Gather ’round younglings and hear the tale of how Koragnak Bear-Breath got his fur.
Not long after the shaman you know as Wargheart gained his fur, a large greenskin warrior sought him out for wisdom.
“Wargheart, you are wise and strong and know the secrets of skin-changing. I wish to know them as well,” stated Koragnak.
“Then you must earn the right to learn the lesson. Leave, now, and do not return until you have that which you seek,” replied Wargheart.
Koragnak was about to argue, and while he was not as clever as his brethren, he was aware of this and kept quiet when he would have roared. Patient, big and slow was Koragnak, though none ever doubted the strength of his limbs, the deadliness of his axe or the reserves of barbaric stamina he possessed.
Without another word, and with nothing but the furs on his back and an axe in his hand, he ran from the camp.
He ventured further north, a land of perpetual winter and this year the weather was worse than ever before. Blizzards and hailstorms blocked passage and forced even the mighty-thewed Koragnak into caves high in the mountains for shelter.
He had little to live off of as most of the hunting was in the valleys and unreachable due to the gathering snow and his kills from the last few months in the wild of the mountains was all but gone. Near starving, Koragnak set out in the blizzard to try and find something he could kill to eat.
He ventured to a nearby valley, wading through the stinging snow when he heard a distant growl of pain. Thinking this was his chance, he hefted his axe and plowed through the drifts and the stinging ice-rain.
He was nearly upon it when he could clearly see it, just below him on the incline as he approached was a bear cub with a broken leg. A loose rock had fallen and crushed the bones in its front leg as well as broken several ribs.
Wary, Koragnak searched for the mother and not eager to slay a helpless image of his totem, Koragnak looped his belt around the back legs of the bear cub and started dragging it up the incline. Knowing what he knew about bear, he was careful not to touch it with his hands so that the only scent on the cub was from the leather of the belt.
Koragnak heaved and pulled and even uphill through the storm, near-starving and all but spent from exhaustion, Koragnak found the cave and saw the mother bear sniffing near the entrance.
Once the cub caught scent of its mother, it started bleating out terribly and the mother instantly roared and came charging in Koragnak’s direction.
Quickly, Koragnak unlooped the belt and ran out and away, yet up towards the cave. The mother let him pass with nothing but a roar as she barreled towards her cub. Quick as he could he slipped into the cave, found a half-eaten rabbit and snatched it, sprinting out again as fast as he could.
He was not fast enough. The mother tackled him as he stepped outside the cave.
Not able to swing his axe effectively he was forced to drop it so that he could use both arms to wrestle with the bristled black bear. It was the biggest he’d ever seen and it felt as though she was about to crush him from the moment she hit him.
Rolling around underneath her forelegs, he worked to grapple her around the throat to cut off her wind. She resisted and the first attempt earned him a claw raked down his left arm.
Bleeding and winded, exhausted and starving, Koragnak called upon his reserve of strength and wheeled his legs around and under hers as she stood up to rake him. He tripped her and as she fell, he rolled and sprung back wrapping two thick arms around her throat, both legs around her midsection, though they couldn’t fit as this bear was much to big, and buried the right side of his face into the fur near her left ear so she couldn’t bite him.
He squeezed and held as she jostled him but good. Still he held. He felt her struggles weaken and still he held. Finally, as her breath came out it short, raspy clouds of steam it mingled with his.
There, in that moment of desperation he realized what it was he was searching for. He realized that it was not the “kill” but the spirit. He loosened his grip enough for her to breath, but not enough to let her go. He breathed deep as she exhaled and felt the warmth, smelled the fresh blood of the rabbit. He exhaled and she breathed deep. This continued, back and forth and it was as if all time stopped around them. In that moment, Bear shared her lesson and her soul with Koragnak and he accepted it.
When spring finally came, late as it was due to the harsh winter, Koragnak returned to Wargheart. Without a word, Wargheart knew he had found what it was he sought and in so naming him Koragnak Bear-Breath, so did he impart the knowledge of skin-changing.