The Indestructible Tankadin

In the Blue corner, from Coldridge Valley in Dun Murogh. Standing 4'5" tall and weighing in at 625 pounds (including his armor, shield, and sword), he's the Dwarf from the north! The Indestructible Tankadin! Put your hands together for Ambassadooooooor Bellllllmagaaaaarrr!

And fighting out of the Red corner, all the way from the Zangarmarsh Lagoon in the notorious, exotic, and oh so dangerous Outland. Standing 6'5" tall and weighing in at 550 pounds. He's mean. He's green. He's the Leader of the Darkcrest Naga! Give it up for Rajaaaaaah Haghazeeeeeddd!

I decided I wanted the Petrified Lichen Guard (a reasonably easy to obtain Sporeggar Rep-Reward Shield) so this evening I made my way into Zangarmarsh, a trip made a darn sight easier by getting my Gryphon at 60.

But on the way I stopped at the Cenarion Expedition's Zangarmarsh base and checked out their quests. Only two of the CE quests had items as a reward, so I picked up both of them (both Boss kill quests) because the rewards were clearly upgrades over my current items. My log showed they were not only both Orange to me (at 60) but they were also Group quests. But that's really only a recommendation, right?

The closest Boss was Rajah Haghazed and I flew overhead to check him out. He was currently spawned as a 63 Elite with 22,000 health. Quite a lot when compared to my Prot Pally in his new Ramparts gear, who self-buffed has approx. 6500. Apparently Haghazed also spawns as a 62 so it was just my luck to get the upgraded version. He had several Naga wandering around him, including two 63 guards (regulars, not even Rares) posted at the foot of his pagoda, but I was confident that if I could get him on his own I could take him down, especially as he's a Melee Mob, not a Caster.

First on the card was a Naga Witch, who I literally dropped in on. After she went down I took out a wandering water elemental, then pulled a nearby Taskmaster. That left Haghazed's two guards and when they saw me they abandoned their posts and came runnng over. They were tough but not a huge problem, and their defeat left the Rajah alone but not necessarily helpless. HoR/Avenger's Shield pulled him to my location and as he rushed me I hit him with a Judgement of Light and threw up Holy Shield, and then began a looooong, drawn out slug-fest where I did little more than Auto-attack while keeping JoL up on him, and HS up on me.

Haghazed starts the fight with a sword & shield which he drops at 50% in favor of a polearm, this decreases his armor but ramps up his damage. For the first half of the fight I took very little damage, and what I did take was mitigated by my Blessing of Sanctuary and healed by my Judgement & Seal of Light. It was only when Haghazed switched to his Polearm and started to hit a little harder that my Health began to slowly drop. Slowly though, so I wasn't terribly concerned.

This was not a fight between welterweights, who dodge and duck and weave and slip and slide around the ring. This was a fight between two heavyweights who stand toe-to-toe, slugging it out and trading blows until only one of them is left standing.

With around 2,000 health left I bubble-Healed back to full then resumed the attack on the much weakened Rajah, who now had much less Health than I did.

And that was when the Frostbolt hit me from behind.

The fight had been going on for so long that the Naga Witch I'd killed earlier had respawned and joined the fray. It was time to step things up. I hit Haghazed with another Judgement followed by a Hammer of Wrath and an Exorcism. 1-2-3! KO! The Naga Boss was down for the count. I turned to the Naga Witch and began pounding on her and she promptly froze me in place then ran screaming to a nearby Taskmaster.

This was clearly no longer a Marquis of Fantailer match between gentlemen; this was now WWE at its finest (assuming the word 'fine' can be used to accurately describe the WWE).

The Taskmaster enlisted the help of a Drudge but I knew from past experience that the little guy would scarper given half the chance (meaning as soon as the Taskmaster went down). I quickly finished off the Witch then gave the Taskmaster a thorough thrashing and just like that it was all over and the fat lady started singing. I'd just defeated an Elite Boss 3 levels above me, along with 2 of his lackeys, single-handed, but then they don't call me the Indestructible Tankadin for nothing. Actually nobody does call me that :P

For an encore I moved on to the second Naga Boss, the Witch Rajis Fyashe. That was a little more humbling. In other words she avenged the Rajah and handed my arse to me on a silver platter, finely chopped, with a little sprig of parsley on the side. I'm indestructible, not unmeltable ;)

I got a new set of Pauldrons from defeating the Rajah but I never made it to Sporeggar to start working towards my Shield because Steve logged on. I chatted with him for a bit, explaining last night's Run and my apparent silence, and he said it was all good and the situation was more amusing than anything else. Phew!