⬣//GROWING WILDLY OUT OF CONTROL.

[cccorp]

>>Gathering // >>Waiting // >>Can't Return // >>It's Real

⬣//STERILE WHITE WALLS

September 23rd—conference day. In the hours preceding the meeting, beta testers are supplied with information on how to access the virtual conference room and offered a set of conduct guidelines. Testers are urged to read them thoroughly and instructed to sign their name on the bottom of the page to confirm that they’ve read and understand the following guidelines:

1. All questions will be addressed. Do not interrupt speakers or other beta testers when they are asking questions or having their questions answered.

2. Conduct yourself professionally and appropriately. Do not curse, shout, or otherwise engage in disruptive behavior. Violators will be muted and their speaking privileges revoked.

3. No eating or drinking. Keep your virtual space clean and free of debris.

4. Remain seated. Excessive movement or inappropriate behavior will result in restriction of your avatar’s movements.

5. PvP is disabled in the conference room. Weapons cannot be drawn and your Fragment inventory is unavailable during the duration of the conference.

Players are generously allowed one hour to filter in and find their seats, review the guidelines, and discuss the questions they’ve prepared with their fellow beta testers.

⬣//THE LOW RUMBLE OF DISTANT THUNDER

One hour comes and goes. The room remains occupied only by the beta participants, CyberConnect Corporation’s flashy logo spinning idly on the conference room’s 80 inch display. Restlessness begins to settle in, idle chatter turning to frustration as one hour becomes two. Still, no one from the Corporation shows.

The conference room remains devoid of purpose, some forty-odd people sitting alone in a sterile conference room, a locked room, should anyone grow so restless they try to leave. Any attempts made to break doors and windows will fail.

The door is locked, as are the windows, the world beyond their stark white blinds a slurry of purple and black. Thunder crackles in that dark, endless void. Even if you could leave, where would you go?

⬣//TORRENTIAL RAINS

It’s painfully evident after three hours of silence that no one from CyberConnect is showing up to the conference, but you knew that already, didn’t you? This mandatory meeting was fishy from the start, some would argue, while others may yet hold out hope.

That ends the instant anyone tries to log out and leave. Everyone who attempts to leave will be met with the same error Shoka was some weeks ago, but this time, the error is permanent. This time, there is no connection between mind and body anymore, and any attempt to “reach” your real self will fail.

You feel no one on the other end. You no longer feel the weight of your headset on your head or the keyboard beneath your fingertips. All your worldly aches and pains have drifted away only to find you here in your new reality, every sensation so real that Fragment no longer feels like just a game. Fragment is reality.

Three hours pass from the start of the conference. The boring white walls and rickety office chairs shudder and shake and give way to the Mac Anu everyone knows. You’re back where you started, more or less. What you do from here is up to you.

⬣//LOST TO THE TUMULT AND BEDLAM

Some menus remain online. Players retain the ability to send and receive friend and party requests, access their inventories, spells, and weapons, and so on, but a few notable items are missing.

Players can no longer toggle their pain sensors on and off. Every blow you take is one you’re forced to suffer through, and what’s more, your health no longer automatically regenerates when idle. You’d better keep a stash of potions or a pocket healer handy.

While you’re at it, try not to die. The sharp-eyed among the group may notice that the respawn information nestled in the menus is no longer accessible to them. The respawn counter now reads as a series of zeros instead of the typical 20 minutes. Now is probably not the best time to continue testing Fragment’s death mechanics, but nothing’s stopping you from trying. No one’s going to save you, either.

Good luck, players. The real test has begun.

>>Navigation

Comments

[legendofthelion]

[Dehya tries to keep up with him, asking to repeat a couple times to make sure she writes everything down.]

Right... anyone can gather level 1 materials. We could encourage everyone to keep a look out for them.

[dissimulative]

[ Oria is pretty patient and repeats the things Dehya asks him to. He even tries to make them easy to remember too. ]

Yeah! That would be really helpful.

[ But then he thinks about possible expedition teams... ]

... We really don't have that many Harvest Clerics, do we?

