Nice, @graoumia. Combat HIIT is very irregular with how long the exercises on an individual day will take, anywhere between 10 and 40 minutes. The next short "Ab Work" day will be Day 8, maybe you can do 7 & 8 on Saturday and 9 on Sunday or 7 on Saturday and 8 & 9 on Sunday and then you'll be on track with where I'm at. (Yesterday was also short but abs is at least a different set of muscles than on the rest of the days so a better candidate for a day with two workouts.)


Friday, 2025-08-29, Streak: 180
:v: First Thing Water, Round 3, Day 29
:v: Lower Body & Core Challenge, Day 29
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 7, Lvl 3
 
Saturday, 2025-08-30, Streak: 181
:v: First Thing Water, Round 3, Day 30
:v: Lower Body & Core Challenge, Day 30
:v: Hike, 11.7 km
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 8, Lvl 3


I timed today's hike perfectly: Just as I got home it started raining.
But then I couldn't even punch the rain away. I had to ab-workout(?) the rain away...? That doesn't really feel like it should work.

Double :completed: !
  1. A re-badge for First Thing Water for the third summer month in a row. Since I did the challenge to help out with ensuring I drink enough during the hottest days of the year I won't be continuing it on next month.
  2. This month's challenge Lower Body & Core was a wonderful continuation of last month's Upper Body & Core.
There is no badge for half-a-year(-ish) consecutive days of exercise sadly. I checked. The next badge upgrade for the streak is only at 1 year.
 
Thanks @Mamatigerj, @Fremen, @graoumia, and @Anek!


Sunday, 2025-08-31, Streak: 182
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 9, Lvl 3


Plan for September: in addition to Combat HIIT I will also do the new challenge and the new program. Simple as that. Blame Neila.

Speaking of the new program...

It began with an open door. That was rather unexpected. There would be no lock-picking, neither with dexterity nor with raw strength. There would also be no pushing of heavy wooden door panels, no scraping against hard-packed floors, and no creaking of rusted hinges. No; the door was already open. Was the door always open or had someone already come this way? It didn't really matter.

I had come to this door perhaps a bit early, the evening before the day we wanted to set off. I wasn't sure exactly who'd come, I'd expected maybe a handful of fellow adventurers. The others would show up soon enough. I wanted to get a good nights rest in before we'd start into our adventure tomorrow. You never knew how long it would be until the next opportunity of a good nights rest. With the door unexpectedly open I dropped my original plan of setting up camp right outside it and instead searched for a spot to place my bedroll a respectable distance away.

For now, the only thing left to do was rest.
What would await us in The Labyrinth tomorrow?
 
Monday, 2025-09-01, Streak: 183
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 1
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 10, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 1


Honestly, 30 burpees wasn't too bad and since it's only going to get easier from here, I'll manage.

The night was restful. While I was still setting up my spot for the night, a hulking green creature marched along the path and entered The Labyrinth before I could say Hi. I decided to leave them to it; with any luck they would still be in that first chamber when I entered it in the morning, if not we would probably meet, a few rooms in, in a few days at most. I had plans to start tomorrow after all.

I got up early the next day, excited about the upcoming adventure. It was then that I realized that not only was I not sure who'd come along, but also when they'd arrive.

The first adventurer to show up was Anek, a fellow Sorceress, who I had gotten to know over the last few months. She was excited and ready to go and so we entered The Labyrinth together.

:v: The Threshold, Lvl 2

"It doesn't want us here." That's the first thought I had once we stepped over the threshold into The Threshold. That's what the first room is called, as I later found out. The walls were covered with carved faces of warriors, many of whom seemed to look right at us. Then the room started shaking violently with cracks appearing in floor and walls and the ceiling threatening to collapse on us. We braced ourselves and endured until the shaking stopped. Luckily it subsided pretty quickly. The warriors now seemed to relax, with some slow-blinking and closing their eyes again, a few even winked at us. "Guess us being here is acceptable after all," I said.

I got my bearings. Two passages led out of this room, the hulking green creature stood in one of them. I gave them a friendly wave before I joined them in the passage. If someone else showed up and the room started shaking again I wanted to be far enough out of the way.

