“The attitude before the match was ebulient. Everyone was ready and Trollslayers Thorin Loremallet and Rorin Songhelm were working themselves up into a frenzy. Coach Oblitzamanger was pep talking Runner Parin Rockbow to get him ready to score a second touchdown, which would earn him a skill. Captain Ibun Redplate came back from the cointoss.

"We won, so we let them kick off," he reported and the team roared loudly in approval.

"Great," said Coach Oblitzamanger. "Now get out there and beat them up good. If they have fewer players to start the second half, we'll walk right through them and score. They're Norsemen, so they are just as skilled in blocking as we are, but being so far north all the time, their brains are numb and they don't have enough sense to wear more armor. So when you hit them, hit them as hard as you can and eventually you'll break their armor."

The team lined the pitch in their ususal fashion. A bad kick gave the ball strait to Norse Thrower Qwern who passed it off to the other Thrower, Wenere. After knocking each other around, the Norse made a move to screen and rush up a sideline. But the captain, Ibun, who was right in that area, saw what was happening and called all attention to that area. The play worked as Thorin Loremallet rushed at Norse Catcher Futzse. Yelling, "I'm going to kill you!" in all his fury, he swept aside the Catcher, who fell back stunned, and pressured the ballcarrier. When Thorin finally stopped to look back at the damage he had done, he spat in Futzse's face and said, "I will make good on that promise."

As the Guild blocked the way for Wenere, he was forced to backtrack. Once again, the Guild responded well and the Norse were trapped. But then, despite his dim-wittedness, Ogre Bumba knew it was time to become a playmaker. He blitzed past Longbeard lar Rockmail, only pushing him back, to secure a spot deep in the Guild's half. Wenere followed and tried to pass it off to Catcher Kloiuut. Kloiuut didn't want the ball arguing that Wenere was better protected, but when the ball left Wenere's hands, Kloiuut was forced to catch it.

However, Kloiuut was left exposed. Longbeard Merin Bloodyvisor called for support as he tried to bring down the ballcarrier. As Runner Kain Tombhands guarded against Bumba, the other Runner, Parin, ran as fast as he could at Kloiuut and as Merin held the poor Catcher in place, Parin lept with the force of lightning, extending his arms in front of him, and smashed Kloiuut in the face, knocking him back and popping the ball free. Parin was too excited from his hit to catch the ball as it bounced away into the tackle-zone of the Ogre, Bumba. The medics came onto the field to help Kloiuut, but they deemed it too late as what was left of his face bled profusely. All they could do was carry the limp corpse off the pitch as Parin celebrated his first casualty and the team's first death that wasn't saved by the apothecary.

However, the ball was still at large as Bumba continued to be a playmaker by knocking out Kain and helping Wenere, who had realised that what happened to Kloiuut should have happened to him, smash Parin so hard that it stunned the poor Dwarf. And just as it seemed Merin would be the only one left to face the Thrower and Ogre, Norse Lineman fril tried to punch Trollslayer Rorin Songhelm in the face and instead recieved a quick blow to the chest, knocking the wind from him. As he gasped for air, he saw his own blood and passed out. Rorin then came to the aid of Merin, only to fail to knock Wenere down on the blitz. So Merin took a shot at the Thrower in retaliation for his hit against Parin and managed to knock him out. This cleared the ball of any opposing tackle zones.

However, the Norsemen were not finished at getting to the ball. Lineman Haudrauf dodged away from Longbeard Talin in order to blitz. As the Norseman got away, Talin sweared, "If you don't come back here, I'll kill you!" However, Haudrauf didn't listen (as he probably should have) and pushed back Rorin into the ball, bouncing it into another square. With little time remaining in the half, and just one player left to try and score for the Norsemen, the Guild stepped up the pressure to stall out the half. talin blitzed after Haudrauf but the Lineman managed to skillfully stay on his feet and only be pushed back. As Parin picked up the ball, he mocked Thalin, "Yeah, you'll really kill me allright! The only thing you can kill is your own chances of winning this game!"

