Hmm, now that we're getting pretty into things, I figure it's probably a good idea to post up a synopsis of where we are in the story.

Things begin simply enough with Jack talking to Cassandra about the growing unrest of the tribes to the north who were enslaved by competing families of warlords caught in a see-saw battle of supremacy over the lucrative "juice" trade which supplied the powerful Empire of the East with the legendary juice capable of bringing out the more ferocious battle nature from within even the most timid of men but carried with it a terrible cost in that it caused an addiction greater than any drug but could only be cured by several weeks of solitude along with the burnt essences of a rare plant that only grew in the far reaches of a remote mountain range protected by a series of what would normally be considered giant lawn gnomes but in this case were actually enchanted native fish who stood in eternal vigilance against those that would seek to steal the precious herb and use it to hold sway over the mighty air worms who's mighty spoor could bring forth the seasonal harvest or condemn a continent to sandy wastes.

Except that I forgot to draw most of that, so I wound up skipping parts.

I figured I'd just tell you later in the story.