The (almost) Indestructible Paladin

After finally finishing Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (a tragic, bitter sweet ending, and I'll say no more about it) it was too late to get a group so I ventured into Maraudon. Yes, all on my own.

I had a collection quest and I'd read that it was now possible to get the Drops outside the Instance, but the only Mobs that seemed to drop the Crystals were 46 Elites, and they were few & far between. When I ran across the portal into the Instance itself I decided nothing ventured, nothing gained, and in I went.

The Mobs were mid 40s Elites, just a level or two below me (at 47) but they were single Mobs and I already knew from the outside encounters that I could take them, and so I did, and one by one I began collecting the Crystals. I do plan to Tank Maraudon but if I get the collection quest out of the way first then I won't be competing with my party for Drops, so Soloing these quests is actually a smart (& considerate) move.

I also discovered I could very easily solo a second collection quest I had, so I began doing it too.

The only Mobs that gave me trouble were the Oozes. Slow moving and traveling in pairs they're very weak to Ranged DPS, but get close and their Nature-based melee attacks pack quite a punch. As a Paladin I don't have a lot of Ranged abilities, I have some but not many, but I was still able to slowly kite the Oozes around while dragging them through my Consecrate spell and hitting them with the occasional Judgement and Exorcism. Not even the pairs of Dryads that patrol the caverns gave me as much trouble as did the Oozes.

Eventually I had just one Drop to collect, and that was when I made a mistake. The plant I needed to revive (to get the Drop) was in a small pit, but the pit was filled with Oozes. Not just a couple, there seemed to be at least 6 of them in there. Rather than advancing deeper into the Instance and look for an easier plant, I foolishly jumped down, revived this one, then discovered getting back out the way I'd come in was impossible. While trying to run out through the Oozes I got dazed and almost before I could blink I was staring at the Release button.

Crap. As a Paladin, dying is not something to which I'm accustomed.

I released and ran back in. Fortunately I'd revived the plant before dying (an embarrassing death, so we shall speak of it no more) and so the the quest Mobs I needed to kill had spawned. Unfortunately they'd spawned in the pit full of Oozes, so there were LoS issues while trying to get off HoR. Fortunately I only aggroed the one Mob and it emerged from the Pit to quickly die to (the now Fiery-enchanted) Jang'thraze the Protector (because nothing says "defense" like a flaming sword ;)

With my collection quests now completed I headed back to turn them in, which dinged me 48. I still haven't Tanked ZF yet, so I need to do that before I level much more or I won't be able to get in via the new LFG Tool. I'm not working Friday so I can probably run ZF Thursday night. My only concern is the number of Caster Mobs in there, and those Trolls do like to run when low on Health, but at 48 and with a good Healer and DPS backing me up I'm confident we'll do alright. Stay tuned.