They taunted each other as Parin tired to run that extra step in order to score back before the end of the half, which would require several extra yards of sprinting. However, he tripped on a piece of Norse armor and fell on it. It went into his eye and gouged it. Coach oblitzamanger himself ran onto the pitch to carry the poor Parin off. He was thinking the entire time that it was his fault that this had happened, he could have used the apothecary to save him, and without any Runners for the second half, how would they score?

As the half ended, Rorin used the same technique as he did against fril to Lineman Wertzuis and badly hurt him as well. This ensured that he would learn a new skill at the end of the game. Halftime: 0 - 0

None of the players who were knocked out woke up at halftime. For the Guild, that meant their last Runner, Kain Tombhands, would not be available for the drive. And for the Norse, it meant one thrower and one Lineman would not play. Thus, the Norse could only field 7 to the Guild's 9.

Coach Oblitzamanger gave a pep talk to the team. "Look, I know both of our main ballhandlers are out, but we can still win this game."

"How is Parin doing? Is he allright?" asked captain Ibun.

"He will have to miss the next game, but other than that, he's okay. It will just take some time for his eye to heal, that's all. But forget about how he's doing and think about how he got there! He sacrificed himself to help the team win. Now are you going to let him down?" The team roared. " Are you going to let those pansies from Pansyhill walk all over you?" The team roared even louder.

"Their armor is weak from taking so many hits last half. Keep on hitting them and you're bound to mess them up for good." The team was silent, hanging on Coach Oblitzamanger's every word. "Ibun," he called.

"Yes coach?" Ibun replied.

"I want you to hold the ball. You have the agility, so you can do it. Everyone else, we will form a cage with a few of you around Ibun and the rest of you try to screen the others from making it to the cage. Got it?"

The team roared even louder than before and stormed onto the pitch in a frenzy. The other team lined up, depleted in numbers and looking very intimidated. The kicker was so nervous, that the ball sailed out of bounds and Ibun got it from the touchback. As the front line knocked the Norsemen around a little, Trollslayer Thorin Loremallet knocked Bumba down using both his dauntless and frenzy skills.

The cage advanced up the field as on the opposite side of the brawl, Merin and talin faced off against Haudrauf again. Merin remembering the Lineman's threats from before, helped Talin make good on his promise to kill Haudrauf as Talin gave him the old one-two and smashed him so hard in the chest, that his rib cage collapsed and crushed all his inner organs. Haudrauf didn't even get the chance to respond to Talin's teasing remarks as his eyes fell shut with darkness: "I told ya I'd kill ya! A Dwarf always makes good on his word, and you remember that."

Trying to break the cage, Lineman Gosase attacked Longbeard Dori Craftyhammer, only to recieve a quick blow to the jaw which broke through the armor and smashed it. Gosase was carried off the pitch crying, "Help me! Please save me from these demon Dwarves!" The cage advanced furthur upfield. Far away from th ecarnage, th Ogre Bumba was busy hitting poor Talin like a punching bag. He eventually killed the poor bloke, but some quick patching up by the apothecary saved him from the realm beyond.

As Lineman Adwers tried to dodge from Merin in order to blitz, he was tripped up and fell, stunning himself. Thus the cgae moved harmlessly towards the endzone. While pinning down the last Norse players, Thorin hit Catcher Futzse. The blow was straight to the head and made the skull cave in, killing the man. As the body was carried off the pitch, Thorin once again spat in his face and said, "I made good on my promise."

The team kept on smashing and eventually, all the players, save the Ogre, were prone. Thus, they were okay with staying that way, too afraid to get aup and killed. So, on the last turn, Ibun ran it in for the go ahead touchdown. 1 - 0 Runesmith's Guild.

The team rejoiced after the game, once again recieving a lot of money. They had more faith in Coach Oblitzamanger, who had three skills to teach. First, he taught Ibun and Rorin how to hit harder with Mighty Blow, and then he taught Dori Craftyhammer, who earned the MVP, how to guard his team-mates better. The coach once again put his salary into paying off his debt and got substantially closer to being in the clear.

He was very satisfied with his team and was very hopeful he could get out of debt without any more hassle. He only mourned for Parin, for the next game would be a lot tougher with only 10 players and just one Runner. So, to compensate, he trained the team even harder before the next match and increased their team re-rolls from 2 to 3. He would have to hope that it would be enough to be successful in the next game.”