When you have a "friend" with you they need to add "Protect (blank). If he dies, you lose." On some of the missions, such as Sanctum Cay (protecting the mage guy), they TELL you to protect this person or you lose. However, on other missions, like Thunderhead Keep, they don't mention a thing about you losing if, in this example, King Jalis Ironhammer dies. I just got to the end of Thunderhead Keep, killed Dagnar, and was cleaning up the rest of the fort, when, BOOM, I lose, because I didn't know that it mattered if he died, and therefore, wasn't paying attention to him.
It wouldn't be too hard to add "Protect King Jalis Ironhammer" to that mission, and on other missions where there are similar situations, to the Quest Log.
Add "Don't let (blank) die" to Mission Objectives
MoGJeremiah
Pleistoanax Lambert
It should be more obvious you need to protect him...
Always protect an NPC when they are getting attacked
Always protect an NPC when they are getting attacked