Going to keep this short, just my view on this:
- I am very sure that Laura was aware of what Matt was suggesting as the NPC, to give into the storm.

- It's very clear to me that Laura was making a very conscious character choice to not do that because she felt like her character wouldn't and would go down with her friends before giving in to the storm.
- Matt is very much allowed to have NPCs be cruel and unreasonable and evil in any way the players are ok with, as Matt said in his tweet they have an understanding at the table that combats can be lethal towards their characters and I think that should be accepted.
- I am bothered by one very specific point though - that Matt called for multiple Wisdom saving throws for Laudna to give in, bypassing Laura's agency as a player. I disagree with Matt's decision here, though maybe it was his very last backup to the backup to keep the story going - I kind of understand the reasoning if so but I still disagree. This was, for every reason, a pivotal character moment for Imogen played by Laura. I think having multiple rolls of the dice called for by Matt is a breach of player agency, that's really the thing that bothered me about the session.

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- Just my thoughts, Laura is a very smart person and I really don't think she was unaware of the hints Matt was dropping. I think she made a very conscious decision that Matt overruled with multiple calls for Wisdom saving throws, which imo is a breach of player agency. I have no issue with any of the other elements of this episode, was fully expecting a TPK and was impressed that that was on the table.