One instance at a time: The Underbog

So as I logged in last night, all ready to level up my Hunter, Talonis, to 68, my tank (who also has a Level 67 MM) says to me, “Coilfang?” So much for leveling up. *grin*

In relatively short order, we were able to assemble a group for The Underbog: Five intrepid Level 70s, including Osprey as healer; our Fury-ous tank, Aggye; Katika, our frosty mage; Nyssa, a short-blade combat rogue; and Ledris, a BM hunter with face-melting kittycat. Nyssa and Ledris had completed the Underbog quests, and are ready for Slave Pens, so they were there to help us so we can do the next Coilfang instance next week (maybe Monday?). (The other three of us have done the Underbog on other characters, so we weren’t completely unfamiliar with the instance.)

Obviously, for characters our level, the trash was more of an annoyance than anything, although we were able to harvest most of our Sanguine Hibiscuses (hibisci?) from them. It didn’t take long before we got to the first boss encounter, Hungarfen. Ledris pulled one of his underbosses, kiting him down the ramp and far away, while the rest of us eliminated the other. We probably could have taken both at once, but why risk it? And it was good practice for us.

Hungarfen himself, though, was another matter. We wiped twice–I couldn’t get away from the damned mushrooms he pops (which do an AoE), which rather messed up my ability to heal. Finally on the third attempt–during which Nyssa and I died again–we nailed him. He dropped the Lykul Bloodbands, which would have been great for Ledris 5 levels ago.

On we went: More trash, more good pulls and good coordination. In fact, a couple of our trash pulls stand out for the sheer beauty of three CC’s (sap/sheep/trap) landing just the way we drew them up.

So on to Ghaz’an, the second boss. The plan was for us to position ourselves about midway up his ramp. Aggye would aggro him (her name, btw, is no accident for a tank), drag him down so her back was to the wall, and the rest of us would stay behind, out of tail-whip range. That way, I only had to worry about keeping Aggye healed, while she tanked and the DPSers spanked. Well, I’d say we were about 80 percent successful: Somehow, as Aggye dragged Ghaz down the ramp, Katika’s health went to red then dead, before I had a chance to do anything. I think she got hit with his acid cone. Otherwise, things pretty much went according to plan (although I know I got hit by the tail-whip at least once). I was really excited about the Cloak of Healing Rays that dropped, until I compared it to my Manaweave Cloak…and saw a loss of 35 +healing. Umm…no thanks.

So into the water, out the hole, and finish up the trash before we get to Swamplord Musel’ek. Someone got a bit close, and we pulled before we were all set, but no biggie: Ledris tanked Claw, we dropped Musel’ek easily, then it was just a matter of wearing down Claw’s armor. Tunic of the Night Watcher dropped, which of course got sharded. We really need to start pulling some of our lower level folks through these instances, so someone gets the benefit of some of these drops!

A few steps more and we were facing The Black Stalker. A simple tank’n'spank, although both Katika and I got levitated. She used her Slow Fall, and I hit Levitate as soon as I was airborne. Both of us were able to continue casting, although Ledris was out of my range (which didn’t matter that much; I was only trying to hit him with a Renew). The drop: Pauldrons of Brute Force. Almost, but not quite, as good as the shoulders Aggye already has.

Damage Meters had Nyssa on top, just a bit ahead of Katika. Aggye was third, but she was dual-wielding on a lot of the trash.

All in all, a good run, but I want to go back with Osprey and see if I can do a better job of healing on the first boss. Can’t wait to run Slave Pens though!