Adventurer's Challenge: Week 21
On the road again
Huzzah!
Good afternoon, and welcome once more, fair adventurers.
Apologies once more for the delayed Herald. You may blame the flooding. Or, if you prefer a more noble excuse, the fact that I’ve been swept into an adventure of my own. Those curious may check the Daily Quest posts to track where the traveling-quest-board has turned up each day.
The realm is still shifting. Some paths are impassable. Others have emerged where none existed. Water moves like a messenger—it ruins what stands unguarded, clears what may need be, but it also may carry things back to us.
This week is for intention. The signs won’t arrange themselves. Meaning must be chosen. Structure must be summoned, or else more will be lost the next time the floods come through.
For grit and glory,
Sir Kadean
P.S.S. If you are new here, you can find all the past editions of the herald here, still held by our previous overlord.
Also make sure you are enlisted to receive future editions by subscribing below
May 2025: The Prophecy Stirs
It does not offer clarity, only invitation. Threads begin to twist into patterns. Symbols surface in dreams, in patterns of behavior, in the timing of events. What have you gained so far? What trials this year have shaped you? And how will you answer the summons ahead?
May is a threshold. A chance to reflect on the first part of your journey and take stock of the tools, allies, and truths you now carry. But it is also a warning: challenges lie ahead. You will need to be ready—not only in strength, but in purpose and determination.
Prepare to decipher. To adapt. To name what you’re truly seeking. The realm does not yet demand your final form—but it does begin to ask who you are becoming.
Week 21: Charting the Stars
Even the stars by themselves are not constellations without a path laid out. Similarly, they won’t draw the map for you in this prophecy—but they’ve started pointing, their light calling to your own spark.
A rhythm is forming in the chaos. Glimpses of where you’ve been, where you might be headed, what could come next if you dare to decide.
This is your chance to outline the shape of your next moves. Not to lock them in stone, but to stop leaving everything to chance.
Resources for ye:
(main quests are essential to your journey)
Ally!
Some prophecies are stronger when spoken aloud.
Action: Choose one goal or intention from your plan ahead and share it with someone from the group. This is not just for the sake of saying it, but to find someone walking a similar road. Ask for an accountability ally, or offer to be one. Even a simple check-in can help keep the thread from slipping.
Grimoire in the Planner
Planning is its own kind of magic—symbols, patterns, and intent.
Action: Choose a new calendar or scheduling method to experiment with this week: time-blocking, batching, ritual-based structure, or even color-coded scrolls.
Council of One
The next chapter won’t write itself.
Action: Hold a solo council. Light a candle, brew something warm, and make a list of what needs deciding. Not doing—deciding. Choose three things that have been floating untethered and commit to their next step
The Long Game
You’ve crossed enough ground to glimpse the shape of the road ahead.
Action: Sketch a broad outline for the rest of the year. One goal or focus per month is enough. Think in seasons, chapters, or quests—whatever helps you see the shape of what’s ahead. You can always revise later.
Practice by Proxy
Strategy doesn’t only live in spreadsheets—let’s flex those muscles elsewhere.
Action: Choose a game that flexes your planning muscles—something with turns, tactics, or long plays: a board game, card game, cozy sim, or even a puzzle. You’re not just playing, you’re practicing!
Rewards for this week’s quests: 🫀
(a note- you may want to keep track of these, they could be of use to you later in the guild)
(Strengthen your skills, build your arsenal)
One Day This Week
Engage with your chosen guild
Two Days This Week
Perform one of your chosen trainings (physical or language)
Three Days This Week
Check your calendar
Four Days This Week
Free quest
Five Days This Week
Free quest
Rewards for this week’s trainings (all five to succeed) 🖋️
(a note- you may want to keep track of these, they could be of use to you later in the guild)
(toll bridges must be crossed weekly in the realm)
Week of: 05.25.2025
ATTENTION: Due to flooding, all crossing is prohibited. No pittance required.
(side quests are optional to your journey, but may aid you in the path ahead)
The Naming Rite
Task: Before any tale can twist, the first part must be sealed. A chapter unmarked may try to repeat itself.
