After winning the battle, we explore plunge deeper into the cleavage of this place to figure out where the creatures came from. We find a large crypt, complete with an impressive sarcophagus. As we approach, the heavy stone slab ominously slides off, revealing a big lady with the spiky aesthetic of a northern European metal band. We introduce ourselves and, in turn, she tells us her name is Vhailor. Lotty drops her maces - She's been doing that a lot all of a sudden. So weird! We are invited to sit and chat awhile, which we do. Banter and such.
Vhailor offers to regale us with the story of how she ended up in this situation. The Wyrms came for them, same as everyone else in this place. Her people tried everything to deter their conquerors, but to no avail. At the end, cornered and out of options, she and her people took their fates into their own hands and crafted their own end by flooding their last bastion. This way, she had hoped, they could at least meet their end on their own terms and avoid their souls being consumed. We all nod in sympathy and understanding. She continues, explaining that their souls could not be saved - Do we know what happens to souls when the Wyrms start their all-you-can-eat buffet? The Ashen Company figures they just kinda disappear. No, Vhailor informs us. The souls are digested - stripped of "nutrients", stripped of everything that makes a soul a person. The empty, harrowed soul husks are then somehow pooped out to spend eternity in an empty plane of refuse (the logistics of this are less than clear).
We ask her some more questions, trying get a better picture of what we're supposed to learn/take away from this part of the Watcher's twisted little museum. We find out that Vhailor feels massive guilt over not being able to save her people. She is the only one left "alive", propped up here by the Watcher for eternity. She is okay with this, because she thinks she deserves to suffer alone forever after she could not avert the destruction of her people. Null asks if Vhailor has communicated with the Watcher. She has. Vhailor expresses regret over not being able to offer the Watcher another solution. Null responds with some quick rage.
HEY - Wait a goddamn minute. This chick buys in to the Watcher's whole premise? The big eyeball's down line of wyrms does mass extermination at its behest, and she's like "Oh, that's totally reasonable! You're here to kill me and everything I've ever loved? Damn, it's on me that I failed to think of another acceptable option to you that wasn't literal genocide. I'm actually SO sad that my people had to die no matter what :( "
Null can't understand. Vhailor is a collaborator. She doesn't get to feel guilty about the destruction of her people if she agrees with the invader, with the premise that sealed their fates. Null asks point blank if Vhailor's people deserved to die. The undead empress replies that they didn't. With that, Null can't stand to be in Vhailor's presence any longer - she has nothing to learn from her. The rogue curtly leaves through a nearby portal, cursing Vhailor's name.
The rest of the Ashen Company, namely Silas and Flynn, apologize for their friend. Her sister just died, you see. The gang doesn't hang out too much longer. Before they go, Silas sympathizes with Vhailor and offers her a boon to light up the eternal darkness that surrounds her (Flare's passive ability). They leave through the portal.
Upon zapping back to the end of all things and reuniting with Null, all hear a voice in their heads.
"Cruel. Sloppy. But not without hope."
[We're the cruel ones? The big Peeper in the sky manufactures the destruction of civilizations and we're the cruel ones? Bro's gotta get some perspective. Can a literal eyeball learn to see inwards?]
Okay bye!