If you haven't played it, don't keep reading but I'll be vague just in case people didn't read the warnings.
When you get to a certain room with a certain person, does that other certain person always appear with the same consequences... whether you chose the optional step at the Sanctuary or not?
I have been mostly doing contracts and farming motifs for myself and to help friends, but am working on the main quest-line now.
I chose to NOT do the OPTIONAL step at all while still at the Sanctuary and getting info on where to go from the NPC for that quest. Hopefully it's not too vague... if someone decided to go with the optional step and choose to lie or tell the truth, etc... with the same results as I posted above, please post. If so, I'll have to either drop and re-do it or do it on one of my several alts that are max level.