They didn’t end up eating the giant mushroom.
After reading the diary, the thought left a bad taste in Astra’s mouth, so he vetoed the idea along with Rubio.
Instead, they took it to the beach and burned the thing.
The burning mushroom paired with the sunrise made for a gorgeous visual.
Their breaths puffed in the cool morning air as they stood there, watching it go up in flames.
“I wonder how it’s going to go for these townsfolk when they get cured.” Thalia muses.
“What do you mean?” Rubio questions, giving her a sideways glance.
“We only experienced it for, what?
A couple hours?
But who knows how long they’ve been trapped like that.
Forced into a love and romance they didn’t consent to.
Watching friends and loved ones die with nothing more than a shrug.
Just something I was thinking about…” She trails off.
“I think…I think they’ll figure it out.” Rubio states.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” Thalia agrees.
Astra refuses to comment.
They decide to stay in town for another week.
Astra finally gets his hands on some food, both his stomach and mouth thanking him when he takes a bite of the delicious sandwich.
Despite the townsfolk still being obsessed with love, the town itself isn’t half-bad.
Rubio spends most of his time in the library.
Thalia hangs out with him sometimes, but she mostly goes around town stealing as much as she could and then returning it without anyone noticing, a little game she seems to enjoy.
Astra spent his time between checking on Brandy and holing away in his room.
Sometimes he would nap in the trees, but there wasn’t anything in town he was keen on doing; it all felt a bit pointless.
When the alcohol was finally done, Brandy called them over.
“Here we are, enough for the whole town and then some.” Brandy cackles, placing the last bottle on the floor.
There was a mind-boggling amount of alcohol scattered throughout the tavern; it was frankly impressive that Brandy was able to make this much in only a week.
“What is it?” Astra questions, opening a bottle and taking a whiff of the clear liquid inside.
It didn’t really smell like much of anything, maybe a bit like a cheap bottle of wine, but that’s it.
“It’s Kilju; it was made and popularized in the Frozen Sea.
It’s a cheap drink you can make at home with the right ingredients.
It’s a favorite among youths and low-income people.
Thankfully, I had all of the ingredients in bulk.
Turns out being an alcoholic can save lives.” Brandy grins.
“Please don’t use this as an excuse to drink more.” Astra sighs.
“Does it taste any good?” Thalia asks, inspecting her own bottle.
“Nope, not at all.
I didn’t have time to add anything else.
This, my friends, is going to taste like pure alcohol, nothing but ethanol.
But it gets the job done, not like they’re drinking it for enjoyment.” They shrug.
“Right, now it’s time to force-feed an entire town this stuff,” Thalia states.
They all sigh.
It was a grueling process; they could only do one at a time each, which meant only three people in total before they had to return for more bottles.
The townsfolk were obviously a bit shaken up after the ordeal, so they guided them to either the town hall, the inn, or the tavern to calm down a bit.
In all, it took about two days for the entire town to get cured.
Once it was over, they all collapsed on the spot.
“Uggggh, I’m never doing something nice again.
This was the worst.” Thalia groans.
“Agreed.” Astra grunts.
“But doesn’t it make you feel good inside?” Rubio questions.
“Nope.” “Not really.”
“You two are impossible.” Rubio huffs.
Thalia begins to giggle; Rubio joins in, and Astra can’t help but add his own laugh to the mix.
Man, he is really exhausted.
“Okay, okay, I need to rest.
I’m heading back to the inn.” He says, groaning a bit as he pushes himself to his feet.
When he glances ahead, though, he’s surprised to find one of the townsfolk fidgeting nervously.
It was Laura, the Halfman who had welcomed them to the town.
“I just came to say, on behalf of all the people in this town, thank you for freeing us from that awful curse.” She bows then, and Astra takes a half-step back in surprise.
“It wasn’t actually a curse, just a natural fungus that got a bit out of hand; it actually- ow!” Rubio rubs his side where Thalia elbowed him.
“Not the time.” She hisses.
“Right, sorry.” Rubio coughs.
