So I’ve been slow to even do the Group Dungeons since I’m not a big fan of PUGs (due to the general suckage and assholiness of people, see this post) so the opportunities have been fewer. Did Crypt of Hearts and Wayrest Sewers, actually I guess one or the other of us did most of them in DC with Symmetry, but for my own toons I hadn’t done any—which also meant that I have been a total non-participant in the Undaunted pledges since they were introduced.

Until today.

So, three big firsts to report on:

1. First normal Undaunted pledge

(Also: my first run through Blessed Crucible)

This one wasn’t too bad. Had a collective sense of foreboding when we were killed repeatedly by the fire bugs mobs that lead up to the big one-two punch of Giant Scorpion and Troll King (“OMG if we’re dying on the trash pull then we are going to be f**ked by the bosses!”) but it turns out we were just being extra squishy (or extra dumb) when it came to big flaming beetles.

The scorpion and troll went down.

So there’s a fiery arena thing, Tamriel Thunderdome-style

Fought some firebug trash. Distressingly, we died a lot

Dead really-fucking-giant Scorpion

And dead troll king

Big hall of Champion Statues

VICTORY IS OURS

Savoring the moment

More savoring

Alright let’s go, where the hell are we anyway?

..oh. Stonefalls. Oh.

2. First Veteran Undaunted pledge

(2nd run through the Wayrest Sewers but hey they were different than before!)

And this was mighty exciting! First half: not too bad. Had some adventures (and I discovered that Mouser had more squishy bits than I had previously been aware of from doing the other PvE content) but we Veni-ed, Vidi-ed and Vici-ed our way through the sewers.

Then we hit that Lich and his wraiths…

Personally what I found so brilliant about that epic conflict was it made me so much more aware of how reconfigurable the build of my toon is, even when we’re just talking about what skills are on my bars and (to a lesser extent) what weapons and jewelry (and, by extension, what effects and buffs they provide) I’m wearing. Because the way in which we finally took down that pasty-faced, levitating, undead wizard was by all four of us testing around different setups and strategies for our gear, bars and rotations, as well as trying out different group strategies for what we hit, what we ignored or absorbed, and when and how.

Short version: kill the mofo lich and ignore the bloody adds! But you better have a frickin’ awesome healer on deck. Which we did 😀 Yay, Sos!

Goooo-OOO TEAm—oh wait. Veni is looking for shit in his bag. Um, hold on, Team. Hold on.

Dark and creepy altars with skulls. Totally de rigeur.

Gumusservi looking fierce

This dude is EVERYWHERE

The Icy Lichman Cometh and we are READY!

Or not. Though we did learn that you can’t do Shield Charge if you’re fighting naked and don’t have a shield. Also FYI: fists are not very effective against a Veteran rank lich. The More You Know.

Like seriously, we’d be dead after .78s of his beam attack if it weren’t for Sos the Healer (and Gumusservi switching over to resto staff to double up the heals in these moments)