[legendofthelion]

No. There's Hector, Hien, and I don't really know any other ones. [Are they even a high enough level... Dehya rubs her chin.] Wavemasters have a little healing but most of us will need to rely on potions, which means it's important to be careful. Especially since the Harvest Clerics will also need potions for their own SP.

[dissimulative]

Making food will help, since it heals both HP and SP. It'll be easier for people to eat than a potion, probably...

[ Potions are a little like medicine, he thinks... ]

[legendofthelion]

Oh, right. Guess I was thinking more in the moment... [In a fight when guzzling a potion is way faster.] It'd be kind of depressing to never eat again, anyway.

[dissimulative]

[ ...

Oria usually eats instantly and devours things similar to a black hole when it comes to food that Oria might have forgotten that people actually take time to eat things and that would not help during a fight. ]

You got a point. And yeah, if I had to only drink potions to stay alive, I think I would get demotivated really fast.

[legendofthelion]

[Oria...]

I think motivation to keep going is what we need most right now. [They're all kind of running on hope and... well, nothing else.]

[dissimulative]

Do you think anyone in our group is good at raising morale?

[ Oria could kinda bullshit some speech to raise morale, but I'd rather a non-mod player handle that... ]

[legendofthelion]

Uh. [Dehya taps her chin. She'd normally volunteer but she's not sure she's really feeling her best.] Someone popular, resilient, and friendly. Tabibito?

[dissimulative]

[ flashbacks to when oria thought hani was from a cult

... ]

You're not wrong, but we should probably pick someone else... for reasons.

[legendofthelion]

[:worry:]

Uh, okay. Who do you think would be best?

[dissimulative]

... Do you think Zelkova could give one?

[ Much to think about. ]

I don't know him that well, but...

[legendofthelion]

Maybe? But I think a lot of people don't know him well. [Dehya wouldn't say she does even though she has her reasons for trusting him.] I think Zelkova is helping us, but since he's technically with CCCorp some people might mistrust him.

Mr_Misteaks is real popular but I don't want to put something on his shoulders he's not ready for, what with his leg injury before this and all.

[...] Have you seen Hector lately?

[dissimulative]

Hm?

[ He doesn't think Misteaks would be a good candidate sheerly from the lack of charisma he's seen so far... but then Dehya brings up Hector. He doesn't look pleased about it. ]

No, why?

[legendofthelion]

[They need to lower their bar for this.]

Just realizing I haven't seen him in a while. But he's always looking out for people, so I feel like I should have.

[Maybe the guy is also going through a lot. He has to be, but her impression of him is that he's a guy that'd still find a way to help other people. And he's one of their few Harvest Clerics.]

[dissimulative]

[ She has a point. Not even Oria can deny that despite his bias. ]

Do you think maybe someone else knows what happened to him? Someone close to him? But I don't know who that would be.

[legendofthelion]

No one that wouldn't let everyone know, I don't think. I don't know his closest friends, but... you don't think he went off somewhere on his own, do you?

[She pulls up her contacts list.] He's still showing online.

[dissimulative]

... Well, I heard some people want to be alone when they feel bad, but I don't know him well, so I can't really say. He doesn't seem like the type to just go off into the unknown without telling anyone first though.

[legendofthelion]

Mm... yeah, surely he'd at least tell his friends. No one's called around for him on the forums so maybe he's fine? [She sighs.] I guess I'm just on edge with all of us being stuck here like this. Hard not to worry, you know?

[dissimulative]

Yeah, I get it, considering what happened...

[ How death is a real thing in the game now. ]

[legendofthelion]

[... Dehya lets out a breath.] Thanks for helping me get all this together. I'll figure out how to get it all together in a guide everyone can read since we can't access anything people wrote outside the game. The forums might be hard to format, but email isn't much better...

[Hmm. Stuff to think about.]

[dissimulative]

Thanks! That would be a great help. If you need any help, just let me know and I'll come over!

[ But he just remembered an appointment. He totally forgot... ]

Send me a message anytime. Bye, FlameMane!

[ And he runs off... ]