they found a green item.
Righteous Orb
Uncommon
Item
There was no special description.
It was just a green item with the same model as an ordinary pearl. At first glance, it did not look especially valuable.
The fact that a Righteous Orb dropped did not mean Gabryell's party was particularly lucky.
Every Scarlet-side Stratholme run usually produced one or two of these from the trash. If none dropped at all, then next time, they should avoid bringing whoever entered the dungeon first.
Their loot luck was too cursed, and they did not deserve friends.
"The enchant formula Coldhands sold me before uses Righteous Orbs as a material," Gabryell said vaguely.
All he needed was for everyone to understand that this thing had value.
"There should be other uses for it too. Keep it. It might become more valuable later."
The main value of Righteous Orb came from Crusader, several high-end healing enchants, and the Priest tailoring robe, Truefaith Vestments.
"Everyone roll."
Gabryell rolled first.
Unfortunately, his luck was poor. He only rolled a 13.
"Snowy really is lucky," Carlos said.
Danielly won the Righteous Orb.
Right now, everyone still did not understand its true value. They did not fully grasp what Gabryell's words meant, so no one cared much about losing the roll.
"It's good that Snowy got it," Gabryell thought. "She can use it for Truefaith Vestments later."
The Pattern: Truefaith Vestments happened to drop from Balnazzar, the final boss of the Scarlet side.
If it did not drop this time, that was fine too. Before long, someone would farm it, and they could buy the pattern from the Auction House.
"Keep moving."
Gabryell did not lead everyone toward Balnazzar's room.
Instead, he headed down the right-hand passage.
It was time to cause trouble for Cannon Master Willey.