Anastari Heirloom (Rare)
Binds when picked up
Neck
+15 Stamina
Requires Level 55
Equip: Increases damage done by Shadow spells and effects by up to 13.
DeathScum stared at the necklace in disappointment.
"What kind of neck is this? It doesn't even give general spell damage. It's Shadow-only, and we don't have a Warlock."
Baroness Anastari's loot was definitely underwhelming for their group.
"Don't write off Shadow Priests," Gabryell said. "Go duel a Dwarf Shadow Priest sometime. You might not even win."
Then he turned to Danielly.
"Snowy, take it. When the Battlegrounds open, you can respec Shadow sometime and have fun with it."
They didn't have a Warlock, but they did have a Priest. With Stamina and bonus Shadow damage, Anastari Heirloom was perfectly usable as a Shadow Priest PvP necklace.
There were three ziggurats on the Undead side. Clearing the mobs inside all three was required before the way into Slaughter Square would open.
"You guys wait here. Snowy and I will handle this one."
There was no reason to send the entire party inside. Gabryell's Mage and Danielly's Priest were more than enough for the small pack waiting in the ziggurat.
Carlos answered in a suspiciously knowing tone. "Sure."
Smooch giggled. "Don't worry. I'll keep Scum from third-wheeling."
DeathScum immediately played along. "I didn't see anything."
The conversation was already heading somewhere it had no business going.
"We're literally going in there to kill one pack of mobs," Gabryell said.
"No need to explain," all three replied almost in unison. "We understand."
You understand absolutely nothing.
Gabryell refused to take the bait and led Danielly inside.
"Snowy, shield me. Once I start AoEing, hit them with Holy Nova whenever it's ready."
The mobs inside didn't have much health. Between a Mage's AoE and Holy Nova, the pack wouldn't last long.
Holy Nova was a useful spell, but in the current version of the game it had two obvious problems: the mana cost was awful, and it couldn't simply be spammed nonstop.
If it were cheap enough to cast over and over, Priests could've turned themselves into walking AoE bombs.
Gabryell even knew how ridiculous that idea would become much later. Once the Priest talent revamp introduced Power Infusion, you could stack mana, add burst trinkets like Talisman of Ephemeral Power, and turn a Holy Nova build into an even sillier PvP gimmick.
Charge into a crowd in Alterac Valley, blow everything you had, and keep going until your mana bar—or your health bar—gave out.
"That fast?"
Gabryell and Danielly came back out sooner than Carlos expected.
He looked between them. "Ogabs, you're done already?"
DeathScum studied their frames.
"They're both OOM."
Smooch immediately seized the opening.
"Wow. Didn't even last long enough for a second round?"
Danielly said nothing.
Gabryell decided he didn't want to know what she was thinking.
These three could turn two empty mana bars into a dirty joke faster than they could clear trash.
"Next ziggurat."
He ignored them and led the party toward the left side.
The boss guarding the next one was Nerub'enkan, an enormous spider-like creature.
"Dung beetle," Smooch blurted out the moment she saw it.
If Nerub'enkan could understand her, it probably would've answered, You're the dung beetle. Your whole family are dung beetles.
"It's a spider," Gabryell corrected.
Well...
It didn't look much like one.
"Go straight up. Fight him by the ziggurat and don't touch the mobs on the right."
They hadn't cleared that side, and there was no reason to. Later, when they moved toward the final ziggurat, they could hug the wall and bypass most of it.
The party moved up and engaged Nerub'enkan.
For something that looked so intimidating, the boss was surprisingly easy. The little scarabs it summoned were barely worth worrying about, and the group burned it down without any trouble.
The instant it died, Smooch sprinted over to loot.
Then she saw the drop.
"Oh, now that's a weapon! That's what a real Hunter should be carrying. Mine. Mine!"
Carapace Spine Crossbow (Rare)
Binds when picked up
Ranged
Crossbow
82 - 124 Damage
Speed 3.30
(31.2 damage per second)
+4 Agility
+9 Stamina
Durability 75 / 75
Requires Level 56
The stats were solid, and the weapon damage was excellent. For a Hunter who hadn't started raiding yet, it was one of several very strong options.
There was the BoE epic Dwarven Hand Cannon, Blackcrow from Shadow Hunter Vosh'gajin in Lower Blackrock Spire, Ancient Bone Bow from Scholomance, and now the Carapace Spine Crossbow.
Any of those four could comfortably carry a Hunter until they eventually got Rhok'delar.
