As someone who had already suffered through this once in later Classic, Gabryell wasn't about to repeat his old mistakes. After accepting the Triage quest, he immediately checked every patient's condition.
Critically Injured first, Badly Injured second, ordinary Injured patients last.
"When there are no Critically Injured patients, prioritize whichever Badly Injured patient has been waiting longer. You need to keep track of spawn order and treat the earlier one first."
He moved quickly while explaining, hoping Carlos, Igor, and Hugo would actually absorb it. "You can't ignore regular Injured patients either. Track their timing too. If there are no Critically Injured or Badly Injured patients up, heal the regular patient who has been waiting the longest. Leave them too long and they'll die too."
"The key is watching the whole room at once. Your hands have to keep up with your eyes. New players keep failing because they can't match the pace. After a few failures, they get impatient, then panic, and then they fail even harder."
"Once you get used to the rhythm and control the pace, this quest is easy."
He didn't let a single patient die and quickly treated fifteen of them, completing the quest.
"See? Told you it was simple."
He spread his hands like it had taken no effort at all.
Igor stared at him. "Gab, I feel like you're showing off, but I can't prove it."
Gabryell laughed. "That's called skill. Once you're good enough, everything you do looks like flexing. Even if you try to keep a low profile, people will think you're sandbagging."
Carlos laughed. "Those two are going to be pissed."
He meant MagicGirl and DaVinci, who had made the bet with him.
The two had expected free gold. Their pockets were practically open already, only for him to clear the quest cleanly on the first try.
"Hah, they deserved that," Hugo said. "Did they not even check his name? Ogabs isn't famous for nothing."
Neither of them had recognized Fearless's guild leader.
"You two lost," Gabryell said, reminding them of the bet.
MagicGirl said, "You're good. First try. I'll admit it."
Not many players had First Aid at 225 yet. Being eligible for Triage meant he had not completed it before. Whether he had privately practiced in some other way did not matter. This completion counted.
DaVinci suddenly exclaimed, "Holy shit, how am I this dumb? Ogabs is Fearless's guild leader — the top Mage in the game."
That finally made MG realize it too. "Wow... I seriously didn't recognize the top Mage on the server."
"I wouldn't call myself the top Mage," Gabryell said. "I just level a little faster than most people."
Igor cut in from the side. "Gab, why do I feel like you're showing off again, and I still can't prove it?"
"How do I leave my guild?" DaVinci asked directly.
As expected of a Fury Warrior, he was straightforward.
"Type /gquit."
A few seconds later, DaVinci's Madhouse guild tag disappeared. He had left Madhouse and become guildless.
MagicGirl thought for a moment, then left Hallelujah as well.
Gabryell sent both of them invitations, and they joined Fearless.
Successful poach.
"They're both covered in blue gear, so they probably run dungeons a lot," he explained. "That means they have time. Once we start real progression, players with time are exactly what we need."
Two level 45 players were already worth recruiting, and their gear was Scarlet Monastery-tier blues or better. Among current players, they were clearly part of the first wave.
DaVinci was a Fury Warrior, which Fearless currently lacked. The guild's level 45 Warriors were mostly Protection Warriors, with no real Fury Warrior core yet.
MagicGirl was a Mage. Fearless did not lack level 45 Mages, but no guild ever complained about having more Mages. In certain situations, especially PvP against the Horde, Mage numbers could decide the fight.
"Welcome to Fearless," Gabryell said.
"Thanks."
The two were polite enough.
Gabryell typed out the same instructions he had just given Carlos and the others, teaching them how to complete Triage.
"Try again using that method."
They had already attempted the quest several times before. Now that they understood the method, one or two more tries should be enough.
DaVinci said, "I'll go first."
He accepted Triage and followed Gabryell's instructions step by step, steady and careful. In the end, he completed it with only three patients dead.
"So that's how it works," DaVinci said, clearly excited after finishing the quest. "No wonder Madhouse kept talking about you. Even Dream sounded impressed whenever he mentioned you."
"I'll do it too." Seeing DaVinci succeed, MagicGirl could not wait to accept the quest.
Maybe she was too excited, because she did not perform as cleanly as DaVinci. Five patients died by the end, but she still completed it by the skin of her teeth.
