Twenty minutes later, JohnWillStab was standing in the middle of the inn while the others sat at the various different tables, John purchased a load of cheap booze from the (also terrified) innkeeper and distributed it to every NPC in the room, he wasn’t sure if he should give the booze to the kids, but if they actually existed for sixteen years they’d be drinking anyway.

He was in contact with the rest of his group, Bonifacius and Bromy agreed that they should treat the NPCs as if they were sentient in case they actually were.

♕ seemed confused more than anything else, she refused to accept that a random NPC could evolve sentience, claiming “That is literally not how games work, how would that even happen?!”.

Foxly seemed to take the news pretty well, stating: “I mean, it would be awesome if they were real, but I’m pretty sure they aren’t, fam.”

"JohnWillStab: Alright! Listen up! For the time being, the guild of ‘Log Tentacle Frog Online’ recognises your sentience unless proven otherwise!"

"Town Guard: What happened!? Why am I… here!?"

"Town Guard: WHY IS MY NAME TOWN GUARD!?"

"Town Guard: YOU TOO!? WE’RE FU#*ED!"

"Thief: HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO LIVE WITH A NAME LIKE THIS!?"

"JohnWillStab: Trust me, you'll manage..."

"Child: I’VE BEEN HERE LONGER THAN ANY OF YOU!"

"Inn Chef: I CAN’T EVEN COOK! I JUST HAVE FOOD IN MY INVENTORY WHENEVER I CHECK!"

"Town Guard: I DON’T WANNA GET KILLED ANYMORE!"

"JohnWillStab: Everyone! Drink your sorrows away like the rest of us!"

"Town Guard: YOU’RE ONE TO TALK, PLAYER!"

"JohnWillStab: Relax! Nobody’s going to die anymore!"

"Inn Chef: Can you promise us that?!"

"JohnWillStab: …"

Could he promise that? He can’t stay online forever, plus he can’t protect anybody from strong enough players or monsters.

"JohnWillStab: Yeah, you’re right, I don’t care."

He played the /shrug emote and moved towards the door.

"JohnWillStab: I won’t ask for the money for the booze back, consider it a parting gift."

"Thief: Wait, you’re leaving?!"

"JohnWillStab: Do you have a different suggestion?"

"Thief: …"

"JohnWillStab: I don’t have the tiniest bit of respect for people who lay around and try and cry their problems away."

"Town Guard: YOU EXPECT US TO PRETEND EVERYTHING IS OK!?"

"JohnWillStab: No! I expect you to do something with your lives because sitting on the fu#*ing ground isn’t helping anyone stay alive!"

"Town Guard: You don’t know what it's like…"

"JohnWillStab: Of course we do, every last player here and in any other game knows what sentience is like, if reality was so f#*king great we wouldn’t be playing this game, would we?"

"Thief: …"

"Child: …"

"Thief: …"

"JohnWillStab: If you want to die, or pray for some imaginary admin to pop down and fix everything that’s your choice. If you want to try and figure this sh#*storm out, you’re free to follow me."

With that, John proceeded to walk out the door and into the town.

He turned back to the inn and saw ten or so NPC walk out, two were children, four guards, the innkeeper, a blacksmith, the thief and a generic farmer.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

John sent a private message to ♕.

"JohnWillStab: Can you teleport me and any NPC within… let’s say ten meters to the base?"

"♕: Hold on…"

Moments later the group of ten NPCs and John appeared in an almost complete base.

"Bonifacius: Greetings, fellow NPCs!"

Immediately John sent a message to Bonifacius.

"JohnWillStab: What are you doing?"

"Bonifacius: This must be confusing for them! We need to make them feel at home!"

"JohnWillStab: They’re probably just hackers screwing with us!"

"♕: That’s absolutely what this is!"

"JohnWillStab: Get out of the private messages!"

Back in normal chat:

"JohnWillStab: Yes, this is Bonifacius, a fellow NPC of yours…"

"Bonifacius: Yes, I like long walks on the exact same route every specified amount of time!"

"Thief: Wait, you’re an NPC?!"

"Bonifacius: Yes! I am! I used to give out quests to adventurers!"

"Thief: Really?! I always wanted to be a quest-giver! What quest did you give out?!"

"♕: He had us players collect the heads of thieves!"

Bonifacius’ heart sank as he heard that, he wanted to give out to ♕, but he didn’t want to risk seeming too player-like.

"Thief: … I see…"

"Bonifacius: I’m sorry! I never had a choice!"

"Bonifacius: For years I had to watch my fellow NPC be killed, at my request no less! Every day I had nothing but guilt and regret for the poor souls I brought to the end of their lives!"

"Thief: I-it’s alright… you couldn’t have done anything!"

