I distinctly remember there being an option, did they remove it? I will check. Doing a Mac goody goody playthrough.
I do not recall. Certainly in my recent playthroughs, there’s at least one gnome outside the rockfall who it seems can’t be saved, though we can intervene in time for the others.
I do have a lot of sympathy for what I think Larian are trying to do in terms of story-telling and mood here and in other places where, however good our intentions, we can’t save everyone. Plus, in this case, their desire to highlight the danger posed by the lava and being flung into it and hint at it as a strategy that either we or the enemies might use in the coming battle.
But I totally agree that if it’s going to be impossible to save someone, this needs to be plausible else it’s just frustrating. And in this case it’s not plausible, as there seems to be plenty of time to do something. If Nere came blasting out from behind the rockfall and sent her flying into the lava before saying a word this scene would make more sense to me.