No matter how many patients died, completing the quest was what mattered. They had finally escaped Triage hell.
"Thanks, Ogabs," MagicGirl said gratefully.
With DaVinci and MagicGirl done, Igor felt he could not keep embarrassing himself and accepted the quest again. This time, he finally cleared it. He even did better than DaVinci, succeeding with only two patients dead.
Next, Carlos and Hugo accepted the quest one after another. Aside from Carlos, who got unlucky with too many Critically Injured patients spawning back-to-back and failed once more, everyone completed it.
"Done. The later bandages are learned here too. Heavy Mageweave Bandage requires 240 First Aid, Runecloth Bandage requires 260, and Heavy Runecloth Bandage requires 290."
Learning these bandages was expensive at this stage. Poorer players probably would not bother right now.
Of course, even poorer players would sell their cloth for gold instead of spending it on First Aid, so very few players had high First Aid this early. Some probably still had 1 point in the profession.
"Master, I'm level 35 now. I'm on the boat to Theramore."
Danielly's whisper arrived right on time.
"I'll meet you at the dock," Gabryell replied.
Someone unfamiliar with Theramore would take a while to find the Artisan Tailor.
"Can you open an Ironforge portal for me?" DaVinci asked.
MagicGirl said, "Invite me. I'll open one."
The two returned to Ironforge together through her portal.
"We're heading back too," Carlos said.
After opening a Stormwind portal for his three roommates, Gabryell went alone to the Theramore dock to wait for Danielly.
The boat did not make him wait long. Danielly's Dwarf Priest soon stepped off.
"Follow me."
Gabryell turned and ran toward the Artisan Tailor. He did not mount up, since Danielly was not level 40 yet and could not keep up without a mount.
When they reached the flight point, he had her unlock it first, then brought her to the Artisan Tailor.
Danielly trained Artisan Tailoring.
"Did you bring the materials?" Gabryell had already told her to prepare what she needed for skilling up.
"I did."
"Raise Tailoring to 240 first. Then learn Mageweave Bag, Dreamweave Gloves, and Dreamweave Vest."
Following his instructions, Danielly quickly raised Tailoring to 240 and learned every recipe available at her current skill level.
Gabryell traded her all the prepared materials.
"Make Dreamweave Gloves and Dreamweave Vest first. Ten of each."
Compared to 12-slot bags, Gabryell cared much more about the Dreamweave pieces.
Crafting blue items took longer. After some time, Danielly finally finished everything, and her Tailoring rose to 260.
"Make some Shadoweave pieces and push to 265."
Gabryell asked Hugo for some Thick Leather, then traded Danielly the Shadow Silk he had on hand.
Shadoweave gear was cheap, efficient caster gear for Warlocks and budget Shadow Priests. The line included pieces like Shadoweave Pants, Shadoweave Robe, Shadoweave Gloves, Shadoweave Shoulders, Shadoweave Boots, and Shadoweave Mask, all focused on Shadow spell damage.
Richer Warlocks and Shadow Priests could mix in Dreamweave pieces for better overall stats.
Danielly used up all the Shadow Silk and successfully reached 265, unlocking Dreamweave Circlet. Without needing Gabryell to say anything, she immediately made ten of them.
She traded everything back to him, but each trade window could only hold six items, so it took several trades to hand over all the Dreamweave and Shadoweave pieces.
"Keep one gear set for yourself. Mix Shadoweave with Dreamweave. Once you hit 40 and respec Shadow for questing, your kill speed will be way higher."
With that gear, Danielly would probably have the highest spell damage of any Shadow Priest at this stage.
Unfortunately, Shadow Priest was great for solo questing and leveling, but not as welcome in dungeons. Healing was still easier to get groups with.
Gabryell equipped the three-piece Dreamweave set, and his spell damage instantly jumped by 57 points: 18 from the gloves, 18 from the vest, and 21 from the circlet.
When solo farming the Zul'Farrak graveyard, he could switch back to Intellect and Stamina gear. For dungeons, spell damage gear was more efficient, and more spell damage would make Maraudon easier too.
He was now geared to the teeth, ready for tonight's Maraudon run.
If everything went well, he would use that run to convince Madhouse completely and clear the path for his larger plan.