The green creature introduced themselves as HellYeah and we started talking. In that passage something else caught my eye: There were footprints here. I made out three distinct tracks: A pair of boots and two sets of paw prints, one canine and one feline. I put my paw down next to one of the latter ones to compare. All three tracks went down the south passage with the east passage seemingly undisturbed. We couldn't make out whether there were any additional prints in this first room. Between the three that headed south, HellYeah's big feet, Anek's leaps, and my paws there were just too many tracks all in one place. I tried to peer south towards the next room but couldn't make much out. I decided to wait and see which passage the other adventurers would choose.


NightTigress proudly presents
The Labyrinth Map​

1756759632120.png
 
Tuesday, 2025-09-02, Streak: 184
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 2
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 11, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 2


HellYeah decided to continue on, following the other footsteps south which left only Anek and me on the edge of that first room. "Seems like the east passage is lava," I thought out loud.

A few hours later I thought I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye but upon trying to look at it I found nothing there. The Labyrinth however did sense whatever I couldn't quite make out and The Threshold started shaking again. The two of us were outside the dangerous area and so we weren't affected. Once the dust settled though, there was still no one in that first room.

Hours passed with no one else entering The Labyrinth. I had expected more people. When Shieldmaiden Neila had announced that she had found this place to a packed tavern only eight days ago I had gotten the feeling that more adventurers would come. By my count there were seven of us in The Labyrinth right then: HellYeah, Anek, and myself, plus three pairs of paw prints, plus one mysterious, invisible entity; that is if it even existed.

Anek got up to walk down the passage to the east, possibly to check if there really was lava down there. Since my plan was to hug the left wall, I offered to join her.

:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 1 to Room 2
:v: The Hall of Mirrors, Lvl 2

The hallway was lined with mirrors. I checked out the nearest one and sure enough, it reflected my image back to me. Except, something was off. My mirror image looked smaller, skinnier than I was. I flexed (note that one down for the history books: NightTigress found a mirror and the first thing she did was show her biceps) and the mirror image, while mirroring my movements, did absolutely not have my muscles. "You're weak," the mirror image spoke. I opened my mouth as if to retort (what was I going to do, argue with my mirror image?) but no words came out. Walking along to the next mirrors the pattern repeated: The mirror image wasn't true to life, it was smaller, weaker, and whispering insults.

Mirror by mirror the images got worse. It was only when a mirror showed a purple-and-black striped cub that I got my voice back. "Look at how small and pathetic you were. Nothing much has changed," the mirror said. "That's not what I looked like when I was that old; I was a lot cuter," I replied to the mirror. "Also don't you know every tiger cubs middle name at that age?" I didn't wait for a response. "Stripey Chaos! There's nothing pathetic about that." And with that the illusions were broken. They had been trying to bring me down, I realized. But most of them had focused on physical prowess. "You're here at the same time as me," I shouted in the rough direction of the mirror who had whispered "You're late" a few minutes ago. Physical prowess wasn't something I was ashamed of. I was quite happy with those parts of my body.

I laughed out loud, not because the situation was funny, but in relief. Out of ignorance the mirrors had picked a topic I was mostly immune to. They could have talked about ███ █████ ██ ██ ████, how █████ ██ █████████ ████, or ███ ████ ████ █ ████. They could have mentioned ███ ████████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ or they could have gone for my mental health, insisting that █ ███ █ ██████ ███████, that ███ ████ ████ ██ █ ███ ██ █ █████ or saying "██████ █████ ██ █ █████." But they didn't and the relief over fact that they didn't was bubbling out of me in bursts of laughter. I straightened and walked confidently down the hall.

I looked for Anek to see how she was affected by what were probably similar illusions, just targeted to her, but she was hopping along far ahead of me, almost at the end of the hallway, head held high, ignoring the mirrors on both sides. We were going to be fine.


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if you're not sharing your progress (including and especially which rooms you are in), you're not part of the story... please do share
 
Thanks @NightWolf714! Now that you're in The Labyrinth, you're on the map as well.


Thursday, 2025-09-04, Streak: 186
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 4
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 13, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 4


:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 2 to Room 3
:v: The Shattered Ceiling, Lvl 2

As soon as Anek crossed into the next room she got the zoomies which turned out to be a good thing. I started jogging to keep up and once I got into the room the ceiling collapsed, bringing down dust and debris with it. We both jumped, dodged, and weaved our way through this, the second wobbly room in The Labyrinth. I quickly lost sight of Anek with all the dust filling the air.

