ALL SPOILERS.

I just played the Orpheus & Emperor scene again, and it feels very arbitrary that it is not possible to get the Emperor to stay when Orpheus is freed.

I understand that he’s afraid, but I transformed to Illithid (and then told the Emperor that he won’t assimilate Orpheus) and the argumentation used by Orpheus not to kill me could with a bit of convincing be used the same way to work with the Emperor.

An Illithid who keeps his free will instead of submitting to the brain. That’s the Emperor, too.

There would be a lot more wrath involved, and the Emperor won’t take the chance and it won’t be possible to convince him as a non-illithid, but either subduing him instead of talking to him (Otto’s dance plus vines plus net arrows) or tricking him into transforming me into an Illithid and then convincing him with the vast Charisma bonus I get (or with a natural 20; a second 99 roll that can actually succeed?) should be possible.

And then hoping that the companions will bail me out once Orpheus is free and provide space to talk, because as Illithid I cannot fight him.

Having the two arbitrary decisions (you cannot dominate the brain with a natural 20, you cannot convince or force the Emperor to take a chance with Orpheus) feels wrong. As a GM that would be a grave error for me. So I would love seeing the alternate end-battle plot where the Emperor and Orpheus fight side by side — maybe with an ending where hard convincing is necessary to prevent them from killing each other.