So You Wanna Shroud, Eh?

Last night, our merry band of misfits decided to have a silly, impromptu “shard hunting/teaching run” of The Shroud, which is quite possibly DDO’s most frequently run raid of all time by what I imagine would be a monumental landslide.  With four people – two who knew the raid and two who had “run it previously” but weren’t confident in taking charge and plowing ahead – we turned out a victory, but got almost completely skunked on shards.  Jerks.

One of the back-and-forth dialog bits gave me an idea, however.

            “I’m not sure on the puzzles.”

            “No big deal, go run water.”

            “…..I don’t know what that means.”

Ever felt like this in a raid before?

This is not to point fingers or name names, because if you’ve been reading this blog from the start, my fifth post ever was about how I was embarrased that I didn’t know what I was doing in The Shroud and how I royally hosed it up trying to solo it.  Since then, I’ve advanced in Tholgrin’s Levels of Raid Familiarity, outlined below.

Tholgrin’s Levels of Raid Familiarity

Level I:  Your job is to keep up, don’t touch anything that looks important, and not die.  Observe and learn.  Keep the cross-chatter down to avoid interrupting critical communication.  If you are given an order, follow it to the letter and do not deviate.  Swinging wildly in the general vicinity of mobs and/or shooting walls to “feel useful” is optional.  This is the “don’t be a liability” level.*

Level II:  You’ve run the raid enough now to contribute, and know how not to screw up the raid.. for the most part.  You know where you are supposed to stand for your role, but have not yet learned “everyone else’s” parts.  You’ve had enough experience to know when to bend your role a little bit to make things run more smoothly, but aren’t yet ready to create your own battle plans.  This is the ”yay, I’m an asset” level.

Level III:  At this point, you’ve run every role, know what every sub-team is supposed to do on each part, and can practically recite the wiki.  You can rattle the entire sequence of events and each group’s tasks off the top of your head.  You have zero fears of the PUG leader going “dude, you know this better than I do” and passing the star your way.  This is the “it’s cool, I got dis” level.

*P.S.  No, I’m not really that much of a dick to newcomers to a raid.  That’s just the general “vibe” when it comes to raid virgins and PUGs in my experience.  It’s always my goal to make sure anyone leaving a teaching run which I am leading walks out feeling comfortably at Level II in whatever their role was.

Having explained that, we effectively had two Level IIIs and two Level I’s in the raid.  What gave me an idea was the fact that – when the poop collided with the air circulator during Phase Two of the raid and the Rainbow Wall of Screw Your Grandmother appeared, both my Level III partner and I fell back onto old habits… and suddenly, we were speaking a language that half our party didn’t understand while flying around the map in seemingly utter chaos.

(simulated conversation snippets)

“shit, wall at 9 o’clock!”

“need water at northwest and northeast.”

“…what do I do?”

“southeast 5×5 unsolved!”

(deer in headlights)

”wall!  WALL!!  HAUL ASS!  Don’t look, move!”

“where?”

And thus, the idea for the following semi-guide sort-of-walkthrough was born.  No, this is not intended to replace the Wiki page as a source of hard information and facts like Harry’s Intimidate DC.  What this is intended to do is to provide someone who is not intimately familiar with the raid with a translation of what everything means and a way to walk into the raid feeling prepared for “the real experience.”  A tourist’s guide, if you will, only TeacherSyn already has that DDO trademark.

Without further ado, I present….

---

Or, How to Not Look Like A Noob Raid Virgin On Your Early Runs

(also known as a Wall-O-Text)

Phase Zero:  Preparation

Critical Information:  Before you even begin, the most blatant thing is make sure you’re bloody well flagged!  The Shroud has a flagging process that doesn’t just end with the completion of all five quests.  Okay, having said the obvious, let’s move on to more pertinent things.

(Side Note:  If Valairea won’t talk to you after you’ve made your Shavarath Signet Stone and you con’t figure out why, make sure you take it out of your Ingredients Bag first.  She won’t recognize it if it’s in a baggie.)

If you’re a melee, make sure you can break Silver and Good DR.  I’ve never seen a run with the annoying phrase “link beaters” tossed around as anything more than mutual curiosity, but back in the day, that was a pretty big deal.  Harry (a.k.a. Arriatrikos, the huge Pit Fiend boss of The Shroud) has some pretty ridiculous DR on Elite that can turn your melee into Useless Pudding if you can’t break it.

