The long journey...

[Abenaki]

Solo Quest: A prologue of sorts...
Jada sat with his forearms on his knees, the hilt of his borrowed shortsword resting on his shoulder, its point buried in the ground just in front of his groin. His gaze was cast down at the ground, but his eyes were unfixed; staring off into nothing. So lost in thought was Jada that he had failed for quite some time now to stoke the fire in front of his tent. Slowly but surely the cool night air had been closing in around him, the darkness held at bay only by the soft orange glow of the embers...

"The dawn will come soon." A voice outside of Jada's vision said softly. "You should sleep in safety while you can." An old man, the shaman Jada had studied under for the last several years and the elder of his village, shuffled past the contemplative warrior and situated himself on the opposite side of the dying fire. Slender, wizened hands placed some small twigs and tinder on the embers, feeding the now refreshed flames. The darkness retreated a ways, and warmth pushed back the chill of the night.

"There will be time enough for sleep on my journey." Jada replied without looking up. He shifted the metal hilt of his weapon to the opposite shoulder and tilted his head to the side, cracking his neck. He had been sitting like that for a long time. The elder shaman nodded slowly.

"You are prepared to go?" The old man asked. He kept adding to the fire, building the flames higher and higher.

"Yes." Jada said simply. "I have enough provisions for a week, not that'll I'll need them until later." Like all Kokopelli, Jada had been trained at a very young age to forage and live off the land. The dried strips of meat and fruits packed away in his rucksack were merely precautionary really, should the warrior find himself in a barren land with nothing to eat. For a few moments, neither of the two men spoke...

"Why do you undertake such a journey?" The old man asked at last. It was a question that Jada had felt brewing in his elder for the past few days. Both knew the answer Jada had prepared and delivered to all the others who had asked a similar question, but both knew that wasn't entirely it.

This time Jada looked up from the ground between his legs, his eyes drifting over to the stake hammered into the ground next to a fire some ways away. Bound to the stake by his hands and feet sat a man who called himself a "half-elf." Months of captivity hadn't fared the man any good, wasting away most of the meat from his bones and leaving him emaciated and weak. "I go to free our people." Jada replied softly, sticking with his stock excuse. "Those that were captured by men like him." Jada nodded in the direction of their captive's huddled form.

A small smile crept over the old man's lips at this answer, the wrinkles around his eyes bunching together as he squinted into the flames. "Perhaps." The shaman said. "Yet that is not the only reason, is it?"

"No." Jada answered with a sigh. He had seen the old man stare into the flames like that a hundred times before, and knew better than to hide behind fabrications, no matter how well anchored in truth. The flames had a way of revealing things to the elder shaman, so it was pointless to stick to falsehoods when the old man already knew them for what they were. "I want to see this world the half-elf has described to me." Jada continued. "I want to see if his stories are true."

The old man nodded again, slowly. "You believe that is why you go." He said, looking up from the flames and fixing his gaze on the younger man. "Yet there is something else. Something deep inside you that not even you seem to realize drives you." The shaman paused. "Who are you?"

The question took Jada by surprise. He picked up the shortsword leaning against his shoulder and placed it flat on the ground to his left before curling his legs under him and moving closer to the fire. "What do you mean?" He asked in reply.

"The Great Spirit told me you were a shaman." The old man said quietly. "That day on the river, as your soul struggled to be free of your flesh, the Great Spirit told me. However," he paused, thinking, "I sense more than the will of a shaman in you. Do you think I, or the Great Spirit, made a mistake?"

"It is a great honor to be chosen as a shaman." Jada replied coolly.

"Yes." The elder nodded, poking at the fire with a stick. "A great honor. That doesn't answer my question, however. I asked if you thought of yourself as a shaman. Perhaps you would have preferred to follow your father's path and become a great warrior and tracker?"

Jada didn't answer for a long time. Instead he sat with his legs crossed, his hand in his lap. He had started to watch the flames dance, but again his eyes fixated on nothing as he lost himself in though. My father... He thought sadly. It was his greatest dream to have his son follow him...

"I don't know." Jada said at last. "The Great Spirit will not provide me with the answers I seek..."

[Abenaki]

Jada set off that following morning, his gear packed and his legs eager for the journey ahead. He had slept very little, staying up late into the night with only his thoughts and the company of his teacher. He said his farewells to the old man first, accepting the short blessing that the elder shaman offered to aid him on his way. His next farewells were to his father and mother who lived on the opposite side of the meager village of animal skin houses that suited his people's relatively nomadic lifestyle. His last farewell he had been saving for the half-elf bound to the stake near the middle of the village, but he decided against speaking with the man one last time. It was true that without the man's help, Jada would never have imagined setting off on the journey he was about to undertake. It was also true that the man had provided the warrior with almost all of the information he was probably going to need along the way. Yet, the half-elf was his captive, not his friend...

