“The view pans out. Then farther out. Until Quinlan and Dakkan are just dark splotches in the rain and mist.

That was the original ending line for Chapter 2, written all those years ago — and going back to it now seems almost surreal, considering all that’s happened since. It’s been over two years since Chapter 2 began, and it’s been one heck of a ride! A bit bumpy at times, to be sure, but even with the little hiccups here and there, it’s amazing to be able to look back on all of the pages in the chapter and see an entirely new volume in the Western Deep saga!

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Obviously there are a few pages throughout the chapter in various states of completeness — pages that we plan to get swapped out with finished versions as they come together. Then? Phew… it’ll be time to think about printing Book #2!

With this page marking the end of Chapter 2, Rachel has earned herself a rather extended Western Deep vacation! Starting next week, we’ll begin posting up a short story by Jerome Jacinto and myself that stars everyone’s favorite Canid/Ermehn best buds, Cain and Yurk! The four-page story is but a taste of what’s to come in the next volume of the Western Deep saga: Song of the Eastern Sands, which will begin after The Misadventures of Cain & Yurk (not the official title) conclude. There’s a lot of awesome stuff to show you all, and we’re all very excited to begin sharing it starting next week!

For guest art this week, it seems fitting to feature a series of pieces sent in by Joshua Madoc centered on the unnamed (but popular!) Lady Canid of Deltrada who featured throughout the finale of Chapter 2. With his pieces, Joshua sent a lot of proposed lore for the character — lore that isn’t necessarily canon, but is fun to read alongside the artwork (so I shall post it here with the necessary ‘not canon but still awesome’ disclaimer :)

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“She was a rough street scrapper recruited into the Canid army because of her punching arm and street smarts (along with her somewhat short fuse, but that’s what life in the decadent streets did to her), and even though still a relatively fresh trainee, she was given greater benefits when she made her swinging arm very clear among her peers. No one, not even her, thought those benefits ended up allowing her to be among those that survived the massacre at Deltrada.”

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“Even before becoming a soldier, she fought in the streets, establishing herself as a highly capable pugilist, but against her expectations that her string of victories would earn her a steady income, she was unaware of how prize pools for these bouts worked — she was such a devastating fighter in her city that she won her bouts far too quickly for there to be a prize to her satisfaction.”

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“Though she was concerned on how this would affect her coffers and the wellbeing of the stray Canid pups that she’d befriended in her youth, she was eventually noticed by an awestruck son of a Canid official that happened to be passing by one of her bouts, and through the son’s encouragement, the Canid official offers her an opportunity for a better-paid job in the military.”

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Thanks so much for the awesome artwork and fun backstory, Joshua! It will likely be a while before we see any hint of Lady Canid again, if at all, so I can’t think of a more proper sendoff for her and Deltrada than this!

And on top of that, Rachel and I would both like to extend a huge and heartfelt THANK YOU to all our readers and fans of both casual and “salmon party” levels. When we started, posting a page was the end of the page for us, as we continued work on the next one. Now, putting the page online is just the beginning of a fun and always-worthwhile conversation between us and you, and we look forward to it every week. You are all awesome, and truly “da real MVPs” of Western Deep — so thank you for sticking with us, and we hope you enjoy the side adventures in Navran as much as Quin and Dak’s journey thus far!