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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!̵̩͑
POST PATCH 2.5
Utilizing the opportunity of a large player gathering, Leo is set up in one of the corners of Lumina Cloth to advertise his guild, The Epicurians! His current stomping ground is framed with fancy posters displaying the guild's logo and purple streamers tastefully placed in-between them. Normally he'd just haphazardly place stuff, but first impressions are important, after all.
Sitting front-in-center at a table is the guildmaster himself, plus the guild's helper grunty, Emperor Grunty! Several pre-mixed drinks of the same type sit in front of them, a decadent number made out of heavy cream, irish cream whiskey, coffee liqueur and vodka, then topped with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. It's... a lot. A drink guaranteed to weigh you down a bit and calm your nerves. Or is that just your digital arteries clogging from the sheer amount of calories?
Utilizing his complementary megaphone, he shouts out a message that the entirety of Lumina Cloth can hear!] Join the Epicurians! A place to engage with all of the pleasures that The World has to offer! Get a free drink and meet the guildmaster at the southeast corner of the carnival!
[A second haughtier voice rings through, no doubt owned by Emperor Grunty.] Yes, untold sensations await you, umu~! Join today, umu~!
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Oh wow, these look delightful.
[ And then, he turns his smile on the guildmaster. ]
Would you mind if I joined? I'm sure your guild home has all sorts of neat things, doesn't it?
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[ Don't mind him reaching for one of the drinks as he leans back from the table again. But he still sounds excited-- ]
Oh! That's even more stuff than I thought! Man, I can't wait to try those baths. It's really a shame there aren't more of those around here.
Wait, so do members get their own bedrooms?
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Good question. I put in as many as I can for now, but there's only so much a starting guildmaster can do with the layout of their home. So you might have to work things out with other guild members when... the need arises. [Leo does a finger quotes gesture upon the term 'the need'.]
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But I sure do appreciate all your hard work, Mr. Guildmaster. If there's anything I can do to help the guild, and maybe have my own room, then just let me know, alright? I'd be happy to help, drunk or sober.
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[ That invite is accepted almost as soon as it pops up. Sip, sip, sip.
He asks this next part completely innocently, no ounce of shame-- ]
Say, do you have a favorite in game pleasure so far?
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Mmm, I've made out with somebody already, that was pretty nice. So probably that. But being able to eat and drink without having to pay real money might be the most pleasurable feeling of all.
[He takes one of the mixed drinks, raises it in a silent toast, then starts chugging. Once halfway through, he holds the glass up to Emperor Grunty and allows him to finish it off.]
Ah, good shit.
[The grunty responds in kind.] "Yes yes, good &$#@ indeed, umu~!"
cw frank sex talk i guess?? kinda???
[ no shame: leo 🤝 tylor. ]
I'm glad you've gotten to enjoy all the best things this game has to offer. Man, it's amazing, isn't it? So realistic.
[ Tylor blinks, then sounds more serious despite the chill-- ]
Oh. But don't forget it can also make a mess in real life.
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[Leo laughs at Tylor's final admission.]
I guess I'll keep that in mind for the future. [Note to self: maybe put a condom on before engaging in rigorous VR 'activity'.]
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Glad I could help! So, what other cool stuff do you think they'll come up with around here? I wonder if guildmasters will get anything special?
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[Pondering the potential of Tylor's words, Leo strokes his chin.]
I'm not entirely sure, but I wouldn't say no to more free stuff.
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[ Tylor laughs a little when Emporer Grunty gruntpurrs into his hand. Sipping more with his free hand, he's apparently content to just vibe here crouched and petting the Grunty like he's a cute cat. ]
If you could pick anything to add, what would it be?
[ He asks, glancing up to the guildmaster. ]
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Mithrun's in his swimsuit skin today (hat and shorts and all). )
... Sure. I guess it's similar to what I've been doing.
( Probably... not in the same sense. Of course, Mithrun can tell the intent is different - epicure being right in the name - but, whatever. It's close enough. If Leo doesn't hesitate with his invite, he'll get a member. )
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Welcome aboard! [Mithrun is quickly sent an invite.] Care for a drink?
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He casts his gaze out over the drinks... He's fine with or without a drink, but people keep trying to give him things to consume in Fragment, so he's just in the habit of saying yes at this point. )
... Sure. ( He now has... a drinky. He gazes at it in his hand, and considers how strong the flavor must be. Not the worst thing to have. He takes a sip. ) So you enjoy physical pleasures?
( Genuinely means it generally, but sensually isn't off the table considering the topic. )
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Uh, yeah. Food, drink, physical touch. [Drugs too, but he's not gonna say that out loud yet.] I like it all.
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Do you know Hani and Tylor?
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I assume 'Tylorific' is Tylor? If so, then yes, I've met him. He recently joined the guild. The name Hani rings a bell, but I'm not a hundred percent sure. [In reality they have met, but it was brief.] Why do you ask?
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( Who knows though, they're pretty whimsy.
Mithrun, meanwhile, is drinking this tincture like water. )
... This is sweet.
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[That being said, Leo reaches for one and begins downing it just as quick if not quicker than Mithrun.]
And yeah, I'll keep that in mind. The more the merrier! [A mustache made of whipped cream is quickly wiped away with his tongue.]
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Do you like sweet things? ( He watches him do that, apparently impassive. Mithrun probably has cream all over his own lips, but he's not doing anything about it. ) ... I don't register sensation well, so I'm trying to engage in stronger stimulation.
( Hence his remark that this guild was in line with what he was doing anyway, in some sense. )
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[Leo puts a finger to his chin in thought.]
Stronger stimulation, huh. We're going to be on the lookout for new and strange things while we play, so we can pool together our experiences. That might help with your predicament. And I'm sure when crafting is implemented, we can fix you up some super strong stuff.