Sonic’s World of Warcraft Chapter 1: Aspects of the Hunter
“Uuugggghhhh how many failures do I have to go through in a day?” the Class Master of the Hunters nearly screams at her advisor, a Master Marksman ranked hunter “Only two people you have forced in front of me today out of the 50 have any measure of talent for being a hunter, but where are the born Beast Masters?” She says pacing back and forth desperately wanting to pass down her specialization, Beast Mastery, to the next generation of hunters. “The first successful initiate, Jynx, has the eyes of an eagle and seems to be a born marksman but has the aptitude of an ant when it comes to taming even a fucking moth in terms of beasts and the second, Katie, has the marks of a born survivor and can survive on practically nothing but can’t hit the broadside of a barn door when it comes to both the bow and the gun because she’s never even held them before. Where’s my initiate Nakota!?” she says glaring at the Marksman knowing he would be training the first mentioned initiate with a giant grin on his face.
“We’re still looking ma’am” Nakota says nervously knowing that his Class Master, Bryanna the Light, the last Beast Master since the Class Master before her, could easily sick her chimera, Kuroc, or her core hound, Cerberus, on him in a moment and no one would bat an eyelash since he was disliked by most of the hunters present at the meeting “All the noble families of Stormwind have already sent their finest I don’t have any more applicants today.” Bryanna lets a huge sigh completely irritated at the situation at hand. She tries her best to remain calm and says “Looks like I’m going to have to do this the hard way. Post a notice in the nearby forest provinces that I’m seeking initiate hunters and I’ll look amongst them unnoticed. I need an initiate Nakota and you seem incapable of producing one for me. If you want something done right do it yourself, you are all dismissed.”
The hunter hall empties as Bryanna heads to the stables to care for her beasts, the only comfort that she has in her opinion since her beasts were her only family being so closely bonded. As she enters she makes mental notes about the condition of the other beasts in the stables, mostly wolves and bears, but her observations are cut short by her core hound, Cerberus, jumping on her waging his tail and slamming her to the stone floor very happy to see her. “Cerberus get off you gigantic oaf” she shouts playfully as the hound’s twin heads lick her face drenching her with his drool. Bryanna manages to shove the core hound off and pet his heads, wiping the drool off herself as best she can as her other beasts surround her eager to receive her attention and to be fed and cared for. “Alright alright sorry I took so long the meeting today was a long one” Bryanna says walking out of the stables with her 5 beasts following her proudly: a midnight wolf, a blue raptor, a green and brown twin headed chimera, a two headed white carrion bird, and her faithful white flaming twin headed core hound to the river to be washed.
“Umm Class Master one moment” a lower ranked hunter says just before Bryanna manages to get away. She thinks to herself ‘Fuck what now?!’ but manages to say in a slightly irritated tone “Yes Yuki what is it?” Yuki does a respectful bow to her superior being a Pandaren and says “It’s not wise to leave the city walls alone. Please let me accompany you as a precaution.” Bryanna sighs and politely says “I appreciate your concern Yuki but I can take care of myself and I need some time alone with my beasts. I’ve been so busy lately I’ve unintentionally been neglecting them so I need to remedy that with some time at the river and I need a good bath cause Cerberus slobbered all over me.” Yuki bows again not fully understanding the concept of alone time and says “I’m sorry for disturbing you Class Master, I’ll leave you to your “alone time” then and let the others know you are not to be disturbed.”
Bryanna gives Yuki a polite bow goodbye and rushes away through the streets with her beats in tow, eager to return to the forest she loves if only for a short time. As she passes the guards she shouts to them “I’m going out for a while don’t wait up!” They nod in acknowledgement knowing that she would be going to the river with her beasts. When she arrives at the river Cerberus, her blue raptor Saphira, and her midnight wolf Kage jump into the river while her chimera and carrion bird, Kuroc and Nira, find a nice tree to perch in while Bryanna washes the others first. Bryanna strips out of her armor to her underclothing to prevent rust and waits for the first of her beasts to leave the river not knowing she’s being watched by a curious set of young eyes.
She hears a twig snap and says “Knew I’d be followed by someone. Come out here initiate.” A young female mobian hedgehog comes out from behind the bush “Sorry Class Master I just wanted to get to know you a little better.” Bryanna sighs with slight irritation but decides against lashing out at the young hunter “It’s alright Katie, but since you’re here could you help me clean my beasts? It’ll give us the chance to talk.” Katie is taken aback by the sudden offer but is eager to make a good impression on her new Class Master “Y-yes ma’am. :D” Bryanna smiles at the slight stutter “No need to be all formal outside the hall Katie. :) Just call me Bry alright.” “Yes ma’am I mean Bry” Katie says correcting herself quickly trying not to offend Bryanna.
