Adventurer's Challenge: Week 25
The summit
Huzzah!
Good morning, and welcome back fair travelers.
Another huzzah for reaching the peak as it were, and nearing the halfway point of the year and our challenge!
There will be more to face. There always is. But for a brief moment, let yourself feel it: the height, the breath, the fact that you made it this far.
For grit and glory,
Sir Kadean
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June 2025: The Ascent
The flatlands are behind you. The realm tilts upward. The wind tastes of stone and starlight.
This is no gentle wandering. This is the part of the journey sung about in taverns—the climb through scree and shadow, where old maps end and legends begin.
You’ll need courage. Calloused hands. A steady gait. But also a sense of wonder, for not all peaks are made of rock, and not all summits lie above.
June is for forging ahead—boots laced, provisions packed, banner high. It is for laughing in the rain, sharing fire with fellow travelers, and chasing the path that dares you to keep climbing.
So go on, adventurer. The mountains await. And they do not bow to the timid.
Week 25: The Summit
The final ledge is behind you. No more switchbacks. No false peaks. This is the top.
You stand where the air is thin and the world lies below—every valley crossed, every oath kept, every bruise earned. The ground here hums. The stone remembers.
This is where heroes are named. With the weight of your own ascent. With the knowledge that no one carried you here—you climbed, step by step, breath by breath.
The summit offers recognition. Revelation. A new vantage, and a new choice.
Plant your flag. Catch your breath. Then look outward.
Because from up here, you can see everything.
Resources for ye:
(main quests are essential to your journey)
Banner Unfurled
Every summit deserves a flag. Every traveler, a tale. You’ve come far, and it’s time to mark the moment.
Action: Choose something you finished, faced, or fought through this month. Big or small, it counts. Share and celebrate it. Consider posting it in the discord.
Catching a Breath
The air’s thinner up here. Time to breathe like it matters.
Action: Try a breath-related practice this week. You could count your breaths while walking, try timing how long you can hold your breath, do an exercise until you’re out of breath, or stand somewhere high and just breathe in deeply thrice.
Echoes at the Peak
Up here, the air is too thin for self-deprecation.
Action: Take something you usually say small —an effort, a strength, a win — and rephrase it like a proclamation. Like you mean it. Like the mountain heard you.
“I’ve been trying” becomes “I’ve shown up, again and again.”
“It’s not a big deal” becomes “I did the thing. Even when it was uphill both ways.”
Picnic at the Top
What else were you going to do up here? Savor the moment and the view, you earned this.
Action: Have a picnic. Indoors, outdoors, solo, with someone else — doesn’t matter. Assemble a few things you actually want to eat and take them somewhere slightly more special than usual. Sit like you meant to end up here. Then eat.
The View
You squint into the distance. Something glimmers. Or growls. Or floats ominously above the clouds. Is it a castle? A monster? A bakery with suspiciously good vibes? Hard to say from here, but you’ll be heading toward it soon.
Action: Draw or describe something you see on the horizon. The next chapter. The next quest. The thing that’s calling you from just beyond. Accuracy not required, and whimsical interpretation is encouraged.
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
Reflect on your goals from the beginning of the challenge
Two Days This Week
Engage with your chosen guild
Three Days This Week
Hold a mini celebration for something you accomplished
Four Days This Week
Perform one of your chosen trainings (physical or language)
Five Days This Week
Stretch for at least 5 minutes
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: 06.23.2025
ATTENTION: All those currently under investigation are not permitted for crossing.
Minders: Woodland Nymph Infantry
Accepted Pittance:
Complete daily side quests as posted by Sir Kadean 4 days of the week
OR
check you security system
find a way to decrease energy usage
schedule an appointment
Retaliation:
-Two livestock items removed from inventory
(side quests are optional to your journey, but may aid you in the path ahead)
The New Path
Task: There are maps, and there are myths. This month, you forge a new route entirely.
Action: Find a place—physical or conceptual—you’ve never explored, and chart a way through it. It might be a trail you’ve never hiked, a transit route you’ve never taken, or a creative/methodical space you’ve never dared to work in. Plot your own course, make your own system, leave your own signs behind.
The Pact
Task: Adventure isn’t found. It’s chosen. Make a pact to go on one real adventure each week this month.
Action: List what feels like true adventure to you—a long hike, a Renfaire, a daring outfit, a strange book devoured in a new place. Do one at least each week of the month.
June Guild Trials
Task: Complete the quest for the month as outlined in your guild’s charter
Scholars: “Field Report” – Trade scrolls for soil. Observe something in the wild—natural or human-made—and record your findings as a lorekeeper.
Artisans: “The Bridge”- Craft something that bridges where you are and where you're going. The only rule: it must be something you’ve never made before.
Bards: “The Tale Not Yet Told” -Spin a story of the quest you haven't yet taken. Write or record it as if it already happened.
Sentinels: “Just Around the Riverbend” – Choose something that feels just out of reach—and pursue it with full force. Report back from wherever you make it.
Alchemists: “The Catalyst Charted”- Design a map that doesn't chart land, but momentum. Plot the ingredients, conditions, or actions that set your transformation into motion this month.
June Guild Badge Design Challenge
Task: Create a design for the June 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 Ascent”
How to Submit: Share your badge design in the Discord by June 27th
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)
The Long Light Holds
The solstice has come to pass this previous week. The sun, bold as ever, lingered at its highest point coating the realm in its warmth. Such light is often a blessing, both for what it helps grow— but also for what it reveals from the shadows.
Travel through the realm has surged, as it always does in this season. Amid the stir, The Visitor was seen once again— standing at the ridgeline, watching the sun at its zenith, the raven wheeling silently overhead. With the markets edging closer to opening, traders, wanderers, and hopeful newcomers are arriving in greater numbers. Many have been forced to make camp along the high hills, turned back by tightened road closures and increased scrutiny from kingdom representatives and toll bridge minders.
Residents are advised to remain alert. Tricksters tend to thrive in warm weather and easy laughter, slipping between tents and tales with pockets full of gleaming nonsense and no clear allegiance.
Still, the hum of the realm lingers in the heat. Even long past sundown, warmth clings to the soil as if Spark were just beyond the horizon.
Realm Advisory: Partial Restorations, Persistent Risks
The flooding at the Toll Bridge has fully receded as of first bell this morning. Structural reviews are underway, but passage is permitted once again. Detainment orders tied to the area remain active, though enforcement continues to be suspended until further notice.
Streetlamp outages persist across garden corridors and lesser-used paths. Entire routes remain unlit past nightfall. Maintenance crews are assessing the issue.
The investigation into Fionnán’s whereabouts remains active. Distribution records are classified in accordance with ongoing security protocol.
At the urging of Sir Kadean, provisional clearance is under review to allow the Iron Lantern to resume standard hours, in consideration of public safety and traveler rest during low-light conditions.
Travelers are reminded to remain on marked roads after dark and not to approach unfamiliar fires along the wood line.
Further notices will follow as conditions change.
Rewards for last week’s quest— gifted by Rhea S., local artist
To the good folk of the realm,
I’ve seen the threads. The knots, the pairings, the careful joins. Things mended. Things imagined. Things bound not by force, but by choice.
I won’t lie, it stirred something. Not the muse, exactly. She’s still off sulking, I suspect. But another sort of pull. The kind that says “keep going, someone saw this.” You’ve given shape to that beautiful thing: connection.
Thank you for tying the work back to the world.
With hope,
Rhea S.
Reward: 🧵🪙
Bonus Quest, Week of 06.23.25
Submitted by Lieutenant Thistelle