We're back with even more Sassy Snake for the mission, which is kind of awesome. (I love all the Sassy we get in this mission!)

The story continues and Sassy runs into someone else.... but will it be friend? Or foe?

 
I am moving through brush near the river.

My other comrades are ahead of me with Rayvon in front, then Icy, next Bristle and finally me in the rear. Anyway, we are trying to stay away from heavily traveled areas (not always easy in this terrain) when my ears hear an unusual sound. It sounds like someone quite large crying as if his heart would break. I follow the others and it isn't long before we come on the reason for the noise. A huge troll is sitting on a log and he is crying his eyes out.

In an instant, Rayvon has her crossbow leveled at his head.

"No, Rayvon, don't shoot him!" I cry.

"Oh, why not? He is ugly and he has to be an enemy."

"He's only an enemy if we make him one," I say and I approach the troll. "Hi," I say, "My name is Sassy Snake. Do you mind if I sit down here next to you for a while?"

He looks up from his crying and says, "Huh?"

"See," says Rayvon, "He is not only ugly but he is stupid too. Why are you bothering with him, Sassy? I thought we had to get to safety before those slavers find us."

"I'm not in such a hurry that I forget my manners, Rayvon." I turn to the troll. "Is there room enough on this log for me too?"

"Uh, I guess so."

I slowly sit next to him, feeling very small next to his huge height. "So, would you like to talk about why you are crying?"

For a while there is silence. I try another approach. "You know for such a big guy, you sure do cry a lot. I don't get to meet many sensitive trolls. If you keep crying like that, you might just flood the river."

The troll turns his head to look at me and then the corners of his mouth turn up into a smile.

"Now, that's better. Want to talk about it? I am a good listener."

The others have decided to take a break and rest nearby us with the exception of Rayvon who is fuming and fussing. "What's your name then?" I ask him.

"I am Belinda the troll," he says. The others look a bit bewildered at this statement and even I am momentarily at a loss for words.

"Did you say Belinda?"

"Yaah, guess my folks wanted a girl. They got me instead."

"Well, perhaps we could call you Lynne that could be either male or female."

"Oh, this is ridiculous!" Rayvon blusters. "Why are we wasting our time with this oaf? We should be on the march! We shouldn't have to linger here with this brute!"

The troll looks interested, "What is 'linger'? That sounds like a good name to me."

Rayvon fumes, "It means to be idle, to waste our time here with you when we should be attending to other things."

"Linger," the troll considers. "You know I like dat. Would you call me dat then?"

I brighten and smiles a warm smile at him. "Sure, why not? Somehow, it does suit you."

"I am not going to stay here any longer! I will go find us some supper for tonight," says Rayvon; she stalks off to the bushes.

I turn to the troll, "So, Linger, what is the matter anyway?"

"I am alone. Only me left. Not supposed to be like dat. Dey promise me that dey would be my friends and help me."

"Well, you aren't alone now, Linger," I say, "We are here and if there is any way we can help you, we will try to do that."

"That one," Linger says and points to where Rayvon disappeared. "She not like me. She not very nice. Don't trust her."

"Well," I say, "I'll admit that she probably wouldn't be my first choice in a companion; but she must have some good qualities. Do you want to join us and help us?"

"What you do? What you need help wit?"

"Well, I made a promise to release slaves and I am trying to do that. Do you think you can help us?"

"Yaaah, I help!" His answer seems to shake the ground. In spite of his size, I can tell he has a good heart. I slowly get to my feet and the troll follows suit. Even bigger than Bristle, he towers over rest of us as he hefts his massive club and the whip that he carries.

"Well, I guess we should try to find Rayvon and keep going until we can find a good place to camp tonight," I say as I fall in line.

"Me find her for you," roars Linger and he crashes through the bushes closely followed by the rest of us.

A little while later we do find Rayvon and she is in a rage. "Do you know that this hulking brute scared away all of the game around here? We won't have much to eat tonight thanks to him!" Linger starts to hang his head and cry until I hug him.

"It's okay, Linger, you were only trying to help."

