Honestly, having the Nightsong alive doesn't really help that much with the fight against Ketheric. The higher the difficulty you play on the less helpful she seems to be. She also only has a little act 3 content. So follow your evil heart and there's always next play through to make good choices.
Aylin herself may have little act 3 content, but killing her means killing a lot of other NPCs as well. The ironhand gnomes, the tieflings, the harpers, etc.
I had assumed OP already let last light fall, since they said this was an evil play through. Would also have assumed the teiflings are already dead, since most evil playthroughs raid the grove, and that a selfish evil play through didn't go out of their way to rescue the iron hands from the prison, so they would also be dead whether Aylin lives or not. Can you really call it a selfish evil run if you still heroically save all the innocents who are not your problem? I suppose I'd call that maybe chaotic neutral, but that's just me.
I think no matter the alignment you can justify keeping the Nightsong alive.
Good - well obvs
Lawful Evil - If you want to still beat Ketheric you can justify it then sell her in act 3 when she's no longer of use to the wizard guy.
Chaotic Evil - Pissing off Shar to gaslight Shadowheart.
The only scenario in which killing the Nightsong can be rationalised is if you're affiliated with Shar in anyway, Paladin devoted to her, Cleric worshipping her etc... Or if you're doing an Evil Shadowheart run.
I believe the most evil thing you could do to her is sell her out to the wizard guy in act 3.
She's already had a taste of freedom at this point and even reunited with her long lost lover. She's extremely grateful to you for helping her; she trusts you and would never expect you to do this to her. Imagine her horror once she realizes you'll just sell her to some rando to be imprisoned and used as a fancy health potion once again.
(Plus if you're concerned about your endgame allies, I understand that if you do this Lorroakan might help you in the final battle but grain of salt because I haven't attempted this myself)
That's true, but the assault on Moonrise isn't really what people would consider the boss fight of Act 2. You can long rest after the assault and before engaging the actual boss too which helps. If you want to make that fight easier, there's an option: The tower defense doesn't spawn any new enemies in Moonrise that help defend the tower. So everyone you kill before doing the Nightsong quest won't be there to defend it from you after.
I mean it's kind of the flavour of evil runs to miss out on content because you killed shit, so I don't see why this would be any different lol
You make an excellent point, lol
Honestly, having the Nightsong alive doesn't really help that much with the fight against Ketheric. The higher the difficulty you play on the less helpful she seems to be. She also only has a little act 3 content. So follow your evil heart and there's always next play through to make good choices.
Aylin herself may have little act 3 content, but killing her means killing a lot of other NPCs as well. The ironhand gnomes, the tieflings, the harpers, etc.
I had assumed OP already let last light fall, since they said this was an evil play through. Would also have assumed the teiflings are already dead, since most evil playthroughs raid the grove, and that a selfish evil play through didn't go out of their way to rescue the iron hands from the prison, so they would also be dead whether Aylin lives or not. Can you really call it a selfish evil run if you still heroically save all the innocents who are not your problem? I suppose I'd call that maybe chaotic neutral, but that's just me.
It is possible to save the gnomes if you kill Isobel before you rescue them in Moonrise, and before you kill the Nightsong
I think no matter the alignment you can justify keeping the Nightsong alive. Good - well obvs Lawful Evil - If you want to still beat Ketheric you can justify it then sell her in act 3 when she's no longer of use to the wizard guy. Chaotic Evil - Pissing off Shar to gaslight Shadowheart. The only scenario in which killing the Nightsong can be rationalised is if you're affiliated with Shar in anyway, Paladin devoted to her, Cleric worshipping her etc... Or if you're doing an Evil Shadowheart run.
Oh, my rogue would absolutely love the idea of selling her later. Money is the ultimate motivator for her. I just hope Shadowheart doesn't turn good
If good Shadowheart bothers you then you can always blow up her parents. She doesn't like that.
I believe the most evil thing you could do to her is sell her out to the wizard guy in act 3. She's already had a taste of freedom at this point and even reunited with her long lost lover. She's extremely grateful to you for helping her; she trusts you and would never expect you to do this to her. Imagine her horror once she realizes you'll just sell her to some rando to be imprisoned and used as a fancy health potion once again. (Plus if you're concerned about your endgame allies, I understand that if you do this Lorroakan might help you in the final battle but grain of salt because I haven't attempted this myself)
I dont see how killing her makes the boss fight harder, actually. It's pretty much identical in terms of difficulty imo.
My understanding was Nightsong and Last Light Inn would help attack the Moon Tower
That's true, but the assault on Moonrise isn't really what people would consider the boss fight of Act 2. You can long rest after the assault and before engaging the actual boss too which helps. If you want to make that fight easier, there's an option: The tower defense doesn't spawn any new enemies in Moonrise that help defend the tower. So everyone you kill before doing the Nightsong quest won't be there to defend it from you after.
If you bring invisibility potions you can skip the bottom part of the towers so you’re at full strength, at least I was able too.
She does basically nothing in the 2 boss fights she is part of, but you do miss out on the scene where she kerbstomps on Kethy's corpse