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⬣//JUST AS A SEED TAKES ROOT.
A team of four courageous adventurers managed to unearth a secret Area unique from the others: the Hulle Granz Cathedral. Unlike other Areas, this one is lacking all the usual monsters, dungeons, and treasure. What might the purpose of this Area be, then...?
Well, if you’re feeling penitent or perhaps wish to hold a sermon of your own, head to Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground and knock yourself out. What? Too soon?
Anyway, be not afraid! The cathedral is perfectly safe. Following Ganymede’s little incident in the cathedral, a timely email has been sent out to beta testers regarding health and safety that reads as follows:
To our beta team,
Please exercise caution when playing video games for extended periods of time. Take breaks every thirty minutes and do not sit in the same position for more than two hours at a time. Remember to stay hydrated and play in a well-lit environment.
Failing to take care of your health while gaming can result in a litany of health complications, including but not limited to eye strain, muscle fatigue, headaches, dizziness, and involuntary loss of consciousness and motor functions.
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.
Guilds have been patched into the current version of Fragment and are now available for players to create their own and join others. While some guilds have opted to go the private route, others are in need of players to fill their ranks!
The admins have kindly supplied those recruiting for their shiny new guilds with a number of goodies to aid in their player gathering efforts:⬣ A bundle of personalized flyers proudly displaying their guild logo and a description of the guild’s @ home and available amenities.
⬣ Party poppers and streamers. Nothing screams “join my guild!” like a face full of glitter, confetti, and colorful strips of ribbon.
⬣ A megaphone that lets your voice echo far and wide, even across Root Towns and Areas, but with great potential for abuse comes restrictions! The megaphone can only be used five times before it breaks. Use it wisely!
⬣ A unique recipe for a cocktail, latte, tea, or other type of beverage that can be blended up and served in little sample cups to court potential members. These drinks are unique to their guilds and, when consumed, have a special effect that reflects the leader of that guild. Is your guild leader a pretty cheerful guy? Drinking their special brew will make you feel happy too!
Whatever effect your guild’s drink has is up to the leader’s discretion, but if you so desire, drop a comment under the questions top level and we’ll brew one up for you.
Additionally, you may host a guild open house and invite potential guildies into your @ home to let them take a look around! Guild @ homes are typically locked to guild members & their guests only, so use this as your opportunity to put your best foot forward and impress the world with everything your guild has to offer.
Also arriving with the newest update are mountable Grunties! Aren’t they cute? ...Well, they’re someone’s definition of cute.
While the ability to ride around town and in Areas at 2x speed is certainly alluring, you can’t just walk up to the Grunty Ranch located in each Root Town and take one out for a stroll. If you want a mount of your very own, you’ve got to commit! Becoming a proud Grunty owner means you must first become a proud Grunty parent, and to do that, you’ll need to raise your Grunty from infancy into adulthood.
Just what kind of adult might your Grunty become? That depends on how you raise them and what you feed them. Those strange "foods" popping up all over Areas might not taste good to you, but they sure do to Grunties!
For more information on how to acquire a baby Grunty of your very own and raise it into a proper — or not so proper — member of Grunty society, head on over to the Grunty Ranch.
Mac Anu, the City of Twilight known for its gentle ocean breezes, has been uncharacteristically warm lately. Very, very warm. Its usual orange skies have been swapped out for vivid blues, the sun dwelling high in the sky and threatening to burn everything in its wake.
It won’t take much wandering to feel the effects of heat exhaustion sink in, and even after you log out for the day, those symptoms seem to linger. Do Hien and Zelkova know what the hell is going on? Of course not. Unusual occurrences are slowly becoming the norm in Fragment, it seems, but the point of a beta test is to work out any kinks. Report it and move on.
Lumina Cloth is similarly affected by unusual weather phenomena, but it’s much more pleasant and hospitable than poor Mac Anu. The sun hangs just above the horizon, bathing the strip in early evening light. It’s much cooler here too, and what’s more, it appears that a carnival has rolled into town. What fun!
All the usual carnival fare is here: greasy fried foods, drinks served in foot long glasses, and a litany of carnival games that are totally not rigged. Entry is free and so are the prizes, but some of them take a bit of legwork to win.
⬣ Successfully PK another player to win the carnival exclusive Thursday The 12th™ skin. PK’d players will receive an appropriately spooky ghost skin of their own!
⬣ Step on up to the dunk tank and get dunked on to win a sexy swimsuit skin! Both the dunkers and the dunkees will win this skin, but only those who successfully dunk the player in the tank will be rewarded with the chance to show off some skin. The appearance this skin takes is dependent on the player wearing it, so have fun and get creative with it!
