Gabryell hadn't progressed far enough through the Kirtonos quest chain, so there was no reason to detour into the Reliquary for the Blood Steward of Kirtonos and its Blood of Innocents. He headed straight for the next room instead.
Two Dark Runes dropped along the way. Gabryell gave both to Danielly and specifically told her to save them for next week's Molten Core progression.
Dark Runes weren't worth selling right now. During progression, using them alongside Major Mana Potions would give the healers another source of emergency mana.
Gabryell also planned to have the guild's core healers spend some time farming Satyrs in Felwood for Demonic Runes as backups.
If any reasonably priced Dark Runes showed up on the Auction House, he would buy those too and stockpile them for progression.
When they reached the Chamber of Summoning, they didn't have any Blood of Innocents, so there was no way to summon Kirtonos the Herald.
They skipped him and kept moving.
Beyond the Chamber of Summoning was the large central hall, with paths branching off in several directions. Taking the western route down would eventually lead toward Jandice Barov.
Gabryell's group didn't need anything from her right now, so he had no reason to drag everyone through that detour. Instead, they continued ahead and found the second deed, The Deed to Tarren Mill, tucked away in the corner.
The next area was the room filled with Plagued Hatchlings, a familiar landmark for players who used Invisibility Potions when making Skin of Shadow farming runs.
One of the chutes on the left could be used to drop directly into the lower section of The Great Ossuary, where Rattlegore waited.
Rattlegore was not a boss they could skip.
He had the key they needed.
Gabryell didn't lead everyone through the chute, though. Even if they killed Rattlegore that way, they would still have to come back afterward, and the mobs along the normal route would eventually need to be dealt with anyway.
They might as well clear them now.
"There are so many creepy things crawling around down there."
Smooch had sharp eyes. She spotted the constructs moving across the floor almost immediately and shuddered.
"That's disgusting."
The Great Ossuary was dimly lit, and on a lower-end PC without the graphics turned up, the constructs crawling across the floor were surprisingly easy to miss.
When they weren't in combat, the Risen Constructs moved low against the ground. Combined with the poor lighting and their dark models, they looked much smaller than they really were.
Hit one, though, and it would immediately rise to its full height and start pounding on you.
Plenty of groups entering Scholomance for the first time failed to notice them and accidentally pulled several at once.
That usually ended badly.
The mobs were called Risen Constructs, and their defining feature was brutal melee damage.
They had Thrash, which could grant two additional attacks, so what looked like a single melee exchange could suddenly turn into three heavy hits landing almost at once. Combined with Frenzy and their already high base damage, cloth wearers could disappear frighteningly fast.
For a Priest or Mage trying to solo farm them, one mistake that allowed a Construct into melee range could easily mean a corpse run unless there was an emergency option like a Limited Invulnerability Potion.
"Watch the mobs on the floor. Pull them one at a time."
Fortunately, the Risen Constructs weren't packed too tightly together, so careful pulls could isolate them.
Priests solo farming them could abuse Shackle Undead.
Shackle first, move to maximum range, cast Mind Blast, then immediately Shackle again.
And absolutely no Shadow Word: Pain.
A DoT ticking on the target would keep breaking the Shackle and ruin the entire setup.
Every cast had to be made from as far away as possible. If Shackle was resisted once, cast it again immediately.
If it kept getting resisted...
Well, start thinking about the corpse run.
Mages used the same basic idea but relied on Frost kiting instead. Frost Nova, slows, and enough distance to keep the Construct from ever reaching melee were the key.
Having Improved Frost Nova made the whole process considerably safer.
"A green item dropped. Looks like some kind of material."
Smooch had become addicted to looting corpses.
Apparently, she was now the party's designated body checker.
The first Construct dropped a Skin of Shadow.
Skin of Shadow (Uncommon)
Binds when picked up
Because it was Bind on Pickup, nobody immediately rolled Need without asking.
Right now, Skin of Shadow was mainly useful for several high-end crafting quests, including Breastplate of Bloodthirst. Later, once Dire Maul opened, it would also become important for Arcanum of Focus.
Since Dire Maul wasn't open yet, that use could wait.
"Scum, you take it. You'll need five of these for Breastplate of Bloodthirst. Add the Frayed Abomination Stitchings from Stratholme, five Arcanite Bars, and a Pristine Hide of the Beast, and you'll have yourself a pretty damn good epic chest."
The full recipe was expensive, but the end result was excellent pre-raid gear.
Gabryell continued, "Dream already killed The Beast, got Finkle's Skinner, and managed to skin a Pristine Hide of the Beast. He picked up the Breastplate of Bloodthirst quest too, so he's been living in dungeons farming materials lately."
Dreamshade could take the blame for that explanation.
Now that he was level 60, he practically lived inside the major endgame dungeons anyway.
Breastplate of Bloodthirst required five Skins of Shadow.
Getting all five in a single Scholomance run would take ridiculous luck, so if DeathScum seriously wanted the chestpiece, he would have to come back and farm more.
"These things hit like trucks."
Carlos had just taken a vicious burst of damage, losing nearly half his health before Danielly topped him back up.
Risen Constructs were definitely not mobs you wanted to pull in packs.
Thrash could give them two additional attacks, and when several Constructs lined up those bursts at the same time, even a well-geared tank could suddenly take an absurd amount of physical damage.
Three or four of them at once could turn Carlos from Main tank into floor decoration before Danielly had time to react.
