Once again, look for your name. Hope I provided what you were looking for...
AXES, please, thank you.
Superior, more dmg, better prof? Anything?
I'm NOT gonna do this for every weapon category, but I've made you wait quite a while for this, so here you go:
Khopesh: 1-H military, +2 prof, d8 dmg, axe & heavy blade, Brutal 1 & Versatile
Waraxe: 1-H superior, +2 prof, d12, Versatile
Execution Axe: 2-H superior, +2 prof, d12, Brutal 2, high crit
Double Axe: double superior, +2 prof, d10/d10, Defensive & off-hand
Urgrosh: double superior, +2 prof, d12/d8 (axe part = d12, spear d8), axe & spear, Defensive & off-hand
That's about it.
Outside of Alchemy, are there any new feats in AV?
I'm curious about the general structure of the book, how is it organized, what's the chapter list?
Oh, and a little preview into Intelligent magic items would be sweet.
1) No new feats other than Alchemist that I've seen.
2) It'll take way too long to list all the individual chapters, but suffice to say that AV is separated into two main sections: basic equipment (armor, weapons, mounts, etc) & magic items (see 1st bunch of answers above for newer stuff). There's also two appendixes; a short one on unique items, item level, & enchanting items... & a long one that's basically a listing of every magic item in the book, separated by level.
3) I've seen nothing about intelligent items aside from some fluff in the first appendix. No rules for Ego scores & stats anyways, if that's what you're wondering about.
Any firearms?
Absolutely none.
My question: Are there thunder and/or radiant weapons (that is: magic weapons with the at-will power to add thunder and/or radiant damage like frost or flaming weapons do)?
No Thunder-adding at-will weapons, although there are still weapons that add thunder damage in general (at least one, anyways - Thundergod Weapon). I may have missed a couple, but I've seen "at-will = damage type added" weapons that cover all of these damage types:
Acid
Force
Lightning
Necrotic
Psychic (At-will = deals half psychic/half normal)
Radiant (Three different weapons! Undead better start running!)
Any new spears besides that Greatspear you mentioned above?
And how did you get your copy so soon???
1) Tridents are considered spears, the dragonborn-crafted tratnyr is a winged spear used for both melee & ranged, & both the greatspear & the urgrosh have been covered. That's it for new spears (Did I mention that there should've been more weapons?).
2) I live in Canada & pre-ordered Adventurer's Vault & the FRPG online through Chapters.ca. Needless to say, I was pretty surprised when they arrived a week early, but even more so when it appeared that I seem to be the only one so far with that kinda luck.
Do you mind, when you have a spare moment, looking to see what new properties/items are around for warlocks below 8th level?
Haven't seen much so far, but this is what I've seen for warlocks: Pact Hammers (for dwarves) & Pact Swords (for eladrin) are in the book. There are also a ton of new rods covering almost 6 full pages, with 18 different rods listed at level 8 or lower (but some are just more powerful versions of the same lower-level rod).
What are the rules for double weapons? Aside from them having the Defensive property, that is. Can they be used by a "two-weapon" ranger, and do they count as two weapons for the two weapon defense feat?
What properties does the Pact Hammer have?
1) The basic idea behind them is that they are treated as using a weapon in each hand, so they'd count for TWD. I also imagine double weapons can be used by both TWF rangers & TWF fighters, since they all have the off-hand property.
One end of every double weapon is considered the primary (main hand) end, while the other is the secondary (off-hand) end. Either end of the weapon can be used to deliver an attack unless a power specifies a main or off-hand weapon attack, & this becomes a factor when you add magic weapons into the equation. With regards to magic double weapons, here's a direct quote:
"An enchanted double weapon receives an enhancement bonus on both ends, but weapon properties or powers conferred by the enchantment affect only the primary end of the weapon." ---> So I guess this means that for a weapon like the urgrosh, magic properties will only apply to the primary (axe) end, not the spear end.