⬣ Take a trip through the hall of mirrors with a friend and do some reflecting! Stare too long into the mirrors and you might recall a memory that doesn’t belong to you, but to the person venturing through the hall of mirrors with you. Did that really happen? Surely it’s all in your head. Memories available for memshare are limited to the ones listed on your application.
Additional rewards include giant plush monsters that can be used to decorate guild @ homes and private rooms (limit one per player!) and a pet goldfish that, unfortunately, will die a hero’s tragic death within a week. Womp womp.
We’ve had a busy week! It seems like there was a glitch that allowed players to equip other players as weapons, which resulted in a ten player chain, wielded by none other than our hardworking head administrator, Hien! I’ll have a talk with him about not doing this kind of thing in the future, I promise!
That wasn’t all, though. An unknown entity reached out to the players participating in the ten-player chain and issued them a special title: Good Friends Stick Together. Fragment’s not supposed to have titles. Well, at least not in the beta. But you can go ahead and add it to your name if you want to anyway, and it shouldn’t cause any problems! We still can’t pinpoint who sent those messages and how they overrode the permissions to create those titles in the first place, but... Hmm. I don’t want to start any rumors, so I’ll keep looking into it.
There are those armor sets too, which I didn’t know had been handed out to those of you that reached level 25. Oria brought it to our attention, thankfully! There’s not a whole lot we can do about it now, but we know that some of them are pretty invasive. But knowing is half the battle, right?
Our friend Ganymede suffered an accident recently that had him lying unconscious in the hospital for about a day. He seems to be feeling better now, thankfully. Ḩ̵̲̼͆̃͐̆ò̸̧̰͕̥̈́͒̕͜p̷̫͙̯͇̾̄͜ę̸̹̒f̷̠̭͉̱̅͘ǘ̴͎̙̥̭̈́̈́l̵͇̙͍̳̜̇̓̒l̷̬̲̀̆̈̅̂ͅỳ̵̧̻̖ ̷̠̫̭̰̦̋͗h̴̰͕̑͗e̸̦̼͇̾͘ ̴̡̢̝̺̳̊̎̎̔p̴̳̠̼̜͔̂̅̐à̵͕̹̟ͅỹ̴̡̛͝s̶͉̕ ̴̢͕̬̑̆̕͝b̸̹̲͗͒̊͑͠ē̶̛͖͠ṯ̸̻̺́͒͐t̶̻͕͎̑ĕ̶̖̀͗͛͋r̷͙̗̙̲͙̓̚͝ ̷̻̠͉̈́̚a̷̡̙̳̽́̀̋̔ẗ̴̢̨̛̬̺t̴͖̳͝ē̷͇̆͆̍̚ͅn̵̪̜͉͊̉̔̄͐t̵͕̼͈̓͋̈́̕î̷̬o̸͇̐͋͑͌n̶̟̫̟̽̑͒͐͘ ̷̜̈́̈̀̂̎t̶͙̂͛ô̸̠̜ ̶̫͎̎h̶͖̳͛i̸̗͖̖̅̂͆̄͛s̸͔̈́̇̍ ̸̩̗̻̕s̵̬̼̳̲̞͝ù̸̞̺̣͙̾͒͛ŗ̴̻̟̻̭̂̈́r̶̡͈̲̣̣͋̊͗̕o̶̥̝̮̓ų̴̻̯̬̊̑̑͌̉ͅn̶̢̙̦͔͖̈̒͝d̷̰̼̤̥̃̿͒̌̎i̸̯͑̾͊̑͝n̵̦͐g̸̪̾͝͝s̷̛̝͙̣̹̍͛͝ ̸͔̲̠̩͗̓̀͘a̷̛̼̓̈́͊ṅ̵̥͆̎ḑ̶̨̯̱͍̇ ̷̛̗̮̀̆ḧ̴̼̪́͗͝i̵͓̬̤͂͐͒s̶̮̎̿̃ ̴̛͔̋͗̽h̷̝͑ͅē̴̱ȃ̵̝͎ͅļ̷͍̀͐͊̊̽ẗ̸̼̺̟̥̼́̄͛h̶̥̹̬̮̽̅ ̷̟̖̮͛́̿t̸̢̤̤̂͒͋̍o̶̼̟̓ ̵̥̳͙̖̆̈́ả̶̛̳̱͙̖̩̿̽͘v̴͈͉͖͊͘ỏ̶̤͚̅͑͝i̴̱͈̩̳̳̿̇̕͠ḏ̵͙̮͗͆ ̶̯̭̝̹̯͊s̸͍̰͔̔̀͋͋̐u̷̟̠͑̔̏̚c̵̨͖͉͇̀͆͘ͅh̴̨̓͌̄̈ ̶̧̱̻̼̏̃̃i̷̱͉͈̿̎̋͒͜͝n̴̢͓͍̂͝͠c̷̢̢̛̹͚̑̓̅ͅi̶͕̟̻̘̫̾͌d̶͉͉̏̇e̵͉̱̩̯̤͐̎̉̾n̸̡̠̈͜ţ̴̇͑̈́͘s̵̩̼͔̙̙̉͘ ̵̮̯̞̮̾̈́͋̔̈h̵̡̗͉͉͈̉̐̅̚ȁ̵͖͚̖̾p̸̰̬͖̩̀̈́̆̓p̶̢̛̼̈́͆̒͘ͅe̷̟̘̩̲̻̾̊n̵̨̩̜̟͆͘i̵̙͉̺̮͠ͅṋ̷̆ġ̶͙͚ ̴̩̋à̷̄̑̂͝ͅǧ̵͖̜͍͕̒̑͒a̷̧̛̞͐̃̈́͘i̷̯͉̬̯̽̍n̷̘̝͓̽̅̕!̵̩͑
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[Matoba, with a troublemaker's smile, strolls along after him as he drags his feet towards the shooting gallery. Hien surely knows there's some ulterior motive to this, right?]
[But what could it be?]
[Matoba comes to stand far too close to Hien's shoulder once he gets in front of the shooting range, leaning in.]
Which plush do you think is the cutest? [Matoba hums, eye dragging across the many monsters hanging from the booth.] The Glygon? Maybe the Watersaurus or the Smiley Ray...
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He picks up the cork pop gun, tests how it feels in his hand before... aiming it at Matoba instead of what's supposed to be targeted. He doesn't shoot though. ]
Stop getting in my personal space.
[ So he tries to get Matoba to back off. ]
