After everyone woke up a meeting as arranged inside of the guild base, there was no time to admire the fine craftsmanship and tiled floors.
"JohnWillStab: Right... I'm sure we are all pretty overwhelmed by what's going on... so let's try and figure out a basic game plan."
"Bonifacius: I think that our top priority should be the NPC situation - after all, judging from the global chat nobody else had the cross-reality abilities we discovered."
"JohnWillStab: Yeah, I agree - what about you guys?"
"XxFoxlyxX: Personally, I'm still struggling to accept they're real - so I think our sense of small and stuff takes priority."
"♕: Logically speaking, none of the two strange things that took place make any sense... but both the hangover and the smell/taste was real - so I think we should entertain the idea that NPCs are sentient, making them our top concern."
XxFoxlyxX looks at ♕ with a surprised look.
"XxFoxlyxX: Heh, never expected you to be somone who values human life."
"♕: What do you mean!? Of course I do!"
"Bromy: I for one think the NPCs should take priority, I can't wait to see if any of their biology changed..."
Bromy looked out into spece whilest dreaming of #### ####### #### the #### until it resembled a ##### with #####
"XxFoxlyxX: ..."
"♕: ..."
"Bonifacius: ..."
"JohnWillStab: ..."
"Bromy: I feel the self-writing emotes will doom me one day..."
"JohnWillStab: Why did it get censored out?"
Bromy shrugged.
"Bromy: Who knows."
"JohnWillStab: In any case, I guess we should focus on NPCs for now, though, Foxly I'll have a job for you in regards our "abilities""
XxFoxlyxX raised an eyebrow.
"XxFoxlyxX: A job?"
"JohnWillStab: I'll explain later."
"JohnWillStab: Now then, what exactly should we do about the NPCs?"
"Bromy: I can't see them surviving long-term with the chaotic nature of players, so unless we keep them locked-away, they're screwed."
"Bonifacius: Perhaps if we inform the players of the state of affairs they could stop their assults on the NPCs?"
"JohnWillStab: Well, aside from everyone calling us crazy, even if one in 100 players is a sadist like that Olivionion guy..."
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
A shiver went down JohnWillStab's spine.
"♕: What about... like... if we build a massive wall... and wall the NPCs in?"
"Bonifacius: That idea doesn't sound too wrong, though I can see that being seen as an act of imprisonment, plus the walls would fall eventually..."
"XxFoxlyxX: Just stick them in the weeaboo walls." he stated jokingly.
"JohnWillStab: ...The what?"
"Bonifacius: A long time ago, the game developers led a competition to see which new type of zone would appear... the vote... came in and the devs were quite dissapointed."
XxFoxlyxX errupted into laugher.
"XxFoxlyxX: THEY VOTED FOR THE MOST CRINGY WEEABOO ZONE!!!"
"♕: Yeah, they even had the pink trees and rice-fields."
"Bromy: I liked the zone :/"
"Bonifacius: Whatever the case, the zone is locked away with a massive wall, located in one of the harshest zones in the world, guarded by powerful monsters to keep any players out."
"♕: Yeah, nobody can get inside for more than a split-second before dying or getting teleported out."
"JohnWillStab: ...But if we made it inside..."
"Bonifacius: No, I can't see that working out..."
"♕: Same..."
"JohnWillStab: What if we buff the NPCs to make sure they can't die?
"Bromy: You'd be making the torturer's job easier."
"JohnWillStab: So, maybe the solution is to... y'know..."
JohnWillStab looked away from the party realising that there was only one solution that was a 100% guarenteed solution.
"Bromy: I think we can all agree that we have no clue what's going on right now."
"Bromy: I think that the best outcome is for the NPCs to just pop back to their role as NPCs, though we're in no position to make that decision for them."
"♕: I say we hand them some gold and some loot and drop the off in some town."
"JohnWillStab: How does that solve our problem?"
"♕: Well, being a nice person aside, why are we obligated to help them?"
Nobody replied, they all knew she had a point.
"♕: I hope you remember we are just one, 5-man guild! I'm sad to say that we havn't managed to refine your optimism into a fuel with which we will defent the NPCs."
"JohnWillStab: So we should just let them get killed?"
♕ let out an aggrivated sigh.
"♕: They have cities with giant wall and guards, John - we aren't the gods of their world and we aren't obligated to do anything for them."
"Bromy: True, though we can't argue with the fact that we are in a position of power when compared to them."
"♕: Yes, and as people with computers to play this game we are all in a position of financial power to donate to some poor country, but we don't."
An even longer silence filled the room.
"JohnWillStab: I guess you're right..."
"♕: Exactly."
"JohnWillStab: It was a bit stupid of me to assume we have some sort obligation to deal with this."
"Bromy: Yup."
"Bonifacius: Tis not something which brings me joy... but we are just 5 people."
"JohnWillStab: I understand, I've been pressuring the whole guild into my abitious goals."
While nobody said anything, there were no objections.
John stood up from his seat.
"JohnWillStab: I will do no such thing anymore."
He headed through the door and towards the outside, playing the /bye emote before going downstairs.
"Bonifacius: It would appear we crushed his spirit completely..."
"♕: He needed a slap from reality, and you know it."
"XxFoxlyxX: I guess you're right."
"Bromy: Oh he got a slap from reality, though I don't know if you got the outcome you wanted..."
"♕: What do you mean?"
"Bromy: Check the player list in our guild."
Quickly everyone in the party opened the guild roster and noticed that it only had four names within.
"♕: That son of a b#*ch!"
"Bromy: I guess he must've been really passionate about the topic of helping the NPCs."
"Bonifacius: We need to go after him!"
"XxFoxlyxX: I'll message him!"
Foxly tried to message JohnWillStab only to be greeted by an error.
"This player has made his friendslist and private messages: private."
"XxFoxlyxX: He privated his friends list."
The guild roster went down by another name.
"♕: Fine, I'm out too. Lemme know when the attention seeker comes back."
With that she teleported out (and set her friends list to private).
The three players, Bonifacius, Bromy, XxFoxlyxX exhanged a look before falling silent for a while.
"Bromy: I'm not leaving."
Bromy shrugged as he stood up and headed to the lab.
"XxFoxlyxX: Well... guess I'll try and track them down..." he stood up and headed towards the door.
"Bonifacius: I suppose I shall go help the two-dozen NPCs awaiting our help..."
[https://i.imgur.com/1I26dRK.png]