Last night Blackmoon Tribe and Shattered Oath, as part of our long lasting Shattered Moon alliance, headed into Gruul's Lair - the first 25 man raid instance in Burning Crusade. On our first visit, after multiple tries, we were able to accomplish our goal and kill the first boss, King Maulgar!

The fight was instense, four "mini" bosses accompany Maulgar as adds. A shaman like ogre who arcane explosions anyone who comes in range, a warlock ogre who summons giant felhounds and death coils every few seconds, a mage like ogre who blast waves when anyone is in range and constantly throws out fireballs, and a priest like ogre who constantly tries to cast greater heals and prayers of healing. All of these are fought in a small room at the exact same time as King Maulgar himself who is whirlwinding and charging the tank. Congratulations to everyone for our first 25-man raid kill and here's looking to kill Gruul himself next week!

Edit: Rokh (AKA Bahl) from Shattered Oath actually frapsed a video from last night's kill - download it here:
High Quality - Download
Low Quality - Download

Posted by Darakai

Zuldox, our new Warmaster has been hard a work planning the next warbands event. This one will take place in Azeroth - particularly from Stranglethorn Vale up through Elwynn Forest. Objectives are simple, kill the leaders of the shires positioned throughout the southern portion of the Eastern Kingdoms. Darkshire, Goldshire, and Lakeshire are all targets after the rebel camp is taken out in North STV. Everyone should have some type of fireworks on them before going, after all it is the lunar festival. Depending on how many show, team leaders will be assigned objectives for the targets.

The date is not yet determined.

Posted by Darakai

For the first time yesterday afternoon the Blackmoon Tribe held its official Rite of the Blackmoon inside Outlands. The ceremonies were held in Zangarmarsh in the large Troll settlement of Zabra'jin. Ish was once again elected into the Tribunal Council and, in the arena battle, Zuldox became the new Warmaster.

Posted by Darakai

Tonight the Blackmoon Tribe held its first official Warbands event since the release of The Burning Crusade expansion pack. With PvP objectives present in almost every new zone it was decided by our current Warmaster, Onondaga that the capturable towers in Hellfire Peninsula would be great for our first target. At 4PM server time BMT members were dispatched from Thrallmar with reinforcements from across the world... approximatley thirty plus Horde took to the landscape.

The event was an astronomical success, there was an amazing turn out on both sides, Alliance had major forces constantly keeping the three "towers" in flux while the Horde advanced deep into Honor Hold and was even able to demolish the once peaceful site of the Temple of Telhamat. With capturable objectives, flying mounts, and the removal of Dishonorable Kills the Warbands event has had new life breathed into it.

Posted by Darakai

This afternoon the Blackmoon Tribe lead a ritual to guide the spirits of our heroes home and send any enemy spirits back to the nether. Meeting at the Shrine of Fallen Heroes in the Barrens members told stories of heroes past in commemoration of their victories and mourn their defeats.

The event has been added to our Events section, check there for a couple of more screenshots.

Posted by Darakai

Last night Nang held a burning ceremony out in the Blasted Lands, fire and heat burned through the night air around the Dark Portal and many demons were massacred.

This... festival of sorts eventually lead into Outland, to see more screenshots of the roleplaying event head to the Vermillion Dawn entry in our Events section of the website..

Posted by Darakai

You are not Prepared! Tonight, at the monthly Rite of the Black Moon the Black Moon Tribe made its "first" forray into the other world. Leaving from Yojamba Island, the closet Troll settlement, all the tribe's members flew to the murky Swamp of Sorrows and made their way to the desolate zone only known as the Blasted Lands. Reaching the portal, the tribe approached with a few words from the Dark Elder and proceeded to enter.

These events all occured after the Rite of the Black Moon ceremonies held on Yojamba Island in Stranglethorn Vale. Nang held his position on the council announcing his plans to wage war on the invading demons and, in the Warmaster arena battle, Onondaga became our new Warmaster just beating out Aldore* for the title. A long time member, Feelix, also came back to us but in a new spirutal form; her ethereal body still possesed by her evil mother, who manifested herself during last year's Festival of the Growing Sun in a suprising fashion.

So it begins, the Black Moon Tribe is now in Outland where many new perils await us, the tribe has lasted now for over two years though together with many of the same old founding members still around. This first expansion pack will all give us a new chance to grow with each other, members who just reached level 60 three weeks ago can now quest with members who reached level 60 a year ago. This is a good time for the Tribe.

Posted by Darakai

Tonight the Black Moon Tribe lead an attack on the mighty human fortress of Stormwind, the gates were raided and many brave horde took a shot at the king's guard themselves. The attack was not a success, however, as the Alliance quickly amassed a force that would destroy even the strongest of armies.

