u/Patcho418

so I just got back from seeing the movie and had an absolute blast!

but, being the little palaeo-nerd that I am, the biggest gripe I had with the film was that it had dinosaurs from all over, both geographically and chronologically. while it was nice to see my fav Coelophysis finally getting some recognition, I’d have much preferred the story take place in one period and in one formation.

in my mind, Marshosaurus could be a very good replacement for the film’s Coelophysis, as it was about the size that it was in the movie and would fill that smaller predator/scavenger role well. Camptosaurus could work well for that short moment of an Ankylosaurus getting got by the sneak attack Allosaurus, as it would be more or less the same size and not covered in armour that would make it a trickier prey item. finally, as nice as it is to see a Spinosaurus, I’d replace it with Allosaurus’ “underdog”, Ceratosaurus; let it have some spotlight out from beneath Allosaurus’ shadow for once and allow it to be a proper threat, even if it’s not nearly as big as Spino (I’d considered suggesting Torvosaurus, but that might just look like Allosaurus 2 and confuse casual viewers)

I don’t know much about non-dinosaur mesozoic life, so I can’t really comment on the pterosaurs and erythrosuchids, but I’m happy to hear suggestions!

Hi all!

I’ve been working on fleshing out Zariel and her forces for my campaign, and one idea that kept coming back to me is the idea of surrounding her with a bunch of erinyes. I couldn’t help but notice many similarities between the archdevil herself and the furies of Hell, and think it’d be a great way to give her some consistent minions that could also become their own NPC’s too!

some thoughts I had about this idea:

- she prefers the company of Erinyes because they’re receptive to her aggressive tactics and remind her much of herself; whether that’s because she hates seeing other kinds of devils or because the reminder of what she is serves to fuel her self-loathing even more, she’ll likely never confess
- she employs several across the campaign: one to spy on the party/act as a messenger, one to captain her Flying Fortress, and several that fly around her in an infernal host as she enters battle; there’ll also be another one later on fighting in a gladiator-style arena, hoping to gain Tiamat’s favour in order to take her revenge on Zariel, who exiled her for unknown reasons
- there’ll certainly be rumours floating around that Zariel utilizes primarily erinyes for…romantic purposes, let’s say, given they are devils of seduction. certainly one or two of that host — who also tend to Zariel’s wounds and adorn her in her armour before battle — would even admit to desiring the attention and favour of the archdevil; however, Zariel herself is far too focused on fighting and winning the Blood War to even heed their desperate attempts at earning her favour

what do y’all think of this?

so about a week or so ago, I made a post asking about what I considered to be a fairly important plot point in the lore that the book all but glossed over, and I got some very excellent responses!

however, the question still gnawed at my mind until last night, when I figured out how I could make it work.

I imagine the Ride as not necessarily being a multi-week campaign, but also not a quick skirmish — rather, it was a battle spanning several days as the Hellriders battered Yeenoghu’s forces at their encampment in Avernus, near the shores of the Styx (it’s how demons make it from the Abyss to Avernus, after all). of course, as the battle raged, Hellrider forces and supplies dwindled, and morale slowly fizzled, save for Zariel’s, Lulu’s, and her most loyal generals.

Jander is the one who called the retreat, but not out of cowardice; seeing their ongoing siege as a lost cause, he rallied as many troops as he could to retreat to resupply, and rest outside of Hell’s infernal landscape. though feeling betrayed by Jander, Zariel and her generals still interposed themselves between the retreating forces and the demons, hoping to keep the Abyssal forces from pursuing them.

and then the portal closed, trapping them within Avernus.

but the portal wasn’t a construction of Zariel’s, or Yeenoghu’s, or any of the Hellriders — rather, it was placed there by Asmodeus, who planned for that ruthless and passionate archangel he met all those years ago to find it and, as he supposed she would, charge in to slay the demons that would inevitably pour out from it into the material plane. Asmodeus concocted this trap to turn Zariel, closing her in Avernus by shutting the portal off and having a force of devils arrive to put the pressure on her (and the demons, of course).

and in the end, he got exactly the prize he’d hoped for: a new general in the Blood War, and the ultimate taunt to the Celestial Forces.

for the first time since his own fall, one of their own had signed her soul away and committed herself to the Hells.

what do we think of this?

regarding the Ride in Hellrider history, I can't find anything anywhere that says why Jander Sunstar fled the battle in the first place, along with several other Hellriders, apart from cowardice. I don't entirely love that as a motivation, not just because it feels like a weak handwave of a reason, but it also doesn't align with the other themes of the campaign. could there be any other reason they might have fled?

on that note, how were they able to seal the Gate behind them? are they able to do so with a spell? with a ritual? was someone on the other side keeping it open? and was it Zariel who created the gate, being a powerful archangel and all?

pretty much the title: any specific trips you imagine them taking? any new adventures to go on, or new mysteries to uncover? do they ever go back to Caledonia/Lakeport?

after the original game, a lot of the fun was imagining what the characters would get up to in the years following, so let’s do that again!

imo she was easily my favourite out of the main cast and her actress did such a phenomenal job portraying such a layered and tragic character. I’d love to see her story continue because I really hope she ends up okay in the end, but if season 2 ends up going the way a lot of speculation suggests, we probably won’t see her again.