You receive loot: Thorium Ore.
You receive loot: Dense Stone.
You receive loot: Arcane Crystal.
You receive loot: Black Lotus.
Ever since Gabryell had run into a Rich Thorium Vein and a Black Lotus in Winterspring but had been unable to gather either of them, he had learned his lesson. He deliberately spent half a day raising Mining to 275 and Herbalism to 300.
While questing in the Burning Steppes, his luck was pretty good. He gathered from two Rich Thorium Veins and picked one Black Lotus. The two veins even gave him an Arcane Crystal.
"What are Arcane Crystals and Black Lotus for?"
"Arcane Crystals are the most valuable materials you can get from Mining. You'll understand why later. For example, Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker doesn't just need the two Bindings. It also needs a disgusting number of Arcanite Bars, and those are transmuted from Arcane Crystals."
Gabryell continued, "Black Lotus is the most valuable herb. It's used for flasks, and flasks are the most valuable consumables in the game."
For now, he could only give them a simple explanation. The longer everyone played, the more they would understand just how valuable those two materials were.
"What's Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker?" Carlos immediately caught the important part.
Gabryell's tone turned meaningful. "An insanely powerful orange legendary one-handed sword. The dream weapon for main tanks. A main tank without Thunderfury is still a tank, sure, but he'll always feel like he's missing the crown."
Then he added, "Rogues can use it too. In Vanilla, it's one of the best off-hand weapons they can get."
"An orange weapon," Carlos said, his eyes lighting up. "A main-tank weapon."
He immediately got excited.
"Where does it drop? Let's farm it."
"No rush. It drops in Molten Core, and Molten Core is a 40-player raid. Blackrock Depths, the place we're heading to now, passes near the entrance. But to zone into Molten Core, we have to finish the attunement first, and that quest is deep inside BRD."
Carlos could barely wait. "Then why are we still standing around? Let's go."
"Yeah, yeah, BRD now," David immediately chimed in. "I'm ready for Molten Core. Thunderfury is calling my name."
Susie cut him off without mercy. "A fake tank has no right to call dibs on a legendary. If there's a line, you're dead last."
"I object."
"Objection denied," Susie said. "Discount tanks don't get a vote."
Gabryell smiled.
If David was really at the very back of the line, then he probably had no chance of getting Thunderfury before the level 70 expansion opened. Unless, of course, he made several more Warriors and dragged every single one of them into Molten Core GDKP runs.
Only then would he have a real shot at getting the sword before The Burning Crusade.
The next objective of the Onyxia attunement questline was to travel to Blackrock Mountain and search Blackrock Depths for Marshal Windsor.
Ragged John had told them that Windsor was being held somewhere inside BRD's prison area.
The BRD princess quest chain was simpler. After completing The Smoldering Ruins of Thaurissan, they could pick up the Kharan Mighthammer step. Kharan and Marshal Windsor were both locked up in the Detention Block of Blackrock Depths, and their cells were close enough that both chains could be handled together.
"Everyone get ready. We're heading to Blackrock Mountain soon."
After returning to Ironforge and picking up Kharan Mighthammer, they were finally ready to set off.
"Where's Blackrock Mountain?" someone asked.
Not everyone had been to Searing Gorge or the Burning Steppes yet, let alone Blackrock Mountain itself.
"Blackrock Mountain sits between Searing Gorge and the Burning Steppes," Gabryell explained. "It connects the two zones. For us, flying to Morgan's Vigil in the Burning Steppes is usually the easiest route. Horde has a flight point on that side too, so stay alert."
For the next half year, Blackrock Mountain would be one of the most important regions in the game. It had always been one of the fiercest conflict zones between Alliance and Horde. In older terms, it was the kind of strategic choke point everyone had to fight over.
Blackrock Mountain contained several major instances: Blackrock Depths, Lower Blackrock Spire, Upper Blackrock Spire, Blackwing Lair, and Molten Core. Players usually shortened them to BRD, LBRS, UBRS, BWL, and MC.
"After the War of the Three Hammers, the Bronzebeard dwarves and Wildhammer dwarves drove the Dark Irons into a desperate corner. In his grief and rage, Emperor Thaurissan made the worst decision of his life. He summoned the Firelord, Ragnaros, from the depths of the world."
Gabryell briefly explained the history of Blackrock Mountain.
"When that ancient being appeared, the entire region was changed. The land split, the mountains shook, forests burned away, and magma tore through the earth."
"Anything that refused to submit to flame was reduced to ash. Anything that did submit became enslaved to it. From that disaster rose a massive volcano linking Searing Gorge to the north and the Burning Steppes to the south. That volcano became Blackrock Mountain."
He took a sip of water before continuing.
"Right now, Blackrock Mountain is divided between two major forces. One is the Dark Iron dwarves under the Firelord's influence. They occupy Blackrock Depths. Ragnaros and his elemental minions are hidden even deeper, in Molten Core."
"The other force is entrenched in the upper reaches of Blackrock Spire: the Black Dragonflight, led by Nefarian, eldest son of Deathwing, the Black Dragon Aspect, along with the Blackrock clan and several ogre clans."
"The black dragons wield dark magic, while Ragnaros can use the power of flame to animate stone itself. Neither side can overpower the other, and that is what created the current balance inside Blackrock Mountain."
Gabryell said, "We're heading into Blackrock Depths, the part under Ragnaros's influence. While we're there, we'll also take care of the Molten Core attunement. MC will be the first 40-player raid we prepare for."
"A 40-player raid?"
David was stunned. "World of Warcraft has raids with forty people?"
He had asked what everyone else was thinking.
"In WoW, raids are the core of the game," Gabryell said. "All the truly good gear comes from raids. Five-man dungeons are just the warm-up. If you want to see what makes this game special, you have to raid."
"Progression is where the real achievement is. First kills, clean clears, server rankings—that's what people remember. If Fearless becomes the first guild to clear a raid, people on this server will remember our name."
Then he asked, "You want that, right? You want people to hear Fearless and know we're the guild to beat?"
"Yes!"
"Then push harder. Hit 60 as soon as you can, farm the level 60 dungeons, and get your gear ready. The better prepared we are, the better our chances in Molten Core."
Gabryell continued, "And Molten Core is only the beginning. Inside Blackrock Spire, in Nefarian's territory, there's another 40-player raid that's even harder: Blackwing Lair. The Marshal Windsor chain we're working on now is also an attunement, but for Onyxia's Lair. The boss there is Nefarian's sister, Onyxia, the Black Dragon Princess."
"I'm only taking the strongest players to progression raids. You're all core members of the guild. When we step into Molten Core and Onyxia's Lair, I want to see every one of you there."
After coming this far together, they had built real bonds. Gabryell hoped every one of them could meet the requirements for raid progression.
A guild was at its best when the people who started together could still stand together on raid night.
"Move out. Fly to the Burning Steppes, then head for Blackrock Mountain."
Some players had not unlocked the Searing Gorge flight path yet, so they had to approach from the Burning Steppes instead. On Horde-heavy servers, Alliance groups heading for Blackrock Mountain often rallied at Lakeshire in the Redridge Mountains first, then moved through the Burning Steppes together just to avoid getting picked off on the road.