Chương 129: 4.19 Margaret (feat. Bleachers) - Lana Del Rey, Bleachers (5:39)

Queen-of-Boo Gotta say Zeke, I'm loving your last update from Lashings. After everything you've been through, I'm happy you got to a city you enjoy. Reading your description of the city really drove home that Emberveil was the right choice. DeconstructedAntlers Mmmm… we sure that's not Mal using a different username? Queen-of-Boo Suck it Deconstructed. FirstMarketSense I'm officially voting that all the future updates from Zeke just be about him wandering through Emberveil, taking in all the weird architecture.

Let my man explore. Let him go to strange restaurants, get lost in the harbor, and spend three paragraphs talking about some seagull that stole his food. I'd love that. CrushDaddyXx Ew. No. That sounds boring as hell. If the next few weeks are just Zeke looking at buildings and talking about how cool everything is, I might disappear. I'll come back when someone tries to kill him again. SignalLoss Crush, you're downplaying the best part about the Fracture-verse games: the exploration.

My favorite thing was always introducing someone to the games and watching them get lost in the lore. I've got this buddy Fabian. We've been best friends since kindergarten, back when he was the coolest kid on the playground because he was the only one of us to have a bicep. I remember getting him into Fracture: the Fall and about a week later he wanted to talk my ear off about all the things he'd seen and done.

He was asking me all these questions about the deeper lore, trying to connect the characters and events and figure out what all the details meant. I loved that. You can't manufacture that kind of thing. I think that's what Mal was getting at when he wanted to send Zeke to Lashings without telling him anything. Sure, you can explain that Lashings is a city made out of old ships, and you can show them the screenshots and talk about the Lucky Bilge and the Coin from Nowhere.

But none of that is as fun as having someone walk their character into the city for the first time and seeing everything. I love that moment where they're just staring at the screen and thinking to themselves, holy shit, this game is amazing. Inkwell ^Signal. Give me some discoveries. I want Zeke to spend half his day learning the history of Lashings. I want him to find some old-timer who knows about the city, and I want him to get emotionally invested in a ship that sank 300 years ago.

That's what the Fracture-verse is all about. CrushDaddyXx All of you are nuts. We need to send him after more Living Stories. Are you all forgetting that we're trying to figure out how Simon Pucco killed the Krill Kraken? The only way to do that is to get more action. MushroomCleric Horrible take, Crush. You've got no appreciation for the sacred art of getting lost in a fictional city. CrushDaddyXx Sure I do. I just think that getting lost should eventually lead to a boss fight.

PaperSnakes While we're talking about getting lost in Emberveil … Zeke should make his way to Bal-town. Malv0lio Negatory friend. He should stop by the Godsbone Reef. That place is so creepy, but I think that Zeke might actually appreciate the sheer scale of the thing. Lashings is already giving him a great experience, but Godsbone Reef would crank that experience up to eleven. JimothyTheBarber 11! NullSigil Mal is right.

I think what Zeke would most appreciate is being sent to a giant dead whale run by one of the creepiest NPCs in all of Emberveil. That's obviously what this story needs next. CrushDaddyXx Ooo. Yes. Let's do that. NullSigil Jeezus Crush… I was being sarcastic. There's no way we should be sending Zeke anywhere close to the Godsbone Reef. He's not ready for that nightmare. ResistanceIsAnnoying You're all thinking way too small.

If you like watching him freak out over a city built from old ships, how do you think he'll react when he makes it to one of the Null Protocol towns? I want Zeke to walk through a city filled with future-tech and cyberpunk nonsense so he can completely lose his mind. He's spent most of his time in the Fracture-verse dealing with all manners of swords and magic and monsters. Can you think how he'll react when faced with a city with flying cars? Also, it would be what he is most used to.

The man grew up in New York, meaning he should take to Null Protocol like a duck to water. Let's get the dood some running water, electricity, and fast food. Ilike2mung | Let's get the dood some running water, electricity, and fast food. | He has all that in Emberveil. Dayum. Can the man unpack his bags first? He literally just got to Lashings and you people are already trying to ship him across multiple games. JimothyTheBarber Huh. What do you mean "you people?" Chik8da_swarm Oh.

I just noticed that Mal doesn't have the Primary tag next to his name anymore. Does that mean we're getting a new primary? Who's next on the list? GravemindLegacy (MOD) I'm currently waiting to introduce Zeke to his next Primary. Malv0lio's time as Primary has effectively concluded. He guided Zeke from The MIZ to Emberveil, and we will be changing Primaries shortly. However, I do NOT want to make that transition immediately. Z3ke's experienced a remarkable sequence of events since leaving the safety of The MIZ.

