Thel'naxress the Fair

[Aldrannath]

Aldrannath rumbled softly to himself as he stood on the vast mushroom, gazing out over the marsh. He had too many thoughts to collect, and too few words to speak them with. But his most honoured sister had waited long enough, letting the hours slip silently by as he stood, and watched, and thought. At long last, he spoke.

"She was ready for us. Her guards she threw before us as scraps to snare a panther: the last of her defences was a trap." Aldrannath grimaced, remembering. "She had an arcane shield of terrible power. Even together, Druids, Priestesses and the Shaman, we could not break it. Then, her defenders came upon us in force; the Sentinels and the Warden held them back for a time, but if Serane had not called the retreat, we would have been overwhelmed. We ran, and Elder Shanna delayed our pursuers as best she could with her snares, while the laughter of Thel'naxress rang in our ears."

There was another long silence. He could feel her eyes on him, still waiting, with the slow patience of the truly old. It was calming, at other times; now it only plumbed the depths of his disquiet. She already knew there was more to tell.

"I do not smell It, here. The Naga have foul sorceries, to be sure, and there is a taint in that water that will not easily be cleansed, but the choking stench of the Pit is absent from their lair and from their magics. My heart tells me that we have come in vain." The faintest rustle told him that she had moved slightly, but he sensed her thought. "Not in vain. No closer to our quarry, then, no closer to our darkest Foe." He sighed heavily. "Yet, we must slay this Naga. The pride of the young ones has been bruised, and that is a fine and healthy thing, but they teeter now on the brink of despair. And despair is a deadly blade in the hands of our Enemy."

He fell silent again, and stood frowning out at the marsh. The rest did not need to be spoken: they would have to find a way to weaken or destroy the shield, and return into the very teeth of her trap. Long hours he stood there, musing and fretting; when at last he turned, the honoured Vaelitha had long since gone to her prayers.

So, back to SSC at the earliest opportunity, provisionally Monday; the raid is locked of course, and I plan to reserve the whole evening for our Lady of Coilfang. If we can muster 8-10 lvl80s, I'm pretty confident that we can crack it, although it may well take several tries to get the coordination right. Ventrilo will be a huge help, so please install if you don't already have it, and let's see who might let us use their server.

RP ideas in the meantime:

• Armanor leads a trip to Oshu'gun in Nagrand, to look for ways of weakening the arcane shield of Thel'naxress, or destroying her Elemental defenders;
  
• a rest break at one of the Kaldorei settlements in the Blade's Edge Mountains;
  
• a trip to Allerian Stronghold and/or Shattrath to consult with mages on how to weaken or destroy the shield;
  
• a visit to the Sporelings, to glean their local knowledge of the swamp, the Naga, the reservoir and its taint. Winning their trust and confidence won't be easy; this is an opportunity to garner some Sporeggar rep IC for anyone who feels like it.

Between that and non-plotty options (running any and all errands for the Cenarion Refuge, supporting the troops at Honor Hold or the Dark Portal, visiting old friends in Blade's Edge or Terokkar, whatever strange activities pop into Armanor's fevered mind) there should be plenty of RP options to keep everyone going between now and our final trip to SSC. After that, it's off back to Kalimdor for a while, at least, with no plans to return to Outland, so make the most of it while we're here. If you want to use any of the plotty options suggested above, either decide for yourselves what you get out of it, or wisp Vaelitha or me for suggestions. Keep us posted on what happens!

[Kaylaneh]

Celegil and Amplisa managed to kill one of the leaders of the Broken who was supporting the Naga at Coilfang.

[sveraes]

So if we are going up against that naga again I suggest we get a better plan. She is a sea witch, I don't know if it is a rank held by the naga like we have our huntresses, but that is not important. What is important is that I've gathered some information, from the people at the refuge, tales from the forces which first struck down Vashj. I think it would be safe to assume that sea witches must have some common traits.

We must ward ourselves against her magic as much as we can, Armanor you can make totems to ward off her attacks, Adrannath will be trying to keep her attention, he can also shift forms to avoid any traps and snares she may put, afterall she fights with a bow.