"Help! Him! He couldn't help if he were . . . Hey, just a minute. He is not coming with us! I won't have that monstrosity with me! I utterly refuse to go where he goes!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Bristle act as if he's about to say something but thinks better of it. He has probably chosen to let me handle this since I am the one leading us. "Rayvon, he is our friend and he is coming with us and that's the way it is!"

"We'll see about that! What do the others say? Do they want this brainless troll along? I demand that we vote on it!"

We vote on it. Icy and Bristle agree with me. Rayvon doesn't; she is now in a towering rage. Later as we march toward our campsite, Linger walks beside me. "Black hair girl no like me."

"Don't worry about here, Linger," I say to him and give him a gentle pat, "She'll come around."

"I hope so." says Linger. We travel until the daylight is almost spent and find a small valley near the river for our site. I gather wood for the fire and start laying it out.

"I don't like that!" Rayvon says and points to the fire, "That fire will attract every thug for miles! That is not a good idea."

"Yes, you are right," I say, "But then, on the other hand, they would only think we were a small group of similar thugs and leave us alone. Especially when they notice how big Linger and Bristle are from a distance. No one would deliberately start a fire in hostile territory, so I am thinking we might just get away with it."

"Hmmph!" is her reply.

We eat some roots and mushrooms I had foraged and settled in for the night. I hear a soft whispering rustle in the brush and a large snake slowly slithers out of it towards us. Rayvon lets out a shriek and her crossbow is up to her shoulder and she fires a bolt at it. Her bolt misses by inches, but it does miss. She starts to reload and I say, "No, Rayvon, this is my friend Serpentina."

"Is every creature that moves out there your friend? Did you summon it? Are you a snake charmer?"

"No," I say looking her in the eye, "Not every creature is my friend, but this one is. And I don't charm them or summon them. But since she is my friend, she comes and goes as she wishes. She has helped by scouting out the area ahead as well as guarding me at night. Put down the crossbow. She won't bother us."

Rayvon slowly lowers her crossbow but she is still not happy. A happy camper, she definitely is not. I talk to Serpentina in her language and she tells me that there are many camps near us and that we should take care. I relay this information to my comrades.

"Oh, that is just nonsense!" Rayvon says, "I don't believe that snake! I think we should all get a good night's sleep and start off in the morning for those caves."

"Caves?" says Linger. "You didn't say nothing about caves. Linger not like caves."

"It's okay, Linger, when we get there, you won't have to go in them."

"Probably no room in them for you anyway!" says Rayvon.

We all settle down for the night and I speak to Bristle about home. "It's bad, Sassy. You can't imagine what they have done. You and I share a common bond now. We are both orphans."

"What? What do you mean, Bris?"

"Before I left, there was a raid. My folks and my family were all slain and that's when I was captured."

"But your folks were the most peaceful and gentle people I have ever met. They were good farmers who grew good food."

"Not anymore, Sass. No one grows food there anymore. If you want food, you have to get it from the Central Distribution Unit."

"The what?"

"The Central Distribution Unit, the CDU, it controls the food and water for everyone."

"The air too, I suppose."

"Give them a chance and they will."

"Why don't the citizens band together to stop it. After all, they are all home owners."

"Home owners? Not anymore! If you want to sleep, you go to the Central Barracks and register and if you don't have any black marks and if they have any beds or room, you can sleep there."

"And what happens if you have black marks?"

"Then they drive you away in the wilderness where you will starve. Either that or they kill you, take your possessions and tell everyone you have had an accident."

"I can't believe all of this is happening."

"It is, Sassy," he says, "I've seen it and I have had to deal with it. Believe me, you don't want to run afoul of the Government there."

All of this unsettling news keeps me from falling to sleep that night but finally I curl up and drift off to sleep. From where I sleep, I can see the others spread out around the dying fire; Linger closest to me, on his right is Icy and to her right is Bristle and off to her own, lying as far from us as she can, is Rayvon Winge, a most unhappy camper.

Linger is a pretty interesting new addition and it's kind of cool to see someone else from Sassy's home dimension as well. This chapter, as you've seen, has some important developments on a couple fronts. There's only four pieces in roleplaying left. There's two more debuts, plus another Sassy story!

This mission really does deliver on both of those fronts huh?