I have moved to http://hulantheholy.net

Some time ago Aurik mentioned that he wanted to draw some WoW characters and asked for volunteers; I sent him some screenshots of Hulan as I have often bemoaned the fact that I have never seen any artwork of female Dwarves. Today he has posted the results of his labours and I am absolutely bowled over by the result!

I don’t quite know what I expected; I think a sort of “drawn” representation of how Hulan looks on my screen. Instead Aurik has drawn Hulan more the way I see her in my head. In Hulan’s original story I described her as lightly built (for a Dwarf), so much so that she wasn’t strong enough to wear mail armour and unable to fulfil her initial ambition of training as a Paladin. As she was small and nimble she decided to train as a hunter instead. When I play Hulan she’s a bit cheeky, even lippy sometimes, and always more than ready for a pint or ten. I think Aurik has captured her perfectly and I am absolutely delighted with the result! All I can say is “Thank you Aurik”. I’ve had a miserable week (IRL) and this has bucked me up more than you could know *blows Aurik a kiss*

Aurik recently posted about his favourite instances and the ones he detests and I thought I’d do my own list.  Funnily enough the majority of the ones I both love and hate are Azeroth instances.  I think many of the new Outland instances are ok but they often don’t seem to have the character of the “old world” instances.  If you’ve done one, you’ve done them all.

The Good

1.  My all-time favourite is Scholomance.  I ran this a lot on my hunter for the Ancient Bone Bow.  Scholomance was one of the level instances that could be raided (10-man) and it was the first level 60 instance I ever did having only ever done BFD and SM.  I felt utterly lost, followed the crowd and just shot at whatever they seemed to be killing at the time.  There was bugger-all co-ordination and no marking of mobs (which wasn’t possible until much later).  I enjoyed this instance much more once they made it  5-man only.  I even got to know my way around it!

2.  Scarlet Monastery is next on the list.  This was the second instance I ever ran and the first were I had a vague idea what I was supposed to be doing.  Unlike BFD which was dark and gloomy, SM was light and airy in comparison.  The other thing I like about it is that it’s very linear.  For someone who constantly gets lost in instances this is a big bonus! 

3. Temple of Atal’Hakkar (Sunken Temple) This is another instance that left me totally bewildered after my first run there.  The group leader was a rogue who obviously knew his way around and took the group through at a furious pace.  It seemed to be a whirl of upstairs, downstairs and round and round;  I came out not knowing what I’d killed and why but all my quests were done.  I later went back with friends on several different characters and we took our time getting to know the place.  It’s huge and sprawling but there is a method to the place.  As a skinner I loved the dragonkin at the top, lots of scales for me

4.  Old Hillsbrad  I never get tired of wandering around Southshore and thinking “Ooh look! It’s ….”  This is a nice instance to go into alone and just have a good explore.  I also like rescuing Thrall.  Once you release him the fighting is fast and furious which is how I like it.

The Bad

1. Stormwind Stockade  For a ranged character this is a horrible instance.  As a hunter I hated this one, if I could get to range then I had line-of-sight issues.  It also seemed very stingy with loot compared to other instances.  About the only thing in it’s favour  is that if you were canny and gathered up all the quests first you could get the whole thing done in one painful run and never go back.

2. Uldaman  This is another maze-like instance that I have never managed to get my head around.  Why can’t Blizzard create instance maps that work like zone maps and show your position on them?  I have always used Atlas or Cartographer but they’re no good when you have no idea of your actual location in the instance!  In it’s favour there’s some nice loot in here and if you can kill the end-boss and do all the quest involving the discs it’s lovely xp.

3. Shadowfang Keep  In some ways this is a great instance, good fights and nice loot.  The reason it’s on my hit list if that I have run this (at the correct level) on several characters and never managed to kill the last boss, Archmage Arugal  That bugger is just a pain in the arse!!!

