#haven't even set foot in the goblin camp

[weaveandwood]

Gale this is a Wyllmance playthrough you cannot look at Rosalind like that I am WEAK.

[blackjackkent]

Interestingly, we get a completely different opening sequence upon entering Lorroakan's tower this time! I'm not sure if this is a new patch addition, or if it's because we're here without Aylin.

The scene opens on Lorroakan, one of his magical armors ("Krank"), and a poor hapless halfling named Miklaur, engaged in setting up a William Tell-esque archery challenge in the center of the tower's atrium.

"Hold very still, Miklaur!" Lorrokan says cheerily. "Krank's aim is much improved but still leaves something up to chance!"

"Yes, sir," the poor halfling says miserably, holding as still as possible.

(A/N: I'm actually quite pleased because this answers a little mystery from Hector's playthrough. Miklaur was in the boss fight against Lorroakan there, with a solid eight hit points and basically nothing to show for himself, including any explanation for why he was there. At the time, he didn't even have a wiki entry, which lends some credence to the idea that maybe this scene was added in a more recent patch. Either way, it answers the overall mystery of who this guy is; clearly he's another of Lorroakan's "apprentices", being subjected to bodily harm and mental torment for his master's amusement.)

"All right, Krank," Lorroakan says, utterly uncaring of Miklaur's evident terror. "Ready... aim..."

An unexpected sound splits the air as a portal opens at the far end of the room, revealing Rakha and her companions striding forward.

"Hm." Lorrokan's eyes narrow. "We have a visitor." He jerks his hand dismissively. "Miklaur, you may go."

The halfling doesn't need to be told twice; with a relieved grin he darts away, followed by the animated armor, which clanks with unsteady steps into the corner.

Lorroakan looks Rakha up and down, then eyes Wyll, Jaheira, and Minthara one by one. Then he makes a show of looking behind them and raises his eyebrows.

"I see no Nightsong," he points out with a brittle smile. "Surely you wouldn't have entered my tower without the Nightsong."

He steps closer to Rakha, his voice lowering with what he clearly thinks is a dramatic aura of threat. "Surely you wouldn't have wasted. My. Time."

He might have more of the desired effect if Rakha weren't almost a foot taller than he is. As it stands, she just looks down at him, deeply unimpressed. This, then, is the wizard who thinks so highly of himself, who wants to see another of Rakha's companions stolen out of their camp - small, smarmy, and self-righteous, tormenting his staff with the threat of arrows through the skull.

(What a show that would have been, purrs the beast in her head. Blood spilled all over this lovely carpet. A little shriek of fear-pain, and then silence...)

"What do you want with her?" she asks curtly.

Lorroakan's head draws back and his lip curls; he examines Rakha with a suddenly keener eye. "Her. Fascinating. You've been to Shar's temple, haven't you?" he says coolly. "To the Shadowfell?"

Ahhh.

Rakha's use of the word was neither accidental nor arbitrary. She is gauging the man carefully. There are various possibilities here.

If he truly thinks that the Nightsong is no more than an artifact he could acquire, then perhaps he is less dangerous. Perhaps the situation could simply be explained to him, and then he would call off his hunters before any of them tried to enter Rakha's camp.

But this... this is the other possibility. He knows exactly what-- who-- the Nightsong is, and is only surprised that Rakha does as well. He knew exactly what he was doing when he sent Aradin into the nest of goblins in search of the entrance to Grymforge.

He wants Aylin, child of a goddess. He wants to be the next in line to steal someone out of Rakha's shaky and unstable family. He wants to attack the woman Rakha has fought so hard not to kill.

He is a threat.

"I have," she says between her teeth, her eyes narrowing to slits.

Lorroakan's smile widens unpleasantly. "And the Nightsong? Speak true, now, for I *detest* a liar."

Rakha is no liar - but she wants information far more than she wants to give him any. "Why do you want her so badly?" she asks.

Lorroakan rolls his eyes with a noise of sudden impatience. "I'm growing tired of this repartee, my friend," he growls. "Let us cut to the chase."

