Ursala Earthwielder: Background

This is the in-depth background of Ursala Earthwielder. It was split from the main page in order to prevent stress on certain browsers when editing aforementioned (including the user's own).
==Pre-character generation==
See Ursala: Interesting Times.
==2007==
Ursala had always been a shaman, ever since she turned twenty and was given the choice (around the same time that the Draenei crashed on Azeroth; she was 20 winters of age at the time). She had also always fished, picked herbs, and made them into potions - the herbs, not the fish. She has, in the past, had no wish to leave Durotar; before she began adventuring, she had left it a sum total of three times since arriving there upon its founding. Each time, something suffiently bad happened to her that she vowed not to leave again for some time.
==2008==
Once, she was approached by Drauka of Euthanatoi. Ursala could not see a reason why not to take her up on the offer of joining the guild. A time afterwards, Ursala made links between the tabards of the Athanatoi and the one she wore - as well as having met Kall. The oddities, and consequences - including a tenuous communcation line - that arose from this unusual meeting still cross her mind occasionally.
thumb|right|Ursala as a ghost wolf.
After some time, she traded her Euthanatoi tabard for one of Dagger and Totem. She stubbornly refuses to detail the actions which lead to this change of heart.
Soon after this, Ursala began training as a shaman with more focus. After meeting with D&T a few times, she decided to finally take the recommendations of the shaman trainers in Orgrimmar and begin the rites needed to become proficient in communication with the element of Fire. This had a large impact on her personality - it blessed her with amibition and curiosity, if also a temper. Gremkarc inspired further training in her. She journeyed to the Barrens, and learnt to transform into a Ghost Wolf - and, later, to Stonetalon, where Dishka taught her to communicate with the element of Water (which blessed her with flexibility of resolve and a new manner of patience).
==2009==
She worked for a while alongside the druids and shamans of Stonetalon to attempt to revitalise the ravaged ecosystem there, and was also sent to Ashenvale to see what could be done.
She accompanied Dagger and Totem on their campaign to Winterspring - despite the dangers it posed to her personally, due to her being the least experienced (and possibly also the youngest) grunt there by a long shot. During this short time, she learnt more about trust and respect - for the Elements and her fellow members of the Horde alike - than she had done in the last six months. Subsequently: she became more fluent in her transitions to the form of a Ghost Wolf; learnt the ability to attatch herself to one place in Azeroth, and return there at will; and was trained in the skill of Far Sight. At the end of the Darkwhispers campaign, Harg and Ursala were both awarded medals by Gremkarc for outstanding performance as shamans.
It was not long until she asked Gremkarc to take her to speak with Air. Along with Cerk and Nelai, they travelled to Arathi, and there - in the Circle of Outer Binding - Ursala earnt her fourth, and final, totem. Air graced her with an appreciation for humour and the ability to better understand subtelty, as well as the ability to maintain perspective and not get caught up in things as easily.
After this, Dagger and Totem took her on another campaign. "Another learning experience." What started out as an expedition to put the Blue Dragons in the area back in their place ended abruptly as a mysterious tremor through the ground sent the expedition tumbling into a deep ravine. Lives were almost lost, or lost and soon narrowly regained - and desperate healing in scary contexts happened. Worst of all, for the first time, Earth would not speak with Ursala. Gremkarc later (after recovering his own senses) assured her that it had not forsaken her. She believed him, but it did not settle her shattered thoughts. This only resolved itself once she was taken back to Orgrimmar. It is still not known what caused such an earthquake.
It was during this incident that Harg gave Ursala the surname Earthwielder. Gremkarc confirmed this name, and Ursala accepted it.