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[Matoba raises his hands and shifts back just enough, goldfish dangling again. The poor virtual thing has been through it these last few minutes. Not that Matoba looks all that worried.]
Does the company know you spend so much of your time threatening players? Really, for such a person to be placed as our nanny...
Makes me wonder if you lost a bet or something. [Grin. He points at the targets.] Points are over there, Hien-kun.
[Don't worry. He has other things to talk about.]
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But he wants to go for the Smiling Ray, because he thinks it's cute. ]
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[...It's fine. The target dings like normal as Hien hits it, scoring him one of the 3 points needed for the grand plushie prize. Now, how could lil' ol' Matoba mess with any of the code of the game? He's just an innocent beta tester, a powerless player.]
Good shot, [He comments, innocent from his spot now a few feet away from Hien. But as the man lines up to take his next one, he speaks up again,]
That player who fell unconscious recently. I hope they're alright... That happened around the time the strange inbox messages went out, didn't it?
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You can ask the player yourself personally if you're that curious.
[ And he attempts to shut the conversation down right then and there with the tone of voice that carries finality. ]
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That isn't why I'm asking, [Matoba continues, with no particular aversion to Hien's obvious hostility.] I heard you told others they would be banned for replying to those messages. Why is that?
...
By the way. Are you originally from Japan, Hien-kun?
[Sure, he can send him to Gay Baby Jail, but then Matoba gets the satisfaction of knowing he's hit on something, here.]
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Anyway, it goes inside his inventory and Hien turns his head to look at Matoba in the eyes. He's going to ignore the first question and go straight to the second one regarding his place of originality: ]
No. Were you gonna hunt me down if I was?
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...
And maybe I would if you aren't, too.
[It's something the groups in the bigger cities deal with more, anyway. No skin off his back, really, but it's a matter of principle more than anything. But no one shoots like that here unless they have a ...certain background.]
[It would be very interesting if they had similarities there, wouldn't it.]
The Smiling Ray is quite cute, isn't it? Wearing their cheer on their bellies like that. [His smile brightens from its hostility, flimsy as it is.] I think it'd be nice if there were more cute monsters in the game in addition to the scarier ones; please tell the monster designers that.
Did you ever find out who sent them?
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[ Regarding the cute monsters. ]
And I won't be answering any questions regarding that.
[ No matter what Matoba does, is what's implied there. Even if he looks lethargic half the time, he seems to have a certain kind of stubborn streak underneath all that. ]
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[Matoba knows he's not going to get much out of the man- but he keeps pressing anyway. It wasn't about making Hien spill his guts, but watching to see the subtle reactions, the ways he would try to let it roll off, and the times when he does manage to get that little bit under his skin-]
[Hien's tired all the time. From work? Or something else.]
