"You got us."
Dreamshade admitted Madhouse's loss first. Their progress had fallen one step behind Fearless.
For this Maraudon run, they had learned from the closed beta and come fully prepared. Even then, they were still too slow. When Gabryell whispered him, Madhouse had only just killed Princess Theradras, and Rotgrip was still alive in the pool.
"We made a bet, and Madhouse will honor it," Dreamshade said. "Fearless gets one favor, as long as it's something we can actually do."
That was exactly what Gabryell had been waiting for.
"I need Madhouse to help me collect some mats."
Dreamshade perked up. "What kind of mats?"
Gabryell listed them out. "Peacebloom, Firebloom, Purple Lotus, Copper Bars, Tin Bars, Mithril Bars, Heavy Leather, Thick Leather, Rugged Leather, Wool Bandages, Mageweave Bandages, Runecloth Bandages, Lean Wolf Steaks, Baked Salmon, and Spotted Yellowtail."
These were all supplies needed for the Horde-side war effort during the opening of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj. To make sure Tichondrius could be the first server to open the gates, Gabryell planned to have Madhouse help collect the Horde materials in advance.
World of Warcraft had neutral Auction Houses. Once the Ahn'Qiraj War Effort began, these supplies could be transferred to the Horde through the neutral AH. By then, he believed the major Horde guilds would be more than willing to cooperate with the Alliance to open the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj together.
As for the Alliance materials, Fearless would gather those slowly on its own. Only by controlling the stockpile himself could Gabryell control when the gates opened and make sure he secured Scarab Lord.
Dreamshade was stunned. "That's a lot of stuff. How much are we talking?"
Gabryell did not give him a hard number. "As much as you can get. Keep it quiet if possible. The fewer people notice, the less likely prices go insane."
"That's going to cost a fortune," Dreamshade said. If Madhouse had to pay out of pocket, that was already way beyond the bet.
"I'll cover the cost," Gabryell said. "You collect. Fearless pays."
If he wanted to be the first Scarab Lord, there was no way around spending money. Besides, once the War Effort started, he could transfer materials through the neutral Auction House and make part of that money back from the Horde side.
Since Fearless was paying, Dreamshade stopped pushing back. "Fine. I'll have the officers start gathering quietly. I can't promise a number, but we'll get as much as we can."
Gabryell had never expected Madhouse to handle everything anyway. If he truly wanted Scarab Lord, he still had to rely mostly on himself.
"That's enough. And don't worry about getting too much. Whatever you collect, I'll take it."
The quantities needed for the War Effort were enormous. There was no such thing as too much. There would only ever be shortages.
In the end, Dreamshade could not help asking, "Alright, be honest. What do you need all this for?"
Gabryell had already prepared an excuse.
"My cousin works at Blizzard," he said. "He's on the World of Warcraft operations side. A few nights ago, after a few drinks, he let something slip. There's a raid coming later called Ahn'Qiraj, and opening it requires a server-wide war effort. The mats I just listed are part of the turn-ins."
"Seriously?" Dreamshade sounded doubtful.
Back then, "my cousin works at Blizzard" had not yet become the kind of line everyone laughed at online.
"That's what he told me," Gabryell said. "And there's more. The BigFoot addon everyone's been using lately? I made it."
Dreamshade went quiet.
Gabryell continued, "Because of that, I got access to enough interface data and internal references to check compatibility. I found Ahn'Qiraj entries in the data, and they line up with what my cousin leaked. The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj really do require a massive material turn-in."
After a long pause, Dreamshade finally replied, "Wait. You made BigFoot?"
He was using the addon himself, so hearing that Gabryell was behind it hit harder than the Ahn'Qiraj leak.
"Come on," Gabryell said. "Why would I make this up?"
Dreamshade thought for a moment. "So you want to prepare before everyone else, rush the opening chain, control the gong, and then go for the raid firsts?"
He was sharp and immediately understood the real goal.
Fearless wanted to stand at the top.
"That's right," Gabryell said. "If Fearless is in my hands, then I'm aiming for number one. I'm not giving up any server firsts if I can help it."
Dreamshade sighed. "The fact that you made BigFoot already puts you ahead of me. Madhouse didn't lose for no reason this time."
He paused, then added, "Don't worry. I'll take the material collection seriously. But understand this: Madhouse wants number one too."
"Good," Gabryell said. "Then let's push each other. For the Alliance, for Tichondrius, and for the server. Let's keep every major first here."
Gabryell treated Dreamshade as a real friend. He was someone worth befriending.
"When the game officially launches, we keep competing," Dreamshade said. "Next time, Madhouse won't lose."
Gabryell laughed. "Then we'll settle it again in level 60 raids."
Healthy competition would make both guilds improve faster. Of course, along the way, Madhouse was still going to be the rival Fearless kept beating.
After ending the whisper with Dreamshade, Gabryell checked in on David's group.
"We wiped!"
David's team had wiped on Princess Theradras. The reason was simple: StyleOverStats was a Human Priest, not a Dwarf Priest, so they had no Fear Ward. Once the tank got feared, threat collapsed and people started dying.
That wipe was within Gabryell's expectations. The only good news was that before the wipe, SevenDays had used Divine Intervention on StyleOverStats, saving them from a full corpse run.
Although Gabryell wanted David and the others to figure things out under pressure, he still gave them the Princess strategy. The more Fearless teams capable of clearing Maraudon, the better. Every clear meant more gear, more experience, and a stronger guild.
"They'll probably wipe a few more times."
He could only hope David's team cleared Maraudon tonight. Once they got the clear, the number of wipes would not matter.
"Ogabs, are we running it again?" Coldhands asked.
He clearly wanted Blade of Eternal Darkness too. Getting it now would be much easier than coming back to solo farm Princess at level 60.
Gabryell checked the time. They still had room for one more run.
"Yeah. One more."
Since they could not continue leveling anyway, they might as well stockpile more level 45-plus gear. Once the game officially launched, their leveling speed would be even faster.
"Hahahaha, Blade of Eternal Darkness is next. I can feel it."
Coldhands was delighted. The guy really treated Blade of Eternal Darkness like an ordinary dungeon drop.
Maybe the dagger really was in a generous mood tonight.
During their second Maraudon run, once they reached Inner Maraudon again, DesertWanderer received a whisper from a friend in Freedom.
After three wipes, Freedom had finally killed Princess too.
Blade of Eternal Darkness had dropped.
"Freedom's guild leader, Wujing, took it as a Rogue weapon."
When Gabryell heard that, he laughed. "No one said anything?"
"Apparently not," DesertWanderer said. "Their casters don't know what it's for. They all thought it was a Rogue dagger."
He paused, then added, "Honestly, if you hadn't explained it earlier, I would've thought the same thing."
DesertWanderer was being blunt, but he was right.
"It's a level 49 dagger from a dungeon under level 50," he said. "Most people would just assume it's temporary gear. No stats, no spell power. Once the level cap opens to 60, people would think it gets replaced anyway."
If Gabryell had not been reborn, he probably would not have paid much attention to Blade of Eternal Darkness either. A level 49 dagger with no stats, no spell power, and only one strange proc did not look special at first glance. He might even have made the same mistake as Freedom and handed it to a Rogue like an ordinary weapon.
"A Rogue with Blade of Eternal Darkness," Gabryell said, a faint smile tugging at his mouth. "That's going to haunt Merciless for a long time."
Once players discovered what Blade of Eternal Darkness was actually used for, Merciless would never live it down.
Taking it as a Rogue weapon would turn into forum drama people brought up forever. And if Freedom kept defending it, then it would not just be Merciless's problem anymore.
It would be a ninja-loot guild problem.