Action: Look back at what’s unfolded since the turning of the year. Trace the pattern in your steps, the lessons left in your wake. Then name this span—whether in solemn tones or strange riddles. Just a few words. A title, not a story. Etch it in your journal, whisper it to the wind, or carry it in silence. The page turns next.
Self-Fulfilling
Task: The signs are swirling—but no one else can interpret them for you. This month, you are the oracle.
Action: Write a three-part prophecy for yourself using what you know, feel, and intuit. One line for what is being left behind. One for what is forming. One for what you are being asked to become. It can be poetic or plain, cryptic or clear. Return to it when the road narrows.
May Guild Trials
Task: Complete the quest for the month as outlined in your guild’s charter
Scholars: “The Hidden Link” – Gather scattered notes, curiosities, or half-formed thoughts. Find the hidden link between them.
Artisans: “The Maker’s Mark”- Revisit something you’ve made this year. Then, create something new to mark who you are becoming.
Bards: “The Spoken Omen” -Write or record a short personal prophecy. Let it be strange, symbolic, or sincere.
Sentinels: “The Sigil of Holding” – Reflect on one moment you held firm this year. Create a symbol, word, or mark to honor that strength.
Alchemists: “The Transmutation Script”- Write a cryptic recipe, ritual, or formula that describes what you must become to meet the trials ahead.
May Guild Badge Design Challenge
Task: Create a design for the May Guild Badge, a symbol that we may all look back on to celebrate the month’s success. Each month, a winning design will be selected that best represents the theme and highlighted on social media. Challenge partakers will be able to collect them all.
This month’s theme is “The Prophecy Stirs”
How to Submit: Share your badge design in the Discord by May 30th
Rewards for this month’s quests: 🔮
(a note- you may want to keep track of these, they could be of use to you later in the guild)
Bridge Out, Fish In
Following three days of relentless rain, floodwaters have once again overtaken the toll bridge and several neighboring crop fields. The roadwork crew, which had only just begun work after previous disturbances, has been sent home (again) with wet socks and poor morale.
While this has caused delays in travel and crop distribution, there is one unexpected benefit: the fish are back.
Yes, the very same fish swept away in early April when darkness fell have returned—presumably of their own volition. They can now be spotted schooling in flooded around the realm.
Adventurers in possession of a fishing rod in their inventory may now attempt to reclaim any one lost boon, item, or insight from earlier this season. Fresh socks recommended afterwards to prevent illness.
Realm Advisory: Ongoing Closures, Additional Delays
The blocked road between the Gilded Mare and the High Council offices remains sealed. No new information has been released regarding the cobblestone excavation, and canvas barriers are still holding despite last week's rainfall. Kingdom Representatives are now looking for a new path to divert traffic.
As of third light yesterday, the Toll Bridge is now fully submerged due to flooding. Crossing is no longer permitted under current safety protocols. Detainment orders remain technically active, though enforcement is suspended until further notice.
Streetlamp outages continue to affect garden corridors and lesser-used paths across multiple districts. Entire routes remain unlit past the third bell. Maintenance crews have not commented.
No word has been issued regarding Fionnán’s location. Kingdom Representatives maintain that all resources tied to that investigation remain active, though distribution records are, once again, sealed.
Further notices will follow if circumstances evolve. Or deteriorate.
Reward for Bonus Quest, Week of 05.19.25
Submitted by Mr. Hawthorn, retired high mage
My dearest travelers,
To those who completed last week’s movement ritual—my thanks, and a respectful nod to any pets now bound to the cause.
Early signs suggest a subtle loosening of stagnant magic across the realm. A few ley-lines have begun to stir, and while correlation is not causation, I suspect your efforts helped set certain forces in motion.
Of course, when knots are untied, pressure is often released. The recent flooding may well be part of this larger undoing—water rushing in where energy had long been trapped. This is not a warning, only an observation. Mostly.
For my gratitude though: A modest gift, is all I can give. The budget allows little, but the timing, I suspect, is impeccable.
Yours in adventure,
Mr. Hawthorn
Reward: 🧦
Bonus Quest, Week of 05.25.25
None this week due to flooding delaying post.