⬣//JUST AS A SEED TAKES ROOT.

[cccorp]

>>Secrets // >>Guilds // >>Grunties // >>Carnival // >>Zelkova Corner

⬣//THIS WORLD IS MORE THAN 0S AND 1S.

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.

⬣//ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL.

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.

⬣//FATHER, I HUNGER…

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.

⬣//PROPER CARNIVAL WEATHER.

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.

⬣//ZELKOVA’S META ROUNDUP.

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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[legendofthelion]

[Protection services]

[With the oppressive heat driving all players out of Mac Anu, Dehya realizes that a lot of people who are still lower leveled or don't care to PvP are going to get shuffled to Lumina Cloth. She knows of at least one person who will want to make their lives difficult, so while she's loitering around she keeps and eye out for any who haven't maxed their level, or just plain look nervous.

And she approaches with a friendly smile.] Hey, you doing okay?

[Carnival - Dunk Tank]

[It's an early game beta, so Dehya supposes she can't be too focused on the cosmetic side of things. But still, one outfit just isn't enough while she's still gathering armor. Neither PK skin is interesting to her, but a swimsuit skin? Especially with the weather as it is, count her in. Maybe the next root town will be a seaside city?

She waves her hand to flag someone down.] You wanna trade dunks?

[Carnival - Hall of Mirrors (memshare)]

[Dehya is lost. She has half a mind to just smash her way through the maze but a) that may not work and b) if it does work, it may be considered breaking the game. Given the weirdness with @ DV, Deyha would rather not take her chances on a suspension.

So she keeps wandering, trying to stick to a single direction of turns in hopes it take her out and not to a dead end.

When she sees someone else, she stops for just a second before approaching.] Hey! You know your way through this place?

[Wildcard]

((I've got a plotting comment over here for anything else!))

protection services

[insinning]

[Fresh off his latest kill, Vogel sure is nervous. Maybe even a little jumpy. He does not want to be around Lumina Cloth with that man around, but he also does not want to be in Mac Anu or reality. So he faces himself a conundrum. When Dehya approaches, he jumps visibly, his title visible above his head, since he's forgotten to unequip it]

Me? [Is this someone else coming up for a PK attempt. He's out of headhens. And stop signs] I'm fine. [Gonna leave it at that except wait, manners] Thank you...

[Just glancing over Dehya's shoulder. Hm. Fandaniel may not have succeeded in his PK attempt, but he sure left someone paranoid]

[legendofthelion]

[Dehya would be so proud of you if she knew, Emil. She doesn't have her title equipped but she vaguely recognizes him from the Player Ball Of Hell. You know, around all the nausea of getting swung around.]

That's good. I know not everyone's comfortable with PvP, but since it's so hot in Mac Anu... [Well, the options are risk PvP, virtual heastroke, or log out until it passes.] At least there's no weird bug equipping each other this time, right?

[insinning]

[ Oh. He might recognise her too. It was hard to tell who was who between all the swinging and trauma.]

I don't think Mac Anu is livable unless you stay in the guild @ homes... but you're right. At least they've fixed that bug...

[ He lost his artificial height but this is fine.]

[legendofthelion]

I wonder if the heat is a bug too. But the whole sky changed so maybe it's normal to force people to move around?

Anyway--you've been here before, but are you okay with PvP? If you need someone to watch your back I'm willing to lend a hand.

[insinning]

I don't mind PvP in the arena, but...

[ Oh. This person was just being nice. He relaxes a little]

Someone already tried to PK me...I think they're gone now, but it'd be nice to walk with someone so it doesn't happen again...if you don't mind, of course.

hall of mirrors!

[tinged]

Hello, there. No, not at all.

[ sorry, hani doesn't know the way out, but they can keep her company for a bit. ]

Did you wander in here alone?

[legendofthelion]

[Dehya rubs the back of her head sheepishly.] Yeah, it looked a lot smaller on the outside... I didn't really think I'd get this lost. What about you?

[tinged]

I was here earlier with my cousin. Something a little strange happened and I’m hoping to see if it will happen again.

[ hani touches one of the mirrors. they seem to be making a conscious effort to avoid looking into the mirrors with her around. ]

Did you feel anything strange about this place?

[legendofthelion]

Strange? [Her expression twists, considering.] Do you mean just this place or... the game in general?

[Because she's heard about some weird stuff happening besides. It seems an important distinction to make.]

[tinged]

Oh.

