Cazador Szarr: Difference between revisions

While not making an appearance within Act One or Act Two, Cazador's influence is still felt. If the player is playing as [[Astarion]], they can encounter a dream sequence involving Cazador, where he recites four rules he enforces amongst his spawn. [[Astarion]] as a companion may also show the player the scars on his back, which is revealed to be part of an Infernal Pact. What this pact entails is unknown, but he assumes it is extremely important to Cazador.

Once in Baldur's Gate, the party can hunt down Cazador at [[Szarr Palace|Cazador's Palace]]. He is eventually found in [[Cazador's Dungeon|his Dungeon]], revealing that the ritual required not just the seven Vampire Spawn he sired, but rather thousands of others. The "meals" [[Astarion]] brought Cazador were not for him to feed on, but rather prepared and turned into spawn for use in his ritual. Upon encountering Cazador, he will reclaim [[Astarion]], and begin his attempt to use him for the ritual. Should the player free [[Astarion]], and defeat Cazador, [[Astarion]] readies himself to take over the ritual, and absorb the power for himself - only for Cazador to reveal that if he were to continue the ritual himself, he would simply be consumed for it, as he has the marks of the pact on his back, and the ritual will still take his soul as a result, as it requires an exact amount of souls. An important choice follows.

Should the player allow Astarion to finish the ritual, he will connect to the player's parasite, and copy the scars on his back onto Cazador's own flesh, therefore fulfilling the requirements for the ritual, while allowing himself to remain alive. Astarion will then consume Cazador's, and all of the thousands of Vampire Spawns' essence to become Vampire Ascendant successfully.

Should the player succeed on a [[Persuasion]] or [[Insight]] check, Astarion will not continue the ritual for himself, and stab Cazador to death, falling to his knees, and sobbing, finally free from Cazador's tyrannical fist. If one of the spawn are killed during the fight, Astarion will always kill Cazador.

If the player outright refuses to help Astarion without convincing him, or failing the skill checks above and still refusing to help Astarion, he will kill Cazador in the same sequence as above. But then he will destroy Cazador's [[Woe|Staff]], leaving the Vampire Spawn to rot. After this, he will permanently leave the party, stating that he hopes they "die screaming."

The player character can stab Cazador while he is in his coffin. Mentioning this to Astarion afterwards will result in his contempt, and will permanently leave the party unless the player convinces him not to do so.

If the player decides to interrupt Astarion's ascension, the player character will throw Cazador's [[Rhapsody|dagger]] at him, killing Cazador and making the ritual impossible to complete. Astarion will then destroy Cazador's staff and attack the party, forcing the party to kill him.

Whichever choice the player decides on, Cazador ultimately dies.

* In the lead-up to the final confrontation with Cazador, the player can split-off Astarion from the party and leave him way back up the stairs. Then upon descending the stairs with the rest of the party, Cazador will believe Astarion didn't accompany the party and will be unable to reclaim him for the fight. You can then have Astarion descend the stairs and join the battle once it commences and he'll be able to participate normally.