This Warbands had a monumental turnout from both sides, by far the most we've ever been able to get together. Over 75 Horde from various guilds were able to attend this invasion with two raid groups under the command of the current Warmaster, Warg. While the attack wasn't technically succesful the battles were great fun. Expect our next Warbands to be in the Outlands.

Posted by Darakai

In a last balls to the walls attempt, Blackmoon Tribe and Shattered Oath teamed up with a very sizable force from the guild <Ruthless> to try and take C'Thun down before the portal to Outland opened to the world. While we weren't able to get him dead we were able to get him to phase 2! This is a a very notable accomplishment, we were even able to put him into his weakened state on a few occasions. Even with the expansion pack only days away and instances like Ahn'Qiraj becoming trivial it was fantastic to see the response we got to this. Thanks to all the Ruthless members who showed up to make this last raid in Azeroth a blast!

With the advent of the Burning Crusade raiding will be put on hold until a sizable amount of members from both Blackmoon Tribe and Shattered Oath reach level 70 and become attuned to the various new instances in Outland. Karazhan will be first on the list.

Posted by Darakai

Last night the Black Moon kicked off the holiday season with a small roleplaying event in Orgrimmar. The Rite of Thanks took place in Orgrimmar, giving thanks to three important figures in the Troll culture - Thrall, Vol'Jin, and Sen'Jin. Ceremonies took place in Thrall's chamber where a dinner was held and stories of thanks were told to the Horde leaders.

Check out the Rite of Thanks entry in the Events section of our website for a couple of more screenshots.

Posted by Darakai

Yesterday the Black Moon held it's monthly Rite of the Black Moon. New members were sworn as I, Darakai, was put up for Tribunal re-election. Ish succeeded me as one of the three Tribunal officers but I did not go down without a fight... literally. During the Warmaster tournament Darakai became the new Warmaster of the Tribe. Past and future events were also discussed as well as the fortelling of a new land to explore on the horizon.

Posted by Darakai

Last night the first boss of Naxxramas was slain by the Shattered Moon alliance. This was in lieu of killing C'thun trash as we were oddly enough short on tanks. Razuvious put up an amazingly good fight but, by the end of the night, he lied dead along with his four students. This marks the first time a boss in Naxxramas has been killed - more attempts at Naxxramas will continue once C'thun finally yields.

Posted by Darakai

Tonight ended our week long Warbands campaign. Starting in Stranglethorn Vale the Black Moon Tribe held three warbands moving through the different zones. After our success at Stranglethorn the next warbands was held in Duskwood a few days later as the tribe gathered and pushed toward the town of Darkshire, than on Saturday the Alliance zone of Redridge was steaked out and destroyed as roaming members fortified the zone.

Hopefully, in the future, more campaign style events will take place. A write-up of the Warbands was posted on the Emerald Dream Chronicles server news website as well.

Posted by Darakai

Tonight Black Moon Tribe and Shattered Oath engaged C'Thun, the final boss of the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. This marks an amazing progression landmark for both the tribe and the raiding alliance as a whole. C'Thun, while not killed tonight on our first attempts, was brought down below 50% in phase 1 and positioning (which is one of the most compicated mechanics of this fight) was well established.

Serious C'Thun attempts will continue to take place every week. Hopefully he'll be down within the next month.

Posted by Darakai

This Tuesday, October 10th, the Black Moon Tribe staged a campout at Chillwind Point in eastern Alterac Mountains just north of Hillsbrad Foothills and Tarren Mill. The tribe set up quite a few fires as everyone finally had a chance to relax after months in the depths of Ahn'Qiraj and atop of mighty Blackwing Lair.

To see a couple of screenshots from the night, view the entry in our Events section of the website.

Posted by Darakai

With our astounding amount of success over the past few weeks the Shattered Moon alliance has once again downed a new boss. The bug family (consisting of three bosses; Vem, Yauj, and Kri) was exterminated today after the death of Princess Huhurun. All this setting us up very nicely for another Twin Emps kill tommorow along with some very serious C'Thun trash pulls.

The "Bug Family" is an optional boss inside the temple, hopefully we'll be able to clear them every week on our way to C'Thun.

Posted by Darakai

Last night, Black Moon Tribe and Shattered Oath downed the Twin Emperors - Vek'lor and Vek'nilash in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. This is a major achievement for the guild alliance making us the furthest progressed Horde guild on the server.

The Emperors were killed on the second night of attempts,and the kill was almost flawless with only two or so deaths throughout the entire encounter. The first C'thun attempts may start as early as next week, be prepared!

Posted by Darakai