u/hbwilli413

There is an NPC I've been planning to kill for a while now that's a good friend to the Party and one PC specifically. I'm planning on killing them in a lowest point/Dark Night of the Soul moment that will be coming up in a month or two. He was going to be one of a couple of NPCs and allies to die and he would die sacrificing themselves to help save some of the party.

The problem was introduced when it came up in conversation that if said NPC dies "that would be hard to move on from" for one player. I asked for clarification, like if that meant it would make the game less enjoyable after that (I don't think I tipped them off or anything) and they said they didn't know.

So now I'm worried about killing them off. Should I still do it? I don't know. As the title says, I'm just looking for advice, thank you!

So lots of people like talking about how animals like Crocodile, Tortoises, Lobsters, Jellyfish, and all sorts of animals with Negligible Senescence don't age. Now I know this isn't strictly true, otherwise we'd have Immortal animals in Zoos. I know in captivity Tortoises don't usually live past 200, Crocodiles don't usually live past 100, and lobsters don't usually live past 50 or 60. But my question is, in those cases in captivity what are the specific causes of death?

In mammals, a group of creatures that very much do have senescence, dying of "old age" usually means heart disease, weakened immune system allowing infections or cancer, or just regular organ failure in organs like the liver or kidneys. But do animals with Negligible senescence die of the same things? If not what does get them in the end? If they do die of the same thing, what's the difference between negligible senescence and regular senescence?

TL;DR what are the specific causes of deaths for animals in captivity with negligible senescence that get to old?