🌿 The Arbor Chronicle

June 2025  |  Issue No. 1

Voice of the Verdant City

Dreamers Dominate the Festival of Heroes

The Dreamers standing victorious in Verdant Grove Arena
The Dreamers stand triumphant in the Verdant Grove Arena after defeating drakes and hazards.

Yesterday, throngs of Arbor's citizens packed the Verdant Grove Arena to witness the climactic battles of this year's Festival of Heroes, the largest public event since the autumn harvest rites.

The team known as The Dreamers, composed of rising adventurers sponsored by Broadbeam Brewing and a coalition of smaller merchant houses, delivered a spectacular performance across every trial. Their fluid teamwork and daring strategy swept the competition, culminating in a decisive victory in the Trial of Sacrifice, where they escorted endangered citizens through a gauntlet of summoned drakes and animated hazards.

Witnesses describe moments of near disaster as the team's leader carried a hidden idol that redirected deadly force, revealing itself only in the final minutes of the contest. "I've never seen anything like it," said festival official Willow Verdant, Master of Agriculture for Bloomward. "Their resilience and ingenuity are precisely what the Festival is meant to inspire."

Festival organizers confirm that The Dreamers will receive a medallion of victory, and a substantial gold reward, potentially securing magical support or exclusive trade rights with Arbor's ruling houses.

Trade Routes Stabilize as Harvest Flows North

After months of uncertainty due to bandit activity, Arbor's overland caravans and airship flotillas have resumed a regular schedule, bringing vital goods to the Free States and the Imperial Hub. The House of Growth has reported record shipments of Verdant Elixirs, Necro Soil, and Spirit Blossoms, bolstering the city's coffers and funding expansion of the Rootshadow district.

Meanwhile, Swallow's representatives have signed a provisional agreement to supply Arbor with Zephyr Sails for a planned fleet of floating greenhouses. Beacon continues to negotiate tariffs on Heatstones and Glow Orbs, essential for illuminating deep-growing crops.

Economic scholars suggest this year's trade will not only stabilize Arbor's markets but also deepen dependence on magical production methods—fueling further conflict between the Guild and the Union.

Tensions Escalate Between the Mage's Guild and Laborer's Union

Negotiations between the Mage's Guild and the Laborer's Union have broken down once again as each faction accuses the other of undermining Arbor's prosperity.

At the heart of the dispute is the proliferation of conjured labor and enchanted automation in essential industries. The Laborer's Union claims the Mage's Guild has deliberately flooded markets with conjured tools and magically-animated constructs, depressing wages and forcing skilled tradesmen into precarious contracts. The Mage's Guild, for its part, insists that technological progress cannot be delayed to placate "reactionary interests."

Tensions boiled over this week when a protest march through Bloomward ended in a standoff outside the Guild's Hall of Arcane Practice. While no injuries were reported, the city's Wardens remain on high alert. Rumors swirl that elements within the Laborer's Union have begun smuggling anti-magic devices into Arbor from coastal suppliers in Tidehaven.

Observers fear that if neither side relents, the city could face the worst labor unrest in decades—threatening both agricultural output and trade.