4. Dire Maul  The few times I’ve managed to get a group here this seemed to be a great instance.  It’s problem is it’s location.  Why the hell did Blizzard set this instance down in the middle of nowhere?  Even pre-tBC it was hard to get a run here.  The only runs going now are when a warlock or paladin guilt-trips their friends into boosting them through for their epic mount.

The Ugly

Gnomergan I…HATE…GNOMERGAN!  For someone as directionally challenged as me this place is my worst nightmare come true.  I did one run on my 1st character which wasn’t too bad in that a few of us were being boosted through by a level 60.  I tried it a couple of times on my 2nd character (a mage) and ended up leaving the group after I died because I couldn’t find my way back to the group!  After that I refused to run it at all.  The only time I have run it since was when I re-rolled Hulan.  A lvl 70 warrior offered to boost me through it.  He knew the place well and all I had to do was follow him and loot stuff.  I made a point on Hulan of not getting boosted through instances, I PUG’d them all but I was happy to make an exception for Gnomergan.

A flying Moonkin! I wish *sigh* Moonkins have feathers, I really think Druids should be able to fly in Moonkin form. I love running around in Moonkin form, it hides the horrible mishmash of armour that I’m wearing. Although I can’t help thinking “does my bum look big in this”. I have to admit that I wasn’t really flying, I was fired from Toshley’s Station to take a weather reading; but for a few moments I could pretend, hehe.

After clearing out all my alts’ banks I have scraped together the gold for the epic riding skill and have done the Epic Flight Form quest chain up to the very last stage. The big stumbling block is a heroic Sekketh Halls run; my gear is horrible at the moment and not nearly up to heroic standard. In the meantime I’ve bought a fast gryphon, I thought the green-armoured one was appropriate for a druid When I need to get away fast though I use the druid bird, that instant cast is very handy for getting away quickly. It’s also great fun flying up high, shifting into another form and plummeting back towards the earth and shifting back into bird form at the last moment. I’m getting quite good at it; I spent almost 30 minutes doing it in Area 52 last night and only went SPLAT! once.

Ravenwynd finally hit 70 this evening.  This is the longest time I’ve ever taken to level a character.  I rolled her a couple of months before tBC was released.  When it hit my PC she was level 48 and languished there for 15 months.  It has taken just a few weeks to get her from 48 to 70 and I’m really enjoying her at the moment.

When I first rolled her I intended to keep her feral all the way, with maybe a dabble in healing on the way up.  In the meantime I rolled Hulan and discovered I really enjoyed healing so when I picked up Ravenwynd again it was with the intention of going Resto at 70.  In the meantime I re-spec’d Balance and fell in love!  I love healing with Hulan but I find I’m not so bothered about healing with Ravenwynd.  Ravenwynd is going to be my “fun” character…I don’t much care if 90% of druids are Feral or Resto, balance is the tree for me.  I have many good friends on Moonglade so I know getting a group for instances won’t be a problem.  Now I need to get started on the serious rep grind, get the last 10 points on my Leatherorking and get her some serious gear.

