Looks like ol’ one-eye isn’t in the mood for diplomacy! Or maybe he is, and it’s some of that ERMEHN diplomacy we saw Hardin engaging in back in chapter one? Either way, the Ermehn didn’t show up in Deltrada to negotiate, so it’s time to forget about rolling Charisma and it’s time to start rolling some Strength and Dexterity checks!

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One thing I hope this whole sequence gets across is the notion that sometimes you can’t talk your way out of a conflict. A little pet peeve of mine is how some people like to imagine “well, if I’d been there, I would’ve been able to calm everybody down” or “wow, they handled things so poorly!” — but sometimes you can’t do anything about that! Sometimes there is absolutely no calming the other side, and sometimes you can’t say anything to prevent a one-eyed fanatical Ermehn warrior from trying to separate your head from your shoulders.

This is a dangerous world filled with dangerous creatures as we’ve very well seen — these characters don’t just tote weapons and armor around because it looks cool (even though it looks cool)! They wield these tools and learn how to use them because there are plenty of nasty folks out there who simply can’t be reasoned with — again, like certain one-eyed fanatical Ermehn warriors who really just want to separate your head from your shoulders.

SPEAKING OF ONE-EYED FANATICAL ERMEHN WARRIORS! This week, I’d love to share a cute little work from regular reader and Western Deep artistic contributor Saraa Luna of our favorite monocular Ermehn!

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Isn’t he just the most adorable angry little Ermehn you’ve ever seen? I’ll answer that for you — yes. Yes he is. Thank you so much for your continually awesome Western Deep art, Saraa! I know I’ve got a whole bunch of great “human Quin and human Dak” pieces you did that I can’t wait to share with everyone next week :)

Last thing I want to bring up before closing out this post! The Western Deep Holiday Bundle we’ve got going on the online store will be wrapping up this upcoming Wednesday, I’ve decided. If you’ve been waiting for some reason to order it, now’s the best time to get in and grab it! You can order the Holiday Bundle from here.