With the thought of perhaps some interesting treasure again waiting for me I whip out my fishing rod for a few minutes of relaxing, or boring, fishing at the wreckage. I fortuitously have the skill required to fish in the area and, to my delight, I pull a couple of mithril-bound chests from the wreckage. Inside one of those chests is a 210 skill enchanting formula to add stamina to a shield! This is not a particularly common formula to find and is particularly handy for my enchanter wannabe-tank. Maybe I should take more time to fish.

As quickly as the dagger flashed through the air it becomes motionless, and the marine in our group wants to ensure it stays that way. ‘I sure as hell don’t want that thing jumping up at me, whatever caused it. Let’s put a large rock over it to stop it from moving.’

‘Soldier, personally I would advise against that, what with it still being in my leg. Professor, you’re a biologist, perhaps you could remove the dagger safely? I’m in a bit of pain.’

‘I don’t know about that. What if it attacks me?’

‘Oy vey, then I do it myself’, and with that the rabbi eases the dagger out from his flesh and tosses it to one side, wincing with the pain as he does.

‘Hey, rabbi, the dagger didn’t move when you tossed it. Why don’t you go ahead and examine it now?’

The rabbi’s reply was perhaps anachronistic to the 1920s and better left unquoted.

When Tiger reached Shattrath City, shortly after the Dark Portal opened, she chose to side with the Scryers mostly on a whim. Whilst ostensibly from an opposing faction they had brighter and more colourful designs, offered an opportunity to see life from a different point of view, and even if they weren’t night elves they were still elves. It was only much later that I found out the Aldor offer better reputation-based armour and recipes for her being a blacksmithing protection warrior.

Faust, my warlock, pottered in to the Outlands fashionably late and found his way to Shattrath. It might have been reasonable to think that I would not be making the same rash decision as I had with Tiger and research the choice of Aldor against Scryer. Reasonable, but wrong, as I chose Aldor for no other reason than Tiger was Scryer and it seemed like a good idea to have someone in each camp. I had spent more time around female Draenei and their tails by then as well. Needless to say, the Scryers hold better rewards for an enchanter and tailor who happens to be a damage-dealing spellcaster.

It’s reassuring to realise that I eventually learn my lesson, and Knifey refused to pick sides until I had done some research. I asked the quartermasters for each faction what they had to offer me should I decide to work to advance their cause. ‘What role do you take in the adventuring milieu?’, I am asked, to which I reveal my poison-dripping daggers and mask my pink-haired head to answer I am a rogue. ‘Ah, well, there’s a generic weapon that could be considered rogue-ish, I suppose, but nothing of note and no armour. Still, you can get that kind of equipment in the many dangerous dungeons in the Outlands and surely don’t need to rely on us for that. Now, my little friend, what profession do you enjoy as a money sink?’ After pointing out that I am, in fact, a tall one, I eagerly reply that I tinker as an engineer in my spare time, creating all manner of interesting gadgets that only occasionally explore. ‘A what?’

The above conversation was identical for both the Aldor and Scryer, with no weapons, armour or schematics on offer that would attract me to one faction over the other. I thought I must have overlooked something, as surely engineers and rogues couldn’t be entirely overlooked in the broadest storyline arc of the Outlands. I called up my Gnomish internet browser and searched for “scryer or aldor for rogue engineer”, and the first hit was precisely that question answered with ‘Neither one gives you *#%!’ I’m glad I spent the time researching it.

Knifey made up his mind, affiliating with the Scryers. After all, being able to jump down to avoid waiting for the lift is quite handy.

With a bit of thought and a clear memory of how the monster was summoned and how to defeat it we realise we need to make use of the corpses in the room, and start to hack at them before striking the Blood Angel itself. Our attacks are wounding it, but he Blood Angel is not stupid. It moves, slowly crawling to manoeuvre itself on top of the dead summoners. As its great form passes over a corpse the body is absorbed immediately, leaving behind no trace. With it’s movement comes an opportunity, and Dexter seizes it. ‘I spy a clear line with which I can charge in to the fray!’

‘Careful you don’t trip’, is returned as advice, but Dexter had not planned to charge the Blood Angel itself, preventing any stumbling from turning him in to the next cadaverous victim.

Despite our effective tactic, the corpses were being absorbed as quickly as we could move to a different one, and without any corpses our hope of victory would surely be lost. Trying to keep the Blood Angel at bay there was talk of snatching one of the corpses away to safety, with Tal’s last ditch suggestion of ‘grabbing one of the bodies and jumping out of the window at the back!’

‘…in to the chasm? That’s a little extreme, don’t you think?’

‘There’s a chasm?’ We clearly need more time to think, but the Blood Angel is not stopping. George has his twin blades drawn, but only one is ready to attack the Blood Angel, the other needs recoating.

Ann-See spots George getting ready to coat his weapon with his first action. ‘No, hit the Blood Angel with the good weapon first, then you can decide what to do with your other action. Nothing is wasted this way!’ George ruminates on this briefly before deciding that Ann-See’s suggestion makes sense. He brings his blade around and thrusts it deep in to the Blood Angel.

George’s first attack, the one that was going to be used on hitting a stationary object, gets a natural 20 on the die roll, which is confirmed for a critical hit! The extra damage caused by the critical hit is enough to stop the Blood Angel, and we watch as its life fades. Well, we assume the critical hit did enough damage to kill it, it could just have been the large amount of smugness emanating from Ann-See after her suggestion. Still, she may well have just saved the party, along with the world.

Yes, the DM had generously taken time outside of the adventure to draw the final map on the battle-mat.

Moving through the main entrance our presence alerts some demon dogs, and some humanoids appear from out of a couple of tents in the courtyard. They are probably human, but despite all his knowledge Dexter finds he cannot recall useful information about them, so we just assume they have spleens to aim for. The Dretch demon dogs belch a toxic, opaque gas in to the courtyard, hindering efforts to enter battle, but it doesn’t stop us completely.

Tal charges in to battle on his warhorse, running through one enemy with his lance before cleaving through to a second enemy who was unfortunate enough to be standing close by. Yes, he cleaved with a lance, that’s how cool he is. He is apparently also so full of awesome that he called down a bolt of lightning from the sky in to the courtyard. It is only when the rest of us join in the fighting that we realise the truth, that some god is taking potshots at us whenever we strike a foe. Luckily, whoever is throwing the lightning around is capricious with his shots, or perhaps drunk, as the lightning sometimes hits our enemy as well as Dexter’s poor horse.

Having found that we can call forth lightning by striking someone with our weapons we briefly consider running around with daggers to play deathmatch tag, stabbing each other for minimal damage and seeing who outlasts the lightning. However, with a Blood Angel to stop we are compelled to be a little more serious for now. Even so, the DM is feeling the strain of our antics, urging Tal to ‘come and kill this final Dretch. I’m losing the will to live.’

Ann-See perks up hearing this, and is quick to reply, ‘Really? Tal, wait another round!’ Luckily for the DM, Tal is more keen to kill actively than passively, and the final Dretch is despatched to the sound of another crack of lightning. With no more enemies in the courtyard and a faint sound of chanting coming from inside the temple, perhaps part of a summoning process, we head up the steps to the main doors.