Neil Newbon returns as Astarion in an audio excerpt from Baldur’s Gate 3: Astarion, a forthcoming prequel novel by award-winning author T. Kingfisher.
Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 became a major role-playing hit after leaving early access on 23 August 2023. Its Forgotten Realms setting, extensive character creation and memorable companions helped establish it as one of the defining fantasy games of its era.
Astarion Ancunin quickly became one of the game’s most recognisable characters, helped by Neil Newbon’s acclaimed performance. Before becoming a vampire spawn, Astarion served as a magistrate in Baldur’s Gate. His life changed after a ruling led to an attack that left him close to death.
Vampire lord Cazador Szarr saved him by transforming him into a vampire spawn, but that rescue placed Astarion under Cazador’s control and began the tragic history explored in the new book.
Astarion’s story continues before the game
Published by Random House Worlds, Baldur’s Gate 3: Astarion follows the vampire spawn before the mind flayer invasion that drives the game’s central story. The novel expands on his life in the city and the dangerous work he undertook before meeting the game’s adventuring party.
The excerpt centres on a planned burglary at Gurgan’s Magic Emporium, an old shop in Baldur’s Gate’s Lower City. Astarion expects hidden magical defences, but reaching the building brings him into contact with an unusually talkative rooftop resident.
Neil Newbon also performs the passage, bringing Astarion’s dry humour and theatrical delivery back to the character.
Read an excerpt from the Astarion prequel
Astarion begins by examining the shop’s awkward, multi-level exterior. He removes his boots and climbs the building, finding the task considerably less graceful than a supernatural thief might expect.
After feeding on a pigeon, he meets Rooftop Henry, a peculiar bird-like creature known among Baldur’s Gate’s burglars. Henry’s origins are uncertain. Theories include a lost familiar, a druid trapped by magic or a smuggler transformed by a magical mishap.
Forgetful though he is, Henry understands the city’s rooftops, rubbish schedules and security habits. He warns Astarion away from one trapped window and identifies another whose alarms have stopped working because an owl’s pellets repeatedly trigger them.
Henry agrees to guide Astarion to the safer opening in exchange for an unusual favour. The pair seal the deal with an awkward handshake involving the bird’s claw before continuing towards the shop.
The passage presents a lighter side of Astarion’s life under Cazador. He remains secretive, opportunistic and dangerous, but he can still be derailed by an eccentric conversation above the city streets.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Astarion by T. Kingfisher is scheduled for release on 29 September. Australian readers can follow more gaming coverage in the RETROCADE Arcade Blog, watch arcade videos, or explore the store’s arcade machines.
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