Perhaps instead of everyone being freed because of damage to the ship perhaps Tav could flip a lever that opens all the cells at once? Then everyone we meet would start with "wait, you're the reason I got free"
I love it. Even something as simple as pulling a lever and a few lines of grateful dialogue would go a long way toward explaining why everyone wants you to lead.
Side note: I have no idea why the PC let's Astarion join the party in the first place. He ambushes you, tries to kill you, then he has a tadpole so you invite him to your camp to sleep beside you at night? That made no sense. Why would I trust him? It seems like we're supposed to invite him to join us because the game said so.
