Turgus: The Duel

[Turgus]

This is my third short story about my hunter who I have had since WoW came out, hopefully the story isn't too bad.


Turgus was slowly walking through the floating city of Dalaran taking in its sights and sounds. It had been a while since he had been to the big city and he couldn’t help but look at the beautiful spires with wonder, each tower with its own intricately beautiful architecture.

He loved coming to this city, he never got tired of seeing the hustle and bustle, the vendors bartering their wares, the people from both the Horde and Alliance, orc’s, human’s, tauren, and elves, all milling around, talking with the mages of Dalaran and taking on various quests, recovering artifacts, defeating enemies, all working together to take down the Lich King.
Not that the Alliance and the Horde don’t fight amongst themselves, Turgus has been in many, many battles, you never knew when you would run into an Alliance attack when you were away from town, they always seemed to ambush him when he was gathering minerals for his profession.
There was a continuing conflict in the Wintergrasp region of Northrend where both the Horde and the Alliance both battled over possession of an ancient fortress.
Each of them also had a giant airship that circled the Lich Kings Citadel waiting for the moment that they would strike the Lich King, but until that time they would occasionally take pot shots at each other, showing that even though they were working together the animosity between both sides was far from over.

He looked over at his new companion Chomper, the big green Devilsaur was taking in the sights, the sounds and the smells. Chomper was staring intensely at a kodo mount that was tied up outside of one of the stores, and the big guy was drooling.
Turgus patted Chompers leg and reached out with his spirit. He could feel their bond strengthening, and he didn’t need to touch him anymore for them to communicate with each other.
He told Chomper that he couldn’t eat that Kodo, but that he would take him to one of the inns and get him a couple nice Kodo steaks. Chomper agreed, but let him know that they better be big steaks, because he was really hungry.
Turgus looked up at Chomper, and started laughing when Chomper turned his head with what looked like a big mischievous grin. Chomper was imitating one of “his” smiles!
He laughed so hard his sides started to hurt, man his new buddy was a big goof, just like him!
Chomper turned and smacked Turgus with his tail lightly, making him take a step to catch himself. Turgus just snickered, and gently patted Chomper’s flank.

The two of them turned and started walking down the street, Gnomes, Draenai, and others milling all around them, some haggling over wares with the Dalaran vendors. It was still early in the evening, there was still plenty of time to show Chomper around the city more before treating him to some tasty Kodo steaks.

The two of them had gone to the inn and now sat in front of the raging fireplace. Chomper was lying on his side on top of the nice plush rug, his little arms holding the end of a kodo leg bone as he gnawed and licking the other end. His tail gently wrapping the floor in satisfaction, well lightly for a Devilsaur anyways.
Turgus sat next to Chomper gently leaning against his big leg. He gently puffed on his hand carved pipe, savoring the flavor of the smoke before slowly exhaling. He glanced over his shoulder taking a look at the rest of the room.
An orc warrior was sharpening his giant axe on a chair further back, a blood elf mage was meditating, his legs crossed and his arms folded as he floated a foot above the floor. There were many others as well, relaxing after the filling dinner, and he had seen just three other hunters in the inn.
A tauren hunter with an nasty looking rifle and his wolf companion sat in the corner, a blood elf hunter in spiked armor stood leaning against the wall, his raptor companion kneeled next to him, and an orc hunter sat at the bar drinking, his wolf companion curled up below him. Turgus sighed to himself, he could see with a glance that these hunters were not like him at all.
He could remember the day when there were other “beast master” hunters, but the last few years he had seen less and less of them. The hunters now days were obsessed with their own power, training intensely to increase the marksmanship skill or their tactical and survival skills, while basically ignoring their companion.
It saddened him to see each of their companions, the two wolves and the raptor, sitting there basically ignored, treated like a pet instead of a friend and companion.
With their own obsession with power these hunters had missed what was truly important.

Turgus reached over and gently scratched Chomper’s belly, the big guy grumbling something in appreciation as he chewed on his bone. As he took another draft of his pipe he couldn’t help but smile, this right here was what was important.

