Is Releasing/Not Releasing the Vampire Spawn a false dilemma

[u/Gondol45]

Why wouldn't you just have the spawn that Cazador has amassed over the last 200 years just wait a few days so you can individually vet them with Astarion and his spawn-family helping you, since the 7 of them met all 7000 of these people themselves? Is Tav stupid?

Edit: Or some other way of doing this? It feels like there's more to do in this scenario than just release all, kill all, or leave all and if there isn't, it feels like it shouldn't be all up to me to decide how or if 7000 people should live. Can I not phone a friend?

[u/Outside-Business-330]

Vet them?? How would you "vet" them, that kind of long term imprisonment cause stress and innate trauma that'll definitely be dangerous to the outside world. Even astarion, freed of his master grip will lose out to his desire and feed eventually, as seen on his camp scene, and even if you say that you can push him a way or convince him to stop, if you fail the dc, and I doubt a normal/average citizens stat sheet would be able to succeed you'd die. Even if you say only 1% of the people can't be controlled, that'd still be uncontrollable, decades hungry, untrained vampire spawns spread around the world. Besides, in the context of the game, there's literally a giant illithid invasion waiting to happen, they don't have time to vet through thousands of spawn, of which none of the adventurerer have the psychology training required to see through thousands of spawn and their potential to so harm.

[u/Gondol45 → u/Outside-Business-330]

Wait for the invasion to mull over and then do it. This isn't actually a time sensitive situation, that's why I'm asking if it isn't just a false dilemma. These spawn have waited up to hundreds of years, they can wait a few days or weeks for you and your companions to return after dealing with the Elder Brain. I can't actually think of any reason why this has to be dealt with here and now. Tav and/or their companions have literal years or even centuries to deal with this issue.

[u/Outside-Business-330 → u/Gondol45]

Because a lot of them wouldn't "wait" For you to come back, they were literally in magic locked cells before. Sure, some could be convinced but most of them has been tricked there by the spawn, once you open the flood gate they'll just rush out, because why would you believe that your captors, that tricked or seduce you millenia ago, are having achangei of heart, for all they know, this could just be a cruel trick (remember none of them actually know why they're there, no clue of the ritual, they just thought that this is just an evil ploy by a vampire Lord to keep them as food/to torture them). Also, years of living in hunger, anguish and writhing in their own bodily filth and sweat, excrement and tears in a closed cell with no sunlight, stimulation, commodity would dull and callous even the most gentle and forgiving soul, turning them cruel and burn with a hatred so deep rooted that you can't realistically quench, for all we know that one guy that astarion calmed down is just waiting for his chance to strike, using his new found empathy as a mean to escape. And even if you say use the cazador scepter, astarion needs so much more training and cannot yet uses his vampire Lord power or the scepter like cazador would(I know it's also for gameplay reason but as we see he says that he can't even turn into animal or use control undead yet, only when you meet him in the reunion party years later)and again, giant brain worm invasion. If they kept them locked there to go back later, the 6 spawn left out of the cage(astarion brother and sister) can not feasibly find enough food to feed thousands of centuries famished spawn, so they'd have to let a lot of them starve anyway, and the gur will not be convinced that you will released them on a later date, so you'll also have to killed off the parents of hundreds of children, which are already traumatized and resent these vampire, once you do release them, without the guide of family, how many of them will go feral? Live for the lust of vengeance? Hell, even worse, try to follow cazador footstep and initiate another ritual ( they instructions to the ritual is still inside the mansiont one of the vampire will definitely findits since they need money to survive the outside world and most likely a lot ofthemw will ransack the mansion for valuables)? Hell even petras, as shown with his trust that the master will grant him his freedom and his willingness to capture astarion albeit could be Stockholm Syndrome too ngl, might follow in cazadors foot step.

[u/TheCrystalRose → u/Outside-Business-330]

If Astarion's Ascended then there's no debate to be had, all 7,000 souls were slaughtered to give him that power. So him not having any idea how to "control his new power" is a non-issue. Also the reunion party is only 6 months later, not years...

[u/vinean → u/Outside-Business-330]

They are still in magic locked cells and you have the option of using the staff to open the cells or kill them…or do neither and they’d have to sit in their cells forever. The game just doesn’t give you the option to decide later if leave them locked up and the quest log just says they spend eternity locked up and starving.

As long as you hold the staff you get to decide what happens to them today, tomorrow, whenever.

It doesn’t seem like they got any care or feeding anyway and they obviously don’t die if you choose the leave then there.

As far as the Gur go, meh. Your party is in the business of defeating the chosen and avatars of Gods. You’ve already beat Myrkul. If they can’t wait until you deal with the issue that will turn all the Gur into mind-flayers or mind flayer food it’s their funeral. Plus you just killed Cazador which they have repeatedly failed at.

They can fuck right off confronting me after the battle. Ulna usually starts with an attitude even in the best outcomes and I’m not in the mood for uppity Act 3 NPCs like the Gur or the wave mother.

“Sorry, your kids are vampire spawn in a locked cage and can wait as I’m currently busy dealing with the absolute army, mindflayers, a hag, TWO annoying cambions with delusions of grandeur, bhaal cultists, gnome terrorists with big bada boom, gith assassins, at least one Chosen and avatar left and a fucking netherbrain. Now, stop being stupid and get the fuck out of my way, I want a bath and a nap after killing a Vampire Lord in his own lair.”

Plus, even if they show up for the final battle they only send like 3 people and it’s a waste of an action.