The dark, humid jungles of Ghetitophmi were the venue for some more MMBBL action this past Thursday, when the Lurkers of Azzilizza hosted the Shattered Plains Rampage at the Citadel of Azzilizza. The dark elves were intent on impressing their revered matron in this first league match, while the Rampage were extremely surly from the uncomfortable cross-continental teleportation process. Much to the Lurkers' dismay, thousands of traveling Lurkers fans had swarmed to their home arena, leading to bizarre cases of the home team actually being booed when the got their hands on the ball. The Rampage won the coin toss, and chose to receive first.
Taking advantage of the moderate case of "Port Lag" that was affecting their beastmen opponents, the Lurkers blitzed on the opening play, with witch elf Inafay Yifana'Ii nearly making it to where the ball eventually touched down. Finally, the Rampage started moving, and to great effect, as the front line of hippos and rhinos plowed steadily forward. Charging madly, leonine berserker Yo-Kamba launched himself at Inafay Yifana'Ii, shoving the witch elf out of play. Fortunately, the elf was caught in the arms of several Lurkers fans, and was carried back to her dugout safely. With extra space to move, hyena thrower Hafsa spotted the nimble Sarabi running up the middle of the pitch, and tossed her a bullet patch which she caught expertly.
The elves began a regroup, but the hustle and bustle of Rampage muscle met them at every turn. While Yo-Kamba set about knocking out anything in a Lurkers uniform, Sarabi made a quick cut back to the outside, leaving a handful of elves in her dust. Line elf Frazz Zufra tried to catch her, but collapsed after taking an awkward step, landing sorely on his head. Zufra was dragged off the field quickly and discreetly, but the parade of pain wasn't about to stop yet. Breaking for the goal line, Sarabi crashed into blitzer Jarlox Oxilljar, catching him square in the neck with the ball's four-inch steel spikes. The force of the impact carried Sarabi and the instantly-dead Oxilljar over the line, and the score was 1-0 for the Rampage.
Bruised but not broken, the Lurkers took to the field once more for their first drive. The roar of the crowd was deafening, particularly when Matron Azzilizza herself stood and showed her favour to the dark elf squad. Inspired, runner Drixit Itixdur fielded the ball and passed it expertly to his counterpart Wistixle Keslestwis. The elf team as a whole then shifted to one side of the field to afford some protection to their runner, and all looked good until Keslestwis fell while trying to get away from a hippo blocker. The ball squirted free awkwardly as he tumbled to the ground. Medical staff took a look at him, and following a brief examination, declared Wistixle Keslestwis dead from heart failure. Enraged, Matron Azzilizza ordered her witch doctors to revive the runner and kill him again, much more slowly, as punishment for not being forthcoming about his precarious medical condition prior to joining the team.
As the confusion abated, the first set of hands to find the ball was that of hippo lineman newcomer Zubeda. With nothing standing in his way thanks to the Rampages' two rhinoceros powerhouses, Zubeda hustled his way into the end zone to make it a two to nothing lead for the Shattered Plains club. The half ended a few moments later, as the next kickoff was more of a formality than anything, and time expired before the Lurkers could mount another attempt.
As the second half started, the dark elves, now reeling from not one but two teammate deaths, took the field against a Rampage squad that was fully awake and had a taste for blood. Fielding the high kick was Drixit Itixdur, as the Rampage players surrounded the nimble elves cautiously. Depleted thought they may be, they were still faster and quicker. With the coverage in place, Yo-Kamba the lion made his blitz against the ball-carrier, but the quick-thinking dark elf dumped the pass off to lineman Shrick'kahn Annikshri and the Lurkers' plans were still in effect. It seemed not meant to be, however, as almost immediately thereafter, Annikshri was leveled by a journeyman hippo who'd been hired on to fill a gap in the line. The ball fell free and was picked up by Zubeda, who had scored once earlier. Wanting, it seemed, to get every species in on the action, Zubeda attempted a handoff to rhino Shenzi, but the play was botched and the ball was recovered by witch elf Melanissa Sanilameh, who hurled it as far as possible back in the other direction, with no apparent target but somewhere away from Rampage players.
Watching the backfield was Hafsa the hyena, and he was quick to make a move for the ball, now resting halfway between the Rampage end zone and the line of scrimmage. Those elves who could move into range ran headlong towards Hafsa as he picked it up, hoping to screen any passing attempt and perhaps pull down an interception. Undeterred, Hafsa hurled the ball in a tight spiral to Ojo the line hippo, who made the catch at midfield and charged forward to hand off to Shenzi for a second attempt. This time the handoff was good, and the big rhino rumbled on down to the end zone to put the game fully out of reach at 3-0.
Receiving the final kick of the game, Drixit Itixdur made no mistake on his pass to blitzer Zanzill Illzizan. With no play left that would yield points with such little time left, the Lurkers were content to hang back and lick their wounds...but the Rampage would have none of it. Putting a final stamp on the game, Banzai the rhino charged into line elf Krrox Roxrrk, dealing significant damage and rendering the poor elf useless for the forseeable future. not a very promising start for the hard-luck Lurkers of Azzilizza, but the MMBBL's other elf team showed that given enough time, there's no telling how big a contender can be made out of any squad.
Match MVP awards were presented to the Lurkers' Zanzill Illzizan, and to Rampage berserker Yo-Kamba. Also worthy of note was the blocking power of Banzai the rhino.
And that brings us to the end of the first week of play in Deathdealer Division! Stay tuned though, because we've got a few challenge matches to report on, and Bloodbath's next week gets underway tomorrow!
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