I had a post just shut down....maybe because this thread existed. I had a Not happy ending at all- I took Astarion to meet his maker. He has been a primary member of my team lvl5 thief lvl 6 monk since the start. Anyway we traveled to
[/spoiler] the Master vampire instead of talking we went stealth attack. Skipping all dialog we killed him and his buddies. After the battle Astarion lost his mind and basically said screw you captives...screw you adventurers. Broke the staff and fled with the vamp buddies the master vampire had tied up. I sat with a what the heck feeling. This was after he just apologized to the captives. [spoiler]
was that supposed to happen.
So, Astarion's whole quest line is a confrontation with the master vampire. By attacking before dialogue starts, Astarion loses his only chance to confront the monster who spawned him. Your Tav basically robbed him of the one thing he wanted during the whole game. Confronting Cazador, not just killing him.
I'm a little confused because Cazador should have gone to his coffin after you kill him. Maybe that didn't trigger because you didn't go through the dialogue with Cazador? From reading other posts, attacking before the dialogue seems to lock him into the "you promised to help me ascend and then denied me at the last second" which ends in him killing the 7000 and leaving the group.
Not sure what choices you made during the playthrough either, but I KNOW that if you encourage him to take power/replace Cazador/try to ascend during the whole game and then change your mind at the ritual and try to stop it, there is no way to convince him to not ascend without angering him and stop him from leaving the party. I would try to reload the save before attacking and go through the dialogue before battle to see if that changes anything.