I had nothing else to do but to continue on moving so that the room would not crush me. And then finally, with way too many close calls I made it to the other side.

At the arch I just caught a streak of orange in the next room before a heavy door slammed down, closing off the next room and splitting Anek and me. I shouted to Anek but didn't get a response. Try all I might I could not get the door to budge at all. I tried pleading with it, hoping someone might listen but the door stayed firmly closed. In the end there was nothing else to do but sit and wait...


1757020972819.png

The door finally opened and I hurried into the next room, hoping to find Anek.

:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 3 to Room 4
:v: The Drowning Gate, Lvl 2

Once I was in the room the door behind me closed again with a resounding bang. I looked around. No Anek. I knew that I walked into a trap. I knew this room was a trap once it trapped her inside it but this was the only way to her that I knew of and so this was the way I had to go. Knowing that the door behind me really didn't want to be opened I set my sights on the door in front of me. Since Anek wasn't here she had gotten out of this room and probably through that door.

It was then when the room started to flood. Cold water, streaming in through cracks in the walls, quickly covering the flagstones, and then rising higher and higher. The door in front of me, the one I needed to get through before this room flooded completely, was connected to various pieces of iron machinery attached to the walls. Tracing pipes and crankshafts, calculating turning directions for beams and gears, and ending up at levers and cranks got me a pattern of things to turn, pull, and push. And so, the water already at my waist, I started doing exactly that. They resisted, stiff from age, corrosion, and rusted due to frequent water exposure. But I kept at it since fighting this ancient machinery was my only way out of here.

Since you're reading this you know that I made it. After I pulled the last lever the door opened and the room spat me and a huge volume of water into the adjoining hallway. The water seeped through cracks in the stones on the floor and only a short distance further the floor was dry again. I hurried along the hallway in the direction of the scraping and hammering noises that were coming from dead ahead...


1757020996140.png

Since my last update @astro_lizard also entered The Labyrinth and that gives me a chance to talk about the tracks in the map. Follow me to my test world for a minute, that way I can avoid story spoilers and we can do this outside a spoiler box.

1757021017794.png

The above is how the tracks looked like until Monday morning. Simply a line behind the adventurer showing the path they've taken, like Ariadne's thread from the Greek myth. On Monday morning I decided to play with something that is a bit more individual to each adventurer and can transport more of their personality and so I created the footprints.

1757021029301.png

The track is not necessary any more and is only used as a guide on where to place the footprints. I place the footprints in regular distances along the track, putting the left foot a bit to the left of the track and vice-versa for the right footprint. If we turn the track back on we can see how it nicely fits between the footprints.

1757021040696.png

Now a lizard, while walking, generally drags their tail behind themselves in such a way that it leaves an impression on the ground similar to the footprints. The track is the exact shape that a lizards tail would make on the ground so for all lizards in The Labyrinth I can simply turn the track on to get a more realistic image of what a lizard walking through here looks like.

1757021051254.png

There is someone else in The Labyrinth whose track is a bit special. Can you figure out who? I'll provide the answer in the coming days.
 
Friday, 2025-09-05, Streak: 187
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 5
:v: Gym: strength circuit, 2 rounds
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 14, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 5


:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 4 to Room 5
:v: The Shifting Floor, Lvl 2

I round the corner and see where the noise is coming from: The next room is like a huge machine, every stone is loose and moving constantly. I walk to the edge of the room to get a clearer picture. The stones on the floor are tilting and moving, never standing still for more than a few seconds. Below the stones is... nothing. It's as if someone just forgot to create that part of the world, a blackness more intense than the darkest nights.

The stones crack between my paws and start moving... in opposite directions. I'm not good at the splits so I quickly threw myself to one side, landing, now prone, on one of the slabs. Once I could look back, the hallway I came from was already many meters behind me.

Now thrust into this dangerous ballet of shifting stones of different sizes I tried to make my way towards the exit, abandoning my current steed when it seemed appropriate, jumping from slab to slab when the passed by each other. Some slabs wobbled, making it hard to stay on them. It felt like an eternity, but was probably a lot quicker, until I got on a slab that moved into jumping distance to the exit.

