Secret Climbs

Some fields hide a secret. A shimmer in the air leads up a tall course of ledges, ropes and jumps. There are no creatures and no timer. The test is your jumping. At the top a sleepy keeper guards a cache that you can open once a day, and the very first time you open it you also win a piece of gear that cannot be found anywhere else.

Finding the way in

• A hidden way shows as a patch of haze with drifting motes, in an ordinary field. There is no door plate.
• Walk close to it and a soft chime plays, once for each shimmer. Step into it like a door. The prompt reads "Shimmer" until you have climbed it once, then it shows the climb's name.
• Explore the whole field, high ledges and far ends included, and keep your sound on.
• The Old Windmill is the one exception. Its door stands open and lit at the east end of Sunpetal Fields, past the gate to Whisperwood Path, so you cannot miss it.
• Secret climbs are not on the World Map, and a Teleport Stone cannot take you into one. You find them on foot. See World and Travel.
• While a quest asks you to climb a secret climb, the quest guide shows the way: the tracker's GO, the waystone and AUTO-QUEST lead you to the hidden way in, through it and up to the keeper. Without such a quest the way stays a secret. See Quests and Story.
• A few quests give a hint. The quest The Old Windmill sends you up the mill. The quest The Hoarfrost Stair mentions a stair on the crater's rim, and The Farside Starstair one over the Ossuary.

On the climb

The ground at the bottom is solid. If you miss a jump you fall back to the start, and that is the whole penalty. Ledges begin wide and generous, then narrow, with a few one-way drops that punish a bad miss. Ropes work as rests.

The cache

The keeper is a tame mimic who dozes beside the cache. Talk to it and choose Open the cache.

• Once a day. Each climb pays EXP (a small slice of a level), lumens and Starstones. It resets at 00:00 UTC. Until then the keeper says the cache is empty until tomorrow.
• The first time. Your first cache from a climb also hands you a piece of real gear, a cape or hat for that band of levels, with a FIRST CLIMB card to show it off.
• Heading home. The keeper can take you back down to the shimmer for free.

Ward Starstones raise armour and accessories in the forge, and Blade Starstones raise weapons. See The Forge and Enchanting. The deepest three climbs sometimes add a Prism of Revelation.

The ten climbs

Windmill Petal ScarfLv 1Rootstair Firefly CloakLv 10Lantern Spire CircletLv 18Coralbell Fin-WingsLv 26Cinderstep Ember CloakLv 38

Cloudstep Garden WingsLv 52Glass Chimney SandhoodLv 64Hoarfrost Stair CloakLv 86Starstair Stardust WingsLv 100Stormroot Storm-WingsLv 104

Two climbs in The Unlit

The Flarestair is in The Flarecrest Terraces, and The Bellrope is in Vael Orun: Bellward Heights. Each has a keeper who opens a daily cache. The first clear gives a piece of gear: Flarestair Ember Circlet and Bellrope Ringer's Stole. See The Unlit.