Upstairs at the Sunken Temple

It was time for our second run into Sunken Temple.  We did the downstairs bit last time, so it was time to move upward I suppose.

The Temple of Atal’Hakkar

We got ourselves online and on our way to the temple.  Our group for the week was:

• Viniki – level 53 gnome warrior
• Skronk – level 53 dwarf priest
• Moronae – level 52 night elf druid
• Ula – level 52 gnome mage

From Nethergarde Keep we rode on out and started our second descent into the actual instance… so I guess we had to go down stairs first.

Back at the start

This time around we did not get lost on the way to the instance line, remembering the whole “follow the masks” thing and having a bit of luck.  We also barely had to fight anything.  It seemed that another group must have passed through just ahead of us.

We also managed to pick up some of the tablets you need to collect for one of the quests.

I call them pizza boxes because that is what they look like to me

Sunken Temple is very much a multiple visit dungeon, so I was looking at the map and suggested that Jammal’an the Prophet ought to be our target for the week.  To get him you have to go up to the fifth floor, do the ring of mini-bosses to open up the forcefield protecting him, then go down to the fourth floor and fight your way to him.

Fortunately, I had the map because it helped keep things clear.

The Old Sunken Temple map

Once I orientated myself and figured out which path to take, we were pretty quickly up on the fifth floor, another ring like the second floor, with balconies to clear.  And the ring to clear as well.  There is always something between you and your destination.

The ring itself did not go too badly.  There were groups of 1-3 elites, often with a mix of non-elite adds which we tried to take as groups.  There are also a couple of elites that wander around the ring, which led to a surprise and our first death of the run, when Moronae went down.

It was actually the non-elites that were most of the problem.  With 3-5 of them adding in, keeping their aggro focused on me was a chore, and they tended to end up chasing Skronk or Ula now and then.  But we carried on and managed to get to each balcony, one after another.

Resting on a balcony

Some of them are connected directly to the ring, others you have to go downstairs, under the ring, and then back up to find.  But there are only six, so it wasn’t too long before we were fighting the last mini-boss.

Huku was last on the list

From there it was down and around to the fourth floor, which I tend to think of as the main floor, as it has the big open area where you find a lot of mobs.

Into the fourth floor… lots of welps and dragonkin

You can also see the balconies that we had just visited, including the one with the great big gong that doesn’t do anything.  It is the same one from Zul’Farrak.

The map indicated where we needed to go, so we cleared out just enough of the main floor to get into the side gallery that led to Jammal’an.

Jammal’an ahead

He and his co-boss are up at an altar at the end of the room.  However, draw distances in WoW Classic are a bit wonky.  I knew he was there, we all heard him shout when the forcefield went down.  But he does not draw until you get well into his chamber… though you can see the altar, tablets, candles, and everything else around and behind him.

Still, we trusted in him being there and started to clear the room, which reminded us of a couple of things.  First, some of the mobs there cast fear, so you can end up running into another group, which happened to Moronae on the first fight, so he died again.  Oddly, he died so quickly that the mobs reset and didn’t come after the rest of us, so we were able to ress him and carry on.

Second, some of the mobs become ghosts when they are slain, and in this form they are invulnerable but can hit for a lot of damage.  Fortunately, they are also very slow and have a timer, after which they expire, so you just have to dance out of the way and let them drop.

Dodging the ghosts

We were able to clear the room and soon it was just Jammal’an and his buddy Ogom waiting for us.  Not remembering anything specific about the fight, we decided to slay Jammal’an first with a “there he is, get him” level of planning.

There he is, get him!

We had forgotten that he takes control of a party member now and then and turns them against the rest of the group.  So I ended up so charmed and ran back and killed Ula before the spell broke.  Fortunately the druid combat ress was available and Ula was back up again.  But things were still kind of crazy.  More of us were mind controlled and Moronae ended up dying for the third time that run.

Chaos on the altar by Moronae’s corpse

However, we managed to get Jammal’an down, then it was a very near run thing to get Ogom. Though he doesn’t hit very hard I was running under 10% health and had used a health potion already, so I was pulling out all the defense skills I could to stay up.  I outlasted him and he went down.

We got everybody back together and went to loot.  Jammal’an had the Vestments of the Atal’ai Prohpet.

The vestments

Those went to Skronk to replace the robes he had been wearing for a few instances at that point.  Mission accomplished, we went to take our usual screen shot on the altar.

Victory over Jammal’an

However, we still had some time left, so we went back out into the main area again, to find Dreamscythe and The Weaver, two dragons who spawn only after Jammal’an has been slain, circling the area.

Those two are not connected, so we were able to pull them one at a time and take them down.

From there we worked our way around, clearing a bit, to the side path that led to Morphaz and Hazzas, who we needed to kill to complete the class quests for Skonk and Ula.  They come as a pair, for a bit more of a challenge.

Morphand and Hazzas flying around

Fortunately we were up to the task.  We focused on one, then the other, and had them down without any further deaths.

Both dragons down

At that point everybody had their class quest items in hand, Viniki having gotten his from the mini-bosses on the fifth floor.  We still had a bit of time and just around the corner lay the Shade or Eranikus, so why not one more boss?

I seemed to recall that he would summon the local dragonkin to help him, so we went back out in the central area and cleared that out, then returned to take our shot.

Eranikus had his own plan however.  His think is to sleep his main target, which was me three out of five times.

Slept by the shade

Things started to fall apart pretty quickly.  Moronae went down first… it just wasn’t his day…. followed by Ula.  Skronk and I danced around for a bit, but once I was asleep again Eranikus killed him and then turned back to me.  Soon we had a full wipe.

Down as Eranikus returns to his slumber

With nobody left to ress, we all released.  There was some thought about running back to the instance, but we figured we were about done for the day, so just had the angel revive us, taking the equipment damage hit.

Reviving at the graveyard

We all recalled back to Ironforge and called it a day.

Later I came back and flew back down to the Swamp of Sorrows to turn in my class quest.

The Fallen Hero has something for me

When you turn in the quest you have some choices.  Fortunately, the class quest guide is very clear on what a warrior should choose.  It says:

You will be able to choose 3 items, as a Warrior it is very important that you choose Diamond Flask.

So I took the Diamond Flask.

Some health on demand

I now have two trinkets that I likely won’t replace.

So all we have left is the Avatar of Hakkar event to run and we’ll have done the full tour of the instance.