Name: Joshua Waddles
Character Name: Shane
Shards: Pacific
Regularly finding himself being targeted by Ultima Online’s countless murderers, scammers, and griefers, Joshua Waddles picked up the taming skill in hopes that moving about Sosaria with a dragon in tow would keep him safe. But before Waddles could gain the allegiance of such fearsome beats, he had to start smaller. His first furry friend was a hellcat named Chester, a creature that would inadvertently lead him to one of his wildest adventures in Britannia.
Finally having achieved grandmaster status in fencing, Waddles focused on his taming. Not only would having the protection of a dragon or wyrm keep the PKs away, but the critters would fetch a pretty penny on the open market. Before he could try taming dangerous creatures such as nightmares, Waddles first wanted to claim a hellcat as his own.
Traveling deep into the deserts north of Papua, Waddles went looking for the hellbeast, knowing full well that any failed attempt to tame the fiery feline would result in him being attacked. Luckily, patience and persistence were second nature to the tamer. Using his boat—purchased legitimately after his earlier encounter with the scammer—Waddles skimmed the desert coastline where the hellcats gathered to feed on the local fish.
“During those days, you could still tame from on board a boat, so I happily exploited the hell out of that and lured one of the little beasts away,” Waddles said. “Even so, it took a long time to tame this critter from hell, I’d say about an hour. But I eventually did it, and this made me the proud new owner of a red cat that shot fireballs.”
Planning to use the creature as both protector and friend, Waddles gave the hellcat a name that would strike fear into the hearts of the shard’s would-be PKs.
He named the hellcat “Chester.”
“I knew there weren’t many monsters that a hellcat could take on in melee, so owning this critter was more for the novelty,” Waddles admitted. “Even so, I wanted to do something with it, so I brought him on board my boat and set sail for Wyvern Island. I intended to let Chester stay on board the boat and shoot fireballs at the monsters.
“I’m sure that would have been a lot of fun.”
However, as Waddles and Chester came ashore at the sandy island, another ship floated just offshore. On board the other vessel were five other players casting magic and shooting arrows at the wyverns. Thinking nothing of the other adventurers, Waddles let Chester go to work shooting fireballs at the dragons.
Suddenly, one of the mages turned his attention to Waddles and his new traveling companion of nearly 30 minutes. An energy bolt crackled through the air and struck Chester, killing the hellcat immediately.
While the assassin nonchalantly went back to fighting wyverns, Waddles began formulating his revenge.
Read more of Joshua Waddles’ story in Braving Britannia: Tales of Melancholy, Malice, and Peril in Ultima Online!
BRAVING BRITANNIA 