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⬣//BLOSSOMING FROM A GAP IN THE ASPHALT.
A new Root Town has been revealed: Naval Monte, a tiered city built upon a mountain jutting up from an endless expanse of ocean. These fortified walls house an innumerable number of NPCs who, unlike those which occupy other Root Towns, are quite a bit more advanced.
Those of you who spend entirely too much time logged in have no doubt noticed the set patterns the NPCs of Mac Anu and Lumina Cloth take to move from area to area. Their paths never change. Their dialog rarely diverges. Talking to a freshly painted wall would be more stimulating than conversing with your run of the mill NPC, but Naval Monte's are different.
They move in accordance with their own whims, seldom found in the same place twice. Some NPCs have entire families while others boast elaborate backstories and speak at length of their tales of bravery and triumphs over evil. While they won't accept your party invites, they may instead invite you to share a meal with their family and regale you with stories until you've had your fill.
Travel far enough into the depths of the city and you'll hear tales of a graveyard that sits within the core of the mountain, but the NPCs who guard this elusive site are defensive at best. Don't expect them to let you in, but given their advanced nature, you may be able to wheedle some valuable information out of them.
Be aware that there is a price to enter Naval Monte. After crossing the vast bridge leading right up to the mountain city, you'll be accosted by no less than a dozen eager vendors fighting to peddle their wares to you. Some are so desperate that they ask only for a single GP, and in exchange, they grant you passage to the city.
Ask them why they're so desperate to make a sale and they'll answer plainly: if you don't, the curse will persist.
Come Saturday morning, an email flagged as urgent pops up in your inbox.
To our beta team,
It has come to our attention that a number of our beta testers have failed to report previous underlying health conditions that may negatively impact their ability to perform their duties as intended.
In our ongoing efforts to monitor the health and safety of our beta testing team, all participants in Fragment's closed beta test will be required to complete a health screening before the date of September 16th in order to continue participating in the beta.
Beta participants will be matched with a health professional in their area and the fees for their screening and assessment waived. As such, it is necessary that you make an appointment with the medical professional assigned to you or select another from within our network.
No exceptions will be made for those who fail to submit their health assessments to CyberConnect's Health and Human Resources department. Termination from Fragment's beta testing program and applicable legal action will be taken in the event that you fail to participate in these necessary steps.
We take the health and safety of our beta testers very seriously. If you have any concerns, please contact us at cccorp.ccmail.com.
Thank you for your continued efforts,
CyberConnect Corporation of Japan.
Murmurs of an unusual NPC have begun to circulate within Naval Monte.
According to eye witnesses, one of the local residents has "gone rogue". According to them, a woman with dishwater eyes and hair messily pulled into a loose bun has been spotted going door to door begging to be let in.
"We need to go," she shouts, her eyes glossy with tears, her every word slurred. "We'll be safe there! We'll be free! We can't live like this anymore!"
From what you've heard, that woman has managed to break free from the confines of her native Root Town and has been seen running through the streets in Mac Anu, Lumina Cloth, and the nameless Root Town in the sky. You may have even come across her, accosted in the street and urged to listen to her increasingly erratic ramblings.
"I need you to take me there! Take me to him! His father left the key within him!"
Ultimately, nothing you say or do will influence the woman's behavior or calm her down. All you'll get for your troubles is an ill feeling in the pit of your gut, something that blooms from within you and spreads infinitely outwards. An infection you can't cure.
You won't realize that the infection has begun to spread and mutate until you see it blossoming all around you, your fellow testers complaining of an unidentifiable malaise. You'll know what afflicts you and everyone you've infected when it's far too late to do anything about it. Until this unfortunate "bug" is patched, you'll continue to get sicker and sicker. The progression of the illness is as follows:
Stage one: The complete inability to lie, but is that really a bad thing? We could all stand to be more honest and communicative.
Stage two: The loss of one of your key senses, but only one. Maybe it's your sense of smell. Your keen tongue. Your vision. Whatever it is, it's a vital part of you that won't return to you until you log off, but when you next log in, you may find that a different sense has gone missing instead.
Stage three: Disconnect from your real world body. You'll realize after several days have passed that you can no longer feel your real self as keenly as before. You may not realize you've slapped yourself in the face or knocked a tooth out on the edge of your desk until you log out for the day and witness the extent of the damage.
Final stage: Memory loss. Your head feels foggy. Concentrating becomes a struggle, your thoughts sluggishly crawling through your mind and and ultimately losing their way. In the final stages of the illness, you may forget to log out for days at a time and wake to find yourself passed out on the floor with your headset jostled loose, inadvertently freeing you from the game.
