Abyssal Chicken

The Abyssal Chicken was spawned during the Descent Into Avernus concept push. I was noodling away on some environment sketches, and was trying to convey the massive scale of the structures in Avernus. I asked AD Richard Whitters if there were any birds that were native to Avernus that I could draw in a little flock passing by one of the buildings to show how big it was. Richard informed me there weren't any birds in Avernus. I went back to my desk to design one.
After a few false starts, I doodled out a check mark shape, and decided it would be gross if the whole thing split open for wings, and it's front split open for a beaked mouth full of razor sharp teeth. I decided that it would be doubly gross if it had a raw-chicken appearance, which I'm sure lent itself to the eventual name that Story Designer Adam Lee eventually came up with. (My temporary file name for the creature was the Hell Pigeon, so I'm glad that didn't stick)
I didn't expect it to really get included in the adventure in any way, and was thrilled beyond words when it was given stats, a mini, and featured in Descent Into Avernus.

Project: D&D Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus
for: Wizards of the Coast
AD: Richard Whitters