As helpful as he had proven, and despite all the time they had spent together these last few months, it had all been due to his situation. Not a liking of Jada or his people. He had been friendly enough closer to the end of their time together, but Jada could just not bring himself to say farewell to the man as though he were a close companion...

For close to a week Jada traveled with the rising sun on his left shoulder, leading him south towards the coast. Along the way he traveled through dense pines and scattered forest clearings, sticking close to the small animal trails that his father had taught him to follow so many years ago. Days came and went as he traveled, each more or less the same as the one before it. Closer and closer he came to the coastline that other clans spent their summer months near. The lands of the same clans that had been slowly dwindling in size since the arrival of the half-elf and his ilk.

Slavery, Is his word for it. Jada thought often as he traversed the landscape. They take my people across the sea and trade them for gold. It was a concept that the warrior had a difficult time comprehending. The Kokopelli had no form of currency, nor any practices amongst their tribes that could have been used to explain the idea of slavery to the warrior or his people. Instead Jada had been left with only the knowledge that the half-elf and his companions carried women and children from the coastal tribes onto their "ships" and took them across the sea. There, in that distant place, these women and children were exchanged for large numbers of the small shiny coins similar to the ones Jada had taken off his captive.

If is knew the significance of these things, Jada thought as he held one of the small coins in his hand, things would probably be much more clear to me...

Thinking about the half-elf's friends made Jada extra wary as he went, his eyes always scanning the underbrush and the trees in the distance to make sure there was no one hiding in wait for him. While it had started to become apparent to the Kokopelli that the slavers were primarily after women and children, Jada was fairly certain that they wouldn't pass up the opportunity to pounce on a lone adult male if they could catch him unawares...

He made camp on the coastline overlooking the sea on his sixth day, in an area near the tree line close to the cliffs where the slaver's ships had first been spotted a couple years ago. From his vantage point overlooking the dark green waters Jada could see that none of the ships that carried the half-elf's friends and their captives were visible. It was possible that they were farther down around the coast, or more probable that they had set sail back to their origin with another ship of Jada's people. Either way, the warrior was brave enough to chance a fire in the open. His desire for a warm meal overcoming his fears concerning strange men hiding in the shadows.

Somewhere over there, Jada thought as he warmed a couple strips of dried meat from his pack near the fire, his eyes looking far over the horizon, I will find my answers...

[Abenaki]

For the better part of three to four months the warrior trekked his lonely way across landscapes unknown to the Kokopelli; always staying within a half days journey of the coast line. Without map or proper direction, the warrior's only guide was the knowledge that the men he sought sailed from somewhere across the sea from the Kokopelli homeland. Knowing this, and armed with the knowledge garnered from his former captive (The knowledge that there did indeed exist a land route from the half-elf's home port to the lands of the Kokopelli); Jada had reasoned that following the coastline would eventually lead him to his destination.

And to reiterate, the lengthy journey that this lone Kokopelli brave was undertaking was indeed a lonely one. With no one alongside him with which to share idle conversation or stories of the mundane adventure thus far, Jada was forced for days at a time to contend with the numerous voices inside his own mind...

The voice called Adventure, who had at the start of this long undertaking had been jumping up and down for joy inside the warrior's head, over time became much less animated. Days came and went without a change in scenery, and not once was there a foe or encroaching animal to contend with in the wilderness. A mundane sort of routine settled in as the journey wore on, and Adventure was soon complaining that the undertaking thus far was not nearly as exciting as it should have been.

Next was the voice called Doubt, who was constantly sitting at a table in the back of the warrior's mind, his head resting in his hands in minor resignation. Day in and day out he just sat there, asking Jada the same questions over and over again. "What if you don't ever find them?" He asked. "What if you can't find your way back? What if you get captured? What if, what if, what if..."

Comfort had been complaining all this time as well. Out here in the wilderness there were no warm piles of furs to curl up on at night. There was also no suitable shelter to protect him from the elements. Comfort had been especially loud in his complaints near the start of the journey when Jada's legs were still growing accustomed to walking from sunrise to sunset and sometimes longer. Gradually, however, Comfort had settled into a routine of throwing out the same old complaints at given intervals throughout the day.

And of all the voices constantly vying for the warrior's attention, these were only three. Some Jada could not put a decent enough name to, and thus he tried for the most part successfully to ignore them. Occasionally one of these relegated voices would score a hit through some hidden chink in the warrior's mental armor, but it was at these times Jada turned to the only voice that seemed to be on his side.

Confidence...

