“Week 5: The Curse of the Magicked Ball

Having come off their best game of the season, the Ka-Sabar Bedouin were eager to again face more Vampires. But they were not willing to rest on their laurels and relay on the scorching Khemri sun to send the opposition into a frenzied blood lust as had happened to the Corsairs. No, coach WhatBall had another trick up his tattered sleeve, literally. The teams met at the half line and the referee sent the golden coin adorned with the likeness of Tomb King Setra end-over-end through dry desert air. Tomb King Setra's face smiled up from the dust in favour of coach Lorebass' Quatar Kickin' Bones, but Bedouin coaches wry smile only grew more in response. Coach WhatBall took the game ball from the referee and rubbed it almost lovingly, applying the ointment he had carefully concealed. Handing it back to the referee he turned to walk away, then briefly, looked backed and innocuously commented, "Fer good luck, ya know?". He winked and turned away, grinning like an imp.

The Bedouin lined up and kicked the ball short and to the left flank of the Bones. An eager rookie thrall jumped the gun and took himself down with a Bedouin lineman, cutting short the Bones' first drive before it had even begun. The Bedouin swarmed, Jurti al Alaldinaseehim the wight caught thrall Ed in the back as he was trying to figure out what the hell his rookie teammate had done to screw up the play. He was niggled badly and did not return. Bedouin players swarmed the ball and the rest piled up to overpower the scrimmage line. The Bones attempted to recover, but the heat was strong and they began to drain their teammates of their blood. When a desperation move to pass the ball was called by coach Lorebass, the evil trickery of his rival coach was suddenly revealed. The pass was a perfect spiral to his vampire teammate. He extended his arms out to bring in the ball safely, and as his hands instinctively closed to grasp the ball it knuckled and dropped two feet suddenly, catching him squarely in the groin, the spikes sending him instantly to the ground. The ball then made unfathomable lurching bounces at Bones players until thrall Jedd suddenly corralled it as it seemed to fall right into his surprised arms. al Alaldinaseehim already knew where the ball was going and was running down Jedd before the ball had come to rest. The wight lowered his helmet and drove it through the lower back of the thrall, almost ripping him completely in half. The apothecary didn't even bother having a look, there was nothing he could do. Jedd was now a Bedouin, and the ball, well the ball flew from his arms turned back upon its trajectory and landed softly in the arms of the mummy standing next to Jedd's corpse. Coach Lorebass knew something serious was up and stormed out of the dugout to protest. His daring vampires attacked the mummy, and despite being out-muscled, took down the wrapped terror (and themselves as well). The ball bounced, rolled, and then jumped off the ground to waiting zombie Liit Steppah. Lorebass began emptying the contents of the dugout onto the pitch.

The Bedouin continued to bash their way through Bones' players and the apothecary was overwhelmed with knocked out players, wishing that the mercenary sitting on the bench praying he didn't have to play the second half was a babe instead. While Bedouin ghouls mostyl circled and taunted, Liit Steppah, the dirty playing zombie tried a no-look around the back hand-off to wight Khillal abu Dahbudu. When the ball bounced loose, he looked on in dismay as if it should have been a sure thing. The Bones made a desperation attempt to recover the ball, which was surrounded still by the Bedouins. They pushed a scrum of players onto the ball and it popped up, danced in the air, and returned to Khillal abu Dahbudu, as if it was apologetic for letting him drop it in the first place. From there he high-stepped the ball into the end zone as his team kicked what was left of the Bones' players.

Halftime 1-0 Bedouin

The second half started with a depleted Bones squad facing a full Bedouin team, plus Jedd the defector. This made it an easy score for rookie ghoul Hutz Wyrmmeater. Midway through the half it was 2-0 for the Bedouin. Bones players finally started waking up and it looked like the might be able to take something positive from the game, but a blitz by Jurti al Alaldinaseehim took down the ball carrier. At this point the Bones' attention turned to Wyrmmeater the ghoul, as Merhth al Forgeth was on the bench, staying safe as he had seemed to be trying to do most of the game. In a final act of anger, they threw the spiked ball at Forgeth from point blank. It was a perfect toss, but then it just stopped, inches from his face, and fell harmlessly to the ground.

Final 2-0 Bedouin. ”