Chapter 3: Page 78
Beck and Rook seem to be more apprised of the situation than the two diplomats, which is unfortunate because what just happened in Cenolau was totally a diplomatic incident of tremendous proportions. Of course we saw what happened when Janik tried to reason her case with those canid assassins. Something is rotten in the state of ̶D̶e̶n̶m̶a̶r̶k̶ Cenolau, and one has to imagine you can’t just massacre an entire diplomatic envoy and get away with it.
Right?
Well, war can be a confusing thing. So let’s change the subject to something completely different that’s less morose–heck, let’s change the subject to something that’s totally awesome: our incredible guest artists who have sent us some truly wonderful pieces, even when the comic was in partial hiatus over the last two months!
This piece comes to us from Ezioauditore97, who posted this piece to our comic Discord server a little while ago:
It’s Isa! Our favorite Nessian scholar appears to be taking a break during her sailing trip out into the Western Seas, catching up on some much-deserved relaxation with a book that I have to imagine isn’t one of her own (though if she’s re-reading her own material for fun I can’t fault her–I imagine she’s a pretty great author to be doing what she does)!
Thank you SO much for the great guest art, Ezio! Isa is a very fun character, and both Leah and I are excited to do another story with her and Nora sometime in the future. She has certainly earned her place in the Western Deep canon, and now that she’s getting guest art, we have to assume that means readers like her too!
I’m going to close this post out with a Kickstarter update!
First order of business: After analyzing the physical proofs, we decided to switch from matte interior pages to glossy pages, matching those of our first printed book. I was absolutely enamored by matte pages after seeing David Petersen’s work on Wind in the Willows, but the Western Deep style doesn’t lend itself the same way as a more illustrative piece might, so glossy feels much better. With that change, we have APPROVED both standard and limited edition books for full production!
Second, the enamel pins arrived at Make That Thing HQ recently, and they snapped us a picture of them to show how well they came out:
Which is to say: HOLY SCHALAMOLY they came out great! I can’t wait to get my hands on these babies!
These will be going out to backers along with everything else once the books are printed up and shipped, so we can organize all orders at once. If you missed out, you still have time to order some if you head to our Backerkit preorder store right here. Special thanks to Make That Thing for facilitating the enamel pin creation–we’re SUPER happy with how they turned out.
Woohoo very happy to see updates again a friend of mine at work recommended the comic and I think it’s amazing!!!!
Alas, poor caravan! I knew them, Horatio… I cannot think of ways to rewrite the famed verse of Hamlet to befit this new context.
Gratuitous psuedo-Shakespearean speech aside, I particularly like the expressions on this page, between Janik’s look of shock and the guards going “wha–?!” The Felis guard in particular – nice touch on the poofed-up tail. I’ve seen just how much that can make a cat’s tail look bigger with my own kitties.
Ha! I didn’t notice the puffed up tail.
Hmm, That’s a tremendous assumption you are making there, Rook.
That bell and distant commotion could mean anything: street BBQ, victory for underdog local sports team, loss for underdog local sports team, cross city foot race, carnival barkers, call to prayer, start of school day, end of school day, livestock auction, fire drill, overly enthusiastic town cryer, stock market crash, campanology demonstration, broken clock tower, somebody knocking over a glockenspiel…
…point is I’m just going to assume Rook is wrong and all those guys and gals from the caravan are perfectly fine and live long, fulfilling lives.
I would say Rook is making very pessimistic assumptions, but the canid are a bunch of trigger-happy killers so I wouldn’t be surprised if he was right.
I think in the long run, the canid will get everyone to ally against themselves.
I’m so happy that the story continuous ^^ can’t wait for the next part!
‘Bunch of trigger-happy killers’ is a pessimistic assumption. Being too general there.
It seems awfully harsh to kill an entire caravan of bystanders, the canid must be really keen to push a story that Janik never arrived to town! (presumed dead from Natural Causes en route)
Also it looks like guards.exe has stopped working. I mean those inside the city being “fine” with the slaughter. If yes, then I assume Canid might got Vulpin as allies already or they have used some trickery.
I love the piece of Isa! Great job Ezio!
I can’t imagine the kingdoms of thise diplomates are going to be very pleased
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bro2CGvB9jZ/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=u9jgecfa5yq4
I have a few questions if that’s ok (they aren’t about the situation in this page but about the world)
1)Do every race have different traditions and ceremonies for different stuff and if so what like?
2)Since every race is acting cold against each other does the crossbreed love and marriage seen as forbidden or shamed?
3)Also how does every race show affection? Does it change ever?( I’m curious how cold hearted canid shows affection)
Hi Pegas, thanks for reading! When it comes to answering questions about the mechanics or lore of the comic world, we generally prefer to keep that sort of thing in the comic itself, so readers don’t need to go hunting around for answers outside the story. As for question 2 specifically, that’s not really something that’s a part of the Western Deep world. This is an all-ages fantasy adventure, and we plan on sticking with that age range in terms of appropriateness and subject matter :)