"Bonifacius: My blood-stained hands are not worthy of your forgiveness…"

He played the /cry emote.

"Child: What happens now?"

While Bonifacius was sobbing at the fictional memories of the dozens of his people he killed, JohnWillStab decided to come up with some sort of solution.

"JohnWillStab: Right, I think we should start with some basic exchange of information to help us come to a decision on what to do in this situation!"

"Child: What kind of information?"

From afar, Bromy and ♕ watched the NPCs, Bournell was busy finishing off the roof of the main building, he insisted nobody touch it because it needed to be perfect.

"♕: John’s really getting into this, isn’t he…"

"Bromy: Yeah, he looks like he’s in his element, maybe he’s used to dealing with crowds…"

A while of silence passed before they both played the /laugh emote.

"♕: HIM!? GOOD WITH CROWDS!? AHAHAHAHA"

"Bromy: I know right!?"

"JohnWillStab: For now, we agreed to treat you as if you were low-level players, and as such you are free to stay within the safety of our guild base, though in order to provide any required resources we need to know more about you."

"Town Guard: Alright… what do you want to know?"

"JohnWillStab: Thanks for co-operating, we’d like to know if you need food, water or any other items to live."

"Town Guard: We cannot starve to death, but we can feel hunger and thirst, as for rest, it functions the same as hunger…"

"JohnWillStab: Thank you, next I would like to ask if you are capable of player-like interactions."

"Farmer: What do you mean by that?"

"JohnWillStab: I mean, can you trade with players? Or use emotes like waving or jumping?"

A few of the people waved or sat down as a demonstration of their abilities.

"Farmer: You trying to rob us?!"

"Town Guard: He wants to take our armour!"

"Bonifacius: Have you no decency, player!?"

"Thief: So that’s your plan?!"

Bromy laughed in the distance as he started heading down the steps towards the base of the building.

"Bromy: I guess he’s not all that great with angry crowds."

♕ watched from afar, she still refused to accept the idea that AI could just magic itself into sentience, but the situation was entertaining if nothing else.

"JohnWillStab: No, no, that’s not it!"

Bromy walked a step ahead of John and addressed the NPCs.

"Bromy: I must say, I’m quite impressed with your ability to acquire food without having it traded to you by a player!" He exclaimed sarcastically, the crowd fell silent as he said that.

Bromy: Can you photosynthesise by chance? I would love to see! Hey, y’know what! Why don’t I help you, people, out? Starting with that bearded one over there!"

He pointed to Bonifacius who looked around in confusion as he realised he was the one selected by Bromy.

In a single swift motion, Bromy cast a dozen or so vines to grab onto Bonifacius and plunge him deep into the ground.

"Bromy: Oops, doubt he’ll be doing much photosynthesis down there."

A private message came to John from Brony.

"Bromy: Come on, corpse, play your part, “guild leader”"

Realizing this was part of Bromy’s plan John immediately knew what he was supposed to do.

"JohnWillStab: There is no need for this violence, it’s natural for them to be concerned about our interest in all this."

"Thief: Y-yeah!"

"Farmer: You should have just asked if you can trade us food!"

"JohnWillStab: I apologise I’m not all that great at public speaking!"

"♕: Bul#*hit."

"Bromy: What do you mean? You are the leader of this guild which has offered the NPCs safety from both monsters and other players!"

“The leader?”

“He’s in charge?!”

Whispers spread around the NPCs, granted they looked like normal messages to the rest of the party, though the whispering animation was used, basically the talking animation, except the NPC’s cover their mouths.

“FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK! I DIDN’T EVEN REALISE BUT HE’S RIGHT!” John thought, he wanted to give the leadership of the guild to Bonifacius since he seemed like the kind of charismatic person who could lead people.

"JohnWillStab: That may be the case! But that’s only because I want to make sure that if they are, in fact, sentient, we do not do anything we would regret in the future!"

"Bromy: Whatever, I didn’t even kill the bearded guy, though, I think I’ll go cool off for a bit."

Bromy climbed back up the stairs to ♕ who was impressed with their unplanned good-cop-bad-cop act.

"♕: Nicely played, officer."

"Bromy: I have some experience in talking to patients in real life, but I can’t say I’m anywhere near his level… it’s strange…"

"♕: Patients? Like players?"

"Bromy: No, I’m a doctor in real life."

"♕: …"

"♕: …you almost had me there for a second."

"Bromy: I’m serious."

"♕: Sure, and I’m an astronaut!"

"Bromy: What did you think I do for a living?"

"♕: I wasn’t sure, but now I’m starting to see a career for you as a horror writer."

She played the /laugh emote.

"♕: You?! An actual, licenced, professional doctor with medical and moral standards!?"

Bromy sighed, “Why do these people never believe me when I tell them I’m a doctor…?”