This week, Hardin’s true feelings are brought to bear – if the Ermehn are to rise up once more, sacrifices will need to be made.

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Hardin’s ruthless calculus seems to be coming to the forefront now, and Ashtor isn’t having any of it. There are still quite a few Ermehn who believe a peaceful solution can be found with the Canid, though whether that’s actually possible given the less than kind history between the two races is a matter of intense debate. Hardin, obviously, has made up his mind.

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This week, we’ve got a couple surprises for everyone! First off, as Rachel was putting this week’s page together, she was having a spot of trouble nailing Ashtor’s expression in the first panel. To work through it, she decided to animate Ashtor saying the full line, to get the full range of emotions and pick which one fit best:

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Ever wanted to see how a “Beyond the Western Deep” animated film would look? Look no further than the above .gif! :) Rachel’s animation background always leads to fun impromptu animations when we least expect them, and this one came totally out of left field. Hopefully this will just be one of many animated pieces Rachel manages to do over the course of the comic!

And lastly, we have a great piece of fan-art this week! Sawyer Ruzzin was inspired by the Tamian armor worn by Quinlan’s grandfather in a flashback sequence earlier in Chapter 1, resulting in this awesome picture of a Tamian scout on the offensive!

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Totally love the design, Sawyer! Especially digging the dual-wield blades. I guess if we’re using RPG tropes, the Tamian would slot into rangers, rogues, and scouts pretty easily, giving them the option to unlock dual-wielding down their proverbial skill trees :) Thanks so much for the art, Sawyer!

And remember, if you have any fan-art you’d like to share with us and the rest of the BWD audience, feel free to send it to thewesterndeep (at) gmail (dot) com!