The Abyssal Dunes: Page 30
Oh hey, you know what? This marks the second time we’ve seen a real actual WALKER in Beyond the Western Deep canon! The first time was waaaaaay back in the prologue, nearly EIGHT YEARS AGO, when we showed some tamian scouts taking down a treewalker!
Actually, you know what? Let me back up–this isn’t actually a walker, per se. Walkers…well, they’re known for walking. Treewalkers, cavewalkers, they’re the typical Western Deep variants we’ve been hearing about for a while. These suckers, living in the desert sands of Zin, they’re what we call SANDSKIMMERS.
LOOK AT THOSE GOOGLY EYES! JUST LOOK AT THEM!
While the general design gist of the sandskimmers were always meant to evoke the same kinds of creepy-crawly vibes as their treewalker brethren, the centipede-like inspiration wasn’t the only thing we examined.
Varuna, our financier and part of the Western Deep creative braintrust, put together a wonderful piece illustrating a creature that was partially still creepy in that treewalker way, but borrowed more from earwigs and in particular, a real-life sand-dwelling monstrosity: the antlion.
Sandskimmer Anatomical for Abyssal Dunes.
The end result, as you can see, is a beastie that would make any trip across the desert sands a nail-biting excursion. And of course, in this particular case, Cain and Yurk have accidentally stumbled into a sandskimmer lair.
Maybe there’s just the one?
Maybe this is the only one they need to worry about?
sure.
ANYWAY, hey! We’ve got some wonderful new guest art to share this week from reader Dalen Dyson featuring best buds and protagonists-on-the-run Quinlan and Dakkan!
In Dalen’s own words, he likes both characters, but Dakkan is low-key his favorite. I think that’s perfectly fine! Everybody’s got their fave Western Deep character (except for me, because I loves ’em all).
Thank you so much for the wonderful art, Dalen! You’re making me miss Quin and Dak–but don’t worry, that’s only until we start Chapter 4!
I hope everybody had a great holiday, and that your 2020 is starting off on the right foot. See you all next week!
Ayup. Ant lion. Called it.
And dang, they should have been running long before now.
Talk about a cliffhanger!
RIP
This does make me wonder, who would Mr. Cuddles the Dread DeathSkimmer of Doom find to be more of a tasty meal?
Ah, the joy of seeing the rare cave walking treewalker!
OH………………………NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
They say the imagined horrors are the worst but it’s actually this thing.
There goes my spider theory. Oh wells.
I do love the horrified expressions on our hapless duo!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW
they are hapless, aren’t they? Oohhh, poor Yurk, he’s closest to it…. D:
Yurk had better put those parkour skills of his into motion between this last panel and the next one!
Aw, it’s kinda cute in that third panel. (I have a somewhat nonstandard definition of “cute”.) Way cuter in the concept art, though, thanks to those googly eyes. Also, antlion larva was a good call to base a big sand-dwelling bug on. (Yes, the real sand-dwelling monstrosities are the babies of their species. The adults look nothing like that. Insects are wild.) [/end animal nerd mode]
Also, yeah, might be a good idea for Cain and Yurk to put a safe distance between themselves and big ol’ Grumpybug there.
…did I say “cuter in the concept art”? I meant in the thumbnail. Thanks for getting those mixed up, brain.
Let’s hope it’s just a vegetarian. ;)