We have learned that somehow the naga have enslaved the elementals of Zangarmarsh. They are purifying them too somehow, I got some long explanation from a hydromancer of sorts about how it might work and how it might be part of controlling them, but there isn't anything we can do short of killing the elementals.

Which will come after us. The room she resides in is rigged with elemental water, she will likely try to absorb their power. In addition there are four artifacts of sorts capable of erecting a powerful shield around her. Our best guess is that the water elementals power the shield too somehow. Only they can get through it.

Yet, there may be hope, as we've seen some elementals are tainted, if we can get a tainted elemental core we can use it as ammunition, ammunition that will pierce the shield.

I suggest following, we scatter around the central platform.
*sveraes digs a bit into the ground making a circle.*
*marks 8 dots along the circle like a clock – one in each direction*
We'll have to stem the tide of elemental and take out any tainted we can find, once we get its core thrown it to someone up near the centre and he can hurl it into the shielding artifacts.

I wish this was all, but she will undoubtedly send her naga allies and marsh walkers after us as well, We must be on our guard and have our capable fighters engage the naga and take the fight to the centre of the ring.

The marsh walkers however.... *taps the map*
They surround themselves with a cloud of spores. And as Armanor rightly said, they'll addle with your mind. Thank Elune the marsh walkers are not so fast, and dumb, if we use our abilities right we can keep our distance to them. So here is the plan.

We'll send the one of us with the fastest legs and the strongest bow to hit the marsh walker. Get its attention. Then run with it around the platform. *carves a circle into the circle on the ground* Between those of us fending off the elementals and those of us fighting the naga.
My plan is that when those of us at the elementals see the marsh walker passing by we turn to it. Hitting it with what we got, arrow - spell. I think that we should have enough people stationed at the centre to deal with any intruding elementals. This way the marsh walker should stay locked down, well moving in circles..
And we are able to hit any tainted elemental.

In character strategy explanation.
Okay bending things a bit here, but IC strategy.

[Aldrannath]

Nice idea Sveraes, thanks for that! I won't do my bit IC, because Aldrannath doesn't really do combat tactics.

A couple of small but important things tripped us up in phase 2 last time. First and most basic was that looting has to be "free for all" (or perhaps "Master Looter") to ensure that people can actually loot the tainted cores from the tainted elementals they kill. Heh.

The second problem was that we weren't killing the striders, or (even more crucially) the elementals, fast enough. I'm now convinced that we need ten lvl80s (with adequate connections ) to get Vashj down. The healing strain is not that hard (unless and until things start going horribly wrong) so I think we can manage with one healer, although two would be preferable.

Sveraes' IC outline is basically good, except that the tainted Elementals spawn on the stairs and do not move, despawning after 15 seconds, so we really have to have people ON the stairs ready to run over and kill them when they appear.

So, here's my plan, shout if you think you have an improvement to offer:

With ten lvl80s: one tank (me), one healer (two if we have eleven 80s), all others dps.

Tank and healer(s) stay near Vashj in the centre of the platform. Tank picks up all Coilfang Elites that spawn. No need for dps here; with healing I should be able to comfortably tank up to three of them, possibly even more. If we have two healers, one focuses on me and stands ready to receive cores, while the other raid heals, running around if necessary. People on the stairs should not be taking damage (as the Elementals don't attack) - if you get hit somehow, in the first instance it's probably best to bandage yourself.

The two best ranged dps should kite the striders. The aim is to kill each one before the next one spawns (175k hp in 60 seconds), but if there's an overlap, the kiters can handle one each for a short time. The idea of other ranged dps slapping the striders as they pass is an option we should bear in mind, but having two striders being kited at once is less bad than having elementals get through to Vashj.

So, that leaves six dps, in three pairs. One pair takes the stairs towards the entrance (west), the other two pairs take the north-and-east and the south-and-east sections. Of each pair, one (preferably ranged) stays at the very top of the stairs, keeping both their partner, and the healers in the centre of the platform, in line of sight. This is crucial for passing the tainted cores. The other (melee or ranged) roams the stairs of their section, looking out for tainted elementals and killing them if they spawn, but also killing as many as possible of the water elementals. Each pair is responsible for ensuring that NO elementals from their section get to Vashj.

