Ready for another cheerful, fun Sassy Snake story?

A face from the last roleplay shows up again in this one as well, that sweet old lady.

 
"So, what do you say, Sassy?" Bristle asks me once we have ordered food and drink. "Do we go on the quest or not?"

I slowly sip my drink and think. "Well," I say. "What business is it of ours anyway? Why should we get involved?"

"So we should just let the bats and rats take over the town then?" counters Bristle with a smile. I think he enjoys debating me.

"I didn't say that nor did I imply it. I just wondered if it is any of our business."

"I didn't know we were running this on a business level?" says Icy as she grins at me.

"Now Icy, you know what I mean. I can understand why the council and the penguins are concerned and they are doing things on a business level, but why should we lay our lives on the line?"

"Not see any line. Where line? Who lays life on line? Who do dat?"

I reach over and gently place a hand on Linger's shoulder. "Easy Linger. Nobody is doing that. If that were the case, I would be the first to step forward to save them."

"Well, I was thinking of going on the quest and I was hoping the others would go too," says Bristle.

Icy puts her hand in Bristle's and looks deep into his eyes. "Whither thou goest, I will follow. I'll go with you. Come on, Sass, don't break the group up now."

I slowly shake my head and finish my drink. "I need to think about this." I say, "I think I will get some fresh air and go for a walk and think it over."

I start to get up, but Linger takes my arm. "Sassy not go; yu no go alone. Me go with yu."

I smile into his big green eyes and pat his hand. "Not this time, big guy. I won't be long. I'll be back before you know it."

I head for the door as the others keep eating and drinking. I find myself drawn back to the old woman who sold me those excellent berries in the market.

"Hello there, my name is Sassy Snake. I really loved those berries. Would you mind if I look at the rest of your stock?"

"Of course not, my dear. My name is Grelva and please make yourself to home." She smiles at me as I start to browse her berries, fruits and vegetables. I find a elongated spherical fruit and gently and carefully pick it up.

"This is a sweetroot, isn't it?"

"Yes it is, dear. Would you like to have a sample of one?" She takes a small knife and cuts a slice from one and offers it to me.

I eat it and it is so sweet I can't help smacking my lips as a big smile comes over my face. "Yum! That was good. You sure do have nice ripe fruit here. How much for this one?"

"Shall we say ten meat for that one?"

"Done," I say and find some corn. "How much for a dozen ears?"

"Twenty meat for a dozen."

"Sounds good. Let me see. What else have we?" I spot some thin triangular pods. "What are these?"

She looks at the pods and then looks at me. "They are grackle pods. They have a lot of uses. Are you interested?"

"Yes, I am. Thought that they might be grackles, but haven't seen them in a while. How much?"

"Well, not many buy them. How about ten for a dozen?"

"Mmmmm," I say. "I think a fairer price would be twenty for a dozen. Will you agree to that?"

I smile as her eyes light up. I pay for my purchases and start putting the bags away when there is a commotion. The woman looks panicky. "Oh no! Not again!"

"What," I say, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"They have come back again. Knew they would. You had best leave, dear, while you have the chance."

"Leave? What are you talking about?" I look at her and she is trembling and looks severely frightened. I turn my gaze in the direction of the sound and see what scares her so badly.

A horde of bats of every size is descending down from the sky, heading straight for us. I unsling my crossbow, load it and take aim at the swarm. They plunge down on us in a mass and I am firing at them as fast as I can load. Suddenly I see rats scurrying around and some real big ones are helping themselves to money, fruits and everything else they can steal.

My crossbow is pretty useless with these bats scratching at our eyes, so I draw my sword and start swinging. They are divebombing us with frenzy and it is all I can do to try to hold them back. I see the rats scampering here and there and suddenly I see Grelva go down under a bat onslaught. While she is down and helpless, the rats attack her as well.

I beat off the rats but the bats then have the advantage and swoop down for the kill; this time their target is me!

 
Meanwhile, in a nearby tavern

Bristle and Icy are trying to restrain an increasingly more frantic Linger. He seems to get more violent and upset by the minute.

"Sassy!" He roars, "Muss go help my Sassy! She in trouble. I tells her not to go dere by he'self. Muss go help her."

"What do you think, Bristle?"

