12.8 Part 1 (Patreon)

Between IRL issues, general busyness, and trying to figure out how to do this chapter right, it's been going slow. Here's the first part (which is already past my minimum chapter length) and is only the first third or fourth of the completed chapter. I'll post whatever I've gotten done by Sunday on Sunday, which will be, with any luck, the full chapter.

This one's going to be a doozy, and just like the Ballad of Joe Shotgun, likely have a word count in the 5-digits (though the first digit will definitely be 1).