So they stuck to the safest method and pulled them one by one.
They even cleared several Constructs they technically could have avoided, simply to give DeathScum more chances at Skin of Shadow.
By the time they had cleared the room, two Skins of Shadow had dropped.
Two in one run was already pretty good luck.
"Snowy, Shackle the Construct near the boss. We're killing Rattlegore."
One Risen Construct was wandering close enough to Rattlegore that a careless pull could bring both into the fight.
Rather than gamble on the timing, Gabryell decided to lock the add down.
Danielly could use Shackle Undead on it while the others dealt with the boss.
"Keep an eye on the Shackle. If it breaks, put it right back on."
The Construct was high enough level that a resist or early break was always possible.
If it got loose and reached one of the cloth wearers, things could go bad very quickly.
"Don't worry, Mentor. I'll watch it."
Danielly took games almost as seriously as she took studying.
That made her remarkably reliable whenever Gabryell gave her a specific job.
"Snowy opens with Shackle. Carlos, be ready to grab Rattlegore."
Then Gabryell addressed the others.
"Don't unload immediately. Rattlegore hits hard and messes with threat. Let Carlos build a lead first."
If he didn't say it now, DeathScum would probably open with two crits and discover how quickly leather armor folded under a bone golem.
Danielly stepped forward and cast Shackle Undead on the nearby Construct.
The pull immediately brought Rattlegore toward them.
Carlos was ready and Taunted the boss off her.
Nobody attacked.
They waited.
Then Rattlegore slammed into Carlos with Knock Away.
"Damn, he has a knockback."
Carlos quickly repositioned.
"Take it easy on threat."
Rattlegore's Knock Away was particularly annoying because it could cause the tank to lose aggro, making anyone sitting too close behind him on threat an immediate target.
Danielly didn't need Gabryell to remind her.
She used Fade, making sure the healer wasn't sitting dangerously high on the threat list.
They definitely didn't want her becoming the next target.
Gabryell waited a little longer.
"Go."
He started casting first and deliberately worked his way into second place on threat.
He had soloed Rattlegore before by abusing positioning and kiting around the Great Ossuary, so he wasn't particularly worried about being the backup target.
"I'm stunned!"
Rattlegore used War Stomp, catching Carlos and DeathScum in the AoE stun.
Carlos had already built a comfortable threat lead, so the boss didn't immediately go running after anyone else.
"Keep it controlled. As long as nobody rips aggro, we're fine."
Rattlegore wasn't complicated.
He was simply dangerous.
Carlos had enough gear to survive the raw melee damage, so the real risk was someone getting greedy and overtaking him at the wrong moment.
"Scum, be ready with Evasion."
DeathScum's damage was high enough that his threat climbed fast.
Then he landed two critical hits almost back-to-back.
His threat shot upward.
Before he could Feint, Rattlegore used War Stomp again.
Carlos was stunned.
DeathScum resisted it.
And suddenly the boss turned toward him.
"Oh, shit!"
DeathScum immediately activated Evasion and tried to survive long enough for Carlos to recover.
Evasion was good.
It was not invincibility.
Rattlegore still connected with one hit and instantly carved away nearly half DeathScum's health.
Danielly had already been pre-casting a Heal.
The spell landed almost immediately afterward, critting and pulling him back to full.
At the same moment, Carlos recovered from the stun.
He Taunted.
Rattlegore turned back toward him.
"Ease up," Gabryell reminded them.
Smooch immediately used Feign Death.
Her threat hadn't even been particularly high, but at least her instincts were good.
DeathScum took the warning more seriously.
Seeing how close he still was to the top, he Vanished and wiped his threat completely.
Gabryell immediately became the clear second target again.
"Good. Keep it like this."
Gabryell had far more experience managing threat than the others.
He knew exactly how hard he could push without crossing the line.
That brief aggro scare was the only real problem they had.
After that, everyone kept their damage under control, Danielly maintained the Shackle, and Rattlegore finally collapsed under their combined attacks.
"Don't loot yet," Gabryell immediately said. "We still have the add."
The Risen Construct was still standing helplessly inside Shackle Undead.
Everyone switched targets.
Once it broke free, Carlos picked it up, and they quickly finished it off.
Only then did Smooch run over to Rattlegore's corpse.
"Loot time!"
The boss had dropped Shadowcraft Boots, the Rogue Dungeon Set 1 boots.
DeathScum's eyes immediately lit up.
Then he looked at the stats.
And paused.
Shadowcraft Boots
+21 Intellect
+9 Stamina
"...Why the hell do Rogue boots have twenty-one Intellect?"
Gabryell almost laughed.
Because Blizzard.
In the current version of the game, Shadowcraft Boots still had the bizarre +21 Intellect stat. Patch 1.3 would eventually change that to +21 Agility, but Dire Maul wasn't even open yet, so that fix had not happened.
DeathScum stared at the boots for another second.
Then he took them anyway.
"Hahaha! Whatever. That's still another Shadowcraft piece."
This gave him three pieces of the set.
One more and he would activate the four-piece bonus for +40 Attack Power.
Bad Intellect or not, he wasn't turning down progress toward that.
"Grab the key. We're heading into the next section."
Rattlegore dropped the Viewing Room Key.
That key was required to open the Viewing Room and continue deeper into Scholomance.
Just like Stratholme's Undead side was tougher than its Scarlet side, Scholomance's back half was where the dungeon really started getting serious.
They had finally reached the heart of Scholomance.