“CIBBL - Y7, Autumn - Silver Division: round 6:

Still a bit drowsy from celebrating last game’s win against Eternal Ecstasy, Mereia, the Meddlers former catcher turned assistant-coach, entered her boss’s office. Timaris Stormwing was staring through the open window, his back turned towards the door. “The team is ready”, Mereia started the conversation, without bothering to introduce herself. She’d always preferred being straight to the point, sometimes even bluntly so. Timaris didn’t seem to react, continuing his gaze through the window, hands folded on his back. “It’s never been in a better shape”, Mereia continued, trying to break the head coach’s apparent trance. Finally, Timaris slowly turned towards Mereia and replied. “You know, Mereia”, he started, “despite the bad start of the season, we could still win the division”. When Mereia didn’t react immediately, unsure how to respond to this statement, Timaris continued. “So, I’ve decided to offer a full-time contract to Aery”, he stated, returning his view to the open window. “I think we need all the support we can get, including that of the fans”. Mereia remembered the girl cheering for the Meddlers last game. She even vaguely recalled herself joining the cheerleader on the stage towards the end of the game. There had been some incident with a goblin too, but she preferred not to think of that anymore. “Sure”, Mereia replied. And then she left Timaris’ office, heading towards her first martini of the day.
Later that afternoon the stadium slowly but steadily filled to the nock. The town center looked completely abandoned when a relaxed Timaris passed through the empty streets towards the arena. Enjoying the autumn breeze, he was late, as usual, but didn’t seem to particularly mind his last-minute arrival. In the distance he heard the hum of the spectators already in the stadium, completed by the music of the opening act, warming up the public for the main treat of the day. When he finally arrived, clothed in his wizard’s robe, he found Mereia at the sidelines, pointing out the last details before the game’s start. Hauclir was tossing some long bombs towards Aewyn, the new catcher of the team, testing her reflexes. Syrabeth, the Meddlers captain, was wrapping her hands in doe leather strips, ready to hit some rats. In the distance Timaris observed Nimrodel and Ethandril, tied up in a sommersaulting contest. All looked well. Eventually the Meddlers’ adversaries entered the pitch. Rotfall Ironwork Rocketeers would be tonight’s opponents. The Verminlord would play for the rats. But real danger would come from the skaven’s tricks. A warp grinder, jezails, and a pair of globadiers ready to lob foul globes of poisoned wind towards the elves would prove even trickier. Not to mention the doom flayer. But for the moment Timaris controlled his nerves and installed himself on the Meddlers’ bench. Mereia, wearing her favorite tank-top and fingerless gloves, joined him just before kick-off and quickly ordered a martini before the referee would whistle for the first time, opening the game.
The game started under a sunny sky. That would impede the Meddlers passing game somehow, but it also reduced chances of any uncouth projectile being successfully launched towards the elves. Nevertheless, Corion was smothered by foul gas in turn one and would miss the remainder of the game. Syrabeth reacted next turn by knocking out the rascal who had launched the globe, much to the satisfaction of the coach. The rats continued their advance though and managed to remove both Isilvar and Caelir by turn three. Worse, Hauclir got fouled by a dirty ratman and faced a premature end of his skyrocketing career. Fortunately, the Meddler’s apothecary timely intervened and managed to patch up the superstar thrower. The wood elves’ numbers had dwindled down to seven, when Syrabeth decided to go for the ball. But she snaked a dodge and crashed into the turf instead. That left the other elves far out of position, further complicating the organization of the defense. Next turn Ethandril reckoned his fifteen seconds of fame had come. After a quick prayer to Loec he leapt into the air. The crowd held its breath as the wardancer landed on his feet amidst the flabbergasted rats, eager to see how this intervention would end. When moving towards the skaven holding the ball, the jezail quickly reacted by holding out its rifle’s butt, only to witness the wood elf run into it and knock himself down. Still Ethandril wouldn’t give up. As he regained his feet, he started to sprint towards the skaven cage and leapt into the sky once more. Blinded by the blazing sun, he lost his sense of orientation however and missed his landing. That sealed the deal. The Rocketeers scored in turn eight: 0-1 for the ratmen. The oneturner effort stranded with a failed catch.
To Timaris’ disappointment the referee turned a blind eye towards the skaven’s arsenal so that the Meddlers would face a full team of Rocketeers in the second half, while missing two key players themselves. Luckily Timaris had invested in some rookies to fill up the gaps. The mission was clear: score as quickly as possible. Then steal the ball and score again. Simple. But the Rocketeers had hired a wizard. That threat still lingered above the wood elves’ heads. Caution was required. Syrabeth thought herself in a safe spot but underestimated the opposing doom flayer and got surfed into the crowd in turn one of the second half. Another incentive to score quickly. Keira spurted towards the end zone and Hauclir launched the long pass. Even though the sun had settled by then and bloodbowl weather had returned to its normal state, Keira got distracted by a fan making on obscene remark. As a result, she dropped the ball into the crowd, allowing it to smash hard into the face of the fan who’d offered her the filthy suggestion. Disaster for the Meddlers, but Keira couldn’t help herself smiling as the supporter got carried away on a stretcher. Meanwhile another fan grabbed the ball and launched it back on the pitch, where it landed within reach of several ratmen. To add insult to injury, the opposing wizard intervened and hit Nimrodel with his skaven magic, turning him into a toad! On the bench Timaris’ jaw muscles started spasming again, as it was too much to digest, while Mereia carelessly asked for a refill. On the podium Aery started her new dance act to distract the audience and especially the rats, hoping somehow to still save the day for the Meddlers. Things started looking quite bad indeed. One turn later, Nimrodel – in his toad form – got hit by the warp grinder. His game was over. By then Timaris’ breath had stopped. Fortunately for the wood elves, Nuffle decided to intervene, offering double skulls to the Verminlord. Timaris recovered his breath. After all, Keira was still in scoring position and Thelion benefited from the confusion to steal the ball and lob it towards Keira. This time she was ready for the pass and received it excellently: 1-1.
The doom flayer was finally banned for the last drive of the game, leaving only ten skaven on the pitch. As the Rocketeers formed a cage in the center of the pitch, Timaris urged his Meddlers forwards. The elves surrounded the cage and attacked it from all sides, desperate to somehow recover the ball. Syrabeth knocked out a poisoned wind globadier but was fouled off the pitch herself one turn later. Belborth Bluebark finally woke up from his slumber since the beginning of the game and knocked down the Verminlord. This allowed Ethandril to move in and knock down the jezail carrying the ball. The ball scattered into the hands of an unsuspecting clan rat however. Meanwhile time was ticking away, and the warp grinder made yet another casualty as Coarann got ripped to pieces. To make things worse, another poisoned globe landed next to Eldain and Kivan, taking both down with nausea. On the bench Mereia adjusted her cap backwards, emptied her glass and shouted instructions as Timaris faced another nervous breakdown. Hauclir reacted by taking down the mech vermin and marked the ballcarrier, who dodged away one turn later to hand the ball over to a nearby jezail. Nuffle intervened one last time as the jezail’s weapon somehow malfunctioned, resulting in a last opportunity for the Meddlers to steal the ball. It took a while for the dumbstruck elves to react, when at last Ethandril moved in and took down Nikki Gluepaw, who released the ball. Keira simply picked it up and ran in the winning touchdown: 2-1 for the Meddlers!
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