If you can trap, make sure you have enough +5 Thieves Tools.  You’ll need them in Phase Three.  If you’re not a trapper, consider bringing along some form of Knock and/or some of your stash of Bells of Opening, if you have any.  Again, you’ll need them in Phase Three.

And… that’s about it, really, for special preparation.

---

Phase One:  The Portals

Critical Information:  If a Portal Keeper remains on the premises for more than sixty seconds, the quest will fail, and people will be very annoyed at the whole situation.  Possibly yourself included.

What’s Going to Happen:  At first, everyone will scatter about killing things.  That’s fine, that’s what you’re supposed to do at first.  Just pick someone to follow and go slaughter Shavvy types.

Once all the random mobs are dead, it will begin a sequence of portals opening.  There is a predetermined order, but don’t worry about memorizing it right away.  As with the section before, just follow someone who looks like they know where they’re going – and if nobody does, wander around until you find one of those big, giant, swirling blood-red Shavarathian portals and start whacking it.  Yeah, it’s really that simple.  Phase One isn’t very tricky.

Typical Party Roles:

•         Yeah, there aren’t any, here.  Everyone just pretty much runs around like decapitated barbarian dire chickens killing stuff.  It’s seriously like watching a school of piranha in that regard.

Phrases You Might Hear:

•         “Portal Keeper!”  – This means a Portal Keeper has entered the premises, and the clock is ticking.  The DM will notify you when one has been on-site for a few seconds, and again when the clock is getting super serial.  If the DM gets to the second warning, start panicking, drop everything you are doing, and go kill that bastard.  In general, this is shouted when a) a Portal Keeper has been announced by the DM, and b) nobody has visual contact on where said Portal Keeper is.  Given that this one silly little jerkface with only 200hp can wipe a full twelve-man group of level 28’s in sixty seconds, they’re kind of a big deal.  And more than one can pop out at the same time.  The good news is they don’t show up all the time, and a good group can blitz through all the portals before one even has a chance to say boo.
•         “Shard” – potentially said after each phase during the looting process;  someone has pulled a Shard of Power, Shard of Greater Power, or Shard of Supreme Power from the chest, and has it up for roll.  Usually comes with a die number to keep the rolls separate, such as “Shard of Power d72” or what-have-you.  I won’t keep putting this one in each segment since it’s pretty standard.

Generally Accepted Etiquette:

•         At the end of this phase (and every phase), it’s generally accepted to stand on top of the altar to notify other party members that you are ready to proceed.  If you aren’t ready, don’t get on the altar, or get too close to it (especially if you’re a heavy, it might be interpreted that your Jump score just isn’t good enough to make it up top).   
•         Pets are welcome in this Phase, but dismiss them before Phase Two.  Summons are technically fine in Phase One, but make sure they die or time out before joining Phase Two, where they are very much not welcome; due to this, they’re generally not bothered with.

---

Phase Two:  The Pac-Man Maze

Critical Information:  DO NOT, under any cicrumstances, start tossing around AOE and/or mass damage effects (including cleaves/great cleaves/etc. for melees) after the trash has been dealt with.  Also, heading to the center of the maze before all the trash is gone will probably earn you a few grumbles.

What’s Going to Happen:  Each player will be teleported to a random corner of the maze.  The first job is to clear the maze of the random trash (non-named monsters that are pre-littered throughout the maze).  Kill themz with impunity – just lay waste in your favorite method.

Once the trash is clear and someone heads to the center – or, if someone accidentally does it early – that’s when you have to watch your muzzles.  The reason why is pretty easy – there are four (4) enemies in the center that will spill out, and none of them will die if they’re too close to each other.  What your intrepid band of adventurers will most likely do is weaken them individually, then drag them off in separate directions to kill – where their ghosts (just like Pac-Man) will strut back to the center.  Once all four are dead simultaneously, the barrier surrounding a crystal in the center drops, and can be destroyed.  If a ghost gets back to the center before the crystal explodes, you get to do the whole shebang over again… so make sure you drag your boss as far away from the center as possible.  The Southwest corner is generally used, since it’s got a pretty long hike for the ghosts.  The Fire Elemental and Bezekira (ghost lion) are by far the fastest ghosts, and special care must be taken to ensure they are very far away.

Due to the amount of coordination needed, this phase can easily be the most frustrating in a disorganized team.  Communication is key.

