Epic Dungeon Progression Dec 2013 - May 12 2014 (module 2+)

[Phelaia]

Date: 5/2/14
Dungeon: Castle Never
Team: Hrothnor (GWF), Tyrandil (GF), Nors Loyar (HR), Thorgrim (CW), Phelaia (CW)

Due to a long string of real life circumstances, NOR has not been able to attempt a full run of Castle Never since New Years Day 2014. Since then, Tyrandil, Thorgrim, and Phelaia have significantly upped their gear score. Nimm has also recruited Nors, who is a rare breed of ranger who can melee. Thorgrim's been itching to *get this done*, but he was a little concerned about not having a healer. However, since Hrothnor was on, we dragged Nors along, and off to Castle Never we went on a Friday night.

NOR's very first run of Castle Never was on 11/11/2013, and it took the team 3.5 hours just to get past the first boss. Nearly 6 months later, it took about 1 hour between the front door and Boss #3. Boss #3 still had its fair share of bugs, and near the end of the fight, Tyrandil and Thorgrim somehow got killed, and Phelaia ran around a bit like a headless chicken with a train of adds behind her. Luckily, there was no door to the boss room, and Tyrandil and Thorgrim could get back into the fight without much delay. Up to this point, this dungeon was a lot smoother than all previous times, but of course, without a healer, we were all chugging potions and using our artifacts a little more than usual.

At about 1 hour and 15 minutes in, we were at the door of the Dracolich.

Attempts #1 and #2: Wizards tried to pull adds off the dragon, while Hrothnor tanked the Dracolich. Wizards were quickly taken down.

Attempt #3, 4, 5: Hrothnor and Tyrandil both tanked the Dracolich. Wizards dumped adds on Dracolich. Nors cast Split the Sky over the Dracolich and the adds. This was working very very well. At 50%, everyone got kicked mid-fight by the server! We so had this.

Attempt #5: We got it down to 30%. Then, Nors fell somehow, and Phelaia tried to pick up Nors and was charged from behind by half a dozen Wights and could not escape the purple hands. With one wizard down, the fight was quickly over. At this point, Hrothnor, bless his heart, gave everyone a Scroll of Life or two, because he wanted to see this done. We spread the scrolls around to make sure everyone had at least 2 scrolls on hand.

Attempt #6: There were too many adds for Phelaia to remember who fell first, but between a dozen Scrolls of Life, god-knows-how-many charges on Health Stones, gallons of potions, Artifacts, and extremely tight teamwork (!), we got the Dracolich down to 10%. By the end of this attempt, it was almost 11pm PST. We'd been in this Castle for almost 3 hours. Tyrandil and Phelaia were losing focus, and we called it quits.

We made history this night. Thorgrim and Phelaia were both a little surprised how far we got without a healer. After we came out of the Castle, Thorgrim said that this has become the most expensive guild run ever. That's ok, there's no better time to spend on consumables than when we're making history.

We. Will. Get. This. Done.

[Tyrandil]

There's a new name in green on the board...

[Phelaia]

Date: 5/9/2014
Dungeon: Castle Never
Team: Hrothnor (GWF), Tyrandil (GF), Santhus (Cleric), Thorgrim (CW), Phelaia (CW)
Status: SUCCESS

This run was planned by Thorgrim and Phelaia over the last week. The two them were emailing back and forth about when would be a good time and who make a good team to tackle Castle Never. Come Friday night, Neverwinter is quiet as usual, and 5 of us decided to run Spellplague during the delve hour for the heck of it. Then Hrothnor and Santhus came on, and Hrothnor wanted to run something. Why not Castle Never on a Friday night?

It was 10p PST when we started. The way to the Dracolich was even faster than it was a week ago. Thorgrim had a good feeling about the amount of DPS we were collectively putting out. Hrothnor was alternating enchantments for random encounters and boss fights, and no surprise, he's the only one brave enough to run headlong into that long hallway of 100+ skeletons, which usually causes so much lag that it kills Phelaia. Quote from Hroth, "If I'm not lagging, I'm not trying hard enough." Santhus turns out to be quite the "Critical Cleric," because until the third boss, no one was falling. Tyrandil could afford to use more offensive encounters to help with the adds because Santhus was so good at this healing business. Even the third boss only took Thorgrim and Santhus once, and they were able to rejoin the fight quickly.

At about 11p PST, we were at the door of the Dracolich. Finally, the moment of truth. Hrothnor generously gave everyone a couple of Scrolls of Life for insurance.

Attempt #1: at about 40%, the purple hands got to Tyrandil, and somehow he was not able to resurrect himself with a Scroll of Life. Phelaia's health stone did not proc after being tossed by a purple hand. The attempt was over when our tank was dead dead.

Attempt #2: Santhus changed up his encounters to try to not draw as much aggro. Tyrandil switched into a more defensive lineup of powers that increases the amount of aggro he can hold and keep the Dracolich facing him. Thorgrim danced around the arena spiking Icy Terrain. Phelaia had Singulariry and Shard up as often as possible. Hrothnor was an unkillable beast against an entire room of adds that Thorgrim and Phelaia are dumping on him. At about 10%, Santhus died, and he was out of Scrolls of Life. The lack of Santhus was immediately noticeable. Thorgrim and Phelaia needed to dance around a lot more to avoid all the red circles and the purple hands. At 3%, Phelaia died and was out of injury kits. No matter, this is what Scrolls of Life are for. Phelaia raised herself, ignored the "severe head injury," and carried on. 2%...1%...0.5%...WE DID IT!!! The Dracolich is dead, and the adds disappeared. It was 12:10AM PST. The delve chest gave us a round of run of the mill amulets and belts. Santhus got the Ancient Royal Priest Symbol.

It. Is. Done. We made NOR history this night.

[Bammer]

First of all, congrats on such an epic achieve! That is some doing! and secondly, for those that have never run with Hroth, he is a maniacal DPS machine! So when he says: Quote from Hroth, "If I'm not lagging, I'm not trying hard enough." He really means, that is the server is lagging when he is blazing, then he's not trying! I seldom lag after some adjustments, but in group with Hroth, it's insane! We are truly lucky to have him in out family! I hope to get in more of these insane runs!