With regards to the Arabella situation, I do agree that there should be more options involved. At the moment even a character with high charisma and persuasion skill has a fairly high chance of failure. This would be easier to swallow if some or all of the following modifications were made:
1. Note that Arabella's death occurs when she moves suddenly at the end of the conversation. Give here a "willpower" roll to not do this (success means that she remains in captivity but does not die).
2. Give player a passive insight or perception roll to notice that Arabella is stressed and likely to do something foolish. If successful then give player a couple of extra conversation options (A: calm down, I'll help you through this B: neutral, C: get away child!) where A would give her a significant bonus to her willpower roll, and C would give her a penalty to it.
3. If Arabella survives the interaction but remains in captivity provide a suite of options that the player can follow to get her out again.