Typical Party Roles:

•         Crystal Sitter – someone (particularly a caster or build with strong ranged damage) who parks themselves in front of the crystal, deliberately not getting any aggro, with full intent to vaporize it the instant the barrier drops.
•         Preppers (four teams, usually) – the rest of the party, whose job is to weaken each of the four bosses (not kill) and ensure aggro is evenly sorted onto different people for ease of the divide & conquer portion.  Going batshit nuts in the DPS department during this phase actually makes things a lot harder.  Use kiddie gloves.

Phrases You Might Hear:

•         “I got so-and-so” – this is a generally accepted way of laying a claim to a particular boss if the raid leader has not made assignments.  This is not a cocky, e-peen stroking thing saying that the guy thinks he can take the boss on all by himself – it’s more or less that “I am hereby taking responsibility for this here Boss, I will make sure he is weakened, then separated from the others, and killed when appropriate.  Should you also wish to attack this Boss, please follow my lead for the duration of this Phase.”
•         “so-and-so prepped” – this means one of the groups has finished prepping – i.e. weakening down to a very slim margin of life – their boss and is awaiting the kill order.  If you are part of the group, say, attacking the fire elemental, and you hear “Fire Ele prepped,” this also means STOP ATTACKING IT.
•         “kill” – this very simple, four letter word acts as the keystone for this entire phase, and means a lot of things.  To the preppers with the bosses, it means literally, “kill your boss.”  To the crystal sitter, it means, “the bosses are about to die, look alive and be ready to break that crystal.”  When the kill order comes, be sure to do it – everything hinges on timing in Phase Two.
•         “(expletive)” – somebody, somewhere, or something got out of order.  It could have been a boss being killed too early, getting back to the center faster than anticipated, the crystal sitter taking a nap and missing his window, all sorts of things.  In general, though, it means, “stop what you’re doing, we need to reassess where we’re at and reformulate the plan.”

Generally Accepted Etiquette:

•         If you’re assigned to a boss, stick to it.  It’s bad form to switch bosses, thereby getting the aggro chains all sorts of confused.  “Don’t cross the streams” and all that.
•         If the raid leader has not made assignments, don’t be afraid to “claim” a boss.   This keeps things organized; rather than everybody milling about and eventually settling on “what so happens to have become their boss,” laying claims keeps things in order.
•         If someone has laid a claim to a boss, or has been assigned a boss, don’t be a dick and try and steal their thunder by out-killing them.  More often than not, it winds up backfiring.  This doesn’t mean “don’t attack them,” but it does mean follow their lead with regards to that boss… which may include “don’t hit him whlie I’m dragging him off to a corner, because he’ll stop moving and now we have to reestablish aggro.”
•         Standing around staring at your boss with 100hp left in the later stages of this Phase is part of life.  Don’t feel bad for doing it.
•         As before, standing/dancing/napping on the altar at the end means you’re ready (looted, rested if needed, etc.) to move forward.
•         Pets/dogs/summons are verboten in this phase, as they’re a highly uncontrollable variable in an already volatile situation.

---

Phase Three:  The Puzzles

Critical Information:  There are lots of crystals in this Phase;  breaking the three crystals above the purple barrier to the center is good.  If that purple barrier is already down and you can freely walk to the fountain, then all crystals are verboten and shattering them will result in your eyelids being peeled off with a spork and fed to the crazy halfling cat-lady in House J.

Likewise, watering a fountain in a puzzle room before the puzzle is solved will get you summarily complained at, but won’t fail the raid.  It’ll just cost the entire party two chests (and therefore two chances at Shards).

If you have no means of opening locked things, you run a very real risk of failing the raid right here.

What’s Going to Happen:  Everybody will be teleported into a puzzle room at the start of the Phase.  There are four kinds of puzzles – 3×3, 4×4, 5×5, and circle, all identical to the “Lights Out!” puzzle game from the 90’s.  If you don’t know how to solve your puzzle, don’t worry – just dance at the door and someone will let you out.

This Phase has a plethora of rooms arranged in a general square-like shape surrounding a central fountain.  Each of the rooms around the borders contains a puzzle and a fountain – except the northern 5×5, which has two fountains.  The object here is to a) solve every puzzle, and b) water every fountain after its puzzle is completed.  They don’t have to occur simultaneously or anything, or in any specific order.