Hulan smoothed down her dress and inspected her hair closely in the mirror, tidying away a few stray wisps.  She turned to her father, “Wha’ do ye think Pa?”
“Och, I think ye look lovely lass, pretty as a picture you are.”
Hulan snorted and tossed her head, “I’s no a fashion parade Imma goin’ ta, i’s an important interview.  I dinnae want ta look pretty, I want ta look smart an’ tidy!”
Thorden grinned at his daughter, “Well ye look tha’ too lassie.”
Hulan turned back to the mirror and fussed nervously with her hair.  “I do ‘ope it turns out all right.  This guild ‘as very ‘igh standards an’ I dunno that I’m gud enuf fer ‘em.”
“Not gud enough fer ‘em?!” Thordenn roared “Dinna be thinkin’ like that lassie!  Yer gud enough for any guild in Azeroth an’ dinna ye go sayin’ any different!”
Hulan caught her father’s eye in the mirror and grinned “Mebbe I shud send yesself up ta Ironforge, ye cud speak fer me an’ tell ‘em how gud I am.  Then again, mebbe ye’d frighten tha poor wee bugger ‘alf ta death an’ they’d never let me in!”
Thorden smiled sheepishly, “Ye dinna need me ta speak fer ye lassie, yer quite capable o’ doin’ that fer yesself.  I dinna like ta ‘ear ye do yesself down though, yer as gud as anyone.”
Hulan picked up her cloak and draped it over her arm and crossed the room to hug her father.  “I know Pa.  Now wish me luck, I’m away up to Ironforge ta meet yon fella.  ‘E said aboot eight o’clock an’ I’d rather be there in plenty o’ time.”
Thorden hugged Hulan hard, “Good luck to ye lassie.  I ‘ope tha fella gi’s ye a fair hearin’.”
Hulan threw the cloak around her shoulders, “Imma sure ‘e will.  Like I said, they’re a gud bunch o’ people…I’ve never ‘eard a bad word aboot any o’ them.  Now dinna fash yesself, I’ll come straight back an’ tell ye all aboot it.”

Hulan stepped outside the small house and untethered the white ram, vaulting easily onto it’s back, and set off at a brisk canter for Ironforge.  She found herself outside the gaping mouth of the mountain in no time at all and searched for a space to tie up Cloud.  She removed the cloak and stashed it in a saddle-bag, then, with a quick pat, she took her leave of the ram and entered the mighty fortress of Ironforge.  She headed briskly towards Tinker Town, pausing to cast a longing look at Bruuk’s as she crossed the Military Ward; after a brief internal struggle she shook her head and continued on her way.  Reaching her destination she stopped an looked round in confusion.  Looking for a gnome in Tinker Town was a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack!  Hulan stopped to speak to every gnome she was saw but only got baffled looks and shaken heads in response.  She looked around for somewhere to sit and wait but there were no seats so she strolled around, keeping a sharp eye out for a gnome who might be a likely candidate for her meeting.  She heard the great horn call out the eighth hour of the clock and her heart leaped; surely he wouldn’t be long now.  For some time Hulan continued to approach every male gnome that entered Tinker Town until suddenly she felt a tap on her shoulder.  She swung round, hoping to see a gnome to find herself staring into the face of an Ironforge Guard.
The guard fidgeted and, looking extremely embarassed, said in a low voice “‘Scuse me lassie, cud ye come wi’ me please to tha Guardroom?”
“Tha Guardroom?  Whatever fer?!  I ‘ave an extremely important meetin’ an’ I dinnae want ta miss tha wee fella. I’m sorry but I dinna ‘ave time ta come and chat wi’ ye…he’s already late an’ hopefully will be ‘ere any moment now.”
The Guard shifted uneasily, “Now lassie, imma tryin’ ta tell ye nicely that yer under arrest, ’tis nae a wee chat I need.”
Hulan gaped at him, open-mouthed. “Under arrest!” she exclaimed, “What on earth am I under arest fer?!”
The guard flushed deep crimson to the roots of his hair and, refusing to meet her eye, muttered something unintelligible.  Hulan scowled at him, “There nae use tellin’ yer feet mister…I did nae unnerstan’ a word o’ that.”
The Guard lifted his head slightly and muttered again.  Hulan’s scowl deepened and she barked at him, “I cannae unnerstan’ a word!  Sol…wha’ was that word?  I never ‘eard o’ it before.”
The Guard hissed a word at her in a sharp whisper.
“Solsticin’?  Wha’s that then?  I’ve done nuthin’ wrong.  All I’m doin’ is waitin’ ta meet someone.” Hulan glared at the Guard, bristling with indignation.
“Shhh, shut yer yap lass, not so loud.  I’s tha kind o’ meetin’ yer doin’ tha’ folk around ‘ere ‘ave complained aboot.”
Hulan look baffled.  “Tha’ word ye said, wha’ does it mean?  Why wud folk complain?”
The guard groaned and momentarily buried his face in his hands.
“Look lassie, jes’ come wi’ me to tha Guard room an’ we’ll get it all sorted oot…I’m sure there’s some innocent esplanation.”
“But I canne go’ wi’ ye,” Hulan protested, “Imma supposed ta be meetin’ someone at eight.”
“Well, i’s half after eight now so I wud nae be frettin’ aboot it, ye’ve more important things ta worry aboot now”
Hulan’s face fell and then she shrugged in resignation.  “All right then mester, I’ll come wi’ ye to tha Guard room an’ ye can tell me wha’s goin’ on.”

