Two Doors to Statholme

When Saturday night rolled around we decided not to go back to Dire Maul North to turn in the two quests we finished the previous week.  With Dire Maul complete in our eyes, we to pick our next target.  Dungeon finder listed a few options for us.

The choice really came down to Stratholme and Scholomance.  We were interested to see that Stratholme had two options in dungeon finder, so we decided to go there and use the service entrance.  Our group for the night was:

57 Orc Shaman – Earlthebat (Earlthecat)
58 Undead Mage – Bigbutt (Bungholio)
58 Tauren Druid – Hurmoo (Vikund)
59 Blood Elf Paladin – Enaldie (Ula)
59 Tauren Druid – Azawak (Skronk)

We let the dungeon finder take us away to see what we could see.

The dungeon finder generally does not let you go places where you cannot achieve a given goal.  Of course, that is for the random dungeon.  There is no telling what you get when you pick your poison.

We were wondering if we would need a key to come in from the service side, but that did not seem to be the case.  And when were in, we could see Magistrate Barthilas who holds the key to the city.

Barthilas spotted

So we started forward to clear the area, which proceeded at a rapid pace.  However, we failed to notice that as soon as we stepped in, Barthilas ran away deeper into the instance, leaving us on the wrong side of the locked gate.

Soon the area was clear but the gate was locked.  We started working our way towards the front door, just in case we missed something, but aside from Hearthsinger Forresten, there was naught to be had from that direction.

With that decided, we left the instance, reset it, and then came back through the front door.

This worked out a bit better.  We had to work our way around to Barthilas, but the fights were not very tough.  We managed to get back to where we had started, finding Herathsinger Forresten again, in a short time.

Unfortunately, we managed to screw up the Barthilas fight.  Azawak stepped through the big gate to pull him back to where we were.  However, once the fight started, the gate went down with Azawak on one side and the rest of us on the other.

Azawak stranded

We could not target either Azawak for heal or Barthilas to do damage, though Hurmoo did find that tranquility would heal Azawak.  Too bad about the long cool down.

Azawak went down eventually, and Barthilas walked through the gate to us.  He had been beaten down sufficiently that we managed to take him out without too much drama.  The gate then opened.  We had the key to the next gate and were able to ress Azawak.

We were then into the Gauntlet area, the Baron’s timer started counting down, and it was time for some tougher fights.

The Gauntlet awaits

We did well enough for the most part.  We kept things to small, manageable groups through most of the Gauntlet, though at one point we did get in over our head and ended up with a wipe.  That set us back and pretty much meant would wouldn’t beat the timer.

Those bones out there... they are ours

We pressed on to the finish though.  And by the time we got within sight of the Baron’s hold, people in the group started getting this achievement.

Yes, we were turning the corner to 60.  First Enaldie, then Azawak leveled up.

We managed to finish off Baron Rivendare without there being any question as to the outcome.

The Baron defeated

That done, we headed back into the instance to clear out any pockets of undead we left behind and triggered the Postmaster Malown fight just for fun.

Malown Malowned

That got Hurmoo to 60 and Earl to 59, at which point nobody was left close to a level.  We decided to call it a night.

For Hurmoo, level 60 meant a whole pile of healing skill updates.  No lifebloom until 62 though.

And there was one more important item on the list, druid flight form and the accompanying achievement.

This will be my second druid with flight form, and it is still fun even the second time around.

But the first time you get flight form can be a pretty big thrill.  Azawak got flight form for his first time and his own post on it tells the tale.  Too much fun!

And now we’re arriving at level 60 and have to make some decisions.  Do we finish up the classic instances?  Do we press on into the Outlands after that, before that, or ever?  Do we go back to our old set of characters and finish off the three instances that were added after we moved to Lightninghoof?  Do we try a new game?  Or do we just take the summer off until Cataclysm comes out?