NPC gives quest, instantly dies

[TheMurderUnicorn]

So I went over to chat to the NPC that had literally never left the evac shelter. He told me he was infected and gave me a quest to get him antibiotics, saying he would only have a few days to live!

I walked four or so tiles across the shelter in the dark to get some, realized I had some in my inventory and turned back. He was dead, leaving a corpse and all his supplies.

Why’d that happen? No enemies anywhere nearby, presumably he was killed by the infection but I don’t understand why it would say I had a few days and then kill him within six or seven turns.

[psyxypher]

Because the infection timer started when the NPC spawned (not when the quest started), and had already elapsed when you started the quest.

That’s my guess, anyway.

[NuG]

I’ve had the same thing happen with an asthmatic NPC a while back.
I would get the quest and then check around the car for an inhaler, but they would die before I could get it to them, usually within a few turns. I was carrying an inhaler on me for a while just because of that, but haven’t had it happen in a while.

[kevin.granade]

Hmm, it’s fine if it’s set at game start, but if it sets it when the quest is started, but it’s retroactively applied that’s a problem. The latter seems plausible.

[TheMurderUnicorn]

It seems unlikely that my NPC had it set at spawn, as I’d been survived over a year and he’d just been standing there. I had completely ignored the NPC until that point. Based on some of the comments, I figured he was infected and dying, whether I talked to him or not. Actually, I think I remember talking to him a few times when I first started playing, but not for months after that.

IE: He was infected on a timer. Timer ticked down. I talked to him and it just happened to be a few moments before the timer was set to expire.

Unless the flag was set when the quest was given to me, in which case there’s no reason he should have died so quickly, which I think is what you’re saying.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware enough of what was going on to take screenshots and I know virtually nothing about code.

[trelatyraelis]

Schrodinger’s survivor.
Alive until examined.