I don't recall the minimum sequence necessary to complete the 'battle' but it amounts to 'Learn that he's not fully corrupted by asking him about Kasyrra's 'blessing', don't antagonize him by mentioning anything sexual, keep pressing him on his situation as Ahmri's father because that's what's really driving his actions'.
The conversation battle is pretty hard to fail unless you just pick the same wrong option repeatedly. If you pay attention to what has been said about him before this, and pay attention to what is said during it and what your options are, it should be easy to win. As for skipping fights, you can't skip any fight except for the Taldahs fight, and that's because the fight is the corrupt path, while the conversation battle is the pure path.