Thanks so much for replying, that's really interesting! If it's no secret or subject for a new poe game (we can hope), what was Ydwin's companion quest supposed to be like? As in, what long term consequences, was she going to start experiencing them during the game, etc?
Sure!
So first caveat, I'm dredging this up from the murky mud of memory, so apologies if I'm getting anything wrong.
Second caveat, this was something we considered for Beast of Winter. Ydwin may have had a completely different companion quest design sketched out for the base game, but if so it was cut before I joined that project.
I don't believe it ever got far beyond a design and a rough draft, but my intention was a balance of tragic and bittersweet. The core conceit was that her transformation wasn't the cure for mortality she had hoped, and she was going to go the way of all Pillars undead. Already, she wasn't as quick as she'd once been, and she'd begin to forget things over the course of the campaign.
The crux of the quest was an attempt to find a potential experimental cure. If I recall correctly, the experiment beat was ethically pretty horrid (soul theft and grafting or the like). It would've climaxed with the player encouraging, discouraging, or preventing her selfish harvest of others.
If she went through with it, the experiment would indeed help her stave off her decay. If the experiment was prevented, she'd have alt lines illustrating occasional confusion and forgetfulness.
The companion arc culminated in helping (or you know, not) her deal with whatever the outcome of the above was, from eagerly pushing her to continue harvesting to prolong her unlife to encouraging her to accept mortality and make the most of what time she had left.
This was designed as a bit of a mirror and compliment to the stories of Vatnir, Rynhaedr, and Neriscyrlas.
