G
Grond
Guest
The night of the game began like many others, with a friendly gathering at the Yew Merry Center for All. More orcs were in attendance than usual, and there was an expectant tension in the air, but the banter continued as normal.
Dor locked down a rune to the playing arena
while the crowd amused themselves in the usual ways.
I took a quick look at the playing field before the crowd arrived. The staff had done a fine job of setting up an orderly field!
(Gen arrived shortly after I, no doubt to ensure that no mischief befell the field as a result of my presence…)
Soon the crowd had arrived! Two teams assembled on the field – Nogra’s Nobs, clad in black, consisted of Nug, Bortrak, Zamlug Tork, and Mak’Gog; the Sonoma Scrum, clad in red, was comprised of DAX, Dor, Jacopo, and Krowe Darkeye.
A fair number of spectators were present, including some applicants for the recently-opened positions with the Sonoma Stratics reporting team...
And the bagball itself stood ready for the game to begin!
The game began, and it was a heated battle for the bag! The early moments set the tone of much of the rest of the game… The bag was on the side near the Scrum’s goal, where the Nobs had the advantage, and the teams and individual players began to shout their battle cries. Nogra’s Nobs were oft heard chanting, “Nogra! Nogra!”, while Dor of Sonoma inspired the Scrum with her rallying cry, “Man, I suck!”
Team leader Dax summed up the Scrum’s view of the game early on:
“frickinhard”
But things weren’t easy for the Nobs, either, as when the ball disappeared from view for more than a few seconds, more-or-less-trustworthy referee Miraz called a penalty!
As the game halted while Miraz named the offense, famed looter Neutral Galad took the opportunity to shamelessly get some, uh, "exposure" from the press.
In spite of the Nobs’ protest that they weren’t holding the ball, that it was just behind someone, Miraz’ ruling stood. Apparently even in bagball, it’s futile to argue with the referee.
After a friendly foot to the referee’s groin,
the Nobs returned to their side of the playing field and the game resumed with the Scrum in control of the bag! It wasn’t long before the Nobs had control of the bag again, though.
After some back-and-forth tussle with the ball, during which a Galad-inspired Merlinda streaked across the field
and Dor explained the reasoning behind her rallying cry,
the ball neared the Scrum’s goal,
and the Nobs SCORED!!!
With the first point going to the orcs, the Nobs were in high spirits, while the Scrum cursed the Nobs and their swiftness.
“Nograaaaa!!!! NogrAAAA!” “Gah!! Damn you orcs and your no lag!!”
Meanwhile, a naked Merlinda chased an equally clothing-bereft Galad across the field again… Whatever these two had in mind, I’m sure it wasn’t bagball.
As Miraz gave the count to resume play, one of the soon-to-be-fledling-reporters explained Galad’s and Merlinda’s odd behavior:
“It’s the half-time show. They are early.”
Play resumed, the spectators running back and forth to follow the action (since we couldn’t see the whole field at once), and Galad shamelessly plugged his web site while streaking across the field again.
Before we knew it, it was halftime. Lich King (shown here in purple) posed what I believe to be the most important question of the game:
“Where are the orc cheerleaders?”
… on the other hand, I’m not sure I want to know.
Halftime was nearly as exciting as the game itself. Flip of LuT was caught loitering near the bagball
and chased away while Amid DeMoola of DP continued to loiter.
The bagball was dismantled! Amid was accused, but protested innocence. As the gaming staff scrambled to restore order to the game, the halftime show continued… GK Slayer suggested a team change,
(him alone vs. all of the orcs)
Dax asked for halftime entertainment, which was immediately provided by Merlinda dancing the can-can and Miraz joining in with the Hoky-Pokey, as GK Slayer tried to provoke the orcish team members into a brawl.
A good time was had by all, except perhaps those trying to maintain order and those who had to put the bagball back together for the second half.
