Let Not One Damn Cur Pass By

Yesterday I had logged in to Rift to do my daily crafting quests and maybe knock out a little bit of leveling.  A couple of hours later I had been through one of the largest, most epic, impromptu battles I have ever had the pleasure to be sucked into.

One of my crafting dailies is completed in Moonshade Highlands.  I planned on ending there since that is where Athnamas’ quests currently are.  Knock out a few quests, turn them in, pick up some shinies and, oh, a notice that there’s a death invasion coming.  I mention it on vent but am overridden by an invasion in Shimmersand.  So most of our 40s and 50s are off to that zone.

Oh well.  I’ll do what I normally do, close a rift or two on my way to the closest wardstone and guard it until it falls and the invasion is lost.  Since I’m in the second Defiant quest hub I head for the rift just inside the area held by the Fae.  After one or two tries I do get it closed off.  I check the map and notice that virtually all the marauders are heading for one wardstone, the one just outside the are with the Fae.  I mount up and head out for the eventual slaughter.

Axes flash, broadsword swing, Shining armour’s piercing ring

I get to the wardstone expecting to find it overrun.  What I see is completely different.  A fellow OTGer, whose name eludes me Broot, standing up to no less than 3 groups of marauders!  I hop off my horse drop a Grave Rot then call Devouring Shadows to take care of the minions before helping him focus down the remaining leaders.  We manage to take them down but he’s a tad worse for wear.  Though he’s a cleric he’s clearing set up to tank.  I drop my Necro/War souls for my Chloro focused soul because without healing we were going to be toast.

Horses run with polished shield, Fight Those Bastards till They Yield

There was a rift nearby that we could close.  Just as we headed towards it the horns blared, more marauders incoming!  One wave, then another, and another, and yet another!  He picked up each wave in turn and I did as much healing and damage as could while he was dogpiled by wave after wave of the walking dead.  All told we figure we fended off 11 waves.  The wardstone still stood.

Midnight mare and blood red roan, Fight to Keep this Land Your Own

We moved on the rift and were able to knock out most of the first stage before it spawned two more groups of marauders.  We dropped them plus a few more waves from the other rifts.  At that time we took stock.  25 invaders defeated?  Oh hell yes, a long time ago!  Rifts closed?  1 of 10.  One!?  I closed that one!  Was anyone else even fighting in this zone?

Sound the horn and call the cry, How Many of Them Can We Make Die!

We rushed back to the nearby rift and kicked out the first stage and worked on the second.  We finally had some help.  A lone Guardian Rogue.  With his help on the edges (he couldn’t get close to our wardstone) we finally closed that rift.  We checked the status.  2/10 rifts closed.

Follow orders as you’re told, Make Their Yellow Blood Run Cold

That’s it, we’re alone.  The wardstone was being attacked again so we fended off another onslaught of the walking dead.  Fine, we’ll do it ourselves!  We work our way north to the next closest rift.  This one is near the shared quest hub in Moonshade.  First we clear it of the death foothold.  Then we start working on the stages, catching any outgoing marauders.  We lost the Guardian Rogue but picked up a Defiant Pyromancer.  Twice we had to clear the nearest wardstone and once we had to ride back to the last remaining wardstone and keep it from falling.

Fight until you die or drop, A Force Like Ours is Hard to Stop

As we’re working on this we get word on Vent that the invasion in Shimmersand was lost.  People are trying to figure out what to do next.  We two OTGers in Moonshade drop not-so-subtle hints they could high-tail it here and help out.  We check the rifts closed.  2/10 still.  One voice says he’s on his way.

Close your mind to stress and pain, Fight till You’re No Longer Sane

We continue to work on closing the rift while the other OTGer says he is going to close a few rifts.  For some reason we pushed the rift we were on to stage 6 and the elite boss.  We die two or three times.  Stupid of us.  Extra stages in an invasion just waste time, now we can’t close it.  Not only that the wardstone we started out at is being hammered again.  As we pop back from the spirit realm one of our 50s goes sailing past, saying that he is going to get to the wardstone.  We follow and end up with two more OTGers, pushing us to a total of 5.  Well, shoot, with 5 we can easily take the elite boss!  They follow us back and we dispatch the elite boss in short order.

Let not one damn cur pass by, How Many of Them Can We Make Die!

Another check of the status, 5/10 rifts closed.  The cleric and I are responsible for 3, our OTG counterparts from Shimmersand are responsible for the other 2.  We check our map to find that not only is our last wardstone under attack but there is now a rift next to it!  We rush back, save the wardstone yet again, and quickly dispatch the rift.

We close it and check the status, 10/10 rifts closed?  Well, hot damn!  The cavalry has arrived!  The boss spawns, in the Fae controlled area.  We 5 OTGers and Pyromancer pubbie head off to throw what might we have against her.  6 members in our raid.  Then 8, then 10.  Slowly the numbers rise as people realize that we could win this invasion.  In the end even the Guardians showed up to pitch in.

In the end we died several times but won.  The Moonshade Highlands did not fall and it all started with one mage and one cleric from OTG.  The battle lasted for two solid hours.  All told Athnamas gained a full level, over 25 Puresources and well over 2000 Planerite.

As for the title and little snippets, they are from one of my favorite fighting songs of all time, The March of Cambreadth by Heather Alexander.