[ their eyes widen as if they've just realized... that she's right! ]

I mean both, thank you! How did you know? Wow, you're so smart.

hall of mirrors

[curvaceous]

Hey, Dehya.

[ Kara seems a little less cheerful than usual, and this isn't her first rodeo with the Hall of Mirrors. What brings her back for a second time is the desire to test something -- to see what will happen if she enters again. Even so, she'd feel at least a little bad for not letting Dehya know about something being wrong with this place.

First, though: ]

Yeah, I do. Wanna follow me?

[legendofthelion]

If I could, I'm uh... kinda lost. [More like very lost. So she'll happily slide in to Kara's side.] Thanks.

[curvaceous]

Yeah, of course. But...

[ How does she put this? ]

If you see anything funny or off, let me know. Promise?

[legendofthelion]

Uh, sure. But if you're saying that, that means you saw something, right?

[curvaceous]

...

[ She's tempted to deny it, but what good would that do? None, that's for sure. And if there's anyone who's going to see anything, well, she'd trust Dehya with it, at least somewhat.

So...she nods. ]

Yeah. I did. I don't know, Dehya...this place is really creepy. Like, you might see something that doesn't belong to you. But we've got no choice but to keep going forward.

duk tank

[secondthoughts]

[ Hector is nearby. He eyes the dunk tank with glazed eyes, dreamily or simply dazed by the heat, it's not clear. He's...damp already, but that's just from sweat. He hasn't gone in yet. ]

Huh—

[ Dehya snaps him out of it, and he turns to look at her. What did she ask. Oh, right. ]

Yeah, sure. [ He absently reaches up (!!) to pat her on the shoulder before taking a few steps forward. ] Let me go first. I'm boiling.

[legendofthelion]

[Yeah, he really looks like he's going through it. Maybe he's not used to the heat (she does not know he lives in California).]

No argument from me. Why don't you get set up and I'll find something to throw at you. [The target, whatever.]

[secondthoughts]

[ He can't even argue with something getting thrown at him at this point. It's too goddamn hot.

While Dehya goes to collect things to throw, Hector clambers onto the seat of the dunk tank. His feet skim the water, and he sinks into the seat. Oh, this is going to be nice. Hurry up Dehya.

When he has her attention again, he gives a listless wave. ]

Ready when you are.

[legendofthelion]

[Dehya grabs one of the weighted plastic balls, testing it by bouncing it in her hand as Hector slides into place. ]

All right, here I go. [She reels her arm back And slings the ball right at the target. It smacks left from center, triggering the release under Hector's seat.]

[secondthoughts]

[ The seat gives and Hector plunges into the water. Even though he was expecting it, the shock of impact on the cool surface of the water jolts him awake. He hangs underwater for a moment before bursting up for air. ]

That hit the spot!

[ Not...literally. But he already feels cooler. He clambers out of the tank and opens his hand for the ball. ]

Your turn? [ He grins. ]

wildcard (grunty food hunt)

[regressive]

[ After thoroughly interrogating the people from the Grunty Ranch, Joonghyuk leaves with a comprehensive list of areas in which different grunty food items can be found. Farming solo is always an option, but this time around he asks Dehya who happens to be around to accompany him. Obtaining food from the dungeons will be trickier, but thankfully it looks like a lot of these items can be farmed in the Volcanic Wastelands, so that's where they head first.

It's a miracle that anything can be found in this high temperature—the light haze that permeates the whole area isn't helping either. ]

Did you hear that?

[ RNG has spoken—their first item is the Oh No Melon which keeps repeating its name in a somewhat distressed voice, even though it cannot be seen easily in the haze. ]

[legendofthelion]

[It's always better with company, right? At least when the company's good, but Joonghyuk is clearly prepared for the task so she isn't worried.

The area is... well, it's not desert even if it's as hot as one. Actually, she thinks she'd prefer the desert right now. But the food is tied to the area, and they need what's here.

She tilts her head up.] Yeah, it sounded like... someone saying 'oh no'?

[regressive]

What are the chances that someone just found an Oh no melon and is very excited about this...?

[ For all he knows, it might be someone needing help since the people at the ranch forgot to mention this interesting detail about grunty foods. Too bad that his haze is making things more difficult. ]

[legendofthelion]

Probably not that high with how many areas we can generate. Let's check it out. [She takes a measured pace while walking towards the sound, trying to use ears instead of eyes to locate it--without running into lava or any waiting enemies.]