The Misadventures of Saffy, Never was there such a tale of misfortune. Options

[Hasfusel]

Saffy stopped running, and sat down on a treetrunk, exhausted. Panting for breath, he looked back along the path, but it was empty. He seemed to have given her the slip. If he hadn't, he was done for. He just couldn't run anymore.
After a minute, he got up, dusted himself off, and set off. Safe, he thought. But I must say, what a close escape. If that woman had caught me, I'd hav-
He stopped, not believing his eyes. His jaw dropped. It was simply too impossible, but there they were. Three tiny little men, in little green Christmas elf costumes, with matching bobble hats. And green hair. They were playing with a toy train at the foot of a tree. One of them was eating on a tomato. They appeared not to have noticed him.
Saffy stared, dumbstruck. It was beyond him why he could see these little men. He racked his memory, but he couldn't remember taking any non-prescription medication in the last 24 hours. Neither had there been anything to drink recently but cold spring water (more's the pity, thought his subconscious grimly). But there they were, against all probability and rational thought or logic. And they appeared to be sparkling.
One of the little men looked up, smiling. "Hullo!" he said. "Would you like a tomato, budum?"
Saffy tried to speak, but his tongue seemed to be tangled in a knot.
"Don't be shy," said one of the others. His voice was strangely high-pitched. "Celia gave us a dozen for helping with the harvest, budum."
The first speaker was staring at him curiously. "Hey, you're not from around here. Maybe... I got it! You must be from Mineral Town, down that way!"
Finally, he managed to say something. All that came out was "Urg", but it was a start.
"Come on," said the one holding the train. "We'll take you back to the Treehouse. It's not often we meet new people." The little man took Saffy's hand, and they started off down the path, Saffy too stunned to do anything else.
"W-what are you?" he managed. The little man turned round, smiling.
"We're the Harvest Sprites, silly! What did you think we were?" he said, laughing.
"Hallucinations," answered Saffy with certainity. "That's all you could be. Hallucinations brought on by that crazy farmer woman chasing me round."
The sprites all chuckled. "I heard that Vesta had found a man wandering round her farm."
Saffy just nodded, and kept on following the leading sprite.
"My name's Vail," said the sprite, "and these are Fraw and Matthew."
"My name's Matt, too," said Saffy, in a kind of dazed confusion. Just who the heck were these little people? Was this some kind of trick? It had to be. Either that, or the previous events in this crazy valley had messed up his thoughts.
Following the laughing sprites, Saffy continued down the path. Little could he foretell about the terrible events about to unfold.


* * *


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[Hasfusel]

"Gone on holiday?"
Saffy stared at the handpainted sign on the door of the little shed as the rain lashed at his face. He pulled up the hood of the pink slicker Lumina had lent him. He rubbed his eyes, but the sign didn't go away. "What the hell?"
How could she be on holiday? He needed to get home! Kicking the door angrily (and wincing at the pain; the door was thick oak) he turned and set off down the path. So there was a witch capable of magic that could send him home. It was impossible, but so was getting here in the first place and the little green men who'd accosted him.
And then a thought struck him. Maybe the little men knew about all of this! After all, they'd been all sparkly and everything. And that treehouse of theirs was just along the path, right?
He set off down the path, a determined frown on his face.

* * *

Guts looked at Saffy over the rim of his glasses. "I'm sorry, sir, but if you want our help you'll need medals. You can buy them in the Casino for 10G each."
Saffy looked at the little bag of coins Lumina had given him, along with a note marked 10000G. The bag was quite heavy. "Casino, you say?"
"Yup. Budum. Talk to the casino sprite to get your medals."
Saffy smiled. Casinos were more his thing. He'd been to a few before back in Ontario, and often spend a little at the slot machines. Once you worked out the pattern they were easy, and he would usually walk away a few dollars richer. Maybe this little place had slot machines too.
He walked into the Sprite Casino.
There were three little tables where a sprite dressed in fitting clothes was sitting and counting little golden tokens. There was a desk at the far end, where another sprite sat with his arms folded. Saffy walked up to him.
"Have you come to buy medals or trade them in for a prize?" asked the little man.
"I'd... like to buy some, please." replied Saffy. He upended the bag of coins onto the table and took the note out of his pocket. "How many will this buy me?"
The little sprite inspected the pile of coins and the note. "You can have about 1500 medals for this," he said, handing Saffy a bag full of small golden medallions. "There's Poker, Blackjack and our most fun and challenging game of all, Pairs."
Saffy looked at the little tables. He'd once tried a game of Poker in Ontario, and had thought he was doing just fine until he lost $100. He had then sworn never to play again. But... These little men couldn't be that good at card games, anyway? And the minimum starting bet was just 10 medals! He had one and a half thousand. Plenty to spare. If he wasn't doing well he could just as easily stop and play Pairs.
Smiling, he walked over to the Poker table and sat down, counting out ten of the little medallions and sliding them in front of him. The sprite smiled and dealt him five cards. The suits appeared to be cups of tea, medals, and sprites. He examined his cards. A King, a Jack, a Seven, and two Nines. That was a pair. He gave back the King, Jack and Seven and received two Eights and a Queen back. He showed the sprite his cards.
"Two pairs, eh?" exclaimed the sprite. "You get 20 medals back! Now, do you want to double up?"
"Uh... what's that?" asked Saffy.
"I reveal a card and you guess whether the next one is higher or lower. If you win you get double your winnings. If you lose I keep your medals. You can keep doubling up to win such prizes as Cabbage seeds, Bell Pepper seeds and even" - here the sprite spoke in an excited whisper - "Pineapple seeds!"
Saffy shrugged. "Okay."
The card was a Jack, so Saffy guessed low. The second card was a Seven.
"Well done! You have forty medals of winnings now. Double again or quit?" asked the sprite.
"I'll try again." replied Saffy, smiling. He was beginning to enjoy this.
The next card was a Three.
"High, of course," said Saffy.
The second card was a Two.
"Wha-at?!" Saffy was aghast. Impossible!
The sprite shrugged. "Better luck next time."
Ah well, Saffy thought. Surely he'd easily win back what he'd lost? "I'll play again," he said. No problem. And he could give it up any time, right?

* * *

Half an hour later, he'd lost all his medals.