Whatever one thinks of the individual choices he's made along the way, the pace has been unusually demanding and I believe he's earned a period of relative peace in Lashings before another guiding hand is placed on the scales. He's arrived somewhere new, he is clearly fascinated by what he's found, and he has an opportunity to explore without needing to treat every unfamiliar place as the start of the next crisis. To put is simply: he needs a vacation. TwoGirlsOneCuphead | he needs a vacation. | Nah.

The man needs some new clothes. The MIZ might have let him get away with walking around and looking like a haunted scarecrow. That place is basically a post-apocalyptic hellhole mixed with a little bit of Burning Man. If he walks through Emberveil looking like he was dragged through a collapsing building before being set on fire, he's going to draw attention to himself. He is in an actual functioning society now; a society with shops and restaurants and people who know what a shirt is supposed to look like.

He needs to go shopping for new clothing before he walks into a place looking like he just crawled out of a war zone. Mchiavelli Oooo. Are we talking about a Pretty Woman montage? Yes please. I can picture it now. Zeke heads into a clothing store for some new gear but all the clerks are turning up their noses at him because he looks like a complete mess. He is just trying to get some help and he's frustrated and crying, pulling out handfuls of gold from his dimensional storage space and saying, "I have money!

I'm just trying to look respectable!" There's one lone store clerk who doesn't judge Zeke based off what he's wearing. Instead, she is able to see the lonely, insecure man beneath all that dirt and grime and bravado. She takes him shopping, teaches him how to dress himself, and naturally they fall madly in love. Presperosity Hmm. I'm surprised at you Mchiavelli. I figured you would have gone with the whole BDSM angle with Lashings. You could have called it 'Lashings in Lashings.' Mchiavelli … sunovabitch.

Inkwell Jeezus. Who let the perverts in here? But I do agree with TwoGirls. Zeke needs to get some clothes, boots, and gear. He needs to restock his supplies. He needs more food, medical stuff, replacement strings for his guitar, and probably a dozen other boring things we haven't thought of. Teabaggins420 Don't have him spending ALL his gold. He needs to make that shit last. Money is only useful when you have it.

FungusLord Couldn't Zeke hypothetically sell glyph knowledge piecemeal to various glyph users in the city for cash? There are solutions to the money issue that don't involve Zeke actually losing anything. Knowledge is power and all that. DataDatum Ehh. I wouldn't suggest having him go out and sell his glyph knowledge. Remember what happened when he showed Milicent the book? The dood is better off keeping that close to his chest.

He can always take a few odd jobs, or use all that we know to find easy monsters to kill and then sell what they drop. HexaDeweyDecimal If Zeke is going shopping - and it's a smart thing for him while he's in Lashings - he needs to make a list and let us help. He's got a whole forum filled with nerds who have obsessed over these games. We can tell him what he actually needs to buy, what can wait, and what would be a complete waste of money. Hyo-the-Flower Yo, Zeke.

I know you're spending all your time ogling the city right now and you're probably not paying attention to the forum, but can we get a list of the gear you've got in your storage space? SignalLoss We need more than that. Zeke, if you're reading this, post your character sheet. Tell us about your skills, ranks, traits, equipment, and whatever else you've got access to. If we know what you're working with, we can come up with stuff you should do while you're in Lashings.

AnywayHeresWonderwall Off the top of my head, I'm thinking he's going to need to buy: two or three decent shirts, pants that aren't falling apart, proper boots, socks, underwear, a coat, and something he can wear while walking about town. He should have at least one set of clothes that are just for relaxing in. He should buy stuff just because he likes how it looks and makes him feel. Pretty much everything he owns was either scrounged up, handed to him, or he bought it because it would keep him alive.

Plethora | post your character sheet. | Just go back and look at what he posted the last time. There are some changes, but it's simple enough we can work off it. SKILLS Puzzle Intuition - Rank 2 You've begun to see the threads of life. Increased awareness of non-linear patterns Simple Melee Weapons - Rank 3 (Was Rank 2, don't know if it changed the description) You've learned basic, unrefined skills related to handheld weapons like batons, knives, and improvised weapons.

First Aid - Rank 3 You've developed practical emergency medical skills. Stop bleeding, stabilize serious injuries, splint fractures, perform small procedures, and improve a patient's chance of survival. Athletics - Rank 2 You can move in an athletic fashion. Performance - Rank 7 * You understand how to command attention. Music, speech, movement and timing have become instruments to you.

