《Rise of The Fleshcrafter》 Chapter 1: The End of The World When the world ended I was waiting for an Uber Eats order. Taco Bell. A Chicken Quesadilla Cantina combo with a crunchwrap supreme, and then like three of those little cheese wrap things. So that I could hit the minimum amount for the 40% off coupon. Damn thing still ended up being almost 30 dollars. Not much else I could use the money for though. It was a miracle the app even worked out here. I¡¯d been staying in my uncle¡¯s cabin in the mountains for the last few months. The doctors said it was to get some fresh air and solitude. Avoid the stress of working in the city. I think it was because they didn¡¯t know what else they could do with me. After 7 failed rounds of chemo, I don¡¯t really blame them. My family was overly enthusiastic about the idea. The thing that a lot of people don¡¯t think about with terminal illness is just how much of a toll it takes on your loved ones. It gets worse the more it drags on, waiting any moment for death to come. And at this point, I was 18 months late for my appointment with the reaper. The doorbell rang. I struggled to get up. Memories of being in this cabin as a young man flowed through me like a river. Exploring the Adirondacks during the day, coming back at night to the forge helping my uncle prep for his next ren fair gig. This cabin has always been an oasis in a life and a family full of chaos. So as I grabbed my cane and struggled to the door, I tried my hardest to not see it as an oversized coffin. A prison for me to finally keel up and die in. I had to prop myself up against the wall. Almost hanging from the doorknob for support. ¡°Shit¡±. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I hadn¡¯t showered in a couple of days and my hair was plastered to my skull. Eyes sunken in and sallow. Skin so pale it was almost translucent. Romance novels always make vampires out to be sexy, but if I was bitten I¡¯m pretty sure the only change to me would be some sharper canines. I tried to fluff up my hair for the one person I would probably see this week. But it just made me look crazy, on top of being sick and tired. Whatever. The doorbell rang again. I yanked the door open. A very cold looking woman shivered aggressively at me from within the depths of a scarf and a goose-down coat. ¡°Sorry¡± I croaked out. My throat unused to speech these last few weeks. ¡°Are you Patrick?¡± Her teeth were chattering. ¡°Well, I¡¯m the only one out here for a couple of miles.¡± I tried to be funny but she just looked freaked out. Couldn¡¯t blame her. Not with my current appearance. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s me.¡± She held out the bag for me to grab. It hung there for a few seconds. ¡°Uh sorry, can you just put it down?¡± There¡¯s a look in someone¡¯s eyes when they realize that you¡¯re fucked up for the first time. They tracked my body. The way my legs struggled to keep me upright. The concentration and cold sheen of sweat on my face. I saw the sympathy, pity, whatever it was. ¡°Merry Christmas¡± She gently placed the bag at my feet. She didn¡¯t meet my eyes again, just turned around and left. As far as interactions go, it could have gone worse. It hurt a little that the first time I¡¯d heard that today came from my food delivery person, but what are you gonna do? Christmas is a time to be happy with your loved ones. And after all I¡¯d put them through they needed a good holiday. I didn¡¯t mind. It was a lie. Obviously. But the type of lie that makes life a little bit more bearable. That paints us in the colors of a hero instead of a sad, tired, sick man. I lowered myself down enough to clutch the cold soggy bag of Taco Bell in my hands and for a moment pretended it was a present. The universe reaching out to give me the gift of delicious fake Mexican food and some Mountain Dew Baja Blast. Looking around the place was a mess. Pill bottles everywhere. Cans of beer. A few takeout bags. Keeping the place clean has been hard since my mobility started to go. But insurance wouldn¡¯t cover a wheelchair so here we are. Pretending the house wasn¡¯t a prison was harder as I saw the woman through the window. She got into her car and was trying to start it up. She had the whole world before her to explore. She could turn west and just keep going. Or hop on a plane and cross the ocean. I closed the curtain and took my first step. Navigating through the house my body knew each handhold, each place I could rest or lean when I needed. I wasn¡¯t in a rush. Taco bell was 30 minutes away, this