The exit was a raised stone lip before the ground turned to dirt again. There was the distinct impression of a bunny landing which could only mean one thing: Anek had come through here. Anek was fine.


1757107641774.png

We have only six different types of footprints in The Labyrinth. Which one is not like the others?
 
Saturday, 2025-09-06, Streak: 188
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 6
:v: Hike, 13.9 km
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 15, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 6


:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 5 to Room 10
:v: The Watcher's Eye, Lvl 2

A sphere floated in the center of the next room I found myself in. It glowed faintly, illuminating the room. Then the sphere turned; it focused a black dot that it had on one side on me. It's an eye. It stared at me. A staring contest then. I stared back.

The eye started cheating, bombarding me with visions, showing me the labyrinth, how it was built. I tried to take it all in, map the knowledge to the rooms I'd already seen, trying to find patterns and improve my understanding of the place we're in. It showed me monsters standing guard, armored knights, an empty throne. It showed fauna, climbing vines, and pale flowers. It showed gleaming and shiny rooms, rooms filled with faces and masks, rooms collapsing, lightning striking, fires burning, and burnt rooms. It showed me a sealed gate, glowing, and green spirals.

And then it blinked, the connection broken, the visions fading. Green spirals. Green spirals are important.

The eye turned away and I looked past it to the archway beyond where I found a welcome sight. Anek was just sitting there, catching her breath before the next room. "Fancy seeing you here", I said, walking over. I tried my best to not make it seem like I was scared for the bunny just a few minutes ago.


1757188583830.png
 
Correct, @NightWolf714!

The bunny tracks don't have left and right foot alternating. When a bunny hops they first put down their front paws, one of them first and then the other, and then land on their hind paws, but since they have so much forward momentum their hind paws touch down in front of their front paws. (Put "bunny running slow motion" into YouTube if that sentence made no sense.) In a technical sense the bunny track only has a left foot, the image of which contains all four splotches you see, which is placed directly on the track instead of next to it.

1757275997843.png


Sunday, 2025-09-07, Streak: 189
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 7
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 16, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 7


From now on I'll put my story and the map into two different spoiler boxes so that you can open one and/or the other depending on your appetite for spoilers.

:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 10 to Room 15
:v: The Wall of Ash, Lvl 2

I reached a dead end. In front of me a wall of ash blocked the path. I touched it, trying to judge whether I might be able to break through, but only left a paw print in the ash for my efforts. My touch must have set something in motion because names appeared on the wall, filling the wall up, like a memorial of the fallen. Exactly like a memorial of the fallen I realized.

I read over the names but didn't find anyone I knew. None of the adventurers that entered The Labyrinth with me appeared on the list. One name caught my attention though: Next to the paw print I left on the wall the name DayLion appeared. "I have an evil doppelganger?" I chuckled and then "oh, and he died here", the realization of what the name on this wall probably meant came crashing down. I touched the name on the wall, paying my respects to the unknown adventurer, and the name disappeared. "Move on", I whispered.

I let the thoughts linger for a moment more before standing up straight and turning to put the wall behind me. There is no way forwards. Let's head back...

An otherworldly force teleported astro_lizard out of the labyrinth. Their tracks just end abruptly.

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Monday, 2025-09-08, Streak: 190
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 8
:v: Gym: strength circuit, 2 rounds
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 17, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 8


:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 15 to Room 10
:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 10 to Room 9
:v: The Web of Shadows, Lvl 2

I'm not afraid of spiders. Never have been. But this one tried its hardest to change that fact.

Spider webbing filled every corner of the next room and every place that wasn't a corner as well. Lots of sticky strands hung from the ceiling clinging to me and threatening to stop me from moving. An then the owner of this mess made its move: First only pulling on the strands, trying to ensnare me before climbing down to get more hands-on. It was a curious looking spider, not that I paid much attention to how it looked like while tearing through the webs, trying to get away. For me one of the first adjectives that springs to mind when I hear "spider" is "hairy" but this one wasn't. It was jet black and really hard to see. If it were not for the fact that it made the webs shake with every move it would have been hard to avoid.

