Old Pell, the Chronicler
Sage of Ironhold. Keeper of the King's Atlas. Walker of every road on it.
A gift from Pell
Pell has left something for you here. He does not say much about it. The chronicle records it.
Pell at his desk
He is standing at the window when you come in. The window opens onto the lane. He turns. "I have been watching the rain," he says, though there is no rain. "Sit. Take some time."
Ask him one thing
Is he alive?
Some say Old Pell is alive. Some say he has been dead a generation. Both are useful, depending on the day. The chronicler is in the chronicle now, and the chronicle has not stopped being written.
Why He Is in This Game
Pell is the voice that opens every day. The voice in the margins of the books you read in the Library. The voice that signs the journal entry you didn't write yourself. The voice that says, 'today is the day' on the morning of the lair, and 'today is not the day' on the morning after a defeat.
He was a sage of the Tower of Ironhold for forty years. He left the Tower to walk. He has walked every road on the King's Atlas, plus a few that aren't on it. His notebooks fill a locked cabinet behind Helonor's desk at the Library.
Older travelers say Old Pell stopped aging in his sixtieth year. Younger travelers say they have seen him in two towns in the same week, which is impossible. The chronicler will not say which is true, because the chronicler considers neither answer his to give.
What He Does For You
Pell is your second pair of eyes. He doesn't know what you've done; he knows what the chronicle has seen. When you turn a page and he's there in the margin, he's reminding you what someone before you learned, usually the hard way, mostly so you don't have to.
Ask Pell for a Hint
If you ask, Pell will hand you one of his hints. He has many. They are deliberately one-line and a little cryptic. They have all been earned. Trust them.
40 hints in the chronicle
Pell appears in the margins of every page. This is the only page that is HIS.