food was already going to be ice cold. But not for long. The workshop was thankfully attached to the house. A beautiful stone construction with a giant old-fashioned forge in the center of the room. My uncle was a ren fair craftsman, so he made sure to only keep period-appropriate tools. They hung from the walls in beautiful rows. Most were handmade by him or gifts from his friends. The matchbook was right where it always was. Top drawer of an old harbor freight tool chest.. Shivering I grabbed it and managed to light one on the third try. I tossed it onto the bed of handmade charcoal. It immediately began to burn. The bellows were a little bit beyond me at the moment, but I didn¡¯t need to heat steel, just takeout. I tried to move to the side of the forge. It¡¯s odd the way that sometimes your body just decides you can¡¯t do anything anymore. The moment that my foot hit the ground I realized that I was going to fall. I tried to turn mid-fall to grab my cane but that only made it worse. I hit the ground twisted like a pretzel and I could feel something in my back pop. I couldn¡¯t feel my legs. The Taco Bell bag spilled the the ground in a splash of green-blue soda. A quesadilla, two tacos, and three little cheese wrap things. The bastards forgot my crunchwrap supreme. I could feel myself fading. My vision going dark. The doc said falls were going to be dangerous. My head hurt. It must have hit the side of the forge. Blood mixed with the spilled soda. And I realized that it might finally be time for me to go. At least it¡¯s getting warmer In the house, the doorbell rang. I didn¡¯t know the Grim Reaper could ring doorbells. If consciousness is usually a river, mine was becoming a stream. Stream of consciousness, hehe. I could feel myself slipping away. Smelling the coal smoke and hearing the crackle of the fire. ¨C System Initiated ¨C Time stopped. A spark hung suspended in the air above me. The pain disappeared. ¨C Creating Zones ¨C ¨C Zone: Upstate New York Created ¨C A voice spoke directly into my mind like the voice of god. If god was a tired radio announcer who lost the will to live.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¨C Creating Subzones ¨C ¨C Subzone: Adirondack Mountains Created ¨C I tried to speak but my body was frozen, like I was caught in sleep paralysis. All sound was gone except for the voice. ¨C Rebalancing Zone Population Levels ¨C A sensation of incredible pressure. My ears popped. What the fuck does that mean? Was I going crazy? ¨C Assigning Zone Danger Levels ¨C ¨C Zone: Upstate New York: B ¨C ¨C Subzone: Adirondack Mountains: A- ¨C I hit my head. So I was going crazy. That¡¯s it. It had to be it. I tried to move again but the air itself seemed to hold me in place like a vice. My blood had stopped flowing. I had heard that time seems to slow down when you¡¯re dying but what the fuck was this? ¨C Initializing NPCs ¨C My body burned like I had been thrown directly into the forge. My blood was boiling, my nerves arced and buzzed like overloaded electrical wires. ¨C Congratulations! ¨C You have been selected to become an NPC. ¨C ¨C Congratulations! Blue windows filled my vision like pop up ads. I could feel each one doing something to me as if they were etching something onto my soul. ¨CWould you like to choose a class? (Failure to do so will result in revocation of NPC privileges.) ¨C ¨C 30 seconds remaining. ¨C I could move my mouth. ¡°Yes!¡± I spluttered out. I read the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant as a kid and I¡¯m not going to make the mistake of not taking this seriously, even if it probably is some weird death dream. ¨C NPC initialzation complete! HP is fully restored. Negative conditions have been purged! ¨C ¨C Your Leukemia has been purged! ¨C My stomach rumbled. I opened my mouth and vomited blood... So. Much. Blood. It was like a scene from a horror movie. It went on for almost a minute. More blood than I¡¯ve had drawn from me over the last five years combined. When it finally stopped all I could do was cough and gag. Jesus Christ. ¨C Congratulations! You¡¯ve lost more blood than is contained in the human body. You have gained the blood element. ¨C ¨C Class Selection Initiated! ¨C ¨CChoice 1 ¨C Necromancer: Type: Mage Element: Death Main Attributes: Intelligence, Wisdom Trees: Summoning, Hemomancy, Curses Rank: A ¨C Choice 2 ¨C Blacksmith: Type: Tradesman Element: Fire Main Attributes: Strength, Constitution Trees: Weaponsmithing, Armorsmithing, Minor Enchanting Rank: C Blacksmith seemed pretty obvious. And I played enough Diablo to know what a necromancer was. I knew which I would rather be. ¡°I choose blacksmith.