And with this page, our main quartet offers a hearty toast to their respective quests – it will likely be quite some time before the group is together like this again! Will our heroes ever have reason to cross paths with Janik during their quest? Will Quinlan rise to meet his responsibilities as captain? Will Dakkan be able to live up to his own father’s expectations? Will Kenosh ever smile again? The answers to these burning questions and more will begin to manifest themselves in Chapter Two of “Beyond the Western Deep”.

That’s right – we’re nearing the end of Chapter One, as the story moves outside Sunsgrove and actually begins to take us, literally, beyond the Western Deep and into the world at large. As you can see in the final panel this week, the story is shifting in time and place. Where? To whom? Observant readers will have a pretty good idea!

Either way, the finale of Chapter One was one of my favorite parts to write, so I hope you all enjoy seeing it come together in the following weeks.

Also, on a personal note, Rachel and I both appreciate your patience and well-wishes with the page issue last week. The last thing I expected were so many reassurances that we could spend as much time as we needed to get the material up to snuff for you! Don’t worry, though- we won’t make a habit of it. Still, Rachel and I both want to thank all of you for being so incredibly awesome. Working on a webcomic is a two-way street between the creators and the readers, and you have all been very supportive over the last year+ as we get this grand story started. We hope you continue to stick around as the story and our characters evolve and begin to explore more of the world – as you’ll start to see next week, there’s still quite a lot to show!