Editing Announcements - 2007/06 - Evolution (section)

== Rollout Article ==

{{Turbine 2005
 |  Link = <nowiki>http://ac.turbine.com/?page_id=464</nowiki>
 | Title = June 2007 Rollout Article
 |  Text = Adso crouched behind a boulder and watched the drudge scamper into the woods. In a small notebook, he noted the time of its passage and what he could observe of its equipment. Ever since the drudges had established their unusually organized assault on Cragstone, he'd been scouting the area to see what was really going on. His Master had guessed, correctly, that there was more going on with the siege than just a bunch of overambitious drudges looting as much as they could from the Aluvian capital town.<br><br>It had not taken Adso and his fellow acolytes long to find the trail of drudge couriers bringing sacks full of supplies to a mysterious location in the northern woods. Adso's responsibility was to maintain the watch on the drudges leaving Cragstone. If he'd had his way, he would have been the one tasked to follow the drudges down whatever hole they were scuttling into, to see where all those supplies were going. Instead that task had been given to Sabithra, one of the bolder junior acolytes, the "Younger Sister" whose early training had once been Adso's responsibility.<br><br>He sighed in frustration. He didn't trust Sabithra to scout underground yet. She was too unpredictable and too eager to fight. She had not yet internalized the notion that sometimes a quiet retreat was better than a kill. Obviously their Master disagreed with his opinion of Sabithra's discipline, and Adso consciously stopped that train of thought before he could spend too much more time questioning Master's judgment.<br><br>Adso was so lost in his internal debate that he almost failed to notice the very faint crackle of a dry leaf in the undergrowth behind him. He flattened himself against the ground, put one hand on the hilt of his sword, and slowly turned his head to see who, or what, was stalking behind him. To his relief, he saw Sabithra, trying unsuccessfully to sneak up on him. She shrugged insouciantly at him, apparently unashamed of her attempt to sneak up on him and unbothered by her failure to do so. He shook his head, angered by her presence and by her cavalier attitude to her duties. Wasn't she supposed to be in the drudge's dungeon, investigating the end of their apparent supply chain?<br><br>He glared at her as she came closer. Finally, when she was in whispering distance, he said, "I thought you were at the other end of this trail, scouting underground."<br><br>Sabithra grimaced and shook her head. "I got caught."<br><br>Adso sneered, bitterly pleased that he'd failed in her assignment. "By who? Or by what?"<br><br>She shrugged, and again Adso found the gesture infuriating. "Something large and angry. Big enough to flatten me in one hit. I didn't get a good look at it before it squashed me. I was just making my way through some huge, dark chamber in the compound where the drudges were bringing their supplies, and then there was this incredibly loud roar behind me… Next thing I knew, I was at the lifestone, with Master chuckling at me."<br><br>"What did Master say?"<br><br>"He took my report, short as it was, laughed and said something like ‘teemon' to me, and then gave me this note and told me to bring it to you." As she spoke, she drew a thin roll of parchment from her belt pouch. It was still tied and sealed with the plain black seal that Master favored.<br><br>Adso frowned. He knew what "teemon" meant, even if Sabithra was too young or too unschooled in the lore of humanity's early days on Dereth. He knew then that these drudges were involved in something truly dangerous and wondered if his Master was planning to get involved in a suddenly more complicated and more dangerous situation.<br><br>He took the note from Sabithra, broke the seal, and read it. When he finished reading, he laughed softly and shook his head.<br><br>"Well? What is it?" Sabithra asked. Adso noted the impatience bordering on insolence in her tone. He'd have to speak to Master about her later. For now, he only smiled enigmatically, trying his best to approximate their Master's own inscrutable smile. He put away the notebook he'd been using to record the movements of the drudges. He swallowed the note from Master, as he'd been taught to do.<br><br>Wordlessly, he stood, abandoning his stealthy perch, and started the trek to Cragstone. As he walked, Sabithra followed, dogging his heels like a pet hungry for attention.<br><br>"Come on, what did the note say?"<br><br>Adso decided to stop being coy. "All the acolytes are being called back home. We're to gather and go into the Colosseum together. It seems there's a new champion there, some kind of elder from that new Tanada clan. He calls himself ‘The Master' and our own Master wishes for all of us acolytes to test him." He did not vocalize his suspicion that Master was more interested in testing his own acolytes than he was in testing the powers of some old Tanada. He felt sure that Sabithra could benefit greatly from having her throat slit by a true master assassin. That is, if she had the wits to learn from defeat.<br><br>Sabithra stopped walking. She stared at him in shock, and he found himself enjoying her discomfort. "We're going into the Colosseum to fight an elder of the Tanada clan because Master wants to see who the most masterful Master is?"<br><br>Adso walked back to stand right in front of her. He got up close and stood toe-to-toe with her, which he hadn't done since her earliest training sessions. He looked into her eyes and tried to summon up the force of his will to intimidate her, just as he'd learned from their Master. "Yes we are. Master has commanded this of us, and we will do as he says. Do you have a problem, Younger Sister Sabithra?"<br><br>She smiled wickedly and stared right back into his eyes. "Not at all, Elder Brother Adso. It sounds like fun. I can't wait to fight a master assassin right at your side." That said, she started walking again, but with a very pronounced spring in her step.
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