As he sat there he felt someone walk up behind him, so Turgus turned and saw the bloodelf hunter with his raptor companion standing there. “I saw you eyeballing me and my friends earlier; the others might, but I will not tolerate such disrespect from a stupid beast master hunter. Our guild just got finished doing a raid on the Lich Kings Citadel. I am obviously a much better hunter than you are. Look at your pitiful gear. ” Said the blood elf hunter, “I will show you your place. If you dare, face me tomorrow at noon at the Pavilion of Champions.”

Turgus smirked and nodded to the hunter, gently patting Chomper’s leg as he said “I accept your challenge hunter.”
The blood elf hunter turned and said, ”you will be sorry that you did.” and then left.
Chomper stopped chewing on the kodo bone and looked at him. They had a quiet conversation through their spirit bond as the evening turned to night and the fire that burned in the fireplace slowly died down until it was just glowing embers.

In the morning Turgus arrived at the Champions Pavilion, and made sure all of his gear was in good order. He then went over to Chomper and gave him a message, making sure that he was in great shape for the battle to come. Unlike the other hunter, his success in battle was very much linked to his companion.
He then sat down and meditated, letting all of his anxiety flow out of him with each breath. He could sense as Chomper sat down next to him, and he could feel the big guy close his eyes and match his breathing. To think that most people just saw a big dumb dinosaur when they looked at Chomper, they had no idea how wrong they were.
After meditating for about an hour Turgus got up and stretched, it was close to time.

The blood elf arrived riding a huge mammoth, his raptor companion running alongside. He dismounted by doing a double summersault, and then said, “ I am surprised you actually showed up. But, I will make sure to get this over with quickly. I have better things to do.”

Turgus just sighed, one did not rush duels. There was a day that something like this was only done when you couldn’t settle your differences any other way.
But recently it was just a test of strength, where the strong would use it to show off how powerful they were.
Turgus turned and paid his respects to the statues of the Champions of the Horde that stood near the Pavilion; bowing low to one in particular, one of his friend and mentor Gira’chek the Hunter.
Next to his statue was another one but it was obscured by shadows.... it seemed to look like someone…. familiar....
They both took up positions a good thirty meters apart from each other. The Pavilion was a circle of hard packed dirt, a ring of grey stone noted the boundary of the circle which contrasted with the red earth.
The blood elf’s raptor was growling uncontrollably, clawing at the ground, barely keeping itself restrained until the battle started. Chomper on the other hand just stood there calmly watching their opponents carefully.
Turgus, leaned down and said a prayer to his ancestors to guide him in the battle to come. He then touched the ground casting a spell, placing a magical ice trap down. He glanced up and saw the blood elf placing a trap just like he was.
Turgus drew his crossbow and placed an arrow in it. He the carefully cocked it, and he saw the blood elf draw his rifle and load it as well.
Guns were so noisy, difficult to maintain and the ammunition was difficult to make and hard to come by. He had always thought bows were better, arrows were much easier to make, and if there was a jam, it was easy to correct, not like a gun.
They stood there facing each other, aiming their weapons at each other in a quiet stalemate, each one waiting for the other to act.

[Turgus]

Turgus just carefully and calmly watched the blood elf. He had done this many times before.

Suddenly the blood elf fired, the rifle sent a plume of smoke up into the air as the bullet zipped by Turgus grazing his shoulder. The shot then exploded behind him. An instant later Turgus fired his crossbow, the arrow zipped by the blood elf’s side. This blood elf wasn’t a bad shot.
In a flash Chomper was off charging towards the blood elf, the thunder of each of his steps shook the very ground.
The raptor charged at Chomper and as it leapt through the air its talons stretched out, Chomper spun and smacked it bluntly with his tail sending the raptor flying. The raptor landed in a heap, sending dust flying. Without missing a step Chomper kept on heading straight for the blood elf.
The blood elf ignored Chomper, taking another shot at Turgus. The bullet would have hit him too if he hadn’t suddenly dropped to the ground. He watched the enchanted bullet, seemingly encased in an unnatural darkness sail above his head.
For a moment the blood elf must have lost him, Turgus watched as the blood elf scanned back and forth looking for him, all the while Chomper bore down on him.
The raptor picked itself off of the ground and then charged straight towards Turgus.
Turgus then leapt to his feet and took careful aim at the blood elf while the raptor bore down on him. He ignored the raptor as it got closer and closer. Then after a moment he fired. As the raptor was about to tackle him and knock him to the ground, it was suddenly encased in a block of ice.
He watched his arrow graze the shoulder of the blood elf hunter, his aim had been just a little off, he had forgotten to correct for wind.
Turgus then summoned the power of the animals spirits, allowing their power to fill him and then let the energy flow through his bond to Chomper. Chomper suddenly turned blood red in color and doubled in size as he was just mere feet away from the blood elf.
Suddenly it must have occurred to the hunter that his magical ice trap was not going to be able to stop this beast as he suddenly turned and ran as fast as he could.

