Feb 2022 chooseyourownadventure orchestral score 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.
All of those who voted overwhelmingly chose A) Accept his friendship.
I’m so tired and I don’t understand why this is kicking my ass so much. But thank you so much for bearing with me! I appreciate you all following the story and giving me your explanations for your choices. I tried to make a slightly happier song here. Thank you for having fun with this and being on this adventure with me. I'm going to try and not have a mental breakdown.
************
You accept Mathias’ friendship and take his hand in solidarity. You need an ally and he’s one of the few folks alive who is even remotely sympathetic with you.
You crack a half smile and say, “We old dogs gotta stick together, right?” You can’t remember the last time you really smiled or felt a sense of friendship with anyone. You’ve been avoiding everyone like the plague, especially young folks.
This moment proves brief, however, as you hear a rustling in the shrubbery. Someone is there, listening. How long, you can’t say for sure. Then you hear a baby crying.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake…” you mutter under your breath. “Come out of there.”
Three adults and a baby come out of the bushes.
Silas says to Raana, “See, I told you he could hear us!” Raana rolls her eyes and tends to a crying Eli.
Mayor Adaline comes up to you. “I want to go with you.”
“No”, you reply automatically. “No women. No babies. No young people.”
“You’ll need more help than just Mathias over here,” says Mayor Adaline. “I can help you negotiate for supplies. There’s hardly anything left here and I know the mayor of the next town on the road. He’ll take me in and I’ll be safe there. I won’t be a burden to you.”
“Take me with you,” says Silas, a glimmer in his eye. You’re glad he doesn’t have that 1000-yard stare anymore, but you wonder if he could be useful, too. “I move faster than you and I can look ahead if there’s a problem. I know how to care for horses. I can come with you all the way to the castle. You’ll need someone like me.”
You look at Raana and Eli. “So, I guess you want to come along, then?” you ask Raana disapprovingly.
“Only until the next town like Mayor Adaline. She said she’d get Eli and me some help and maybe I can find a job. Otherwise, we’ll starve,” explains Raana.
You let out a deep sigh. You really, REALLY hope you don’t regret this. You know this isn’t the smartest move. It’s a day and a half to the neighboring town, at least, if you push hard enough. But you can’t help but feel ever so slightly responsible for everything going to shit. Who knew you still had a heart? You grunt and nod.
“We leave in a couple days,” you say. “We’ll ride a day behind the regiment, make sure we don’t get seen. Let’s use this time to forage for food, water, anything that we can take with us. We need to stay hidden, away from any soldiers. I’ve got nothing left in my house and I’m not sure it’s safe to be there for too long. And we’ll need horses.”
Silas eagerly replies, “I can find us horses!” You shush him and remind him to be quiet.
Mayor Adaline steps forward, saying, “There is a place we can stay. It’s in the village. It’s the place where Silas and I hid during the attack.” She glares at Mathias with suspicion, then continues. “Underneath City Hall, there is a hidden door to a basement room with some basic supplies, not enough to sustain us for a long time, but enough to keep us alive until we get to the next town. We can all just about fit in there. No one should be able to find us until we leave.”
Mathias looks at the group of civilians then to you. “I hope you know what you’re doing, old dog,” he jests.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, too,” you reply. “See you on the other side.”
Mathias heads back to his regiment and you go with the rest of the group. By now, there are only a couple guards on duty, if any. It’s the dead of night and most of them are fast asleep or drunk and passed out. You skirt around the village and find a route to City Hall. One by one, each of you make your way to the basement, trying to tread as lightly as possible. Once you’re all safely inside, Mayor Adaline lights a candle and you can see what she was talking about.
It’s a small room, but it’s better insulated than your house, so at least you’ll be warm. You can make out a couple of straw mattresses, blankets, some jugs of water and a basin, hard tack and dried meat. In the farthest corner, you see a large chamber pot with a lid. These supplies would last all of you three days, max.
You grab a blanket and hunker down onto the floor in the back. You’re tired and you can feel it in every bone in your body, especially in your lower back. You clear your throat and cough for a second. You can feel your lungs are old, too. Maybe your brain is also on its way out, you muse. It was just like the medicine man had told you before. A disease of the mind, he said. No cure.
You know that all of this is stupid, that, in all likelihood you will get killed on the way from Tinmijn to Janga-on Castle. You’re taking some serious risks, staying in this group, but you can’t turn them away. You look at Mayor Adaline, who is settling down on one of the mattresses. She inhales deeply and you can see the tiniest glimmer of tears. Raana and Eli are on the other mattress. Raana is breastfeeding Eli, who is pleasantly quiet except for the occasional gurgle. Silas is sitting across from you, drinking out of a jug of water and chewing on some dried meat. Oddly enough, you feel a strange sense of purpose wash over you as you drift off to sleep….
Do you
A) Dream?
or
B) Sleep soundly?
@headfirstonly Mar 2022
Love the percussion on this. It's unexpected and unusual, and the wide stereo panning gives it some great dynamics. The piano progression is classic Ryako, and great to hear.
Dat cello, though. Wowzers.
@pooka Feb 2022
I'm gonna say B) Sleep soundly.
I know you want to write a song about Kaleb's dream, but I've had enough of disturbed sleep recently!
@abudabard12514 Feb 2022
Dream for sure!
Also on record this concept is freaking amazing and I'm extremely impressed with your whole operation here
@wylddandelyon Feb 2022
Oh, a dream! I'd want a dream that comforts your protagonist, that points out the good ways gathering a group might work, but if one of them is plotting something bad, it might be reflected in the dream?
Or a prophetic dream could be interesting too.
Maybe more than one dream?
@ampersandman Feb 2022
Agree with the others. A dream has the potential to add completely new layers to this story. That both options will yield fantastic score pieces goes without saying.
@dragondreams Feb 2022
There's a jauntiness here that suggests a change...
I think I'd like to dream.
@leepat Feb 2022
sprightly tune!
you’re probably tired because you’re fitting about three times as much in one day as mere humans like us ;)
it’s time for A dream…
@sapient Feb 2022
You continue to amaze withthis music and this story keeps on twisting...
It has to be an A.
I want to see what the cinema in his head is showing that night. I want to know what the dreams reveal...!
@dzdandcunfsd Feb 2022
Wonderful piece of music. I just kicked back and enjoyed it before I read anything... then started it over.
as @tamsnumber4 said, story wise it makes perfect sense for a dream here... that's the time for exposition :D and I want to hear some dream music! Also if dreaming and sleeping restlessly the poor old guy will still be slightly alert when Mathias double crosses him and the soldiers come looking :D
@tamsnumber4 Feb 2022
YAY, thank you, I loved the more upbeat track and I felt vindicated that the people caught up with him anyhow because I thought that they would no matter what...I am so happy and I don't know why and I do want you to not feel mental and stressed, but you are providing a really fascinating and creative outlet to your fAWMily...hugs. SO...my thoughts are....it will be more interesting for us and for adding angst if he dreams of something that gnaws at him, so for the story, I vote for A. that he dreams......but as a person, I always want people to be healthy and happy, so I wish his sound sleep on you Mel......take care...