As usual with ranged weapons, Warriors and Rogues could roll if the Hunter didn't need them.
Smooch absolutely needed this one.
So there was no argument.
She equipped the crossbow and admired it for several seconds.
"My DPS is even higher now. I could probably out-DPS two Igors by myself."
"Everyone inside the ziggurat," Gabryell said.
This time, the whole party followed him in.
Not because the mobs were any stronger, but because this run's Scourge Data had spawned on the floor inside.
It was the quest item required for The Active Agent.
On their previous trip to Light's Hope Chapel, they'd already turned in its prerequisite quest, The Flesh Does Not Lie, so everyone who had The Active Agent could grab the data now.
At this point in Vanilla, completing the quest rewarded the Seal of the Dawn, a replacement for the ordinary Argent Dawn Commission that still allowed players to collect Scourgestones while providing an actual combat bonus against Undead.
Seal of the Dawn
Equip: Increases Attack Power by 81 when fighting Undead. Also allows the collection of Scourgestones on behalf of the Argent Dawn.
Later in 2005, Blizzard would add Rune of the Dawn as a caster alternative.
Rune of the Dawn
Equip: Increases damage done to Undead by magical spells and effects by up to 48. Also allows the collection of Scourgestones on behalf of the Argent Dawn.
They cleared the mobs inside, found the small container on the floor, and collected the Scourge Data.
Quest done.
There was no reason to return to Light's Hope yet, though. They could turn everything in after Rivendare was dead.
"Next ziggurat."
The final boss was Maleki the Pallid.
There were three caster mobs and a skeleton positioned in front of him. If the group charged straight up, they risked turning a simple pull into a complete mess.
With Gabryell calling the route, that wasn't happening.
"Smooch, pull the trash down first."
They separated the four mobs from the boss, killed them safely at the bottom, then stopped long enough to recover.
Once everyone was ready, they pulled Maleki.
"Watch your interrupts."
Gabryell kept his eyes on the boss's cast bar.
Ice Tomb was the dangerous one. It locked a player down for around ten seconds, which could easily wreck the fight if it hit at the wrong moment.
Maleki started casting it.
Gabryell immediately Counterspelled him.
"Save your interrupts for that. Don't waste them on every Frostbolt."
Frostbolt was annoying, but it wasn't going to wipe the party.
"Seriously? He's a vampire too?"
"He's draining mana!"
Maleki could also drain health and mana. Neither effect looked impressive on a single cast, but if the fight dragged on, they added up quickly.
Still, Ice Tomb remained the priority.
Better to eat a drain than have somebody disabled for ten seconds when the group needed them.
"Scum, pay attention. Next Tomb is yours."
"I've got it."
A moment later, Maleki began another Ice Tomb.
DeathScum reacted a fraction too late.
The cast finished.
He froze solid.
Fortunately, the Tomb had landed on him instead of Danielly.
Ten seconds later, he finally broke free.
"Okay," DeathScum said, sounding considerably less cocky. "I'm awake now. I'll actually pay attention."
He knew exactly how bad the mistake could've been.
If Danielly had been locked down for ten seconds at the wrong moment, Carlos might've been forced to burn another major defensive. Shield Wall had a thirty-minute cooldown; wasting it here could come back to haunt them later.
DeathScum didn't make the same mistake twice.
When Maleki began his next Ice Tomb, Kick stopped the cast immediately.
"That's more like it."
With the mechanics under control, the group focused everything on the boss.
Maleki the Pallid went down.
Smooch immediately ran over to loot.
The girl was becoming addicted to opening boss corpses.
"Hunter gear, Hunter gear... come on, give me Hunter gear."
Apparently she'd completely forgotten that her original excuse for hogging loot duty had been finding Priest gear for Danielly.
The item appeared.
Skull of Burning Shadows (Rare)
Binds when picked up
Held In Off-hand
+15 Fire Resistance
+10 Shadow Resistance
Requires Level 57
DeathScum stared.
"What the hell is that?"
Carlos was equally unimpressed.
"That's some cursed loot."
Gabryell grimaced.
This wasn't just bad luck.
For their current dungeon gear, the thing was practically dead loot.
No one wanted it, so Gabryell took it.
Still, resistance gear had its uses. He could stash the skull and bring it out later when he needed extra Fire Resistance—Firemaw in Blackwing Lair immediately came to mind.
At least that meant the boss hadn't been a complete waste of time.
Barely.