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⬣//A SINGLE CRACK LETS THE LIGHT IN.
As they say, fortune favors the brave. Five lucky players took part in a Limited Quest: The Mysterious Sky Islands, in which they discovered a brand new Root Town. While the team was largely successful in their efforts to make the mysterious floating town in the sky habitable, not everyone embraced the spirit of teamwork on this journey.
When you gate in to this shiny new Root Town, you'll notice something curious: it has no name. Its name simply displays as "???" in every context menu and there is no signage around the Root Town itself that points to its true name— rather, the name it had before they came along.
Whispers on the wind tell of an evil wizard in flowing white robes who ruthlessly boiled the village elder alive. With him died all of this mysterious Root Town's lore and history, and in its place are tales of the monster who robbed this land of its identity. The elemental sprites that populate this village refuse to speak their name, simply wishing you "good luck, have fun!" as you turn to leave.
While on your journey to check out the island, you'll notice how unstable the bridges are. Unstable might be putting it lightly, because for some unlucky souls, crossing the wrong bridge means plummeting to your death. It seems that whoever was put in charge of constructing these bridges didn't give a damn about structural integrity.
The local sprites are pleading with adventurers to assist them in building better, more stable bridges, but bridging the gap between one island and the next is not a job for a single person. If you have enough of a heart to heed the pleas of the sprites, you'll want to work with your fellow players to get the job done. All the wood, nails, and rope you need to construct better bridges has been helpfully supplied to you by the sprites. You could always sabotage the project too, of course, but what kind of person would you be if you did that?
The professions system has been added to fragment. Rejoice, busybodies, for there is much furniture to be built and dubious potions brewed.
In celebration of the new crafting & gathering system, a crafts festival is being held in the Unnamed Root Town. Take care not to plummet to your death while traversing those rickety bridges.
Players are encouraged to set up a booth of their own and trade their unique handcrafted items with their fellow adventurers. In addition to being supplied with enough level 1 and level 2 crafting materials to give the crafting system a spin, the local NPCs are running a contest encouraging people to come up with their own for a chance to have their creations canonized as real crafting recipes.
To submit your own recipe ideas, you need only fill out this handy form:
Recipe name:
Recipe category: Alchemist, Carpenter, Chef, or Jeweler?
Which two items does your recipe call for? Choose two items to combine. Only gatherable items (refer to the professions page) can be used.
Effect: What does this item do, if anything?
Description: A brief description of your lovely new product.
Fragment's beta test has seen its fair share of unusual bugs and unintended features, and with the latest update bringing many new changes, it's inevitable that some things have broken behind the scenes.
If two players happen to log in at the same time, they might find their avatars swapped with one another's. Thankfully, this issue doesn't lead to the unpleasant exchange of deep-seated memories or anything of the sort, but getting used to a body that isn't yours takes time. Thankfully, this particular bug resolves itself when both players log out.
The windy town of Unnamed Root Town is generally quite scenic and pleasant, but there's just one issue. It's far, far windier than it should be. If the rickety bridges don't kill you, the gusts that intermittently blow across the sky islands might knock you off your feet if you don't watch your footing carefully. Thankfully, the crafts festival on the southernmost end of the island hasn't been impacted by the severe winds. Among them is one voice that you don't recognize: a voice that promises a death, gruesome and bloody, in the days to come.
To everyone's relief, the carnival and its notorious hall of mirrors has packed up and left Lumina Cloth, but your past hasn't finished haunting you. The foul winds carry whispers of the past along with them, uttering words and phrases uncomfortably familiar to you. They're the voices of your past, the voices of people you've known, loved, and lost. Covering your ears won't keep the voices out of your ears. Nothing will.
Finally, on the more mundane some of things, professions have a few kinks of their own that need to be worked out. Occasionally, a crafted item won't come out quite right, instead resulting in one of the following "items":
Alchemist: Truth Serum. Become unable to lie for 24 hours.
Blacksmith: Whatever you're enhancing transforms into a denim disaster. Introducing your new "body" armor, "leg" armor, "head" armor, and "arm" armor.
Carpenter: Mirror Mirror. Reflects the person you're most afraid of becoming.
Chef: Durian Delight. A succulent durian pudding that reeks so strongly that its stench can be smelled all across the Root Town or Area you're occupying.
Jeweler: Crystal Ball. Breaks after one use but allows you to read another player's thoughts for five minutes.
With crafting in full swing, a certain admin has been lured out of his hidey hole by the smell of delicious chef-prepared meals. Hien is hungry, and you will feed him.
Chefs are not limited by the recipes they know like some professions are, so players are encouraged to think outside of the box and combine unique ingredients to cook up something truly special.
