OldSeven dying did not stop the rest of the raid from killing the patrolling Ancient Core Hound.
"As expected, OldSeven contributed absolutely nothing."
"Agreed. We win with him, we win without him. Pretty sure we could raid with 39."
"Hey, OldSeven. Floor comfortable down there?"
"Comfortable? There's lava everywhere. Give him another minute and he'll be barbecue."
OldSeven immediately became the raid's punching bag.
Not that he had anyone to blame but himself. That had been a spectacularly stupid death.
Gabryell said, "Get OldSeven back up and rebuff him."
Then he turned his attention forward.
"Smooch, keep pulling. Take it slow and avoid patrols when you can."
If they somehow managed to wipe on trash again, some mysterious force from the Void was probably going to flame Gabryell into questioning every decision he had ever made.
Being Gabryell was hard work.
"Molten Core is full of elementals. Warlocks, I don't care if you top the damage meter in here. Your first job is keeping Banish up when we need it. After that, keep Curse of the Elements and Curse of Recklessness where they belong."
Until they were geared enough to brute-force Molten Core, the Warlocks were going to have to accept being utility players.
If they ignored Banish just to pad the meters, threw up nothing but Curse of Shadow, and caused threat problems chasing damage, nobody was going to praise them.
They were just going to get yelled at.
By the time they cleared to the bridge at the fork leading toward the first boss, Smooch stopped.
"Which way?"
The path to the left crossed the bridge toward Lucifron. Continuing straight would eventually take them toward Gehennas, the third boss.
Gabryell's main goal for tonight was to get Fearless's first Lucifron kill, then move on to Magmadar.
"Left. We're crossing the bridge."
He looked ahead.
"They say we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Well, here it is. If getting that first kill means crossing the bridge to hell itself, we're crossing it."
Smooch moved up to pull the patrol on the other side.
A Lava Surger.
"Everybody move up. Stay away from the edge, and watch your footing."
Gabryell really did not want to watch someone get launched into the lava.
Lava Surgers occasionally charged players who stood too far away. The hit itself was not particularly dangerous—around a thousand damage—but the knockback was another story.
On flat ground, getting thrown backward was annoying.
Near a river of lava, it was hilarious for everyone except the person suddenly hopping around down there and begging a healer to save them.
"This thing charges!"
Hugo, who had been standing farthest away to DPS, got hit by the Surger and thrown backward.
"Hugo, I literally just said stay away from the edge. You trying to take a lava bath and come back as roast pork?"
A few people laughed.
Gabryell kept calling the pull.
"Everybody move closer. Don't give it enough range to charge you."
Then he looked at the Hunters.
"You too. Time to show us that legendary Hunter melee DPS. Grab a folding chair and start swinging."
A few Mages apparently took the joke too seriously.
"And why the hell are you hitting it with your staffs? You think you're melee Mages now? Cast Frostbolt."
Once everyone understood how the charge worked, they naturally closed the distance.
Like most charge-style abilities, Surge seemed to have a minimum range. Stay close enough and the mob could not use it.
"From now on, whenever you see a Lava Surger, move in before you start attacking."
Gabryell was happy with how quickly everyone adjusted.
If they kept executing like this, Lucifron was going down tonight.
"Recover here. Nobody goes inside yet."
Flame Imps and Lava Surgers were patrolling farther in. If someone wandered ahead and pulled while the raid was still drinking and recovering, they could easily end up with another wipe.
"There's a vein!"
Plenty of people in the raid had gathering professions.
Astral was one of those poor Fury Warriors stuck with Blacksmithing and Mining. Whenever a mining node appeared on his minimap, all he saw was a pile of gold waiting to be picked up.
Molten Core had plenty of Dark Iron Deposits, and 230 Mining was enough to gather them.
Astral immediately ran over.
Gabryell saw him heading for the vein and almost told him to stop.
Then he reconsidered and smiled.
"Fine. Dark Iron Deposits are free game. Mine whatever you want. One rule: nobody stops to mine during combat."
This was not a GDKP run.
There was no reason to buy into the superstition that Dark Iron Deposits were some kind of sacred dragon vein that had to be left untouched or Thunderfury bindings would stop dropping.
Gabryell could just treat the veins as another perk of being in the raid.
Even if someone got Blood of the Mountain, they could keep it.
As long as nobody abandoned a fight to swing a pickaxe.
"First time I catch you mining in combat, minus ten DKP. Second time, you're benched. Third time, you're out of the raid."
Everyone else was fighting for their lives while you ran off to mine?
Not happening.
Astral immediately defended himself.
"I swear I won't mine during combat."
They were not fighting right now, so he was perfectly safe.
Unfortunately, his luck sucked.
