Editing Announcements - 2008/01 - Recollections (section)

== Rollout Article ==

{{Turbine 2005
 |  Link = <nowiki>http://ac.turbine.com/?page_id=566</nowiki>
 | Title = Rollout Article - January
 |  Text =
Ardry tightened the straps on his pack and slung it over his shoulder.  The pack was bulging with books, not the field rations and spare weaponry that was his usual load-out when departing the chapterhouse.  The small library here was his second-to-last stop on a long book-gathering expedition.  Of course, this was not a normal mission, and he was relieved to have been assigned, for once, to a fairly safe task when the majority of his fellow scouts had been dispatched to some of the most dangerous corners of the realm.
<br><br>
Walking through the deserted hallways of the chapterhouse, Ardry nodded to the chamberlain Eddred at his desk as he walked to the exit portal.  The old veteran nodded back, more interested in his whittling than the departure of the last scout.  With most of the membership out on missions, Eddred wouldn't be needed until the wounded started trickling in, probably some hours from now…
<br><br>
Ardry stepped through the portal and into the bright, chilly morning light of the coast near Ayan Baqur.  He trekked up the hill towards the Smoking Axe tavern in town.  When he got there, his cousin Ulgrim was hunched over next to the entrance of the tavern, snoring softly, with an empty mug in his hand.  Ardry almost stooped to take the empty mug from Ulgrim's hand to bring it in to the tavern keeper, but he remembered the terrible rain of boulders that his cousin had reflexively conjured from the sky the last time someone tried to pull a mug out of his hand while asleep…
<br><br>
Thinking better of it, Ardry went into the tavern and ordered two pints of stout from Berkholt.  He sat cross-legged near his cousin and set the mugs on the ground.
<br><br>
"Cousin," he said softly.  There was no response.  "Cousin!"  Still no interruption of the snoring.  He tried shaking Ulgrim's shoulder, and still the old man slept on.
<br><br>
Sighing, Ardry said, "Free beer!" and was almost knocked over when Ulgrim shouted and jumped to his feet.  It took a few moments for the besotted scholar to gain his bearings, and to spot Ardry sitting on the ground with two frosty mugs of stout beside him.
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"Ah, young Ardry, how are you?  And you brought stout, wonderful, dear boy.  I must remember to tell your mother what a considerate child she raised.  How is she, anyway?"
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Ardry grimaced.  "Still on Ispar, as she's been all these years, Cousin Ulgrim."  He offered up a mug of stout.  "Take the edge off?"
<br><br>
Ulgrim eagerly grabbed the mug and drained half of it in one gulp.  "Ahhh, that hits the spot.  Several of them, as it turns out."  He smacked his lips with satisfaction, took a more leisurely sip, and regarded his cousin with surprisingly wary eyes.  "So what can I do for you, Ardry?"
<br><br>
Ardry decided to come right out with it.  "Uncle Aliester would like your notes on the Virindi Quiddity."
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Ulgrim's eyes flashed.  "Why would my cousin need that?" he asked.  "Could it be, because my predictions are coming true?"
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"Which predictions were those, exactly?" Ardry asked.  His cousin was notorious for making a thousand self-contradictory claims  about the threat posed by the Virindi.
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"The predictions about the Virindi turning our brains to applesauce!  I've been talking about this since Jaleh founded this town and asked me to come along and serve as the distinguished local scholar and man about town!"
<br><br>
Ardry nodded sagely, humoring Ulgrim's claim, knowing that his cousin had actually passed out drunk in the back of Berkholt's wagon before the expedition set out, and had not been discovered until they were halfway across the desert.  "Of course.  The applesauce predictions.  Well, you were certainly right about that town takeover a few years ago…"
<br><br>
Ulgrim nodded, mollified.  "I'm glad you understand, Ardry.  No one else in this bloody town does."  He drained the rest of his mug, and wordlessly accepted the second mug.  "Well, since your mother was always so nice to me, I'll give you what you're looking for.  Even if it's just because pompous old Aliester asked.  Did you know, I was granted tenure at university before he was, even though he'd started his dissertation a year before me?"  Ardry nodded, familiar with the tales.  He continued to nod and make sympathetic noises as Ulgrim ranted, all the while patting at various regions of his ratty robes, evidently searching for something…
<br><br>
"Aha!" Ulgrim cried in triumph, pulling a rolled-up sheaf of papers from his boot.  The sheets were tattered, stained, with uneven edges.  It even looked like some tavern dishrags were in there, covered with scribbles.  And it smelled like… nothing Ardry had ever smelled before, even when he'd been face-down in the bottom of a Mosswart warren.  He tucked the pile of papers into his pack, hoping that nothing would leak out of it to damage any of the more fragile books in there.
<br><br>
"My collected observations on the nature of the Virindi Quiddity, with particular attention paid to the concept of a collective unconscious," Ulgrim announced proudly.  He looked around conspiratorially, then leaned close to inform Ardry, "I keep it in my boot because it's the one place the Virindi wouldn't look.  They don't have feet, you see?"
<br><br>
Ardry accepted the papers and smiled indulgently.  "Of course.  Makes perfect sense."  He got to his feet.  "I'm sorry to have to run, cousin, but I really must get back to Uncle Aliester."
<br><br>
"Make sure that old windbag credits me on whatever he publishes!  Academic fraud is a serious offense!" Ulgrim yelled at him as he departed.
<br><br>
<nowiki>* * * * * * * *</nowiki>
<br><br>
Ardry stepped into the clearing near the cottage that Aliester the Loquacious maintained as his residence and research center.  He saw bright candle light coming from the workshop where Aliester did all his alchemical experimentation.
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As he approached, there was a flash of light and a loud bang from the workshop.  A concussive blast of air washed over him and knocked him off his feet.  He rolled upright quickly and ran for the cottage, fearing for his uncle's life.
<br><br>
Uncle Aliester met him in the front room as he came running through the open door.  The old man was covered with black soot, and fragments of metal and glass were all over his robes, but he had a cheerful, almost joyous expression on his face.
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"Ardry, my boy!  I've finally isolated the variable that was destabilizing the concentration of those new alchemical infusions!"
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Ardry blinked.  "I'm not sure I understood any of that, Uncle," he said.
<br><br>
Aliester waved his hand dismissively.  "Never mind, you never were much interested in the alchemical experiments.  Are you still angry over the Reedshark chum incident?  Never mind that, have you got the books?"
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Ardry brought his pack to a nearby table.  He opened it and began to stack the books on the table.  "Everything you asked for, and a couple more that I came across, that looked interesting."
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"Oh?"  Aliester looked intrigued.  "What were the extra books?"
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Ardry produced two slim volumes from his pack, which looked like personal journals rather than guild-produced books.  "Queen Elysa's personal recollections of the slaying of the Olthoi Queen, which Prince Borelean insisted I take while I was in the royal archives.  And this is a journal of the confrontation with the Hopeslayer, written some years ago by an adventurer who led an expedition into the Sepulcher, who only identified himself as Animal of Frostfell."
<br><br>
Aliester smiled through soot-blackened lips.  "Well done, Ardry!  Both useful to our purposes, I am sure.  In fact…"  He examined the second book for a moment, then handed it back to Ardry.  "You should read this one yourself.  Memorize it.  Become familiar with every detail in it.  That's very important to your next mission, Ardry.  You must have a foolproof memory!"
<br>
Ardry stared at the book, then at his Uncle.  His heart sank as he realized what the nature of his next assignment would be.
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