Most of the Horde players in Silverpine Forest were only level 10 to 20. When they ran into Gabryell's group, they avoided them as fast as they could, let alone dared to flag for PvP.
The group headed north into Tirisfal Glades, passing by the outskirts of Undercity.
"Is this Undercity?" David asked.
Gabryell said, "That's right. Undercity, the Horde's Undead capital."
"It feels so bleak," Smooch said.
Gabryell said, "The Undead are the Forsaken, and Undercity is built beneath the Ruins of Lordaeron. To the east are the Western Plaguelands, a land ravaged by the Scourge. The closer you get to that place, the more desolate everything becomes."
Smooch asked, "Should we go inside and take a look?"
Now that they were at the Undead capital, she was itching to peek inside.
Gabryell refused. "Undercity is underground. You have to take an elevator down. If we go down there now, there's only one outcome: the Undercity guards wipe us."
David said, "We can't go in now. Once we hit level 60, we'll come back and flatten this place."
Undercity was not going anywhere. Passing by this time planted the idea in everyone's mind that once they reached level 60, they would have to come back and visit Undercity properly.
Smooch declared dramatically, "Undercity, enjoy your peace while it lasts. We'll be back at 60."
"There's a ship on that tower across from us!" Lunatori suddenly exclaimed.
Gabryell looked toward the tower opposite Undercity and laughed. "That's Horde transportation—a zeppelin. Damn goblins won't run zeppelins for the Alliance. We only get boats."
The Horde's zeppelins were clearly more convenient than the Alliance's ships. The real target of complaint should be Blizzard, not the goblins. Zeppelins were yet another strong piece of evidence that Horde transportation was more convenient than Alliance transportation.
Once everyone heard it was just transportation, they lost interest. Without even thinking, they knew its destination had to be Horde territory.
After passing Undercity, Scarlet Monastery was close. A few more minutes of running brought them to Scarlet Monastery, a place deeply loved by Mage players.
There were level 29 and 30 elite mobs at the entrance to Scarlet Monastery, but a few elites posed no threat to a twenty-two-person raid. The group entered Scarlet Monastery smoothly.
"Everyone be careful. Horde players above level 30 are probably in Scarlet Monastery too," Gabryell reminded them, in case they ran into Horde groups inside and got caught off guard.
They did not run into any Horde players above level 30, but they did see bones scattered all over the ground.
"Was there a fight here?"
Gabryell looked at the bones left behind after players released their corpses and immediately understood that someone had reached Scarlet Monastery before them.
He opened his friends list, and sure enough, Dreamshade was inside Scarlet Monastery.
"Did you guys fight the Horde at the entrance?" Gabryell sent him a private message directly.
Dreamshade replied quickly. "On the way here, we ran into two Horde groups. They flagged first and tried to kill us. After a few rounds, it got boring, so I led everyone into Graveyard. Their people probably went into Graveyard too."
Gabryell asked, "How far in are you?"
Dreamshade said, "We just cleared the front Scarlet Crusade section and reached the graveyard area. We're fighting the rare elite Fallen Champion right now."
Scarlet Monastery Graveyard was not large. In fact, none of Scarlet Monastery's four wings were large. Madhouse had already reached the graveyard section of Graveyard. Once they killed Fallen Champion, they would soon be able to move on to Bloodmage Thalnos and full clear Scarlet Monastery Graveyard.
This time, Fearless was one step slower than Madhouse. It really proved that no one stayed on top forever.
Of course, Gabryell was not especially interested in competing for first clears of five-man dungeons right now. In World of Warcraft, the first clears truly recognized by Blizzard and the playerbase were raid instances, not five-man dungeons.
Molten Core, Onyxia's Lair, Blackwing Lair, Ahn'Qiraj, and Naxxramas were the real competitive milestones. As for Zul'Gurub and the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, only full-power Hakkar in Zul'Gurub was really worth competing over.
"Are you planning to farm Scarlet Monastery until level 40?" Gabryell asked, looking at Dreamshade's level 34.
Dreamshade replied, "That's right. I'm sure you have the same plan."
Scarlet Monastery covered a wide level range. Farming it nonstop from level 30 to 40 was indeed fast and convenient, so Dreamshade assumed Gabryell also planned to grind there until level 40.