I escaped that room by ducking and weaving between webs and spider body parts, and tearing through the strands where I couldn't go around them. Out in the hallway the webs grew less and less frequent and soon enough I was out of the spiders domain.

I spent some minutes pulling at all the strands that still stuck to my fur, removing them. Eurgh. I needed a bath.

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Tuesday, 2025-09-09, Streak: 191
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 9
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 18, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 9


:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 9 to Room 8
:v: The Forgotten Shrine, Lvl 2

A small chamber awaited me next behind a set of switch-back corridors that made the rest of The Labyrinth sound far away. The center of the chamber featured an altar with an everlasting flame contained in a bowl made of red glass. On and around the altar various sacrifices lay, some shiny and new, some rusted with age. I looked around the chamber at the walls on which several scenes were depicted, lit by the red-tinted glow of the single flame. For a few minutes I took the scenes in and contemplated their meaning. This sacred site wasn't built for a God of War so leaving a weapon behind wasn't what was expected here. I curtsied before the flame and then held my paw over it enduring the warmth and then heat. This place was testing a different kind of resolve.

Then a floor tile behind the altar shifted, revealing steps leading down, confirming that I made the right choice. I climbed down. At the bottom of the stairs was a small antechamber with three paths leading out of it. More importantly the one and only Mamatigerj was sitting on a low bench, resting. "So those were your paw prints I saw in the first room", I said in place of a greeting. "How long have you been in here?"

We talked for a while. When the conversation turned to where to go next Mamatigerj mentioned that she thought she saw NightWolf714 in the next room towards the south. "That's where I'm planning to go next as well," I said. "You?"

1757449729924.png
 
Wednesday, 2025-09-10, Streak: 192
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 10
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 19, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 10


:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 8 to Room 13
:v: The Mirror-Forged, Lvl 2

Mamatigerj went on ahead. She was well rested whereas I still wanted to nurse my paw a bit. I walked to the next room a few hours later and was surprised at the change I could feel once I stepped over the threshold. This room was a lot colder than the previous one, here I could see my breath coming out in big clouds. I stuck my paw back into the corridor and it was met with cozy warmth, comparatively. I cast a quick Detect Magic and sure enough the archway was spanned with some sort of barrier, probably one that stopped natural air movement across it.

I focused on the center of the room where a gleaming cylinder rose from the floor to the ceiling, reflecting the rest of the room in a mirror-like fashion, albeit rather distorted. The cylinder rippled like a pond after you've thrown a stone in and a bipedal creature stepped out of it. The creature was made of the same liquid mirror material as the column it stepped out of. And it was heading right for me. Sigh. Shouldn't Nightwolf714 or Mamatigerj, both of whom passed through here mere hours ago, have taken care of any enemies? The monster took two more steps towards me and I had my answer: It changed shape and I was looking at a mirror copy of myself. Unique enemies per adventurer. Great.

I cast a fireball at it.
It cast a fireball at me.
Our fireballs collided mid-air and exploded in a shower of sparks.

Hrm, maybe I could work with the environment.

I cast a freeze spell at it...
It cast a freeze spell at me...
... it sidestepped and the spell went wide.
... I sidestepped and the spell went wide.
We looked at each other.

I took a step to my right.
It took a step to its right.
I dove, rolled, and started casting fireball.
It dove, rolled, and cast a fireball.
I sent mine off as well, having waited a split second longer than I normally would have, and our fireballs collided in mid-air again, this time closer to me rather than in dead-center between us. The sparks also mostly went in my direction since my fireball was a bit smaller than usual and I used the remaining fire to send a second, a mini bonus fireball at the monster. It flew true, through the sparks and hit my enemy square in the chest. At its size the fireball wasn't enough to hurt the monster but the fact that I hit it was a success nonetheless.

Now the fight was truly on. It was spell after spell, move after move; I tried to make every one a little bit off and managed to catch the monster by surprise several times. It turned out to be immune to any cold spell I threw at it. I then managed to knock it into the column it came from with Scorching Ray, staggered, not in parallel, and that was it. The monster fell, the ripples in the surface of the column faded away and the monster didn't step back out.

Resting would have to wait for later though since the next room, on the other side of the barrier over the exit was filled with a storm.