"The Great Spirit gave to you alone the gift to learn tongues." Confidence told him, a supportive arm around his shoulders. "You are a chosen shaman of the Kokopelli, son of a great warrior." The voice was strong, assuring. "Amongst the whole of your people, you alone stepped forward to take action. You alone have the power to do this great thing..."

It was Confidence that allowed the warrior to fall asleep comfortably at night, and it was Confidence who would stand there next to him like a true friend and ally when the time to prove himself at last arrived...

[Abenaki]

Finally, after weeks upon weeks of trekking through the wilderness, the Great Spirit saw it fit to disrupt Jada's monotonous routine. From the peak of a small rise, the warrior could see that the rocky coastline he had been following for so long jutted in upon itself forming a small rocky inlet. Nestled into the trees beside the inlet, smoke rising from several points, was a small community of shelters. It was the first signs of human life Jada had seen in what seemed like forever...

Jada spent a few moments standing atop of the knoll, looking around. Small boats trolled the blue-green waters of the bay in a fashion similar to that of the coastal clans of the Kokopelli; Fishing, most likely. It was somewhat comforting to see something familiar, but at the same time it reminded the warrior that those Kokopelli no longer dared the waters of the coast. The slavers in their great ships had either taken them or driven them away, and now no Kokopelli dared the waters that once provided a rich source of food...

What now? Jada asked himself. During his journey, and even before leaving home, Jada had reached the conclusion that contact with strangers would be impossible to avoid in his quest to free his missing people. Yet, now that the prospect of dealing was strangers was finally upon him, Jada was dealing with cold feet. I could circle around without being seen. he thought as his eyes scanned the dense forest that surrounded the community on three sides. But, they might know something about the ships. Perhaps they've seen them...

Slowly, and with much hesitation, Jada took his first steps down the hill towards the small gathering of humanity at the edge of the water. He tread softly, checking his gear and his weapon as he went. He absently tightened the straps on his rucksack over his shoulders, and pulled his belt tight. His left hand toyed with the rusty metal weapon hanging at his hip, making sure it was within easy reach should he need it. Jada had no intention of causing any trouble, but he had no way of knowing how the people of this small community might react to an armed stranger. Especially an armed stranger how spoke with a strange accent and had little grasp of their language...

Assuming that these people here even spoke the same language as the half-elf Jada's people had captured...

Jada was at the bottom of the hill, a few hundred yards from the first small wooden structure of the community when he first knew he had been spotted. The entire place was quiet, far too quiet for an inhabited village of people. But for the smoke rising from stone chutes standing next to each structure, the entire place was still. Jada slowed his pace to almost a crawl, taking short and casual steps towards the clearing in the middle of the squat wooden homes. He kept one hand resting easily on the hilt of his weapon, but tried as much as possible to appear non-threatening. He had closed more than half the distance to the clearing when four bearded men armed with long poles tipped with metal emerged from behind one of the structures and moved towards him. They were walking, not charging towards him in an offensive manner, but the way the men were looking at him implied some sense of hostility towards the warrior...

[Abenaki]

Take it easy... Confidence whispered to him. How would you feel if a stranger just walked into your home?...

Jada stopped walking, letting the armed men come to him. He almost turned to look back over his shoulder and verify that no one was behind him, but stopped short of doing so in the fear that such a movement might arouse suspicion in the men approaching him. All had black, bushy hair hanging to their chests, a sight that was uncommon to the Kokopelli; The Kokopelli being unable to grow facial hair. All were taller and more rotund than Jada, but to call them fat or overweight might have been going to far. They were just large, burly men that were obviously not strangers to hard labor...

"Who are you? What do you want?" The largest of the men asked confidently as the men spread out and came to a stop several feet from where Jada was standing. A couple of the men brandished their spears threateningly, but the two in the middle had a calm disposition, as though there were used to doing this sort of thing.

"I am Jada." The warrior said calmly, tapping on his chest with his hand. "I travel alone, and mean you no harm." He added, utilizing one of the stock phrases the half-elf had taught him when Jada had first began to learn this strange, unfamiliar language. 'It's a phrase that will help you out in a lot of places.' Jada seemed to recall the man saying sometime later, when his grasp of the language was a great deal more affluent. The two men in the middle of the pack exchanged glances, and the man who had spoken waved for the two others to quit threatening with their spears. They shouldered their weapons slowly.

"That's good enough for me." The man said. "Bryan, Dole, go look around. Make sure no one else is lurking around this time of day." The two men on the outside broke away, heading up the hill Jada had come down just moments ago. "My name's Michael." The big man added. "I'm sort of the law around here, so don't make any trouble while you’re in town, ya'hear?"

Jada nodded his head in agreement, his shoulders dropping slightly as he relaxed away the tension that had been building in preparation to defend himself if need be. It seemed the people here were friendly enough, however.

