DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of the rights to Blood Bowl (I'd be much plumper in the wallet if I did) and make no claim to do so -- this is simply a bit of fiction set in some version of the universe created by the great minds behind the original game.
-[::]-
"Welcome, sports fans, back to CabalVision's live coverage of this Midwinter Festival celebration match. We're coming up on the closing minutes of the first half of this brutal battle between local boys the Swinebog Scammers and the Xipota Zephyrs, hailing all the way from the jungles of Lustria. I'm Jim Johnson, and here with me in the commentary box is my good friend Bob Bifford."
"Thanks Jim, and I just want to say that whilst neither of these teams might be big names in the leagues, the sponsors seem to have chosen well when they picked them for this special event match."
"No argument here, Bob. The Scammers might be about as good at actual play as any other Goblin team, but they're certainly good for some entertainment, and whilst the Zephyrs might be used to a warmer climate, I don't think I've seen any sign that the snow on the ground has posed them any problems."
"That'll be the Norse ancestors all of the Amazon tribes have, I guess Jim. They certainly look like they've inherited the love of a good fight, too. From the way the game has gone so far, there seems to be no doubt that the Apothecary's Guild's annual conference is going to have plenty of patients to use for their seminars tomorrow."
"Assuming, of course, that any candidates live that long, Bob."
"Very true, Jim. Very true."
"From the look of things, play is about to resume, with the Zephyrs kicking off, and... Here we go! The kick is good, and there's no sign of the rioting that accompanied the last kick-off."
"At least the fans were having fun, Jim."
"That they are, Bob."
-[::]-
With an explosive burst of movement, Karlita pounced, smoothly muscled limbs driving her forward from where she'd been lined up awaiting the kick-off and sending her straight for the dark-robed Goblin that had set himself opposite her as the two teams had been readying themselves for the play to begin. She gave him credit for guts, but he lost a fair amount for brains, since his reward for leaping to intercept her was a iron-knuckled gauntlet to the chops.
A pained squawk, a graceless tumble, and the greenskin was out of her way, leaving the path open for her to join Beltha and Keely in a run for the end-zone. Which, a moment later, turned out to be somewhat less than likely to happen, since the huge, hulking monstrosity that was the Goblin's single most effective brawler stopped scratching its indescribably ugly head and reached out to swat Beltha aside.
The blitzer flew a good couple of yards under the Troll's blow, taking Keely down with her in a tangle of limbs, and Karlita had a nasty premonition that no matter how well this drive had started -- there were half a dozen Goblins in untidy heaps on the astrogranite already -- the momentum was not going to stay on their side for much longer.
That became even more obvious as she ducked a wild swing from another Goblin, watching out of the corner of her eye as yet another greenskin scampered along the pitch, ball held triumphantly over his head, eyes set on the Zephyr's end-zone.
Not that he got all that close to it, of course. Not with the general melee that was the scrimmage line in the way, but Karlita spotted a possible hole in that line and jinked around to cover it.
Uselessly, as it turned out, because the Goblin ball carrier didn't
run
to make the touchdown. Instead, that damned Troll let out a gross-sounding chuckle, pushed another of Karlita's team-mates face-first into the ground, and scooped up the Goblin in a grotesquely over-sized paw.
"Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me..."
Apparently not. A powerful surge of the Troll's arm sent the Goblin arcing through the air, cackling maniacally with a combination of exhilaration and the mushrooms the little bastards feasted on and accompanied by a roar from the watching crowd. Trusting the rest of her team to hold the rest of the greenskins back, Karlita charged down the pitch, heading to intercept the Goblin before he could land and score.
Which, as it turned out, was yet another brilliant plan that did not unfold as might have been liked. She got herself in place, true, and would have made the Goblin's landing even more of a hazard than it normally would have been, but something small, round, and fizzing sailed toward her from the grinning Goblin, and she had to make a frantic dive to one side to avoid catching the thing in the face.
With a shattering explosion, the bomb detonated, leaving a smear of smoke and shrapnel in the air, and what felt like the weight of the world landed square on Karlita's back, slamming her into the turf
hard
, and leaving her gasping and breathless. Luckily, her armour, skimpy as many seemed to think it was, held and protected her from serious harm, but she was still unable to do a damned thing to stop the capering Goblin from scuttling into the end-zone.
-[::]-
"An unconventional tactic, Jim, but one that certainly works when they can pull it off."