Passing the cores is easy if everyone is in position. The "stairs dps" who kills the tainted elemental loots the core, then targets their partner at the top of the stairs, then right-clicks the core to throw it. The partner then targets and throws to the (tank) healer in the centre of the platform, who will be standing next to one of the shield generators ready to destroy it.

Tainted Elementals spawn fairly infrequently, so this will be the longest phase. Once all four shield generators are destroyed, we go into phase 3; this is a dps race, so blow all your cooldowns and let rip on Vashj. One hunter will be assigned to killing the spore bats that spawn; everyone needs to stay out of the poison clouds they create.

So, here's the role breakdown for phase 2, with individual priorities:

Tank:
1. pick up all Coilfang Elites;
2. tank them near Vashj in the centre of the platform;
3. kill them.

(Tank) Healer:
1. stand beside a shield generator that has not yet been destroyed, on the inside nearer to Vashj, ready to destroy it when you get a Tainted Core;
2. heal the tank;
3. heal anyone else in range, but do not move from position;
4. kill any elementals that get near Vashj (this should not happen).

(Raid healer - slot for eleventh player)
1. be careful not to get within 8 yards of the striders;
2. heal everybody, running around as necessary to get in range;
3. kill any elementals that get near Vashj (this should not happen).

The two top dps:
1. pick up any Coilfang striders that spawn;
2. kite them in a wide circle around the platform, outside the circle of shield generators;
3. kill them as quickly as possible;
4. if a second Strider spawns before the first one is dead, dps 2 goes to kite it while dps 1 finishes off the first.

Stairs dps:
1. roam your section of the stairs, looking out for tainted elementals, if you see one, drop everything and kill it, it despawns after 15sec;
2. after killing a tainted elemental, loot the core (this roots you in place), target your partner at the top of the stairs, and right-click the core in your inventory to throw;
3. the rest of the time, kill as many water elementals as possible.

Platform dps:
1. stay at the edge of the platform, just at the top of the stairs, and keep your partner (on the stairs) in line of sight;
2. watch out for striders, and step aside if necessary - they have a nasty fear aoe if you get within 8 yards (a bit more than melee range);
3. if you receive a tainted core from your partner, target the (tank) healer and right-click the core in your inventory to throw;
4. kill any and all water elementals that get past your partner - if they get to Vashj, each one increases her damage by 5%;
5. if the elementals are under control and a strider is in range, slap a DoT on the strider.

If we have ten lvl80s, and devote our evening to downing Vashj, I'm confident that we can crack it. It might take a few goes, but hey, that's what raiding is all about. If we have fewer than ten lvl80s, we won't attempt SSC; plan B is ready to go.

Either way, I'm looking forward to it. See you tonight!

[armanor]

I got rather bored so I decided to investigate a few of the broken who suported Thel'naxress around Zang.

[Vaelitha Skysong]

I love the idea of RPing in a raid. It gives a sense of difficulty that would be present in such a powerful foe. It's a good thing...

But devoting a night to wiping is not my idea of RP fun! Maybe next time we have something like this, we should have a few OOC goes at it, trying it out, getting a feel for it. Then attempt it IC. There are only so many wipes you can have before immersion is spoilt, and spoilt for good. I rather think that maybe this time we should go with the less strenuous option and have an evening of action with RP, where the focus can be on the RP, not the PvE. Because if we try and try and try again on Vashj the focus will end up being squarely in the PvE and that will be a shame, I think. Not to mention the irritation. EXTREME IRRITATION!

Just my thoughts.

[Aldrannath]

If we have the numbers, I think we have every chance of cracking it on the first or second go - in which case we can devote the rest of the evening to victory RP and the trip home to Kalimdor. But the odds of us having the numbers to even attempt Vashj tonight are looking a little slim.

*Shrug* - I'm flexible. Let's see who's online at 20.30ish, and decide together then.

[Aldrannath]

Well, by way of an update: we didn't have the numbers on the night, so we said that Thel'naxress was moving about Coilfang overseeing the repairs to the damage caused by our actions, and we managed to catch her in the Steamvault (Hydromancer Thespia). The evening turned out quite dramatic, and there was some awesome RP - but I won't give an IC update here and now, because Aldrannath has yet to regain consciousness...