'My friends are caught in the willow-tree,' cried Frodo breathlessly.

'Master Merry's being squeezed in a crack!' cried Sam.

'What?' shouted Tom Bombadil, leaping up in the air. 'Old Man Willow? Naught worse than that, eh? That can soon be mended. I know the tune for him. Old grey Willow-man!'

We are currently in the midst of a Scavenger Hunt challenge, and if you feel like Merry, stuck without hope of escape, this week's newsletter will include expanded clues on the interactive path with additional hints for the challenge! Remember, too, that the challenge can be tackled collaboratively. There have already been hints and solutions posted to the #monthly-challenges channel on our Discord, and you can ask for help there if you get stuck.

If the challenge is finding time to create, don't forget that our next instadrabbling session is Saturday, June 6, 2025 at 6PM/18:00 UTC (find this in my timezone) on our Discord! If you're new to instadrabbling, find out more about it in the instadrabbling FAQ here.

Keep reading for hints for the scavenger hunt!

• Like a magpie, Bilbo collected Elven texts and crowed his achievements in the Red Book. He worked in this location, which is also this creator and SWG Discord mod's pen name.
• This creator's name, in the ancient world, specifically ancient Greece, is sometimes read as similar to the Quenya curu and sometimes read as fitting with Gandalf's reminder that "Not all those who wander are lost."
• Writer, artist, and one of our first Discord moderators (now retired) and with a name of angelic ferocity, this creator is the only person so far on the archive to write a romance about Aragorn's parents.
• This creator's pen name is a fortress in the First Age and becomes an island after the War of Wrath.
• The home office of the SWG is located in a country that celebrates its 250th birthday this year. The pen name of this creator, who writes Silmarillion/Star Wars crossovers, references the birth year of that country.
• One of our most prolific and talented poets, this creator's name is constructed of two words that the following characters all have in common: Rose, Marigold, Meril. For Mereth Aderthad, she read a poem voiced by a treacherous jewel.
• Annatar gave many gifts and has many names. This creator uses a pen name that is one of these names, used in the Second Age, and often writes about Dwarves, including a 30-Day Character Study of Mím.
• One of our finest and most dedicated artists, this creator is also the SWG's art editor, the mastermind behind the Tolkien Fanartics column in the newsletter, and the designer of the Mereth Aderthad zine.
• One of our Discord moderators, this creator often writes fanworks that incorporate science into the legendarium but has recent fanworks involving steampunk Númenor, a space opera, and Miranda Otto.
• You might have to scroll to the bottom of the list to find her, but in addition to being a talented writer and poet, this creator is also a skilled musician and was our lone musical performer at Mereth Aderthad 2025, where she sang a Dwarvish hymn.
• This moderator still hasn't finished her Taboo challenge response years later, but is better known for enthusiastically handing out stamps and is a frequent creator of crossovers.
• This creator's pen name is an English translation of the name Elros. She is one of the most prolific creators on the archive.
• This creator is a moderator on our Discord, did the graphics design for Mereth Aderthad, and takes her pen name from a character in one of fanfiction's OG fandoms, the fandom that gave slash its name.
• This creator is possibly a distant relative of a Noldorin prince known for his cave-hewing skills and bringing too much crap with him from Valinor. Though the sunrise is in her name, she's actually quite the night owl.