==2010==
===In Which Isiliosis Happens===
Gremkarc of Orgrimmar came to Ursala after the New Year and told her that it was time for her to go on a journey: to the Wetlands, a place she had never been to, and by herself. It would be a journey that would either chew her up and spit her out, or make her a better Shaman. A spirit (who she believed to be an avatar of Gremkarc) appeared to her later that day, saying that she must make a choice between her pilgrimage and her clan. It was an obvious choice (she would go; the clan could take care of itself) until the outbreak of Isiliosis that left the majority of the clan bedridden. Ursala was one of the few that appeared not to be taken on account of her not being anywhere near an infection point. She delayed her leaving in order to aid the clan with collecting reagents for the cure. The Chieftain was not happy with her decision (once he had recovered enough to express such), but that was one punishment Ursala could take. Her choice had been made, although Gremkarc could not remember giving it to her. She travelled to the Wetlands not long after - Harg and Naudiz saw her off.
Unfortunately for Ursala, she appeared not to have been able to escape Isiliosis entirely. It accosted her truly a month or so into her Wetlands escapade (the second week of February), eventually leaving her immobile and with a bad fever. Four Dagger and Totem members leapt to her aid as soon as she managed to communicate what was wrong. The week that followed was stressful, to say the least - it saw her admit to Gremkarc that she never truly passed Om'riggor, and later saw her pass it. It ended not only in the trial of Darsolenew Duskmantle, but in Ursala having a significant clash with her Chieftain. She left for the Wetlands again, to put it bluntly, in disgrace. This time, only Cerk saw her off, and it was an awkward occurance during which the two of them exchanged very few words indeed.
===In Which She Returns===
Whilst in the Wetlands, Ursala was supposed to be in total isolation. However, she was caught sending and receiving letters to and from Gulgrim by the Chieftain. The correspondance was quickly stopped once they were discovered. After Ursala had stopped sending the letters, the Elements were able to take a firmer hold on her - eventually leading to her gaining a mask shaped like a wolf, as is a rite of passage for so many shamans.
She would have stayed longer in the Wetlands even after that, but something (something that she refuses to detail) spooked her; sufficiently so, it seems, that she travelled back to Kalimdor. She confessed to Gulgrim the affections she held so dearly for him, and he admitted the same to her.
When Ursala went to find Gremkarc for the first time since her return to tell him the news, however, he was not as pleased as Gulgrim had told her he would be. She was punished brutally by he and Ryzarhn for her disobedience in sending the letters (among other things), losing her a tooth and a lot of pride. The punishment was, in Ursala's eyes, the culmination of her Chieftain's frustration with months of insolence - albiet, well-meaning insolence.
The following day, her mate was promoted to Sergeant alongside Ryzarhn. Gulgrim was not best pleased with the news that Ursala had been hurt so badly, although his enquiries curbed his anger. Later, Ursala made relative peace with Ryzarhn, and even managed to convince him to teach her tactics and how to better use her axe.
There were more mysterious tremors shaking various parts of Azeroth. Ursala enlisted - or, more accurately, was enlisted by - Edanna and Brian to investigate the causes. She very quickly found the elven way of approaching problems to be too dispassionate for her liking, preferring to stick to her own dead-end pondering about the matter.
===In Which New Friends Are Found===
Towards the end of April, the Chieftain assigned her to a long-term project - to investigate the possibilities of cleansing Lordamere Lake in Silverpine Forest. She travelled there on the 18th with Gulgrim and returned a month later, leaving the Frostwolves with the information about the lake that she had collected.
Ursala and her mate, Gulgrim, soon travelled to the Thousand Needles with eye to fix Gulgrim's air totem. They travelled to Highperch to do so. As Gulgrim had not eaten, once he was done communing with the Air spirits there, he picked up an egg - to eat for his lunch. When it hatched, however, their plans changed. The egg was still Lunch; only, Lunch was now the name of a young wyvern cub who would grow attatched to Ursala in the coming days.
She was called north by her Clan to help fight an uprising of Wretched in Dragonblight. This was a short-lived endeavour for Ursala; she was sent home after an incident on the second day whereupon she was stabbed soundly in the back by a rogue Wretched. The first Gulgrim, who was keeping watch with her, knew of the incident was when he heard her dying gasps. Gulgrim put the life back into her, and Gremkarc was called to perform the healing.