Once the bagball was whole once again, Miraz cleared the field of spectators, and after a friendly kick to the referee by the Nobs,
the players took their places.
With a score of 1-0 in favor of the Nobs, the second half began!
Again in the second half, the Nobs seemed to dominate the game. One possible reason was given by a spectator:
“urks are gud about muvn bags that dun belong to em”
It wasn’t long before the Nobs had moved the bag once again to the Scrum’s goal… but wait! The bag went out of bounds!!!
True to form, the Nobs ignored the violation and put the bag in the goal,
but our trusty referee quickly put things right. Trinsic paladins Lazarus and Orville teleported in to enforce the referee’s decision!
Apparently the paladins’ assistance wasn’t desired; the ref called foul on them,
and the Nobs helpfully disposed of the unwanted interference.
The game resumed, with the Scrum in charge of the bag.
The Scrum soon had the bagball onto the Nobs’ side of the field, while the confused spectators tried to sort out their corpses and the rules to the game.
The Nobs quickly regained control of the bag, and before the corpses of the guards had cooled, had it down on the Scrum’s end of the field,
across the goal line,
and SCORED!!!
With the score 2-0 in favor of the Nobs, the orcs one again took up their chants of “Nogra!”, while the Scrum took up their traditional rallying cry of “Argh!”
and Dor inspired them once again with her slightly-modified personal rallying cry “I STILL suck!”
With the bag in play again, it looked as if the Scrum might be making progress,
but the Nobs soon had the bag at the Scrum’s goal again.
The Nobs thought they had a goal, but the ref denied it, explaining that the bag had to first touch the finish line and then be placed into the goal.
Tensions were high as the game resumed and insults were hurled.
“fluwur sniffurs!!”
At the next face-off, the Nobs got a bit of a head start, resulting in another penalty.
Dax later explained that he’d had a premonition of the Nobs’ play style:
“How did I know the orks would have a lot of penalties??”
The Scrum had control of the ball once more, and were making their way to the Nobs’ goal, when… TIME RAN OUT! The ref called time, and the game was over.
Final score: Nogra’s Nobs 2, Sonoma Scrum 0.
URKS AR DA WINNARS!!!
This wasn’t the end of the story, though. Since this was Sonoma’s first ever bagball tournament, much remained to be done. The Scrum discussed their strategy in preparing for the next game,
while the Nobs wandered around asking the questions near and dear to any orcish heart.
Lich King offered his advice on post-game celebration,
“Sacrifice the winners! Only the strongest for our gods!”
while congratulations went all around and fans and players alike began celebrating in traditional Sonoma fashion.
The soon-to-be-fledgling-reporters finished their discussion of the amazing inspiration offered by Stratics’ own Pluffina,
and then began interviewing players.
Although Scrum team captain Dax tried to influence the press,
“put in the news that the orks cheated,”
I’m sure that the reporters remain unaffected and will report everything objectively.
Spectators offered some explanation of the orcs’ clear superiority on the field
while the orcs began to wind up their part of the celebration
and describe to the soon-to-be-reporters what changes they’d make in the game.
(As a side note, Galad explained the entry requirements for LuT:
"Galad?"
"how would one join LuT?"
“you have to sleep with a lot of barwenches”)
Dor arranged for a referee for next week’s game
while the party continued unabated.
Miraz offered what were perhaps the wisest words spoken during the entire event:
One of the orcs – I couldn’t tell who – explained one of the difficulties of bagball:
And Dax once again summarized the Scrum’s viewpoint of the game:
“that game was frickin HARD”
But wait! Amidst the celebration… thievery! LuT’s very own Flip was noticed snooping around the referee’s bag…
and then attempting to steal from it!
A good-natured chase ensued,
resulting in the good-natured death of the would-be thief.
