Amani War Bear with 4 Minutes to Spare!

Done! Did it! Complete! Tonight Unorthodox earned its first Amani War Bear.

Congratulations to Awl, Paladin extraordinaire of Unorthodox and a good friend who was with me from the very beginning of Zul'Aman and stuck with me through all of our trials and tribulations.

Before we started I gave everyone a quick pep talk about Sunday's run and how we missed by 30 seconds. It could have been hesitating at bosses, or taking too long to loot, or any number of things. We all agreed to keep moving forward at a solid pace but without rushing and getting into trouble.

We did just that. We took every shortcut we knew. We didn't CC. We left it on Free For All loot the entire time. I didn't even bother to pick up the loot for DE. Eagle went down fast. Next to bear and we ripped him apart. Things were going smoothly even when on Jan'Alai's trash we had to face down 2 Flame Casters in the first pack and 2 again in the 5 pack around the bend. Things got a little dicey at one point because I didn't allow any CC and I kept missing the interrupts on the volleys. We were getting pummelled with fireballs, everyone's health was low and it looked like chaos in there. To the healers credit and the with no deaths; we recovered and got up the the platform.

Jan'Alai dealt us 3 deaths--one mage died twice and one of the healers bit it at the end (I think). It was a sloppy kill whereas our other two kills and clears were nearly flawless. We had 16 minutes left on the clock. Our previous best time was with 12 minutes remaining. I knew we had it at that point but I couldn't let it show for fear of the raid thinking it was in the bag and getting sloppy.

Awl and Lasthope, our Prot Pally and Feral Druid, kept the raid moving along through Halazzi trash. I got smashed to little bits by the gators on patrol, got a rez from Arkuss our Shadow Priest so the healers could keep moving. The pulls were coming along perfectly. With one mob still up the tanks would move forward and pull the next group. Mana was running low but we had to keep pressing forward. Up to Halazzi's room and the patrol was just coming around the bend. The patrols in this instance seem to be on a perfect rotation--as long as you are on pace to get the 4th timed chest.

With the three packs dead in the lynx's room we still had over 6 minutes on the clock. Everyone was anxious and ready to go; people calling for the pull but I needed healthstones and I'm sure others did too after the MC mobs and Flame Casters took their toll. It was OK at this point to take a minute to be sure everyone was buffed, had full mana and a healthstone. But the group couldn't take it anymore, they were on the edge of their seats and itching to down him. And we did.

We unleashed holy hell on Halazzi. It was going so fast I didn't know what phase we were in towards the end. When he did his split into the final Phase 2 and we got hit by the Transfigure it totally caught me by surprise--I thought we were already in the split phase! Awl peeled the lynx off Nosferot, the resto Shaman, and we just completely decimated the boss. At 2% with everyone alive and full health people were starting to get excited. A quick shout to finish stong and we did just that.

Halazzi dead.

4th chest opened.

A journey that began 10, nearly 11, months ago was completed for the very first time in Unorthodox.

Before we opened the chest Zhentar, Warlock and long-standing member, told the raid that he is rolling on the mount but if he wins his roll goes to me. Nearly half the raid chimed in with their agreement. I was really moved by the sentiment. Thank you everyone for offering It means a lot to me because the bear mount is more than just a prize, it's a symbol of a player's dedication to overcome a very difficult challenge as a team member. For a raider to offer up that symbol is very moving. It means more to me than you'll know--and believe me I will take you up on that!

When ZA first opened we set out to just gear up and get some loot. Then we started clearing timed chests and we got better and better at it. By the time we were getting close to the third chest the instance started to take on a new life for us as a team. It became a new challenge and a very difficult one that required flawless execution and cutting every spare second of slop out of the raid.

With our first bear in the guild I want to say congratulations to Awl and to everyone who's run ZA with me. Thank you for the hard work, for ever second saved, and for every sacrifice made.

We'll be back in here after every reset until the patch to collect as many bears as possible!