Turgus, also colored blood red from the power of the spirits had given him, unleashed a flurry of arrows that sailed towards the blood elf hunter. He then took off running as fast as he could towards the hunter not waiting a moment to see where his shots had landed.
The blood elf was able to dodge away from Chomper’s first blow, and as he rolled to his feet the arrows that Turgus had fired struck. Only two of them hit, the rest struck the ground to his left and right, but the ones that did hit, both of them went straight through the blood elf’s armor, sinking into the flesh of his feet, pinning them to the ground.
Chomper then turned and leaning down, opening his mouth, placing it around the blood elf, surrounding the blood elf’s entire torso in a cage of sharp dagger-like teeth.
The hunter raised his gun, his hands shaking uncontrollably, trying to decide if he should fire.

Turgus ran up behind the hunter while aiming his crossbow at him and said, “You forgot one thing, while your weapons and armor may be superior to my own, you have much to learn about real battle. You may fire your weapon, and you might even harm Chomper too, but I assure you, he is already under the effect of my healing spell, and it will not keep him from crushing you in his jaws. Stand down if you wish to live.”

The blood elf stood there for a moment, his feet bleeding, his gun held in shaking arms while in the jaws of a devilsaur and at crossbow point. His raptor companion had just been freed from the ice trap and was running over to help him, but he was far too late to have any impact. The battle was over.
Turgus then said, “Well?” as he took a step closer to him, the crossbow arrow aimed straight at the blood elf’s heart.
“I surrender.” The blood elf said as he dropped his rifle. “You have defeated me almost effortlessly. I am humbled.”
Turgus lowered his crossbow, and Chomper stood up and closed his mouth, snorting in disgust as he did so.
Turgus then said, “There is a lesson to be learned here, it is not my place to tell you, but instead it is up to you to understand what it is.”
He then walked away followed closely by his friend and companion.

The blood elf hunter leaned down and pulled out the arrows that pinned his feet to the ground. His raptor companion came over and licked his hand trying to console him. He patted him on the head, maybe he had not giving his friend Fang the attention he deserved.
He reached into his pouch and grasped a potion bottle. He drank the concoction deeply and could feel the potion heal the wounds to his feet.

As he turned to leave the Champions Pavilion something caught his eye, one of the statues seemed familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.
He walked closer, his stride completely back to normal thanks to the quick work of the healing potion. As he got closer he couldn’t help but stare….
….There was no mistake the statue was that of the opponent that he had just fought, Turgus the Champion…

[Hawkshadow]

awesome story!!

Liked it a lot, the part about some hunters becoming obsessed with gear and ignoring their companions is very true sadly My very first character was a hunter because i thought that there was nothing cooler than the thought of taming a beast to be your companion, for it to fight at your side and for the two of you to face all sorts of dangers together thats why I still play BM spec, sure it might not be the 'best' thing for raiding, but eh i got a druid to do that silly stuff with

Also your dino should meet mine sometime hehe...him and Krush would be buddies

Anyway great story keep writing

[rubybeam]

very good i loved and and it's true hunters ingonoreing thier pets for htier own power it's why i'm beastmastery but i don't have a dino only a worm a silithid and a rino other than that i have a raptor loki and a cat tombraider

[Turgus]

Thanks you guys, I will see what else I can whip up.

[Azunara]

Great spin on the whole raiding spec and armor mess that is endgame. :p

While my hunter is Surv, she loves her puppy.