Hulan followed the guard back into the Military Ward and they entered the Guard Room.  A few moments later startled passersby were dumbfounded to hear an indignant yell closely followed by a loud thump and a howl of pain.  An instant later a member of the Ironforge Guard flew out of the door showered by a barrage of helmets, boots and assorted military paraphenalia, all hurled by an angry female dwarf who stood in the doorway absolutely incandescent with rage.
“Ye filthy bugger!”, she shouted at him. “Ye should wash yer mouth oot wi’ carbolic soap ta be sayin’ such things to a lass!  Solsticin’ Gnomes ye call it? Tha’s jes’, jes’…..”, Hulan struggles to find the right word. “jes’ WRONG!  There I am jes’ mindin’ me own business and ye come along an’ start accusin’ me o’ bein’ some sort o’ PERVERT!”
The Guard grabbed one of the helmets, which he jammed quickly onto his head, and cowered trying to avoid the missiles raining down all around him.
“Ye misunnertood me lassie,” he cried desperately “I dinna think that o’ ye but someone complained cos they saw ye talkin’ to all tha wee fellas.  They thought ye were…er…”
“I know fine well what they thought!  Ye just ’splained it ta me!  The very idea o’ it indeed!  And yesself…instead o’ tellin’ them nae ta be so daft and sendin’ ‘em off wi’ a flea in yer ear, ye decide that ye need ta be important an’ investigate!”  Hulan glowered fiercely at the Guard, brandishing a small mace at him.
At that moment the Sergeant of the Guard turned up and pushed his way through the crowd that had gathered and surveyed the scene that greeted him with astonishment.
“What on earth’s goin’ on ‘ere?” he demanded of the Guard huddled on the floor.
“I’ll tell ye wha’s goin’ on!” spluttered Hulan “Tha’ bugger there’s makin’ filthy accusations an’ tryin’ t’arrest me!”
“Yer Thorden Stonefist’s lass aren’t ye?”
Hulan nodded.
“Well, jes’ ye step inside a moment an’ we’ll see if we can sort this out…there’s obviously bin a misunderstandin’.”
He turned to the Guard on the floor and snapped “Frumpi, get this mess cleared up sharpish!”
As he and Hulan disappeared back inside the guard Room, the crowd began to disperse slowly, slightly disappointed that the entertainment seemed to be over.  Ten minutes later a calmer Hulan reappeared and headed for home.  Her father threw the door open as she stopped outside the small house.  “‘Ow did it go lass?”
Hulan shook her head and sighed “He did nae turn oop.  Le’s go inside an’ ‘ave a beer an’ I’ll tell ye all aboot it.”

I’ve been busy levelling Ravenwynd for the last few days. Some friends have alts at around the same level and we decided to do some rep runs of The Ramparts and Blood Furnace before we started questing in earnest. Having healed these quite comfortably on my priest, even when shadow spec’d I had expected that, with a healing set, I would be able to do the same with a feral druid. How wrong I was!