Of course, while all this is happening, there are random force explosions in the hallways and swinging Shavarath blades tyring to cut you to ribbons.  And believe me, they hurt.  You don’t want to ignore them.  If the group takes too long to solve the puzzles and water the fountains, the Rainbow Wall of Death will appear and make things a lot more complicated.  The Rainbow Wall moves in a clockwise fashion throughout the Phase, with the central fountain being “safe.”  However, you should know that at the corners, the wall doesn’t turn per se – it finishes out one direction, then starts again on the other direction, thereby “overlapping” and making the corners extremely dangerous places to be careless in.

While this area isn’t “timed” in the sense that there’s no fail mechanic if it isn’t completed within a certain duration, there is some sense of urgency, and efficiency is a high priority.  This is due to the fact that the Rainbow Wall of Death makes life significantly harder, so deferring to a faster puzzle solver is generally considered proper behavior.  It doesn’t insinuate that you couldn’t personally have solved the puzzle given time, though;  don’t take it as a personal slight, and do not feel bad about asking for help if you’re not making progress quickly.

Also, at the end, just to the left of the altar, there’s a vendor.  He will buy your junk from you to free up inventory space, sell energy cells (needed for Green Steel crafting, it’s not a bad idea to stock up if you have the plat so it’s not something you need to worry about later), or repair your gear.  You should note, however, that this guy is a SERIOUSLY RIGHTEOUS SCALPER when it comes to his repair rates and seems to have about a 1,000% markup (repair bills which would run 300pp outside the raid run 30,000pp in it).   Not kidding.

Typical Party Roles:

•         Solvers – folks who know the puzzles and can solve them quickly.  Some solvers may avoid certain ones for various reasons;  personally, I can do all of the puzzles pretty rapidly but take a bit longer on the 3×3’s, so I’ll defer to another Solver if they’re more confident on those.
•         Water Runners/Waterboys – folks whose job is to run to the top of the central fountain, grab a vial of Lunar Water from the statue head (you can only carry one at a time), and then run around the Phase like a bat out of hell to find a completed puzzle with a dry fountain.  When you do, run up and smack the fountain.  Do not, however, do this if the puzzle is not yet complete.  Also, do not underestimate the value of a few good waterboys; remember this Phase has two parts, and the Rainbow Wall of Death doesn’t care if all the puzzles are completed if they’re also unwatered.  If you already know you are going to be a Waterboy, dance in the doorway of your puzzle room to be freed.
•         Openers – Each of the puzzle rooms is locked until the puzzle is solved.  Openers are needed to both free people from puzzles they need help with, as well as gain access to all of the puzzle rooms which didn’t have a party member teleport into it.  If all of your openers die and cannot be raised before the puzzles are solved, you might have a very serious problem.  If you are an Opener, your first task is to circle the whole map and free anybody dancing in the doorways.
•         Wall-Watcher – if you have enough people, one may be assigned the task of following the Rainbow Wall of Death around after it appears, for the sole purpose of being able to call out its location to others.  Just make sure to not get too close to it at the corners.

Phrases You Might Hear:

•         “so-and-so, go run water” – this means that you have been delegated as a Waterboy.  Don’t take it personally, there has to be a few of them, and their job is just as important as the puzzle solvers.
•         “Rainbow Wall, ___ o’clock!” – this is a bad thing to hear.  It doesn’t mean the raid is going to fail – well, not inherently – but does mean that the Rainbow Wall of Screwing Up Your Life has appeared and will make life miserable for the remainder of the Phase.  Think of it along the same lines as “Iceberg, dead ahead!”  Whenever it is spotted, it is generally accepted to call out its location using clock references.  This lets everybody else know where they need to not be, as well as let any Solvers know they need to haul ass if they’re at risk of getting vaporized.
•         “where’s the wall?” – almost always asked by a panicked Solver, they need to know right now how close the wall is – because they have to have enough time to unlock the lever and get clear.
•         “need help on (location) (puzzle type)” – I’ve typed this before, and I’ll type it again.  Do not let your ego get in the way of efficiency.  If you’re not making any progress on your puzzle, do not hesitate to call out for help.  It is polite to state the type of puzzle you’re on, as well, as some folks are faster at specific puzzles than others, and stating which it is up-front can more rapidly assist the party as a whole;  for example, “Need help on southeast 5×5!”  The last thing you want is to be fiddling away on a puzzle, not making any measurable progress, and learn that the Rainbow Wall is active by becoming its first fatality.