¡± ¨CClass selection compl- ¨C ¨C Error ¨C ¨C Opening private channel with Game Master ¨C ¨C GM Kna¡¯lu has joined the chat ¨C GM Kna¡¯lu: Hey! I see you¡¯re having some trouble with class selection. Again the voice just spoke into my head, this one had a strange tonality to it, like those AI YouTube videos of Trump and Biden confessing their love to each other. I tried to think my response. A chat feed appeared in my vision. NPC 1,223,900,445,898: Who the fuck are you? GM Kna¡¯lu: I¡¯m a Game Master, it¡¯s my job to make sure this expansion rollout goes nice and smooth. NPC 1,223,900,445,898: What does that mean!? GM Kna¡¯lu: All in due time buddy. You¡¯ll get the welcoming Schtick tomorrow morning. I¡¯m here because of the class stuff. I got three million more tickets after you so let¡¯s make this choppy. What¡¯s the issue? NPC 1,223,900,445,898: I want to be a blacksmith? GM Kna¡¯lu: Yeah. Yeah. No, I see that in the log. Look, we''re still working on our onboarding system. First week you know. Blacksmith is not a good choice here. The system has to offer at least two choices. Sometimes there¡¯s a garbage pick especially if the others are good. NPC 1,223,900,445,898: I jus- I¡¯m sorry this is distracting can I change my name? GM Kna¡¯lu: Sure sure. ¨C NPC 1,223,900,445,898¡¯s nickname has been set to Patrick Douglas ¨C Patrick Douglas: I don¡¯t really care about any of that. I just want to spend what time I have left making stuff. GM Kna¡¯lu: Time you have left? Buddy, you¡¯ve been cured you got as long as you can survive out in the great unknown. And do you really want to spend all that time swinging a hammer? Raise the dead, have fun! Patrick Douglas: That actually seems really disrespectful of the dead. GM Kna¡¯lu: Alright smartass, how about this you choose Blacksmith and we turn you into a monster. You won the coin flip but I can easily just turn a heads into a tails with a couple keyboard strokes. Patrick Douglas: Wait are you at a computer? I thought you were like a god or something. GM Kna¡¯lu: THAT IS NOT IMPORTANT! Your consciousness will evaporate, and your body will become unrecognizable. I think you¡¯d make a good yeti actually. Patrick Douglas: So I¡¯d die. GM Kna¡¯lu: For all intents and purposes. Yes. Patrick Douglas: Like I was already going to do before this happened. GM Kna¡¯lu: Look man you¡¯re busting my balls here. There¡¯s a quota we have to meet for interesting NPCs but we¡¯re limited by the classes the system deems you qualify for. I just need one more to hit my bonus. What will it take for you to choose Necromancer? Patrick Douglas: Can I just be both? GM Kna¡¯lu: Both? No, you cannot have two classes. Council save me, let me look something up. ¨C Your Sewing skill has increased to 30! ¨C ¨C Your Anatomy skill has increased to 30! ¨C ¨C Your Butchery skill has increased to 30! ¨C GM Kna¡¯lu: DO NOT TELL ANYONE ABOUT THIS. You almost met the prerequisites for a different class. I am sticking my neck out here for you, so PLEASE do the right thing here. ¨C Private Channel with GM Kna¡¯lu has closed ¨C ¨C You have unlocked a new class option! ¨C ¨C Choice 3 ¨C Fleshcrafter: Type: Mage, Tradesman Element: Blood Main Attributes: Intelligence, Constitution Trees: Monster Grafting, Biomancy, Major Inscription(Flesh) Rank: Unique ¨C Fleshcrafter is a unique class that is a blend of a Tradesman and Mage type. Its main ability allows for the grafting of monster parts onto willing NPCs or Players. It is also capable of healing grievous wounds, inscribing enchantments and spells into skin and organs, and the creation of a homunculus servant. ¨C Gross. But if I was really going to get a second lease on life I didn¡¯t want to piss off some angry overworked god or whatever it was that I was talking to. ¡°I choose Fleshcrafter.¡± ¨CClass Selection Complete.