After that, a mysterious Forsaken named Tywly began to follow Ursala around. She did not mind the company; in fact, she found herself interacting with it when others seemed busy. Her opinion of Tywly was coloured heavily by the mage's response to the question "what are you": "I am".
During this time, Ursala also met with a Death Knight named Dronhar. She met him in the Durotar desert and was fascinated by his attitude towards the very ground he stood on. He told her that he travelled in order to not blight the Earth in one place for too long. Ursala saw potential in this and contacted the Clan to ask if they might have him. It turned out that Harg had known Dronhar in life - he had been a shaman by the name of Dronhar Thunderheart - and Ursala saw to it that the two friends were re-united. Eventually, Dronhar was taken into the clan on a probationary basis.
===In Which There Is A Blessing===
The Den Mother met with Ursala in Razor Hill late one evening. For a change, her business was not, well, business: her and Ursala had a talk. Two orcs unadjusted to small-talk doing exactly that produced interesting results. Guak warned Ursala of two things: not to listen to advice on mates that her Chieftain might give, or to let him feel as though her and Gulgrim needed his blessing; and that all orcs ended up violent. The latter had a heavier impact on Ursala than the former - violent was not something that she wished to be.
The next day, the Clan met in Bloodhoof Village in preparation for the coming Rolling Hills meeting planned for the next day. Gremkarc surprised Gulgrim and Ursala by blessing their union that eve, meaning that it was recognised then by the Horde and the Elements. They proceeded to drink to such an occasion, leading to many an amusing escapade, including Ursala winning a brawl of sorts against her mate.
The next morning, Ursala ran. The reasoning as explained by her was disjointed at best, but she returned shortly regardless.
===In Which There Is Magic===
Not long after Ursala's return to civilisation, she was called to the clan's base in Azshara by Ryzarhn to treat a grunt who had been attacked by naga. She and Harg did a good job of bringing the grunt, named Bral, back to full health. However, the next day, Bral began to vomit boiling water and speak in tongues. He appeared to expire not long after, despite Cerk and Ursala's efforts to make it elsehow.
The next day, Ursala attended her first meeting of the Rolling Hills coalition. Her mate was late to the meeting - he later said that this was because he had been ambushed by warlocks on his way over. He said that he was fine, but he showed signs of injury. A physical inspection yielded nothing, but a magical one showed something different - a blackness, twisting inside him. Ursala was entirely unsure what to make of this, and Gulgrim was insisting that she not tell anyone of it, so she followed his orders.
Later, Gulgrim went silent on the buzzbox. Upon investigation by Ursala, he was found to be unconscious, coughing frothing blood, and barely breathing. She called for the clan's healers; they arrived, but much to her dismay, Gremkarc then ordered her away. She refused to go, so a number of clanmates set about restraining her. She was only allowed to see Gulgrim again once the strange evil object had been surgically removed from him, and after that she went about watching over him. The incident shook her on a number of levels.
Her mate seemed to have developed some nerve damage as a result of the rather ad-hoc surgery on top of the damage to his digestive system. Due to the fact that his condition could potentially very quickly destabilise, Ursala spent a few days after the initial incident watching over the infirm Gulgrim in shifts with another healer of the Clan. One looked after him whilst the other slept.
Not long after, Ryzarhn himself was injured in an ambush performed by night elves as he travelled from Orgrimmar to Azshara via Ashenvale. She found herself barred from treating him as a primary medic, thus instead followed his situation up later to ensure his stability.
Not long afterwards, Ursala received a call to 'arms' from the Horde. A visit to Garadar was necessary - to ensure that the Horde's allies, the Mag'har, were in no need of assistance (and to lend assistance if it was needed). Gulgrim insisted upon joining her, despite his still-frail state. He no longer needed to be watched day and night; he could walk, even if extra support was necessary; and he was very, very adamant that Ursala would not travel to Nagrand alone.
He and Harg travelled to the Dark Portal to see Ursala through. Ursala and her mate travelled to Garadar after that.
