As for the Traveler making a stand.... I think that all can be said for sure is that this whole thing is murky at best. Rasputin definitely considered attacking the Traveler to force it to stay, and the Traveler definitely did put up a fight either willingly or under coercion. The problem here is that it's not 100% clear if Rasputin went through with his plan to force the Traveler to fight or not, or if the Traveler really did decide to stand its ground and fight the Darkness. Either way I look at this there is an element of doubt due to the way the grimoire cards are written.