Cal's Drunken Adventure

"I'm about seventy five percent certain I left it somewhere in this general area." Cal said.

The three of us were standing on top of a large hill that overlooked a small town. Cal led us for at least three hours to reach this location.

Erika sat down on the ground. She was a bit red in the face.

"I'm exhausted. Can we take a break?"

Cal crouched down.

"No need to exert yourself, Erika. Hop on my back. I'll carry you."

She instantly got back up.

"Actually, all of a sudden I'm not tired anymore."

Erika's been unusually quiet since we left the mine. I'm getting the sense she doesn't care for Cal.

"Where should we start looking?" I said.

"Hmmm. To be honest with you, last night was kind of a blur. I think we're going to have to retrace my steps."

We followed him down towards the town.

"So, this is where I initially left it yesterday."

He brought us to the south entrance. There were a set of hitching posts with some horses tied to them, but there was no sign of the cart.

"Are you sure it wasn't stolen?" I asked.

"I doubt that. Just look how quiet this place is. I don't know why, but I can just tell the people here are trustworthy. Look at that guy over there for example. Something about him just gives off a welcoming aura."

He pointed to a man who was just standing in the middle of the road, motionless. His clothes looked like a potato sack. Each of his eyes looked in opposite directions. It was as if he was staring into a void.

"He looks like he got kicked in the head by a horse." I said.

I wasn’t exactly sure what Cal was trying to get at.

"Hmm. So after I left it h-."

A patch of grass caught his eye.

"One sec!"

He ran over and pulled some of it out from the ground and shoved it in his satchel. He came back and finished his sentence.

"As I was saying... So after I left it here, I went into town to get some lunch."

As we followed Cal into the town, I admired the scenery. The brick streets and the tudor style structures were all incredibly well maintained. There wasn't a piece of trash in sight.

"What town is this?" I asked.

"This is Pipi Town." Cal replied.

"I have to admit this place is kind of peaceful."

"I know. I've been hanging out here a lot lately. They have some great taverns around here. We should all get a drink sometime."

"Think I'll have to pass. I don't drink." I said.

"Ah don't be such a square… How about you Erika, wanna go drinking?"

"Drink what?" She said.

"Alcohol, of course!"

"Oh... What's alcohol?"

"You don't know what alcohol is!?"

Cal looked completely shocked.

"Uh no, should I?" Erika said.

"It's basically the elixir of the gods!"

I quickly shut him down,

"No, she's the last person on this planet that should be drinking."

"I don't understand, Mr. Arno. Why shouldn't I be drinking this alcohol stuff?"

This Cal guy was a horrible influence. We really need to ditch this guy soon. I'd prefer Erika not pick up any vices from this weirdo.

"Trust me, you don't need it." I said

"Man Arno, you're no fun." Cal responded.

Erika still didn't seem to understand, but she appeared to just take my word for it. I was starting to feel like an overprotective father.

"So this is where I got lunch from."

He had brought us to the local market. There were dozens of stands, selling all sorts of things. From produce and meats to weapons and jewelry, there was a little bit of everything.

"Specifically, I got a sandwich from that stand right over there. The one with the cutie working at it."

"Alright, let's see if she knows anything." I said.

Cal walked up to the stand.

"Oh, it's you again." The girl said.

She seemed to roll her eyes at the sight of Cal.

"Yes, I just couldn't stop thinking about the beautiful sandwich girl of Pipi Town."

"Um, are you going to order something? If not, please step aside for other customers."

"If it allows me to continue talking to you, then give me 3 of your finest sandwiches."

He pulled out his money bag and opened it. To my surprise he was actually pretty flush with cash. I guess the smuggler business was quite lucrative. He paid the girl.

I quickly spoke up before Cal could continue his harassment.

"We're looking for a cart that this guy apparently misplaced yesterday. You haven't happened to have seen it have you?"

"You mean like a merchant cart? I haven't seen anything like that, but I did hear that last night things got wild at the tavern. Apparently there was some incident having to do with some guy and a cart. That's all I know though."

I thanked her and turned to Cal.

"What did you do last night?"