He flicks out a hand sideways; an echoing snap ricochets through the Weave and suddenly a small scepter is in his hand - silver with a dark blue inlay of lapis.

Rakha's eyes widen. Lorroakan begins to explain the nature of the object, but she almost doesn't need him to; she can see the warm shimmer of powerful magic over the scepter's surface.

(A/N: I love this moment of animation. This is absolutely the expression I picture Rakha wearing whenever some bit of magic fascinates her enough to make the murder urges shut up.)

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Lorroakan says with a smirk. "Worth more than your life, too. I bought it from a Calishite warlock with very little of his soul left to him." He lifts the scepter and twirls it in a dramatic gesture. "It can bind a celestial to the wearer's service with a snap of the fingers."

He jerks his head to indicate a side alcove of the tower. "And this? This can keep her in place... forever."

Rakha follows his gaze sideways, and it doesn't take long to figure out what he's referring to. Etched into the floor of the alcove is an enormous, elaborate sigil, glittering with power - power she recognizes. She has seen this symbol before, and this same magic surrounding it.

This is a Soul Cage. The same spell Balthazar constructed to contain Aylin in the Shadowfell. Once again, Lorroakan's version is visibly sloppy, frayed at the edges where it connects to the Weave... but it is, undoubtedly, the same spell.

Everything clicks into place at once. This is merely yet another way that Lorroakan is proving himself a second-rate imitator of spells Rakha has seen better done elsewhere. Somehow, by some means, Lorroakan learned of Thorm, of his immortality deep in the shadowlands, and he means to steal that power for himself.

Probably an ill-fated venture from the start, one he was never going to be able to accomplish - certainly not while Thorm lived. With the general dead, he might have more of a chance to lure Aylin into this new captivity... if Rakha were willing to let him.

Unfortunately for him, she is not.

You are a pathetic imitator of those with skill. You make a mockery of the Weave. You would cage Aylin again just like the last would-be immortal I destroyed. There is *purpose* in killing you, and I will enjoy watching you die.

[SORCERER] "First Ketheric and now you," she growls disdainfully. "I thought wizards were supposed to be the smart ones."

Lorroakan laughs. "It didn't work out for poor Ketheric, did it? He was a fool. A desperate mercenary who whored out his soul to whichever god flattered him. I serve no god but that which stares back at me in the mirror." He tilts his head, preening before an imaginary audience that is certainly more appreciative than Rakha. "The Nightsong will be put to a grand purpose - equalizing man and god. Whoever helps me attain that which I seek will be greatly rewarded."

Now the beast - that echo of Bhaal's divine blood in her veins - is awake and snarling in Rakha's head as well. How dare he? it growls. Imposter. Pretender. Useless wretch with delusions of grandeur!

"Equalizing man and god," Rakha says coldly. She is struggling to maintain control now, her fingers twitching with the urge to lash out and seize the wizard by the throat. "Quite the lofty ambition."

He smiles. "I intend to achieve greatness!" he crows. "And I intend to do it for a long, long, long time."

(A/N: This conversation is VERY convoluted, and it took considerable examining of the parsed files to figure out which path through it I liked best. The challenging aspect of this was that the path I really liked - which allows us to bring Aylin here at a companion's urging and thus gives a reason for Rakha not to just open up on Lorroakan immediately - requires Rakha to FAIL an Intimidation check, which took several reloads because she is very good at intimidation. But it is a DC20 and Rakha only has +14, so a failure isn't out of the realm of possibility; in this case we are saying that Lorroakan's self-aggrandizing is far too impenetrable even for her. :P )

He has started to draw closer to her, enraptured by his own power, oblivious to the tight fury that has drawn across her face - and at this moment he makes the mistake of reaching out to slap her lightly on the shoulder.

At once, her hand flashes out and catches him by the collar, yanking him almost off his feet.

[INTIMIDATION - FAILED] "Get out of my face. Now," she growls.

At once, the brittle smile falls off of Lorroakan's face. Both his hands come up, crackling lightning between his fingers.

"Choose your next words carefully, friend," he says icily. "They determine the length of your very life. You *will* bring me the Nightsong... won't you."

