Baron Geddon's Inferno ended, and Gabryell immediately had Susie pick him up.
"All DPS, stop attacking. Let Susie build solid threat. Melee, don't rush in—wait for the next AoE."
"Priests, dispel Ignite Mana. Healers first. Be quick—don't let them lose too much mana."
Baron Geddon began targeting players with Living Bomb. Without an addon warning them, everyone had to watch for whoever turned red and got the debuff.
As the raid leader, Gabryell had to keep track of every ability the boss used and immediately call for anyone targeted by Living Bomb to move away from the group.
"Mushy, get away from the group. Head to the wall on the right."
The second player targeted was MushroomHunter. Gabryell immediately ordered her away from the group to keep her from blowing up the entire raid. With everyone's current health pools, one explosion in the group could cause an instant wipe. There would be no surviving it.
Although MushroomHunter had no idea why she needed to move away, she still headed right as instructed. That was what a good kid who followed instructions did.
"Snowy, shield Mushy."
A shield could absorb part of the bomb damage and keep her from dying to fall damage after being launched into the air.
"Everyone, watch Mushy. See how she's turned red? This is one of the boss's abilities, Living Bomb. Whoever gets it will explode where they're standing after eight seconds."
Seven had used Ice Block to clear Living Bomb when he got it, so there hadn't been much opportunity to explain the mechanic. Now that Mushy had been targeted, everyone could get a clear look.
Mushy's bomb timer expired, and the explosion sent her flying.
Gabryell said, "If you're standing in the group when it goes off, you'll blow everyone up. The moment you get it, move away from the raid and find an empty corner to explode in. A Mage can Ice Block it off, and a Paladin can Divine Shield it off. If you have either, you don't need to run. Everyone else does."
Mushy hit the ground with barely any HP left. Without Danielly's shield absorbing part of the explosion, she probably would have died.
"Snowy, from now on, whenever I call someone out with the bomb, shield them immediately. Don't let anyone die to it."
Gabryell assigned Danielly to specifically shield anyone who had to run out with Living Bomb.
"From now on, anyone who blows up the raid loses 5 DKP. Do it twice in a row and you're benched. No exceptions."
Ninety percent of wipes on Baron Geddon came from someone blowing up the raid. Without a harsh penalty, people wouldn't take the mechanic seriously.
"Mushy, top yourself off."
Gabryell saw her coming back without healing to full and immediately told her to top herself off, just in case something went wrong.
"The boss farted."
Princess Theradras's legendary farting technique had left quite an impression on everyone, and Baron Geddon's Inferno was basically the same thing.
Gabryell said, "Susie, move out."
Susie moved away at once.
Gabryell continued, "Carlos, see that? From now on, when Baron Geddon uses Inferno, you need to move out too. It hits way too hard. If the main tank stands in it, not even a god could keep him alive."
Carlos replied humbly, "Got it. I won't make that mistake again."
"Last time was my fault. I didn't call you out in time."
As the raid leader, Gabryell had been partly to blame for failing to tell the main tank to move out of Inferno immediately.
"Melee, stay out until Inferno ends. Don't rush back in. Give Susie a moment to rebuild threat."
Just as Baron Geddon's Inferno ended, some ranged DPS—no one knew who—landed two critical hits in a row and pulled aggro.
Baron Geddon turned toward the raid. Fortunately, Susie immediately taunted him back before anything went wrong.
"Ranged DPS, ease off during Inferno too. Watch your threat. If you're getting too high, stop attacking for a bit. Nobody's giving out prizes for topping the damage meters."
Gabryell immediately called someone out.
"I'm talking about you, Seven. You're good for nothing except padding the meters."
Seven protested indignantly, "My RNG's just insane tonight. I keep critting. How is that my fault? Blizzard must've secretly given me a crit buff."
"Oldguard, Divine Shield."
The third Living Bomb targeted another healer.
A Paladin was no problem. He had Divine Shield. Forget just clearing the bomb—he could stand right in Inferno and Hearthstone home if he wanted.
"More Paladins and Mages, please."
Those two classes made the mechanic easy. The real headache was when Living Bomb targeted melee.
And naturally, the moment Gabryell thought that, the fourth bomb landed on a melee player.
Worse, it wasn't a DPS.
It was Susie.