===In Which It Is Summer===
Ursala travelled to Stranglethorn Vale to receive training in jungle combat with the rest of the Rolling Hills coalition, in preparation for an assault on the Echo Isles. Salax and Watrus led the session. There were few injuries, but Ursala learnt that she came close to passing out whilst running in jungle conditions. She made a note to do further endurance training as a result, but never got around to it.
Dagger and Totem returned to Azshara soon after. Whilst keeping watch one night, oddities began to arise in Ursala's vision - she saw a puppet-like creature far off in the distance. Before she had time to comment on this properly, she found herself grabbed from behind around the neck with a noose. She was plagued by visions of the bitter Elven spirit who was haunting the tower she was stood on. Two hours later, she was free of the spirit and the tower had been burnt down for good measure, but the incident left her with a phobia of puppets and a severe aversion to having her neck touched.
She also took part in a session of Lordaeron-style training for tactics, lead by Desmond Hodges. She found herself with a dislike of the strict Lordaeron formation tactics, preferring instead to trust each soldier to know where to stand and what to do.
Back in Azshara, a location had been found for a Naga Siren who had been coordinating attacks on the Horde outposts following information given by Bral as he was dying. Dagger and Totem began preparing for an assault on her. Gulgrim had a head injury, and Ursala saw fit to see to it - however, the manner in which she did so was seen by Gulgrim as an attempt to usurp his authority.
During the assault, Gremkarc was injured badly, having had most of the water taken out of him by the Siren's sea-magic. The assault was, however, successful, and the Siren was slain. However, after the encounter, Gulgrim vanished. It was not until two days later that Ursala found him, deep in the Dragonblight with several injuries. Her treatment of him had injured his pride such that he had run. In the end, the pair of them reconciled and returned home to Durotar.
Soon, Ursala was to meet with an individual named Ishild. Ishild would show her a skull and tell her a story about how the skull had come from a lonely boy. At first Ursala thought that the strange Forsaken woman was speaking in the past, or in abstract. Just as she came to realise that not was all as it seemed, Ishild threw sleep powder on her, looted her buzzbox, and escaped, leaving Ursala with the Orcish pup's skull.
Ursala proceeded to have several other run-ins with Ishild, including one where Ishild finally made the move to attempt to kill Ursala. At that point, she was captured by Natezai (a friend of Ursala's who happened upon the situation), Jalek (a clanmate who responded to the call for help over the buzzbox) and Ailell (a Blood Knight who took Ishild into custody). Ursala heard nothing more of Ishild after that.
The Council of the Storm was founded not long after those incidents, and Ursala, along with a number of other shamans from her Clan, was invited along. She still attends meetings when they are called and she is able.
===In Which Progress is Made===
In mid-August, Ursala was to find that the Orcish elder shamans in Orgrimmar had nothing more to teach her. She visited the trolls, instead, and they taught her one spell - how to Hex - before sending her on her way. She found herself at a loose end, so she asked the Clan shamans what she ought to do now. All they could tell her was to keep practicing.
One evening, when sat in the Den at Gorik's Hammer, a figure suddenly appeared behind Ursala with a knife to her neck. Thankfully, Makraz was on hand to help; they captured and interrogated the elf. He claimed to have been sent by Agrammar, obviously intending to create tensions between the two clans. Upon investigation, Agrammar turned out to have nothing to do with the plot - and, indeed, a shaky contract of mutual defence was developed out of the negotiations between the clans that resulted from the assassination attempt.
Not a day later, another strange elf wandered into Gorik's Hammer - this time by the name of Irishia Grasswhisper. As they had their suspicions - largely borne of Ryzarhn asking for the elf captured - Ursala and her clanmate helped her to take Irishia captive and question her, rather politely. They discovered several strange things about Irishia, not least that she had no sensation in her body, and that she was apparently a scribe by trade. With no evidence to go on, they had to release her.
Later that week, Guak - the clan's Den Mother - apparently returned. Many clanmates were intimidated by her. Ursala was included in this number, but she learnt not to let it get to her, and managed to hold several conversations with the Den Mother. The two are currently on amiable terms with each other. One might even call it a friendship, if one was being marginally generous.
