After a rough start to the season and a lot of casualties, Two and a Half Elves have clawed themselves back into a tenuous second place in the division with a costly win against Dead Men Walking. The Zandri won the toss and received the kickoff; thankfully they couldn't manage to keep any elves down, and in response to heavy pressure on their cage they ran the ball in turn 5. Two and a Half Elves matched them with a quick passing play and the half ended 1-1.

The half elves still managed to field a full squad and were planning on dragging things out, but the Dead Men Walking revealed their dirty trick card: spiked Witches' Brew in Erendriel Johnson's drink! I wasn't about to put up with Really Stupid on my primary ballcarrier for an entire half, so half-elves shifted gears for another quick score. That left Zandri with most of a half to try and tie things up... but Nuffle had other plans. Forced to field their catchers on defense due to a depleted bench, Two and a Half Elves came out blitzing and ran deep into the skellies' backfield. Dead Men Walking opted to concentrate on smashing up the line of scrimmage, figuring that as long as star blitzer Eldariel was triple-marked that it would be safe to send a lone thro-ra at the ball.

AG2 did its thing, though, and that was when the half elves got revenge for the spiked potion with a well-placed custard pie. That opened a path for Eldariel to make an easy dodge to smack the opposing thro-ra out of the way, scoop up the ball, and run it in for a decisive 3-1 lead. The Zandri did not much appreciate this, bashing a bloody swathe through the half-elves over the next several turns as they scored their second goal. With two turns left the half elves ran their standard play again, trying for a fourth goal, but their star catcher Jim's agility finally gave way and he faceplanted on a 2+ dodge.

As expensive as it was (two minor permanent injuries and a key MNG), this week's victory brings Two and a Half Elves back up to #2. Former champs SL Shogun are still slated to play current leaders Raining Cats and Dogz!, so depending on how it goes we could conceivably wind up in a three way tie for first. Unfortunately, our last two games are SL Shogun themselves followed by the Snorkland Allstars. SL Shogun would be massive overdogs even if we weren't down three players, and while we squeaked past Snorkland last season the sea elves are going to be a tough fight for whatever's left of TaaHE.

On the plus side, Erendriel Johnson has all but locked down the SLA passing trophy for Season 4, and Jim Lafellyrondel is the current leader for the scoring trophy (although at least one other contender has yet to play Week 5.) Getting one or both would give the team a bit more leeway in the playoff standings.