I have an option in a quest where you can go and speak to a bandit leader and his bandits in a cave. They come out to meet with you.

However, it's possible to kill these generic NPCS before the quest, as they're just normal bandits in a cave.

So what are my options? Is there a way to CREATE the NPCs if they don't already exist (are dead), but just use the normal ones otherwise? Because the bandits must exist for this option of the quest but they cannot be made essential because that would be weird if you're not at that point of the quest yet.

Essentially, I cannot make them essential/protected but they must be there and fill my aliases, even if they were previously killed. How can I do this?