===In Which Night Begins to Fall===
The Clan was later called to Silithus to deal with a particular problem in one of the hives. The problem was complex enough that it was to be explained once the troops arrived, and so they did - Segolia, Aenon, Refestus, Astaria, Ryndra and Ursala - under the command of their Chieftain. Their original brief was to travel to a hive in the south and attempt the rescue of an elf's daughter. On their way, however, they found themselves challenged by Air - Ursala and Gremkarc met the challenge, summoning Earth and Fire elementals respectively to fight the manifestation of the Wind. Victorious, they continued on to the hive.
They did not know at that time that the Twilight's Hammer cultists had been observing this strong display of shamanism closely.
The brave clanmates found the hive to be a treacherous network of subterranean tunnels in which they got easily lost. Luckily, they always managed to find the surface again - but it took them a few hours before they finally found the daughter. By the time they got there, it was too late: her mind had been taken by the Silithid, and she attacked Gremkarc when he approached. They had no choice but to kill her, making to return the body.
On their way out via the Horde outpost, they found themselves in the middle of a melée - not only of Horde soldiers and Silithids, but also of Elf spirits. They had come from Southwind Village, where the spirits were uneasy. Dagger and Totem were sent there to see if they could calm the spirits somehow, giving the Horde outpost an easier time of holding out against the Silithids.
Once they reached Southwind, they found that the village had been usurped by Silithid nests - but not only that, the spirits were restless for a reason. They had been killed by a Horde commander, and they would not rest until their leader had taken the life of such a commander.
Whilst exploring the town, two clanmates and the Chieftain climbed the tower - then, upon destroying the nest at the top, the tower collapsed with them inside. Whilst Refestus' demonic pacts protected him, Astaria and Gremkarc were both injured. Ursala prioritised Astaria, assuming that Gremkarc could heal himself.
However, having limped over to the rest of the clanmates to hear what they had learnt about the spirits here, Gremkarc called Ursala over. He wanted to borrow her ankh - she resisted, but when he snatched it off her she was left with little choice but to allow it. He was to masquerade as a powerful Horde commander, then allow the Elf spirits to kill him that they might rest.
It worked, but, despite Ursala's ankh working for him, Gremkarc remained in a bad way. After she healed him, he cast Astral Recall to return him to Dalaran whilst the rest of the clanmates returned to the Cenarion outpost. He remained out of action for the majority of the next week.
Ursala and Gulgrim later travelled back to Azshara, where they found Ryzarhn and Infestia arguing. Before they had a chance to ask what was happening, Infestia took off - resulting in a chase of epic proportions around the entire area of Azshara. It ended in a confrontation on a cliff-face between Ryzarhn and Infestia: Infestia pushed Ryzarhn off the cliff. He fell, and he broke.
Ursala found herself to be the only medic on hand at the time, so she did her best to ensure Ryz' survival at the very least. Whilst she saved his life, she could not save his mobility - even after surgeons in Orgrimmar had seen to his back, he remained paralysed from the shoulders down. Ursala suspected that he would eventually regain mobility in his arms.
A few days later, and a few days before Gremkarc was due to fully recover from the Silithus ordeal, some of the clanmates travelled to Darkshore in order to aid Morothus in retrieving a particular book. Unfortunately, they found it to be in the possession of Twilight Cultists. Amidst their chaotic attempts to retrieve it - the books themselves were sewing chaos, as well as the numerous cultists present - Ursala was taken. She remained with the cultists for some time, occasionally managing to send letters to her clanmates.
A few weeks after her capture, Ursala managed to convince those she was working alongside within the Cult to let her travel to Shadowmoon, seeking herbs that only grew there in order to make sleep potions for the infirmary she found herself stationed in. Her first port of call was to try the buzzbox. She found a mixed reception - at first, she was confused, with half the clanmates assuming her to be a cultist now. Sergeant Hodges (after booting her callsign off the clan channel) took the liberty of arranging a meeting between her and Gremkarc.
