Originally Posted by The Red Queen
Originally Posted by Lotus Noctus
Similar now with Karlach and Zevlor. Both are on Zariel's hit list

Do we have reason to believe Zevlor personally is on Zariel’s hit list? I missed that. I know she bears a grudge against the Hellriders in general for historic reasons, but just the fact Zevlor works for an organisation whose members some time ago did her wrong, and who resisted her during Elturel’s descent doesn’t seem to be at all comparable with the situation of Karlach who was sworn to her (however unwilling), unless there’s more to Zevlor’s story I realised? I’d also assumed that it was because of the bond between Zariel and Karlach created by her oath that Zariel could find her, and I wasn’t aware of anything similar with Zevlor.

I also wondered a while back if Karlach’s back story might have been something like that of an adventurer who’d competed the Descent to Avernus campaign. I’m feeling that’s less likely now, but there do seem to be at least some similarities given she was apparently sent by “politicians” in BG to Elturel.

More generally, yes there are coincidences but as long as they make for good stories I have a reasonably high - though not infinite - tolerance for that. (BG2 definitely went further into coincidence territory with the companion guest appearances, given it took place many miles away from the previous game, than I’d want to see in BG3 or any modern cRPG, though of course I forgive BG2 itself anything smile.)

That Zariel, who I perceive as an absolute insane fanatic, takes revenge on the Hell Riders even after centuries I find much more credible and stochastically more probable than bringing back several people as companions (with the above described coincidence chain).

If one realizes how cruel and brutal she dealt with the former Hell Riders https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Hellriders:

"Finally captured, Zariel swore fealty to Asmodeus, and vengeance on those who'd fled her.[14] The rest in Avernus were ultimately entombed in the Crypt of the Hellriders, their souls bound by oath to Zariel and haunting the place forever after as ghosts."

Then I estimate her to be insane enough to also want to enslave her descendants as forced recruits. Or simply the complete eradication of the Hell Rider order again and again as soon as it reappears, as with Zevlor and Co.

Last edited by Lotus Noctus; 13/06/23 06:15 PM.