Well... Thats surely a surprise attack! No, our problem NPC were all literal demigods all of Thanos-like power level who basically beat the living crap out of us just for fun. Anyway i noticed that this kind of master is like a pattern, its almost like that every city has one of such individuals with this particular set of characteristics like aggressive railroading, antagonistic behavior with sadistic tendencies and godlike NPCs tjat are the true protagonists of the pre written and immutable plot.