Arch Magus Vangl proved himself to be quite the adversary, especially faced against a raidforce in deep contemplation of what unheard of strategy to apply against this particular encounter. Several intricate battleplans were made, and all found unworthy. During our last attempt of the evening, as our initial plan was on the brink of failure once again, a rather blunt statement was uttered in our raidchannels; Merely zerg the lummox...

Somewhat baffled that our medieval approach of brute force was the key to winning, potential corpseshots all but eluded me, and hopefully the screenshots of Mata Muram will suffice for now, despite their limited quality. As the first quote below will clearly outline, we were somewhat uncertain whether or not the nemesis of Anguish himself was initially aggro, or triggered through a brief display of exquisite lore, thus we sent our blithely unaware monk Karde in to investigate with the clear instruction of merely checking if the mob was indeed triggered.

After receiving our general go ahead, Karde immersed himself in the lure of Mata Muram, and seconds after asking "What worlds" a totally unaware raidforce found themselves quite Dead. Several petitions were made that night though, and hopefully Karde will adorn himself with a new title within the week; Karde the Illiterate

Countless hours has of late been spent amid the remnants of Jelvan's nightmare in the lower depths of Anguish. Haunted sans comparison by the three ellusive Tormentors, we have been throwing ourselves repeatedly at a seemingly relentless foe, though post one of our later attempts, we discerned one of the vital aspects that eventually yielded the key to solving this event.

I've read numerous places that this event is one of the hardest designed to date in Everquest, and while I fully agree with that assessment, I must voice my disapproval towards any encounter that deems 20% of the expedition to be inhabited by clerics a necessity. That being said, the Jelvan encounter offered us an andrenaline rush that has long been absent in an Omens raid endeavour. If nothing else, conquering the tormentors is the ultimate test of teamwork and coordination, a test any guild would be proud to complete.

Our recent progression was somewhat halted by a lack of key classes for events such a Jelvan, though with a recent influx of new trialists, we are ready to continue where we left off prior to the last year coming to an end. A formal greeting was obviously arranged with Arch Magus Vangl, ending at 65%, though I will not promise any corpse shot here tomorrow, only time will tell. In case you wonder where all our globes of discordant energy are ending up, the second picture below should suffice for explanations!

Merely one quote this time, though the content alone is disturbing enough to justify the limited amount. For explanations feel free to inquire from Finnemann ingame.

Alot of people have complained about the lack of corpseshots displayed on the page of late. Personally I thought an action picture spoke volumes well beyond a corpse stained across the zone interior, though upon receiving a few comments, in addition to reading the latest news posting on Darkwind's frontpage, I decided to explore the possibility of directly influencing the position of the Anguish nameds once merely a few percentage of their lifebar remained. Much to Uren's disdain I might add, how could one even consider to let an AE rampage mob roam blithely through our raidforce!

Despite initial worries, the results were not half bad, bar Ture who seemingly managed to force himself into a nearby wall after having been stalked in open territory for quite some time. We are still working hard on aiding Jelvan, and I fear having to write another news posting within the week. That being said, we are still looking for a few dedicated clerics to join our ranks, high playtime and alternate advancement are both traits held in high regard, the rest we can easily provide.

We are currently looking for a few clerics to join our healing branch. Healing is an essential part of every raid encounter, and to progress accordingly, our numbers need to increase somewhat.

Progression wise we have recently added Keldovan the Harrier to our weekly routine, joining Warden Hanvar and warm up bait Ture. Requirements are 200+ aa and 5+ days playtime a week. Interested candidates are requested to query Anthas, Karde, Nineveh or Uren in game for further details. Crosserver applicants are encouraged to apply, though obviously we will accept local miracle workers as well :)

Send your application to: here

Twice before in the history of Everquest has the guild stood against an encounter as disconsolate as Warden Hanvar within the Citadel of Anguish, its predecessors being the Rathe Council amid the height of the Planes of Power, followed by a more familiar Zun'Muram Tkarish Zyk. All of the endeavours mentioned above had the distinct ability to totally halt progression for quite a significant amount of time, albeit one factor set Warden Hanvar apart, namely the recent exodus from the game caused by the allure of newer "improved" games.

Like many a guild serverwide we lost a fair amount of our regular playing base, rendering the Warden encounter not doable, considering a peak attendance of mid thirties. Recruiting was obviously intensified, primarily consisting of players applying from outside the boarders of Antonius Bayle, and merely a few weeks after, our numbers stabilized anew.

Having worked on this encounter for close to two months, most of us will likely suffer more than a fair share of grey hairs now knowing that our initial tactics were actually Dead on, though limited numbers mixed with poor execution deemed our attempts unworthy of success.

As the pictures will hopefully indicate ( sorry Finnemann! ) I was not present during the encounter, though Finnemann managed to secure the following gem from Faiar:

Within The Fortress of Zek, Tallon was found up and available for a change, and knowing the gate to Soluseks Tower would open through this deity's demise, neither encouraging words or blessings of faith were deemed a necessity.

Vallon also decided to grace us with his presence, and thus carebears throughout Norrath cheered vicariously

The warders of Raging-Fury are seldom apprechiated for their endeavors. Glistening displays of weaponshields, fletching, and countless outbursts in regards to line of sight, bow performance and tanking efforts. The following pictures were donated by Grymin, and for the wood elves out there viewing with an open gasp, they are known to answer every fanmail.