5 Weeks in a Jungle

5 and a half weeks ago, I began to camp Loque’nahak. Ever since I first saw him in the beta, I knew that Loque’nahak was the pet I wanted by my side when I went to face the Lich King. For all that time, I spent roughly 4-6 hours on average in the Basin camping every day. People began to notice me in the Basin, and soon, I had all but memorized the Basin’s soundtrack so well I whistled it as I drove. I also noticed parts of it sound an awful lot like Disney’s Jungle Book…

However, I never saw Loque’nahak. I spent 5 weeks before I even saw one of the rare spawns, King Krush. That sub sequentially led me to be eaten by said Devilsaur until a Death Knight/Hunter team killed him for timers. As the weeks went by, I talked to several other hunters who were camping the zone. To my dismay, I’d see them 3 or 4 days later with a Spirit Beast by their side. Saddened but not deterred I continued my hunt for this cat I had yet to see dead or alive untamed.

Thursday morning, New Years Day. I decided that my New Years resolution would be to get the Spirit Beast (and on a lesser note, stop being late to morning classes at the college; but I’m on Winter break, that can wait)! I went to the Basin and offered my usual reward for any help capturing this beast; A Blizzcon Mount or 1000g. Yes, I know, frown upon bribery. But I was going mad! And it didn’t seem to help that every Hunter aside from me (on my realm) managed to snag it in hours as opposed to weeks of trying.

Then I got it. A purple-colored whisper from a Paladin. He found Loque’nahak! He was watching him! I hopped on my drake and flew as fast as I could over to the location. I cursed as Blizzard decided to make my Riding Crop useless. I could taste victory in my mouth as I neared the Goretalon perch.

I tasted it until a Forsaken Mage decided to Pyroblast Loque’nahak into oblivion. I stared at the fallen corpse with a literal broken heart. The first time I saw Loque’nahak, and now, I was seeing red. I felt numb and decided “You know what, forget it. It’s just a cat.” And with that, I logged off.

But Hunters never give up really. I found myself in the Basin later that night, talking with friends and receiving their condolences for my loss. I listened as some of the people in the Basin who knew of my endeavors gave me words of encouragement and whispered me they’d be happy to help. Little by little, I gave into my dirty glee and renounced “giving up”. In the next 24 hours, I would log into seeing Loque’nahak be killed by more players as I logged in. But I didn’t dwell on it. I couldn’t I picked up the timer and moved on.

Fast forward to early morning Saturday. My 120lb German Sheppard, Heero, decided to wake me up by jumping on me. Once awake, I was awake. I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I decided to log on to WoW and see what my friends were doing. I logged in at the gorilla spot and looked around. Not much to be seen. I stuck around for 30 minutes patrolling, deciding I would leave and go do my cooking dailies in Dalaran. I flew over the Maker’s Perch, heading Northeast, when suddenly Illidan began yelling through my speakers.

“YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!”

I looked. I was prepared. My macro had just targeted a freshly spawned Loque’nahak under my drake, just past the river. I dismounted in air (in such a rush I took fall damage), threw down a freezing trap and hit tame. I watched in pure shaky bliss as Loque leapt at me, stuck in mid air in the trap. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….Mine.

I ran around the house! I squealed to myself in a child-like glee. My dog watched me looking at me as if I had lost my mind, and I had!! I hugged him, it was all his doing I got Loque’nahak. I shudder to think what would’ve happened if he didn’t jump on me as I slept.

And with that thought, I renamed my Spirit Beast “Heero”.

To those camping alongside me, Good Luck! Don’t give up! Even when it seems its worse, just remember it can only get better! To Mythdragon, Reikao, and the many many other “citizens” of Scholazar Basin, I thank you for the conversations! To my great friends, Kinzen, Hallock, and my guild, thank you for putting up with my Loque-obessesion the past near 6 weeks. I can finally raid now! Yanno, once I level him up.