When I got to Eldieme Necropolis for the Fellowship quest, I buffed up my character and clicked on the ??? down the stairs and the NM spawned. Before the fight was over, the NPC died so I zoned and came back and examined the ??? again. Thanks to a passerby I killed the NM with my NPC still alive.

I went to Upper Jeuno and talked to Luto and zoned to talk to her again. Now I needed to go to Sando to finish the quest to get the Signal Pearl. I got to Ghelsba Outpost and got in the hut. I killed the dragon and my NPC was safe. I warped back to Jeuno and got the Pearl! Now I have a NPC partner by the name of Balu-Falu. When I get my RDM to a higher level I’ll finish the other NPC quests.