Maiden of Virtue

Heading across the ballroom and up the stairs in the back takes you to the upper level of the ballroom. To your right on the upper level is a door that leads to a hallway of spectres of ill repute, so to speak. Fight your way down the hallway and you'll find the Maiden of Virtue standing in the room at the end. Wait, what's virtuous about a hallway of ghostly prostitutes, anyway? Killing the Maiden is an easy task at level 85. Knock her over and try not to think about the logic of Karazhan.

Tier drops The Maiden isn't interested in carting tier gear around.

Other items of interest The Maiden drops a main-hand mace called Shard of the Virtuous that is a very Draenic-looking weapon. The Maiden also drops the cloth Boots of Foretelling, a good match to mage tier 4. In addition, there's a selection of gloves to choose from -- these are recolored early tier. Mail wearers can choose between the Gloves of Centering and the Gloves of Quickening, leather wearers might want the Mitts of the Treemender, and plate wearers can check out the Iron Gauntlets of the Maiden.

Opera event

Remember the upper ballroom? Head back to it and look to your right -- you'll see the entrance to the opera house, guarded by skeletal constructs. Fight your way through the trash and keep heading right, through the door and under the stage, then up the stairs and through the backstage area. After killing all the trash, you'll find Barnes the stage manager; talking to him will start the encounter. This event must be completed before you can continue to the upper levels of Karazhan. Barnes will start one of three different shows, and much like the bug trio, each show has its own loot as well as loot shared with all three shows.

Wizard of Oz Wizard of Oz will set you up against Dorothee, her dog Tito, Tinhead, Strawman and Roar. They will animate one by one, but watch out -- if you kill them too quickly, it can bug out the event. Wait for all five mobs to animate before you kill any of them. Feel free to get their health down low, but don't knock any of them over until the last mob has animated. Killing them all will start phase 2, in which the Crone will appear. Kill her for your loot -- and watch out for the random cyclones that spin around the stage.

Items of interest Legacy is a huge two-handed axe that is the epitome of Draenei weaponry. Casters may like the look of the Blue Diamond Witchwand. The Wicked Witch's Hat is a black witch hat with a purple band. And of course, the Crone drops Ruby Slippers -- red cloth slippers with an on-use effect that will hearth you to wherever your hearthstone is set.


Red Riding Hood This fight is pretty simple. Talk to Grandma to start the encounter, and she'll transform into the Big Bad Wolf. The wolf will occasionally cast Little Red Riding Hood, transforming a player into Little Red. All you can do while you are under this effect is run away from the wolf -- and it's a good idea, since the spell reduces you to 0 armor. When you change back, beat the stuffing out of the wolf. Rinse and repeat till the wolf is dead.

Items of interest Red Riding Hood's Cloak is a long, simple red cloak. The Big Bad Wolf's Head is a mail helm that looks like a brown wolf's head. Big Bad Wolf's Paw is a main-hand fist weapon that looks like a fuzzy, claw-tipped oven mitt. But the real prize is for hunters here -- the Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle is a really cool double-barreled gun with a scope and beautiful engraving.

Romulo and Julianne These two are probably the toughest to fight, simply because of mechanics. Julianne will appear first by herself. Knocking her over will spawn Romulo. After killing him, both will come back to life -- and both must be killed nearly simultaneously. The best way to do this is to knock Romulo to within an inch of his life, then beat the stuffing out of Julianne, interrupting her heals. When she's almost dead, switch back to Romulo, finish him off fast, and then knock Julianne over before she has a chance to rez Romulo.

Items of interest Cloth wearers will love the Masquerade Gown -- a purple and gold delicately embroidered robe that is recolored mage tier 1. Romulo and Julianne also have a chance to drop Despair, a massive two-handed sword with a gorgeous model in red and silver with purple accents. Also with a chance to drop is the Blade of the Unrequited, a deadly and delicate one-hand dagger in silver and purple with a faint white glow at the hilt.

Shared loot All three bosses drop a variety of shared items; leather wearers should check out the Earthsoul Leggings, and cloth wearers might like the Trial-Fire Trousers in purple and blue. Mail wearers can check out the red and silver Beastmaw Pauldrons, and plate wearers might like the silver and blue look of the Eternium Greathelm.


Nightbane

Now that the opera is cleared, you may proceed to the upper level. You can fight your way up the stairs on the other side of the opera stage and through a host of spectral opera patrons to get there, or you can zone out and take the bridge to the upper spire. There's a decrepit room here with wooden stairs going up. On your left, you'll notice a door leading out to a balcony; follow the balcony around, and you'll notice a Blackened Urn sitting on the ground. Clicking the urn will spawn Nightbane, a charred skeletal dragon boss.

Nightbane isn't particularly hard; the most difficult part is that he has two phases, air and ground. In the ground phase, he will cast Charred Earth, a ground effect that you shouldn't stand in. In the air phase, Nightbane will fly around overhead and spawn multiple skeletal adds. Both are pretty easy to handle, and aside from standard fears to deal with, Nightbane should fall pretty quickly.

Tier drops Skeletal dragons do not have the pockets required to carry tier gear.

Other items of interest Nightbane drops a ton of really cool stuff. For staves, check out the Nightstaff of the Everliving, a spiny blue and purple number. The Dragonheart Flameshield is a shield in the form of a dragon's head that will literally breath fire. He can also drop the Shield of Impenetrable Darkness, a black and silver engraved shield with no fire effects, but still impressive-looking. Casters might want to check out the Talisman of Nightbane; it's a dragon head on a stick that also breathes fire.

Nightbane also drops a number of chestpieces. The Robe of the Elder Scribes is identical to the Masquerade Gown. Mail wearers can pick up the silver, teal and green Scaled Breastplate of Carnage. For leather wearers, you can check out the Stonebough Jerkin or the Chestguard of the Conniver -- both have identical models. And for plate wearers, the Panzar'Thar Breastplate is a silver and red chestpiece.

Shaman will want to check out Ferocious Swift-Kickers, boots with shaman tier 4 in mind. For warriors, pick up the Ironstriders of Urgency for a match to your tier 4.

No tier yet? No worries -- there's still half a tower to complete. Come back next week when we'll traverse the upper spires of Karazhan, pick up a couple pieces of tier, say hello to Medivh's daddy, and try to figure out exactly how Medivh managed to squeeze a dragon into an observatory.

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