Bristle shakes his head. "Linger, she is a big girl. Believe me, she can take care of herself."

"Not dis tyme. She need help. She need help now! Linger will save her!" With a roar of frustration, he forces his way out of the tavern and heads down the street toward the marketplace.

"Guess we had best follow. Wouldn't want him to get into trouble," Icy says. Bristle nods and they slowly follow in Linger's wake.

 
Back to Sassy...

I can see the bats flying at me and can feel them scratching at my eyes. I can barely see now because there is blood in my eyes. I feel faint, but I know if I faint here and now the rats will finish me off for sure. I slowly back up to the counter and with the stand at my back, I blindly start swinging my sword. There are just too many of them for me; it's like trying to swat a plague of locusts. I briefly see bats fall, but they slowly circle around me and continue to scratch me from all sides. I feel myself falling. I try to stop it, but I am powerless. My ears seem to be ringing with a loud roar. It sounds like someone yelling my name, and then the bats and rats turn tail and leave.

I collapse and the last thing I remember is feeling a pair of strong arms holding me. I look up at the blurry image of what only could be Linger and say "Thanks, big guy," before I lose consciousness.

When I wake up, I am lying in a room somewhere and I can see that the old woman Grelva is next to me. I still have some minor problems with my vision. I hope that they will clear up.

"Grelva," I whisper into the darkness.

"Yes, dear. I am here too."

"Where is here? Where are we?"

"A room in a tavern, I think. Are you okay?"

I slowly do an inventory. "I seem to be in one piece. How about you?"

"Not so sure I am doing that well." She coughs with a hacking cough. "Thanks for being so nice to me. I want you to have something to remember me by." She takes a ring from her finger and places it on mine. "It says 'Grelva,' my name. As long as you have that, I'll always be with you some way or the other."

"Oh, but you will be fine. I can't take this ring."

"If you insist, dear; keep it for me until I get better. Please do that for me."

"Okay, I will do that. We'd best get some sleep now." I turn over and hear her drift off beside me.

In the morning, upon awaking, I look over to where Grelva was lying; I don't see her there. Maybe I dreamed it all? No, here is the fruit I bought. I look at my finger. There it is; her ring with the name "Grelva" on it.

I hear footsteps coming closer and look up to see Linger, Icy and Bristle looking down at me in concern. It is Linger who breaks the silence.

"Is she alright? Is yu all right Sassy?"

"Not sure if I am all right, but I am here. By the way, where is Grelva?"

"Who dat? Who be Grelva?"

"The old woman who was lying here next to me. Where is she?"

Linger shakes his head and looks sadly at me. "She gone."

"Gone. What do you mean she is gone? Did someone come for her?"

"No, she not here. She... she she not make it."

"Make what? What didn't she make?"

"Ah, Sassy," starts Icy. "Linger means that she died during the night."

"Dead? She died?" My eyes fill with tears and my body is wracked with sobs. I am blubbering like a baby and I can't seem to stop. I feel a pair of arms gently but firmly holding me. I look up and see it is Linger.

"Sassy not cry. She go peaceful. She brave lady, just like yu is." He gently strokes my hair and soothes me and I collapse and lay down to rest some more.

I look up at Bristle. "I will go with you now. I have a reason to kill them now. I have a score to settle! She didn't deserve to die like that."

"Okay Sassy," he says comfortingly, "first we get you better and then we set out on the mission. Sounds good?"

"Sounds great." I say and snuggle down into the blankets as my eyes close for a long nap.

Okay so maybe it wasn't all so sweet and light hearted; I didn't wanna ruin the twist in the opening, hehe.

But there it is; Sassy's motivation for getting involved in the mission! The voter had noted Sassy's first bit lacked oomph but this one gave him everything he wanted from that piece "and more."

In fact, voter Ichiro awarded this roleplay runner up for best solo roleplay. It's the first in the mission to bring the rats and bats faction in, and the voter thought the part where she offered more meet for the sweetroot was "very Sassy." I agree. I remember wondering when she made the offer for the berries back in the first roleplay, was she taking advantage of the woman or being generous?

This roleplay doesn't leave any questions on that. I'm not sure what to think of Linger somehow knowing she was in danger but it was a nice use of the troll.

PS: The award earned her one extra point.