"Alright then." Michael nodded. "Come'on, we'll find you a place at the inn."

Jada followed Michael as he turned and strode back towards the village, Michael's companion falling in beside them. As they approached, the whole village seemed to come back to life. Women and children came out of their homes and went back to work or play, and Jada saw more than a couple men armed with bows come down from concealed places of the roofs of the closest structures.

"It's not often we get visitors around these parts." Michael said in passing as they walked. "Can't ever be to careful about bandits though. Small towns like this make for easy prey to the likes of them, more often than not." Jada didn't say anything, he just followed along, aware that several children nearby were eyeing him suspiciously. It wasn't entirely a rude gesture though, Jada surmised. Compared to the tall, heavy, fair skinned, and bearded men on either side of him, he must have looked rather strange. Slim, lithe, dark skinned, clean face...

They arrived at the front of a squat wooden building close to the shoreline. A small jetty protruded out from near the front door into the water, and several small vessels were tied up alongside. Jada caught a heavy whiff of what smelled like old fish and fermented corn, but he kept his feelings of distaste for the place to himself.

"The Broken Hull." Michael said with a wink. "Nothing fancy, and the brew tastes like urine as compared to them big city drinks, but it serves us just fine." He added with a smile. "Old man O'Connor will take care of you, and see to it that you've got a good meal and a place to sleep. I'll come by later to see how you're doing."

With that Michael turned and walked off with his companion, both of them disappearing around the corner of a nearby home. Jada watched them go before turning and taking a second look at the 'Broken Hull.' With patched walls, broken windows, and an old, molding roof of dried grasses roped together, the place was certainly broken all right...

[Abenaki]

'Old man O'Connor' was a short, emaciated man in his late seventies with a wispy ponytail of snow-white hair hanging down his back. He had been serving as the proprietor at the 'Broken Hull' for close to fifty years, and continued to do so even though his oldest son (himself in his earlier sixties) had offered to take over the inn. He was a shortsighted, ornery old man who smelled like fish, but Jada quickly found the man's cantankerous attitude entertaining...

"Scum!" O'Connor barked, shaking a dishrag in the air with a frail, skeletal fist. "Every last one o'dem half-breed dogs. They pull up on me doorstep pretty as ye please every couple o'months demanding 'good ale and cheese'." The old man blinked rapidly and shook as though he might explode. "Cheese, as it were!" He added in disbelief. "Do we look like tha folk well off enough to be afford'in cows and cheese and the like?"

Jada deigned to answer the old man, as he had found that the man liked to ask a lot of questions without really expecting an answer. That and O'Connor had been rambling on about this and that and switching stories every couple of minutes since the young warrior had come in and sat at the bar. The frequent pauses and random transitions led Jada to believe that the old man's memory was far from great, and would probably forget the question before he got his answer.

There were four other patrons gathered in the tiny hovel of an inn on this night, and by the looks of things Jada considered himself to be the only outsider. The others, by their dress and by the way they ignored every word that came out of O'Connor's mouth, appeared to be locals. They sat away from the bar at their tables, talking quietly amongst themselves and drinking whatever it was that they drank in this place. None of them paid any mind to the bare-chested warrior sitting at the bar with a mug of water and a small plate of cooked fish...

"Twenty of'em," O'Connor went on, already on to the next story, "the biggest fish you ever saw in your life..."

The door opened and every head in the place turned to see who it was. Michael stomped in from outside, tracking mud and shaking water off him as he entered. Outside it had started to rain, and Jada couldn't see much of the village outside the doorway for the sheets of water coming down.

"Enough of your stories O'Connor." Michael said in a gentle tone, almost as though he were talking to a small child. "And I'll have some of that ale you've got under the counter." Old man O'Connor drifted off mid-story, shaking with age as he looked around. His face lit up in recognition after a moment and he smiled as he shuffled off to find a mug.

"I'll expect you have gold enough to get a room for the night?" Michael asked nonchalantly, wringing water out of his beard onto the floor as he took a seat at the bar next to Jada.

Jada looked over at the man quizzically, questions in his eyes. Seeing his gaze, Michael reached into his pocket and pulled out a small round object. "Gold? You know, money?" He said, placing the coin on the counter between them. Jada leaned in close and looked over the small metallic token with keen interest. It dawned upon him that he had many similar looking coins in his rucksack. They were the ones that he had taken off the half-elf; the things that the man claimed he got in return to taking away Jada's people.

"I have some of those." Jada replied with a smile. "What are they for?"

