“Although I’m not the best at math, I knew that if I wanted to build a stadium I’d need money. Lots of money. So, I searched for teams nearby to play against for ticket sales. My efforts went mostly unanswered, as the Grizzlies hadn’t made enough of a name for themselves yet to be taken on by the more experienced blood bowl teams. My first positive response was from a coven of vampires, so I organized to have them come visit Graeling and play us in a friendly.

They arrived around midnight, four of them, with 7 well trained thralls to play with them, as well as a good amount of fans. Our fans, expecting to see a game like the last, turned up in droves, outnumbering the Vampire fans more that 2 to 1.

The Grizzlies lined up, cheers from the crowds pumping them up and getting them ready for the match. The whistle blew and a thrall caught the kick, running downfield surrounded by the four vampires. the cage would be hard to break. The boys threw themselves at the cage anyways, surrounding it and forcing the Vamps to either move backwards or fight their way through. The vamps chose the latter, but the Grizzlies held their ground, and on the counter attack were able to both knock the ball loose and send a vampire out of bounds, leaving only 3 in the field of play. Leif tried to foul another vampire out of play, but the ref had heard about his antics last game and wasn’t having it this time. He banned the player from the rest of the match.

The vampires were able to gather their wits about them, and fight back, knocking out Thor and getting the ball back. They attempted a long pass down the field, but were wildly inaccurate. Both sides rushed for the loose ball, and the scramble lasted for the rest of the half, with the only other exciting thing to happen was a end-of-the-half knock out by Rurik.

Unfortunately, the dead never sleep, and all of the knocked out Vampires came back for round 2. Thor on the other hand was out cold. The 9 to 11 didn’t look good for the Grizzlies (Urik, I really need new recruits soon, please), but the boys quickly even the numbers out with Ragnar surfing a Vampire and Sigmundr knee-capping another.

Unfortunately, Ragnar himself was then surfed, and the angry vampire he had just pushed out took the opportunity to smash Ragnar’s ankles. Doc says he’ll never be as fast as he once was, but hopefully he’ll still be of some use to the team once he is fit enough to play again.

As Ragnar was carried away to the doctor’s tent, Vermundr picked up the ball and started running at the opposition with it. A vampire blitzed his way through the offensive line and sacked Vermundr, leaving the ball loose in a dangerous area. Fortunately, Sigmundr and Thorfinn were unengaged and able to sweep back to help cover Vermundr, helping him back to his feet to deliver a heavy blow back at the vampire, leaving him stunned.

Vermundr recovered the ball, and rushed past the LOS, but stopped shortly to watch one of the vampire soar out of the playing area to go feed on a group of fans in the stands. As the Grizzlies stood agape at the proceedins, a thrall managed to knock down Thugg and take him out for the rest of the game. The loud CRUNCH of Thugg hitting the turf snapped everyone’s attention back to the game at hand, and Vermundr continued his sprint for the end zone. A thrall went chasing after him, but sigmundr postioned himself in the way. The thrall slid in, cleats first, and another loud CRUNCH let everyone know that Ragnar wasn’t going to be the only one today walking away with a smashed ankle.

Vermundr ran in with the winning touchdown, extracting cheers from all the Grizzly fans. His touchdown celebration this time was much better, having had rehearsed it after the embarrassment of a celebration last time. The boys lined themselves up for the last few minutes of the game, then marched triumphantly off the pitch after the whistle blew.

The game, as it was intended to do, brought it a large amount of money for the team. Now if I could only get the sponsors to donate a bit more, a new stadium might be in out future. Despite some disappointing casualties, the Grizzlies extend their winning streak to 2 games in a row, giving themselves a 2-0-1 record.
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