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Thursday, 2025-09-11, Streak: 193
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 11
:v: Gym: strength circuit, 2 rounds
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 20, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 11


:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 13 to Room 14
:v: The Winded Stair, Lvl 2

The room was barren, the only feature a spiral staircase in the center, going up. There was no other exit in sight, only the stairs, vanishing into darkness. This time the only way to go really was up. I moved to the first step and the wind picked up. The wind was howling, the swirling storm (outside this time) was doing its best to keep me here, on the rocks at the bottom. For all its might, the storm was not consistent, neither in its force nor in its direction. The former was useful, allowing me to move during lulls and then pressing my body against the center column when the strength increased, letting me make progress upwards. The latter was more of a problem, the wind shifting as if trying to find the best angle to blow me off of the steps. Luckily the stairs held firm and so I made my way higher and higher. Soon I lost sight of the floor below, only the stairs and me in a windy void.

After what I was sure was pretty exactly 15 floors the wind died down and I reached the ceiling. A trapdoor above swung open as I approached. I climbed through and let the trapdoor fall shut behind me. Blissful silence. "Well done on getting up here. Those stairs were so hard," a voice comes from behind me. NightWolf714 sits on the floor, leaning against the wall. "Yeah," I agree and walk over to sit beside them. We rest for a while.

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Friday, 2025-09-12, Streak: 194
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 12
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 21, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 12


:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 14 to Room 19
:v: Chamber of Bells, Lvl 2

NightWolf714 decided to continue on whereas I still wanted to get a good nights rest in. I wanted to recharge from the fight with the mirror monster and the stairs climb. After NightWolf714 exited through the only normal door in this room into the hallway beyond I tried to lay down more comfortably and get some rest. That didn't work out quite as planned because whatever the next room had in store for them, NightWolf714 made quite some noise. They went at it for some minutes but soon enough the room I was in got some well-deserved peace and quiet.

The next morning — or at least what my inner clock thought was morning, there was no actual sun to judge — I set off the same way to see what last night's ruckus was all about. A long hallway contained a bunch of bells. Simply walking through the hallway made the bells start swinging. There was no pattern to the noise, and a pattern was what was required. Tiles on the floor glowed in rhythm and so I started hitting the bells as indicated. Soon enough I was dancing through the hallway, striking bells in time to the music.

A doorway opened up at the far end. I walked through only to find myself at another crossroads...

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Saturday, 2025-09-13, Streak: 195
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 13
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 22, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 13


:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 19 to Room 20
:v: The Painted Door
:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 20 to Room 19

I followed the path to my left.

And quickly afterwards ended up at a closed door. It was painted: green grass, sunshine, blue skies, snow-topped mountains, and frolicking woodland creatures. The only thing missing were sparkly unicorns. Anyway, the door didn't budge. No, I wasn't simply going to pull on the handle. It was a challenge, a challenge of the body, mind, and soul; requiring me to hold three poses. I'm still not sure how I knew the correct patterns, it was probably something that the door communicated to me in some way when I touched it. No matter. I held the poses and the door creaked open. I walked through and let it shut behind me...

... only to find myself at the crossroads I just came from.

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Wednesday, 2025-09-17, Streak: 199
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 17
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 26, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 17


The last few days were incredibly busy, so I've got a bit of catching up to do (story-wise, not workout-wise)...

:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 19 to Room 24
:v: The Hourglass Court, Lvl 2

In the next room the sand kept falling through the hourglass and there's no way I was gonna slow it down.

The sand, dripping from the hourglass suspended high above, collected in heaps on the floor where drains would open irregularly to let it fall further. I carefully made my way through the room, avoiding the bigger mountains of sand, trying not to step on the hidden drains, whatever state they were in, and pausing whenever the dunes of sand got too high.

I reached the central platform and all at once all machinery stopped. The drains in the floor halted and the hourglass froze mid-turn. Huh. I guess there was a way to slow it down.

I hopped down and made my way to the next room.

:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 24 to Room 25
:v: The Twin Veins, Lvl 2

The corridor split in two. Unlike other places in this labyrinth it didn't want me to take my time to make my choice. The floor was literally shaking with anticipation. I took the left corridor. I'm taking all the left corridors. The corridor lit up, as if pleased by my choice and I kept walking...

:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 25 to Room 30
:v: The Hidden Garden, Lvl 2

An oasis awaited me: A wonderfully green garden, thick vines on the walls, flowers growing in between wild grasses, and a fountain in the center. The most amazing thing was the air though, it was clean and smelled sweet, in stark contrast to the heavy, and sometimes moldy, air in the other rooms of The Labyrinth. I was about to get my bedroll out to spend a night here when something stopped me. I looked around, straining all my senses, to find what made me pause but I couldn't pin it down to something in particular. "Is this the second room in a row that can't wait to have me leave again?" I muttered.

I scoured the room, not yet sure if this was a dead end or it had a doorway hidden somewhere. Back at The Forgotten Shrine it seemed like not everyone who came to the room before me actually found the secret exit. Just when I had decided to head back the way I came I saw it: A leaf was carved into the rim of the fountain. I went to the vines and picked one of the approximate size and shape and placed it on the carving. A trapdoor opened and mossy steps led me further...

:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 30 to Room 35
:v: The Singing Stone, Lvl 2

Every step I took made a sound, the stones moving slightly under my paws. I realized quickly that not only did the stones sound off when I stepped on them but they produced the same sound some seconds later. It was a loop and me pressing the stones got them included in the melody. The next question I got was how I could un-press a stone which turned out to be simple: Just press them again to remove the tone from the loop. I played around for a while, listening to the tones that were already present when I entered the room, and exploring the sounds I had available to complete the melody. Then I added to the melody, including tone by tone in the loop, until it felt complete. The room agreed apparently since it opened the far door.

And I was yet again faced with a choice, one doorway straight ahead, one to my right. But something was off with the arch I was facing. I walked towards it and the closer I got the easier it was to recognize what was wrong: The hallway straight ahead was tinged in a shifting green hue; the doorway was covered by a semi-translucent green barrier, rippling with spiral waves. With every step I took the color got more pronounced until it felt like I was looking through a green bottle into the space beyond. Where had I seen green spirals before? My curiosity got the better of me and I touched the green barrier. (Curiosity never did anything bad to a feline, right?) Despite the surface continuing to move and distort the view through it, it was firm and cold to the touch. "Seems like this way is blocked to me," I mused and moved on through the other exit...
 
Thursday, 2025-09-18, Streak: 200
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 18
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 27, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 18


:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 35 to Room 34
:v: The Empty Throne, Lvl 2

A throne sits in the middle of the room. It is an imposing structure, built entirely out of black granite. It had a certain pull on me, I desired to sit in it, become queen of this place. I made a few steps towards the throne when a thought hit me: What even is this place? What would I be regent of? Shouldn't I know that before committing to the position? But the throne... Something glowing on the armrest caught my eye. A sigil, placed slightly back from the front of the armrest, on the outside, just below the top. I visualized myself sitting on the throne. The sigil would be right below my wrist. I circled the throne, looking at the other side and sure enough, the same sigil was placed directly below where the throne's occupant's wrist would be. A strange place for a spell I thought.

Just then some clouds moved overhead and the throne got bathed in sunlight. The light streamed in through a broken skylight, illuminating the dust particles in the air. It was a stunning picture: The throne lit up by a ray of sun, almost glowing, with the rest of the room in stark shadowy contrast. The sigil on the side of the throne that was facing me glowed brighter. But something else was glowing as well: Behind the throne various symbols were carved in the floor. I walked over and recognized one of them: Open. I touched it and a door at the far end of the hall, behind the throne, slid open...
 
Friday, 2025-09-19, Streak: 201
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 19
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 28, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 19


:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 34 to Room 33
:v: The Thousand Eyes, Lvl 2

I met Syrius in the passageway to the next room and we chatted for a bit. Sadly we were moving in opposite directions and both of us wanted to keep going.

In the next room I felt even more watched than in the first room of The Labyrinth. Whereas in The Threshold masks and faces covered the walls, here there were only eyes. And not only on the walls but the ceiling and floor as well. A thousand eyes stared at me as I entered. I was ready for anything but unlike The Threshold where the room started shaking, here the eyes only watched... and waited. Then I noticed a beam of light stretching across the chamber. With nowhere else to go I walked along it. It wasn't hard, and it wasn't much of a balancing act, the beam was roughly as wide as my shoulders, and I've had lots of practice balancing on beams only 10 centimeters wide. The beam split at some point but I kept left and soon made my way into the next room.