The "cure," aside from a timely patch, may hide somewhere within the game. Before your senses leave you, you'd better start asking around.
As many of you know, it isn't easy to get ahold of CyberConnect when you need them. Hien is, at best, completely useless. Pete isn't much better. It's for these reasons and more that players have been invited to a digital conference and encouraged to give a voice to the rising concerns within the beta testing community.
The conference is to be held, both ICly and OOCly, on September 23rd at 12PM EST. If you have any burning questions to ask the people who hold power and influence over the state of the game and what happens within it, you can't afford to complain about timezones. This is your opportunity to speak your mind and have those questions answered.
OOCly, the conference will begin on September 23rd at 12PM EST and end on October 7th at 12PM EST. During this time, your characters can ask whatever questions they'd like of CyberConnect corporate staff, bring up concerns, and provide insights on their beta testing experiences.
Participation is mandatory (ICly), so set your alarms and don't be late!
Hello, everyone! Sorry I was away for a while. I got stuck in an outer level of the game and it took me a week to get back, but I should be just fine now! I hope I didn't miss anything too serious...
I did see that all of you have worked hard on those recipes, though! I liked all of them so much that I've added each of them into the game so that everyone can make their own. Congratulations!
1
Boo.
[Matoba grins, then ducks his head around the corner of the bookshelf, waving some dust out of his face from that book being pulled out.] Haha, I did not expect to find anyone else here.... What brings you to this place, Vogel-san?
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Mister...0koto. [Koto?] I wasn't expecting to see anyone either. I was thinking this place might have some interesting lore, but-
[Opening up the book and watching it dissolve]
...I think the developers want us to fix this place up first.
no subject
I was thinking much the same thing in coming here, but so far the books have been doing more imploding than informing.
[Matoba turns his head and squints into the gloomy darkness of the library's long hall, sparing beams of light and low lamps providing the bits and pieces of good light under which to read anything that didn't immediately fall apart upon opening.]
A bit of dusting and sweeping might do it some good, but I don't know if any amount of "fixing up" will save the books that have already degraded to such a degree. Unless there are some spells that can reverse time, hm? Nothing in the Shadow Warlock repertoire, at least just yet.
no subject
[Avoiding the bad habits! He doesn't feel comfortable using that nickname anyway. He runs his fingers over the books]
Mm. It's a shame. I liked finding all those bits of lore last time.
[When is the last time he found a bit of a German poem? Maybe if he goes flying again?]
It'd be nice to get it cleaned either way. I wonder if there's a way to add books...
no subject
[He'd made a comment to Mithrun about how he was of no use with those bits of lore.... But actually, now he finds himself curious.] ...Do you suppose that there is a reason, despite the fact that we can all understand one another inside of the game, that the hints and clues were not translated?
I wonder what they would have expected from us if we didn't have you here! Ah, but speaking of adding books, maybe we should keep a record of your translations here, too.
no subject
[It is funny though. Why leave the game's lore completely untranslated? Strange.
He brightens at the thought though]
Ah. We probably could. Maybe it could be a book in progress too, so people can add anything they find.
[Though with the state of the library...]
no subject
[German. ... Maybe...]
Yes, that would be a good idea. A place where we might all record and exchange information that anyone can come and read.
...
Are you from Germany, Vogel-san? [The strange expression vanishes from him after the brief pause, turning back into one of his unsettlingly friendly smiles.] Or, I suppose, some nearby country?
no subject
[ This time, Sinclair is a little distracted by the books, the heavy amount of dust - what will they need to do to clean? How can they make sure their records last the test of time?
He doesn't notice he's a little more open about his background at all, a strange feeling settling in his stomach. Hm]
no subject
........I thought it was interesting that a Japanese company like CyberConnect employed Americans for moderation duties, but it'd make more sense if their teams were multinational, wouldn't it? [Annoying as that is, tch.]
A German game lead. Hmm.
How about we try leaving a message back to them? In German. [He waves a hand,] Haha, well, it's just a silly superstition and we probably can't "communicate" with the game, but wouldn't it be fun if the devs found it and replied to it?
no subject
[There's not many, but there's plenty of people in Europe here. Funny how that works]
What would you want to write?
[They can just stick it somewhere in game. That would be funny if the devs did reply, considering how there was no communication between the players and the developers. Quite strange in this day and age]
no subject
[Hm hm hm. Moderators, at least, Sinclair is certainly right. Matoba ponders, though, the subject of what sort of message to send.]
