Pogo'pogo

Wildstalker, Primalist, Pathfinder. This hotheaded young troll is always falling into trouble one way or another. High energy and talkative, Pogo'pogo is the kind of troll to always speak his mind. His strong personality and general naivety can make him come off as either a loyal and gregarious friend or an annoying and viciously-minded clown. As a staunch Amani loyalist and follower of the lynx god Halazzi, Pogo often struggles to reconcile his wild and sometimes archaic ways with life among his disciplined clan. Kazi the mountain lion is never far from his side. “So, ya be pal ah prey?” Come meet Pogo face to face and find out!

## Appearance

Standing at 6'3", and thin, Pogo is remarkably small for a forest troll. His verdant green fur makes him stand out among his troll kin, as does the strange layer of mossy growth that seems to cover most of his body. This moss may brighten or yellow depending on Pogo'pogo's general health and the environment he is in.

Pogo boasts some suspiciously pointed features, such as sharpened teeth and lightly tufted ears. His features seem to grow more angular and feral as his connection with Halazzi deepens.

## History (Pre-grin)

### Childhood

Pogo'pogo was raised communally by the villagers of Revantusk Village along the coast of the Hinterlands after his parents were supposedly killed in separate (a common fate among the trolls of the Hinterlands). Among the most influential of his mentors were Primal Torntusk and the Huntsman Markhor.

### Leaving Home

As Pogo'pogo neared adulthood, he began to have strange dreams in which he encountered a frightening creature with a tawny body similar to a mountain lion but a face like a ritual mask. Yayo'Jin, a Revantusk mystic, interpreted the apparition as the loa Halazzi.

Following this revelation, the village elders chose to send Pogo'pogo to learn and fight alongside the horde. Their reason for this decision was not revealed to Pogo, but he obeyed their judgment anyhow. It was soon after his arrival in Kalimdor that Pogo encountered the Redwood Tribes and was inducted into their ranks. The fledgling hunter now loyally fights alongside the Horde with his newfound friends and family.

### Encounter with Kazi

Soon after arriving in Kalimdor, Pogo'pogo was smitten with the region's raptors and the Darkspear's skill at handling the fierce and intelligent creatures. He attempted to train one of his own, a green marsh stalker named Rhek, but his inexperience with the beasts and the raptor's strong personality made them clash frequently. After resting following a particularly difficult hunt, Pogo awoke to find Rhek completely gone, his trail ending somewhere in Dustwallow Marsh.

Shortly following this incident Pogo'pogo received his second vision of Halazzi. The loa was furious with his show of mediocrity declared the troll unfit to wield his blessing. Eventually, the loa gave him an ultimatum, fulfill his challenge or give up hunting forever.

Halazzi's challenge was a daunting one. Pogo'pogo was to live up in the mountains over Hillsbrad among the lions there and pluck their whiskers; one for every hair on the troll's body. Only then could the young hunter truly understand and embody the nature of beasts.

For over a moon, Pogo'pogo stalked the hills overlooking the farmland below, living entirely off the flesh and blood of the lions he had slain (and the occasional passing adventurer). The grueling trial took a heavy toll on Pogo's psyche and he began to lose his mind, growing more feral in demeanor: not so different from the lions he had hunted and fed on.

One evening, in the early twilight hours of the morning, Pogo awoke with a start. A thick mist had settled on the naze. The fog was dense and the young hunter could barely see past his own nose in the darkness. Sensing something was wrong, he patted about, looking to find the skin pouch containing the collected whiskers, but it was gone. He turned towards the tip of the naze, and could just make out strange figures standing in the mist.

It was the numerous mountain lions that stalked the hills, but something was wrong. They stood stock-still in their tracks, as if frozen in time. Stalking among them was another puma, seemingly unaffected by the magic over the others. Seeing many many mountain lions in his trial before this, Pogo immediately recognized that this one didn't look quite right. It was if the cat was somehow less real and alive than the world around it. As Pogo pondered the possibility of Halazzi's influence, the cat lept upon him.

He wrestled with the strange cat for many hours, trading blows in the fog. They fought until the sun begin to peek over the headland. Both exhausted by the time the sun had risen, each came to a unique understanding with the other and developed a bond. Given the name Kazi, after Pogo's patron (who he considers the beast to be a gift from), the unusual cat has hunted side by side the fledgling troll ever since.