-- ¨C Welcome NPC 1,223,900,445,898 (Patrick Douglas) Fleshcrafter Level 1 ¨C ¨C Beginning Tutorial ¨C Time resumed. Outside I heard a scream. Before I knew it I was running. I WAS RUNNING. For the first time in five years, I was running. I shot through the forge and back into the house. The scream was coming from just outside. Adrenaline blocked any fear. Adrenaline and elation. I had been so sick for so very long. CRASH! The sound of splitting metal and breaking glass. Through the window, I saw the Uber Eats girl. What was her name? Caitlin? She was on her ass staring at something huge. It was like a great ape but bigger, with white hair and massive teeth. A fucking yeti. It held her car, a little red VW Bug in both of its hands. The car was totaled. Caitlin was screaming her head off the shrill sound becoming hoarse as she shredded her vocal chords. I reached for the doorknob then stopped. What was I going to do? Punch it? Fear and indecision assaulted me from all sides. I can RUN again. I don¡¯t even know this woman. I could hide in the forge and maybe it would go away. If it was a wild animal then maybe it was just hungry. No. If this wasn¡¯t a dream then that was no animal. It was a person. Or at least it used to be, according to the Game Master. There was so much hitting me all at once. I needed time to think, to process. But Caitlin needed time to survive. In the end, one thing mattered. Not one family member texted me today. Not one friend. I had a grand total of one person show any kind of genuine care, as shallow or offhanded as it may have been. She wished me a Merry Christmas. And god dammit if that didn¡¯t mean a lot to me. I opened the door wearing my greasy Daft Punk T-shirt and 10 year old Walmart pajama bottoms. Took a deep breath, and ran towards the giant fucking yeti. Merry Christmas to you too Caitlin. Chapter 2: Deal with the devil It¡¯s strange the things you notice when running barefoot through the snow towards a screaming Yeti. Mostly because it¡¯s all so damn obvious. The first thing I noticed was how cold it was. My bare feet slapped against the cracked icy ground in time to my haggard breathing. I may have been able to run again, but five years bedridden, an athlete does not make. The second thing I noticed was that this was the first VW Bug I¡¯d seen in ages. It¡¯s like one day they just all disappeared from the road and I can¡¯t really explain what happened. The last thing I noticed was that the creature was about three times my size. As I got closer it just seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Caitlin shouted from behind me. ¡°I- honestly have no idea.¡± I was seconds away from the Yeti, about to find out the answer to the question ¡®what happens when the dog catches the car?¡¯ If this was some big video game or whatever then I must have skills. ¡°Menu!¡± I shouted, desperation painting my voice like an enthusiastic landlord. A system panel appeared. White text on blue. A cheerful pre-recorded voice announced the text to me. `¡°We appreciate the enthusiasm but full system access begins at 6:00 AM EST December 26 Earth time.¡± The yeti seemed to finally notice me. Its giant nostrils flared. Its beady eyes, bloodshot. I flashed back to years and years of playing Dark Souls at three in the morning and tried to roll. It did not go well. I threw myself into the air trying to turn myself sideways but my muscles were atrophied and stiff from disuse and aggressive medical interventions. I made it about a quarter of a way through a turn and hit the ground. Hard. The wind left my lungs in an instant. It was embarrassing but it saved my life. The yeti smashed the car down right where I was standing. The little bug halved in size from the force of the creature¡¯s enormous muscles. Spikes of metal jutting from the carcass. Heh, carcass. I tried to get up but I couldn¡¯t breathe. It felt cruel that so soon after being given a second chance it¡¯d be taken from me. And for what, a girl I didn¡¯t even know? My eyes flicked towards Caitlin but she was gone. Smart. At least one of us would survive this. I closed my eyes to finally meet my demise. ¡°HUUURUGH¡± The yeti screamed. I looked up. Caitlin was on it like a goddamn headcrab. Punching it again and again in the eyes. Her goddamn foot was in its open mouth like she was trying to kick its uvula. ¡°What the fuck are you doing?¡± I shouted at her. The burst of insanity induced adrenaline getting me to my feet. ¡°I don¡¯t know either!¡± I looked around. It was big. Very big. There wasn¡¯t much around that could be of use. My uncle used to keep guns here but he took them away after I made ONE off-color joke at Thanksgiving. ¡°Be right back!¡± I ran back to the forge. ¡°What!? Where are you going?¡± Caitlin called after me. Inside the forge was laid out just like it always was. I scanned the walls and- ¡°Yes!