.....There is meant to be some sort of meeting between the developers and us players soon, isn't there? So I don't think there's any use in leaving complaints or beta comments.
No, I think it would be fun to leave something related to the lore. Vogel-kun, could you remind me of the "story" you've discovered so far? What do you think those translated texts are telling a story about?
no subject
The 'Cursed Wave' part of the poem seems to be foretelling either the end of the World as we know it or how it began. Then the poem scrap I found in Lumina Cloth seemed to be about the wave's the agents...the harbingers of death and deceit?
[ This is assuming the poem scraps were indeed found in order--but oh, he remembers. He digs around in his inventory and pulls out another poem scrap]
I did find this in Naval Monte too:
"█████ schemes when swallowed by the Cursed Wave.
█████ seduces with the sweet trap.
Wave reaches the Pinnacle, and escape none can. ██████ still remains with more cruelty to punish and destroy.
And with the turbulent destruction after the Wave. Only a void remains. From deep within the void arrives ████████.
Perhaps then the Wave is just a beginning as well."
So we're either looking at the origin story or an upcoming plot.
[Considering what they know about Naval Monte so far though...]
no subject
After all, we've yet to see any sorts of boss battle campaigns. It's a little while into the beta by now, so don't you think we should be testing boss content by now?
[Maybe that was what all these little scraps and hints were a lead-up to, though? Matoba taps his chin.]
Maybe we should ask about that! About what enemies we may yet face. I have explored a few of the areas that seem to be related to the afterlife and underworld within the game, but I wasn't able to find anything story related, there.
Perhaps we ought to ask: where should we seek out the first enemy? The first boss? Or for a hint about its whereabouts.
We can leave it somewhere easy for the devs to find it, like on the tables in this library, or on a bulletin board.
no subject
[Sinclair doesn't scare easily when it comes to these things anymore. He might be anxious around people in general but when it comes to actual danger, he can pull himself together. But he had a moment of true terror there he hadn't felt in a long time. It was weird, considering how empty it was. Sinclair glances around, and crafts a...hand rag? He's going to wipe things down]
If we write something to be left for the developers, we should make sure the mold doesn't get to it too.
no subject
[A dragon would certainly make for the perfect fantasy RPG boss! Maybe they ought to leave a message there, too? Matoba is deep in thought when Sinclair crafts a rag and starts actually doing some proper work around here; he glances back as he sets to work.]
--Oh. Oh, yes, I suppose so. [Very disinterestedly...] Cleaning isn't really my forté, but.... Hm. Perhaps I could get to organizing what books we find?
[Shirking chores! Matoba must have been a terrible brat growing up, huh? If you ask him, though, he's just sticking to his strengths.]
[A broom would be good to have, though. Maybe with the right wood and some manner of grasses or sticks.... Matoba manages to finagle a very simple broom from the crafting system and his pitiful, lv.2 Carpentry skills nonetheless, using some Aromatic Grass and Fine Pine. Voilá!] Here we are. I will just...... leave this here for the next person, shall I?
no subject
[Sinclair eyes Matoba shirking chores with a little bit of bemusement. He's very familiar with being dumped with chores, considering his age in comparison to his co-workers. Sinclair just wipes down a table, looking for a noticeboard]
I think all the books need to be thrown out. I've gone through about ten and they just fall apart in my hands when I pick them up.
no subject
[But... If it was "that" one....]
It's really a shame, isn't it? But this is a library. What kind of library would it be without books?
...And can we even do that? I imagine they would all just respawn.
no subject
[Honesty hours time. Admitting to his crimes]
These things normally respawn within an hour, but it's been longer than that.
no subject
[Squint... That doesn't seem right, but what purpose could this area serve? A library with a bunch of unreadable books that can only be destroyed? There has to be a reason, right?]
[Matoba raises his grimoire from his hip and opens it--]
Shall I just light it all on fire, then?
no subject
[Not while they're still on the shelves???]
I think we want the shelves in tact.
[Maybe they can just sweep all the books off and into a safe corner??]
no subject
[Who is he Mithrun, this is why they're a terrible combo together, no wonder he smeared his blood all over the casino--]
Ah, but Vogel-kun, what will we put in the shelves? After we have destroyed all of the books, I mean.
Where will we find new books to take their place?
no subject
Maybe not one of the special areas. People might be working on things here.
[ANYWAY back to what they're doing]
We could make our own. Or maybe ask if the Naval Monte people have anything they'd like to donate? They're rather human-like for NPCs...