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((This is the story Kaeev told at the storytelling event yesterday in Thunder Bluff. Enjoy!))
Of all the shamans that have graced the Dawnstrider tribe, one of those held in highest regard would be Sister Napokta.
Napokta Dawnstrider lived many generations ago. She was strong of will, and her ties to the earth and the Spirits were very close. By virtue of her gifts and her wisdom in using them for the good of the tribe, she was made chieftain over the tribe when she became of age.
Notwithstanding all these blessings bestowed on Sister Napokta, she was troubled. The safety of the tribe had been an issue far too often for her liking. The marauding centaur, the quillboar, and other denizens of Kalimdor were an almost constant threat that forced the tribe to be on the move frequently.
She did not delight in the shedding of blood, and yet she had to shed blood many a time in defense of the tribe itself, or their camps. She wanted lasting peace and prosperity for her people, and yet it eluded her grasp. She reflected time and time again how she might obtain it, but no sure answer ever came to her heart and mind.
Then, one day, in the midst of a deep meditation, the Spirits came to her and showed her a vision of a desolate valley far off in the heart of Kalimdor. They spoke to her of an ancient but powerful weapon, a great hammer called “Ma’koce”. Legend said that Ma’koce was once used by the Spirits of Earth to shape the land when it was young, and that it now rested atop a towering mesa within the valley shown to her, guarded by stone spirits.
It is firmly believed among the Dawnstriders, that this is that very mesa upon which Ma’koce rested.
Napokta smiled at this prospect, for she wielded a hammer of her own that she called “Inyan’tanka”. It had served her well, but perhaps this ancient hammer in her hands would strike fear in the hearts of her enemies and deter them from attacks, if it were as powerful as the Spirits said.
She was then warned that the stone spirits that guarded Wa’koce had over time become corrupted, and that they would likely not simply give up the weapon. Undaunted, Napokta’s mind was set. She would claim this weapon for the Dawnstriders.
And so she journeyed, with Inyan’tanka on her back, to this valley, and found the mesa shown to her. It was exactly as she had witnessed in her vision. The land, sadly, was indeed desolate as the Spirits had described to her. But Napokta was determined, and she made the long and arduous climb up the mesa to its summit.
There, she saw the weapon Ma’koce...in the hands of a rather large earth elemental. She approached the elemental slowly with a reverent stride. It eyed her disdainfully.
“Spirit, I beseech you,” said Napokta, pointing at Ma’koce. “My people are driven upon this land by our enemies as a dry leaf in the wind. The Spirits have come to me and revealed that we can stand against our enemies, if we could obtain the weapon you hold.”
..but the elemental would not allow this.
Wordlessly it charged Sister Napokta, and a great battle ensued.
Napokta was far swifter than the elemental, avoiding its swings with relative ease.
..But the blows from her hammer, Inyan'tanka, did nothing against the elemental's rocky body.
And as the battle continued, so did her strength wane, until she could no longer hold Inyan'tanka in her numbed hands.
At that moment, when the elemental raised Ma'koce to slay her, she spread her hands and shouted heavenward for the winds to aid her.
Wind answered, and she volleyed bolts of lightning from her hands at the elemental.
The lightning itself did little damage to the earthen spirit, but the force from them had caused it to stagger backward and drop Ma'koce.
And with a roar that shook the sky, Napokta charged the elemental, picking up the ancient hammer as she ran. "For my people!" she shouted as she swung Ma'koce with devastating force.
..But, alas. So sturdy was the elemental, and so ferocious was Napokta's swing that, though the hammer crushed the head, and the elemental crumpled to the earth..
..Ma'koce broke in two.
Exhausted and sorely dismayed by this, Napokta wept, and wondered if there ever would be peace for her people.
Her lament to the heavens, however, did not go unanswered. Moved with compassion, the Spirits appeared to her again there. Though Ma'koce was broken, they said, both it and her efforts would not go to waste. With an incantation, they transformed the broken weapon into a small, glowing crystal. They then directed her to pick up her old weapon, Inyan'tanka.
And with another incantation, Inyan'tanka became infused with the magical essence of Ma'koce.
Napokta was overjoyed, and wondered at the new strength and vigor that flowed from her old weapon. And so she asked of the Spirits how this was done.
And so it was that day, that Sister Napokta was instructed by the Spirits on how the elements could be used to imbue both weapons and armor to be stronger.
Thus, Sister Napokta Dawnstrider became the first 'enchanter' among the Shu'halo, and her newfound skills were shared among the tribe, passed down and honed to perfection over generations.
..Even now, down to the present day.
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