Questers
Greetings fair gentles! Herein are the treasures and creative endeavors of Renaissance Adventures' Questers, and all things belonging to kids! This page may expand as more ideas come up, but we have games, comics, and an outpouring of Quester submissions! When Questers come up with short stories, pictures of their character, or a monster they've invented, they are presented within these hallowed halls!
Games & Comics ~ Short Stories ~ Quester Artwork ~ Quester Ideas
Games & Comics
Check back often, as our comic and game switches pretty often!
Fly In The Soup!
Have you ever come across a puzzle in Adventure Quest where you had to solve or break a code? Here's how to do it without a key or outside help!
Most codes are called substitution codes. This is where each letter in the alphabet is replaced with another letter, a number, or a symbol. So, for example,
* A may be substituted for the letter M
* T may be substituted for the letter O
* N may be substituted for the letter Q
If someone were to spell "ANT" using these substitutions, it would read as "MQO." Hmm... good name for a pet fuzzy poof.
Some really tricky codes substitute two letters for one or always discard the first letter of each written word, etc. But let's just get the normal version handled first!
Substitution codes can be solved by knowing a few things about how the letters and words are used in English.
The most common letters in the English language are E, T, A, and O. So, if you were to find a whole lot of Xs, Ws, Bs, and Ks in a coded message, see if these letters are really the most common ones.
There are only six vowels in the alphabet - A, E, I, O, U, and Y - and yet they account for nearly half of the letters used in a word. Check out which letters occur in one word after another, and they're likely vowels.
T is the most common letter to begin a word. E is the most common ending.
There are some very common words used in any sentence. "I" and "A" are the two one-letter words, so if you see a code with the letter P standing all by itself, it probably means that P is actually either an "I" or "A." Common two-letter words are: OF, TO, IT, IN, IS, BE, AS, and HE. The most common three-letter words are "THE" and "AND."
Beyond tricks of the English language, you should always remember to keep in mind what it is your decoding. If you know you're decoding something that has a person's name in it or deals with a certain subject matter, look for coded words that have the same number of letters and same letter structure.
Experiment with letters in the code, and don't be afraid to make guesses and mistakes! If you guess that a three-letter word spells out "THE," but putting those letters into other words doesn't make sense, try to see if it spells "AND" instead.
Solving substitution codes can be tricky, but it gets easier with practice. Ask your parents for help to see if they know any good code-cracking tips! Perhaps even create a code yourself to see if your friends can solve it!
Adventure Quest Short Stories
Below is an excerpt from the 2009 Short Stories Contest winner, Lady Emily Randall! For this, the very first tome in the annual publication, we had ten contest winners – Questers who tried their pen at writing a short story. They are now available for sale on our online store. If you have an idea for a short story, be sure to submit it by the end of summer to have a chance of being a published author in Tome Two!
From The Power of Music, by Emily Randall:
Deep in the woods, all was quiet. Trees cast their shadows across untouched grass, dappling the streams with sunlight. Brooks gurgled and birds sang. A far-off woodpecker industriously built his home. Roaming the woods was a young wolf-girl of about 18. Her grey fur set off brilliant blue eyes, bright with intelligence. She wore a short tunic and leggings, too small for her. Keen ears pricked, listening to every woodland sound. Her name was Lyra. She was a foundling, living in a nearby village of humans. As she had grown, they had acted more and more strangely to her, as if they didn’t know how to treat her. Now the younglings’ behavior was verging on cruelty. She had come out into the woods to be alone.
It wasn’t as if they didn’t try to be nice. Or some of them, anyway, Lyra thought with annoyance. No, that wasn’t true. She just didn’t belong there. And some of them seemed determined to make her realize that. It was the youngsters of the village who were the worst. They… Lyra sighed with the memory.
She had been up in a tree watching the others play hide and seek. The sun had blazed overhead, illuminating a pitiless blue sky. She was uncomfortable up in the tree, but had not wanted to come down. Up there, she could pretend that she was just like them. But then the trouble started.
“You cheated!”
“No, you cheated! You told him where I was!” The calls of the village boys rang out harshly in the village square. The first boy leaped at the second, tumbling into the dust. Lyra drew back, wary of this. Soon a bigger boy broke the two apart.