We had a feral druid tanking, a rogue and 2 shaman plus me healing. As with the shadow priest I walked a fine line with regards to mana, I’d expected that. Without talents in healing you don’t get nearly as much bang for your buck, heals cost more mana and you have to cast them more often. The big problem was aggro. Like a shadow priest I had no talents reducing my threat when casting healing spells; unlike a shadow priest I didn’t have Fade. It’s a long time since I had to use fade on my priest, I’d forgotten how much I’d hammered it when healing as a shadow priest, especially when things got hairy. On our first Ramparts run aggro was a huge problem and I died a lot. Thankfully with two shammies they were able to pick up the healing when I died, usually towards the end of a fight.

After that first run I re-spec’d and went Resto and we had another Ramparts run. What a difference! I didn’t pull aggro once and healed comfortably. Of course, when I got outside and tried to kill anything I was fairly hopeless. I was feeling a bit frustrated, I’d really like to heal on my way to 70 and get used to druid healing however I also need to be able to do quests and kill things along the way. What to do? I hit the Druid forum and asked for advice. A couple of people suggested a Balance/Resto spec, something I hadn’t thought of at all. The little I’d heard about Balance druids has been very negative but I decided to give it a shot. I’ve gone just far enough into the Resto tree to get the threat reduction and put all the rest in Balance.

After the respec we hit the Blood Furnace. Again, aggro wasn’t a problem and with mana regen talents I was able to heal quite comfortably with the occasional pot on big fights. The acid test was when we finished and I went off to kill stuff on my own. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. It’s not uber dps but it’s not bad either. I can chug my way around Hellfire Peninsula and kill what I need to kill. If I’m patient and let my dots do their work I don’t have to drink too often and if I’m in a hurry, well mana juice is cheap! I have some crowd control, yes it’s situational but then a mage can’t sheep everything, a priest can’t shackle it all and there are some situations where to use fear is more than your life is worth…literally. I think the the biggest “caster” ability that I miss on my Balance druid is some sort of spell interrupt like Counterspell or Silence.

I need to work on my gear. At the moment most of my “caster” gear is weighted towards healing rather than DPS but even so I’m happy with the damage I can do. Finally, there’s Moonkin form…that dance is brilliant! Really, what’s not to like about Boomkins?!

This is a general sort of catching-up post.  I have added several WoW blogs to my blog roll, they have become my latest obsession; there are so many great WoW blogs out there!  As you can see from the absence of posts here I have been spending my free time on other things; mostly playing WoW and reading blogs about it, hehe.

I think that one of the reasons WoW is so successful is that there is always something to do.  On the rare occasion you’re feeling bored or jaded you can just roll  another character and then there is a whole set of new things to do.  Of course as the list of alts gets longer then so does the “to-do” list.  So what is going on in my WoW world?

Élen – still mostly grinding and farming mats for the rest of my “girls”.  I would like to get her attuned for Kara and start doing instances with her again.  I haven’t run an instance with her for over a year now and have rather lost my confidence playing a hunter so PUGs are right out however things have been very quiet lately in our guild so I’m not getting very far.

Winífred and Hulan have both been running Kara.  You can put good money on it that if I sign with Hulan they’re short of DPS and if I sign with Winí they need me to switch to Hulan and heal.  In the end they’ve both got a fair bit of exposure in there.  I definitely enjoy playing Hulan more; healing is a much more interesting way to pass the time than spamming frostbolt for 3 hours.

Ravenwynd, after having been neglected since the release of tBC, has sparked my interest again and I’ve spent most of the last couple of weeks getting her to 60.  There are several other alts in the guild at around the same level and we should be able to get some nice guild instance runs done.  How much Azeroth dungeons have been downgraded really struck home when we 4-manned Sunken Temple.  Raven was 53 (she dinged in there), we had a 53 rogue, 58 shaman and a 51 shaman.  It was my first proper experience of druid tanking and it took me a while to get into it.  It did and didn’t help that the other 3 people in the groups all have tanks (2 prot warriors and a feral druid) and my noobishness really showed when about 20 minutes in I bemoaned my lack of a taunt to have it pointed out that I can growl in bear form!  I didn’t even have it on my bar….a result of having soloed pretty much all the way up to that point.  the tanking got  alot easier after that and the four of us cleared the whole place with ease.