Taste, however, isn't the only important part of a perfect meal. Chefs looking to impress the big man himself are expected to present their culinary delights to him with pomp and finesse. You need to impress Hien if you want to gain more from this venture than the participation prize of a chef skin.
Those who successfully woo Hien with their delectable dishes will be given an additional prize: a little black pomchi pet to accompany their avatar around Root Towns and Special Areas. Hien will be giving these out at his discretion, so you better suck up to the dogboss in charge if you want a pomchi of your very own. If you catch Hien in a good mood, he may even agree to give you a different breed of dog if you ask nicely.
Hello, everyone! Can you believe it's been an entire month since our beta test began? Even though we've already been through a lot together, we've still got three months left! I'm rooting for you all!
As of today, the level cap has increased from 25 to 50. That means new armor and weapons will be available to you! Get out there to different Areas and start leveling up! But don't forget to stop every once in a while and enjoy your surroundings, too. Which reminds me—don't forget to check out the new Recreational Areas! We have a beach and hotsprings for you to enjoy now. I hope everyone continues to have fun exploring!
We've also opened up the GP shop, where you can create your own special armor set for a certain price, along with a few other things. Please check it out!
Oh, and don't forget to use these three new greeting cards I've made! Here they are! Make sure you use them so you can connect with your fellow players! We're all friends here, after all.
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[His eyebrows raise when Yael actually does as he suggested- and just pours for them. This shitty bastard absolutely is not to be trusted, clearly, so of course now Matoba is going to be skeptical.]
[But. Why waste perfectly good (free) (fake) booze?]
Try eating one of the eggs instead of throwing them, [Matoba cheerfully suggests, snatching one up for himself. He'll drink the sake, too... He just wants to wait for Yael to pour. It'd be rude to drink before they can say cheers. 🙂]
Maybe you'll be a little less cranky with some food, too. [He pops half of one into his mouth, chewing.]
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For what it's worth, he plans to indulge too, picking up the pitcher to fill Matoba's glass first, then his own. What now? Does he have to wait for this bitch to finish his egg before they can toast? Yael lifts his glass and waits. Clink him, motherfucker.]
I've never eaten an egg boiled in used bath water. Is that normal in Japan?
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[But.]
[Yael pours from the same pitcher and so, even if he's eying him suspiciously, he slurps up the rest of the egg and picks up his cup to drink. Without clinking. Kanpai, ossan!]
I feel as though I shouldn't have to explain this to a grown man, but eggs have a shell. [He takes another sip,] By the way, you are supposed to bathe yourself before you get into the onsen. Or do foreigners just plop your entire filthy selves into shared spaces without any sort of cleaning first?
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But.
"Politeness for me but not for thee" seems to be the mantra Matoba operates on, but you know what? It doesn't bother Yael nearly as much as it amuses him, letting out a bark of laughter before downing his sake in one gulp.]
Sure. We roll around in the mud first for good measure. Tell me, is the xenophobia genetic, or did I just get lucky with you?
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[Fake or no, the digital sake isn't too bad... He sips at it, wondering if the alcohol here had been programmed to replicate the effects of being drunk. Good thing he has a decent tolerance.]
Bothered to be returned what you give? I'd have figured you wouldn't have such thin skin, a weathered old man like you.
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Damn, you're brutal, aren't you? I'd ask you what your damage is, but I just realized I don't care.
[How's your glass looking, Matoba? Need a top up? Yael gives the sake pitcher an enticing shake.]
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[Nothing fun for Yael, in other words. He slides his cup back towards him on the floating 'table', deigning to allow Yael to refill it. Is he trying to get Matoba loose-lipped? Good luck, he thinks.]
How about you? [Damage, he means.] Is this what they call shellshock, or something?
no subject
Yael refills his glass right up to the brim, surface tension keeping the sake from spilling right over.]
I wonder. I never got evaluated before leaving Egypt for the states, but I bet killing for hire knocked a few screws loose.
you know what I shoulda done this earlier but cw: racism...
You sorts all gather there.......... Must be the corporate contracts, hm? [Matoba just hooks a finger onto the whole little floating table and brings it towards him wholesale to slurp the top off his cup of sake without spilling it. Brat. He'll send it floating back once it's at a reasonable level.] For the best, I suppose. Better pay. And you'd stick out like a sore thumb in Japan, so no one would hire you. That's why if we need contractors, we get the Chinese and Koreans to kill people for us.
[Sip.]
oh matoba
Rude, uncivilized man that he is, Yael openly laughs in Matoba's face.]