"Snowy, shield Susie the second the bomb launches him. Healers, keep him topped off with overhealing. Melee, fall back to the ranged group immediately. Don't get caught in the explosion."
"Ranged DPS, ease off. Anyone high on threat, stop attacking. Don't you dare pull aggro."
The worst possible target for Living Bomb was the main tank. If Susie came down low and Baron Geddon immediately followed up with another hit, he could die before the healers had a chance to stabilize him.
Being launched into the air also made it easy for DPS to pull aggro and send the boss charging into the raid.
"Keep the overhealing up. SevenDays, be ready with Lay on Hands."
They only had one Fire Resistance tank. They couldn't afford for anything to happen to him. Burning Lay on Hands to keep him alive would be well worth it.
The bomb on Susie exploded, launching him into the air. Danielly's shield landed at exactly the right moment. Although it only held for a second, that second gave the other healers enough time to pump heals into him.
This was where having twelve healers paid off. With all that overhealing, Susie's HP stayed practically full the entire time.
Gabryell had warned everyone in advance, so the ranged DPS sitting high on threat stopped attacking in time. Even with Susie blown away from the boss, no one pulled aggro.
Susie landed, immediately used Intercept to get back in, and picked up the boss again.
"Good. Keep this rhythm. Melee, if you get Living Bomb, run left. Don't blow up the tank."
Baron Geddon was mostly about rhythm. As long as the raid kept the fight under control, he wasn't that difficult.
Compared to Baron Geddon, however, the next boss, Shazzrah, was far more annoying. He could Blink straight into the raid and cast Arcane Explosion, sometimes leaving no time to get away. On top of that, Counterspell could shut casters down, and Shazzrah's Curse made his Arcane damage even more dangerous. Once the curse was up, a single Arcane Explosion could kill someone outright. With the melee DPS's current HP pools, they couldn't safely go in at all yet.
Gabryell wasn't expecting to clear Shazzrah on the first attempt. That boss was far better at wiping a raid than Baron Geddon.
"Death, get out of the group."
The next player targeted by Living Bomb was DeathScum.
DeathScum reacted quickly and ran left. Danielly's shield went up immediately.
"Everyone's doing really well tonight. Keep this up and we've got him."
Fighting Baron Geddon here in Garr's room really was much easier. If they had fought him in the passageway, Gabryell was pretty sure they would have wiped. Only experienced raids fought him there, and Fearless wasn't at that level yet.
Gabryell glanced at Baron Geddon's health bar and cast Evocation.
"Inferno. Melee, back out."
"Nice Ice Block, Only. Good reaction. See that, Seven? Learn from everyone else for once. Stop reacting half a beat late every single time."
"Twin, you really shouldn't have died there. Don't rush back in so fast."
TwinBleeds had gone in too early and caught the final tick of Inferno, burning to death.
Still, it no longer mattered.
At most, Baron Geddon had one more cycle left in him.
"The boss is dead. Everyone, get away from the corpse. I don't want to see anyone instant-looting it."
Their chance at Garr's right binding had already been wasted on an instant loot. Now all their hopes for an orange drop rested on Baron Geddon.
"Once the corpse has cooled off, Luna, go loot it."
For a boss that could drop an orange, Luna had to be the one looting. Gabryell didn't trust anyone else. If someone else walked up and pulled out a Seal of the Archmagus instead, he'd be speechless.
Baron Geddon died while casting Inferno.
Of all the bosses he could have copied, he just had to imitate Princess Theradras and stand there farting until he died.
The melee players knew better than to instant-loot the corpse. They all backed away together.
After waiting a little while, Gabryell finally said, "Luna, go ahead."
Lunatori stepped forward and looted the boss.
"What dropped?" Gabryell asked impatiently.
Lunatori's soft voice came through his headset, and to Gabryell, it was the sweetest sound he had heard since they began progressing through Molten Core.
"Huh? Why is this gear a different color? It's not purple. It's orange."
Orange!
Gabryell's heart clenched, then started pounding.
No way.
Could Lunatori really be that lucky?
Had she actually looted the left half of the Bindings of the Windseeker?
"Everyone move! Let me see what dropped."
Gabryell, rarely this excited, immediately Blinked over to the corpse.
He had to see for himself whether the left binding had really dropped.