MindWanderer vs. Merrick (0-2)
The sloshed dwarf falls back off his bar-stool, spilling the majority of the contents of a pitcher of beer. Some of the beer splashes two Orc team-mates sitting at a table.
“Odda here, you mewling runt. You dorfs get out or you get what’s coming to ya!”
The ork brings his boot down upon the dwarf captain’s face, and the Dwarf rolls drunkenly away. He stumbles to his feet and slowly hobbles to the door. The bar door opens, smacking him in the face and knocking him down again. Two humans walk over the Dwarf in the entryway. The bartender, a gobliness, comes out from behind the bar and slaps him two times to wake him up.
“Stop blocking my entryway, ya oaf,” she says in a high pitched voice.
*The Silver Hammer’s captain gets on his feet again, and walks out of the bar without making a comment.
Outside, he sits down by the bar’s outer wall. A two-horse carriage trots by, splashing him with water. He sits still, and tries to recover his sanity. He doesn’t see the horses make a wide turn and tie up by the bar. He doesn’t see the human reporter step out from the carriage. He is still looking down at the ground.*
“Mr. Thagi-Troll… Mr. Dwarf… Uh-- we’ve spoke before, mind if I ask a few questions about today’s game?”
Uzkil said nothing, not even acknowledging the reporter’s presence. The reporter (Janice), sat down next to him.
“Now I understand that it was a tough matchup, and a very contentious rivalry. What were you’re thoughts on the team’s passing game. The Dwarves aren’t known for passing, and yet Coach M.–”
“It wasn’t coach’s plan. You kin be damned sure of that. Those blasted Dwarven runners are trained from little. They get der head full of ideas dat aren’t proper. D’wasnt coach.”
“Are you implying that Coach M did not provide a passing playbook at all? Or was it merely bad — Wait, strike that, what was the deal with that lineman throwing the ball, and backwards?”
“Coach always says, sometimes ya gotta pass, but don’t pass just ta pass. Wasn’t easy. No lanes, ork everywhere. Me an my troll slayer were stuck in, fightin the ork and it wasn’t no easy fightin’. They were getting through, it was a bad decision. Da first pass, I can see it. Lines look open for that blocker, if he was a runner. The runner darn forgot how slow dem linemen are.”
Janice stood back up, dusting herself off. Uzkil stood up slowly.
“That was a beautiful throw, I gotta tell ya. There was a lot of jealous on both ends of that one. The pass and the catch, beautiful…”
“An then the throw that got away. I saw the ball go back in throwing motion, and then the two Orks shoved him down and the ball went squirreling out.”
“Let’s go back inside, I’ll buy,” Janice said.
“Da Orks…”
“No one messes with the reporters. We’ll write so many stories about them that they’ll wish they were killed on the pitch.”
*Uzkil followed Janice back into the bar. She finds a table a ways back from the bar.
The Orck stand up, but Janice cuts them off.*
“Boys, boys, I’m writing a story here. You’ll get your turn.”
- She sits down across from Uzkil, and the Orks turn away.*
“What about the first half?” she asked.
“The Orks were strong. We couldn’t get the advantage. Our guys were falling down left and right, and the Orks started gathering a horde that we couldn’t break down. We got knocked down and pushed away, and the ball moved down the field. Coach had a risky play–”
“Let’s talk about that play. You managed to push away from the Orks next to you, and then managed to get close and attack the ball handler. Not only that, but one of your teammates also got in close to help with the blitz.”
“Ya described it all. What do you wanna know? We weren’t going anywhere, and we had to get desperate, I shed tacklers, and made a play on the ball. But their strength kept them in the fight. The ball was there’s again soon, and I was tastin’ dirt.”
“How would you sum things up?”
“Orks just fought harder, stronger, meaner. We had no moves, couldn’t get separation when we needed it. They smashed up to bits. We couldna battle back. Our guys got split up, and then we were hopeless against them. They scored both halves, we couldn’t get past their 30 yard line. The Orks were like us but stronger.”
Janice threw a few gold coins on the table.
“Here, buy yourself a few. You’ve made the story of the week. ‘Dwarf Captain Tells All: Just Can’t beat the Orks.’ It’ll be a hit.”
Uzkil considered smashing the reporter’s head in, but she did pay for a few more beers. And if the Orks backed down when she showed up, he was better off drinking away the day then fightin.
