Out of the Abyss: Alternate Faction Rewards?

[Grod_The_Giant]

After Chapter 8, the players are supposed to wind up with dozens of hirelings following them back into the Underdark. The problem is that I really, really don't want to have to deal with roleplaying that many npcs. At the same time, I don't want to just replace them with, oh, a pile of helpful magic items-- the party is already pretty well equipped. Does anyone have some suggestions for alternatives that the factions might offer up?

(Combat isn't the issue; I have some good ways of handling that.)

[Jerrykhor]

That's a bridge i'll have to cross one day too, am currently running OOTA and the party are now heading to Neverlight Grove. After getting rid of more than half the prisoners, i was quite happy to trim down the party size. I never liked running friendly NPCs in combat, just feels weird for them to be fighting against my enemy NPCs.

Maybe say that the hirelings are busy doing background stuff, therefore can't follow the party around? I'm not sure what alternatives are there.

[Fable Wright]

Have you considered giving the players these NPCs to roleplay? "Jack, you're roleplaying Bob's delegation. Here are the stat blocks and general attitude. Jane, you're doing Shane's."

Cuts down on the DM work substantially and gives them more depth than you'd usually get.

[Dungeon-noob]

Have you considered giving the players these NPCs to roleplay? "Jack, you're roleplaying Bob's delegation. Here are the stat blocks and general attitude. Jane, you're doing Shane's."

Cuts down on the DM work substantially and gives them more depth than you'd usually get.
Wait, there's people who don't run OotA that way? Man, that has be a chore. I didn't get much time with the module, but that's how i approached it too. Gives the players more agency and reason to like the NPCs, likely to make things more fun as they get to roll more of the shiny cllick-clacks.

Edit: For alternate rewards, giving specific intel (who's where, what abilities do certain enemies have), contacts (sending the minions on ahead to diplomacy before the party gets there, for example) or higher end minions like the shield guardian or other higher CR beings that could be helpfull to bring along that take up less time are some minor ideas that come to my mind. Or a few *free* rezzes/cures, i dunno.

[Grod_The_Giant]

For combat, I handled the prisoners as equipment (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?571167-Out-of-the-Abyss-quot-NPCs-as-Equipment-quot). That way they still could have a presence without taking up too much time or spotlight. It worked quite well from the mechanical angle, I just couldn't handle giving personalities to more than one or two at a time, and a lot of my players were too inexperienced at that point to roleplay multiple dudes.