“Neither of you cheated. Forget it.”
Another boy spoke up, the younger brother of one of the fighters. “He’s right. You didn’t cheat. She did, with her wolf-powers!” He was looking right at Lyra. Fear thrilled through her veins. She started to leap, but they encircled the tree. All looked mad. What had she done? “Come down, little wolfy, see if you’re so smug down here with us!”
“Scaredy-wolf, scaredy-wolf!” The taunts came thick and fast, outraging Lyra. She dropped, landing neatly. The boys seemed shocked that she had responded, but one of the biggest grabbed her.
“Now you’ll learn that wolfy creatures aren’t welcome here!” he cried. She lunged at him, frightening him into losing his grip. She spun around and fled, sprinting towards the forest. Her heart thumped loudly as she twisted and turned. Then a flying tackle brought her down. Her original taunter grinned maliciously down at her. She heaved upwards, throwing him back, and ran for her life. A passing villager saw the chase, then turned away. Blood throbbed in her ears. She ran farther and farther away, away from the boys, away from the tormenters, away from the village. Deep in the forest she halted her headlong flight. She was scraped and bruised, and furious.
Lyra burned at the memory. That villager hadn’t even helped, just turned away when he saw her. Stupid fools, they’d be sorry! Someday they wouldn’t even think of mistreating someone just because they looked differently! Anger built within her to a towering peak. She screamed her fury to the dusky skies.
Suddenly, the trees around her burst into flame! The sight shocked her out of her anger. The flames rose higher and higher, circling her. Wind picked up, carrying the fire to other trees. The forest blazed. Heat rose in powerful waves. A burning branch crashed to the ground. Lyra backed away, mouth open in a silent scream. Red and orange surrounded her, heat so intense she couldn’t breathe. Smoke curled in the air like an inaudible reproach. Greenery withered and died. Black trunks gave out, fell, and crashed to the forest floor. The mast caught fire, debris from years past. It flamed with a passion, flaring, leaping. Fire leaped from the crowns of trees. Birds took wing, screeching alarm. Tiny creatures cowered in their homes. Lyra moaned. They shouldn’t die! She turned to try to escape, but her hollow was ringed in flame. Her breath caught in her throat. She reached out to touch a flame. Her paw passed through! No sudden pain, no agony came. She pulled the paw back, shaking. Not burned. She walked through the fire. Nothing. This was too much for her: she fainted.
Quester Artwork
The following are some select pieces of artwork that Questers have penned in the last few years. If you would like to submit something, please let us know! Please know that we only have so much room to post pictures, and that we don't accept pictures that are gory, scary, inappropriate, or not in the themes of Renaissance Adventures.
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Quester Ideas
Our Questers have some of the best ideas for new careers, powers, races, or even quests. If you have an idea, feel free to email us a copy for us to consider to post on the site! Use Word doc or send a picture. Please know that we only have so much room for ideas, and that we don't accept ideas that are gory, scary, inappropriate, or not in the themes of Renaissance Adventures.
The Dragon ChampionBy Aidan Litt
The Dragon Champion career is a champion-type career. A Quester must be a Grandmaster in three careers to begin, usually one of them being a Knight. When you are an Apprentice Dragon Champion, you choose the spirit of either a deceased dragon or a dragon in its egg form. This dragon helps you when you get other powers, like Dragon's Might.
Your bond with this Dragon Spirit must be strong in order to use the “Dragon” powers – a Quester with a Light-filled Dragon Spirit must continue to act in Light in order to use its powers. In addition, if you act very shadowy in Quest, then the Light-filled Dragon Spirit may instantly knock you out or act in other ways to prevent you from doing the shadowy act. Although it is possible to align oneself with a shadowy dragon, no one in their right mind would do so.
Sample Powers
Dragon’s Might: To initiate Dragon’s Might, count 15 seconds while the dragon’s spirit unites with your spirit. After that, your next power becomes a “Dragon power” as far as its rank.
Dragon’s Trust: When you meet another dragon in quest, it instantly trusts you, similar to the Vow of Truth in the Knight career.
Summon Dragon: A Grandmaster Dragon Champion can summon a like-minded dragon to ride into battle.