After all was said and done, the evening was a tremendous success! A game was played, many Sosarians were entertained, a fine tradition was established, and, in the words of Dor of Sonoma,
“It worked! *whew*”
*edit* Corrected the references to the 'guards' to be 'paladins', per Galad's expert advice
Dor locked down a rune to the playing arena
while the crowd amused themselves in the usual ways.
I took a quick look at the playing field before the crowd arrived. The staff had done a fine job of setting up an orderly field!
(Gen arrived shortly after I, no doubt to ensure that no mischief befell the field as a result of my presence…)
Soon the crowd had arrived! Two teams assembled on the field – Nogra’s Nobs, clad in black, consisted of Nug, Bortrak, Zamlug Tork, and Mak’Gog; the Sonoma Scrum, clad in red, was comprised of DAX, Dor, Jacopo, and Krowe Darkeye.
A fair number of spectators were present, including some applicants for the recently-opened positions with the Sonoma Stratics reporting team...
And the bagball itself stood ready for the game to begin!
The game began, and it was a heated battle for the bag! The early moments set the tone of much of the rest of the game… The bag was on the side near the Scrum’s goal, where the Nobs had the advantage, and the teams and individual players began to shout their battle cries. Nogra’s Nobs were oft heard chanting, “Nogra! Nogra!”, while Dor of Sonoma inspired the Scrum with her rallying cry, “Man, I suck!”
Team leader Dax summed up the Scrum’s view of the game early on:
“frickinhard”
But things weren’t easy for the Nobs, either, as when the ball disappeared from view for more than a few seconds, more-or-less-trustworthy referee Miraz called a penalty!
As the game halted while Miraz named the offense, famed looter Neutral Galad took the opportunity to shamelessly get some, uh, "exposure" from the press.
In spite of the Nobs’ protest that they weren’t holding the ball, that it was just behind someone, Miraz’ ruling stood. Apparently even in bagball, it’s futile to argue with the referee.
After a friendly foot to the referee’s groin,
the Nobs returned to their side of the playing field and the game resumed with the Scrum in control of the bag! It wasn’t long before the Nobs had control of the bag again, though.
After some back-and-forth tussle with the ball, during which a Galad-inspired Merlinda streaked across the field
and Dor explained the reasoning behind her rallying cry,
the ball neared the Scrum’s goal,
and the Nobs SCORED!!!
With the first point going to the orcs, the Nobs were in high spirits, while the Scrum cursed the Nobs and their swiftness.
“Nograaaaa!!!! NogrAAAA!” “Gah!! Damn you orcs and your no lag!!”
Meanwhile, a naked Merlinda chased an equally clothing-bereft Galad across the field again… Whatever these two had in mind, I’m sure it wasn’t bagball.
As Miraz gave the count to resume play, one of the soon-to-be-fledling-reporters explained Galad’s and Merlinda’s odd behavior:
“It’s the half-time show. They are early.”
Play resumed, the spectators running back and forth to follow the action (since we couldn’t see the whole field at once), and Galad shamelessly plugged his web site while streaking across the field again.
Before we knew it, it was halftime. Lich King (shown here in purple) posed what I believe to be the most important question of the game:
“Where are the orc cheerleaders?”
… on the other hand, I’m not sure I want to know.
Halftime was nearly as exciting as the game itself. Flip of LuT was caught loitering near the bagball
and chased away while Amid DeMoola of DP continued to loiter.
The bagball was dismantled! Amid was accused, but protested innocence. As the gaming staff scrambled to restore order to the game, the halftime show continued… GK Slayer suggested a team change,
(him alone vs. all of the orcs)
Dax asked for halftime entertainment, which was immediately provided by Merlinda dancing the can-can and Miraz joining in with the Hoky-Pokey, as GK Slayer tried to provoke the orcish team members into a brawl.
A good time was had by all, except perhaps those trying to maintain order and those who had to put the bagball back together for the second half.
Once the bagball was whole once again, Miraz cleared the field of spectators, and after a friendly kick to the referee by the Nobs,
the players took their places.
