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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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[ Oria laughs. ]
Too deadly! Maybe if I was completely surrounded...
[ Hm. That makes Oria think as he looks around from where he is. ]
Wanna go find the walls? But like, not running into them. Maybe we can find a secret place by bugging inside some buildings!
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Like secret passages? That does sound fun... hopefully we don't get stuck anywhere.
[ Going to swoop down towards a particularly tall building near the periphery of Lumina Cloth]
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Find anything yet?
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Riding the wake is ██████, the Shadow of Death, to drown all that stands.
Mirage of Deceit, █████, Betray all with the flawed image, and did aid the Wave.
And by the Power of █████, a drop from the Wave doth reach the heavens, and creates a new Wave.
With the Wave, ████████, the power to tell the dark future, hope darkens, sadness and despair rule.
[Quite unfortunate that certain portions of the poem have been redacted, but hey, at least you've found something cool today. Who knows what secrets future Root Towns may hold?]
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[Sinclair frowns, reading through it. It's a lucky thing for him but still, he wonders...why were all these poems and songs in German? He'll hand it over to Oria and translate it at his prompting.]
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"Mirage of Relations"...?
[ He holds it up as if that would help him understand better. After several seconds, his face lights with realization. ]
No, wait. Deceit. That makes more sense.
[ Then after asking Sinclair for a full translation, Oria stares at the poem some more before giving it back to him. ]
Wasn't there a wave mentioned with the last one?
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[It seems like it. Just taking some time to pick at the wording for a bit. He doesn't like leaving his translations messy, but this is as accurate as he can make it]
Oh, and then the song Winter showed me...[Digging it out too] It spoke of the 'shadowed' man. So maybe the first line of this stanza refers to him?
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[ Oria always aced his classes, but humanities-like classes were where he had to put more effort into it than others. Only then, he only formatted his work in a way that would please the teacher. The art of bullshitting remains strong to this day. ]
I hope someone among the players is good at analyzing literary work. That's definitely not for me.
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Really? I thought you were always at the top of your year with everything. [Ah, rich high schools and their competitions] But it's pretty much impossible to work out until we get more parts.
[Also the flow from German to English? Very different!!]
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[ Just making that clear!! He had to pass up on council presidency for Reasons and refused to be the valedictorian of his graduating class, also for a different Reason. He still has his pride, even though he considers them to be silly achievements. ]
But that doesn't have anything to do with this! There are lots of old guys here. Let's hope at least one of them can do it.
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[ He can tease, just a little.
What happened to Sinclair's academic record after everything? He doesn't actually remember at all...they had let him graduate out of pity but he's sure it wasn't anything to be proud of even before that Day. ]
...do you think any of them are really good with poems? Some of the ones I've met are a bit...
[They both know who he's thinking of]
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Mithrun analyzed the entire terms of service and liability waivers when I asked him to. That's different than a poem.
[ But he's welcome to try. Oria is a little curious on what he'd come up with. He knows there are some people he wouldn't bother asking like PinkPilgrim and 0koto... for obvious reasons. ]
If this is really in-game lore, it's hard to do anything since we really don't know anything. Do you think we should file a feedback report on how hard it could be?
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[ Having more practice means Sinclair knows how to stay afloat for longer. Or its just the name helping out. Should they find a nice roof to perch on?]
We could. I don't think it would hurt. But maybe when they set up other towns it might be easier?
[a part of him likes the challenge??]
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[ Oria turns once to fly and find a nice place to perch on.
Then he stands on Sinclair's shoulder without putting his weight on him.
Chirp, motherfucker. ]
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[Sinclair's wings flutter in agitation. He hopes those smacks hurt Oria's ankles]
Quit that. [Trying to flee!!]
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Why are you running?! Come back!
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[Despite that, Sinclair laughs as he swoops down and then up, trying to shake Oria off]
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[ Oria can't pull off too complex things yet and ends up falling because he lost control and he doesn't know how to correct it. He's thinking fast-- ]
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--Oria!
[It's instinct to dive down then, catching Oria as he flaps his wings madly to pull up before they crash. At least, he can redirect them into a grassy hill--
His wings flare, trying to catch the wind and when they're close to impact, he tries to twist so he hits the ground first.
Steam gunner <<< Lord Partizan in terms of strength and durability, right?]
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And then... impact!! There might be any grass in a very developed city area like this, but Sinclair sure saved Oria with his class and quick thinking. Oria braced himself for impact, but... oops. ]
Hey... You okay?
[ He looks concerned over at him. How much damage did he take?? ]
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BANG.
Have a sad flutter of wings. Ow. His HP bar sure took a hit from the fall damage. Is Oria still squishing him? He's not paying much attention]
Mm. I'm fine. I think. ow. Are you okay?
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Yeah.
[ Oria hurriedly gets up to pull Sinclair upright. He doesn't have to stand right now if he doesn't want to, so if he stays sitting, Oria will sit too. If he stands, then he'll stay standing. ]
Sorry about that. Flying is a lot harder than I thought.
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Sinclair sits up at Oria's prompting. And stays sitting. His head??? His pain sensors should be off but maybe he forgot the one for his head]
Ah. That's fine. It took half a day before I got the hang of it last time.
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[ Hehehehehehehe.
Oria looks pretty smug about it too. ]
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Mm. It was a pain.
[He'll just reach out...and poke Oria in the cheek]
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