This month's Lone Delver is by Luigi Castellani. This piece was part of the free art pack offered by Sine Nomine Publishing as part of their Spears of the Dawn African-themed RPG.
This delver does not seem to like what he has discovered in this ancient temple. But those knife-wielding cultists are surely long dead and no threat to him, right? I like this piece for a number of reasons. Ruin crawls are among my favorite themes for fantasy art and adventures. There are so many possibilities in exploring the remains of lost civilizations. This delver seems to have stumbled across one with a rather dark history. There are also the details of the delver himself. Every delver needs a light source, even a simple torch will do. Illustrations of adventurers wandering down dark passages without even a single torch always bother me. Of course torches and lanterns only light up so much; this delver can see what is in front of him, but he is still surrounded by darkness. The armor and axe are also very well done and quite original. Given the African setting the artist has moved away from any sort of European influence and designed a unique set of gear. What will this adventurer find as he delves deeper into this ancient temple? Will he discover a vault of gold and precious gems? Will he zombie cultists thirsting for new sacrifices? Or perhaps the giant slug pictured at the top of the panel? My money is on number two.
That is a cool piece. The main character looks like a zombie himself.
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