[Sorry for the late post! -Rachel]

The long nights of the wilderness north of Sunsgrove can be treacherous for those who don’t respect them, but all three of our heroes have spent enough time in the wilds to know a reliable night watch in proper shifts is the best way to avoid getting surprised by the many horrors of the forest.

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These last few pages have been the first time in-scene where we’ve been able to see what weapons and gear our heroes are carrying. For the most part, their armaments haven’t changed since they were originally conceived many years ago: Kenosh has a large broadsword, Dakkan has his staff, and Quinlan has a bow/quiver with a Treewalker blade at his side.

Of all these things, Quinlan’s sword went through the most number of iterations. It began as just a straight-up ordinary short sword, which of course was deemed far too boring. Around the time we started asking ourselves questions about the characters’ outfits, we were also asking ourselves how the weapons might work in the context of their society.

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We eventually came up with the idea for a blade custom-built to make Treewalkers’ lives miserable. As these giant carnivorous beasts have historically been a primary threat to the Tamian people, it made sense that their weaponry evolved to do damage to them. Hence the Treewalker Blade. Designed to slide neatly between chinks of their thick carapace, the blade’s hooked end causes permanent damage to the unprotected bits therein.

The sword is small and light, and can be easily wielded by a Tamian scout as they race through the treetops.

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