So, I’ve been talking to my guildies, and we’ve all decided that it’s time that we share a story few outside of our ranks know. Rest assured, every detail of this story is true, which is what makes it so epic. Come along with me on this journey and be forever changed just as I was. The legend goes like this:
Many years ago, when the Drunken Fisherman guild was a small guild of only a few friends, we had no real direction or intention of having a direction beyond drinking a lot and fishing in Orgrimmar (we were Horde at the time, but we revisit Orgrimmar often even to this day, more on that later). Down by the small pond in the Valley of Honor, we were hanging out, fishing for the legendary, extremely rare fish: OLD CRAFTY
Now, at the time of this happening, I had been fishing for Old Crafty for years. YEARS. Without any luck. It was one of the last fishing achievements I needed and it had become something of a “Whale” (the name of whom may not be posted due to filters in the forums) to my Captain Ahab. I was ravenous to finally catch Old Crafty – so much so that I had dedicated a sizable amount of my time and energy into fishing (and found a really enjoyable hobby along the way!)
So, back to the story. A part of our time was to joke around in Trade – like ya do – talking about fish, making fish puns, obviously adding “…hic!” and “sh” to everything, when I receive a random whisper from someone I had never met. His name was “Ikonix” – an Undead Warlock.
“Where are you guys fishing at?” he said to me, “I’ve never really done it and I want to get into it.” We told him, of course, and true to his word, he reveals he had not even trained fishing before this meeting.
He comes over and casts a line, catches his first fish, we all cheer and continue onward. Sometime during our musings, we learn that everyone in attendance is named “Brian” except myself and my wife (I suspect they were not actually named that, but it was fun anyway).
So, there I was, Brians to the left of me, Brians to the right of me, when 45 casts later – his first 45 casts, mind you – an achievement flashes: [Old Crafty]
Who earned it, you may wonder? Why Mr. Newboots Fisherman himself, Ikonix! Discord erupts in cheers! The Brians are in an uproar! I celebrated along with them, happy for the guy, but also secretly cursing under my breath. 45 casts and the guy catches the fish I’ve been after for years.
Ah well, good for him. That’s worth getting excited for!
The celebrations eventually taper off into banters and varying subjects when I spot in the chat, where it tells you who looted what, a familiar and heart-racing name: [Old Crafty]
For an instant, I think it was me! But… there was no achievement ding. I look at the name… and my eyes went wide. Ikonix!
“Unbelievable!!!” I yell into Discord and the Brians spot it right as I did, and once again the audio explodes with cheers and jiving. “Unbelievable.” I repeated to myself. Imagine the plethora of emotions I’m feeling here, friends. This new fisherman, the sales sticker still on his fishing pole from the vendor, just caught Old Crafty TWICE within about 20 casts of one another. The fish that I was still hunting for YEARS.
The fun continues into the night and eventually we all disperse for sleep and recovery and, for some of us, to brood on the happenings of the night. From there, the social part of the guild tapered off and a number of the Brians went their separate ways – bless their fishermen’s hearts even to this day for such great memories.
By the time it was just the two of us left – myself and Tui (my aforementioned wife, Ikonix was taking a break, I think) – we made the decision to move to the Alliance. We joined a guild or two here and there, but ultimately we ended up remaking Drunken Fisherman on the Alliance side, in memory of the fun times we had.
Of course, the original guild (Drunken FishermEn) on the Horde side still existed, though we anticipated that it was empty. But when I reformed the guild, both Tui and I couldn’t shake the memory of that epic night when the Legendary Ikonix – fledgling of the craft yet master of the Crafty hunt – caught two Old Craftys nearly in a row. I had to know if he was still there.
So one of us (I can’t remember) logged over to the guild on that side and updated the MOTD to read “Ikonix, if you’re still around, add our BattleTag, the guild is still around, just on the Alliance side.” I really didn’t expect to ever hear from him.
The next day, I have a friend request on BattleNet and, you guessed it, it was the man himself. I messaged him, asking “What would it take to convince you to faction change and come to the Alliance?”
His response? “Already did, send me an invite.”
Now, you’d think that’s about the end of the story right? A week ago, I would have said that it was. But what prompted me to write this story out for you all will floor you as surely as it floored me.
Just yesterday, Ikonix and I were in Orgrimmar, fishing for Old Crafty, laughing and joking about the ‘old days’, you know, like ya do, when he says: “I have an idea for a new drinking game: every 250 fish we catch that aren’t Old Crafty, we take a drink.” Of course I agreed.
TEN CASTS LATER… only minutes later… [Old Crafty] shows up in the loot log.
The legend strikes again!!! Just like before, we flip out on Discord and our guildies, who have only heard the legend of Ikonix but had not been in the guild during its day, witnessed it.
“Unbelievable” I said after laughing and cheering.
So, Ikonix says next: “I have an idea” and opens Trade with me and tosses his Old Crafty into the Non-tradable part of the trade right as I cast my next line. I don’t know if it was the waters, the great stars aligning, the Legend’s luck rubbing off on me just a bit, or what, but that cast, my dear friends, I too caught [Old Crafty].
That concludes the legend of Ikonix. The legend remains a Drunken Fisherman, a great friend, and a reminder that legendary moments can happen to us at any moment.
Thanks for reading. 