Michael's brow rose up in question, his eyes searching Jada's face for clues. "You exchange them for goods and services." The big man said in explanation. "If you want to stay in his inn, you give a couple of them to O'Connor. You'll want to give him a couple for the food as well." He added. "No one in this world does anything for free these days. They all want money in return."

Jada toyed around with this new information, trying to make sense of it. Having no form of currency, the concept of exchanging small shiny tokens in exchange for food and lodging seemed like a silly idea to the Kokopelli…

Jada nodded and went back to his food, picking at the fish a little bit at a time. O'Connor came back with Michael's ale, and the big man took a look draught from the mug, smacking his lips and sighing contently as he put the mug back down on the counter. "So," he said conversationally, "what brings you to these parts?"

"I'm looking for some people." Jada answered coolly. "A group of men who call themselves 'half-elves'."

"Half-elves, huh?" Michael nodded. We get a few of them in here every once in a while. O'Connor tell you that story?" He asked. Jada nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, O'Connor doesn't like them much." Michael added. "But their gold is as good and any one else’s."

For a moment both men sat quiet, alone with their thoughts. O'Connor had shuffled off somewhere again, but came back wiping at a cracked mug with his dirty dishrag. "Do you know where they go?" Jada asked finally.

"Oh, I don't know." Michael said, folding his arms and looking up at the ceiling as though he were thinking. "They don't talk much, but with a ship the size of the like they drop anchor in, I'd say they probably make berth somewhere on Corone. Near Radasanth probably."

The names and places Michael spoke of meant nothing to Jada, who had never ventured far from home until recently. At least now he had something to go by though, a name to use. The half-elves Michael spoke of sailed on a ship, meaning they were probably the ones he sought. He could ask people where Radasanth was, even if he didn't know what Radasanth was.

"Michael," Jada asked, turning to face the big man, "how do I get to Radasanth?"

[Abenaki]

Michael took another pull at his ale, slowly swishing the liquid around in his mouth before swallowing. He was obviously thinking about something, and Jada got the sickening feeling that the man was questioning whether or not he should give out any more information about the half-elves and their ship...

"Radasanth? I've been there!" Old man O'Connor busted out with a smile. Both Jada and Michael started in surprise, as though they had both forgotten that the old man was there. "Nice place." O'Connor continued, another dirty mug forgotten in his hands and he stared up at the ceiling wishfully. "Good food, good inns, and plenty of beautiful young ladies who'll do anything for a gold..."

"Shut yer mouth, O'Connor." Michael interrupted rudely. The old man's voice trailed off, and Jada thought he could see hurt in the old man's eyes. The pain vanished though, as the old man's eyes lit up. "Oh, hello Michael. When did you get here?"

He's forgotten already. Jada thought with a smile, shaking his head in pity of the poor old man. He had heard some of the men in the inn call O'Connor a crotchety old man, but Jada had found him to be quite friendly to strangers, even if he did forget they were there after a couple of minutes...

"What's your reason for wanting to find these half-breeds?" Michael asked after a couple moments of silence. He was answering a question with a question, a move that kind of made Jada feel put-off. The warrior pushed the remnants of his meal away from him and turned to face the big man.

"That is not any of your business." Jada said coolly, his face stern. His accent sounded off, the words thick and clumsy, but he thought the words sounded correct to get his point across.

"Tell me why," Michael replied just as icily, "and I'll tell you how to get Radasanth."

And so, with a sigh of resignation, Jada told Michael his story. He started at the beginning, recollecting the Kokopelli's first encounters with the half-elves when they arrived on their ships. He told Michael about the Kokopelli being taken away, captured by the strange men with the pointy ears. Jada told him everything, right down to whom he had gotten his weapon and his money from, who had taught him the Common tongue, and why he was here. Michael listened the whole time in silence, and by the time Jada had finished retelling the sad tale, most of the inn's local patrons had retired for the night...

"Slavers." Michael said, his voice tinted with disgust. Jada found it odd that the man looked down at his hands as though there was something on them. He even went so far as to rub his palms on his shirt as though cleaning them. "Dirty money." He said grimly to no one in particular. "We've made a decent living off of them here, selling them food and fresh water. Never asked questions about what they were carrying though..."

The big man trailed off and sat there, staring absently at the back wall for a couple of minutes. Jada waited patiently, finishing off the last of his water to wet his throat; dry from the long telling of his story. "Michael?" The warrior prodded at last...

"By boat." Michael said, coming out of his reverie. "Radasanth is on the island of Corone, only way is to get there by boat. I've got a small skiff, I'll take you as far as the shores of Corone..." The big man trailed off again, but Jada thought he could make out the words 'least I could do...'