This meeting - held at the symbolic location of the altar by which Gul'dan had shattered Draenor - saw Ursala reuniting with her Chieftain, hugs and all, and him explaining to her that she must be kept under a masquerade. The more people that knew she was Horde-loyal, he explained, the more likely that word would get out and the ad-hoc mission would be terminated by way of her death. She conceded this, although she admitted that the notion scared her.
She relayed information about what had happened where she was stationed in the Wetlands as best as she could, but only managed to recall common knowledge in the end. She put such down to her rank not being great enough to be made party to any great secrets.
A day later, she also met with Gulgrim, her mate - and found, to her horror, that he had been neglecting entirely to look after himself. He had torn himself through the Nether to get to her as soon as he found her location, and had not been washing or caring for his armour or even training. She took him to somewhere safe and reassured him that she was not dead, attempting to calm him before she explained that she would have to return to the Twilight citadel in just a few hours.
Gulgrim promised her that he would continue as he would normally in light of the fact that she was alive and well. She handed him her buzzbox and a thick envelope, before she set off on her way to where she had arranged to meet the Cultists once her gathering duties were finished.
===In Which the Night Grows Darker===
Slowly, her jobs with the cultists began to change - she was doing fewer and fewer shifts in the infirmary, but she wasn't the only one. More and more of them were being called on to take part in increasingly questionable rituals. Little did Ursala know that no sooner than she learnt the purpose of these rituals than her mind was wiped of it by diciples of the Old Gods who worked alongside the shamans - so, to her knowledge, they were an incoherent jumble of occurances that make no cogent sense - but she knew that they were getting more frequent and bloodier as they went along. That she could glean nothing of their purpose, coupled with disturbing nightmares of her own, worried her more than anything else could.
Soon, the inevitable happened: the cultists began to choose random sacrifices. Ursala seized the opportunity to travel to Orgrimmar, apparently to pick up documents, when it was presented. Having made contact with Gulgrim and subsequently Watrus to explain the situation back at the Twilight stronghold, she was forbidden by them from travelling back there. With the two of them aiding her to stay hidden and on-course, she made her way to Nagrand - more specifically, Garadar. The town would hopefully provide a safe place away from the Twilights by virtue of its proximity to a significant Earthen Ring meeting place. Although they were attacked on their way through Terokkar, their journey after Shattrath was smooth, and Ursala reached her destination safely.
Once she reached Garadar, she tried to re-establish contact with Gremkarc, in the same way he had contacted her before - via the Netherwind. However, all she received was the astral equivalent of static. Worse still, when trying to establish more concrete connections with the Earth on Azeroth through the Nether - a ritual she had previously accomplished with little issue - she passed out, thrown into a painful fit accompanied by ambiguous but painful visions. She knew that something was wrong.
This was further reinforced by the gradual trickling-in of Earthen Ring agents to the nearby Throne of the Elements. At first, one arrived a week. Gradually, more began to appear. Because she was up front to their leaders about her capture by the Twilight's Hammer, they refused to allow her membership, but did not send her away as per their belief that she was ultimately innocent; she told them that she understood, and that she wished to help anyway.
Elder Gralg Stoneweaver, who had met Ursala before, volunteered to oversee her helping the local community in Garadar. He assigned her to help look after the orphans in the nearby orphanage as well as those who lived in town - helping her understand better how to care for children, and allowing her to share stories of Azeroth with the Mag'har young. She often volunteered for herbing runs, gathering all manners of herbs from the local landscape to be made into potions and remedies.
In her spare time, she aided the animal handlers in the training of her windrider, Lunch, who had been left with them months before. Elder Stoneweaver's grandson, Takan, also helped Ursala - he gave her short sessions of training in unarmed combat, learning how to redirect the attacks of her enemies to make up for her lack of physical strength. To onlookers, it was pretty obvious that the young shaman was trying to keep herself very busy indeed.
