I don't understand why omeluum isn't a valid option instead of the emperor if you meet the criteria that you haven't killed him, sold the ring he gave you, took the ring from him, and if you saved him in the iron throne and meet up at the society.
If I have to pick a mind flayer companion, it will be someone I trust more than the emperor.
It isn't like we never see him again, he does reappear in act 3. We know the ring offers him some semblance of protection, admittedly it would be more difficult the closer he got to the absolute, but he was up front with us as soon as we meet him. Unlike the emperor.
I really feel like he and Orpheus working together (persuade check), alongside us and our companions (I love the connected tadpole strength companion ending someone else mentioned), makes one of us changing unnecessary. Orpheus power could supplement the ring if it fails the closer you get to it.
I could see the argument made that we would be special since we've retained our consciousness and so the parasite has adapted to us and thus more of ourselves would carry over into the transformation since ceremorphosis is usually a far quicker process.
