The people you meet in the dungeon can offer work, ask for practical help, and remember how you treated them. Earn enough loyalty from someone and you can ask them to join your party. Their trust belongs to that person, so return to the same NPC as you build it.
Start a conversation
Speak to the NPC and ask them about themselves. Their background and outlook can give you a sense of how to approach them. Your Charisma shapes the first impression: a higher score starts the relationship more warmly and increases loyalty gained from helping.
Take on their work
If Have you any work for me? appears, ask for the contract and read its objective and rewards before accepting. Accepted work goes into your journal. It may ask you to defeat marked enemies, recover a marked item, or bring back an item carried by a particular enemy. A plain copy of a marked quest item will not count.
When the objective is ready, return to the giver and choose I have done what you asked. Turning in the contract grants loyalty as well as its listed reward. The giver waits 30 turns after a completed contract before offering another. Abandoning accepted work can damage your reputation when news reaches other NPCs.
Help with a smaller need
When an NPC has at least 10 loyalty, has no larger contract available, and needs something, Do you need anything? can appear. They may ask for food, drink, a weapon, ammunition, a ranged weapon, or a scroll. Accept the request to add it to your journal.
Carry the requested item back and choose I found what you need. The item is handed over, and you receive gold and loyalty. If the NPC has no need right now, or still has a larger contract to offer, this option will not appear.
Make the most of a moment
Sometimes a conversation opens with a personal moment instead of the usual choices. Your reply can raise or lower loyalty. Tell me about yourself may reveal what the person values or dislikes; use those clues when choosing between a kind, honest, practical, or other approach.
A reply marked with a Measure rolls dice. Success helps, but an approach the person dislikes can still weaken the result. You can leave the moment and return to the ordinary conversation. Moments are occasional, so contracts and practical help remain the steadier way to build trust.
Watch how word travels
NPCs can tell their friends about a contract you completed, a need you met, or work you abandoned. The listener's opinion of you can change before you meet them. Ask What do you make of the others? about someone you have met or observed. A friendly NPC may recommend that person if they have work or a practical need. Follow up on the referral in person.
Ask them to come with you
Once your first encounter with an NPC is complete and their loyalty reaches 80, Come with me. becomes available. An undead NPC will join only an undead player. The NPC joins your party and travels with you. A companion can fight, explore an adjacent room ahead of you, and wait in a room when you ask them to. They have their own needs and equipment, so keep an eye on how they are doing.
If you choose Wait here., the room needs a free place for them to stand. You can invite a trusted NPC back into the party later.