¡± A series of hammers hung on the near wall, ordered by size and weight. I grabbed the six-pound sled. Caitlin was moving around its face like a monkey. It tried to grab and pull her off but she found leverage at the base of its jaw. It tried to chomp her in half but it didn¡¯t have the leverage. I readied the hammer in both hands and ran. I didn¡¯t have a lot of strength these days, but momentum can make up for a lot. I skidded to a stop a few paces away and slammed the hammer into its sternum. The shock rippled through my hands and arms. The hammer bounced like I¡¯d hit an anvil. It flew away from me skidding on the ground. The yeti screamed in pain. It shifted its weight to its left leg and tried to kick at me but Caitlin bit. Its. Fucking. Eye. ¡°Holy hell¡± I muttered. The yeti screamed in agony. Its hands raised in giant fists and it SWUNG right at her. Right at its face. It hit Caitlin in the back with incredible force. I heard the crack of a bone breaking. No, many bones breaking. Blood left her like a geyser. She went limp. The yeti leaned forward precariously. Stunned from its punch. I circled it, putting it between me and the fallen, ruined car. In a last burst of energy, I lowered my center of gravity and charged the damned thing. If it hadn¡¯t punched itself in the damn face. If the ground wasn¡¯t covered in ice. If I wasn¡¯t so strung out on endorphins it wouldn¡¯t have worked. But it did. Just barely. He fell over like a tree, slowly at first and then with terrifying speed. He fell right onto the jagged metal of the car. The remains of a door burst from his lower back flinging gore into the air. ¡°What the fuck is my life right now.¡± I limped over to its face. My foot was bleeding. I must have stepped on some metal or glass during the fight.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Caitlin?¡± She was underneath the Yeti. Her eyes stared blankly upwards. She didn¡¯t move. Her torso was mostly caved in. Either by the fall of the yeti or its first hit, I didn¡¯t know. I¡¯ve always taken death pretty hard. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m afraid to die, the call of the unknown has never felt so scary to me. But the thought of people I care about being off beyond some unknown veil for the rest of my life fills me with a fear I cannot describe. It was like that at my grandfather¡¯s funeral. My mother sat me down and told me he was in a better place. But I didn¡¯t care, I would never see him again. Never hear him laugh. Never get a sip of whiskey to help with a cough if I promised not to tell my mother. The feeling of loss was so extreme I couldn¡¯t even cry. It was like a hole had been ripped into me. I did not know Caitlin. But I could have. If we survived we could have been friends, lovers, enemies. A whole branch of the future snuffed out in an instant. What was her favorite color? Her worst date? Is she a full-time driver or doing it over the holidays? WHY is she doing Uber on Christmas? So many questions I would never get the answer to. I fell to my knees. Touched the side of her face. It¡¯s what people always do in movies. And I FELT something. A spark. Faint but there. Like a static shock that just keeps going. Somehow I knew what it meant. She was alive, if barely. This stupid video game shit. My class. Fleshmancer. The pop-up said I could heal people. I focused, trying to find some deep well of energy within me. Focused on that sensation of a spark. Even tried a meditation technique my ex-fiance taught me. Nothing. None of it did shit. ¡°MENU!¡± I shouted to the world, to the system to anyone who would listen. The same pop-up window as before appeared. ¡°We appreciate the enthusiasm but full system access begins at 6:00 AM EST December 26 Earth time.¡± The spark was getting fainter. If that was her life force, the only assumption I could make, she was almost gone for good. I took a deep breath. I had an idea. A really bad idea ¡°Hey system! I would like to report Game Master Kna¡¯lu for chea-¡± Time stopped. ¨C Opening private channel with Game Master ¨C ¨C GM Kna¡¯lu has joined the chat ¨C ¨C Patrick Douglas¡¯ name has been changed to Snitch ¨C GM Kna¡¯lu: Hey buddy what the fuck. I thought we had a deal. Snitch: I need your help. GM Kna¡¯lu: Oh you have some nerve. Listen here you little shit. I am not going to be blackmailed by- Snitch: I¡¯ll do whatever you want, just tell me how to use my skills. GM Kna¡¯lu: Wait what? That¡¯s what this is all about? You saw the announcement you¡¯ll get the tutorial in like 10 hours. Snitch: I don¡¯t have 10 minutes. She¡¯ll be dead by then. GM Kna¡¯lu: Okay I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re aware or not but just over 6 billion people have been either turned into mobs or killed by mobs. This is a drop in the ocean, my friend. Snitch: I don¡¯t care. She¡¯s right in front of