This is a macro that I use on Hulan and Winífred a lot.  Basically, you create the macro and put it on a button.  Select your target to be cc’d and either left-click the button or press the key if it’s keybound.  This will cast your cc spell and make the target your focus.  You can now switch to any other target without losing your focus.  When you need to re-apply the cc just right-click the button and your focus will be re-sheeped/shackled without you losing your target.

#showtooltip
/cast [button:2, target=focus] Shackle Undead; Shackle Undead
/focus [nobutton:2]

Trabyna looked deep into the tiger’s green eyes and let her spirit sink into them, as Thotar had taught her. She was vaguely aware of the animal’s snarling roar as she plunged into the deep, dark place outside of herself where she would meet the spirit of the tiger she was trying to tame and try to convince it to give up its life of freedom.

“You must remember Trabyna, that you can not master a beast,” said Thotar “you can only convince it to share its life with you. The relationship between a hunter and her pet is not one of master and servant, it is a partnership. You ask the beast to hunt with you, to fight for you and, if necessary, to die for you. What do you offer it in return? If you and your pet are hungry your pet always eats first and if you are both wounded, you tend its wounds before your own.” Trabyna nodded solemnly. “It can be a heady power to know that another creature will die for you. Don’t underestimate it and don’t take it lightly,” he continued sternly. “It is almost time for you to start training beasts so that you can have a pet of your own. You need to understand what a big responsibility that is.”

Trabyna, who had been feeling excited at the prospect of taming a pet of her own, started to feel quite daunted. She had never been responsible for anyone else before and had only recently started making her own way in the world, taking responsibility for herself. Now she was starting to realise what a serious business it was, that she would bear the responsibility for another life. A rare smile crossed Thotar’s face as he saw realisation dawning in Trabyna’s eyes. “I see you understand Trabyna. If you couldn’t understand you would not be worthy of taming a beast and I wouldn’t teach you how. However you are worthy so let us begin.”

First he taught Trabyna the short spell she would recite when she wanted to tame a beast. On its own, as a spell, it had little power; its importance lay in its function as a focus. Trabyna discovered that the act of taming was almost like deep meditation. She would have to enter a trance-like state where her spirit could negotiate with the spirit of the beast she wanted to tame. Any distraction would break the connection between her and the animal. Not only would she have to shut out anything going on around her but she would also have to ignore the beast itself; Thotar explained that the most benign beast would attack her once she attempted to tame it, its spirit struggling to remain free. Not until the animal’s spirit aquiesced and bound itself to Trabyna would the attack stop. If Trabyna failed to tame the beast, she would probably have to kill it. Once the beast agreed to bind its spirit to Trabyna’s the bond would still be fragile for some time. She would need to prove her worth to the animal.

For almost two weeks Trabyna practiced reciting the spell. Initially she found it extremely difficult to attain the taming trance. After a week she was beginning to despair of ever getting it right. Thotar explained that the taming wasn’t only about the animal surrendering a part of its spirit, Trabyna had to learn to surrender too. Trabyna had spent her whole life doing exactly the opposite. Her life with her mother had been difficult. Outwardly Trabyna had put up little resistance to Megdar but inside she had raged and fumed at her mother. Her spirit hadn’t been broken because she hadn’t let it be broken, because she had refused to surrender to her mother’s browbeating and complaining. Now she was being asked to forget the very thing that had enabled her to survive. She began to question whether the hunter’s life was for her at all.