Rakha goes still, her weight shifting, calculating whether she can crush his head against the wall before he can unleash the spells he is holding. She's just about determined that the answer is yes when, to her surprise, an unexpected voice weighs in from behind her.

"We should kill this petulant wizard on our own terms," Minthara growls. "And allow Nightsong the pleasure of taking his head. Do not provoke him."

Rakha hesitates. She can kill him now, she is certain of it, and the beast keens in her head eagerly at the idea. But Minthara feels Aylin should have a chance at the killing blow, and even despite the strained nature of their friendship at present, her opinion is enough to sway Rakha, to stay her hand.

She releases Lorroakan with a jerk back onto his feet, scowling. "Have it your way," she mutters irritably. "I'll bring her here."

Lorroakan relaxes, straightening his mussed robes and looking at her with deep dislike that is ill-masked by the smile once again plastered onto his face. "Good," he says brightly. "I was growing scared for you. The last person who disappointed me is suffering for it still." He takes a few rapid steps back until he is a good deal more than arm's length away from her, flanked by two elementals that come shimmering out of the walls.

"Do not return without my prize," he finishes crisply, giving a dismissive wave and picking up a book on a nearby table. "Do you hear me? Good day!"

[masterskywalkers]

Played a little bit more of Prince's playthrough today and I have to say, seeing how their interactions are with Astarion considering I'm not planning to romance him is really interesting.

Unlike Tavanna (romance) and Naberius (short fling before hearing Astarion's truth and deciding he needed a friend more), Prince is a lot more cautious and wary towards Astarion. They don't dislike him, but they do sense that there is much more to his character than what Astarion is letting on, and the way things developed in-game today between conversation options and decisions taken really made the moment Astarion decides to work on seducing/manipulating a Tav to ensure his own safety more obvious.

A few things to note for Prince that are important before I unravel this play session:

Prince let Astarion drink from them, but died during the event. They've never really let Astarion forget it, and are more wary of how Astarion feeds (Tavanna and Naberius were a lot more willing and offering to it when and if Astarion needs it, whereas Prince sees the risk to it)

Prince learned about Astarion's vampirism much sooner than Tavanna and Naberius did. Rather earlier on, in fact - and now that their party is heading to Ethel's swamp, they have this knowledge when meeting Gandrel.

Prince however knows nothing about Cazador before Gandrel. Astarion has kept that very hidden.

Before the Gandrel encounter, Astarion's approval meter was at neutral. Both Shadowheart and Wyll (who frequent Princes' parties) were already at high approval. Astarion's changes to high right after Gandrel in Princes' playthrough.

Princes' planned romance is Shadowheart, and the romance path has already started for them.

So the first stage of this breakdown starts with meeting Gandrel in the swamp. As mentioned above, Prince enters this meeting knowing that Astarion is already a vampire, and so when they learn that Gandrel and the Gur are looking to capture him, Princes' alarm bells are set to caution. Prince is a friendly and kind sort, who is doing their best to build trust and friendships with those in the group. So, they keep Astarion's secret for him, and eventually, sensing the danger Gandrel offers, gives Astarion the okay to kill him.

After the battle, Shadowheart quickly says that she's 'surprised Prince sided with Astarion', to which Prince responds that they hope it won't turn out that the decision will bite them in the future (I see what you did there, Prince).

Now, for Astarion, this seems to be a critical moment in which he decides Prince is worth trusting his safety in. Once the party eventually returns to camp a little later and Prince starts their discussions with the party, this is the moment where Astarion freely mentions Cazador to them for the first time. Sure, there's a reluctance to talk about his past - and Prince offers him the choice not to say anything - but Astarion tells Prince the details anyway. Prince listens, and instead of offering hollow or comforting words like 'I'm so sorry that happened to you', they gently press for more understanding of his history.

Prince leaves him alone after the discussion - probably with a lot for Astarion to think on for the evening - and goes to talk to Shadowheart, where they unlock the first romance scene with them (talking together over wine / first kiss). The next morning, Prince and Shadowheart both mentioned that they liked the company they shared.

