#gale switches between hector and hec depending on how serious he's being

[blackjackkent]

Werewolf battle - large but not too challenging. Three werewolves, four bats, five rats, two wolves, and the two thralls from outside. The bats and rats were only scary because of the wolves, whose Savage Howl ability gives 20 temporary HP to any allies nearby, which turned all the rats and bats from 1HP nuisances into a Potential Problem.

However, Hector and Karlach are just incredible juggernauts at this point and everything pretty much melted, and Astarion and Jaheira just ran cleanup duty behind them. The wolves and werewolves didn't even drop anything of use, the bastards.

We have two options from here - up and down. Up leads to another set of corridors in a much greater state of disrepair, full of caskets and spiderwebs:

Following this path gets us a bit of small loot but nothing else of real interest, and eventually leads to a dead-end attic area.

The real action seems to be down, which is an elevator behind a door labeled "Office Hall."

Narrator: You stand on a clean metal platform - a beautiful but antiquated elevator. There are some scuffs to show its age, signs of things dragged onto it over the years, but it seems to be in good working order.

"What in the hells? I never knew this was here. This was always Cazador's private quarters - only he ever came in here. Well - him and the unfortunate souls we brought to feed him."

Descend into the depths of the palace.

Oh boy.

Conveniently, we get a waypoint down here, for if we ever want to for some reason come back to this place once we've trounced Cazador into a pulp. Hector at this moment can't imagine a reason he'd want to.

"What in the hells?" Astarion says wonderingly as they walk deeper. "I never knew any of this was here."

There are three main doors leading from this entry point. All three of them are labeled "Crypt Gate" - one to the left, one to the right, and one straight ahead, which is covered in a magical field.

The magical one has voices coming from behind it, but the description for the field states that we need a "ring of passage", which I'm assuming we get down one of the other passageways. The left door, when passed through, has ANOTHER magical door on the other side of it, so I think the right-hand door must be our starting point.

Going that way, we see--

Hm. OK. That's a bit challenging.

There's another level below that we can jump down to; it hurts, though. Instead, I had Jaheira blow the Misty Step she gets from her current amulet and go down to take a look around. She found... basically nothing, except a locked door she couldn't get through, and I also realized I didn't have another Misty Step to get her back up, and that I had no idea what to do next.

Reload. Second try.

On closer inspection, the left-hand door actually opens with the same ring of passage that we already had for the door upstairs, which gives us this:

Narrator: The ring slots perfectly into place and the door opens, assailing you with a pungent, musty air.

Past the door is what appears to be a bedroom - and rather nice for a dungeon to be honest.

This seems like it might have been some sort of office or workplace for Cazador himself:

"Guilds, nobles, politicians..." Astarion comments. "If he controlled even a fraction of these, the city could be his and no one would ever know."

Hector looks at the other man sidelong. His voice is angry, as it always is when speaking of Cazador, but there is a note of admiration in it too - or perhaps jealousy - which worries Hector more than a little. He's always known that it is not enough for Astarion to be free, not really; he wants the same power that was wielded over him.

Hector, for better or for worse, does not really want him to have it - he doesn't think it would serve Astarion well in the end and (might as well be honest) he doesn't really trust Astarion to wield it wisely either. But he says nothing - as with Shadowheart, he suspects that to try and hammer his viewpoint home would only cause Astarion to withdraw deeper into his own. He can only hope that when the moment comes, the elf will listen to reason.

One of the other documents at the edge of the room is rather concerning. It's labeled "Eternal Cruelty":

Uhhh. Upsetting. I had Hector destroy it with a punch, but nothing specific happened.

There's also this document sitting on the central dais:

"He recorded thousands of names," Astarion says, sounding baffled. "Were they his victims? Or something else entirely?"

And finally, on the bed: "Meditations of a Vampire Lord"

-----

"Prick," Hector mutters under his breath, snapping the book shut.

Karlach chokes on a sudden, unexpected laugh - albeit without much humor - and Astarion blinks.

"Careful, Carlisle," he says dryly. "Such language. I think Karlach is a bad influence on you."

"Hardly," Hector says gruffly. "Sometimes it is warranted. I merely wait until it is."

"It's true," Karlach puts in. "He even said a full fuck you to Gortash, and surely Cazador's in the same tier, eh? And that's coming from me."

"Well, I'll hardly be the one to argue. I just would hate to think you were abandoning your principles on my account," Astarion drawls.

Jaheira snorts. "If Carlisle's principles did not include destroying sadistic monsters, I think we would have all long left his side by now."

"Well said," Hector says, tossing the book back onto the bed as if ridding himself of a curse. "And the more I learn about him, the more eager I am for the destroying."