[Abenaki]

Jada spent a fitful night's sleep in the tiny bed of the small, dank room that O'Connor lent to him for a single gold piece. The room's solitary window was cracked and open, letting some of the rain and wind blow in from outside. The floor was covered in dry rushes, and the bed felt like a lumpy bag of potatoes, but Jada was mostly just glad to be under a roof, away from the worst of the elements. He had spent more than a few nights out in the rain on his journey this far, so any decent shelter, and a flimsy blanket, was better than nothing.

The rain stopped shortly before dawn, the clouds burning off as the morning sun peaked over the horizon. Accustomed to being up and on his way before dawn, Jada was out of his room, packed, pacing, and ready to go before most of the little town was awake. A few men were up pushing their small boats down into the water to get an early start to their fishing, and a short homely girl was busy making a fire in the inn's small hearth, but for the most part the town slept.

Island? Jada pondered as he quit his pacing and sat down at the bar. He found old man O'Connor sleeping on a small cot behind the counter, and watched the short rising and falling of the man's chest as he slept. Island was not a word Jada had been prepared for. He could clearly recall the half-elf that had been his prisoner telling him that there was an overland route to the slaver's port of origin; to the place where his people were. Yet, an island was surrounded by water, so how could there be an overland route to an island? It was an interesting question, and one that made Jada wonder if Michael was telling him the truth...

The big man in question came into the inn an hour after dawn, a large drawstring bag thrown over his shoulder. His beard was frizzy and all over the place, and his hair unkempt. He was still wearing the clothes he had worn last night, and it was apparent that the man hadn't gotten much sleep...

"You're up early." Michael said conversationally, setting the sack he carried down on the floor next to the bar. He ran a hand through his hair and down his beard, trying to straighten himself out at least a little. The girl stoking the fire asked the two men if they wanted anything for breakfast, but both Jada and Michael declined.

"Jada is always up before the sun." Jada said, referring to himself in the third person. The half-elf that had taught him Common had always gotten upset when Jada did that during their conversations, but the young warrior hadn't really cared. Just as long as he could listen and communicate at a reasonable level, he was fine.

"Uh-huh." Michael replied, not really listening. "I got the skiff ready last night. We can leave whenever you want."

"Question." Jada replied, looking the big man right in the eye. "I was told that I could reach the half-elves and their ship by land." Jada continued, switching out of referring to himself in the third person to something more 'acceptable.' "Why is it that we go to an island?"

Michael shrugged. "I don't know if Radasanth is their home port, or just somewhere they put up to get supplies." He said. "All I know is that they stop there every once in a while. That means there is probably someone in Radasanth who can give you better information about them than I can."

Jada listened to the man's answer carefully, translating it in his mind as he went. The warrior supposed that it made well enough sense, and decided that getting to Radasanth and finding someone who knew the ship he was after would be more beneficial than just walking the coast until he found them. Once he found out where they sailed from, he would more than likely be able to find someone willing to take him there...

Just so long as he offered to pay them...

[Abenaki]

They set off a couple of hours after dawn, unmooring Michael's skiff from the small jetty outside the inn. It was a small, flat-bottomed craft with a pointed bow and square stern. The vessel had no cabin or the like to protect them from the elements, and its main source of propulsion was a small square sail rigged on a makeshift mast in the center of the small craft. Pushing off from the wooden pier, Jada dumped his meager supplies in the bow of the skiff and sat cross-legged on the floor. Michael took up his position at the rear of the craft, one hand on the thin rope that raised and lowered the sail, his other hand on the small wooden rudder.

This was the first time Jada had been in a boat in a long time. Last he could recall, he hadn't set foot in a waterborne craft since he was six, when he and his father had gone out fishing with some of the men from the coastal clans of the Kokopelli. Those had been hollowed out log canoes, though, not the sectioned and well-constructed skiff Michael piloted out of the small inlet and along the coast. They passed the first couple hours of the trip in relative silence, enjoying the warmth of the sun as it rose into the sky and illuminated the dark waters of the sea...

"What will you do when you find them?" Michael asked after a little while. Jada could only surmise that he meant 'How are you going to get your people back?'

"I do not know." Jada shrugged. He turned so that his back was facing the open water ahead of them and leaned back. Using his mostly empty rucksack as a meager pillow, he rested his head in the point where the two pieces of the bow came together, his arms resting up on the gunwales. "The Great Spirit will tell me what to do."

"This Great Spirit," Michael asked, making conversation, "is he like God?"

Jada rolled his tongue, feeling around in his mouth absently as he thought. "I do not know God." He replied.

More silence followed, as both men kept their thoughts to themselves. They listened to the sound of the water as the skiff glided over the surface, skipping along the coast at a decent pace. They would follow the coast for a day, Michael had told him earlier, and make camp on a beach somewhere. On the second day they would move away from the coast, out into open water, and cross the channel to Corone.

