Shamanic Powers

Act I > Scene 1 > Market > Day

Quetzal Sky and his girlfriend are strolling through the market. The musicians play, the dogs bark, the traders hawk their wares. A sinister man observes Quetzal Sky. The storyteller tells the story of the lost son of the old king. A tattoo on Quetzal’s chest throbs, a musical motif we are to hear again floats through the musicians’ song. The storyteller sees the tattoo and is for a moment speechless, he turns his staring eyes back to his audience and resumes his story. Quetzal Sky and his girl sqaut down and listen. Quetzal Sky’s eyes never rest. The story ends, the audience disperse, and the storyteller bids Quetzal Sky to talk to his grandmother, the old shaman Moonlight Bird. Back at Moonlight Bird’s stall she tells them of her Big Dream in which the old king has called for anyone who knew the whereabouts of his lost son. She tells Quetzal Sky he must find some way to the top level of the pyramid where the king resides, and that she will bring about a solar eclipse for him to enter past the guards. Now he must hurry and get the things he needs for his adventure…

Note for Micah: Quetzal Sky’s power animal is the jaguar, he can summon it an any time he is in mortal danger; Moonlight Bird’s power animal is the eagle and she can fly through the corridors of the pyramid or high in the sky above the jungle. The imminent appearance of each power animal is heralded by its musical motif.

Note for Tania: We need to develop the girlfriend (but seriously) how about a western researcher, bridging the cultural and historical gap?

Hey Tania, let’s start on the storyline… let’s go along line for line a bit like in theatre sports, and see what we get. I’ll kick it off…

EXT DAY :: MARKET

Storyteller

(Sees boy running among the stalls)
Hey you!

(To the crowd)
Do you know who he is? He is [name] the lost son of RipperWhizzBang (Tania can you think of a great name here which is imaginary but sounds just like the real thing?) the King of PlaceWithAPointyThing (ditto) of the amazing Shamanic Powers who is totally devastated that he has no son and heir to inherit all his special knowledge and limitless wealth?

Moses was found in a basket? What’s this guy/gal called? Anyway he/she is found in a basket when the men are sweeping up after the market. A tattoo on her arm suggests she’s of Royal Blood, but it’s not clear what comes next until our protagonist (each individual player, without knowledge of the others until Level 6 ) decides to go on a quest to claim her rightful position. Only a whole lot of stuff happens along the way…