Art - CoW #54 - Sand Hunter

Creature of the Week #54 - Sand Hunter. I first created the Sandstorm Walkers based on a miscellaneous throwaway sketch I'd made when crafting demons to use in Exalted. I repurposed the illustration as a desert-dwelling menace when it turned out I didn't need another demon design. I figured this would be a good opportunity to make a spiffier illustration for them, as well as tweak the design a bit while I was at it.

Sandstorm Walkers are among the deadlier hazzards facing travellers who attempt to cross the desert that lies between the cities of Great Wheel and Mosaic. These highly intelligent pack hunters use the sands of the desert as both weapon and camoflage. Much of a Walker's internal structure is a complicated system of hollow tubes which allow a Walker to syphon sand up through its feet, while openings located higher on its body draw in air. The walker uses this stored air both to expel sand and reshape the flow of the wind around it. Packs of Sandstorm Walkers work in concert to craft small, localized sandstorms that mask their numbers and exact positions. Walkers also use these blasts of sand to disorient and disable prey.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/36923799/