"How old are you?" Michael asked, again trying to make conversation.

"I have seen twenty winters come and go." Jada replied. “Why?"

"I dunno." Michael shrugged. "It just seems odd to send one young man out to take on a ship full of slavers. Don't you have any fighters that could have come with you?"

"The Kokopelli have many warriors." Jada answered proudly. "Yet, they live in fear of the strange-man's shiny weapons and iron-skin." There was a tinge of loathing in his voice, as he realized just how afraid the 'mighty warriors' of his people really were. They had abandoned their coastal lands and fled inland, and now many displaced Kokopelli wandered terrain unfamiliar to their clans. While nomadic by nature, the Kokopelli tended to migrate only within a given territory so as to prevent competition amongst the various tribes. Of late, with the coastal lands now abandoned by the fishing clans, scuffles were breaking out between clans competing for the same hunting grounds...

The strange-men were stealing them away, and rather than fight back, the Kokopelli were breeding blood feuds and strife that might boil over into an all out war between the clans...

"Only I would do this." Jada added. "Only Jada is brave enough."

Michael gave him the same look a father gives a son when the son claims the impossible. It was a pitying, knowing look that made Jada uncomfortable. Michael didn't say anything to worsen his mood, however, for which Jada was thankful. Shifting into a comfortable position, the young warrior closed his eyes and passed the rest of the day in silence, trying on and off to sleep in the cradle of the skiff's pointed bow...

[Abenaki]

The last leg of Jada's journey passed as relatively uneventful as the journey on a whole had been uneventful. He and Michael sailed along the coast until the sun began to set, and then pulled up and made camp on a small stretch of beach. Both men refrained from talking much, each locked away with their own thoughts and opinions. Michael spent most of his time that night, and the following day as they crossed the straight towards Corone, thinking about the money he had made selling supplies to the half-elves. The knowledge that the money they paid him with was made off of the misery of others was unsettling. He tried not to think about what might be happening to Jada's people as they lived their lives as slaves, but he couldn't stop the thoughts no matter how hard he tried...

Jada on the other hand spent most of his time pondering his purpose in life. It seemed strange and abstract to the young man, trying to figure out why he was here and why he had been chosen as a shaman. As a child Jada had always envisioned and believed himself destined to become a warrior. That day on the river, the day when he and several other young men walked into the water to determine their fates, Jada had waded into the rushing waters with the firm belief that he would awake a full-fledged warrior at last. Yet, things hadn't turned out that way...

He had awoken an apprentice shaman, destined to spend the rest of his life learning herb lore, deciphering dreams, and sorting out the strange powers of nature. Compared to the heroic, fast-paced life of the warrior, the life of a shaman was a life of drab study and endless toil by comparison...

It was a mistake. Jada decided, going against everything he believed about the Great Spirit. I was born with the blood of the warrior, not the blood of an old man reading dreams! He was quiet, pensive, turning over in his mind the idea that the Great Spirit was fallible. If the Great Spirit was fallible, however, how could he rely on the guidance he needed to rescue his people?

There were to many questions, and Jada was determined to find the answers...

I'll find out soon enough. Jada decided solemnly. I will fight and I will find for myself whether or not I would do better as a warrior or as a shaman...

Michael ran the flat-bottomed skiff aground on a sandy beach. "Head that way." The man said calmly, pointing towards a hill. There were several homes on the side of the hill, and several others around the beach. "You'll hit the city-proper soon enough if you go that way. It's a pretty hard place to miss." He added. Michael hopped out of the skiff and sat down on the sand. Jada knew that the man would spend the night here before heading back for home the following day. Picking up his gear, Jada jumped out as well.

Digging around in his rucksack, Jada took out a few of the gold coins that Michael had explained to him about. He offered them to the man, as payment for bringing him to Corone, but the man just shook his head. "You keep them." Michael said. "You'll need them in the city, and I don't need any payment from you. It's the least I can do for you, knowing what I know now."

Jada wrinkled his brow, thinking about this for a moment. Shrugging, he put the coins back in their little bag and put the bag back in his rucksack. "You have no debt to me." Jada said finally, saying it slowly to make sure he had the words right. "The half-elves are to blame, not you."

"Maybe," Michael said with a half-smile. "But it'll help me sleep at night to know that I did my part, however little, to set things right."

Jada nodded silently. Now that they had arrived safely at Corone, some of the depressing pall that had been hanging over Michael seemed to wash away with the retreating tide. Getting Jada to where he was going seemed to be payment enough...

"Where is it that you live?" Jada asked, realizing just how little he knew about Michael. "What is the name of your place?"

"The village?" Michael asked, puzzled.

"Yes."

