Ori jumped off the boat to the sandy beach, the waves lapping behind him and a soft breeze carrying the cries of birds and a salty smell, he walked towards the jungle when the last vote was cast and it was a clear decision to make a native village.
[System: you are now a resident NPC of a native village in the Unknown northern sea, choose your profession
[a] shark hunter
[b] pearl diver
[c] jaguar trapper
[d] canoo carver
[e] shadow dancer
[f] thunder caller]
He picked thunder caller because it sounded awesome and immediately recieved the outfit and a list of idle routines that would let him beat the jaguar drums and bring forth a storm of sounds and illusions, looking around he saw others picking up the other professions as their outfits were all different, he found another man and a woman dressed like him and when they came together they had to option to buy a thunder hut to live and work in.
Soon other huts joined theirs and in front of his hut were placed three big drums covered by jaguar skins, when he picked up a stick and started beating the drum a sound permeated across the beach and he could see the jungle opening up around their huts, becoming more civilised, canoo boats lined the beach and some were already taken out by shark hunters to gather the rich bounty in the feef.
Beating the drum was second nature, the idle routines let him move from a quick staccatto to a thundering roar passing on emotions and giving the other NPCs credits as they plied their jobs in the rhythems he conjured, after two hours of beating the drums he recieved the message.
[System: it seems the drum you are beating cannot express the full power of the thunder caller, would you like to issue a quest for players to gather Jaguar skins for you to improve your drums? Y/N]
[System: it seems the heads of your drumsticks dont create the perfect beat, would you like to issue a quest for players to bring you pearls of better quality to enhance your music? Y/N]
[System: it seems your drums are cracking, would you like to issue a quest for players to aquire better bodys for your drums from the canoe carvers? Y/N]
[System: your music has swayed the hearts of many, but the bodies of few, would you like to issue a quest for players to form a shadow dancer troupe that will bring your performance to new heights? Y/N]
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Picking yes for each of the messages was a mistake as immediately his drum broke, the skin ripped, the sticks shatterd on the broken drum and he could feel his spirit falling as he just stood there staring at the broken tools of his trade.
"Your new at this aren't you?" the woman asked, "never issue quests unless a player is close by".
He stared at her "but this doesn't make sense?"
She leaned over her drum "it does when you consider it in their perspective", giving a couple of beatings to her drum, "we are here to entertain the paying customers", she sighed "you could use credits to get a new drum" then she pointed at his broken items "but it won't be as good as what you could get from the players"
"I don't understand" he just looked at her as if she fell from the sky "what do they need us for?"
"we create diversity" she started beating a rhythm "we teach our NPCs how to play their roles", speeding up the tempo "after you will interact with a few players you will get credits and be encouraged to either move to another role or evolve your current character".
He tried to pick the sticks from the other man's drum and beat it but no sound came out, he sat down and held his head in his hands "this is stupid".
"Yes it is" she said "my name is Leo by the way", slowing down her beat "why did you choose a music class if you dont know all this?"
Turning towards her "it just sounded cool" the idle routine made him hug his broken drum, "now what do I do?"
"Now you wait for players and issue your quests for them", she looked at him "and when they finish you play your music until they leave", she pointed at the drum "or you use your credits to get the pieces from other NPCs".
"I am Ori" he reached with his hand and she shook it, "what do you think i should do?"
"Now you ask", she sighed, "you should issue the quests as the system offers them" pointing towards the ships fighting in the distance, "soon we will be swamped with players", she shook her head, "most of them will just rampage and harass the characters", then she breathed out, "but some allways look for things to do".
He looked at her quizzically, "why don't they just play the game?"
"The violence is the game for them", Leo was starting to give up on him, "they come here to get their thrills, to most that means violence and mayhem in a controlled enviroment"
Three small boats left the Odacious and were making their way to the shore while the ship itself moved to hide them from the enemy.
"What is happening?" Ori asked Leo but no sound came out.
[System: Notice NPC do you want to pay 10 credits to add new lines to Thunder Caller character? Y/N]
He chose to pay but there was no reply from Leo, when he looked at her she seemed transformed, somehow less human.
"Whlcome to our village stranger" came from Leo's direction, "A storm hit our village not long ago".
Ori knew he was way out of his depth in this character, having previously only played at low levels of the game where the character had huge vocabularies, he now realised that was thanks to previous NPCs that played thos characters and payed to add more dialogue lines to their menu.
"Praise be to our ancestors" he muttered and watched as the battle played out.
A ship and its captain were fighting for their lives under the watchful eyes of local villagers that held their breath to see what the fates held for them tomorrow.