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.
You overwhelmingly chose A) Projectile vomit on Mayor Hendrik's face.
I'm hanging in there! But, ugh, I'm so behind on actual work.
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You projectile vomit on Mayor Hendrik’s face. It’s certainly not the impression you were going for. Everyone in your party is horrified, including yourself. Mayor Hendrik is stunned, mostly because your lunch is now dripping off his face. He handles it gracefully, however, producing a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiping his face with it. Mercifully, at this point, you collapse and fall onto the floor, knocking yourself unconscious.
You awaken on a bed in a rather spare room. Silas is looking over you and is surprised to see you open your eyes.
“Wow, we thought we lost you there for a minute!” says Silas cheerfully. He hands you a jug of water to drink and you take it. You make a note to yourself. Too cheerful.
Mayors Adaline and Hendrik walk into the room after hearing Silas’ remark. You remember what happened and you feel more embarrassed than you ever have in your entire life. Raana comes in, holding Eli, and looking smug with a twinkle in her eye. You can tell she’s found the whole situation funny. You groan.
“I, uh, I’m, uh, s…s..so very sorry,” you say, stuttering. You can’t understand why you’re stuttering or why you can’t seem to find your words very well. You must have hit your head pretty hard.
Mayor Hendrik smiles and shrugs. “That is quite possibly the worst way anyone has ever greeted me!” he jokes. Clearly, he found it grossly amusing. Mayor Adaline, not so much.
You sit up and you’re confused for a moment. You notice that you’re wearing different clothes. The clothes are clean and are in good condition in comparison to your old ones, which were starting to fall apart from overuse. You smell better, too. In fact, you’re sure someone gave you a wash while you were unconscious.
“That’s the work of Nurse Lang,” says Mayor Hendrik. “She’s the only one on duty right now. Our doctor is away, but will be back in a week. In the meantime, she’ll take care of you. She specializes in bush medicine. Ah, speak of the devil!”
Nurse Lang walks into the room. Old and wizened, and with even more wrinkles than you, she commands attention when she enters. Her face is serious and her expression set in a permanent frown and she speaks with a low, gravelly voice. “Yooze disgustin’, boy,” she says while glaring at you. “Need giv ya nudda exam, mabe poke ‘round yo mout, mabe udda place,” says Nurse Lang as she produces a tongue depressor from her apron pocket.
Mayor Hendrik laughs and says, “We’ll leave you to your patient, nurse. Silas, you, too! You’ve been at his side the entire time!” Silas smiles and waves goodbye to you, and stands to join the rest of the group.
“Come, let’s give them some privacy. I’ve got some wonderful paintings to show you, Adaline, made by our art students in…” You can hear Mayor Hendrik’s voice trail off as he, Mayor Adaline, Silas, Raana, and Eli make their way to the gallery.
Nurse Lang closes the door behind them and turns to you. Her face wrinkles into an even more concerned expression as she addresses you. “Yooze zik, boy. Dat brain ‘a yoze no good,” she says while knocking her fist on your head.
You have no idea what she’s saying. Did she say something about your brain? Does she know about your disease?
She opens your mouth, puts the tongue depressor in, and takes a look. She proceeds to take your head in her hands, turns it from side to side, then puts her thumbs on your bottom eyelids and pulls down to look at your eyeballs.
“Know ya got da Zik Zik, boy. Ya be fallin ode da place, canna memba tings, canna speak? Ya brain got da Zik Zik bad. Only matta tam fo ya go foal crez.”
WHAT IS SHE SAYING? You really can’t understand Nurse Lang at all, but you pretend like you know what she’s saying and nod in agreement.
Nurse Lang produces a small knife from her pocket, takes your thumb, and pricks it, watching a drop of blood appear. You grunt as she then puts your thumb in her mouth. She closes her eyes while tasting your blood, then nods.
“Cun taste in ya stil. Ya got da Zik Zik, no dow, but ya uls gottin poyzen en da poyzen scramblin’ ya brain, too. Ya got be cayful. Sums god in fo ya. I trew out da ode food in ya pak, jussin’ case iz poyzen, boy.”
She leaves abruptly before you have a chance to speak, then returns promptly with a tray. There is some bread, a vase with some red flowers, and a huge, steaming cup of tea with herbs you can’t recognize swimming at the top. She picks up the tea and hands it to you.
“Drink slo, den eet brad, den eet flowas. Dey medsin, help ya sleep. Stan?” says Nurse Lang.
You look at her blankly, then nod, taking the cup of tea. She nods and walks out and you wonder what she actually said to you.
You wake up in the middle of the night feeling worse for wear, but you’re able to walk. You’re thirsty and reach for the jug of water on the bedside table, but it’s empty. You get out of bed and stretch your legs. You’re in Mayor Hendrik’s house, for sure, because there are portraits of him on the wall, seemingly painted by different people. The house is quiet and you think everyone must still be asleep. You walk into the kitchen and see a scantily-clad Mayor Adaline making some sandwiches. She is startled to see you and pulls the robe around her tighter.
“Uh, heeeey, Kaleb. You must be feeling better!” Her eyes dart back to the room up the hallway. The door to the room is opened a crack and you can hear Mayor Hendrik call out to her.
“Addy, get back in here, you naughty little tiger!”
Mayor Adaline looks at you and blushes, then hurries off, leaving you smirking. At least someone’s having fun. You find another jug of water and return to your room and back to bed.