"Everyone refers to the place as Tonn." Michael replied. "Not many people ever travel there, but it's still a name on a map."

Jada nodded, committing the name to memory. "Tonn." He repeated. "Maybe I will go back there someday. I will show you that the Great Spirit had a plan in mind." He added, smiling. He extended his hand to the big man who was so much of a stranger to him, and Michael took it firmly. Both men smiled, both nodding slowly.

"Alright then." Michael said. "You come back when you've found you're people. Then you can tell old man O'Connor a story for a change."

They both chuckled, and their grasp broke in parting. Jada slung his rucksack over his shoulder, and nodded once more. "Good luck." Was the last thing Michael said before Jada turned and set off over the hill towards Radasanth...

Spoils: None. The purpose of this thread was to act as a prologue, outlining the story of how Jada got to Corone, to Radasanth, and why. Anything he has at this point would be the starting equipment included in his RoG profile.

[INDK]

This was a different kind of solo quest than most. The vast majority of solo quests are meant to be single character stories. Ideally, they involve important character growth and life lessons learned that would somehow be diminished should there be another PC in the thread. However, this was a solo for a different reason, primarily that it made little sense for there to be another character in this prologue. As such, I have limited comments about solo questing as an art apart from regular quests, simply because this isn’t the norm for how solo quests are done.

Total Score= 54! Not bad! Don’t be discouraged that this was a lower score than the Cell. Solo quests are a completely different animal.

Introduction – 5 While I appreciate this introduction depicted a great event for your character, I felt it could have been strengthened in two key ways. First, keep in mind that your reader is uninitiated to the Kokopeli and the traditions of your character. You need to make sure that you provide enough backstory that people don’t feel completely lost. Second, while you made it clear this was going to be a big event for your character, it didn’t exactly tease excitement. Perhaps if you had used the earlier part of the thread to make Jada seem more interesting, I would have been a bit more excited to see her go on an adventure of personal growth. An introduction is a very difficult post to make, because of all the things it needs to convey, try to use demonstrative narratives in the introductory post.

Setting – 6 I did appreciate how there was interaction between your character’s perceptions and the strategy. However, this device was not used to tell me as much about the culture as I would have liked. Given what a distinct group of people the Kokopeli are, you need to incorporate that into threads to make this category stand out.

Strategy – 2/5 This entire thread was more of an introduction to future adventures than it was an adventure in itself. As such, I can’t really expect much from strategy since Jada didn’t really solve any problems. As such, I have halved the category. I am giving you some score, because I feel there were more opportunities to bring in problem solving techniques than you made use of. The points you get are primarily for everything making sense and being put together fairly well.

Dialogue – 6 I like the fact that you make Jada’s dialogue a bit unique from other character’s. That is something you need to do. Keep in mind though that speech patterns vary in other ways than just syntax.

Character – 7 Jada is a very distinct character. You play him consistently and well. He is, in many regards, a more gimmicky character than most, because his Kokopelli ancestry makes him quite different from the average Althanian. I feel that you should make sure that in future threads you work both on emphasizing his distinctiveness as a member of this tribe, but also make it clear that Jada is an individual in his own right as well.

Rising Action – 5 This was a bit slow moving, but in general I didn’t find it dull. I think part of the reason this score isn’t that high is because this prologue had limited backstory and no real hook into it.

Climax – 0/0 This thread had no climax, nor did I feel you intended to provide one. Points shifted to conclusion.

Conclusion – 7/20 I really felt there was nothing to this conclusion. I know this was a prologue, and therefore is meant to be a ‘to be continued’ but you can still do better. The end of a set of events does not constitute a conclusion. A good conclusion provides a sense of closure and makes the reader feel as if he/she has gained something significant from reading this thread. In a prologue, the conclusion has the additional task of getting the reader to look out for your next story.

In general, a good way about bringing a sense of closure is to explain how the event fit in with the grand scheme of things. Another good way is to quickly recap the character’s feelings and sum up what he/she learned from the thread. Foreshadowing can also be an excellent technique here, especially for a prologue.

Writing Style – 7 It was clear, relatively brief and often to the point. I would have liked to see a bit more used in terms of devices, but am generally pleased by the way that you manage to cram a lot of details into a small amount of space.

Wild Card – 9/15 All in all, there are a lot of positives you can take from this. As a stand alone solo quest, my expectations would have been a bit different, but as a prologue, it does provide you with a solid base. I hope the comments here are a help to you, but feel free to comment if you have any others.

Spoils=

Abernaki receives 465 EXP

Generally, I give some gold with every completed thread if no other spoil is requested. However, in your case, I wasn’t sure if added gold would wreck your storyline. If you want some gold, please PM me within two days and I will be glad to add the deserved amount to the spoils.