#whipping out my dnd rulebook

[tadpolebrains]

Astarion taking to sleeping more often rather than trancing after the events of the game.

When elves trance, they relive memories. In an Astarion origin playthrough, we see how his memories of Cazador tend to invade his trances. And trance memories are exact. Vivid. You can literally choose to have him try to make out what the scars on his back say by having him relive the carvings through that trance. Right?

So, post-game, he tries to stick to trancing. It’s more convenient. It’s what elves do. It’s what he’s always done.

Every night, it’s visions of Cazador.

One night, he’s so exhausted from reliving those same damn memories that he just passes out on a bed the moment he hits it. He sleeps fully. And sure, he has some nightmares. But they’re nowhere near as vivid, as real, as trancing makes his memories feel. They’re fuzzy. When he wakes, he finds he can barely remember the specifics of them.

And that’s so much better. Not perfect- he’d rather not see Cazador’s face ever again, but fuzzy was better than clear.

So Astarion takes to sleeping rather than trancing whenever he needs rest. And he’s an absolute ugly sleeper. He’ll sprawl all over the bed, wake up with his hair every which way, drool, hell, he even snored one night and wouldn’t believe anyone telling him that. He’s too dignified to snore, you cretin.

He wakes up groggy and oftentimes takes at least an hour to get himself up, drifting in and out of consciousness, but… he also doesn’t constantly feel on edge as much as he used to. He can afford to be groggy so long as he’s safe.

And he is safe.

#astarion #baldur’s gate 3 #astarion ancunin #bg3 #bg3 hcs #bg3 astarion #and before anyone comes in here all #‘but elves can’t sleep’ #they can #whipping out my dnd rulebook #cazador szarr #cazador #tadthoughts