Generally Accepted Etiquette:

•         If you’re not comfortable with puzzles in general, or the one you teleported into specifically for whatever reason, leave it alone and go dance by the doorway.  The first thing any Opener is going to do is make a circuit of the whole Phase and release dancing people to run water (or go work on puzzles they’re more comfortable with).
•         The center is a safe zone – however, that’s not a free pass to pike.  Even if you know exactly zero about puzzles, you can always run water and that is a useful thing.  On the other hand, if your toon is squishy to the point you can’t hang with the blades and random explosions, it’s better to sit tight in the center than become a healer’s liability.
•         Watering a puzzle before it is solved is excruciatingly bad form (and may get you blacklisted).
•         Breaking the crystals in the center (not the ones above the purple barrier leading into the central fountain that must be broken to get inside) is also excruciatingly bad form and may get you blacklisted.  For this reason, summons are also verboten in this Phase, as many have ranged attacks and will go nuts on the wrong crystals and piss everyone off.
•         As always, standing/dancing/sneezing on the altar at the end notifies everybody that you’re ready to go.

---

Phase Four:  Harry, Part One

Critical Information:  It may sound silly, but don’t die.  No, seriously.  If you do, you get sent to the “penalty box” and cannot be resurrected until after Harry’s dead during a very small window (and assuming your party members know what they’re doing).   Do not be afraid to disengage, run away, and heal up rather than die.

What’s Going to Happen:  After teleporting into a circular chamber, you’ll face off with a small war band of typical Shavarathian devils – barbazu, orthons, bezekira, etc.  Nothing new in that regard.  You should be aware, though, that every barbazu (those are the green bearded devils with halberds) killed will spawn a spinning Shavarath blade that auto-aggros on the person who killed it… although it may change its mind if you run around a bit.

After you kill the first wave, another wave of devils will teleport in.  Smash their faces in.  Thus begins the first fight with Harry.

Truth be told, this is a really straightforward smack-‘n-whack style fight.  There aren’t a whole lot of special tactics (other than bring silver + good DR breaking for melees).  He’ll hang around for about a minute, during which time the blades spinning around the room will spiral closer and closer.  DO NOT try and show off and be ballsy and eat the damage from the blades because “your toon is badass.”  That kind of e-peen stroking will get your toon killed and shoved in the penalty box.  Sure, it can be done, but trying to show off to a bunch of vets and failing has very much the opposite effect in the long run.

After about one minute, Harry will run away like a punk and you’ll have a few seconds to catch your breath.  This is called a “round” – when you hear someone say they dropped Harry in the first round, it means they killed him before he could retreat.  Once he comes back, he’ll bring with him eight Gnoll Idolators, whose sole job is to heal Harry.  These are jerks and need to be killed quickly;  luckily, they all have precisely two hit points (exaggeration, but they are squishy as hell.  –Ed.)  and go down super fast.  Kill them, then return to smacking Harry.

Rinse and repeat until victory. When you do achieve victory, do not click the altar right away, or people in the penalty box will be rather annoyed.  Once the altar is clicked, the ghosts in the penalty box will briefly be teleported into the center and be rez-able;  if the altar is clicked when the healers aren’t ready, this is considered to be a pretty douchey thing to do.

Typical Party Roles:

•         Harry Stabber – your job is to stab Harry until he dies or you do.
•         Harry Nuker – your job is to nuke Harry until he dies or you do.
•         Harry Slapper – your job is to slap Harry unti lhe dies or you do.
•         Harry Shooter – your job is to shoot Harry until he dies or you do.

Notice a trend?

Phrases You Might Hear:

•         “I’ve got so-and-so” – said by toons who are capable of raising the dead after Harry escapes, to denote to other individuals who can rez who they’re going to target.  This prevents toons from being “double targeted” and others from being overlooked – you only have a very short window to raise the dead once the altar is hit.
•         “give us a countdown” – also said by toons who are capable of raising the dead after the assignments and claims have all been arranged.  In short, it means that one person at the altar will count down (usually from 3, but not set in stone) and then click the altar at the end.

Generally Accepted Etiquette:

•         Once Harry is defeated, if you have the ability to raise dead, you are expected to hang around in the circular chamber to help with any corpses.  If you cannot, run up to the shrines with everyone else.  This prevents organizational confusion.
•         It’s extremely bad form to click the altar at the end before the healers are ready to raise everybody from the penalty box.  If nobody died, it doesn’t matter, but if there are corpses, wait until they’re ready for a countdown.
•         It is equally bad form to not be present for your own resurrection.  Walking AFK and missing the window (or holding up the rest of the raid) is heavily frowned upon.
•         Your pets or summons are welcome in Phase Four, but probably won’t last long.  Dismiss them before Phase Five, however;  due to this, most vets don’t even bother.
•         As always, standing/dancing/napping/farting on the altar signifies your readiness to proceed.

