The Fireball Gazette

“Ladies and gentlemen, and those of a particularly polite disposition, WELCOME to Triiiiiistriiiiike Claaaash! I do apologise for the wait, I really do, but I promise you that the delay was ABSOLUTELY worth it, because we have two smashing teams tonight!

The Challengers have travelled quite a long way to prove their abilities in the Tristrike Arena:

• The gold-clad dragonborn sorceress with gleaming scales and unmatched magic prowess, Fiery Tiana!
• The Desert Monk of the Open Hand; agile, disciplined and powerful, she embodies a rather impressive ascetic perfection, Selah the Uncatchable!
• And finally, the Druid from the far South! Eyes like an eagle, fangs like a bear - it is Deva the Devious!*

On the other side of the arena, we have our beloved Goldenbank Team!

• The Wizard whose burning passion quite literally scorches the arena! Witness her unmatched magical fury and fiery brilliance: Azoma the Hot-Handed!
• The gargantuan hooded figure commanding the field! No challenger has ever managed more than two hits on him. His opponents are rather overcome with emotion as he towers over them, Stanley the Colstossal!
• And finally, after the rather sudden retirement of our beloved El Gran Samurai, it was a bit of a bother finding a third member for the troupe. However, on short notice, we found someone! Not much is known about her; some say she is a fugitive from the West evading the law, while others say she wishes to avenge a fallen friend. Her flying scissors cut down foes with deadly precision. Not much of a sharpshooter, but certainly a sharp-thrower: Kenzie the Bladeweaver!”*

And with that, Adrastos opens the game and off we go! Azoma dashes forward and expels fire from her hands to propel herself onto a statue, while Selah uses her swift agility to climb the opposing statue. Kenzie gets into position and is ready to punish any who step onto the Tower but good heavens, what is this?! Deva transforms into a horse and gallops forwards! Without even bothering to step onto the Tower into Kenzie's trap, she extends vines from her arms to grab an Orb but misses! How clumsy! Tiyana is right behind her and uses her Mage Hand to roll one of the Orbs off the Tower towards her team! But here is Stanley, charging headfirst into the fray! Deva looks like she wants to grab the Orb that Tiyana rolled right towards her, but she is forced to instead summon vines from the ground to halt Stanley's advance! Annnnnd… he's rather ensnared by the vines and can't move from the spot! Azoma is right behind him and burns most of the vines with her Fire Breath but, much to our disappointment, she can't free him! However, Deva left the Orb completely unguarded and Kenzie swoops in for the first Claim! It's 1-0 for the Goldenbank Team!

The Challengers don't look particularly happy about that, and Tiyana pokes out of her cover to fire blue flames at Kenzie, who is now in a bit of a state. Deva follows suit and launches a javelin directly into Kenzie's torso and I say, I can't believe my eyes! It's a critical hit! Kenzie is pinned to the Tower as her consciousness fades! We shall certainly need the medic team out to sort her out after the match - perhaps once everyone has had a quick cup of tea!
On the right side of the arena, Selah tries to fight Stanley, but nunchaku and fists simply bounce right off his colossal body! He gets a swing in as payback, but Selah quickly grabs an Orb, jumps onto a nearby statue and scores another Claim! It's an even 1-1!

The Goldenbank Team are down one player and need a decisive play quite urgently. Azoma scorches her way through the vines as she launches a cloud of flame towards Deva, who doesn't even flinch as she casually rolls an Orb off the Tower towards Tiyana! Tiyana lunges forwards, seemingly trying to Claim the Orb… no, she actually charges past it and kicks it in passing further into her own team's territory!!! A bit much, that! She knows that this is a decisive moment where she can't spend time on a Claim and instead launches a Twinned Magic Missile into Stanley! Six blue flames burn their way onto his limbs as he finally cuts himself free from the vines. But what is this?! Selah darts back and forth from her statue onto the Tower and scores another Claim! It's 1-2 and the Challengers are in the lead! Who would have thought such a thing?

Stanley jumps off the Tower, trying to follow an Orb that got kicked off, but Deva isn't having any of it! She transforms into a horse again and lunges off the tower onto Stanley! It's hind legs versus forehead as he gets squashed by five hundred kilograms of muscle and hooves! Rather undignified, really. Azoma knows it's up to her to stop the Challengers from claiming the last Orb that is deep within their territory, so she conjures up her signature Flaming Sphere! The crowd goes wild as she launches it towards Tiyanya who will surely get burned! No, wait. What is happening here?! She's absorbing the flames from the sphere into her own skin!!! She barely gets scorched as she grabs the Orb through the fiery sphere and scores the third Claim! It's 1-3 and the game is OVER! The Challengers have won the match!

Of course, we shall be staying for the post-game coverage! The Challengers raise their hands high on the Tower as the medic team tries to pull the javelin out of Kenzie. No, actually, it now seems as though they have decided to transport Kenzie with the javelin still inside her. Rather blunt, that. Her teammates give somewhat dismissing looks towards her as they head out of the arena, visibly dejected. And here's Adrastos on the Tower interviewing the winners…