One of Fidelis' goals is to encourage members to bond as they happily slaughter content that is a bit under level, in particular raids from the Burning Crusades. Termed "fun runs", we've unfortunately had to cancel the last couple due to a lack of sign-ups. As the clock ran down, I feared we would be denied this one as well.
Our plans were to take on the Serpentshrine Cavern, a 25-man instance with as many as we could muster and earn an achievement or two in the process. My experience with the Caverns was nil, so I was really looking forward to it.
We met in a grotto by a turgid pool and, as we had plenty of time as a few stragglers joined up, I hoisted my fishing pole and passed away the while discovering new fish. After it looked like there were no more volunteers, our merry band of twelve entered the portal and descended into the enormous subterranean cavern.
Immediately, I was struck by the immensity of the place. There were wide walkways leading around the place and a number of side tunnels to explore. Far above us, pipes led off to gods-knew-where. It was everything confining was not. Here and there, large bands of snake-like nagakin roamed. We noted with amusement as we explored that many of the elite monsters had fewer health than common monsters encountered at level 80. This dungeon had once been a hellacious challenge to groups of 25 well-geared players, now we were felling the same ophidian creatures with half the staff and scarcely a thought.
The first boss we encountered was a huge water elemental named Hydross. He summoned a few watery henchmen, which we promptly ignored. Hydross periodically placed marks upon us which increased the amount of damage he dealt, but they availed him naught. He was quickly dispatched and we patted ourselves on the back as we gleefully anticipated the next challenge.
Continuing our expedition, we made our way to a scalding pool. It seemed another boss lay within the boiling depths and it required a fisherman to lure it to the surface. I volunteered my services and the team accepted. I cast my line and when my bobber bobbed, a gigantic sea monster emerged and engaged us.
It spun about and shot spouts of water that knocked us into the pool. Each second in the water dealt chunks of damage on top of the The Lurker Below's attack. It was quickly becoming more dangerous than we had anticipated. The savage Lurker slew one of our companions and gleefully knocked us into the drink again.
This time when I clambered onto dry land, I found I was on the opposite side of the beast from the party. I lit into the creature with my magics and it was nearly destroyed when it again began firing its spout. This time I saw it coming and was able to take a chance and ice block myself just before the blast hit. My gamble paid off and I was unaffected by the attack. Dropping the block, I was able to resume my attacks with minimal loss of time and aided my friends in dispatching the creature.
After licking our wounds, we ventured forth and promptly got lost in the caverns. It took nearly a half hour of wandering before we found the object of our quest: a human-sized gorgon known as Lady Vashj. We confidently rushed forward to battle and in retrospect wondered how in the hell groups of level 70s did it.
The first phase of the battle posed no challenge whatsoever as we easily absorbed the forked bolts of lightning she threw. Our overconfidence was quickly placed in check when phase two began.
Suddenly four pillars activated shot forth beams of energy that protected the Lady from all harm while she was held in place but free to attack with impunity. Our leader noted we'd have to find four 'cores' to disable the arcane streams. Meanwhile, a LARGE number of water elementals and giant naga began emerging from waters surrounding her dais.
The giant nagas cast an area-of-effect fear every few seconds and we realized quickly that each water elemental that reached the Lady caused her to grow in size and increase her damage correspondingly. I found and slew, but could not loot, something called a 'tainted elemental'. When the person who could loot it got to it, the first core was retrieved, but the person was paralyzed and could not move as long as it was held.
Upon discovering the core could be "tossed" to another player, we quickly saw how to do it-- kill and loot, then toss to a player who was standing close to a pylon. If it was too far away, a makeshift bucket brigade would have to be made to get the core to the pylon.
Coordinating all of this while trying to hold back the constant flow of elementals while getting feared proved to be one of the greatest challenges we faced. By the time the third pylon was broken, I had been field-resurrected once, my armor was in tatters, and the Lady was so large she was nearly as tall as the ceiling. I think at one point, someone said she had about 30 'stacks' of her damage buff on her. Finally, someone found the fourth core and tossed it to the person standing by the pylon: me. Frantically I opened my backpack and activated the device. Now freed from the streams, Lady Vashj slithered around wreaking terrible vengeance.
I was quickly laid low by a single hit (19k damage will do that), but those that could withstand a hit were quickly healed by our capable crew and Barth. We literally cheered when her last piece of health was sliced away and the gargantuan gorgon fell to the floor.
It was definitely a fun run and I can't wait for our next!
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