What you people said would never happen... has just happened. On Tuesday night, with the weekly refresh still new and exciting in our minds, the Brotherhood rallied 6 of it's finest to descend into the Hellmouth and face Crota once again. However this time was different, there were more nerves, worries and little expressions of excitement. Every single member of the Fireteam knew that this Crota run would pit them against level 33 adversaries, remove the healing power of the chalice, place a nearly indestructible Gatekeeper in the only safe sanctuary of Crota's chambers and Crota's rage was not only inevitable, but also brought along constant oversoul spawning. These tiny nuances were mere distractions for our valiant 6 as they dropped into the Abyss. Below, as per the usual style, I will outline the events of all 4 sections of the raid and any notable loot drops. Shall we? – The Abyss – The shield shattering drop was all too familiar to The Brotherhood as we landed in the Abyss, the weight of Darkness beckoning us with the promise of a chest somewhere in what would hopefully be one of the nearest doors. Today I was playing my Hunter, fully equipped with Level 32 gear, including the invaluable "Don't Touch Me" Gauntlets. I ventured out into the Darkness with Cuban cgar at my side down the left hand wall of the Abyss. It didn't take long for Crota's level 33 Thralls to notice us and start to utter that blood curdling shriek that notified their disgusting brothers to our location. Once they were behind us, Cuban immediately dropped a blinding bubble to keep them confused for a short time giving us time to escape. By the third door we had found the chest and invited our fellow Guardians to come and communally open what was sure to be a rather underwhelming surprise. With only one of us down, (Sorry CAP) the rest of us made a run for it moving lamp to lamp and making our way towards the bridge. The thralls were quick to catch onto our games and by the 8th lamp or so, all but myself had been slain, their orbs waiting to be revived by myself or completion of the checkpoint. The pressure was on me by my team, and on my armor and abilities by myself because I knew that without perfect execution of my cloaking abilities and timing, I was going to get annihilated at the bridge. Luckily for me, invisibility saved the day and I was able to activate the bridge and make it across without incident, reviving my teammates and teleporting them to my location at the Gatekeeper's Bridge. [i]Loot Drops of Note:[/i] [b]Cuban cgar[/b] scored a pair of Willbreakers Fist. [b]I[/b] became the "Soul" proprietor of an Oversoul Edict Except when [b]Capone357[/b] got one as well.... plus some Deathsinger's Grip! – The Bridge – *sniff, sniff* Do you smell that? My goodness it's strong! Oh my Gosh! It's coming through the filters on our masks and helmets! It smells like... CHEESE. Yep that's right friends, the entire bridge area smelled of the sweetest cheeses as thebigpeter took his Titan hiiiiiiighhhh up onto the right hand side tower and gazed down upon us. I was tasked with bringing down the sword bearer and then hiding across the bridge like a good little Bladedancer. It was then that I watched in Horror as every one of our fire team members threw themselves into the green fog beneath the bridge, nothing left to live for. Literally. Once the enemies despawned, Cap majestically resurrected himself and proceeded to aid Peter in sniping endless Acolytes, Wizards and eventually 2 Ogres across the sea of doom. It wasn't long before we were all rejoined together outside the Indiana Jones hallway celebrating in a few loot drops. [i]Loot Drops of Note:[/i] [b]Cuban car[/b] got even luckier and is now the proud owner of an Abyss Defiant [b]thebigpeter[/b] joined cuban in his rifle selection with his own Abyss Defiant [b]JdStat[/b] popped a boner when he got his last piece of raid armor needed for 32 with a Willbreaker's Chest [b]I[/b] scored another pair of Tireless Striders that I broke down for the shards. After a quick wipe, we set up to run the hallway and thanks to some fancy footwork by RedDagger9438, we did get to open the chest and score some materials. – Deathsinger – Hey now, 3 tries on a Hard Crota to take down Deathsinger is pretty darn good for a clan who's not done it together before. It's true, she did wipe us a couple times. I got killed by the Liam Neesons on one go, Deathsinger and her knights wiped us out on another. But on try number 3, CAP alone survived and made his way out into one of the towers, knowing full well he'd have to kill about 50 of Crota's minions in order for us to come back and reap rewards together. We all watched in awe as he busted out his Icebreaker and proceeded to methodically eliminate one threat at a time until there was that familiar slam of loot hitting our screens. We had all been holding our breath the entire time and were relieved to finally be able to breathe again. But now the moment of truth lay ahead. It was time to awaken Crota. [i]Loot Drops of Note:[/i] – Crota – *bzzt* "Ladies and Gentlemen, we'd like to welcome you to Wipetown USA, Population 6, The Brotherhood of Xur." Ouch. Damn was Crota angry tonight. So much went on during this fight, it's going to be tough to remember it all. Distinctly however, here is what stuck out. Thralls through the walls. Wow is it frustrating to get punched through a supposedly impenetrable wall. Crota's speed and aggression. He was taking a long time to go down, and would sometimes put it off for just the extra second he needed to make sure that little TJ felt his wrath just before kneeling. (I was running sword) Other times, he would apply a super magnet to the sword, and zip me right back to him while I was trying to escape. On other tries, the Boomers would just decide that shooting a bubble was not nearly as much fun as shooting a TJ was. Finally, and probably the most common reason we wiped, is because on my return trips when I needed to pick up an orb, I either already had my super up and I couldn't, (wipe) or would get shot by the boomers after the bubble disappeared. (also a wipe). Sensing a theme here? Me too. TJ died [i]a lot.[/i] Eventually, we swapped a teammate, and had fellow clansman Nmast take over for JdStat who decided it was way past his bed time and that he had to work (whatever that is) in the morning. Mucho Grande wipes later, we felt the Omen. Cuban had been given full heavy, CAP had as well, RedDagger and Petey were killing sword bearers and protecting us from thralls in the windows. I was ready to give Crota a taste of his own sword. Nmast had proclaimed he had NO MORE TRIES after this one. So we turned it on. After I had landed the first 13 hits on the ole bastard we regrouped for our final push. Constant oversouls were guaranteed, so we had to be quick and flawless. Gjallhorns soared, Crota Kneeled, and I began the assault! SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM! 4 Hits and he was recovering, an oversoul had spawned and I instantly struck Crota with my blade to turn invisible. "Ignore the oversoul! Take him again!" I heard myself yelling into the mic. More rockets flew, the oversoul began to scream, Crota fell to his knee again and then... there was a brief silence as we all watched in near disbelief as Crota (and his oversoul) evaporated into a fine mist. We had won. There were cries of joy and laughter as we all watched things like Glowhoo, Speeders, Ships and weapons appear on our screens. Here are some of the more notable ones. [i]Loot Drops of Note:[/i] [b]thebigpeter[/b] became the envy of many a Guardian when he got the Word of Crota [b]Cuban cgar[/b] ALSO got himself a Word of Crota and made me doubly jelly [b]Nmast[/b] apparently walked up to Ir Yut's death singing corpse and pulled a tooth since he walked away with the Fang of Ir Yût! [b]Capone357[/b] cleaned up nicely with the Hard Raid Ship, Speeder, and a nice Deathsinger's Gaze helmet for his warlock [b]I[/b] got the Crota Speeder (which is just a copy.paste. of the Atheon speeder.) GLOWHOOS all around!! A HUGE shoutout goes to RedDagger9438 who joined the clan on a Hard Crota run for nothing. He'd already completed it and ran through it with us anyway. Just goes to show that a strongly bonded clan like the Brotherhood has the BEST damn roster in all of Destiny. Cheers guys. Well done.