Whether performing before a crowd, negotiating with strangers, or inspiring allies in a moment of crisis, you instinctively understand how to make people listen. Instrument Mastery - Rank 5 * You possess a practiced familiarity with musical instruments. What once appeared as a collection of strings, valves, and wood now reveals purpose, technique, and possibility. You can play, maintain, and weaponize musical instruments - both as tools of expression and as unconventional implements in the field.

Persona - Rank 4 * You have learned to suppress visible signs of fear, pain, or hesitation. Your posture, expression, and body language present as controlled and intentional. History - Rank 4 Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. You are learning to see the world through the lens of the past. You can begin identifying connections between people, cultures, and events, allowing you to reconstruct fragments of larger stories from incomplete evidence.

Glyph Writing - Rank 4 (was Rank 3, don't know if it changed the description) You have taken your first steps into the art of glyph creation. You may now activate basic glyphs. Guns - Rank 1 You have learned the fundamentals of operating firearms. Improved handling, loading, aiming, and safe operation. Balance - Rank 2 (We never got a description of this.) [Dimensional Storage Space] Blanket Small Journal Pencils Two Forks One Spoon Med-kit Canteen Flare Gun with 3 rounds Water Purifier Multitool Corva's Axe Flashlight Bedroll Matches and a Lighter Whetstone Hammer Shovel Crowbar Soap Sewing Kit Mirror Glowrods Rope Duct Tape Mess Kit Searfang Several books StoryLeech Dayum Plethora. Way to be paying attention. I think. I've got to admit that I had his character sheet saved somewhere in my notes but then weird shit happened to it and I just never rewrote the thing.

If it was me trying to write all that from memory, I would have screwed up somewhere along the way. FarFieldVanishes Okay. We've got a list of what he's got on hand. Who wants to start putting together a list of items it would behoove him to buy? JimothyTheBarber | it would behoove him to buy? | Oh. Fancy man with his $5 words. What you think you're better than me?!?!?

Z3ke (Original Poster) I know what I said before. I know I seemed really excited to explore and everything, but fuck this city. I hate Lashings, and I hate all of you who told me to come here.

"Oh, Zeke, you should go to Lashings. It's great. You should relax and enjoy yourself." Well, congrats to all of you. You played me. Golf clap. Shootingblnks HAAA. Is it bad that I can't tell if he's actually pissed or if this is like Cliffhaven all over again, where he's just complaining to complain? Z3ke (Original Poster) It's mostly the second one. If I were more in touch with my emotions, I might admit that some of this is probably my fault. But nope. I'm blaming all of you. Let me ask you all something.

Do you know about the Rigging District? Because fuck that place. MushroomCleric The Rigging District? I've got the map of Lashings pulled up and it doesn't have anything about that. It's not in the games. Lashings is mostly presented as one big city with different areas, but a lot of the individual districts wouldn't be named. We might know about it if you gave descriptions though. At the very least we can help you figure out where you are. 10161066 Is it near the Lucky Bilge? Have you been to the Lucky Bilge yet?

You should go to the Lucky Bilge. PixelBaron Dayum Hasting… you want to work in the Lucky Bilge a few more times or something? 10161066 It's the best spot in Lashings. Actually, you know what? Zeke, I'm going to write up a little background on it for you. Give me a minute. Z3ke (Original Poster) Uh… no. The Rigging District isn't near the Lucky Bilge. That's the wreck at the center of town, right? If so, then no. The Rigging District is at the very top of Lashings, and it's a piece of shit.

It's way above the rest of the city, and I mean WAY up there. The whole place is connected by all these rope bridges and cargo nets and hanging walkways. You're basically walking through the air while looking down at the rest of Lashings. So, we sailed into the harbor and Cottenwaite released everyone for shore leave. Before they all left he told them about what needed to happen and the work that would be going on while they were in Lashings. I didn't need to listen because I wasn't part of his group.

I was just hitching a ride away from the armada with him. I'd posted the last update on my Tech Slate and then, instead of waiting around for you all to give me an itinerary for the city, I decided to 'do as the Romans do' and just get lost in the city. That worked great for the first hour or two that I was wandering around. There's this rhythm to cities and you can get a feel for them when you walk through the streets and get lost in them.

Manhattan is different from Queens which is different from Brooklyn which is different from the Bronx. And all of those are different from Paris and Tokyo and Syndney. Well, Lashings has this kinda weird rhythm. It's like people are slightly more guarded because they're in a pirate port, but at the same time the weather is nice and they're surrounded by this craziness of a boat city and there are tons of street food places all over the place.