---

Phase Five:  The Final Showdown

Critical Information:  Do.  Not.  Click.  The.  Altar.  Right.  Away.  You will be hunted down by legions of snarling, drooling dire puppies that think you smell like bacon.  It is a very common practice for individuals to run all the way until the absolute end (right before clicking the altar in Phase Five after Harry bites it) and then recall to avoid getting the 3-day completion timer, so they can turn around and come right back in and hunt for more shards/materials.  Clicking the altar too quickly sets them on a timer, and will likely set them off.

What’s Going to Happen:  First off, if you’ve told the raid it’s your first time, you’re probably going to get hazed a little.  You’ll probably be fed some line about how there’s a secret treasure room you can only get to if you’re a Shroud Virgin, and you can only get to it if you click on the exact center of the portal while jumping, but if you do it wrong, everyone will die and it will be a total party wipe, but don’t worry, we have faith in you, etc. etc. etc.  Don’t pay it any mind.  Everyone will die, but that’s part of the script.

If you are hazed, however, it’s just as much fun to “out-act” the guys razzing you and go completely over the top in the opposite direction, about how you’ll release and run back in to raise everybody (don’t actually do it), or some other mess.  You’ve got about 30 seconds to kill before anything happens, so ham it up and have fun.

Afterwards, your favorite four bosses from Phase Two will be unleashed again.  This time, however, you don’t have to kill them in synch, just drop them.  It’s significantly easier to do if they’re separated, but nowhere near as delicate an operation as in Phase Two.  Eventually, they’ll fall over;  you’ll have to drag them around a bit if they’re bunched up, though.  Once they’re history a second time, Harry will attack.

Which leads to pretty much the most anti-climactic fight thus far in the raid.  It is literally a whack’n’smack with no tricks.  (Well, if you take a while, Shavarath Blades will pop up and wander about aimlessly, but nothing like the targeted spiral of death in Phase Four.)  If everyone is Epified and way over-level – which a good chunk of the runs nowadays seem to be – turn your auto-attack on and have a drink.  He’s got a pantload of hit points, but by this point, that shouldn’t be anything more than an mild inconvenience leading to his eventual demise.

Typical Party Roles:

•         Harry Stabber – your job is to stab Harry until he dies or you do.
•         Harry Nuker – your job is to nuke Harry until he dies or you do.
•         Harry Slapper – your job is to slap Harry unti lhe dies or you do.
•         Harry Shooter – your job is to shoot Harry until he dies or you do.

Notice a trend?

Phrases You Might Hear:

•         “I’ve got so-and-so” – much like its counterpart in Phase Two, but far less imperative.  In short, it’s a minor attempt at organization to make the four bosses die that much faster with minimal dragging around.
•         “who’s recalling,” “leave/recall if you’re going to,” “ddoor,” “wait for everyone to leave” – a reminder to the whole party that some folks may be leaving after Harry dies and before the altar is clicked.  This particular communication has dozens of iterations, but they all mean the same thing:  Get out if you’re going to.

Generally Accepted Etiquette:

•         Pets/summons are generally not welcome in this Phase, since they can cause needless aggro complications with the four bosses.  They won’t fail anything in this phase, but can be irritating.  In general, leave them at home.
•         Clicking the final altar before folks have a chance to recall is a super-duper douchebag move and might get you blacklisted.
•         As such, fighting Harry on or near the altar is generally frowned upon, for the added risk of accidentally clicking the altar after he dies.
•         If it’s your first Shroud run, you might get talked into a Final Altar Victory Dance (clothing optional) after the dust settles.  Don’t forget to take your screen shot for posterity’s sake.

---

And there you have it!

See, it’s not all that bad, is it?  I hope these five thousand words or so will help at least someone to feel more confident about joining up with a Shroud PUG, even if they’re not going to lead their own right away – although there’s enough information here to head your own up if you’re so inclined.  And, ideally, armed with the notes above – even if it’s your first Shroud ever, you won’t look like a total noob.  And that’s all that matters, right?  😉

Happy slaying!