We're back with Sassy Snake and a new bit of roleplaying gets kicked off here. Voter Ichiro called it a "nice change of pace."

Sassy and Linger run into a stranger who is down on his luck, kicking off the next arc of Sassy's stories for the mission.

 
Morning on the mountains dawns like a beautiful promise.  I get up and tidy up the camp.  Soon Linger is awake too.  We eat a quick meal, pack up things and start up the steep mountain trail.  We haven't gone too far when Linger says, "Look!  Wot's dat ober dere?"

I look at where he points, off the trail among some bushes. "Don't know, I say.  Let's check it out."

We walk to it and soon I can see it is a body of a fallen man.

"Him not look too good.  Is him dead?" Linger says.

"No, he isn't dead, but he doesn't look good at all.  Do you think you could carry him to those rocks over there?" I ask, pointing out the rocks.

"Me think so.  Me try."  Linger bends and effortlessly lifts and carries the man to the rocks.  In the meantime, I am looking around on the ground and in the brush.

"Wot you do, Sassy?" Linger asks me when he comes back.

"Just looking to see what may have hurt that man so badly."

"Snakes?"

I shake my head no.  "Our friend Rascal would have told us so and besides I see no tracks or evidence of them.  It must be poison of some kind, but what kind?"

"Linger not know."

"I know you don't.  Well, we had best go to him and see if we can help him."

"But how him get poison?"

"Well," I say, "he might have drank it at a stream or perhaps ate a bad plant."

"Can you help him den?"

"All I can do is try, Linger.  Let's go over and check it out."

We walk to where I instructed Linger to carry the body.  He is breathing, but just barely.  There are no major marks on him.  I take his canteen and pour some water out of it.  I sniff the water and smell a very bad odor.

"Linger, come here and see if you can smell this too?"

I signal him to come over and I let him sniff the water and he reacts strongly to the odor.

"Yeah, that's about what I thought." I pour out all of the water in his canteen and examine it carefully.  There is a thick layer of grayish crust on its insides.

"Is that rust?" Linger asks and I shake my head.

"Don't think so.  I think some kind of poison was added to the water; either in his canteen or in the stream.  We'll have to watch our drinking water from now on.  In the meantime, let's see what we can do to help this guy."

I go over to the flat place among the rocks and build a fire to cook some herbs and the like for him.  After the fire is burning hot and the herbs are boiling in good water for tea, we go over and make the guy as comfortable as we can.

A little later in the day his breathing gets better and he manages to waken slightly.  I give him some good cool water to drink and I manage to get some of the tea down him.

"Are you feeling any better?"

"Some, I guess.  Where am I?"

"In the mountains.  My name is Sassy Snake and this is my friend Linger.  What is your name?"

"I am Bad Luck Blorf.  I have made many treks into these mountains, but this has to be the worst one yet.  I was looking for the oriole."

"Did you find any signs of him or any clues or hints?"

"No," he says and shakes his head sadly.  "Not sure he is anywhere around here.  I couldn't find a clue in his nest and haven't seen any sign other than that."

"How did you get sick?" asks Linger.

"Beats me.  I was just poking around the brushes and come on a stream and I needed water so I filled my canteen and drank a lot of it and the next thing I remember, you are here with me."

Linger frowns and turns to me. "So, no bird up here den, Sassy.  Maybe we should go back and rethink it.  We should probably help Blorf get to town for better medical treatment."

"Yes, I think you are right, Linger.  In the morning, if Blorf is up to it, we will head back to town.  That sound okay to you, Blorf?"

My question goes unanswered.  Blorf is snoring peacefully under some blankets.  "Let's let him sleep a bit, Linger.  We'll see how he does in the morning or later tonight."  Linger nods in agreement and we settle down in our camp as the sun sinks low in the sky.

Later that night..

A few moments ago, a sharp piercing scream punctuated the dark cold mountain night.  It was the man by the fire and now he is rolling and groaning and screaming.  I go to him to comfort him  "Hey, easy, Blorf.  You are safe.  Just calm down."

"Where am I?  Who are you?   Are you going to kill me?"  He looks up into my eyes with fear and mistrust.

"Of course not.  You are safe on the mountains in our camp.  My name is Sassy Snake and my friend is Linger the troll."

"Troll!!!  Not troll!"

"No, easy, he is friendly.  He helps me a lot.  Now calm down.  This is not going to help.  Linger, come here and help me."

Linger stirs and comes over.  "Not sure he like me."

"He doesn't know you enough to like or dislike you."

"Him sure is sweating and hot."

"Yes, well," I tell him, "That is the toxins from the poison working their way out through his pores."

"How Sassy know he is poor."

"No, not poor, oh never mind.  Just trust me, he will be okay in a bit.  The first tea he had has had a few adverse effects.  The poison must have been pretty strong to do that.  I need to give him a drink from another potion."

"Linger know nothin about potions."

"I know, sweetie, but I do.  Problem is; he's not going to like this very much.  But I'm afraid it has to be done.  I might need you to hold him down if he resists.  I hope that won't happen."

I approach Blorf.  "Blorf, you were poisoned.  I am a healer and I think I can help you.  Are you willing to help us out?"

"Do I have any choice?"

"Sure.  You could refuse treatment and not get any better.  Would you like the mountains to be your grave, then?"

"Grave?  No, no!  Please help me if you can."

I begin to mix a potion for him to drink.  "Now this potion is quite strong.  But then I think the poison you ingested is strong too.  By the way, where did you find it?"