With a score of 1-0 in favor of the Nobs, the second half began!
Again in the second half, the Nobs seemed to dominate the game. One possible reason was given by a spectator:
“urks are gud about muvn bags that dun belong to em”
It wasn’t long before the Nobs had moved the bag once again to the Scrum’s goal… but wait! The bag went out of bounds!!!
True to form, the Nobs ignored the violation and put the bag in the goal,
but our trusty referee quickly put things right. Trinsic paladins Lazarus and Orville teleported in to enforce the referee’s decision!
Apparently the paladins’ assistance wasn’t desired; the ref called foul on them,
and the Nobs helpfully disposed of the unwanted interference.
The game resumed, with the Scrum in charge of the bag.
The Scrum soon had the bagball onto the Nobs’ side of the field, while the confused spectators tried to sort out their corpses and the rules to the game.
The Nobs quickly regained control of the bag, and before the corpses of the guards had cooled, had it down on the Scrum’s end of the field,
across the goal line,
and SCORED!!!
With the score 2-0 in favor of the Nobs, the orcs one again took up their chants of “Nogra!”, while the Scrum took up their traditional rallying cry of “Argh!”
and Dor inspired them once again with her slightly-modified personal rallying cry “I STILL suck!”
With the bag in play again, it looked as if the Scrum might be making progress,
but the Nobs soon had the bag at the Scrum’s goal again.
The Nobs thought they had a goal, but the ref denied it, explaining that the bag had to first touch the finish line and then be placed into the goal.
Tensions were high as the game resumed and insults were hurled.
“fluwur sniffurs!!”
At the next face-off, the Nobs got a bit of a head start, resulting in another penalty.
Dax later explained that he’d had a premonition of the Nobs’ play style:
“How did I know the orks would have a lot of penalties??”
The Scrum had control of the ball once more, and were making their way to the Nobs’ goal, when… TIME RAN OUT! The ref called time, and the game was over.
Final score: Nogra’s Nobs 2, Sonoma Scrum 0.
URKS AR DA WINNARS!!!
This wasn’t the end of the story, though. Since this was Sonoma’s first ever bagball tournament, much remained to be done. The Scrum discussed their strategy in preparing for the next game,
while the Nobs wandered around asking the questions near and dear to any orcish heart.
Lich King offered his advice on post-game celebration,
“Sacrifice the winners! Only the strongest for our gods!”
while congratulations went all around and fans and players alike began celebrating in traditional Sonoma fashion.
The soon-to-be-fledgling-reporters finished their discussion of the amazing inspiration offered by Stratics’ own Pluffina,
and then began interviewing players.
Although Scrum team captain Dax tried to influence the press,
“put in the news that the orks cheated,”
I’m sure that the reporters remain unaffected and will report everything objectively.
Spectators offered some explanation of the orcs’ clear superiority on the field
while the orcs began to wind up their part of the celebration
and describe to the soon-to-be-reporters what changes they’d make in the game.
(As a side note, Galad explained the entry requirements for LuT:
"Galad?"
"how would one join LuT?"
“you have to sleep with a lot of barwenches”)
Dor arranged for a referee for next week’s game
while the party continued unabated.
Miraz offered what were perhaps the wisest words spoken during the entire event:
One of the orcs – I couldn’t tell who – explained one of the difficulties of bagball:
And Dax once again summarized the Scrum’s viewpoint of the game:
“that game was frickin HARD”
But wait! Amidst the celebration… thievery! LuT’s very own Flip was noticed snooping around the referee’s bag…
and then attempting to steal from it!
A good-natured chase ensued,
resulting in the good-natured death of the would-be thief.
After all was said and done, the evening was a tremendous success! A game was played, many Sosarians were entertained, a fine tradition was established, and, in the words of Dor of Sonoma,
“It worked! *whew*”
*edit* Corrected the references to the 'guards' to be 'paladins', per Galad's expert advice