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Okay, busy might have underestimated it a little.

Tuesday, we did The Battle of Darrowshire again. It went a little better, we were down to four deaths this time, none of them being Noxlux.

Then, deciding we had plenty of time left, we decided to take another crack at Stratholme. We were still having trouble with it, and when we wiped at fairly close to the same point as last time, that, it being a weekday, was that. talks about it and the third try on Saturday.

Friday night was a BRD run. Unfortunately, we only had four people, and were perhaps not at our all time best. The primary reason to go was for Thermidor to catch up on quests, and we did get two done for him. Also, I encountered my first Blood of the Mountain. I turned it in to boost my reputation with the Thorium Brotherhood. We got through to the back, and with some effort made it through the Lyceum. However, the flamethrowers in the next room got us again (or at least me and Thermidor), so we ended up not getting to the Throne Room to up the Anvilrage Captain count.

Saturday morning I got on early as I could to lend help to a Deadmines run. My poor neglected warrior (Merisan) is 18, which puts her at about the right level for a good group in Deadmines. Turns out the rest of the party was up before me, and a second run fell apart before it began due to real-life issues. But she got through the chains leading up to the main Deadmines quests, and did the two undead ones outside the instance.

Saturday evening was the big attempt on Stratholme. That instance really seems to be cursed for us. We attempted an early start, but word of this was not spread well, and we ended up with half the party showing up at the usual time.

In the meantime, Dunain helped Bolex through Scarlet Monastary for another try at the final piece for his set. It went a lot smoother than the first time. Thankfully, Thermidor showed up to help out at the end, and Bolex accidentally got the boss when there was still a few more people to clear out, but with Thermi’s firepower, we made it alright. Bolex didn’t get what he wanted, but did get a nice blue shield that he’ll be using for a while.

After getting into Stratholme, I realized that somewhere during the last few days I’d used a lot more ammo than I’d bargained for (probably BRD, now that I think of it, I’m not used to running instances two days in a row). Blondie realized that she probably didn’t have enough curative potions to deal with a nasty disease (? – I forget what’s its classed as) that the undead generate. So we popped out to Ironforge and flew back. Or I flew back. Blondiewood succumbed to the damage effects of the disease mid-flight. (150 damage/3 seconds and no health regeneration; and there’s no way to bandage, or cast, or potion while flying.) This ended up with Blondiewood having to run to recover her corpse… which was safely at the feet of the gryphon master – three zones away.

Despite these problems, we did fairly well. It’s still tough for us, but we’re getting a bit better, and it is generating some new equipment. (Ironically, the only Dungeon Set piece we’ve seen is for the pally set. Farmishi has it waiting for her.) But we got to the Archivist and got two quests done. We did Balthazar across the way (will need to do that again…); Blanc was hanging by a thread at the end of the fight, but we managed without anyone actually dieing. Went through the Hoard door and wiped partway through that area. We called it night there, since we’d done the real goal of the run.

Next time, we’re planning on Dire Maul North. Still an end-game instance, but an easier one than Stratholme, so it should be comparatively relaxing.