“As they prepared to leave Pox, Kra-iti found a strange note which had been slid under his door during the night. It contained mysterious directions with no explanation. Never one to let fear enter the equation, Kra-iti roused his men and set off. Before long the skies grew dark -- odd because by Kra-iti's reckoning it was around midday. Soon they were shrouded in a thick fog and could see no more than a few metres ahead. They had followed the directions which had now expired, so Kra-iti took the lead and stepped unfazed into the gloom. He couldn't quite explain it, he just knew where he needed to go.

After what seemed like hours, the fog suddenly lifted. The gloom remained but all could see well enough -- directly facing them were another band of warriors, calmly observing the Dawi-Zharr as though they too had no idea what just happened. Both coaches espied the arcane markings on the ground between them and instantly knew their calling. They had been drawn to an ancient ball field, and it was time to play.

As the teams prepared to begin, a strangely dressed man approached Kra-iti and donated a large bag of coins. Before he could consider this, a long strong arm reached over Kra-iti's shoulder and rescued the bag from him. "I'll help you with that!" said a booming deep voice. When Kra-iti turned, he saw the largest Bull Centaur he had ever seen. Not that he'd seen many, but he must've weighed about the same as both of his Centaurs combined! "Hthark be my name". Let's kill some humans!"

"Fine by me" thought Kra-iti, and returned to his preparations, which consisted of procuring more beer. Moments later a distant voice.., no it wasn't distant, it just carried for a distance before bouncing back. It seemed to repeat itself 3 or 4 times before fading. Amongst the inane ramblings Kra-iti thought he heard mention of the opening match of the Shadowspires Tournament. Then from nowhere a crowd cheered.


And with that the game was on! The Graveshade Grandmasters received first and the fighting began. These soldiers were more organised than those previously encountered by the Dawi-Zharr. The quickly made an impression on him and his team (and their armour).

As things started to look bad for the dwarves, Hthark made a hasty retreat with his tail (and bags of gold!) between his legs. Kra-iti cursed himself for trusting the outsider. From now on he would place his faith only in his own kin (with the exception of slaves of course, who were equally useful with or without training, bravery, or intelligence).


The Graveshade females had a devastating effect on both teams. After the superhuman stars had knocked over the dwarven players, those femmes fatales delivered blow after blow to the fallen warriors. But they also distracted their own colleagues to the point where they found it increasingly difficult to pay attention to the ball. Finally after 6 rounds of possession the Grandmasters took the lead.

This seemed to please the crowd who celebrated for so long that there was no time for a reply from the Dawi-Zharr.


They got another chance with the ball after the break, and after a slow controlled march Pesu equalised with a quarter of regulation time remaining. The allure of the females was increasing, causing much consternation in the Graveshade ranks.

It increased further still as the play commenced. The Grandmasters were so ravenous they did not realise the dwarves starting to attack, and were briefly swamped. They soon recovered however, pushing the dwarves back and giving some breathing space to gather the ball. Of course Xod'lek still found time to devour another thrall... Graveshade still had plenty of time to equalise but the dwarven defence did just enough to prevent the score and the game went to Overtime.

With the vamps electing to receive there didn't seem much hope for Yantai. They did what they could, trying to force a mistake from the Grandmasters but their resolve held. The dwarves managed to first divert the offence and then sack the ball-carrier, but it was only delaying the inevitable. Darkushrak Xanic finished what he'd started in the first half, giving family Xanic a 2-1 OT win. They will progress to the next round. Yantai will go home.


Although the loss was a sore one, it saddened Kra-iti even more that the vast array of nubile slaves on offer also escaped their grasp. His quest continues unresolved.”