I just played through this part of Astarion’s quest last night and danggg, the palace does feel empty doesn’t it! I thought that Astarion was so popular because his questline culminates in a choice between breaking a cycle of generational trauma, versus embracing it and carrying it on to destructive effect. But I feel like that theme was pretty underdeveloped? Like it was there, and you can see it when you talk to the skull of Cazador’s previous master for example, but… it seemed rushed and not developed explicitly enough, to me at least?
It's very rushed. But I think if you relate to his experiences enough, you kinda forget about the palace as you watch him deal with Cazador and what happens after.
