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#741306 04/12/20 01:52 AM
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I have some issues with Astarion's story. If Astarion was just abducted, why is there already a hunter 3 stone throws away from the crash site looking for him? It is not like anyone knew where the ship was going to crash. I realize a party might rest 14 times/2 weeks before getting to the tea house... but they might also walk directly there without a single long rest. So ultimately, I think this needs to be fixed. Feel free to ignore or use the suggestions below, but please fix this.

Good:
Suppose Cas occasionally toyed with Astarion by allowing him to escape and sent hunters after him. So what actually happened was Astarion was in the middle of one of these cat and mouse games when he was abducted. Thus... the hunters were already engaged when he was taken and knew to look for the a ship, etc... This minor tweak to his story would help explain why a hunter showed up so quckly if you want to leave things mostly the way they are. You could even hear about it from the hunter himself.

Better:
Have the hunter show up in camp one day as a camp event (similar to Rapheal), but only after a minimum number of rests. He could still talk about looking for a monster and going to seek the advice of a hag. But the long rests ensure he didn't magically appear an hour after the ship went down.

Best:
If you go with the first suggestion, you could also have Astarion's hunter abducted and aboard the ship. IE: His hunter is one of the companion options. So for most players, they have to choose between Astarion and his Hunter.Personally, I think they should fight when they meet forcing you to chose one over the other when playing someone else (less banter to have to record). But if the budget was there, I'm sure others would love the drama having both would bring to the party. I would also swap Astarion and this hunter's positions (Astarion at hags layer) so most new players will meet the hunter first and already know what Astarion is when they meet him. Even if they skip the hunter, they will know from that first parasite connection when they meet. So either way, the player knows immediately that Astarion is a Vampire without the whole not-so-surprising revelation. This would help eliminate so many of Astarion's conversation timing bugs. 

Ultimate:
Have the hunter/ranger be some badass true neutral or neutral good female that has hunted down Astarion several times before. If you choose to play her origin story she can have a conflicted relationship with the person she is supposed to hunt (and of coarse the ability to betray him by later turning him over to Cas). Conversely, if you play Astarion, a possible relationship with the "Gur" that Cas always sends to subdue you. Astarion would also have the option to betray her later by turning her into his thrall, assuming he eventually bites Cas and becomes a true vampire. Why a female? Because right now I don't like either of the other females. (Yes, I know it is a selfish request). Maybe Patch3 will change my opinion.

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I believe he's been a vampire spawn for like 200 years. It didn't just happen.

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Originally Posted by Nebuul
I believe he's been a vampire spawn for like 200 years. It didn't just happen.

The problem is not with him being a vampire for X years but the idea that some vampire hunter knows where he is even though he is in the middle of nowhere and appeared there just few hours ago.

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Originally Posted by Maerd
The problem is not with him being a vampire for X years but the idea that some vampire hunter knows where he is even though he is in the middle of nowhere and appeared there just few hours ago.


Correct. I wish I had worded it that well. smile

Even if they just went with a simple scenario adjustment that you hear about from the hunter himself, it would add realism to the situation. If Astarion's "hunt" began a week prior to the events of the game, that would explain why hunters are already scattered around looking for him and why someone might already be at the hags lair asking for advice on where to find him. But in this scenario, it wasn't the abduction that freed him. Rather Cas freed him a week ago and he just happened to get abducted shortly after.

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He doesn't know where Astarion is, though. I mean, Astarion is usually around baldur's gate, but that monster Hunter is there to make a deal with the hag, not to find his quarry directly.

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I get what you are saying. He is not in the area because he knows Astarion is there (it is blind luck). He is there to ask the hag for help finding Astarion.

My issue is that the hags house is 200 miles east of Baldurs Gate. According to the guard in the grove, Baldurs Gate is a 10 day walk to the west and that is if the roads are clear. Which they are not. So why is a hunter 200 miles east of baldurs gate hunting Astarion who was just abducted maybe 2 hours ago? No way this hunter was hired and managed to travel there that fast. His presence feels extemely forced and I am pretty sure he was just thrown in to open up some conversations about "Gurs" and Astarion's past.

They can fix it however they want. Whether he simply doesn't show up near the hags house for say... 5 days or shows up at camp or whether they thrown in some lines about how the hunt began a week ago. Of coarse I would love more companion options, but at a minimum I think they need to fix this hole in the fabric of the story.

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Re-reading this post, I realize there are other issues that I didn't mention. For example, if the hunter is from Baldurs Gate, why ask this hag who lives 200 miles outside of the city for help? Surely there are better resources in BG itself. Maybe he is a local mercenary that heard about the job on some sort of magic-weave based job-posting-board for bad guys? smile Even then, how much does this guy stand to get paid? I don't see your average mercenary giving up their soul or one of their eyes for a single contract. Even if it pays enough to retire on, if others are also searching, there is not guarantee he would be the first to reach the target and get paid. I know it is a video game, but none of this adds up and it just feels very forced.

If he/she was already hunting Astarion and got abducted along with Astarion, that would be different. And honestly that would make the most sense. Right now there is a Tiefling you run across who was on the ship who is not a companion option. So maybe they could even go that route if they don't want to deal with all the work that goes into a full blown companion. Have the hunter be someone who was on the ship, but not a companion option.

Anyway, trying to help with some suggestions. But ultimately if it gets fixed, I'm sure Larian will do their own thing. I just hope they do something.


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