You wake up again a few hours later. You know that you need to get back on the road as soon as possible. Mathias will wonder what happened to you if you don’t show up by a certain time. You get out of bed and get ready. You grab your pack and notice there’s no food in it. What did that nurse say? Your memory is foggier than normal, your head hurts, and you’re a little weak, but you can’t stay here forever. You leave your room and enter the dining room where everyone in your party is eating breakfast. Mayor Adaline sees you and blushes awkwardly. Silas beckons for you to sit next to him. Raana waves her hand with slight enthusiasm.
Mayor Hendrik looks up at you and brightly says, “Ah, he lives to fight another day! Nurse Lang took very good care of you!”
“About her, “ you start to say, “I couldn’t understand what she was saying last night. I think she said “poison”, but I’m not sure. She’s difficult to understand.”
“Food poisoning! That’s probably it,” Mayor Hendrik says. “Lang grew up in an area not speaking Common Tongue. She’s from the edge of the western lands, far beyond The Dividon Mountains, even,” explains Mayor Hendrik. “But, please, sit down, Kaleb. Have some breakfast if you can stomach it.”
You sit down to eat next to Silas. He hands you a small jug of water next to him on the table. There’s an array of dishes on the table—a juicy ham, two kinds of bread, butter, three types of hard cheese, and strawberries. Everything looks fresh and amazing. This is the nicest food you’ve seen in a while. You haven’t had strawberries in years and, as you bite down on one, bursts of color and sweetness fill your vision.
You’re fairly hungry and you eat until your belly is full and satisfied. Before everyone gets up to leave the table, you say bluntly, “I’m sorry, I have to go. I need to be on my way.”
Mayor Hendrik frowns and replies, “Are you sure you want to do that? You seem a bit weak. More rest would do you good.”
“Would if I could, but I can’t,” you say. “I have to be somewhere.” You don’t want to tell him anymore about your quest than you have to. You don’t have the energy to answer any questions, you feel so worn out.
Mayor Adaline frowns. “Surely you can’t travel alone like this,” she comments. “It’s not safe, Kaleb.”
“I’ll be fine,” you reply, then grunt. You know she’s right. There’s a part of you that wonders if you will actually be fine. There’s danger waiting for you.
You pack up enough food for yourself for about a week. You can’t carry anymore than that, even on horseback. You ready your horse and your packs, and everyone comes outside with you to see you off. You look at the people you’ve helped and who have helped you in return. You don’t like being sentimental, but you can’t help it. Your heart hurts and it grieves for the life you could have had here if you just had enough sense to stay put. But, even then, your presence might present danger to another village and you would be responsible for getting everyone killed. You need to go.
“Thank you for all your help,” you say, addressing Mayor Hendrik. “Sorry about the, uh,...you know.” Mayor Hendrik laughs and shakes his head.
With your inside voice, you say, “I will miss you. I am so, so sorry because it’s all my fault! I’m a terrible person and I’ve ruined so many lives that I’ve lost count. I’m a piece of shit and a goddamn coward and this is the only thing I can think of doing to redeem myself for all the pain I’ve caused Please forgive me, oh fucking jesus forgive me!” But no one can hear you because you choose to not projectile vomit your feelings. That part of you stays quiet.
“I, uh, hate goodbyes,” you say brusquely. “Mayor Adaline, Raana, Eli, Silas…be seeing you. Don’t get killed.” (Yeah, that wasn’t awkward at all. Kaleb, you idiot.)
Nurse Lang comes down the road and hands you a small bag. She comes close to you and speaks low with that gravelly voice of hers, almost whispering. “Flowas. Fo sleep an pain. No be fogettun, Kaleb. Sums god in fo ya. Eyez on ya bak, stan?”
You think you can make out what she’s saying, but your head isn’t as clear as it could be. Disease of the mind, combined with exhaustion from food poisoning. Still, you thank her for the parting gift and she goes back up the road.
You wave goodbye to your party, ready to mount your horse, when Silas steps forward and says, “Take me with you. You won’t have to travel alone. I can help.” He looks at you, very determined.
Do you:
A) Take Silas with you?
or
B) Leave him in Caminoord?
@leepat Mar 2022
the woodwinds were a nice (and whimsical) change. the violin arpeggios too.
it's too late now to make choices, so I'll just appreciate the rest in awe :)
@headfirstonly Mar 2022
Uh-oh. It's "descent into madness" time! So much fun stuff going on in the mix. I'm loving the scratchy violins and the nervous woodwinds. Great plotting, as well; zik zik doesn't sound good. Suddenly our hero is racing against the clock...
@tamsnumber4 Mar 2022
I feel so bad that I got too busy to listen and trying to finish my FAWM, but glad I can come back to the story! I think this track starts out perfectly...puking perfectly, it feels just as uncomfortable and confusing at the scene and it changes as you read through. I would have voted to take Silas just for story and conversation....
@dzdandcunfsd Mar 2022
Wow.. This one did end exacly when I finished reading LOL. Really great swirly twisty piece of music, much how his head must be spinning. Knowing what I already know... I don't think either option would of been good ;)
@dragondreams Feb 2022
Loving the story in the score here. So many twists and turns arund the theme. And I reached the end of my reading as the score ended. :-)
I'm of a mind to keep my enemies closer still... so Silas is coming with me. A.
@pooka Feb 2022
A) Take Silas! You could do with some help.
@emplate Feb 2022
I suspect Kaleb would go with B, but I think I'd like to see more of Silas, so going with A!
This track had a lot of nice changes in the mood. First quite menacing, then almost playful and finally something a bit more dramatic. Very nicely built, and so much feelings in such a short time!