Feb 2022 chooseyourownadventure orchestral score electronic story fantasy
Just in case you don't know, I'm creating a "Choose Your Own Adventure" FAWM.
For this FAWM, I've decided to make a score to a film/story that hasn't been written. This is because YOU will decide where the story will go and how it will eventually end. After each song, I will give you options for your "Choose Your Own Adventure" story. Write your option in the comment section. I will wait about 8 hours or so, calculate the numbers, then create the next song that fits this option. After each song is posted, I start the process all over again until FAWM and the story is over.
There was a tie in choices, so I went with the first, which was B) Ditch them.
I’m burning out a little, but I’ll try to hang in there for the rest of FAWM. I tried to do something a little different here, just to change it up and inject energy into this next section.
************
You choose to ditch them. You’re so tired of this group of people, and you haven’t spent much time with them at all. Mayor Adaline, who couldn’t negotiate her way out of a sack. Her assistant, Silas, a spineless weakling. Raana and Eli, an ungrateful mother and the baby whose cries could have gotten you killed. You don’t owe them anything. You’ve done your bit.
You turn around and say, “Don’t follow me. I’m not your leader and I’m not your friend. Go away. You’re not my problem anymore.” Then you walk off, abandoning them. You don’t hear their footsteps anymore.
You get to your house at the edge of the village, and you see that it’s been spared from destruction. In fact, it looks the same as you left it—one chair, one table, one cup, one plate, one knife, one spoon, one blanket, one bed. It’s how you like it. No clutter, no fuss. Just enough for you and only you.
It’s almost dark when you step inside, but you know better than to light a fire and attract attention. You wash the blood off yourself, eat some stale bread and salted, dried fish, tend to your wounds, and rest until it’s time to meet up with Mathias. You’re good at being quiet and not attracting any attention, which is how you’ve been able to live for so long without being detected. You wonder how the king of Janga-on even suspected you were in the village and how they were able to attack at just the perfect time during the Spring Festival. You know from experience that they’re well-trained, but still, something about this bothers you, like that painful ulcer in your mouth that you can’t stop tonguing. Something about it feels off and you can’t shake that suspicion.
You wait until it’s well and truly dark, then, armed with a couple knives in your belt, you go to the south end of the village and lay low in the shrubbery. You hear the hoot of a barn owl and, for a second, you dismiss it, but then you remember that there are no barn owls in this region. You hoot back and hear footsteps coming closer. Mathias puts out his hand to help you up.
“You make a lousy barn owl,” he jokes quietly.
“Just tell me what I need to know,” you reply impatiently. You’re in no mood for jokes.
Mathias wrinkles his brow, then asks. “Kaleb, do you know why we came here?”
“You mumbled something about me, mines, and money.”
“Well, the money part…that’s because your mayor refused to pay taxes after the mines started doing well.”
Good. His story checks out with what Mayor Adaline told you.
Mathias continues. “The king considered that as impertinence and he would have possibly spared the village except for one thing. You. There was a rumor, started by a letter written by someone in your village. Someone wrote to the king that the village was sheltering you. I mean, we all thought you were dead and that you couldn’t have possibly survived that fall into the water. That’s a hell of a jump from the tower.”
You remember jumping out of the window, but not the impact. You must have lost consciousness for a bit. You woke up days later with a terrible headache at the edge of a river, the river that led into the valley next to the mountains. That’s how you ended up here.
“The king has been growing more and more paranoid and vengeful in the last few years. Some folks say it’s because syphilis has destroyed his mind. Others believe that he enslaved a witch to do his bidding,” says Mathias. “I didn’t think it was true until I saw it for myself. It was late and I was on duty. I saw a red-tipped falcon fly around to the back of the castle, to the empty prison tower that faces the sea. It perched on the ledge, like it was waiting for someone, then SHE came to collect it.”
Your eyes widen and you feel like someone’s stolen the very breath from your body. The blood drains from your craggy face and you start feeling cold.
“I thought it was a ghost, but it was the White Witch, YOUR witch, the one we all saw burned alive in the courtyard. She’s in the prison tower where you once stayed.”
Delphine. Delphine is still alive. Your head is spinning now.
“How did she look? How do you know it was her? Are you sure?” Your anxiety grows by the minute. Your pulse is quickening again. You grab Mathias’ shoulders, your eyes watering, searching his face for more answers.
“I only saw her for a second, so I can’t tell you more than that, Kaleb,” replies Mathias. “The king locked Delphine in the tower and I think he’s forcing her to use her magic for his own purposes. He’s become corrupt and is going crazy. Not long after that night I saw her and the falcon, the king ordered us to ride out here and destroy EVERYTHING so we could take over the mines.”
Mathias pauses and looks to the side, shaking his head. “That falcon was a spy, for sure, and it must have spotted you. I've always heard tales about this sort of thing, about witches being able to inhabit animals, but I thought it was a bunch of —”
“I have to get to her!” you say, breathlessly interrupting Mathias. “I have to help her. It is my fault she’s there in the first place.”
Mathias pats you on the back and sighs. “You’ll need help. She’s locked away and it’s going to be difficult to get to her. Most of the regiment is heading back out tomorrow morning and I can go with them. Wait a day, then ride out. You’ll have to keep your distance and stay hidden. I’ll do what I can to get you in.”
You look Mathias straight in the eye and directly ask, “Why are you helping me? I wasn’t nice to you before.”
He sighs, “You were an asshole…but I don’t think you deserved what you got. Plus, not many of us old dogs left, Kaleb. I remember a time when the king was sane and could be trusted, when there was some peace in our land. We Janga-oni soldiers used to have a purpose and a sense of justice. Now I feel like I’m just blindly following orders given by a madman. Maybe I don’t feel like doing that anymore.”
Mathias offers his hand in solidarity and friendship. You're not sure if you can trust him. He might just deliver you to the hands of the king. Or he might be an ally you need.
Do you:
A) Accept his friendship?
Or
B) Reject his friendship?
@headfirstonly Mar 2022
This switches the game; rather than Cormac McCarthy's The Road it feels like this could be turning into a comrades-in-arms heist movie. Didn't see that coming, but I like the busy energy of this one, driven along by some gorgeous percussion programming.
Ha - remind me to play you a sample of a barn owl shrieking. They don't do cuddly hooting noises. They *really* don't...
@wrenarcher Feb 2022
Wonderful project you have going here. Just amazing.
A) accept
I feel like Kaleb’s intuition tells him it’s ok to trust Mathias’ help... at least to a point. And I think he knows he’s going to need it.
@leepat Feb 2022
a) accept
he cd hv betrayed you already but he didnt
and you need at least some help if you’re goin to break out the princess, erm, witch. (you softie you)
@dragondreams Feb 2022
I love the direction your score has taken. It has elements of tension building to a sense of hope.
I'm going to accept his friendship... for now.
@tamsnumber4 Feb 2022
Really liked this track, made for good reading. I say A. because he still needs some info and help if he wants to get to this gal,
@dzdandcunfsd Feb 2022
A) but only because it may be beneficial to you for now, still can't trust the guy... he did still follow orders and attack the town.