CH 4: Heart of Darkness

[Jenara]

"I have made my views Clear." Arei responds, hand on her sword hilt.

[HorizonsDream]

"I'm staying," Jocelyn says. "You can sit there and try to justify what they are doing here, but these people created their own problem due to the regular sacrifices that they make in the name of the demon that they worship. Peace is not going to be achieved, and this is coming from the person that worships a peace loving God," she explains. "You make it sound like that we are going to purposely go out there and slaughter every single person in this village, but that is stupid. We will defend ourselves when they do come to attack us, like we have been doing this entire time."

[Nuke]

Val, as usual in her delayed response mode as she tries to mentally digest the rapid conversation, listens to the argument, sensing the tension in the air. At least she figures that she may be the cause for all the consternation.

"Listen to Andar, if we hope to do our job and get off of the island, we must focus our efforts. If you truly want to save this tribe, taking the heart from them would be a good start. You can the return with scholars and larger numbers to try and understand them. All I know right now is that every one of them has tried to kill me."

Walking over to Arei and Ouragana she pauses while looking each of them in the eye. "I am a heathen, part savage, but, I will not die for your self-righteousness. Either you are in or not, not this half-way bullshit."

[Breila]

"All I am saying is that I believe it is wrong to kill a whole tribe, for whatever reason. If they are going to try to kill everyone in sight, and if there is no way of communication, why don't we just leave? And let them handle their own problems? What is our business on this island, except taking away something that does not belong to us?" Ouragana is almost in tears, desperate because she is unable to communicate her values to the group. "I want to leave, I am of no help here at all. I'm not even sure I could control the little magic I have, in the state that I'm in now" she admits.

[Jenara]

"Then no." Arei says flatly. "I am not in. There is no halfway." Stepping backwards she lowers her head. "Taking that path would take me back on a course I wish to avoid." Looking at the Kohen she adds. "You have employed us to protect you, part of that duty is to avoid dangerous situations. I cannot on good conscience allow myself to continue with this task. Do I not have free will?" She asks, her arm round the mage. "Remain here. Allow us to return to the ship, once the captain has heard of what happened he will be more than willing to come and slaughter these people if you so wish."

[JadedDM]

Dalaim scowls and opens his mouth to speak again, but then instead, he just blows out a deep breath and his face softens. He suddenly looks even older than before. He shakes his head. "That's a pretty black and white viewpoint, not to mention painfully naive. But I suppose I can't fault you for it; I used to think the same way when I was a lad."

He strokes his beard a moment in thought. "Do you know why it took so long to put together this expedition? And why I only hired such a small, inexperienced, rag-tag group? Because nobody cares about my research, about my work. Nobody with money, at any rate, is the least bit interested in proto-human civilizations; not even most humans themselves. I had to pay this whole thing out of pocket, as I could not acquire any funding. I had to pay for supplies, the ship and crew, and you lot...not to mention a very heavy bribe toward the good captain Scragsplitter who wanted nothing more to do with this place." He looks to Areilon. "You know full well there is nothing to 'report' to him, even if he were in charge of this expedition. He doesn't care about this island, if it were up to him we'd never have come in the first place."

He shakes his head again. "My hope was to acquire enough artifacts to sell to museums that I could, at the very least, break even. I have no interest in wealth myself; if I did, I would have become a merchant, not a scholar. There's no money in academia, that's for certain. I had to learn that the hard way; and I suspect you will, as well."

He harrumphs. "In any case, now that I know there is a ruby here the size of a man's head? You better believe I'll find backers now. I didn't come here to start war, but it was they who attacked us, and I'll do whatever is necessary to continue my work. If you two," he says, looking between the mage and elf, "are reneging on our contract, so be it. I'll return here with many more people, far more funding, and do what is necessary without you. But if we're not working together as a group now, I fear we won't stand a chance against these savages and will only be throwing our lives away." He removes the backpack from the first zombie and transfers it to the remaining one. "Let us return to the boat then, if that is your decision. I won't waste any more time with a divided group."

[Breila]

Ouragana hangs her head. "In some way, I can understand you. I have the same hunger for knowledge. I thought it was a simple matter of securing a site. I would never have expected a group of Natives that would continue to attack against all odds, outnumbered, and immune to the threat to one of their leaders. Staying here means we would eventually have to kill them all. I can't bring myself to participate in that, I am sorry. You do not need to pay me, I did not come here for the money, but because I thought it would be worthwhile and interesting."

[HorizonsDream]

Jocelyn shakes her head at the group. "No one cares that the worship of this demon God could, one day, spread to the other islands?" she asks with a sigh.

[Breila]

"This island has been isolated for so long, and there is no communication possible with the people here, as you have all repeatedly pointed out. So how is it supposed to speread?" Ouragana asks.

[Nuke]

Val speaks up.

"None of us is talking about killing all of the primitives, save you. Consider the thought of removing both the Heart and the Priestess in one fell swoop, and then returning with a peace mission? Would that not ease your conscience? Would that not satisfy your quest for peace and knowledge? The leadership here is at fault, not the innocents. Remove the head of the serpent and peace becomes much more real."

Again approaching the Arei and Ouranga, Val gets in their face. "Let's get this job done, then we can contemplate a response without worrying about how to fill our bellies." Looking at each of them in turn she goes on "Your know the rest will be more receptive without their current leadership, it doesn't need to be a blood bath. Think about it, you know I am right."

(OOC: Ok, I fell off of the 'IC' wagon on conversational skills, but it needed to be said.)

[HorizonsDream]

"It is possible other ships can stumble across this island, decide to explore, and they might be captured if they are human," Jocelyn explains. "Communication is possible if they are here long enough. It might not be tomorrow or ten years for now, but the possibility is still there. It is better to handle the manageable numbers now, rather than letting it get out of hand later, but if you want to leave because killing a few tribal people is hurting your feelings, fine," Jocelyn says. "We can return to the ship, I can report back to Noah, and we can go back to civilization."

[Breila]

"And how, my dear friend, do you think it will be possible to »remove the head of the serpent« without killing everybody, when everybody so far who has seen us has attacked us and fought to the death?" Ouragana screams at Val. "And how am I to trust you, since you used the moment I entrusted our hostage to you to kill her!" A big sob rises in her throat.

She then turns to Dalaim. "I promise, solemnly, that as soon as I come back to the Academy, I report the findings here. Similar things must have happened, before. Perhaps with a copy of the notes you've taken, it will be possible for the experts to decipher more of the script, and there migt be financial and expertise backing for a new expedition. Someone could also alert competent people to the dangerous cult taking place here. Please let us go back now, to come again better prepared."

[JadedDM]

"Aye, lass, we'll be leaving now," Dalaim says. "But you won't be coming back. Not with my expedition, at any rate." He looks around. "Those of you who stuck with me will still get paid, but I'm afraid I can't offer much, since all we found was this drum."

"Well...at least we got some magical potions as consolation prizes," Grey says.

"Good to look on the bright side, son. Let's be off."

With that decided, Dalaim leads the group back toward the jungle in about five minutes. It then takes another seven hours to hack through it and find their way back to the tribal campsite. The area is just as they left it, and the unconscious, tied-up man remains where he is in the same condition.

==============

It is now 3:20 PM.

[Jenara]

Arei walks on quietly, lost in thought. Occasionally she checks on Oura.

[HorizonsDream]

Jocelyn follows along after the group. She glances to Andar for a moment deciding she doesn't want to spend the rest of this trip back in silence. "What do you plan on doing now that you are free?" she asks.