As an artefact of his own concern, Brian brought Ursala some samples of Earth from Azshara. The properties they held worried her like nothing else, especially in conjunction with the other problems observed on Azeroth. Some of the spirits contained in the rocks were violent; others were silent; one fragment was even entirely without spirit. Brian re-sealed the box and Ursala submitted the samples to Elder Stoneweaver for evaluation by the Earthen Ring.
It was perhaps as an aside that Ursala decided, some weeks into her working in Garadar, that she should like to take an excursion. Although such things were directly against orders that her Chieftain had given her earlier that same week, the reason was not a personal one: Elder Harg Mountainborn, of Dagger and Totem, wished to travel to Netherstorm. Ursala knew why. Harg had grown up in the area before it was shattered - his friends and his mate had lived there too. They had remained when he had gone to fight in the wars. Now, he wished to return there to find the rocks to which their spirits were bound.
The pair of orcs spent quite some time in Netherstorm. They found the rocks themselves with relatively little incident, but are still looking for the spirits, which had become detached somehow. Ursala still made daytrips back to Garadar, on occasion - for various reasons, not least to gather properly consumable supplies and visit her friends and acquaintences, including the orphans she had told stories to before.
===Two Minutes to Midnight===
It was during this time that the Twilights stirred. She received increasingly urgent warnings from friends and clanmates not to return to Orgrimmar. She did not question this, although she did make sure they told her why - Elementals stirred and broke their chains; cultists, as Ursala had predicted, overran the city. It wasn't a safe place for her (or, arguably, anybody else).
During one particular night in Netherstorm, Ursala had spirited herself away to a forlorn rock to meditate on the troubles Azeroth was going through. She was interrupted by Infestia Macabee and Irishia Grasswhisper, who had come to Netherstorm with an unknown purpose. After a brief conversation with them, they attacked her - apparently for their own enjoyment. She escaped with facial and head injuries. She later reconciled, somehow, with Infestia - the two women coming to an agreement whereby if Ursala stayed out of Infestia's way, then Infestia would leave the clan alone.
A few days later, the word came on the buzzbox - Orgrimmar was being outright attacked by Elementals, as was Thunder Bluff. Ursala made a stupid decision. She came back to Azeroth to help defend. Serving as a healer, she sometimes needed to force the Elements to her will - the Taunka way - in order to make them do as she needed them to in order to keep her Clanmates alive. She sustained many injuries herself as well, including broken limbs sustained from falling part way down a bluff in the Tauren city.
But Dagger and Totem supported each other. They defended the cities together, even exchanging banter between grunts and sergeants alike. The Chieftain arrived to some battles, as well - the highlight for Ursala was the day when she had already been defending for almost a full day, and was about to give in and pass out, when the Chieftain called her name, willing her to fight on. Cairne Bloodhoof himself seconded Gremkarc's encouragement, spurring her on immeasurably to keep fighting until the attack was over.
===In Which there is a Cataclysmic Setback===
There came word of a growing schism in the Barrens, the spirits there crying out in pain. Gremkarc found Ursala in Thunder Bluff and asked her to accompany him in investigation - probably, she speculated, because of her favoured element being the very one in question here. When they got there, the problem was a lot worse than they had expected it to be - there was lava filling the bottom of the split, although it was relatively shallow. Their investigations and meditations were interrupted by an attack from Night Elves. What they were doing so far south in the Barrens, neither orc knew - but they kidnapped Gremkarc and left Ursala injured in the bottom of the earthen rend.
One of their hippogryphs looked at the injured orc and, presumably, took pity - or perhaps it just wanted some food for later, but either way it picked the injured Ursala up and made its way after the main Elven party. Unfortunately, being split off from the main group made them prey. Air Elementals took offense to their presence and began to attack - the hippogryph, wanting to escape, headed south over the swamps. When the Elementals followed, it decided to drop its Orcish burden down over the swamps.
Ursala landed in Dustwallow half-way up a tree. It took her a while to climb down it - she was distracted by the increasingly loud voices of spirits making themselves heard over the more mundane sounds of creaking insects and distant, menacing beasts. In silence, Ursala fell to the ground and covered her ears with her hands, trying to block out the desperate shouting from Dustwallow's spirits.
