Vallus was flat-out missing from this instance! I stole the key and opened an empty cage, then snuck through the citadel all by myself to reach the asura gate, and the cut scenes triggered normally (as far as I could tell — haven’t actually played the episode before). During the last fight I tried dropping a healing spring and watching the combat log to see if maybe he was functionally there but invisible to me. No sign of him. The episode ended and my story progressed, but I never saw him once in the instance itself.
We’re going to devote our energies to sports, gardening, all the cultural pursuits;
in fact, we’re going to put the goons to sleep.
Meanwhile – we dig.