Bryanna just shakes her head and says with a smile “Lighten up Katie, we’re all initiates at one point in time so relax and pay attention. Consider this your first lesson on general beast care and management.” She whistles for Kage to come to her to be cleaned and brushed. “Let’s start with Kage since he’s a species you can tame as a Survival class hunter. Wolves are carnivores that are mainly focus on attacking your targeted opponent and can boost their attack stats for a short time. Kage here is the first beast I tamed so he’s the most experienced of the group in terms of combat but not the most flexible in terms of strategic use.” Bryanna hands Katie a bottle of soap and a comb “Ok let’s see how well you can bathe a beast. :) Lather him up till he looks like a cream puff, comb him out, let him rinse himself off in the river, then comb him again. He’ll dry off in the sun after you’re done with the bath. I’ll start working on Saphira since she’ll only let me bathe her. ^^ ”
They both begin bathing Kage and Saphira during which Bryanna is giving Katie helpful advice on how to bathe Kage without getting bit. After an hour and Kage rinsing himself off Bryanna judges how well Katie bathed him “Alright then Katie let’s see how you did.” She whistles for Kage to come back to dry land to be examined and Katie is praying to herself that she did a good job. “ Hmm” Bryanna circles the wet Kage and studies the cleanliness of his coat carefully “So far so good Katie. All that’s left now is the final combing and you’re done. :)” Katie lets out a huge breath of relief as Bryanna continues “Since you can bathe a wolf properly you’re almost ready to tame your first beast Katie.” At hearing those words Katie is motionless in shock “W-what? OoO” “You heard me Katie. All that’s left is that you need to become proficient with either the bow or the gun then you’re ready for initiation, taming your first beast with the aid of a fellow hunter or class master. Since you’re so inexperienced with the use of ranged weapons, general weapons training should be the most difficult part of your overall preparations to become a full-fledged hunter” Bryanna says with a smile. “Oh thank you thank you. XD” Katie says bouncing up and down with glee. Bryanna chuckles and says “Calm down Katie. :)” Katie stops bouncing and says slightly embarrassed “Sorry Bry. ^^”
Bryanna simply chuckles at the initiate and continues washing Saphira with her stiff brush and raptor oil. Katie meanwhile is curiously looking at her Class Master’s long bow which she had spotted next to Bryanna’s armor underneath a tree. She’d never actually having seen one like it before and was curious about it. This bow seemed specially made for Bryanna and was inlaid with many rare gemstones and crafted out of an unknown material that she couldn’t identify. Bryanna notices Katie’s curiosity and says “Interested in my bow huh? :)” Katie’s startled at being caught and says stuttering “Y-yes ma’am. I’ve never seen one quite like it before.” Bryanna chuckles and says with a smirk “That’s because I made it myself.” “Really what’s it made out of?” Katie asks curiously while reaching for the bow but before she can touch it Bryanna says quickly “Don’t touch it or you’ll get shocked.” Katie snatches her hand back quickly before she can touch it. “Never touch someone else’s weapons without permission initiate because you never know what enchantments have been imbued upon it. My bow will shock anyone who doesn’t have permission to touch it Katie so remember common courtesy when you’re about to touch someone’s weapon” Bryanna says with a slightly angry look on her face.
Katie hangs her head sadly disappointed and says “I’m sorry class master I didn’t know” :(. Bryanna sighs and says “It’s alright Katie you didn’t know just ask before you touch ok?” Katie raises her head and says with a happy smile “Ok. :)” “You can touch my bow Katie just don’t drop it ok” Bryanna says while finishing brushing Saphira. Katie smiles happily and carefully picks up the bow surprised on how light it is “I thought that a long bow of this caliber would be heavier.” “That’s your mistake Katie. The better the quality bow, the lighter it gets for the most part not counting the weight enchantments that can be cast onto the bow itself. :)” “Oh. :)” Katie replies and sets the bow down carefully “By the way I’ve been hearing rumors around the town that you have a huge project planned for the hunter’s guild.” Bry sighs and says “Everybody’s been on my case about my supposed “project” Katie but since you’re now a part of the guild I guess I can spill the beans. I’ve been working to set up a raptor breeding program here in Stormwind.” Katie’s jaw drops and she stutters “Raptors?! Here? OoO”
“Yes raptors. :) Haven’t you noticed that most of the beasts that the guild has are either wolves or bears? Hunters need a variety of beasts for combat and raptors are one of the more desirable beasts due to their strength and cunning. I talked with the King and he agrees that trained raptors could be a benefit to Stormwind so I’ve been setting up this project for months. Since I have a female raptor, Saphira, already I just need to track down a strong male that can produce a strong bloodline.” Katie says with a smile “Well if you put it like that yeah it makes sense but how will you get that male raptor?” Bryanna chuckles and says with a smirk “Simple one of the new initiates who I deem worthy will accompany me to Stranglethorn so that their initiation will involve the taming of a wild raptor and you and Jynx are candidates. ^^” Katie’s jaw drops because she is in consideration for that honor “R-really?” Bryanna says with a serious tone “Yes you are but don’t let that go to your head. You’ve still got to prove yourself because taming a predatory beast is dangerous. Hell Kage here almost killed me more than once when I was trying to tame him so cockiness will not be tolerated nor will true cowardice. I can understand nervousness taming such a fierce beast but showing fear during the taming process will result in failure. Learn the fundamentals of the gun and bow well and then we’ll see if you’re worthy of taming a raptor.” Katie then says with determination “I won’t let you down Bry” and runs off to find her teacher to begin learning how to wield a weapon, eager to prove herself to her Class Master and determined to be worthy of taming the elusive raptor.
