[Shastanis Althreduin]

Group F at Isengard

It's been known that Isengard would have the home team advantage when Group F came together to play, but repeated attempts to contact Saruman about the details of Isengard Stadium have been met with maddening secretiveness until now.

There's been a spot on the fields below Saruman's tower that's been under some sort of a cloaking spell for quite some time - no one could tell what was going on under the shifting haze. But as of yesterday, the haze has lifted, and Isengard Stadium stands revealed. It's made almost entirely of stone and rubble; this may be a ploy on the part of Saruman to discourage certain spectators (such as elves; orcs don't sit, and dwarves don't care) from coming to support their teams. Regardless, the men of Rohan are here in droves to support their home team, and Misty Mountains has drawn a cadre of supporters from the Golden Wood, thanks to their signing of Rumil and Orophin. Isengard, of course, has home-court advantage and the number of fans to match, while Imladris, unfortunately has only a small section of devoted supporters to take strength from.

Several members of the White Hand are running concessions, and it's possible (though unprovable) that those wearing Isengard colors are getting slightly better rates on food and drink, but that's a can of worms this reporter isn't quite willing to open just yet.


Game 1 - Imladris vs. Rohan (1:00 pm start time)

As the captains came together to decide on play order, it was decided that the Rohan and Imladris teams, not having as much night-sight capability as most members of the other two teams, would take the first slot rather than the second (which is occuring rather later in the evening than would be expected) - Saruman wasn't insistent on this, exactly, but it's clear that this is the result he wanted, so it's suspected there may be more to watch during the second game than previously thought. Regardless, there's one issue that several groups of people have been wondering about - how will Elladan and Elrohir fare against the horse-filled defense of Rohan? When asked to comment, the sons of Elrond were rather upfront about their chances.

"We'll run rings around them," Elrohir boasted confidently. "Horses are too big to turn on a dime; we're smaller, we have more agility. Besides that, they're horses!"

Elladan was more circumspect in his reply. "Shadowfax is the pinnacle of horsekind, of course, and Snowmane and Felarof are no less good at what they do. However, I feel like they'll be running into each other a lot, which ought to work in our favor."

On the Rohan side, this reporter only had limited time to speak with the horse-line of Rohan's defense to elicit a response to the Imladris forwards - and of course most of it was impossible to understand. However, there seemed to be a lot of snorting and pawing the ground going on - and Shadowfax had a particular glint in his eye that doesn't bode well for the brash Elrohir.


Game 2 - Isengard vs. Misty Mountains (7:00 pm start time)

The staggeringly long delay between Games 1 and 2 has been explained away as having to redo the pitch after Rohan's horses have gouged it with their hooves, but six hours seems a long time for such a short task. Regardless, it means that Isengard and Misty Mountains will be playing under the setting sun, and dusk will fall during the middle of the first half. Neither team should be too hampered by this, so it just remains to be seen - why did Saruman want such a late start time? When asked to comment, the wizard was slippery.

"Well, of course the pitch will have to be redone after Game 1. We can't have people tripping in holes the size of Caradhras left and right, can we? What's that? Oh, do excuse me, it seems something's come up that I'm going to have to deal with."

The "something" appeared to be Lurtz, holding two cones of spun sugar. One wonders what question Saruman was trying to avoid.

In any case, this reporter managed to catch up to Rumil of the Misty Mountains team, one of the most likely to be affected by the late start, in order to inquire about his team's chances.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll do fine. We can all see in the dark, for the most part, and it shouldn't be that lightless anyway. Some of us are a little concerned that Saruman might try something underhanded, though; no one trusts him after he -" and here, he glanced around to make sure no one else was listening, "- took our best goalie with him when he left. Try to keep that hush-hush, by the way; the Great Goblin is doing a fine job, but he's been known to go into a sulk when he thinks he's being compared to Caradhras and that's the last thing we need right now."

No worries. This reporter's lips are sealed. On with the matches!