"I told you, last night's a blur. I got so drunk, the last thing I remember was chugging a barrel of rum, then waking up on a roof."

I could only imagine what this idiot could have done in his drunken state. At the very least we had a lead.

The girl finished preparing the sandwich and wrapped them up in paper.

"Thanks again m'lady! Maybe if you're free sometime, we can get a drink together."

"Um...I have a boyfriend."

"Oh…"

Cal suddenly got quiet. He walked away looking completely defeated.

"Here, these are for you."

He handed Erika and I a sandwich. We all sat on a wooden bench and ate.

"Wow, this sandwich is really good! Thanks for lunch Cal." Erika said.

The sandwiches did look like they would be good. I'm pretty sure they were roast beef and cheese. Unfortunately, I can't enjoy it since I'm a skeleton. I pretended to eat. I had a burlap sack sitting in my rib cage to catch pieces of food. I rigged this up to create the illusion of me eating to keep people from getting suspicious.

Cal was in a depression for about five minutes, then a random somewhat attractive girl walked by. He suddenly went back to his old self.

"I think she works at the basket weaving stand. Remind me after we get our work done to stop by there. I happen to be in the market for some new baskets."

✨✨✨

"If it isn't our number one customer!"

The bartender excitedly greeted Cal.

"Afternoon Larry. I just wanted to stop by because I'm having a bit of an issue. I lost something last night, but I'm having a bit of trouble remembering."

"Oh last night, that was one heck of a night! I don't think I've ever seen anything like it."

"What happened?" I said.

"This guy here came in last night. Him and some local regulars got into a rum drinking contest. I didn't think it was possible for someone to consume that much alcohol. He had an overwhelming victory in the end too. Soon after he started rambling on about herbs and plants for some reason and then something about art. Eventually, that somehow led to a cart race down the hill just outside of town. After that he wandered around town, trying to pick up ladies. I think I saw him get slapped a few times..."

"Okay I think I get the gist. Thank you." I replied.

Cal put his hand up to his mouth as if he was recalling something.

"Huh, you know what, after hearing that, I'm starting to remember some bits and pieces. Let's head to that hill."

✨✨✨

"I think this is the place." Cal said.

We stood on the top of a large hill.

"Alright, but I don't see anything." I said

We looked all around and there was nothing in sight.

"Hmmm. I want to say we raced down in that direction."

He pointed down the steepest side of the hill. We went down and there still wasn't any sign of it.

"What now? We're all out of leads." I said.

"Uh... I guess we'll have to head back to town and keep asking people."

We started walking, when Erika noticed something.

"Is that it, right there?"

"What are you talking abo-... How the heck did it get up there?" I said.

There the cart was at the top of a large tree. I couldn't even fathom how he managed to get that up there.

"Huh, would you look at that. That's definitely it." Cal said.

"How are we supposed to get it down?" Erika asked.

For a few hours, we tried throwing rocks and sticks at it to get it to budge. It didn't work at all. Eventually, I forced Cal to Climb up the tree and push it out. I figured if he did manage to get hurt, we could use it as an excuse to ditch him.

*SLAM*

Unfortunately, he succeeded in getting it unstuck without getting hurt.

"We did it guys!"

He held up both hands, expecting us to high five him. Both of us just ignored him.

"Let's get moving, we've already wasted enough time." I said

"Wait, Arno my pal. Isn't it a bit late? Why don't we stay here until morning. I'll buy us all dri-."

I shut him down instantly.

"No. We still have at least a day and a half journey to the Fungallands. Not to mention I already told you that she and I don't drink."

"But-"

"Shut up and pull that cart. We'll alternate who pulls it every hour." I snapped.

Erika whispered to me,

"This guy's really weird, Mr. Arno. He kind of creeps me out."

"Just deal with him a little longer. At some point, once I figure out how we can get the mafia off our backs, we'll ditch him."

She nodded in agreement.

"What are you guys talking about?"

Cal, who was oblivious to our conversation, shouted back at us. He was a few feet away from us, checking the cart over.

"Oh, nothing Cal. We were just talking about... the weather." Erika said.

I noticed that Erika didn't use "Mr." in front of Cal's name like she did for everyone else. She must really not like him at all.