Thotar was at his wits end. Trabyna was a very able student in everything but this and it puzzled him. One night, after another frustrating and unsuccessful attempt by Trabyna, he decided to walk up to Orgrimmar and talk to Ormak Grimshot about the problem, knowing that Trabyna was his protégé. Once Ormak explained Trabyna’s background he started to understand why she was having so much difficulty with the taming trance. The following night, as Trabyna struggled with the exercise yet again, he murmured “Trabyna, you’re not trying to tame your mother you know.” Trabyna’s eyes flew open and for an instant she wasn’t sure if she was angry. Then she smiled ruefully, “If only that were possible.” Thotar smiled back. “Just keep it in mind. It may help.” Surprisingly it did. By the end of that night’s lesson Trabyna had managed, albeit briefly, to enter the taming trance. By then end of the week she could enter the trance almost instantaneously, as soon as she started to recite the simple spell.

One morning, as Trabyna ate a simple breakfast at the Inn in Razor Hill, she received a message to go and see Thotar. Her heart leaped! Did he think she was ready to tame a pet? All at once she was excited but overcome with uncertainty that she was up to the task. Thotar gave her one of his rare smiles as she approached. “Good morning to you Trabyna.” He looked up at the cloudless sky, “I think today would be a fine day to tame a boar. Go and find a suitable specimen amongst the mottled boars nearby and see if you can convince him to hunt with you for the morning.” Trabyna’s heart was in her mouth as she left Razor Hill. It took her no time at all to find a boar. The boar was just coming into adulthood. Mature enough to be suitable for hunting, yet not so old his spirit would be too independent. Trabyna faced the boar and started to recite her spell, slipping easily into the taming trance as she did so. She recalled afterwards that it was a strange experience, like rushing headlong into a dark tunnel to emerge in a place where only she and the boar existed. Her spirit bowed to the boar and introduced herself, explaining that she needed the boar’s help for the morning only. Would the boar honour her by consenting to be her companion and teaching her the ways of the boar while they hunted together? The boar regarded her with angry eyes then gradually she saw its rage subside as it agreed to be her companion. Trabyna spent an exhilarating morning hunting with the boar; it was a quite different experience to hunting alone. As the sun reached its zenith, she turned to the boar and thanked it. Without a backward glance the boar ran off to join its companions.

The following day she repeated the experience with a surf crawler and the day after that with a scorpid. When she released the scorpid she returned to Thotar. He told her that, in his opinion, she was ready to tame a pet of her own but first she would need to learn how to care for it and train it. “Ormak Grimshot is the finest beast master I know, equalled only by Holt Thunderhorn in Thunderbluff,” he told her. “Why don’t you travel up to Orgrimmar and see Ormak? I know he’d be delighted to see you and he’d only be too pleased to share his knowledge with you.” “Would it not be troublesome to Ormak to have to bother himself with me, he’s so busy?” “Not at all Trabyna. I send all my students to him to learn how to care for their beasts. I think your lesson would be one he’ll particularly enjoy though,” replied Thotar.

Trabyna arrived at Orgrimmar in the late afternoon and went to see Ormak. He was delighted to see her and impressed at the progress she had made in such a short time. “I thought you had the making of a good hunter in you but I hadn’t expected you to progress quite so quickly,” he told her. Trabyna flushed with pleasure at the compliment. “Will you be spending the night at your mother’s?” Trabyna nodded reluctantly. “In that case come and spend the evening with me and Feng. You can tell me about all the adventures you’ve had and I’ll tell you about some of mine. I promise not to exaggerate,” he finished with a wink. “We’ll start the lesson first thing tomorrow; I’m less likely to be interrupted early in the day.”

After a tense meal with her mother Trabyna spent an enjoyable evening with Ormak. She realised afterwards that he had started her lesson that night. They spent the whole of the following day together as he taught her how to care for her pet, what food different beasts ate, how to convey her commands. He explained that if, as most hunters did, she trained a young beast its knowledge gathered in the wild would need increasing; it wouldn’t have had time to learn everything it needed to know. Over time, as her pet became stronger, she would need to tame other beasts and learn these skills from them then pass them on to her pet. “Do you have in mind what manner of pet you’d like?” Ormak asked her. Trabyna nodded but was reticent. Ormak understood. The first pet was special and not an experience to be shared; instead it was savoured and planned by the hunter alone. He would know soon enough.