And that's when the Cataclysm happened.
Ursala was essentially trapped in Dustwallow Marsh for the better part of three weeks. During this time, the Shattering took place, as well as many other things. All of these had their own effects on her such that she was be on the brink of death when she was eventually found by Oshu Kazil, and returned to her clan.
By coincidence, Gremkarc of Orgrimmar returned on the same day. The clan was ordered to Thousand Needles by him, and Gulgrim was appointed Chieftain, before Gremkarc left for Vashj'ir. Ursala did her best to help the Clan during their stay in Thousand Needles, but she found her own lack of strength was letting her down. The Elements, still reeling from the Cataclysm, were unable to lend her their aid, no matter how hard she begged. Angry with herself and with increasingly few friends, she did her best to begin training again, despite the fact that she was now on less than amiable terms with Ryzarhn. This effort made some difference during the clan's efforts to reclaim their wyverns from the Twilight cultists that were holding them captive in Highperch, although her healing abilities were not great enough to be able to save the wing of Kaskin, Gremkarc's wyvern, after it was shot off - much less the wyvern's pride.
The Clan eventually moved out of the Needles, having found a quiet place elsewhere to call home, and dispersed to see to their own personal matters. Ursala and Gulgrim were essentially conscripted into Deepholm by the Earthen Ring, and did their best to help. They returned to Orgrimmar each night with the help of portals, potions and Astral Recall - the realm of Deepholm, after all, was not welcoming to mortals such as themselves.
==2011==
===In Which Efforts are Made===
Deepholm had a positive effect on the Earthwielder. As she worked to better the Realm of Earth, her magic returned - slowly but surely - and with it came her self-confidence. As well as meeting new acquaintances in the form of Jagda and a group of young Tauren (including Teura), she made friends with Kevla. Kevla was a young Oathbreaker about the same age as Ursala; an odd choice of friend for a shaman, but one that seemed to work oddly well. She also made an effort to make better friends with Kruss. She had picked up the other orc's bad mood from the buzzbox and, finding herself with an entire day devoid of activity, made the journey to Stranglethorn to ask face-to-face what was wrong. Kruss insisted there wasn't anything, but invited Ursala to stay for food with Nelai and Salax. Whether Ursala succeeded in actually finding more common ground with Kruss was questionable, but she at least learnt to be less naïve about drinking troll tea.
During this time, Gremkarc of Orgrimmar returned to his namesake city (although he had long since ceased referring to himself as such). Ursala was surprised to see him, but glad to see with her own eyes - now not clouded with the hazy delirium that had come from her near-starvation - that he was safe. The older shaman spent the evening with her and their clanmates. She told him of Kaskin's irreversibly injured wing, and of the wyvern's wish to visit Conquest Hold where his mate lived. Gremkarc assured Ursala that he would accompany Kaskin on this journey.
Not a week later, Ursala received a letter from her Mag'hari friend, Takan. Takan explained that his grandfather, Elder Gralg Stoneweaver, had recently become sick with a fever and was stating that the illness he had would eventually claim his body. The elderly shaman had been saying that he wished Ursala to be present for the last weeks of his life, and so Takan had sent for her. Unable to refuse, Ursala travelled to Nagrand the next day.
===In Which a Lesson in History Takes Place===
Sooner or later, Elder Stoneweaver passed away, the illness sapping his body until there was nothing left. His funeral was held two days later - but the night before, Ursala was visited by the spirit of the Stoneweaver. He told her of a ritual which she must complete - the second half of Om'riggor - in order to see him again. In reflection of this, she intends to begin searching for her mother - although she has no idea where to start.
After the funeral, Ursala met with another greenskin who had also been in attendance. He claimed his name to be Rokik, and said that he had travelled to Garadar to investigate reports of Twilights in the area. There was something naggingly familiar about Rokik, but Ursala couldn't quite put her finger on it - nonetheless, she pointed him in the direction of two clanmates (Tixou and Dorince) who she knew were in the area and might be able to help him.