"???: undead."

The cloaked figure approached JohnWillStab who jumped a bit upon seeing it, “Did it escape Bromy?!” he thought before realizing that is something made it past Bromy they’d be dead anyway.

"JohnWillStab: Have mercy!"

He played the /plead emote which made him fall to the ground and beg.

"???: …"

"???: I’m looking for the one in charge of this… thing."

"JohnWillStab: You mean the guild? That’s me."

??? looked at JohnWillStab with a look of pity.

"JohnWillStab: …Stop that."

"???: Stop what?"

"JohnWillStab: Your pity, stop offering it."

"???: I don’t pity you… I’m just really sad when I look at you…"

"JohnWillStab: I MAY BE MISSING AN ARM BUT I CAN STILL BRAWL!"

"???: Yeah… sure… in any case – you friend convince me to give you guys a shot at fixing this."

"???: After sending out a request I was met with an automated reply telling me to, ‘Do whatever you want, stop calling this number, Greg!’"

“???: As such, I have take the feedback of the players into account and decided not to act,“

"JohnWillStab: Oh my god – he didn’t torture you, did he?! I’m so sorry.”

“???: No “

"JohnWillStab: Please accept the position as guild leader as compensation!"

"???: What? No, no – there’s no need for that."

"JohnWillStab: I insist!"

From behind, ♕ performed a strike to the back of John’s head/

"♕: You’re not getting out of work this easily…"

"JohnWillStab: It was worth a try T_T"

When John turned back to “???” they were already gone.

The large wooden doors opened revealing a large cart packed with supplies, pulling that cart was Pedecree.

"Pedecree: The food has arrived!"

"JohnWillStab: Thanks for coming on such short notice… T_T"

"Pedecree: No worries, though I wish you were more specific than “Bring food for about a dozen people”"

"JohnWillStab: Yeah… we were worried stuff might turn out weird if we told you the target audience…"

"Pedecree: …"

"JohnWillStab: Our NPCs turned sentient and are very hungry!"

Slowly Pedecree made his way away from the cart and towards John.

"Pedecree: …"

He placed a hand on John’s shoulder.

"Pedecree: Are you alright…"

"JohnWillStab: No, but that’s because I am now partially responsible for a dozen people’s lives and I am the guild leader and I don’t even want a dog or any other pet never mind kids but these people are even worse than kids because they don’t respawn, wait kids don’t respawn either but neither do animals, speaking of which I only have the few rats that live in my attic, but I don’t feed them because that’s a big responsibility and I don’t want them to depend on me y’know."

"Pedecree: …"

"Pedecree: Is Bony around?"

"Pedecree: Yeah, he’s pretending to be an NPC – so Bromy buried him in a hole."

"Pedecree: …"

"Thief: Hey, did you guys mention food? I haven’t eaten in like… seven years…"

"JohnWillStab: See?!"

In a sudden shift of attitude, Pedecree replied to the NPC.

"Pedecree: Seven years? That must be have been tough, I’ll get everything started in a second."

A look of relief and excitement spread on the Thief’s face.

"Thief: Thank you so much!"

The thief made his way back to the crowd of NPCs and started telling them about the food situation.

"Pedecree: And you’re saying they are actually sentient?"

"JohnWillStab: Well, checking that in itself is impossible, but they say so, and just a few minutes ago they were all having a panic attack because of all the years of being killed."

"Pedecree: I don’t particularly mind, but are you sure this isn’t… well… a big situation?"

"JohnWillStab: What do you mean?"

"Pedecree: Last I heard AI was a thing of science fiction, won’t the world governments get involved?"

"JohnWillStab: I doubt it, at first I thought the same thing, but all in all this is private tech, in the same way, they can’t stop you from making an artificial intelligence at home."

Pedecree was moving a giant box off the cart and onto the ground, the box disappeared and was replaced by a black, iron, furnace with a stove on the top.

"Pedecree: I suppose you’re right…"

"JohnWillStab: That’s not to say there won’t be other problems…"

Pedecree placed a large cast iron pan onto the stove, next to it he placed a massive pot, on the cart was a wooden chopping board.

"Pedecree: What do you mean by other problems?"

"JohnWillStab: More people joining of course, luckily for us – nobody is going to believe that the NPCs are sentient, but if too many people get too curious the servers might give out – for all we know that might be the end of hundreds, maybe thousands of sentient lives."

Pedecree started chopping vegetables, to Pedecree the procedure resembled may mini-games, one where you peal and or cut the various ingredients.

First, he started by chopping a large slab of beef into square chunks.

"Pedecree: I’m really not suited for this kind of stuff… Guess I’ll leave it to you guys."

"JohnWillStab: Yeah, no pressure for our 5-man guild…"

"Pedecree: You guys dug your own hole…"

Once the meat was chopped, it was placed on the pan to fry, John wasn’t much of a chef, his cooking experience mostly boiled down to preparing noodles, but he though the pan should be oiled before frying.

"Pedecree: Lucky for you, I brought some of my fancier beef. Pedecree changed the topic of conversation to relax, he was going to play as he normally would, no point getting involved with what doesn’t concern you."

Once the meat was done, Pedecree moved it to the pot to which he added water and various spices which John only recognised as “yellow powder, orange powder, dark orange powder and grey/Brown powder” as well as some salt.

"JohnWillStab: So, what are you making?"

"Pedecree: Well, I decided that since there were so many mouths to feed I would go for some classic food, sweet and spicy curry."

The mere thought made John’s stomach grumble in real life.

Bell peppers, carrots, onions – each one of those was cut and fried in the pan – upon closer inspection, John noticed the vegetables were fried in the fat from the meat.

"JohnWillStab: Fancy…"

"Pedecree: Not really, curry is one of those foods that you can make as basic or as fancy as you'd like…"

When the vegetables looked cooked enough Pedecree threw them into the pot, next he grabbed a large bottle of white liquid which he proceeded to pour into the pot.

In from the distance walked Bonifacius.

"Bonifacius: I have returned from my pit-adventure!"

"Pedecree: Hello, mister NPC."

Pedecree played the laugh emote.

"Bonifacius: Greetings! I take it John has informed you of the situation?"

"Pedecree: He sure has, though I’d rather not mess with that kind of thing myself, well, I can come over and cook for you guys once in a while."

"JohnWillStab: Thanks for that, I bet some actual food could calm them down…"

"Bonifacius: Looks to me like you’re making your beef curry…"

"Pedecree: Nostalgic, isn’t it? Haha."

"JohnWillStab: It does look really good, it’s as if I can smell it!"

"Bonifacius: I know right!?"

"JohnWillStab: …I think I’ve been online for too long because I can actually smell it…"

"Bonifacius: I feel the same, luckily Bromy’s time zone allows him to stay with the NPCs."

"JohnWillStab: Yeah, no, I mean I can actually smell it. It smells like ginger."

"Pedecree: I did add ginger… how did you know?"

"Bonifacius: Yes, I can smell it to… I must really be in need of a break…"

"Pedecree: …you’re really starting to freak me out, guys."

In from nowhere marched in ♕,

"♕: I’m just letting you guys know I’m about to log off, I’m about to die of sleep deprivation…"

"JohnWillStab: Let me guess, you can smell curry?"

"♕: yeah, how did you know?"

"Pedecree: …"

"Bonifacius: …"

"JohnWillStab: …"

"♕: Oh s#*t! Pedecree! Didn’t notice you earlier, watcha’ cookin’?"

"Pedecree: …"

"Pedecree: Curry…"

"♕:…"