When you reach nightsong's cell in the shadow-cursed lands, you'll need to make a crucial choice that changes everything. Watch her dialogue sequence carefully, as your decision triggers specific companion reactions especially from shadowheart who's standing closest to the ritual circle. If you're planning to save her, position your party members near the western exit before starting the conversation, since ketheric's forces will spawn from multiple directions once you break the binding. The save sequence requires precise timing with the ritual interruption, while killing her needs you to time your attack during the specific dialogue branch where she's most vulnerable.

For the save path make sure to have healing options ready since the following battle gets intense particularly when the shadow cursed soldiers arrive from the northern entrance. Keeping shadowheart near the ritual circle during this gives you better positioning for her abilities, and you'll want to focus fire the strongest enemies first since they can overwhelm you if left unchecked. If you're taking the dark path instead, triggering the kill sequence opens up a specific dialogue with shadowheart that leads to her transformation - the timing here matters because if you hesitate too long balthazar might intervene which forces a different outcome entirely. Either way you're looking at some serious combat right after, so having your buffs ready and positioning sorted is absolutely critical especially if you're playing on higher difficulties where the shadow warriors hit particularly hard.

Should mention the gear drops are pretty different depending on your choice - saving path gives you access to some selûne blessed items while the dark path opens up shar's specific equipment which honestly hits harder but comes with some serious story consequences. Timing your decision around your party's current level and equipment needs might be worth considering since some of these rewards can really change how your character performs in the upcoming shadow-cursed lands section.