But unless a level 60 Mage was carrying them with massive AoE pulls, it was basically impossible for players averaging only level 30 to reach level 40 in one day by farming Scarlet Monastery. Even without wipes, one dungeon clear took about forty minutes. Before level 35, it took four or five runs per level; after level 35, six or seven runs per level. Even farming twenty-four hours straight and averaging five runs per level, going from level 30 to level 40 in a single day was impossible.
Dreamshade was level 34. If he wanted to reach level 40 through Scarlet Monastery at current player efficiency, he would not make it until tomorrow at the earliest.
As for a four-Mage-one-Hunter setup, or a three-Mage-one-Hunter-one-Priest AoE group, almost no players at this stage knew how to run it, and there were no videos for them to learn from. Figuring it out from scratch would take longer than clearing normally.
"Mob competition outside is too fierce right now. Everywhere is packed except maps above level 30."
Gabryell did not answer Dreamshade directly, but the situation outside really was like that. This was especially true in the level 20 to 30 zones, which were already packed beyond capacity. Normally, spending two or three hours questing could earn one level, but now quest mobs were tagged the instant they spawned. Sometimes players could not even finish one quest in half an hour, and leveling time had at least doubled or tripled.
Fortunately, the Arathi Highlands area Gabryell planned to AoE farm was higher level. Even the lowest-level quests there were above level 35, and most were level 40. Current players could not survive there. They would only go to Southshore, so they would not compete with him for mobs.
"We're both level 34 now, and we're both at Scarlet Monastery. You haven't forgotten our leveling bet, have you?" Dreamshade reminded him.
How could Gabryell forget a bet worth one hundred gold?
"Get that one hundred gold ready. When I hit level 45, I'll come to you to reimburse my mount."
After ending the private chat with Dreamshade, Gabryell said, "Madhouse's group is about to clear Graveyard. We can't fall behind. Everyone switch down to your group's sub-channel so the voice chat doesn't overlap."
Gabryell had already created several sub-channels in advance, so everyone moved into their assigned team channel. From this point on, each group would run on its own.
"Let's go in."
Gabryell led the way into Scarlet Monastery Graveyard, and the others followed one after another.
Once inside Graveyard, only Carlos, Igor, Lunatori, and Smooch remained beside him.
"Wow, so this is a dungeon?" Smooch sounded like a curious kid.
Gabryell asked, "You've never run a dungeon before?"
Smooch said, "Nope. When I'm online, I'm either questing or helping Snowy level. I haven't had time to run dungeons."
Igor said, "You haven't even done Deadmines or Stockade? Smooch, you're such a noob. Stay behind me. The Light's got your ass covered."
Smooch snapped, "Call me a noob again and I'll make sure your junk needs a healer."
Gabryell said, "Smooch, you pull."
Smooch was confused. "In dungeons, isn't the tank supposed to hold aggro, the healer keeps everyone alive, and the DPS just blasts? Why am I pulling?"
Gabryell remembered that she had never run a dungeon before and did not understand why Hunters were often asked to pull, so he patiently explained the basics and walked her through it step by step.
Smooch picked it up quickly and understood at once. "No problem. From now on, leave the pulling to this mighty Hunter."
The trash mobs in Scarlet Monastery Graveyard were not too high-level. The humanoid section was only level 30 or 31, so Gabryell wanted to speed things up.
"Smooch, pull one pack at a time."
He had Smooch pull not because he was afraid they could not beat the mobs, but to avoid unnecessary adds from mobs running around mid-fight.
Smooch pulled the two Scarlet Sentries at the entrance. As a level 29 Hunter without Feign Death, she immediately had both Sentries charging right at her.
"Aaaah! Help!"
Carlos was experienced and quickly stepped forward to pick them up.
"Smooch, watch your boy Igor's heroic entrance."
Igor was feeling great. Having a group of good friends willing to let him run dungeons as Retribution was the dream of many Paladins.
Retribution Paladin DPS in vanilla was, to put it mildly, nothing to brag about. By the time they cleared their way into the interrogation room, Smooch noticed something.
"Igor, is your DPS actually lower than mine?"
Although they did not have a damage meter addon, what Smooch said was true. Igor's level 30 Retribution Paladin dealt less damage than a level 29 Hunter with a bear pet.