How long have you been testing this game ahead of us?
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[ He doesn't even look at Matoba this time, and instead, having his gaze fixated on... yeah, fried squid. He just ditches Matoba there to get some and eats—this man can be likened to a black hole. The entire squid is gone in a second. The third (no one knows what happened to the second) fried squid is being nibbled on for slower eating now.
If Matoba doesn't walk up to Hien, he will surprisingly return from the fried squid stand and back to Matoba while nibbling on the food. He doesn't say anything though, content enough to just stare at him instead while chewing. ]
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Oya, fried squid. One of my festival favorites... I think the flavor wasn't that bad, compared to the real thing.
The takoyaki were a little soggy, though. [He glances to the stall nearby.] Though I'm more interested in testing the sweets, myself.
[Hien finally turns back to stare at him, and Matoba's smile brightens.]
So it's just taste-testing today, is it? While the higher-ups deal with all of that.
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Do you ever shut up?
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[His smile hardly changes, but his eye narrows just the slightest bit. He's really enjoying himself.]
Is it all you know how to do? Lash out?
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[ He replies dryly as he scowls, turning his head away from Matoba. He very much doesn't enjoy this kind of attention, and it's very obvious. But he also seems more annoyed at Matoba than at the average player.
Probably because he (assumedly) has a hand in politics. He really hates that.
Yet here he is, talking to him anyway. ]
You're not my type.
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[Tsk, tsk, poor Hien-kun. If he'd only expand his horizons and learn of just how far the fingers of those pesky politicians reach, he'd know there's far more out there to paying attention to the politics of the day than just being involved in it oneself.]
[...Although, can you really claim to be uninvolved when you rule a city? Touché, Matoba supposes.]
Oh, don't be like that. You're going to break my heart. [Said with as much feeling as a passing comment about the weather,] What is someone like you doing here? Really.
Is there something you're looking for?
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No. I'm here to babysit the players so that you guys don't do anything too awful in this carnival.
[ Faith? 0.
Hien almost snorts when Matoba mentions "heart". Yeah. Good one. ]
I like being here, in Lumina Cloth.
[ That certainly tracks with how many times he's been seen around this area. ]
That's all.
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[As Matoba jokingly reaches towards his inventory, he pauses, and his eye rolls to the side. A soft snort escapes him.]
...I'm not talking about this Root Town.
[His hands drop to the side again, knuckles clicking. He doesn't know for certain, but that "dv" that messaged them.... It could be a hacker. But it could also be something else. Something that could only be possible in a virtual world like this.]
[His eye slides back to Hien's.]
Are you the only admin, Hien-kun?
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But then whatever tension there was is gone in his shoulders. His shoulders slump a little. It's as if he expected a worse question than that, but at least this is something he can answer easily-- ]
I'm the Head Administrator. Doesn't that already imply there are other administrators?
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[He holds his eyes.]
That is to say.... I haven't exactly seen anyone else around, or introduced to us....... Please feel free to refresh my memory, however, if I happen to have forgotten someone important?
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So he just shrugs. ]
There are other human administrators. I'm just someone assigned to this project.
[ He shoots Matoba a look as if to ask him, "happy now??". ]
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Well, isn't that a relief! If it was just us and you, I'd think you really were suffering from overwork. I certainly hope we'll get to meet our other babysitters soon, too.
[As if. His hands clasp behind his back, though, rolling on his heels. He'll simply have to keep poking around, then. If that one from the messages is really paying attention. Hmm.]
[...Oh. Did you think answering that was enough for him to abandon you, Hien? Don't be silly. He gives an enthusiastic point towards the ring toss.]
Shall we play that one next?
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[ But he would understand if it's just a rude to buy time for Hien to stick with him as he asks more questions. ]
If you hook all the rings in before I do, I'll let you ask any question and I'll answer if I can, barring any NDAs, other contracts, promises, et cetera, without the possibility of getting PKed on the spot.
[ Hopefully nothing too plotty that I'm unable to give, but. It is there. ]
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[The whole carnival long, Matoba's been missing shots and tosses as he chats up his fellow players. Hien might be on to something, though: missing shots just gave him more time to interrogate them.]
[Is he sandbagging? Now that the circumstances are reversed, it's time to find out.]
And if you win? [He opens his gold wallet to buy in a play.] Shall I assume I'm as good as dead again?
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