CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

SCENE THREE B: HOUNDS OF THE LAW PART B: THE CHASE From here, the PCs match their skills at hunting and tracking against Karymnos’ skills. The hunter has used the main path for much of the way, both for speed and to hide his trail. After 6 hours of traveling in the dark and 3 hours of hard riding, he left the trail and headed down the mountain, using rocky outcrops and stony ground to hide his diversion. He is heading for Heiron’s River where he has arranged to meet a boat to take him and Brinna to Elios, which is in the opposite direction to which he is expected to go. If they are using the dogs , the PCs reach the rocky outcrop where Karymnos left the path around mid-afternoon. Read or paraphrase the following: The dogs are looking tired, but very pleased with themselves. Eight hours of tracking, and they think they’re still on the scent. The trail turns a corner, and the trees give way to a bulge of rock that extends across the path and up and down the hill on eithe...

This Year's Star Fish has just been released on Smashwords, Amazon-Kindle, and DriveThruFiction, as well as for distribution via Draft2Digital. This fantasy short follows the theme of pursuing a dream. Every year the fish come down from the stars, and every year Faulknor hopes they come for him. Well, this year he’s tired of waiting; this year it’s his turn to do the seeking. This year, he’s going to catch himself the fish of his dreams. This year, he’s coming for them… just as soon as he’s finished with the assassin, and the elf with its human and orc sidekicks. Yeah, after that he’s going to find himself a fish.

Last week, work continued on Babes in London and Freeman’s Choice . I also got into some editing and formatting for Ellie Moonwater’s July release. All in all, it was a pretty busy week, and I didn’t get to spend a lot of time on any new writing. I’ve noticed my fitness and language study have gone by the wayside, so I have to get those back on track—which is one of the reasons I’m posting this report late, as I started this Sunday. I’m discovering that getting stuff done isn’t difficult, but getting a bunch of different bits of stuff done across the board is harder. Languages and exercise are a daily commitment, as it writing, and the other everyday chores. It’s not easy to fit them all in and have a reasonable balance of life. That’s the tricky part. I should be somewhere close by the time the last semester of university kicks in. Hopefully, this time, I’ll be able to maintain it despite the uni commitments. June Progress New words produced: 2,197 Outlines and Notes: 0 ...

SCENE THREE B: HOUNDS OF THE LAW PART A: INVESTIGATION Let the PCs work out what to do. At the moment, they are in the alternate form most useful for this age. They can use the abilities of that form, or take on their draconic forms if they so choose. They do have dogs available to them, and a guide can be found to take them to Breytos’ house, where one of the dead man’s daughters can be found. She can give them something of her mothers that the dogs can get a scent from and the hunt can begin. The PCs are also able to move around the village asking questions. The following skills apply: ·                Research (Mental): TH1: Karymnos, Breytos’ neighbour, was a fur trader and hunter. He has not been seen since yesterday evening when he was gathering supplies for another of his hunting trips. Breytos’ wife, Brinna, was last seen locking her doors an hour after dusk. (Neither of her daughters saw h...

This week, I kicked off my walking, again. Hatching eggs in PokemonGo helps with the motivation—especially when you hatch one of these! She’s a strong pokemon, and worth keeping. Plus, I get to use the candies to power up my first lapras (which was also my very first hatchling playing pokemongo). It was a pretty good day, and then this popped up: I’m a simple critter at heart. This made the last 10 km of walking well worth it… never mind the practical good it does. It was just a bit ironic that the Solstice event started the very next day…

SCENE THREE B: HOUNDS OF THE LAW You stand before the wooden platform that should have hosted the trial. Lady Amintar, a magistrate from the port city of Elios, stands in the center of the platform and her body radiates the fury in her voice: “Three months ago the farmer Breytos left this freehold to try to sell his fleece in Elios. At that time it would have fetched three times the price he could have gained from selling it to the freehold.” She waits until the murmurs rising from the community gathered around you subside. “Breytos died when his horses bolted on the road through Mairnon’s Pass, taking themselves and the wagon over the edge and into the Heirions River. I am here because the magistrates have retrieved the wagon and found evidence of blisterionus on the harness of the both animals.” There is a collective gasp from the people around you and now their eyes understand two things: Your presence, and the disappearance of Breytos’ neighbour—with Breytos’ wife. M...