Broken News
The news, she is broke!
Now there's a triple-entendre.
In any case, the latest news is that we boughts us a house. And it's back at the scene of the crime, or at least an incidental location near to where the crime of my undergraduate years was perpetrated, though as I said, it's incidental and unrelated to the heretofore mentioned criminal activities of crimeliness and having gone to college.
The previous paragraph was meant as humor, and is not intended to be taken with even the grainiest grain of salty seriousness. Except for the new house part, and being back in my old college hometown. That's real.
Through the process of moving and fixing up the house, I fell off the workout horse something fierce. Cozmolution had a similar if not as complete drop-off, too, but I believe quite literally as of this writing she is working out again. My goal is to do the same when I get home this evening. Deadlines tend to motivate me in this arena, and it so happens that I have an old high school friend coming to SoCal in June/July. An old high school ex-girlfriend, no less. So it's time to Bring It. And fast!
For the past six months, give or take, I've been running my very first D&D campaign. Considering that I just began playing the game back in July, I think it's gone smashingly well. Increasingly well-fought combat encounters, a lot of sorting out of rules, and some good roleplaying have brought us to a point where I am finally ready to actually get the story going. All this has been fantastic for my scene-writing as well as my overall story-building. I've relearnt my many foibles as a fiction writer, and enjoyed spotting the strengths and weaknesses in the writing of my players as well.
We began our story in Fleur-de-Lis, a tiny town just rescued from a kobold invasion by our heroes -- an ADD rogue, hard-working cleric, effusive fighter, taciturn ranger, and snooty warlock, not to mention a largely absentee wizard. Hired to protect a wine shipment on its way to Bear's Rest, the loosely affiliated party was ambushed near midnight by a gaggle of giant spiders. The arachnids sank their fangs into several members of the party before being squished themselves; however, without the help of a mysterious tiefling warlock, the group would surely have died from the casual assault of the spiders' Drow master.
With the danger passed, the flirtatious tiefling departed, bestowing a few free magical gifts upon our heroes as she left. The players never questioned the price of their new gear, a fact I find quite entertaining. They continued on to Bear's Rest, hometown of the rogue as well as a tyrannical lord, but before they could begin dispensing with the wine shipment, they had to fend off a bar brawl (sans wizard, who simply walked away), and then extricate themselves from potential incarceration by the local genderme. In defending his family, however, the rogue resisted arrest unnecessarily and was promptly placed in chains. The cleric and fighter were similarly arrested.
As fate would have it, a Sahuagin attack on the town allowed our heroes to prove their worth and may enable them to speak up for their allies to the local lord, while adding four new members to their ranks: two wizards -- one young, one old -- and two fighters -- one paid in cash, the other in blood. Meanwhile, the rogue escaped and camped out over his dead sister's grave, where he discovered that new rumors of the dead come to life are true!
Will the party accept the lord's job of investigating the Fey Spire, an abandoned magical tower of immense power? Or will they instead hunt down the undead monstrosities rifling through the local potter's field? And what about that wine delivery??
It's nothing to write a novel about, certainly not yet, but it's been fun.
Back to the house! While I've certainly enjoyed the joys of home ownership in our first month here, the burden side of things has been pretty significant. Getting the water heater properly secured, clearing out the huge pile of rocks beside the house, managing the bad drainage running underneath, etc... and that's nothing compared to what Cozmolution has been juggling, from getting internet up and running (only to have it disconnect three dozen times a day!) to finding a decent price on a washer/dryer combo that will match our (red) kitchen. We debate over wall colors, carpeting, priorities in unpacking and working and resting... it's a neverending list.
I suppose I should count my blessings that there hasn't been a major financial emergency. It's more an issue of time, energy, conflict, and stress. But that's plenty. I wonder when it'll be over, and we can really *just* enjoy our new home...?
Now there's a triple-entendre.
In any case, the latest news is that we boughts us a house. And it's back at the scene of the crime, or at least an incidental location near to where the crime of my undergraduate years was perpetrated, though as I said, it's incidental and unrelated to the heretofore mentioned criminal activities of crimeliness and having gone to college.
The previous paragraph was meant as humor, and is not intended to be taken with even the grainiest grain of salty seriousness. Except for the new house part, and being back in my old college hometown. That's real.
Through the process of moving and fixing up the house, I fell off the workout horse something fierce. Cozmolution had a similar if not as complete drop-off, too, but I believe quite literally as of this writing she is working out again. My goal is to do the same when I get home this evening. Deadlines tend to motivate me in this arena, and it so happens that I have an old high school friend coming to SoCal in June/July. An old high school ex-girlfriend, no less. So it's time to Bring It. And fast!
For the past six months, give or take, I've been running my very first D&D campaign. Considering that I just began playing the game back in July, I think it's gone smashingly well. Increasingly well-fought combat encounters, a lot of sorting out of rules, and some good roleplaying have brought us to a point where I am finally ready to actually get the story going. All this has been fantastic for my scene-writing as well as my overall story-building. I've relearnt my many foibles as a fiction writer, and enjoyed spotting the strengths and weaknesses in the writing of my players as well.
We began our story in Fleur-de-Lis, a tiny town just rescued from a kobold invasion by our heroes -- an ADD rogue, hard-working cleric, effusive fighter, taciturn ranger, and snooty warlock, not to mention a largely absentee wizard. Hired to protect a wine shipment on its way to Bear's Rest, the loosely affiliated party was ambushed near midnight by a gaggle of giant spiders. The arachnids sank their fangs into several members of the party before being squished themselves; however, without the help of a mysterious tiefling warlock, the group would surely have died from the casual assault of the spiders' Drow master.
With the danger passed, the flirtatious tiefling departed, bestowing a few free magical gifts upon our heroes as she left. The players never questioned the price of their new gear, a fact I find quite entertaining. They continued on to Bear's Rest, hometown of the rogue as well as a tyrannical lord, but before they could begin dispensing with the wine shipment, they had to fend off a bar brawl (sans wizard, who simply walked away), and then extricate themselves from potential incarceration by the local genderme. In defending his family, however, the rogue resisted arrest unnecessarily and was promptly placed in chains. The cleric and fighter were similarly arrested.
As fate would have it, a Sahuagin attack on the town allowed our heroes to prove their worth and may enable them to speak up for their allies to the local lord, while adding four new members to their ranks: two wizards -- one young, one old -- and two fighters -- one paid in cash, the other in blood. Meanwhile, the rogue escaped and camped out over his dead sister's grave, where he discovered that new rumors of the dead come to life are true!
Will the party accept the lord's job of investigating the Fey Spire, an abandoned magical tower of immense power? Or will they instead hunt down the undead monstrosities rifling through the local potter's field? And what about that wine delivery??
It's nothing to write a novel about, certainly not yet, but it's been fun.
Back to the house! While I've certainly enjoyed the joys of home ownership in our first month here, the burden side of things has been pretty significant. Getting the water heater properly secured, clearing out the huge pile of rocks beside the house, managing the bad drainage running underneath, etc... and that's nothing compared to what Cozmolution has been juggling, from getting internet up and running (only to have it disconnect three dozen times a day!) to finding a decent price on a washer/dryer combo that will match our (red) kitchen. We debate over wall colors, carpeting, priorities in unpacking and working and resting... it's a neverending list.
I suppose I should count my blessings that there hasn't been a major financial emergency. It's more an issue of time, energy, conflict, and stress. But that's plenty. I wonder when it'll be over, and we can really *just* enjoy our new home...?