Hostage's "Leash" Seems A Tad Short

[Mallador]

In one of the Slot Machine missions in St. Martial you have to defeat all of the Devouring Earth in a small cave, collect four jewels (chests), and then escort High Roller out of said cave.  However, when you try to escort him he loses you if you go farther than a few meters--a little less than the distance my character is away from him in that picture.

 

It seems a bit short compared to other escorts, no?  Could be a feature since he's an "old retired villain" basically, or it's a bug, but I just wanted to check (lol).

[GM Kal]

You seem transparent in that pic.
Is that dark shadowfall or cloak of darkness?

Any active stealth will reduce the follow range for escorts. Just turn your stealth power off as you lead them out.

[Mallador]

Oh ok, wouldn't have guessed that ally NPCs would be effected by that.  Thank you.

[srmalloy]

On 8/5/2022 at 3:28 PM, Mallador said:

Oh ok, wouldn't have guessed that ally NPCs would be effected by that.  Thank you.

Stealth affects all NPC 'followers'; the ones that fight alongside you (i.e., Doc Delilah in the last mission of her arc) have a higher perception but any NPC following you will get 'lost' if you get too far from them. You can take advantage of this -- in missions where I have to rescue several people and lead them out, I'll whack their guards and leave them there, stealthing past them until I've dropped all the guards and am at the hostage deepest into the mission, then turn off stealth as I head out, gathering them up as I head back to the door.

[starro]

In the older days of the game the escort mission out of a circle of thorns cave was a real p.i.t.a.

[Cinnder]

He's also trying to follow you up a hill.  Goodness knows even the slightest incline can completely flummox a following NPC.  If they don't get stuck in the terrain, of course.