I just completed her storyline for the first time - my previous captains all died or retired before I got around to her. Her story progressed differently than I expected - I thought I’d be helping her with assassins, but she saw the problem differently.
I watched her duel, and sparred with her the night before because I always loved sparring with her. Iron is a weak stat for my captain, who mostly excels at Mirrors/Veils/Engine power, and always carries at least one decent weapon.
I watched the duel for the same reason I accompanied Maybe’s Daughter as far as I could - because I wanted to be there if it was possible to help. In the latter’s case, I felt it was. In the case of the Adventuress, though, I figured she would be victorious or otherwise evade death for awhile, rather than leave me on my own. Instead, she gives out some near-top-tier rewards before fighting the duel and she’s gone before you realize it. I felt guilty about sparring with her the night before the duel, but it seemed like the most productive way to make sure she went in sharp. From the look of it, she simply has various no-cap lessons to offer on the eve of her death, implying that at the age of 100 she still has quite a bit to teach your character - that if it weren’t for her family’s mistakes, she might have spend nine more lifetimes as one of the zee’s foremost combatants, and the dynamic between the two of you might have eventually changed.
I looked hard through every wiki and message board source I could find, and found no information about promoting her. In spite of that, her stats compare favorably to every other Gunnery Officer out there - second-highest Iron, with a Veils bonus that helps with getting into position to deliver that punishment. Not quite the hardest hitter, but the sneakiest, and a great pickup for an early-game captain who needs all the Veils they can get. I like to think of her as having had all of her promotions before she met the player character towards the end of her life, and I wish I’d been able to cash in on some more of her lessons. With all said and done, the profoundly empty feeling of seeing her slot emptied was a powerful moment. And that the player character can stand witness to her last words and her last battle is a powerful moment - particularly considering the themes that surface throughout her storyline.
Her abilities were in decline, and after a century coffee sorbet didn’t make things better anymore. Those monks probably didn’t know the significance of their words when they suggested she go to Abbey Rock, but at least the sisters didn’t mislead or insult her - they just promised her what she wanted. And I took her there. I thought she’d win, and we’d set off together to settle her family’s accounts. Nope.
After losing her, my zee-captain met the Campaigner and wasn’t ready to lose anybody else - so she pounded her way to every corner of the zee at considerable expense, to get that medicine. The zee would not take this one from us. No, not again.