Some parties rescue NPCs, and then there are other parties who “rescue” NPCs in the same way a tornado “relocates” a barn. They don’t mean to kidnap anyone. They simply have a talent for collecting people the way other groups collect magic items.
It always starts with good intentions. A frightened villager. A wounded scout. A shopkeeper who happened to be standing too close when the goblins attacked. The party steps in, helps them up, dusts them off… and then, somehow, never lets them leave. They say things like “It’s safer if you travel with us” and “We’ll drop you off at the next town,” but the next town never comes, because the party keeps finding new problems, new quests, new reasons to drag this poor NPC deeper into the plot.
The NPC tries to protest. They mention a family. A job. A life. The party nods sympathetically and then hands them a backpack.
Before long, the NPC is sleeping in the camp, eating rations, and being asked to hold torches during combat. They’ve become part of the travelling ecosystem, a sort of emotional support civilian. The DM didn’t plan for this. The DM didn’t want this. The DM now has to roleplay a terrified accountant who has witnessed three murders, two rituals, and a dragon, all in the same afternoon.
And the party? They’re oblivious. They think they’re being kind. They think they’re protecting some fragile soul. They think they’re doing the right thing. They don’t realise they’ve essentially abducted a bystander and forced them into a life of adventure they never asked for.
They’re not villains. They’re just… enthusiastic.
And now the NPC is part of the story forever, because no one knows how to let them go without feeling like monsters.