### Love in the Air.... or is that plague?

Just before the Love-is-in-the-air faire, an Orgrimmar wide gathering, Pogo'pogo decided to try his hand at bat riding. Naively, he thought a bat from the Plaguelands would be suitable. Proud of his new bat Zozo, Pogo brought the creature to the faire for all to meet at the petting zoo. Unbeknownst to the young hunter, Zozo was infested with disease-carrying fleas, potentially afflicting those who attended the petting zoo with an unknown infection.

Pogo began to develop worrying symptoms during the faire, possibly indicative of the plague. The shaman Mohrn Saltchewer managed to stave off the illness with healing magic while help was acquired. The members of Hand of Lordaeron present at the event reacted quickly and treated the troll through a combination of medical science and light-based magic. The bat, Zozo, was euthanized to ensure the safety of the public.

Following the incident, Pogo has pledged to aid Hand of Lordearon's efforts against the scourge and formed some unlikely friendships with a few members of the hand; the priest Lyle Brooks, the doctor Amber Ross, and Gabriel Ross.

### Moonglade Murder Mystery

Soon after receiving treatment from the Hand through the use of light magic, Pogo'pogo fell out of favor with his patron Loa. With the aid of the Redwood Tribes' Witchdoctor, Zel'wah, the two trolls made haste to Hinterlands with the intent to Invoke the loa into the mortal realm. 'De docta' Zel'wah performed an elaborate ritual at the home shrine in the center of Revantusk village to ward Pogo against spiritual attacks. Then, the trolls made their way to the cave in which Pogo first encountered Halazzi within a dream.

After a successful invocation, Pogo'pogo entered the cave to commune with the spirit alone as Zel'wah stood watch at the entrance of the cave. Halazzi voiced his disappointment with Pogo'pogo for colluding with enemies of the Amani empire and demanded a show of devotion. Halazzi asked for Pogo's eye as a tribute. Pogo'pogo did as was willed, and carved out his own eye with a ritual blade. Kazi, possessed by the angry loa, then swallowed the eye.

Halazzi then bestowed upon Pogo a dire challenge. He bid the young hunter to kill the elves of the Cenarion Circle, claiming that any peace between elves and the other factions, be them alliance or horde, would eventually lead to the doom of the Amani. When and only when Pogo offered him the hearts of the druids could he reclaim his eye and the Loa's boon. Until then, Pogo has been marked with the sign of blindness, both physically and spiritually. The eye did not regenerate.

### Curse of the Primalist

In an effort to recover his lost eye and the graces of his patron, Pogo'pogo took up the bargain. He slew three individuals within the glade, taking from them their hearts and carefully preparing them.

## Personality

High energy and talkative, Pogo'pogo is the kind of troll to always speak his mind. His strong personality and general naivety can make him come off as either a loyal and gregarious friend or an annoying and viciously-minded clown.

The young hunter has poor impulse control and is subject to peer pressure, easily taking to vices such as drink and smokes when offered. When hunting the enemy faction, especially when in a warband, Pogo will often toy with his 'prey', allowing them run or struggle to fight before incapacitating them and letting Kazi or the elements tear them apart. Whether this cat-like cruelty while in a bloodhaze is innate or comes from the troll's connection to the loa Halazzi is anyone's guess.

Pogo'pogo once found himself torn between his desire to fit in with his newfound family and his long-held prejudices (especially toward members of the alliance) as he struggles to reconcile the beliefs and attitudes developed while living among the Revantusk with new experiences and expectations granted by life with the Horde, and The Redwood Tribes. Now, among Rend's horde the troll's values are less often challenged. Even so, he struggles to maintain his pride and values as a proud forest troll within the heart of a true orcish clan.

### Beliefs

Pogo'pogo is deeply religious to the point of superstition. He is acutely concerned with the opinions of the Loa and the activities of spirits, and will often declare things as signs or omens. Pogo regularly makes offerings to and attends to tasks that he thinks will please Halazzi, to whom he attributes his hunting prowess.

Pogo'pogo is also beholden to the widely held belief (among forest trolls of all stripes) that the Warlord and folk hero Zul'jin will one day return from the Ghostlands and reestablish the once-great Amani empire within the northern half of the eastern kingdoms.

### Misc.

Despite being a beastmaster hunter, Pogo'pogo is not a friend to all creatures of Azeroth. Notably, he has a strong revulsion towards wolves of all shapes and sizes and has difficulty understanding and working with reptiles such as raptors and snakes. Pogo also distrusts dragons as "lizards dat be flyin ahn spittin' flame ah unnatural."