At their computer with two monitors, glowing late at night, the [Writer] smiled. It wasn’t a great, charming smile like the [Innkeeper] had that could light up dark nights, the smile you gave to monsters and dead gods.

This was just a delighted smile. After a second, the mechanical keyboard clattered, and pirateaba typed:

Hey, you made it.

No, I’m not doing that narrative thing the entire way down. But I did want to say: congratulations.

To anyone who solved the puzzles and got here first, first…or even if you took the time to look the answer up or figured it out later, hello.

Welcome to a secret. I’ve got lots. Most are related to The Wandering Inn, to how things end or happen, and I’m always afraid they’re not going to be good or that they’ll let people down. I have always, from the start, been so gratified that people like my story. It is not the first one I ever told.

I wrote two actual books before this, and while I can look back now and say they weren’t good enough (especially the first one, yikes), I put everything I had into them, and at the time, I thought they were tales worth everyone hearing. I still do, for one of the two I wrote. Some day, I’ll do it justice.

But The Wandering Inn was my first success. The first story that people loved. Now, here we are, and you’ve solved an ARG put together by one of the people working with me–I’ll call him ‘Kappa’, and he’s excellent. This puzzle is a product of a bit of my time, but hard effort on Kappa’s side, excellent art, help from beta readers, and it all led you here.

To a story. Bear with me if you’ve come this far. The story is about The Wandering Inn and how I was so happy to make it a job. It has been a strange and wonderful journey, and I’m sure you’ve heard that from so many people who have the opportunity to do something extraordinary like this. But here’s the part of the story I never told you.

Years ago, I looked at the success of The Wandering Inn and I said…I want more. I am endlessly proud of the characters, not my own writing, which is never enough to do them justice, but the people? Oh, yes. I wanted something more. At the time, I worked with my agent, who helped me with The Last Tide, but in the back of my head, I had another dream.

Some day, I said, I wanted The Wandering Inn to be a TV series. A show–an animation because I doubt you could ever do the characters right with CGI and acting. A video game, and I’ve had so many ideas of what form they could take. But those are daydreams. First, I thought–first.

I wanted a comic. I wanted to see Erin Solstice on the page. But I didn’t know if it was possible.

The first artists who came to The Wandering Inn as fans were amazing. LeChatDemon, whose art you have seen featured time and time again, was one of the very first. There are many others, like Brack, pkay, butts–usernames and people I’ve gotten to know, and as they made art of the characters of the story, I loved each and every one.

In time, dozens of artists appeared. We may have over a hundred contributors to the story by now. And each time a new one appeared, I loved to see how they did the characters, because each one was unique and showed me something of how they viewed each protagonist, from the Horns to Az’kerash to little Mrsha.

–Then, one day, I chanced upon a piece of art by someone called ArtsyNada and stopped. Because they had drawn a comic with a bunch of characters from the inn, including Erin. And I said ‘that’s her’.

Exactly her. Not ‘Erin in spirit’, but the Erin Solstice I pictured. ArtsyNada had also done Ceria and Pisces, and they were just spot on. That was the first moment when that long-held dream reappeared in my head. 

This was the artist who could draw The Wandering Inn.

Do you see where this story is going? Do you see the end point? Stay with me a while longer. I won’t take long. There was a lot behind the scenes; lots of attempts, mistakes, me not knowing how art should be laid out, finding the excellent outliner who worked on The Last Tide, building a team–

It’s been two years, I think, and I’ve held onto the secret so long it doesn’t feel real when I write it. But all I have to do is open a file on my screen…and I see it.

The Wandering Inn will be coming out as a webcomic this year. The release date is December 3rd, 2024, and you are allowed to tell people about this, or hold onto the secret as you see fit. You’re here, after all. Don’t spoil the ARG for people, though. That’s just rude.

This is a true webcomic, illustrated by ArtsyNada and a full team whom I invite you to admire. It will release two pages every week, and it will be online for free for anyone to read.

Just like the webserial. The same spirit and the same story, adapted by experts into this medium–and dare I say it, more beautifully done. The first chapters will be up when it launches, and it will be slow, covering Volume 1 to begin with, but there she is.

Erin Solstice in all her myriad forms and faces. It is my hope and dream that this webcomic reaches a new audience that continues to grow around the story. After all, it’s so very easy to consume. If ArtsyNada is one day credited for writing The Wandering Inn, I will laugh and laugh in delight. (So spread false news like that for me).

That’s the secret. That’s everything. I hope it delights you as much as it does me to share it. Below, you will find a link to a sample the comic itself, which willis be online soon, and you can even read the first pages.

If you were super-first, Kappa will give you a prize, but to all those who came after, this is it. This is not a story I partnered with a company to make. I hired everyone on the team myself. It’s not a fast-produced comic–not to knock or call out any other story, but the art is made in a unique style, and I hope it captures your eyes.

It is the same story you know, hopefully told like a fresh breeze coming down from the mountains, or the crisp turning of a page. I hope you support it and tell people about it, and all the people who never would want to read a story, or can’t find the time at least see Erin Solstice and give her a chance.

One last time, a huge thank-you to ArtsyNada, to my agent, Chantay, Jade, Abby, Inktrasher, Kielamel, Kappa, my beta readers, and all of you.

Welcome, once again, to The Wandering Inn.

–pirateaba