Astarion: Difference between revisions

Astarion begins the story in Act One on the ravaged beach by the crashed nautiloid, where he beckons the player character over to assist him in fighting an [[Intellect Devourer]] that is in the bushes. It however becomes apparent that there is no intellect devourer, just a [[Boar]]. And depending on the player character's perception, Astarion will either pull a knife on the player or tackle them down to the ground with the knife at their throat while they are distracted, believing that the player character was in league with the mind flayers on the ship as he saw them walking freely and speaking with the mind flayers while he was tadpoled and trapped in a pod. Astarion will demand answers about what happened on the ship from the player character, who can explain the reality of the situation to him, and Astarion will then back off, apologize for the interaction, and introduce himself. If the player character attacks Astarion and kills him before the introducing cutscene could have started, and then revivifies him, this course of actions will give a slightly different greeting (without knife-threatening). <!--tested--> At this moment, Astarion can be recruited as a party member and his companion quest, {{Quest|The Pale Elf}}, is added to the journal.  

A few nights into adventuring, the player character will wake up in the middle of the night to see Astarion hunched over them, preparing to bite their neck. Astarion will stop and try and explain himself, but the player character successfully deduces that he is a vampire. If the player allows Astarion to live after this reveal instead of killing him, he will then ask the player character if they are willing to let him drink some blood to gain his full strength. If the player character refuses, he stalks off into the night to hunt for animals. But if the player character accepts, Astarion will then lay the player character down and begin to drink blood from their neck. The player character must either persuade or shove him off to end the feeding. If unsuccessful, the player character will die and must be revived. But if the player character succeeds, Astarion will stop feeding and thank the player profusely for helping him.  

The morning following either the attempted or successful feeding, the player character can talk to Astarion about a variety of topics. He will divulge his past, revealing that he is a [[Vampire spawn]] sired by the vampire lord {{CharLink|Cazador Szarr}} over 200 years prior in [[Baldur's Gate]]. It was then that he had handed down a ruling as a magistrate that a group of local [[Gur]] people took issue with. They attacked him, beating him until he was near death in the street. Cazador Szarr approached him, offering him a second chance at life, which Astarion took in a moment of desperation. Cazador then turned Astarion into his vampire spawn and slave. Astarion will also explain how vampire spawn work, including how they are subservient to the vampires who created them, and how they have all of the weaknesses of a full vampire but few of their powers. One of these weaknesses includes the hypersensitivity to the sun, which Astarion no longer has since the nautiloid crash. He will speculate to the player that the tadpole has given him immunity to the sunlight and to Cazador's compulsion. It is also during this conversation that the player character can discuss how Astarion will feed in the future. They can either agree to let him feed on the player character, let him feed on humanoid enemies, or relegate him to feeding on animals.

In the [[Sunlit Wetlands]] (or [[Putrid Bog]],) the party can encounter a Gur monster hunter named {{CharLink|Gandrel}}. If it has been revealed that Astarion is a vampire already, Gandrel will explain that he is looking for a vampire spawn named Astarion on behalf of his tribe, which will make Astarion visibly paranoid. He will argue with Gandrel and insult him, and will want to kill him in an act of self-preservation. The player can either let Astarion reveal himself and attack Gandrel or encourage Astarion to let it go, leaving Gandrel alive. If it has not been revealed to the party that Astarion is a vampire, Gandrel will not mention Astarion by name and will instead simply say he is looking for a vampire spawn. Astarion may kill Gandrel unprompted in this scenario if he is not talked down while agitated. The player character can also turn Astarion in to Gandrel, which will result in him leaving the party permanently.