“We don’t have much in the town; most of our income is through trading and the likes.
We haven’t had any outside visitors in a while.
But we’ll give you anything so long as it’s within our power.” She offers.
“Oh, we don’t need anyth- ow!” Thalia had elbowed Rubio again.
“We will gladly take your offer.
Can you give us some time to think about it though?” She smiled sweetly at the woman.
“Of course, of course, take all the time you need.
In the meantime…well…I know it seems a bit soon, but we were thinking of throwing a party.
Not only to get our own spirits up, but to celebrate you three, the heroes of this town.” Laura reveals excitedly.
“Oh, we’re not heroes…” Astra tries to tell her.
“Nonsense, you saved our town from becoming a bunch of meat piles or giant mushrooms.
That’s enough in my book, and the rest of the town feels the same.” She insists.
“Do you have any alcohol for this party?
Cause I am not drinking that Kilju stuff.” Thalia wrinkles her nose in distaste.
“No need to worry about that, my friend.
While you guys were busy force-feeding the town, I took the leftover bottles and added a bit of fruit juice; it should be bearable now.
Not the best tasting, admittedly, but not straight rubbing alcohol,” Brandy explains.
“Alright then…let’s party!” Thalia cheers.
Astra can only sigh.
What happened to a relaxing sleep?
Brandy’s tavern was filled to the brim with townsfolk; everyone was laughing, cheering, drinking, celebrating, and dancing.
Some of the townsfolk were playing live music, and they started a dance circle.
Thalia had already chugged three bottles and was dancing on one of the tables with a Dwarf.
Rubio only had one bottle, but his face was flushed, and he was ranting in a corner about something to other drunk townsfolk.
Astra was nursing his second drink, trying to take it slow as he watched the chaos unfold from a booth in the corner of the room.
He was content just to sit there, watching it all, until Thalia caught his eye from the table.
She jumped down and rushed over, sliding herself into the seat across from him.
She reached over and grasped his hands.
“Why’re you sittin’ in the corner like a loser?
C’mon, let’s have some fun!” She slurs.
“No thanks, I’m good over here.” He denies.
“C’moooon!
We saved the town, we’re heroes!
We should celebrate like heroes!
Oh!” She suddenly sits up straight as the music changes to a different beat, one slightly familiar to Astra.
“This is my song, my jam!
C’mon, you’re singing with me.” She states, sliding out of the booth and dragging him with her.
“Hey!
Wait!” He tries to get her to stop, to no avail.
“At least let me get drunk enough that this won’t matter!” He pleads.
She lets him chug down the drink in his hand, and then another one just for good measure.
When he’s feeling well and truly sloshed, she leads him to a table, visible to the entire room, and hops onto it.
Despite all the drinks, it’s still not enough to clear the embarrassment as she drags him along as well.
And then she begins to sing.
The words are slurred and only half-legible, but Astra remembers the song now.
It’s a popular sea shanty.
Everyone in the tavern stops what they’re doing and turns to stare at them.
One by one, they begin clapping to the beat, cheering them on with shouts.
“C’mon, sing with me!” Thalia goads.
And Astra thinks.
Why not?
What’s the harm?
And so…he opens his mouth to sing and…wakes up in a boat.
What?
Groaning, he pushes himself to a sitting position, his brain replaying the events of last night, desperately trying to figure out what happened.
Everything after he and Thalia sang is in bits and pieces, cut up and put together out of order.
So he instead takes stock of his surroundings.
He’s currently in a boat, on the Sea; land is nowhere in sight.
Actually, he’s pretty sure this is the same skiff they rowed onto the island in.
Great.
Not only that, but…he’s not alone.
Of course he’s not alone.
Thalia and Rubio are both snoring away in the skiff.
Thankfully, it seems they packed a multitude of supplies this time.
Astra winces as he shifts around, a headache rising from the awful hangover he’s got.
Right, so they’re stuck on the skiff…again.
Great.
Just great.
Hopefully they at least packed a map.