Did some testing whole day today to see how to walkaround Ethel's issues and final conclusion would be - i have no idea how Ethel worked ok for me at my 1st playthrough.
All interaction in teahouse was working fine in both cases ( when i killed red caps before talking to Ethel / or not ) She flie properly ( ofc only when firepit is not body blocked with the party )
Galery talks, mask room, the descent i did 100% the same with compation ( Astarion sneaking wearing the mask ), activated mushroom portal, then i brought rest of the team by that portal.
I did Ethel fight multiple times and here are the outcomes ( sadly shes still bugged )
1st - Ethel left alive, bombed before she summons her 4 mask adds, deception used when she begs for her life. Outcome: mask dudette
not working properly, petryfied dude too, underdark doors closed. Observation - after Ethel flies she is still visible like i was on mouse over her with hp that i left her ( 1 - 10hp depends on a bomb and attempt ) and status "Planing next move", seems life game still think Ethel is around cousing thing not to work properly.
2nd - Ethel left alive, she summoned her 4 mask adds, deception used when she begs for her life. Outcome: same issues with Ethel on mouse over no matter where i pointed my mouse cursor, even on textures, 4 minions still atacking me as she was alive.
3rd - Ethel killed before she summons her minions - most things works ok, i can speak to dudette and petrified guy, underdark doors still closed.
4rd - Ethel killed after she summons her minions - minions comes to their mind and stop attacking me - most things works ok, i can speak to dudette and petrified guy, underdark doors still closed.
Seems like there is some bug when Ethel is left alive and allowed to run away, game still treat it as she was alive and dont let other NPC's to work properly.
No idea wtf is wrong with underdark doors but there are other entrances so nevermind.
Ethel flie reward are also a bit odd:
When i ask for Mayrina freedom ofc no reward.
When i ask for power and let her take Mayrina i get Hugs Hairs x2 -> The STR hair + pop up screen in witch i can choose the other stats modification hair ( str dex con int wis char ) and after making my choise i am left with 2x Hair...
When intimidated or deceived i get only STR hair no pop up screen to pick stat of my choosing.
Seems like there is some spaggetti in the code and Ethel freaks out.
So for now i think i will skip all Ethel encounter for later fixes.
