Today, after completing the daily cooking quest, I finally got the reward I've been after for awhile: Recipe: Stormchops. This is the last recipe I needed from the cooking quests and it's great to have it. The stormchops are fun to eat and now I can make them for myself rather than bumming them off Harkor.

Looking for possible upgrades now that I basically have everything I've been shooting for, I've found the one item that might make the biggest difference - the Merciless Gladiator's War Staff. This arena staff will provide an upgrade of 1 hit rating, 42 crit, 40 damage, and 29 resilience at the cost of just 6 stamina and 9 intellect. An amazing tradeoff and well worth it. However, it does cost 3,261 arena points. With my recent gains this past week, I am at about 1,750 points. Leaving me 1,500 short. If I get in my weekly 5v5 and 2v2 games, I can buy it in three weeks. However, last week I was unable to get in the 5v5 games due to scheduling conflicts, but I will try much harder over the coming weeks to get those matches in. Of course, the Vengeful Gladiator's Battle Staff would be an even better option adding 5 hit, 46 crit, 62 damage, 29 resilience, and 1 stamina, at the cost of just 5 intellect. But alas, this requires a personal arena rating of 1,850 - a mark I don't think I can reach. We'll see how it goes over the next few weeks, but as I'm currently sitting under 1,500, it's probably an unattainable goal.

For our Karazhan run last night, we had hoped to clear the place in about four hours, besting our previous time and also finishing within the time of our usual raid schedule. However, it was not meant to be. After quickly clearing through Attumen, Moroes and the Maiden, we ran into Romulo and Julianne at the Opera. After quickly downing each of them separately, we started in on them at the same time. After gaining a bit of aggro, I used invisibility, dumped all my aggro, and went all out on Romulo. But apparently he missed me go invisible and came after me. Since he is un-tauntable, Vetarra, our druid tank couldn't pick him up again quickly and he demolished me. An ice block would have been a lifesaver, and my mage trainer has told me that I will be able to learn it soon.

Back to the Maiden of Virtue for a second - last night, for the first time, she decided to drop my boots! The Boots of Fortelling are now mine. After we downed the Curator, we took our normal break, so I ported back to Shattrath (more on that later) and then used the free port to Ironforge. In Ironforge, I grossly overspent on a Runed Living Ruby and a Great Dawnstone. I also then paid way too much for a Large Prismatic Shard as I needed just one more to enchant the boots with Boar's Speed. So my new boots now offer an additional 3 stamina, 5 intellect, 2 critical strike, and 6 damage. A very nice upgrade all around - at the cost of no stats.

So when I said "more on that later" regarding the Curator, here's the "more." He finally dropped the Gloves of the Fallen Hero. This is another first time drop in Karazhan and I can't even count how many times we've been there and downed both the Maiden and the Curator. There were no hunters in our party at the time and Nefernetcher had already picked up the gloves on a PUG previous to our group formation (we were lucky enough to find Nefernetcher hanging out in the Looking For Group channel one night we were short a raider and he is now a member of Darklight Resolution and a permanent member of the Gold Team - a valued asset and all around great guy). So that left the gloves to me. Now, I'm in no position yet to break my Spellfire set bonus, but the complete Tier Four set would be amazing to have, and I now have the Gloves of the Aldor - the reason I originally ported to Shattrath instead of straight to Ironforge.

After the Curator, we plowed through Aran, Illhoof, and Netherspite and ended up back on the dreaded Prince. We failed in our first two attempts due to absolutely horrific elemental drops, but prevailed in our third attempt. With the Helm of the Fallen Hero being the only item left in Karazhan I really would like (well, I guess the Mindblade too), the Prince decided to drop neither. So I will return, continue to rack up badges with nothing to buy, and pray that the Prince will eventually drop my helm. Off to work out some calculations on how the Gloves could fit into my set. PvP gear perhaps?

Last night, the combined forces of Darklight Resolution and The Protectorate ventured back into Gruul's Lair. With a new strategy, we were ready to take down Gruul after we downed Maulgar on two attempts (somehow, as I was tanking Krosh, he hit me with a blast wave - didn't think I was close enough...).

So we went into Gruul's Lair and began our attempts. We got quite far in our first attempt of the night with our new strategy - just under 50%. Our second attempt didn't go well at all, but on our third and final attempt (we had a few people who had to leave early), we had a very good attempt - our best ever. We got him down to 27%, and even though I died early - I had a cave-in on my hiding spot and got flung next to a couple people who had more hit points than I - I still somehow managed to top the damage meters after the fight was over. I just wish I could have stayed up longer - or at least had another chance at Gruul.

We'll get him soon. Karazhan tonight I believe. See if we can beat our full clear in 4.5 hours.