The next room was quiet, too quiet, like the calm before a storm...

As you all might have noticed by the barrage of likes I threw around the last uhhh two and a half hours I've finally got some map updates!

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Saturday, 2025-09-20, Streak: 202
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 20
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 29, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 20


:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 33 to Room 32
:v: The Quiet Vessel, Lvl 2 (non-stop, I stole Syrius' very good idea and did the thing without breaks)

... but no storm ever came. The only thing moving (apart from me) was the floor, slightly shifting. What was in this room was a faithful reproduction of the children's party game where you move a container of water without spilling anything: A bowl filled with water at the entrance and a pedestal in the middle of the room. I was once again amazed at the inherent magic in this place resetting the rooms so that every adventurer had the same task to do. There wasn't ever a room I could just walk through because the monster had already been slain. At least this bode well that whatever I needed to do to be able to get through the green forcefield would be available to me and not already taken by a previous adventurer.

Anyway, I slunk through the room on soft paws, moving the bowl of water without spilling a drop, and the door onwards opened.

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Sunday, 2025-09-21, Streak: 203
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 21
:v: Fighter's Warmup
:v: Combat HIIT, Day 30, Lvl 3
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 21


:completed:
Combat HIIT was fun! I will have to look at the other combat programs when choosing my next.

:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 32 to Room 31
:v: The Storm Column, Lvl 2

A circular room, tall, howling wind, swirling storm. Wasn't there a similar room in The Labyrinth that I had crossed before? The Labyrinth was inventive, I had to give it that; with what appeared a limited number of tricks up its sleeves it managed to recombine them to form many unique rooms. This one had a series of metal posts in the center and the objective was clear: Reach the center and touch every post along the way. They weren't arranged in a straight line though, no, they curved towards the eye of the storm. Almost like... a spiral?

Hrmmm... spirals, not green though...

The storm was actually bad, with lightning bolts flying every which way. I only realized the full extent of the static electricity once I touched the first metal post and it zapped me, unloading a charge through my body. If only I had some rain boots to wear. Though perhaps the zaps were the goal of the room and not even a choice of footwear would stop them. I gritted my teeth and moved on to the next post. At least the zaps moved through my body instead of charging me up; every hair standing on end like the prickles of a hedgehog would not be a good look on me.

I reached the center after having touched every post along the way where a circular trapdoor awaited, open. In the eye of the storm I looked down and then carefully lowered myself to the floor below. I didn't want to squish the bunny that was resting there after all...

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Thanks @astro_lizard, @Mamatigerj, @Syrius, @Fremen!

But no new programs for now, I still have to explore the rest of The Labyrinth.


Monday, 2025-09-22, Streak: 204
:v: Burpee Countdown, Day 22
:v: The Labyrinth, Day 22


:v: 40 butt kicks: walking from Room 31 to Room 36
:v: The Shadowed Bridge, Lvl 2

The hallway opens up into a huge room with the floor dropping off into nothingness. Luckily a bridge spans the drop, the far end hidden in shadows. I gingerly walked out onto the bridge, the planks had seen better days. The entire thing creaked and groaned with every step, some planks even cracked once I put my weight on them. To make matters worse, the bridge swung precariously over the darkness below.

Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye behind me: The shadows lurking below had solidified and were starting to climb on top of the bridge behind me. I threw all caution to the wind and started sprinting over the bridge. It got worse when some shadows started climbing onto the bridge ahead of me but I managed to avoid them, in one case jumping over a prone shadow. Soon the situation changed again: The bridge got steeper and steeper and I was running up a hill, on all fours for the additional speed. It was then when I noticed the door up ahead. The closed door up ahead. I arrived at the door and tried to push it open. It didn't budge. I tried pulling on the door instead and while it didn't open, something moved. I tried again, harder this time, not taking the time to look back at my pursuers. It was then when I realized that the hinges were at the top of the door. I pulled at the bottom and it swung up. I crawled through and let the heavy door close behind me. Not even a second later I heard the sound of several heavy things slamming into the door from the other side.

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