You want to know something? I was stationed in Japan for a couple years. Loved it. Bitches like you didn't have the nerve to say what you're saying to me now directly to my face. Talk about well-behaved.
o matoba
Are you proud of that?
[He holds Yael's eye, unflinching, but why is he really laughing?]
Perhaps we could test the theory someday, if you'd like. Unfortunately, the wonders of VR technology are going to have to do for the moment.
cw racism 2: electric boogaloo
[What more can he do but laugh? In truth, Yael met plenty of people like Matoba during his time in Japan. Those who were kind to him were genuinely kind, but there were plenty more who loathed his presence in their country and what he meant for its future. People like Matoba are the ones he hated most.]
That said, I'd rather not meet you in person. Who knows? I might feel compelled to prove you right. I'm a brute, after all, and one with terrible manners. You're better off giving me a wide berth.
they truly deserve each other
Surely, you know what you were acting in the name of. It would be less cowardly of you to own it. By the way, you speak as if that doesn't happen aplenty in that area.
[Picking up another of the hotspring eggs, he knocks it gently against the rocks on the side of the onsen and begins to peel.]
That said- I think that'd be pretty fun. If you're in Kyushu again, why not give a holler? If you're loud and brutish enough, I think you'd find me eventually.
...Or the police will find you first, and beat you to within an inch of your life before they put you away for a while. [He carefully peels a piece of eggshell, and flicks it off to the side of the baths before he takes a bite.] It's a win-win for me either way.
So? Why did you quit?
a match made in hell
Yael stretches his arms up above over his head and leans back against them, very nearly elbowing Matoba in the process. Whoops!]
You think I quit? Please. I suffered a bad leg injury and I had no choice but to take time off while it recovered.
[Who knows? Maybe a trip to Japan would be a better use of his time than playing this damn MMO, but Yael remains unconvinced that using that time to visit Matoba would be remotely sensible.]
Next time I'm there, I'll stand in the middle of traffic and yell until you come running. What's your idea of fun, aside from annoying the shit out of people?
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[He thinks that's hilarious; he bites into and splurps the hotspring egg out of the half of the shell he's peeled open; mmmm, gooey and warm.]
Me? Well. I am playing this game, aren't I? [Not that he's exactly here for fun, but no one needs to know that. It's not too different from his hobbies of choice, besides- he was known in other games before Fragment, after all.] I enjoyed going to the arcade when I was a student. Crane machines are my forté. Sweets and pastry cafés.... And I enjoy feeding the cats in my city, too.
[Unfortunate, isn't it? Having so much in common.]
............Really though, nothing beats "annoying the shit out of people". [He smiles serenely.] I can multitask.
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[Said with no particular affection or judgment. However Matoba wants to pass the time is his own business, but at least Yael can understand spending some of that time on the local cats.
Leaning back, Yael glances at Matoba sidelong.]
How's your aim with a gun?
[Matoba's answer should be telling.]
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Beats growing into a bitter, sour old man, hm?
[Patronizingly, and gazing up through his lashes, Matoba then smiles.]
Guns are illegal in Japan, Yael-san.
[His expectation was not incorrect.]
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[The illegality of guns means nothing to Yael. In every country with strict gun laws are people who manage to get their hands on them anyway. Who's to say Matoba isn't one of those people?]
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[He's not implicating himself where it'll be recorded for posterity, bitch!! Matoba's smile sweetens, and he cocks his head.]
--Ahaha, although I guess I can't even make a joke about only having one eye around you now, can I?
That reminds me. I had a lot of fun messing with Fai-san at the carnival, but I have a feeling he knew exactly what I was doing. Why don't you try asking him, if you're so curious about my aim?
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He's more sharp-eyed than he looks. You should watch yourself around him.
[Yael sits himself up on the edge of the bath. He doesn't know about Matoba, but he's starting to get pruny in here. Go on, tell him he's rude for getting out of the bath or some shit. He's ready.]
I have my own methods of figuring these things out. If you don't feel like being honest, I'll do whatever I want and let you deal with the consequences.
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[The unfettered bliss of an annoying child shines through as Yael hops up on the edge of the bath, like he's won some meaningless little territorial battle over the onsen. That's right, he is an immature brat!- at least over this specifically, and he's happy to own it.]
Which reminds me, I need to come around and finish my exchange with him...... I hope that you find the answers you are looking for, too, Yael-ossan. Feel free to let me know what you learn!
[No skin off his back... haha. Yakuza humor.]
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[Let him know what he learns, huh. He'd rather write Matoba off entirely, but Yael knows that isn't going to happen. He's like honey to obnoxious flies like him, and so he shoos him off with a hand accordingly. Buzz off, gnat. He knows you'll be back.]
Until then, I guess.