It was the kind of quest chain that could have been finished in one run, but Blizzard insisted on making players run back and forth two or three times.
They took Balnazzar's head back to Light's Hope Chapel, turned in The Truth Comes Crashing Down, and picked up Above and Beyond, which sent them back into Stratholme to kill Baron Rivendare and bring back his head.
"What a scam of a quest."
Carlos couldn't help complaining. "This thing is designed to torture new players. One quest chain, and it basically makes you run Stratholme three times."
Anyone who completed The Archivist objectives on their first Scarlet-side run and then killed Balnazzar before going back to Light's Hope would only discover afterward that the next quest required Balnazzar's head. At worst, they'd curse Blizzard and run the Scarlet side again.
But anyone who got Balnazzar's head, decided not to turn it in yet, pushed straight through the Service Gate, killed Rivendare, and only then went back to Light's Hope was in for a much nastier surprise.
Above and Beyond would be waiting for them.
Which meant killing Rivendare all over again.
That was the kind of moment that made people want to put a fist through their keyboard.
If Gabryell hadn't been deliberately steering them through the chain like someone who had done it a hundred times before, Carlos's temper probably would've cost him a new keyboard.
With Above and Beyond in their quest logs, there was no reason to use the main gate this time. They entered through the Service Gate.
The advantage of killing Magistrate Barthilas earlier immediately became clear. The trash near the entrance was already gone, leaving them a clear path toward the Baron side—the undead half of Stratholme.
Before heading deeper in, Gabryell stopped at the small chapel near the Service Gate and found Aurius.
He handed over the Medallion of Faith they'd picked up earlier.
With the medallion in his hands, Aurius finally found the courage to leave the chapel and confront Rivendare, hoping to avenge his loved ones.
When they reached the Baron later, Aurius would come to their aid. He wasn't going to carry the fight for them, but any extra help was welcome.
With that taken care of, they headed into the Undead side.
"Stonespine."
Their luck was good. The rare elite gargoyle was patrolling nearby.
"Clear the trash first. Then we'll pull the rare."
There were too many mobs around Stonespine. Pulling him immediately would bring half the room with him.
"Snowy, keep one shackled. Take one of the melee undead."
Having a Priest in Stratholme really was convenient. At level 60, that kind of utility made dungeon runs much easier than they would've been with a Restoration Druid.
There were also plenty of ghost mobs roaming the area, and those were especially annoying.
"Carlos, remember to LoS them when you pull."
The ghosts attacked from range. Without breaking line of sight, they would simply stand where they were and keep casting.
"And if you get a bat, kill it first."
The bats had even higher priority than the ghosts. WoW bat mobs had a bad habit of coming with obnoxious tricks like AoE silences and stealth detection.
No bats this time, so the ghosts came first.
Carlos tagged the pack with his ranged weapon, then ducked behind the corner. Once their line of sight broke, the ranged mobs were forced to come closer.
Danielly Shackled one of the melee undead while Carlos picked up the rest.
The ghosts hit hard enough that letting too many beat on the tank at once was asking for trouble.
"When we start farming the Deathcharger later, we're definitely bringing Warquell."
Gabryell was already planning future mount runs. A classic eight-man Baron farming group would be perfect, and Warquell could main tank it.
If there was one level-60 dungeon where Protection Paladins could truly show off, it was Stratholme.
Once they moved past dungeon progression and into raiding, though, Prot Paladins would largely disappear from tanking duties, replaced by Holy Paladins standing in the back and healing.
That wouldn't truly change until The Burning Crusade finally gave Protection Paladins the tools to become proper tanks.
For now, raid progression meant healing.
They kept moving carefully, clearing one pack at a time and doing everything possible to avoid adds.
The mobs here were high level and hit hard. Even one accidental extra pack could turn into a wipe.
"Ogabs, we wiped."
Almost as if the thought had summoned it, a message from David popped up.
His group had wiped on Balnazzar.
The reason was simple: they didn't have a Dwarf Priest. After Psychic Scream went out, the pull fell apart, threat went everywhere, and Balnazzar reached the healer and flattened them.
"Don't get discouraged. Try again," Gabryell replied.
Susie's group had gone much more smoothly. They had already killed Balnazzar and gone back to turn in the head quest.
The only disappointment was that Pattern: Truefaith Vestments hadn't dropped.
Nightlord's party, meanwhile, was making the slowest progress of the three. They were only now killing Magistrate Barthilas and hadn't even gone back for their second Balnazzar kill yet.
Another whisper appeared.
"Ogabs, I'm begging you. No more Ret Paladin," Coldhands wrote. "The damage is awful. Everything takes forever."
"Starting next week, he won't be able to keep playing Ret anyway. Just survive one more week."