"An elf was wandering around the mountains.  Said he came from Father Crimbo and had a gift for me.  Gave me this packet of powder.  He said that if I mixed it with my water supply, I would be protected from dangers as long as I was on the mountains.  Guess it is more of my bad luck."

"Not sound like bad luck to Linger.  Not your fault the elf was bad."

"I say, are you sure that troll is safe?"

"Quite safe, I assure you."  I finish mixing the potion and hand the cup to him.  "Okay, you need to drink all of that up now."

He takes the cup and begins to smell it.

"Oooh, ugh!  That smells horrible!"

"Oh, the smell," I say to him with a slight lilt in my voice. "The smell is nothing compared to the taste.  But you need to down it all for it to take effect."

"How do I know that you aren't in league with that rogue elf?  You might be trying to poison me yourself."

"If that's what you think, okay."  I start to reach for the cup.  "I can take this back and leave you like this, you know.  I can give you no guarantee.  I think that this will work, but again nothing is certain.  It is entirely your choice."

He looks at me, then looks at the cup, then his eyes shift to Linger, then back to the cup; he raises it to his lips, smells it, starts to lower it, then he finally takes a sip.  He recoils from the taste and his whole body seems to shake.

"It is pretty nasty I know.  Wish I could have used something to sweeten it, but this potion doesn't work well if that is done.  Come on, just chug it down and you will feel better soon."  I smile at him in a gentle way.

He raises the cup to his lips, swallows the potion quickly and then hands the empty cup back to me.

"Now, that's a good boy.  Just relax if you can.  Though the toxins will want to be expelled; don't get too comfortable.  They must come out one way or another."

He starts to lie back and then looks very sick.  He heads off toward the bushes.  Linger gets up to follow him.

"No, Linger, come back.  We have to give him his privacy.  I am sure he doesn't want to show you what he is doing now."

"If Sassy say so, Linger will do."

I gather up supplies and straighten up the campsite.  I can hear sounds coming from the bushes, but I try to block them out.

"Sassy?" Linger says, "Will him be okay soon?"

"I think so, but I can give no promises that that will be the case. Question is, what do we do with him now?"

"Take him to town now?"

"Well, not exactly now.  It will take some time for the potions to do their work.  Do you know how to build a sweat lodge?"

"Wot dat?"

"Well, I've never seen one myself; but I have read of them.  It is a kind of primitive shelter with a fire in it where patients can go and sweat away their ill humours."

"Hmmm, not sure I understand."

"Don't worry about it.  We'll wait and see if one is needed.  With any luck, it won't."

"Wot we do about dat bad elf?"

"Hm, now that is a good question.  I won't allow him to wander around these mountains poisoning travelers as it takes his fancy.  I suppose he must be stopped somehow.  Only problem is, we kind of have our hands full at the moment.  If the others had come with us, some of us could have stayed with Blorf and the others could have tried to find the elf.  As it is, not sure what we can do right now."

"Linger could go and get the others.  Bring dem hear."

"No, big guy, I don't think so.  Besides, I need you here.  I could use your companionship and your strength might be of great use to me. If that potion doesn't work like it should, I might have to think of other ways of getting the toxins out of him."  She ponders for a bit and thinks of other things she has seen, read and learned at the Academy.

"Seems to me dat the potion works good.  Buy de way, wot is toxins?"

I laugh and give his shoulder a pat. "I could be here on the mountains a long time before I could explain that.  Let's just say that poisons have toxins in them and they are what does the harm and if we want Blorf to get better, we need to get rid of the toxins."

"How we do dat?"  His question is followed by the sound of Blorf getting violently sick.

"I think that Blorf is taking care of that on his own."  I giggle. "It shouldn't take a lot of time, but we do need to give him patience and probably a little compassion."

"Sassy using pretty big words now."

I laugh, "I guess I am.  Sorry Linger, I slipped into my healing mode.  One of the first things that they teach you in the Academy is to talk in big words."

"Dat okay, you just tell Linger wot you need and ever'tink will be find."

I look up to see Blorf coming from the bushes.  He staggers slightly, but manages to collapse into his blankets.

"Is him okay?"

"Yes, I think so," I say, "That potion just takes a lot out of him."

Blorf looks up at me with the saddest eyes I have seen for a while. "You can see that again."  He rolls over and once again he is blissfully sleeping.  I turn to Linger.

"You get some rest too.  I'll keep watch over him tonight.  I'll grab a bit of sleep in the morning.  Don't really feel tired right now anyway."

"Linger stay awake with Sassy," he says but a huge yawn cuts off his words.

"No, that won't really help me.  One of us should get some sleep. I'll wake you later and you an watch him while I sleep.  We'll take it in turns.  Okay?"

"If Sassy is sure den dat is wot we do."

"I am quite sure.  If there is any trouble, I'll wake you.  Now go curl up and sleep."

Linger goes to a place near the fire but instead of sleeping straight, he starts to curl up, putting his feet up to his shoulders.  I walk over to him.

"No, Linger.  It was just an expression.  I didn't want you to actually curl up.  I just meant get some sleep."  I grin down at him and he grins at me.  "But in the morning, I would be interested to know how you did that."  I smile broadly at him and he rolls over and is soon sleeping.

I sit next to Blorf, take his pulse, check his forehead for fever, and just kind of settle down for the night.  I hope and pray that my potions have helped him.

Like our voter, I really like Linger's part in these stories. It's also building into the next big part of Sassy's story. There's plenty of action in AIL but this is a good piece to see someone helping the Kingdom in other ways, I suppose.

As you can tell by now, there's a lot of Sassy in this mission. So does a newcomer, though, Mary Kate- and she debuts next! Then we'll get more of her before getting back to Sassy again. . . .