Wait, there is an option where Orpheus, Lae'zel *and* you are alle alive and neither is turned into a mind flayer? How do you get that one?
Convince Karlach to destroy her soul for you. It's buggy option since everyone responds to you like you are a mind flayer.
Thanks. So...Karlach becomes the mind flayer? Uh, that's about as distasteful. Ah damn it, I thought you could get out of the whole become a mind flayer thing which is, in my opinion, thematically disgusting since it hits you especially hard if you're making a point of not doing this for the whole game.
This is a bit of a mixed bag options because by allowing her to become a Mind Flayer you save her from having to go to Avernus. So while your in some ways hurting her, in other ways your saving her.
From an utilitarian perspective, perhaps, but thematically *anyone* having to become a mind flayer is about the same, if by your very action you made a point of maintaining your and others' mental integrity. It's almost as bad as Mass Effect 3's ending in this regard, and that's saying something.
And if you don't have Karlach in your party and you play a githyanki who romances Lae'zel (which happens to be what I'm doing at the moment), this is an outright evil setup, since there is no way a githyanki would not take this upon themselves to save Orpheus, who is the only known living githyanki who can resist an Elder Brain. But then of course there can be no good romance ending.