That night Trabyna lay in bed at her mother’s house planning her trip to the Echo Isles, just off the coast near Sen’jin village. A few weeks earlier she had been asked to collect tiger skins there. On one of the smaller islands she had seen a young female, a magnificent animal, and noted this one in her mind as a future pet. In the morning she would return and if the gods were willing, the tigress would still be there. Trabyna imagined visiting her mother in the future with a tiger in tow and giggled.

The following morning she was up at sunrise and slipped out of the house before her mother stirred. Neither of them was much at goodbyes and it was too much like hard work to disguise her relief to be leaving. By the time she got to the coast it was almost midday. Trabyna wrapped her weapons in a waterproof cloth and swam towards the island where “her” tiger was, taking care to avoid the hostile makrura that infested the waters. As she walked up the beach of the island her heart leaped as she spotted the tigress. She was still there! Trabyna stood for a moment, watching it prowl up and down. It was a truly magnificent animal. Young, yet already powerfully muscled. Trabyna walked slowly towards it then stopped, putting down her weapons. The tiger paused its prowling and sniffed the air; it had caught her scent. In one fluid motion it turned and hurled itself at her, snarling.

In the dark void of the taming trance Trabyna’s spirit faced the magnificent tiger. The tiger’s spirit was almost mad with rage. Trabyna bowed “Greetings sister tiger”. The tiger snarled and tossed its head at her. Trabyna knelt down in front of the tiger. “I need a companion,” she told it “a hunter to hunt with. I need a sister to share with, to love.” The tiger continued to snarl but tossed its head slightly less vigorously. “I need one who is stronger and swifter than I to protect me when I face a foe greater than myself. In return, I will defend you and not carelessly ask you to face danger in my stead. Your hunger will be my hunger, your wounds my wounds, your life my life.” The tiger stopped snarling and eyed Trabyna suspiciously. Trabyna bowed her head and opened her arms to the tiger, “Sister Tiger, I offer you my spirit if you will become my companion.” Almost imperceptibly, the tiger nodded her assent.

The world grew bright again as Trabyna’s spirit returned to her body. The tigress stood quietly by her side. As she looked down, the beast returned her gaze and made a grumbling sound deep in her throat. Trabyna laughed “Hungry sister? I have some boar meat in my pack; I brought it especially for you.” Trabyna reached for her pack, crying out as she became aware of the pain in her arm. She fumbled in the pack with her left hand for the meat then examined her right arm as the tiger ate. The tiger’s claws had raked her upper arm, scoring the flesh. It would need dressing as the wounds were deep but Trabyna decided to wait until they had swum back to the mainland before putting a proper bandage on it – the sea would cleanse the wound and help prevent infection. She smiled at the tiger “Sister Tiger, I am truly yours – you have marked me for your own.”

It was late in the day when she finally got back to Orgrimmar. Resisting the temptation to introduce her mother to her new companion Trabyna headed up The Drag to the Valley of Honour and made for the Hunter’s Hall. Ormak looked up as she entered and the look of admiration on his face as he regarded the tiger made words unnecessary. “You have done well Trabyna, she is a magnificent animal!” A look of concern clouded his features as he took in the seeping bandage on her arm. “Let me look at that,” he fussed leading her into a corner and sitting her down. Carefully he removed the dressing and checked the wound. “It’s clean anyway, but deep. Let me re-dress it with a clean bandage. It’s not so easy bandaging your right arm is it?” he chuckled. As he re-applied the bandage he told her “You have been marked with the totem of the great cat. In the future you may have other pets and will tame other beasts but you will always have a special relationship with great cats. Have you thought of a name for her?” Unbidden, the tiger’s name popped into her head. “Her name is Samira,” she replied.