Conan Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of has a strict game flow: adventure - downtime - adventure - downtime.
Your characters will have an adventure. They will gain some treasure (hopefully) and possibly get horribly hurt.
They will then have some downtime, during which they spend their treasure and heal from their injuries.
When the call to adventure gets too strong (or more commonly when the gold runs out) they will set out adventuring again.
The downtime will cover days or weeks or maybe months of time and might also cover hundreds of miles of travel. Your characters may stay together during downtime but more often will split up and go their own ways for a while.
Downtime is when XP is spent.
Core book ch.9, p.290.
At the start of downtime you must pay (3 + Social Standing – Renown) gold for upkeep.
Core book ch.9, p.288.
There are various activities a character can do during downtime. You will choose to spend how many days you spend (if any) on each activity.
Meet a Patron
Trade
Gamble
Seek Out Rumours
Recover
Cultivate Renown
Receive a Title
Adventures will often start in the middle of action. How your characters started the adventure will sometimes be glossed over or ignored completely. Sometimes the adventure will start with your characters captured or enslaved, with no playing of the capture event and no chance to avoid being taken prisoner.
This is part of the sword & sorcery genre. Sometimes you will have agency taken away from you in return for a dramatic opening scene.