Adventurer’s Wanted: A West-Marches Campaign

[Artemis Prime]

Spoke to an electrician on Wednesday, but pretty sure he is not current on his certification, so going to call a guy my uncle referred to me this afternoon.

[Ranger Hal]

Wednesday: failure at not staying up past midnight (conscious decision because I learned I could sleep in the next morning; I'm happy with the way things turned out)

 

Thursday: success at not staying up past midnight (well close enough for me to count it; this adventure did give me a reason to actually go to bed around that time, even if it was technically a few minutes late)

[Sea-to-sky]

Did a slightly more difficult walk (more textured with slopes and stiles). Doesnt sound like much but I'm rehabbing the sprained ankle and i keep getting “i cant do that, it will hurt” reflexes, even for things that are actually fine. So trying to carefully stretch the ankle a bit more (in a sensible way, obviously). 
went well, ankle was fine with it. got my steps in and a nice view to boot. 

[Heidi]

Heidi rests in a small clearing, making a low fire in a circle of stones.

She collects a few apples and pears from the nearby trees, grateful for the abundance of nature that seems everywhere. 

A small cauldron sits on a large rock in the fire, and she slices the fruit into the vessel, stirring in a dash of water from her flask. She covers the cauldron with a flat rock, and then sits to meditate a while, and possibly sleep while the apples and pears become a delectable sauce for the small stash of oats she has in her pack.

What a blessing it is to be able to do less.

 

This week I said no every day, sometimes more than once, and it was needed.

I found the space to be gentle and compassionate with myself and with others, and also found some reflection time that I had been putting off “just for now” for overlong. The insights were good and right.

 

Especially for my cooking compatriots: the apple-pear sauce and oats concoction mentioned above is real: a few of each fruit (or only apples or only pears, whatever you have on hand that looks good), peeled and cored, can go in a slow cooker for 6-8 hours with a dash of water (or whatever juice you have on hand; I squeezed a lemon into today’s batch). Three pounds of fruit yields approximately one pint of sauce, give or take. A cup of the sauce with 3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats can sit overnight and be ready whenever you are. I usually add just a touch of brown sugar and cinnamon to mine when I stir the oats in, but it’s optional. Any warm spice is really lovely, even blends like pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice. If you go with a straight pear sauce, ginger and cardamom are excellent here. 

?

[Radost]

 

After a long discussion with the other spider investigators, Radost took some time to set everything back where she found it. Lifting pots carefully back through the webs between trees, stretching to disentangle mobiles. She looked up and saw that the others had already started walking back. “Whoa, I’m way behind!” she thought with a mild curse, and started rushing back through the sticky webs. Unfortunately, in her haste she leaned a little too hard on an anchor strand and even her human senses could feel the vibration as she pulled free. A mid-size spider dropped towards her on a thick line of silk tinged ominous red by a ray of the setting sun and as she grabbed for her knife Radost suddenly realized she had left her belt pouch back in the clearing. Radost froze in indecision. If she bolted now, she might be able to outrun the spider and rejoin the safety of the group. But…there was a not-insignificant amount of coin in that pouch, not to mention several useful items she didn’t want to have to replace. In a flash of courage she vaulted over a fallen log, putting some horizontal distance between her and the spider. She scanned the ground as she moved quickly back towards the campsite and soon spotted her pouch. “Right, I took it off when I was looking for a pencil to sketch the mobiles,” she muttered as she deked across the clearing, grabbed the pouch, and darted behind a thick tree trunk. 

She peered out cautiously and noted that the spider she’d disturbed was hanging eerily still about eight feet above the ground, eight eyes watching her intently. Radost buckled the pouch back on her belt, sheathed her knife and eased out from behind the tree, hands open in front of her. “Just passing through, friends, just passing through,” she said in a calm, low voice. She edged around the clearing, carefully navigating between the webs and the thick underbrush. The spider spun slowly, keeping her in sight, but made no other move. Radost stepped onto the path. She could see the others not far ahead, but before running after them she glanced back at the spiders. The one that had watched her was climbing its silk back up to the canopy and several others had gathered around it as though waiting to confer. Radost shook off a shudder and started jogging. 

 

I wanted my 30 seconds of courage to be something fun and awesome, maybe related to Drawtober. But I have been trying to get some money from EI for the time I was not working through the summer (don’t get me started on how infuriating it is that school employees are expected to do this every freaking year)  and it turned out I was going to have to … dun-dun-DUNNNNN make a phone call!  OooooOOOOOooooooo.  So after work yesterday I put on my grown-up undies and Did The Thing. I fit in some simple dumbbell exercises while on hold, sorted out the problem (which is going to result in a bonus thousand bucks in my account next week, huge relief), and was done in plenty of time to get in a run (run away from the scary tiger of making phone calls!), a quick yoga video, and ten minutes of meditation before starting dinner. 

[Artemis Prime]

Did not call the electrician yesterday. I had every intention of doing it, but then got sucked into a project and forgot until dinner time

[Heidi]

No, no, and more no.

Verily, I say NO unto all the things!

 

I had a good end of the week, and canceled many things, and said no to worry, to stress, to calendars, and to invitations to do even more.

I remembered that I have nothing left to prove.

I feel a bit better (though far from 100%), and I am looking forward to carrying this restorative pace forward.

[Ranger Hal]

Friday: umm, yeah, stayed up past 4am, so that's a failure. On the plus side, I did make a lot of progress on a thing I had been putting off (finished on Saturday).

 

Saturday: success at not staying up past midnight

[DarK_RaideR]

With the goal of this initial trek completed, both the spider hunting and the herb gathering group find themselves in a point where they have to resist the temptation to explore further at this point. Instead, it's time to return back to Rebel's Refuge, unpack their inventory and rest before setting off for new adventures.

