Sorry again for the delay, everyone!

So, some of you were asking where Rathik was during the last few moments, and whether Kenosh has noticed during the tumult that his son and a fellow Sunsgrovian captain are behind him. This should help clear things up!

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I keep yammering on periodically about how “this was all in the original script” — well, to clarify somewhat, the overall arc of events thus far is similar to what was written originally way back in 2009-2010 thereabouts. However, to say that all of this was in the “original” script is not entirely true.

Yes, in the original script, the Ermehn attack Deltrada Garrison and Clovis is killed as a result. Yes, in the original script, Rathik surprises Dakkan and hoists him up for Hardin to see. Actually, as some book-purchasers might realize, that moment was foreshadowed in the extras, in Rathik’s character page:

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How old is this scene? Well, the character designs kinda give it away! Dakkan’s still wearing his old tunic, for instance. The lamellar armor designs that the Lutren wear now came about in early 2011, and that was right about the same time the name of the story changed from the hideously generic “The Four Kingdoms” to the more appropriate “Beyond the Western Deep.” Rathik is also sporting the early Ermehn Polynesian tribal influences a bit more, which fell by the wayside pretty quickly.

Fun fact: the original inspiration for this hulking, intimidating character (at least in script-form) came from the PS2 action game “The Mark of Kri”, and its barbarian protagonist, Rau.

I recall he was so strong that he would throw his giant sword into the air like a drumstick mid-combo. That was freaking awesome.

And no, Rathik won’t be doing that anytime soon X)

For guest art this week, a wonderful little tumblr surprise from fishotterchen, who was asked to draw a piece showing Quinlan, based on the “happy face” emoji! Of course, this was published just a few hours before we shot him in the arm with a crossbow bolt. Those two things aren’t at all related.

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He looks so HAPPY! I don’t imagine we’ll be seeing this expression from him anytime soon, but it’s nice to know the guy’s still capable of the act.

Thanks so much for doing this piece, fishotterchen! I love your style — it’s a little trite to simply call it “expressive” (especially when the whole point of the piece was to show Quinlan’s ‘happy face’ expression) but it does perfectly capture the essence of it all! I love it, and I’m glad I get to share it with everyone here!