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Synopsis:

Astarion is resting in his bedroll when he has a nightmare about Cazador carving the scars into his back.

9.
Narrator
: *You rarely rest well, but tonight something feels different. Whether it's the parasite within your brain or the darkness without, you're deeply uneasy.*
- 3.
  Narrator
  : *Again and again, your thoughts return to memories of pain. Of suffering. Of Cazador.*
  - 23.
    Narrator
    : *You remember his small cruelties. You remember his sadistic whims. And you remember the long night he spent carving 'poetry' into your back.*
    
    21.
    Narrator
    : *Deep in your trance it all feels vividly real again - the jagged cuts of the 'needle' he used on you, the shapes he traced into your flesh. You can almost tell what he's writing.*
    
    18.
    Astarion
    : Focus on the pain in your back - try to understand what he's carving.Roll (Intelligence, ) vs 14 (0)
    
    15. [RollResult] True
    
    4.
    Narrator
    : *Your body is racked by agony, but you push through it, carefully tracking the movement and position of every tear and slice.*
    
    13.
    Narrator
    : *Despite the horror your body feels, you slowly start to build up a picture of what your old master carved, recognising not words, but runes. Infernal runes.*
    
    20.
    Narrator
    : *Unable to decipher the arcane symbols, you have to admit defeat and give yourself over to the pain.*
    
    17.
    Narrator
    : *You spend the rest of the night reliving your torment, but if nothing else, you know your scars are not what they seemed to be.*
    End
    
    16. [RollResult] False
    
    10.
    Narrator
    : *You try to focus, but the pain is too much. As one cut flows into the next you lose all track of their shapes, leaving you with nothing but a haze of pain.*
    
    2.
    Narrator
    : *You spend the rest of the night reliving your torment, none the wiser about what your old master did to you.*
    End
    
    12.
    Astarion
    : Push the pain away, try to banish the memory.Roll (Intelligence, ) vs 14 (0)
    
    5. [RollResult] True
    
    7.
    Narrator
    : *You gather yourself, building one mental wall after another against the waves of pain that wash over you.*
    
    0.
    Narrator
    : *At first you can't fight the torrent of memories, but soon you find a foothold. You can push them back - push them down until you feel nothing.*
    
    22.
    Narrator
    : *Freed from the ghost of your past, you can finally rest and dream of brilliant futures.*
    End
    
    6. [RollResult] False
    
    14.
    Narrator
    : *You gather yourself, trying to build mental walls against the pain, but they're assaulted by one tortured memory after another.*
    
    1.
    Narrator
    : *Eventually your meagre defences are washed away and you succumb to a long, tormented night.*
    End
    
    19.
    Astarion
    : Do not resist. Let your mind wander as it will.
    
    11.
    Narrator
    : *You spend the night drifting from one torture to another, but in time the memories become less visceral.*
    
    8.
    Narrator
    : *Eventually you drift to a quiet place and the terrors subside. You do not rest well, but you do finally rest.*
    End