No Idol threat

Mutiny! As the ship sailed out past the reef, Draven felt like weeping. After so much difficulty in arranging the fragile alliance of thri-kreen, dwarves, and humans, the one last thing that was required seemed to be slipping from grasp.

"Damn that statuette," Draven muttered to himself, "Damn and blast it!"

"I can go after them," Teuvdar suggested, "but will they listen to me?"

The vessel's captain held up a hand.

"I'll write a note," he said, "If you can deliver it to my first mate, I'm sure he'll turn back."

After brief wrangling about whether Teuvdar could turn into a dolphin and carry the captain out to the boat, it was decided that the best chance of success would be if Teuvdar flew instead. Turning into a sea-eagle, the druid set off, clutching a quickly penned note from the captain in his claws.

In hope, the group awaited the outcome. As first the druid, and then the ship passed out of sight, something seemed to go out of their hearts, and they wandered off to await developments. Draven and the captain waited at the shore, hoping still to see the sail of the ship reappear on the horizon.

"Why would they betray me?" the captain asked, "I have always treated them fairly... surely they trust me not to accept a job that would put their lives at risk?"

"They would not have turned against you," replied Draven, "if not for that accursed statuette! Ever since we found it, it's been nothing but trouble. I regret that we did not warn you of it, but we had no other way to get it here."

"Yes, well..." muttered the captain, "Perhaps if we recapture the temple, the gratitude of the island barbarians will prove sufficient compensation... and of course, the plunder."

Draven could see the captain's eyes light up at the thought of plunder, and in truth he felt a similar stirring in his dwarven heart. After that, nothing more was said, and the two waited in hope for the ship to come back.

They did not wait in vain. Through Teuvdar's swift flight, and swifter magics, the mutiny was quelled, and the ship returned. As suspected, a foolish misunderstanding, almost certainly caused by the Idol's malign influence, was responsible for the trouble. In normal circumstances, the crew would have trusted in their captain, and not been scared off by the prospect of transporting thri-kreen.

But worse was to come, as the Idol's curse started to work on the members of Redemption, turning them against each other. Shadowfoot's distaste and worry over the inclusion of the thri-kreen in the hasty alliance led to bitter arguments as the ship travelled to pick up the insectoid creatures. Most of Redemption shared Shadowfoot's unease, but the residents of the islands assured them that the tribe of thri-kreen had made and honoured various agreements in the past, and could generally be trusted. Knowing that the mantis men could make the difference between success and disaster, the group decided to take the risk.

When the thri-kreen were picked up, Shadowfoot stayed on board, with bow drawn and an arrow at the ready. Doing his best to be diplomatic, Draven went ashore to speak to the thri-kreen, warning them that an elf was on board, and choosing the path of honesty over attemped deception - as was his usual habit. Luckily, the thri-kreen were not upset at Shadowfoot's presence, once they had been assured he was not from the wild elven tribes of that island.

Shadowfoot, on the other hand, was in a different mood. As the thri-kreen came aboard, he fired an arrow at their feet, meaning to warn them that he was not to be trifled with. Misunderstanding the gesture, and furious with a rage not entirely natural, Draven charged towards the elf, meaning to throw him to the deck and pummel him as necessary. The nimble elf avoided his charge, however, leaping down from the sterncastle, and rolling away as other members of Redemption attempted to pen him in. Eventually, cornered at the prow of the boat, Shadowfoot turned to face the group, with no apparent remorse for his actions.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing!" thundered Draven, somewhat surprised to find his axe in his hand.

"Showing them that they should not mess with me," Shadowfoot replied, unrepentant.

"We're having enough trouble holding this alliance together as it is!" Draven shouted, "And you now decide to make it worse?"

"Now now," Teuvdar interupted, somehow maintaining his composure, "Let cooler heads prevail... we do not need to fight."

"I don't trust them," Shadowfoot said, "I am not happy about this decision to let them on board, when they could turn on us at any moment!"

"And you aim to reduce the chance of them turning on us by shooting arrows at them?!" Draven roared, brushing aside Teuvdar's attempts to calm him, "What the bloody hell kind of stupid idea is that?!"

Losing the ability to speak any further, Draven roared in wordless rage, but still clung to a vestige of honour, and instead of Shadowfoot, it was a deck railing that felt his axe's bite. The rest of the group drew back, shocked, as Draven swung a second blow at the deck. Leaving the weapon wedged in the solid oak, the dwarf turned to Shadowfoot.

"You've done some damn foolish things since we left home, but this... it defies belief. If you make this task harder for us one more time, we'll dump you on an island out here, and..." Draven paused, a look of confusion on his face, and looked down at the axe he had buried in the deck "What am I saying? It... it must be the idol! It's turning us against each other... we must be rid of this accursed thing!"

No-one could disagree, and yet there still stood one last obstacle in the way of freedom from the curse... a temple full of ferocious Sahuagin!