2) Pact Hammers can be used by dwarven warlocks as implements, but they do not apply the weapon's proficiency bonus to attack rolls for warlock powers. They do +1d6 dmg per plus on a crit, & when you hit a target affected by your curse with the weapon, you deal your extra curse damage against that target.
Are there any new kinds of non-magical armors?
There are 28 new masterwork armors. Won't list every last one of them, but there are this many of each type:
Cloth: 4
Leather: 4
Hide: 4
Chainmail: 5
Scale: 5
Plate: 6
Is Daern's Instant Fortress in it?
Mithral?
Adamantine?
1) Not that I've seen, but there IS an Instant Campsite (marshmallows don't seem to be included).
2 & 3) No & no, at least not as far as special materials for constructing weapons & armor goes. There don't appear to be special rules for different materials at all, in fact. I guess they finally decided that a sword made from iron will kill you just as effectively as one made from adamantine?
What level is the Transfer Enchantment ritual? I had house-ruled something similar at level 3, so I'm curious whether I was close to what was decided upon.
You were close. It's actually level 4, takes an hour to complete, is permanent, components cost 25 gp, market price 175 gp, Arcana (no check).
companion slot items (think barding, collars, etc)
could you elaborate
Ranger fans are gonna LOVE this answer! There's a beastmaster ranger build upcoming in Martial Power that has a beast companion, with similar classes & builds in the works for other books.
Companion slot items (there are 6, BTW) are specifically for these beast companions, but can be re-tooled through the use of the Transfer Enchantment ritual (briefly described just above) for other kinds of companions. It does mention that companions & mounts have a single magic item slot available, & that you activate both types of items using your own actions, not the creature's. In addition, companions that double as mounts can have either a mount slot item or a companion slot item, but they can't have both.
Incidentally, I had barding listed as an example of a companion item, but it's actually more of a mount item. There are 12 new mount items covering things like bridles, horsehoes, & saddles, but I'm gonna leave it at that.
Is it just one Airship or are there multiple sizes and varieties?
Just the one airship (Gargantuan). For solo flyers, there's the ornithopter. That's it.
Portable traps? The sort of thing you'd see a kobold setting up and throwing around, not what you'd see carefully prepared in a dungeon.
Alchemy items are the ticket, if things like Blinding Bombs & Blastpatches are what you're referring to. The bad news is that there's not exactly a ton of them. Maybe a future Dragon article will add more.
Or fear, for that matter. A terror weapon with an at-will power?
Also:
What are 'Pact Hammers' and 'Pact Axes'?
thanks!
1) No fear-related at-wills, but I seem to recall at least one fear-related weapon in there. Unfortunately, I just can't find it right now.
2) Pact Hammers are briefly described above. Pact Swords are similar but made for eladrins rather than dwarves, & instead of adding extra curse damage, they have a daily teleportation ability. There aren't any Pact Axes, though.
Are there items geared for gishes? Like perhaps a superior staff or maybe a wizard's version of the pact blade?
I'm just gonna say, "Of course!" & add that there's a weapon property called "Mage's Weapon" that can be applied to any light blade OR heavy blade. It gives anyone who's proficient with daggers 
that same proficiency with this weapon. As a minor action encounter power, it also allows you to expend an arcane encounter power to regain the use of a martial encounter power you know of up to the same level. That's pretty gish in my books.
Of the weapons listed. Are any of them NON-versatile so small characters can use them? So far small characters are very limited in their weapon choices for good damage 1-handed weapons without versatile, only being scimitars and rapiers x.x
and do any weapons have the "small" property?
1) These are the 1-H weapons without the versatile property:
Simple melee: spiked gauntlet
Military melee: light war pick, scourge, trident
Superior melee: kukri, parrying dagger, spiked shield
2) No. Sucks, eh?
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OK, I think that's enough for now - I just realized I've been throwing this post together for about two hours! 
