Wouldn't you rather feel profoundly elated realizing that the doom you were set up for were met by say, Dammon with a crew of Gondians by his side showing up on the docks end scene? Having it be him instead of Wyll or a variation of the two that says "No Karlach, you don't have to do this, we found a way to fix you!" Wouldn't that open the door to a more rewarding conclusion than finding a fix somewhere in early to mid act 3? Missing out on the hope that kills? The reward of a solution needs a suitable climax, Karlach deserves this in respect to her already established position, her writing.
I agree with wanting to fight for a good resolution, always makes for a richer story experience. Thats why i'd rather wanna be able to achieve that resolution while we're in act 3 and not have her story resolved at the end of the game. Rather than dammon and the gondians showing up at the end with a miracle fix, i want us to be able to finish her quest, and achieve a resolution from our own hard work.
Just spitballing some ideas on how this could be achieved; 1. After finishing off gortash and listening to karlach heartwrenching breakdown, have the quest log update that the gondians seem like a possible lead to fixing her engine. We go talk to them, they seem to know whats what with her engine but there's a catch; aside from the enriched infernal iron part, some other integral part is needed and only place to find it is in avernus(i know, kinda cheap lol but again, spitballing ideas) 2. We already know how to get to avernus, so getting there is no problem. While exploring avernus looking for the engine macguffin we could learn more about karlachs time here, see some vendor and get use out of those goddamn soul coins the game throws at us(they were originally meant to be used as currency in avernus until avernus got cut from the game, go figure), and maybe meet up with karlachs old friend we heard about during act 2 in the moonrise towers. Maybe they could have some moment too. 3. Right as we've found the important engine thingy and are ready to leave, maybe throw in some boss fight with some old enemies or some of zariel's forces, something to up the stakes a bit. 4. Boom, we got a cool quest line in a new area and got to learn more about karlachs background and help her, just like how most RPG companion questlines are written. Now the gondians can fix karlachs engine, and then we have an emotional, heartfelt moment with her (especially if tav/durge is romancing her), and lastly have some post-quest conversation about what karlachs plans are now.
Obviously this would be quite a lot for larian to add in lol. I'll happily just take a slapped in update where the gondians are able to upgrade her engine without some avernus adventure, but it would be really sick to explore avernus even for an hour. Most companions get their own ''areas'' for their quests like the shar temple for shadow or cazadors mansion for astarion, so in that sense it doesnt seem ridiculous to have a new area for karlachs quest to take place in, and it wouldnt even need to be that big.