@Snarkyfishguts, @Artemis Prime, @Elastigirl, @Sea-to-sky, @athousandwords, @Radost and @Heidi, @titsworth, @DarK_RaideR, @Ranger Hal , your goal for this week is to go on an extra walk or run. This means we're not counting things like your scheduled runs or a regular walk to work, school, University, grocery store or otherwise, that would happen anyway, were you not participating in this challenge. Add something on top of those. As for @Jarric, there have been no updates, here or on your challenge thread, about you following the Week 4 goals, so they will carry on into this final week for you: 10 glute bridges a day, either pausing at the top to do them as a stretch, or add some weight to turn them into a strength training exercise.

 

Last but not least, with this being the final week of this challenge cycle, every participant is encouraged to come back here and post a brief recap of how they did, what was their greatest success and what they struggled with the most.

[Ranger Hal]

Sunday: success at not staying up past midnight

 

After a night of good rest, Rezka starts looking toward the journey back to the Refuge.

[Artemis Prime]

Oooh, I have a 3 day weekend (4 technically, but Monday does not count because that is Next Challenge time) so should easily be able to fit in walk and/or run.  Wasn't really on my radar, but it does seem like a good idea. And the DMs do it again! Magic, I tell you.

[Heidi]

5 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

go on an extra walk

I swear, it's like you are in my journal!!

This is, in fact, exactly what i need.

Thanks, as ever.  

[Heidi]

1 hour ago, Artemis Prime said:

Oooh, I have a 3 day weekend (4 technically, but Monday does not count because that is Next Challenge time) so should easily be able to fit in walk and/or run.  Wasn't really on my radar, but it does seem like a good idea. And the DMs do it again! Magic, I tell you.

Agreed!

[Elastigirl]

Grewynn sets off on her hike to see if she can discover more about the spiders and the parcels. It isn't a long hike, so her backpack is light, but hopefully it will be a good hike

 

I decided for my extra walk, I would try my weighted backpack while I walked on the walking pad. I haven't worn the backpack in forever. I was always too tired.  A few weeks ago, my friend borrowed it, and she talked about how "they" said it was a good idea to start at light. And it dawned on me. I always try and make it a challenge to see how heavy I can go. But, duh, the weights are very easy to take out. I could go lighter. Amd on the walking pad, I don't even need to do hills. So, it was a good zone 2 workout. The extra weight helped up it to a zone 2, but it wasn't exhausting. I listed to a podcast, and watched a video of a walk through the gardens

[Sea-to-sky]

Cant really do extra walking due to ankle. Not managing normal level of walking as is. 
did use the bravery thing to ask my hairdresser to take more off after she was done and dried. She is great but still has a habit of not taking enough off (it grows very fast). 

[Radost]

1 hour ago, Sea-to-sky said:

did use the bravery thing to ask my hairdresser to take more off

Heck yeah! I am a bit chicken to do that too but when I get the courage to speak up it’s always a good choice. Hope you’re enjoying the shorter length!

[Sea-to-sky]

1 hour ago, Radost said:

Hope you’re enjoying the shorter length!

Thanks, it is so good. Just what i wanted. 
 

[Ranger Hal]

Feels like it got kind of quiet in here, so I just wanted to say I haven't forgotten this. I just haven't gotten around to my extra walk yet.

[Heidi]

Having made her way back to the Inn, Heidi sets her herb bag on the sideboard and sets up a kettle for tea. Sure enough the rest of the party will be a thirsty bunch when they arrive. She's looking forward to hearing their tales, and to delivering the herbs to Ellereth. 

[Ranger Hal]

Got my walk in!

 

Rezka walks in to join Heidi near the inn's fireplace, limping a little from a minor injury sustained while climbing over some rocks, eager to trade stories of the journey back. Hers include the silver colored salmon that are making their way up river to spawn and some strange dog-like creature that barked in the night.

[DarK_RaideR]

On 10/10/2024 at 5:06 PM, Ranger Hal said:

Feels like it got kind of quiet in here, so I just wanted to say I haven't forgotten this. I just haven't gotten around to my extra walk yet.

I'm surprised it happened during the final week of the challenge, to be honest. Usually people tend to lose steam after the middle point, some Week 3 or 4. But it is to be expected, I suppose. We'll take it easy for this coming week zero and follow the challenge cycle.

[Heidi]

Heidi serves up a steaming bowl of chicken and dumplings from the large pot near the fire, pours Rezka a tall beverage, and takes the meal to where her companion is seated. The poor dear need to stay off that injury while it heals. Maybe Ellereth has some healing herbs for a poultice. In the meantime, Heidi has a small kit of health salts in her pack.

[Artemis Prime]

4 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

Usually people tend to lose steam after the middle point, some Week 3 or 4

I definitely lost steam at Week 4 and did not get it back for Week 5. Partly because I was dealing with back soreness and a posion ivy outbreak, partly because I think I may have spread myself a little too thin between this, the Villain Era, Inktober, and my own challenge.

 

Did not get an extra walk in this week, I could blame the weather, but really I had my chances, I just chose to work on my fences instead. 

[Elastigirl]

38 minutes ago, Artemis Prime said:

Did not get an extra walk in this week, I could blame the weather, but really I had my chances, I just chose to work on my fences instead. 

This was a smart call.Fences are important.

[Ranger Hal]

44 minutes ago, Artemis Prime said:

partly because I think I may have spread myself a little too thin between this, the Villain Era, Inktober, and my own challenge.

Yeah, I was definitely feeling this a little myself after having started my big fancy DnD challenge, this, and then joining Inktober. So much fun stuff going on that I didn't want to miss out on.