Igor was very depressed. He turned and asked Gabryell, "Gabryell, where's that Tooth you mentioned before?"
Gabryell laughed. "Broken Tooth is in the Badlands. Keep heading south from Loch Modan's Loch, and you'll enter the Badlands."
Igor immediately said to Smooch over Vent, "Smooch, say 'Igor is the best Paladin on Tichondrius,' and I'll take you to tame Broken Tooth, the best Hunter pet in the game. It has a 1.0 attack speed."
Smooch's eyes lit up when she heard "best Hunter pet," but she was not the kind of girl who gave in that easily.
"Ogabs, will you take me to tame it?"
It was rare to hear Smooch speak in such a coy tone, and Gabryell could not help getting goosebumps.
"Ahem."
Gabryell said seriously, "Once you, BentArrow, and OneShotCrit reach level 37, I'll take all three of you to the Badlands to tame Broken Tooth."
He could not play favorites. The guild's three core Hunters each needed a Broken Tooth. That was the only way to look impressive.
Smooch said excitedly, "Thank you! Unlike someone, who's so petty."
"Damn, she's insulting me."
Igor was furious. "I strongly demand that BentArrow be switched back in."
His protest was ineffective. Gabryell ignored him completely.
Hugo snickered from the side. Igor usually loved roasting people, and now he had finally met his match.
"There's a chest!"
Smooch had sharp eyes. This was her first time running a dungeon, and she had not expected there to be a chest inside. What a surprise.
A chest always spawned in the interrogation room of Scarlet Monastery Graveyard. They were lucky. This one was not locked; otherwise, they could only stare at it helplessly.
"Pull the mobs out and kill them."
To the left as they entered was Scarlet Monastery Graveyard's first boss, Interrogator Vishas. He was a pushover, but accidentally pulling him could still cause a wipe.
Gabryell said, "I'll open with sheep. Smooch, drop a Freezing Trap."
There were four mobs together, and Gabryell was worried Carlos might not be able to hold them all. He stepped forward and opened with Polymorph. The other three mobs immediately charged toward him.
Gabryell retreated. One mob stepped onto the Freezing Trap at the doorway and was frozen, while the other two kept chasing him. When they reached him, he used Cone of Cold and Frost Nova, damaging them while rooting them in place.
Carlos stepped forward to pick them up. Level 30 and 31 mobs were not hard to kill. They quickly killed one, and by then the frozen mob had thawed. They repeated the same method and killed the rest.
Once the three mobs were dead, the sheeped mob woke up at just the right time. With only one left, they dealt with it easily.
"I'll open it! I'll open it!"
Smooch had never opened a dungeon chest before and seemed very excited.
In Gabryell's team, Lunatori usually opened chests. Since Smooch wanted to do it, Lunatori did not step forward and let her have it.
Smooch went up and opened the chest. It contained two Goldenbark Apples, two Rough Stones, one Melon Juice, one Stormwind Brie, and one green leather chestpiece: Inscribed Leather Breastplate.
"Cursed looter."
Igor finally found a chance to fire back.
Smooch refused to accept it. "I'm not cursed. Leader, I request permission to loot the first boss."
Gabryell granted her request. The first boss could drop a blue dagger. Although it was not particularly useful, its drop rate was low. If she actually looted it, that would prove her luck was not bad.
They continued pulling mobs out and killing them. Interrogator Vishas was a joke. He had 5,328 HP but no dangerous abilities, and under the five-person assault, he quickly dropped dead.
Smooch hurried over to loot the corpse.
Bloody Brass Knuckles (Common).
A white item. Absolute vendor trash.
"Cursed looter," Igor said, seizing the chance to mock her. "So cursed I can barely watch. You even managed to pull white gear."
Smooch was extremely depressed, but she still refused to give in. "Leader, I request permission to loot all the remaining bosses."
She had to prove she was not cursed.
Interrogator Vishas's Torturing Poker really did have a low drop rate. Still, to find out whether the guild had gained another cursed looter, Gabryell decided to give her one more chance.
For this run, every boss corpse would be hers to loot. Better to test that curse in a five-man than in a raid.
If Smooch really was a cursed looter, then in future raids, she would have to be kept far away from boss corpses. Like Carlos and Igor, she would be forbidden from being the first to enter a dungeon, just in case she cursed the lockout.