"As we've just seen, Bob. The Amazons don't look pleased by the fact that the score is now tied at one all, and one of their blitzers is taking a nap in the dugout as the teams take their places again."
"Getting punched in the head by a Troll does tend to have that kind of effect, Jim. And it wouldn't surprise me if the Zephyr player on the receiving end of the throw hasn't got a score to settle after the mess that landing made."
"Frankly, Bob, I'd be
amazed
. Amazons don't take that sort of thing lightly, and I can see that the Zephyr fans are getting more than a little riled up by the event as well."
"Let's be honest, Jim, the fans of
any
Amazon team get worked up if anyone lays a hand on their favourite players."
"Except for them, of course."
"We can but dream, Jim."
-[::]-
Someone in the crowd had obviously taken exception to the fact that the Scammers has scored, and as the ball sailed upward, energetically propelled by the runty little greenskin that had kicked it, Karlita grinned as the Goblin in front of her went suddenly cross-eyed and toppled slowly over, the rock that had just cracked him in the side of the skull rolling onto the ground with him.
She was hardly going to object to that little development, and it would have been downright rude not to take advantage of the opening it offered. The
Goblin
might not have agreed, but since he was already unconscious when her armoured foot ground down into his gut as she charged forward over him, any objection he might have had was soundly ignored.
"Galli!" Karlita snapped over her shoulder, turning just enough to plough her shoulder into a Goblin and glance backward at the team-mate she'd called to. The thrower, catching her eye, flashed a grin and nodded before reaching out a hand to almost casually snatch the ball from the air as Meika scooped it from the ground and passed it with a low, fast toss.
Okay, now to make it actually work.
Reaching out, she grabbed a Goblin by the back of his ratty black robe, dragging him from the general melee that was forming in the middle of the pitch and yanking him clear off of the ground. His mad thrashing knocked his hood back a bit, and Karlita's lips peeled back in an unfriendly grin as she recognised the one who'd tried to blow her ass up a couple of minutes before. Hauling a foot back, she dropped him, a kick snapping forward to slam up between his legs, making his eyes bulge and a strangled scream whimper out of his throat as he took flight for a few feet and rolled across the ground after landing.
For an added bonus, he very nearly tripped the Troll in the process, though watching that very nearly cost Karlita dearly when another Goblin lashed out at her with a heavy iron ball and chain that he'd somehow managed to get onto the field without anyone noticing. Which was impressive, since it wasn't much smaller than
he
was. Ducking back sharply, Karlita managed to avoid getting smashed, and she bit out a curse as she saw the chance to get past the other team's line vanishing in front of her eyes.
Luckily, she wasn't on the field alone, and two of her team-mates, Raina and Joi, moved in at her flanks. The Goblin with the ball, grinning like the drugged-up lunatic that he was, span wildly, the rough sphere of iron humming viciously through the air. Over the greenskin's head, Karlita spotted the black-and-white striped shirt of the referee, and the dark elf wearing it was looking at the fanatical Goblin with extreme disapproval. She made no effort to curtail the creature's antics, however, or banish it from the field. Instead, there was an imperiously arrogant wave of a hand, and the fanatic launched abruptly into the air, still giggling maniacally, to sail across the pitch.
By the time he landed, the cheers and jeers of the fans filling the air, the ball and chain had wrapped themselves around him in an impressively complicated knot, and there was nothing between Karlita and the Goblin end zone.
An opportunity she wasn't dumb enough to ignore, and as Raina and Joi surged forward to keep the hole open, she gave them both a slap on the back of their helmets, a quick bit of thanks for the backup, and sprinted toward the far end of the field. Two of the Goblins saw her, however, and started pounding across the astrogranite to intercept her.
Two on one might be fun, but not under
these
circumstances...
A Goblin's innate lack of grace came to the rescue, however, when one of them managed to trip over his own feet, tumbling and rolling for a few yards until he came to a halt flat on his back and looking confused. The other fell victim to a demonstration of Galli's skill, as the Amazon thrower snapped the ball through the air, sending it arcing clear over the main brawl to connect with the head of Karlita's pursuer with a resounding 'thunk'. The ball ricocheted upward as the Goblin went down, and Karlita lunged for it, managing to make the grab grab before it hit the ground, then -- barely -- recovered her balance and ran on, yells and screams from the sidelines driving her onward.
-[::]-
"Well Jim, I think we can chalk that one up as a solid bit of teamwork. From the Zephyrs."