Now, Prince went to talk to Astarion again after this - mostly because I expected a comment about them and Shadowheart - but what I didn't expect was for Astarion to push the early, pre-tiefling party hookup conversation.

After this discussion when I checked his approval, I was surprised to see it was high already - I've been taking Prince's playthrough slowly! We've only just wrapped up the Shadow Druids story! We're trying to build our money up for the special Zhentarim bow! We haven't even fought the paladins for Karlach, or stepped foot in the Goblin camp. We're only just facing Auntie Ethel in her house? Prince isn't a particularly snarky character - yet this?? Was happening??

Then I realized; storywise, it makes sense for Astarion to choose this moment to put his manipulation into play. He has grown to trust Prince in some respects, enough to know that they can offer a sense of security to him that he hasn't ever had before. He has a place in a party that maybe can take down his abuser if he plays his cards right. Prince knows he's a vampire, has seen him kill a hunter for his own protection, and has heard about Cazador - and yet Astarion still hasn't been shunned or thrown out of the party.

For someone in Astarion's position and with his thoughts and expectations - whilst also seeing a closeness building between the party members (especially with Prince and Shadowheart) - now seems like a perfect time to cement his place in the group.

Yet he believes that all he has to offer is his body, so his only gift to Prince is sex.

During this conversation Prince is very ???, because the alarm bells are ringing for them once again that something is very wrong here. They haven't entertained Astarion's flirtation, as Astarion tries to say that 'they found enjoyment out of Astarion biting them', Prince quickly counters him with the 'not really. I died, remember?' To Prince, there is no reason for this attempt at seduction to be happening - and they're intuitive enough to sense that likely, this isn't even Astarion himself really wants.

There was a moment in this discussion where the dialogue really hit me and how wonderfully the writers have written this if you play a character that truly pushes and challenges Astarion here rather than just immediately responding to it. I purposely play my characters differently from one another as I love seeing how stories can diverge; so for the past seduction scenes (which, mind you, both happened at the party ((although Naberius got a second proposition scene since he ran off with Minthara first at the goblin party))). Tavanna was already fond of Astarion at this stage that she didn't really hesitate to enter a friends-with-benefits situation with him, and Naberius is such a self-centered ass at times that he just went along with it because he thought it would be fun sleeping with Astarion (and he was a bit prideful that Astarion asked twice).

But Prince has no romantic interest at this stage. They consider him a tentative friend, but they consider that about most of their party.

I have to apologize since for the first time I didn't save footage of this (the one playthrough I don't and it's the one that makes me think the most, lol), but the dialogue that hit for me went something like this:

Prince: I didn't enjoy it. I died, remember? Astarion: which is even more reason for me to make it up to you! And what better way to do so than this? Prince: ... you do understand that you don't owe me anything, right? And you certainly don't owe me sex? Astarion: this isn't me owing you as such ...

^ I'm definitely paraphrasing there - but the important thing to note is Astarion makes this offer sound like a transaction he owes, and Prince very quickly notices that and answers with 'you do understand you don't owe me?'

And we know that Astarion, realistically, doesn't know that. He has been conditioned to expect that his worth comes in only what he can offer via his body and that it's a truth he doesn't like, but he knows nothing else so continues with it anyway.

I just found this so interesting because as someone on their 4th playthrough, I know that this is something that gets discussed in more detail in act 2. But to see how the seeds are planted so early in act one and how Astarion's approval isn't so difficult to gain if you listen and seem to value him (again, Prince has had far less interaction with Astarion compared to what Tavanna and Naberius have had on past playthroughs; yet the interactions have been ones that have seemed to resonate with the character: the trust with the vampire reveal, gifting Astarion the book of necromancy, allowing him to protect himself against Gandrel, listening as he spoke about Cazador). I'm also playing on a Tactician run and have purposely been avoiding the use of the 'Friend' spell to help with dice rolls on character discussions. To me, it was just really neat to see how you can choose to challenge the truth of the cruel, harsh world Astarion has been forced to live in for 200 years earlier than perhaps a player thinks they can.