Igor's career as a Retribution Paladin was almost over.
Next Tuesday, Fearless would begin progressing through Molten Core. If Igor wanted a raid spot, he was going to have to accept his fate and heal.
For the rest of level 60, if he wanted to play DPS, his Rogue alt was the obvious answer. Maybe after experiencing what Rogue damage felt like, he'd finally give up on trying to make Retribution work.
By then, the surrounding trash had been cleared.
"Okay, Carlos. Pull Stonespine."
The gargoyle was still patrolling, and it moved surprisingly quickly. If Carlos missed the window, they'd have to wait for it to loop around again.
Carlos stepped forward and fired.
Stonespine came straight toward them.
Like many rare elites, he upheld the proud tradition of being far less dangerous than his title suggested.
He had one major strategy.
Melee the tank.
That was about it.
Free loot with wings.
"I'm looting again!"
After pulling gear she could use from Balnazzar earlier, Smooch had become even more enthusiastic about opening corpses.
At this rate, she was going to insist on looting every boss in Stratholme.
Stoneskin Gargoyle Cape (Rare)
Binds when picked up
Back
43 Armor
+8 Agility
+7 Strength
+14 Stamina
Requires Level 56
"It's white and looks longer than your average cloak or cape."
The cape even had flavor text.
In WoW, flavor text was practically worth its weight in gold.
All right, maybe that was a slight exaggeration.
Still, gear with memorable little descriptions like that always had extra collectible value.
"Haha! Another piece I can use. My loot luck is still on fire!"
Once again, Smooch had pulled something for herself.
In her excitement, she'd apparently forgotten that there was also a Rogue in the party.
DeathScum had not forgotten.
"We're rolling."
Smooch immediately changed tactics.
"Come on, Scum. Be nice and let me have it."
Apparently dignity was negotiable when loot was involved.
"Nope. Not happening. Gear comes first."
DeathScum was completely immune to the act.
Technically, Carlos could use the cape too. But he planned on farming a Fire Resistance cloak and didn't want this one badly enough to compete for it.
"Fine. Roll it." Smooch sounded supremely confident. "I never lose rolls."
She hit Need first.
For once, RNG turned against her.
DeathScum burst out laughing.
"Seventeen? Thanks for the cape."
He hit Need.
Then the result appeared.
There was a moment of silence.
Apparently being immune to flirting didn't come with better RNG.
Now it was Smooch's turn to laugh.
She happily claimed the cape, equipped it, and spun her character around.
"That looks awesome."
The Stoneskin Gargoyle Cape really was noticeably longer than an ordinary cloak, hanging almost to the ground.
Whatever else you could say about it, the thing had style.
Maybe flavor text really was worth its weight in gold.
DeathScum could only stare at it in envy.
With Stonespine dead, they moved on toward the first major boss on the Baron side: Baroness Anastari.
She was much more dangerous than the rare elite they'd just killed, and an unprepared group could easily wipe on her.
"Carlos, pull her over here and LoS her."
Fighting directly beside the ziggurat risked pulling the uncleared mobs on either side.
Carlos shot Baroness Anastari, then immediately moved behind the corner.
With her line of sight broken, the banshee came to them.
"Why am I missing so much?" DeathScum asked.
Gabryell answered immediately.
"Check your debuffs."
DeathScum looked.
Banshee's Curse.
His chance to hit had been reduced by 10%.
"Why can't I control my character?!" Smooch shouted.
Her character suddenly stopped responding.
DeathScum's attention jumped to her health bar.
"Smooch, what the hell happened to your HP?"
Her maximum health had exploded into the tens of thousands.
Gabryell, on the other hand, relaxed slightly.
At least Anastari had Possessed Smooch instead of Danielly.
"Everyone switch to Smooch."
Baroness Anastari vanished into the Hunter's body, taking control of her.
Smooch could do nothing but watch while her own character turned against the party.
The only way to force Anastari back out early was to beat the possessed player down to half health.
Everyone immediately switched targets.
With Possess massively increasing Smooch's maximum health, it took a concentrated burst to drag that swollen health bar down.
Once she reached the halfway point, Anastari abandoned her body and reappeared.
"Snowy, use Fade on cooldown."
Gabryell didn't want Danielly sitting too high on threat while the fight kept shifting back and forth. Possess itself could pick anyone, but having the healer pull aggro during one of those transitions would make an already messy fight even worse.
Baroness Anastari began casting Silence.
The cast took a second and a half.
Gabryell immediately shut it down with Counterspell.
"Scum, next one's yours."
"No problem. I've got it."
Letting that cast finish would be dangerous.
Ten seconds without spells was more than enough time for the tank to die.