Cazador’s Plan Confusion

[u/thealien73]

Spoilers for the end of Astarion’s personal quest.

So Cazador needed 7000 souls for the ritual and he had 7 spawn hunting for him. Astarion was one of his first spawn and has been enslaved for 200 years.

7000/200 =35. They captured 35 people a year. I get that Cazador had to go slow so no one would notice people going missing… but 35 a year? That’s so few people, especially in a city the size of Baldur’s Gate. Not to mention the fact that Baldur’s Gate is a port-town, meaning there are people coming in and out allll the time. WOTC apparently gave the city a population of 125,000. That’s huge!!

Why did it take him so long?? Even if he only sent out one spawn a night, twice a week, and they had a 50/50 success rate, it should have been like 135 years and I’m pretty sure he sent them a lot more frequently than that

Of course, this is also the guy who had a plan “centuries in the making” that hinged on seven specific people and then sent those seven out into the world regularly. Oh and it DIDN’T actually hinge on those seven, he could have grabbed literally anyone including one of his sycophant servants to replace Astarion at any moment

[u/Maleficent-Aerie2870]

The fact that this entire time Cazador could’ve just replaced Astarion and ascended and then would be unstoppable in terms of finding Astarion, tadpole or not, drove me nuts when I did the Astarion ascending route. Like wdym you can just carve the exact same runes on Cazador and it works just the same? I thought at the very least all the sacrifices had to be the spawn of the vampire ascending to make it a true sacrifice. Granted maybe Cazador didn’t know this and Astarion just tries it cause he’s desperate. I write off all the Cazador inconsistencies with him just being absolutely insane.

[u/Hyperspace_Towel → u/Maleficent-Aerie2870]

Cazador DID know this; if you poke around the mansion you’ll find the corpse of someone that was supposed to be Astarion’s replacement.

Since Cazador was a sadistic monster with an immortal’s patience, I think he just really wanted to use his favorite plaything in the ritual

[u/Maleficent-Aerie2870 → u/Hyperspace_Towel]

My interpretation of that journal entry is the chamberlain thought he would be Astarion’s replacement and in an attempt to avoid it, he took that potion out of desperation, not that Cazador intended for him to be one. I think he just knew Cazador was sacrificing spawn and he seems to be one of the only ones that wasn’t intended to be sacrificed.

I agree Cazador wouldn’t have been satisfied not getting Astarion back in his clutches, but I can imagine a situation where Cazador wants to keep Astarion around because his “screams sound sweetest” and he doesn’t like the idea of a devil getting the joy of torturing him.

[u/Scorpio_198 → u/Maleficent-Aerie2870]

Funny idea: what if Mephistopheles secretly specifically engineered the ritual to allow one of the Spawn and the Master to switch. Devils love to screw people over in unexpected ways and this wouldn't have been against their contract as Cazador could have ascended with the ritual. It's just that this other thing would work as well if Cazador was incompetent enough to let his Spawn beat him.

[u/thealien73 → u/Maleficent-Aerie2870]

Given that Cazador had the notes for all those rituals thanks to his sire (V-something. Vessioth? Something like that), I have to assume he knew he just needed 7 “focal points” each with a 1000 souls tied to them. He apparently just liked the #aesthetic of those seven being his tormented “children”

But like dude. You know that Astarion is no longer under control and has powers you don’t understand. Grab a servant, get a bit knifey, ascend, and there, now you can safely murderize your most hated/loved “son” without risking your big dramatic plan.

Or, I dunno, at least put the other six in a safe location? Seriously. They’re dangling on the edge of a cliff and there’s nothing protecting them. Shadowheart almost accidentally killed one with the spirit-guardians blender of doom

[u/___jkthrowaway___ → u/thealien73]

The thing about this that made me just go "there's a bunch of plot holes and it's fine" was Cazador camping out behind a locked door that you have to go on a mini quest to unlock

[u/thealien73 → u/___jkthrowaway___]

He doesn’t even tell Godey!!! I thought when we met Godey that he was gonna try and yoink Astarion and there’d be like, a battle or sometjing to keep him. Nope! The only person who knows/suspects Cazador needs Astarion is the WEREWOLF guy.

The enthralled guards were gonna kill us! Sure someone unlocks the front door but like. Guys. The magic door. Pls open the magic door.