No Blood of the Mountain.
Once everyone had recovered, Gabryell started assigning targets.
"Carlos, pick up the Lava Surger patrolling in front."
Then he pointed farther inside.
"See that pack of flaming imps on the left? Susie, David, Nightlord—bring them back here. We'll AoE them down."
Better to pull them deliberately than let someone stumble into them in the middle of another fight.
"Melee on the Surger. Mages, AoE the imps."
Gabryell was not even counting the Warlocks as DPS for this pack.
If somebody pushed too far inside and accidentally grabbed the other two patrolling Lava Surgers, he wanted the Warlocks free to Banish them.
Carlos pulled the nearest Surger while the other three tanks went to grab the imps.
A whole pack of flaming little monsters charging toward the raid looked more intimidating than it really was.
Since everyone was already grouped tightly because of the Lava Surger, one nervous Mage panicked and cast Frost Nova.
"Holy shit!"
The two Rogues standing closest to the imps died almost instantly.
Their health bars simply vanished.
Gabryell had been expecting exactly that.
"No Frost Nova! Mages, Blizzard only!"
The Flame Imps behaved much like Onyxian Whelps. Rooting them with Frost Nova made them turn on whoever happened to be standing closest.
Those two unlucky Rogues had simply been in the worst possible spot.
After seeing two people die to one Frost Nova, none of the other Mages needed a second warning.
They obediently started channeling Blizzard.
The imps did not have much health, and nine Mages dropping AoE on them made short work of the pack.
As soon as the last one died, everyone switched back to the Lava Surger.
Gabryell checked his flask timer.
"One hour left."
Exactly sixty minutes.
For a raid progressing through Molten Core for the first time, after already wiping twice, getting this far in an hour was an incredible pace.
From what Gabryell knew, Madhouse had already reached Lucifron.
The problem was that they had been wiping on him all day.
They had started around ten that morning and were still going.
And Madhouse had already spent an entire week learning the trash—their abilities, patrols, and all the little things that could wipe an unprepared raid.
Even with that experience, clearing from the entrance to Lucifron still took them two or three hours and seven or eight wipes.
Gabryell had no intention of matching that.
"There are more imps inside. Watch yourselves. Mages, no Frost Nova. The moment they come in, Blizzard and burn them down."
Then he assigned the Surgers.
"Carlos, hold one. Warlocks, Banish the other."
The middle section before Lucifron's cave was a perfect place to wipe an unprepared raid.
Two Lava Surgers and a pack of Flame Imps could tear apart anyone who walked in without a plan.
But Gabryell had already warned them.
Nobody panicked.
They simply followed the calls.
While the other Mages started casting Blizzard, Gabryell did something different.
Confident in his execution, he put up Ice Barrier and ran straight toward the imps, spamming Arcane Explosion.
He danced along the very edge of their attack range, detonating spell after spell without letting the pack properly surround him.
The display immediately drew everyone's attention.
Coldhands, as usual, was the first one to start hyping him up.
"OldSeven, you seeing this? That's what a real god-tier Mage looks like. You can't learn this."
OldSeven had no shame whatsoever.
"I admit the Guild Leader's better than me. That just means I'm the second-best Mage in the guild."
"Then get in there and do it yourself," Coldhands said.
OldSeven took the bait instantly.
"Watch closely. The second-best Mage in the guild is about to put on a show. Try to learn something."
He Blinked straight into the pack.
There was just one small problem.
Gabryell had Ice Barrier.
OldSeven did not.
Blink!
He appeared in the middle of the Flame Imps and managed to get off exactly one Arcane Explosion.
Then the entire pack beat him to death.
OldSeven died again.
At this point, he had officially claimed the title of Floor King for the night.
A disgrace to Mages everywhere.
Coldhands could barely breathe from laughing.
"Hahahaha! I learned a lot. Thanks for showing me exactly what not to do. I promise I'll never Blink into a pack and die like an idiot."
Losing one useless Mage was hardly a problem.
The way Gabryell was playing it, one of his Arcane Explosions was doing the work of two Mages sitting back and casting Blizzard.
Once the imps were dead, he immediately called the switch to the Lava Surgers.
By now, everyone was starting to get comfortable.
Trash was no longer stopping their progress.
After killing the two Surgers, they found another pack of Flame Imps farther inside and handled them exactly the same way.
"Everybody with me. Stack on the right and drink."
Gabryell led the raid into Lucifron's cave and had everyone regroup in the open area along the right wall.
While the raid recovered, he watched Lucifron patrol nearby with his two minions.
A smile crept across his face.
They had reached the first boss in less than an hour and a half of progression.
Fearless's first Lucifron kill tonight was looking more and more realistic.
...
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