me. Please. GM Kna¡¯lu: Okay look, I can¡¯t activate your skills early. Not even I can go that far. But Game Masters do have the discretion to nudge the odds in our favor IF we think it¡¯ll lead to a compelling storyline when the players arrive. Snitch: What does that mean? GM Kna¡¯lu: It means you need to build something here. A town, a dungeon, a weird sex cult. I don¡¯t care. Right now this zone is pretty much empty except for the poor idiots who got teleported here during the population rebalance. Promise me that and I¡¯ll put her in stasis until the tutorial. Snitch:... GM Kna¡¯lu: You still there? Snitch: Yeah okay. Just save her. ¨C Private Channel with GM Kna¡¯lu has closed ¨C ¨C You have received a new quest! ¨C Time resumed. I had a nosebleed. My foot ached. I still had my hand on Caitlin¡¯s face. The spark was weak but it had stopped fading. I didn¡¯t know the extent of this stasis thing so it was probably best to get her inside where it was warmer, safer. The yeti was HEAVY. Thankfully I only had to move its head to get her free. I found a metal pole in the shed and dragged it over. Slid it between the two of them and slowly levered it up. I didn¡¯t have anything to hold it, so I had to brace it with my shoulder to free my arms. The biggest challenge was moving her. I was afraid if I did it wrong she¡¯d tear in half. I don¡¯t know how long it took. But I lost feeling in my hands and feet. An inch at a time I worked to save the life of a woman I have never truly spoken to. It¡¯s funny I remember chickening out of being a bone marrow donor because I was afraid of the pain. The recovery time. They¡¯ll find another match, I told myself. There are so many people in the world. The country. But here there was only me. With a grunt, I finally dropped the head to the ground. Caitlin was on a makeshift sled. Just a wood pallet tied to some rope. I took the rope and finally dragged her inside. The warm air made my limbs tingle, then burn. I worked them as best I could. Going through a series of physical therapy exercises my PT taught me a few years back. A couple of dynamic stretches and a whole lot of rubbing. With difficulty, I managed to get Caitlin up onto the couch. Covered her with a blanket. The stasis seemed to stop her from bleeding but that didn¡¯t keep the blanket from immediately soaking through. Nothing to do about it though. I added some fresh wood to the fireplace, the smell of smoke helped to cover up the smell of blood, sweat, and fear. I caught sight of myself in the dining room mirror. A ghastly sight. Covered head to toe in blood and chunks of yeti. I needed a bath. I trawled over to the bathroom and finally felt the exhaustion hitting. The second the water turned on I collapsed into it. I blacked out. When I came to, the tub was overflowing. Water, an ever-lessening shade of pink as it ran out of the old-style claw foot and into a drain on the floor. I decided to let it keep running. Let the evidence of today wash away into whatever remained of the drainage system. I finally had a chance to think. A yeti. A fucking yeti. And what had the Game Master said? Six billion people dead. It¡¯s such a devastating number it almost seemed meaningless. Seventy-five percent of the earth¡¯s population gone in the span of minutes. Then what about my family? I got out of the bath and limped naked to the forge. The Taco Bell bag still lay there. Artifacts from a different era, only a couple of hours old. I fished around the desk and found what I was looking for. My phone. I put my thumb on the print scanner, hoping, as the screen came to life. No signal. Whatever had happened either they were blocking our signal or the local cell tower had been destroyed. Most of my family was spread out across the country. Nearest would be my older brother, out in the city. But that was hours away even by car. Not like I can walk the distance. I turned the phone off. Just in case we lose electricity. Then I picked up the Taco Bell and picked up where I left off. It might be the last time I ever have fast food after all. I placed the quesadilla against the hot stones of the forge and it began to sizzle. I settled in and had my final meal of the earth I''d known all my life. Whatever the future held it was governed by beings and rules I didn''t understand. Things that I needed to understand. And who knows, if this was a game maybe it could be beaten. But they said we''re NPCs. Then who are the players? I tried to clear my mind and just enjoy the food. It was going to be a long enough night as is.