Rumor Woods/2026 saved posts
Rumor Woods and Summit Academy are open from April 10th, 2026 at 9 PM EDT to May 3rd, 2025 at 11:59 PM EDT. The box office closes on April 30th at approximately 11:55 PM EDT.
On Discord, please follow our Read Only Updates.
Also, please consider joining our discussion channel for Rumor Woods.
Informational Posts
Information Post 1 - How to Earn Currency
Discord Message Link: Rumor Woods Reminders
Author: GM Thandiwe
Date: 4/7/2024
For those new to Rumor Woods, here's a reminder of how to earn Currency:
- Jousting - There are two entrances to jousting. One will support the Beetle Team and the other the Spider Team. When you enter, you select your equipment (though you can use your own) and a mount (though you can use your own). From there you
- Instructions:
- Present your sunburst marker at the entry table. (GO ENTRY TABLE)
- Select a mount from the paddock. (GET [MOUNT])
- Select a lance from the weapon rack. (GET [LANCE])
- Select a shield from the shield display. (GET [SHIELD])
- Present yourself at the entry table again. (GO ENTRY TABLE)
- Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their significant others!
Spider Entry - 8208002 Beetle Entry - 8208001
- Fox Hunt - Bugle is still the rare prize for a fox pet.
- Pixie Hunt - Bell is still the rare prize for a lamb pet.
Information Post 2 - Areas of Interest
Discord Message Link: February 2024 - Rumor Woods Reminders
Author: GM Thandiwe
Date: 4/7/2024
Areas of Interest at Rumor Woods:
- The Aspen Grove has multiple Inn Room-like tents scattered throughout the area as the Aspen Grove itself is just like an Inn. There is a Tavern w. Tables, drinks and food.
- Summit Academy is a college. It has an Ellipse at its heart that is for socializing and getting warm drinks.
- Cysaelotar was built by Aelotoi visitors and is a natural area filled witha variety of wonders.
Announcements
Announcement 1 - Theme
Discord Message Link: Rumor Woods 2026 Theme
Author: GM Thandiwe
Date: 3/4/2026
This season’s theme draws inspiration from sunbaked sands and wind-carved horizons, bringing a new palette and a new spirit to the woods. As always, our offerings will remain varied, but many of this year’s highlights carry a distinctly desert flavor.
The tournament returns with a new rivalry: Scorpion versus Jerboa.
Each side will bear its own colors:
- A beige jerboa on a field of myrtle green,
- A jet black scorpion on a field of copper,
This year’s festival mount will be the scorpion, accompanied by new lore released alongside it.
For a special twist, the Fox Hunt will change its quarry for one year only. Instead of the fox, participants will have the chance to win a jerboa pet.
Prefer not to run the hunt? No worries. The jerboa will also be available through Ewe Vixen.
Sands are shifting. Rivalries are stirring.
Rumor Woods awaits.
Event begins April 10th, 2026, at 9:30 PM EDT.
Announcement 2 - Titles
Discord Message Link: Titles
Author: GM Thandiwe
Date: 3/11/2026
- 100 wins for Jerboa - Companion of the Desert Hopper (any number of wins)
- 500 wins for Jerboa - Knight of the Swift Dunerunner (any number of wins)
- 100 wins for Scorpion - Disciple of the Black Sting (any number of wins)
- 500 wins for Scorpion - Knight of the Paralyzing Strike (any number of wins)
- Jerboa wins & you have 100 runs (plus at least 1 greater than scorpion) - Messenger of the Shifting Sands
- Jerboa wins & you have 100 runs (plus at least 1 less than scorpion) - Witness of the Fractured Burrow
- Scorpion wins & you have 100 runs (plus at least 1 greater than jerboa) - Harbinger of the Burning Venom
- Scorpion wins & you have 100 runs (plus at least 1 less than jerboa) - Scar of the Paralytic Venom
Announcement 4 - Summit Academy Customs
Discord Message Link: Summit Academy Customs
Author: GM Casil
Date: 4/2/2026
These customs will be added to our current collection, providing you with a wide variety of ways to feel more like you while you destroy your enemies or utter words you shouldn't say in polite company. This year, you'll note many options with a sun-scorched desert flair!
- Spell Preps
- Urchin Guides
- Signature Verbs
- Log Phrases
- Death Messages
- Swears
- Spell and bolt customs
- CMAN customs
These customs are brought to you by Casil, Elidi, Elysani, Gyres, Kaonashi, Mariath, Marstreforn, Sindin, Thandiwe, Valyrka, and Xynwen.
An enormous thank you to Isten, our QCer, who had a monstrous task to review.
Announcement 3 - Diriko
Discord Message Link: [ Diriko]
Author: GM Thandiwe
Date: 4/2/2026
The last of the scaffolding had come down three days prior, and the landing smelled of fresh-cut stone and linseed oil. The arrow slits had been fitted with glass, their new panes catching the pale alpine light and scattering it in clean lines across the floors. The writing desk, dark and well-oiled, sat precisely where Diriko had placed it on the first day, as though it had always belonged there.
She received the dean of Summit Academy as she received everyone, with stillness, with patience, and with tea that she had prepared before he had finished climbing the stairs.
He was not an unkind man. She had taken care to note that in the years since her arrival. He managed the Academy with the weary competence of someone who had long since traded ambition for endurance, and she respected that quietly, as she respected most things quietly. He accepted the tea, settled into the chair she had placed for him, and began.
Sylinar's name entered the room like bad weather.
She listened without expression as the dean laid out his grievances with the careful precision of a man who had rehearsed them on the stairs. Attendees arriving with devices in need of attention. Requests submitted and unanswered. Correspondence returned unopened or not returned at all. The reputation of the Academy, he said, resting his teacup on his knee, was not well served by a man who could not be found when he was needed. He had sent word four times. Four times. Sylinaar was nowhere to be found.
Diriko folded her hands in her lap and let him finish.
When the last of it had settled into the room, she rose in a single smooth motion and moved to the nearest arrow slit. Below, the grounds of Summit Academy spread themselves in the late afternoon light, the old hedgerows casting long shadows across the cobbled paths. A groundskeeper moved along the far edge, tending to the snow and ice in turn. A student crossed from the east dormitory with her nose in a book, nearly walked into a post, and corrected herself without looking up.
Diriko watched, and said nothing.
The silence stretched. Behind her, she heard the dean shift in his chair. The small sound of his teacup being set carefully on the desk. Another shift.
When she turned, her smile was patient and warm, the smile of a woman who had seen a great deal and found most of it more interesting than alarming.
"I understand your frustration," she said, returning to her place with the unhurried ease of someone navigating familiar waters. "Sylinar's absence has been an inconvenience, and I do not diminish that." She settled, smoothed the front of her sky blue robe, and met his eyes with her own, clear and steady. "But I would ask you to set that frustration aside, because it is no longer necessary."
The dean opened his mouth.
She continued, gently.
"I worked at that man's side for longer than this Academy has stood. What he knows of enhancives, of charge and capacity and permanency, I know also. What he can do with a device brought to him in need, I can do here, at this desk, in this tower, which is no longer his." She paused, letting her words sink in with measured stillness. "Your attendees need not wonder where to bring their concerns. They need only climb these stairs."
She folded her hands into the sleeves of her robes and let the silence return, though this time it was a different kind entirely and she did not let it linger nearly as long.
"More tea?" she asked.
The famed erithi Diriko, will be available in Sylinaar's tower throughout the festivities to offer the same services that Sylinaar does at Ebon Gate.