Eventually I made my way to this tavern called the Three Masts, which is exactly what you think it is: a ship with three masts. If you go inside, you can climb all the way up to the crow's nest and get a view of the entire city. So I obviously went up there. Well, one thing led to another and I found myself in the Rigging District. There's this video on YouTube where some dude put a chihuahua, or other tiny dog, onto the top of one of those giant cat trees.

The dog just starts shaking, and I'm not talking about a little nervous trembling here. I'm talking about full-body earthquake shaking. The thing was vibrating so hard that I was worried it was gonna shake itself right off the cat tree. That was me. I was trying to make my way through the Rigging District, all the while white-knuckling the rope bridge with both hands and doing everything in my power to not look down.

Meanwhile, this local kid just strolled right past me like he was walking across a fucking sidewalk. Little shit didn't even slow down or grab the ropes. He just kept walking and then disappeared around a corner. The whole thing kinda reminded me a little of Cliffhaven. That city had all those stairs and hills and buildings stacked on top of each other, and my calves were aching and all the locals were treating everything like it was just a normal day.

They'd lived there their entire lives and weren't thinking about how stupidly designed their dumb city was. They just figured that it was normal to walk up seven flights of stairs whenever you needed to buy bread. That's what I was thinking the entire time I was in the Rigging District and that kid walked right past me. I was thinking "that little shit doesn't understand how dumb his city is." Except, Cliffhaven was the better designed city. You could always sit down in Cliffhaven.

If your feet got tired or your body was hurting, there was usually a bench or a wall or a nice little overlook where you could stop for a minute and catch your breath. The Rigging District didn't have that option. If you stopped moving, you were still standing on a rope bridge suspended fifty feet above a street made of rotting wood. So, yea. Fuck this city. TwoGirlsOneCuphead LMAO. When we said to explore Lashings, I think we were imagining you'd do something more like look at the shops and get something to eat.

You know, normal tourist shit. Also, for the record, you really need to get a better Tech Slate. You need something that can take photos and videos because I would love to watch footage of you trying to cross the Rigging District. Footballish | You need something that can take photos and videos | That would require waaaaay too much AI. ClickWhirr OMG, Zeke, why are you still complaining about different cities? It's your own damn fault for climbing up to the rope bridges. And it's not that bad.

Just make sure you don't jump off and you're good to go. Z3ke (Original Poster) Do I need to remind you that this shit is actually happening to me? Yea, it's not that bad IN THE GAME. You can just press forward on your little control stick and your character is able to run along the bridge. Not so in real life. DuckDetective13 Hey Zeke, if you want a palate cleanser from the Rigging District, you should check out the Chandlery of the Drowned. That place is awesome. Z3ke (Original Poster) I already went.

It was actually one of the first places I stumbled across. And yea, you're right that it's pretty cool. Because I know you're all gonna bug me about descriptions, I'll tell you what I saw. So, I'd just left the ship and started walking around. I passed a couple ships that had been turned into taverns - which, by the way, there are like 3 taverns every 20 feet in this city - and I saw some hotels. I'll have to check those out later because I'm obviously gonna be staying in the city for a while.

Anyways, I turned the corner and by that point I'd started to get used to all the nautical-themed buildings and everything. And that's when I was smacked in the face with the fact that there was this massive tree in the middle of the city. It was in the middle of a circle or a roundabout or whatever you want to call it. A city's drawing room? I don't know. The important part is that there was a tree and there was a ton of shit littering it.

I got closer and I noticed that the tree was in front of this three-story building. There was a sign out front that called the place the Chandlery of the Drowned, and I was thinking that name doesn't really make you feel all comfortable and cozy. Well, the whole thing is part shop and part shrine. Sailors come in and leave offerings in front of the tree to appease the ocean spirits or whatever it is they believe in.

The whole tree is covered in these objects: old letters, coins, and random items that used to belong to people. I talked to this lady who was working in the Chandlery, and she told me a little bit about the place. She said that sailors leave offerings as prayers to make sure they get home safely, or for people who were taken by the sea. Sometimes they leave things hoping for good luck the next time they go sailing. It's this huge community ritual that everyone takes part in.

The offerings were all scattered about the base of the tree with a few of them having been nailed into the trunk. There was this child's shoe that had been tied onto one of the branches. There were these small porcelain dishes that were filled with water and they had some old coins sitting in them. The coins were so green with age that you could barely tell what they originally looked like. There were also letters and bits of jewelry and some clothing and all sorts of personal effects.

All told, the tree was actually kinda awesome. I'd never seen anything like it before. Well, it did kinda remind me of those shrines that people set up whenever someone dies. But this was more like an ongoing community thing. And as interesting as it was, it was also kinda disconcerting. I don't really know how to explain it. Looking at all the offerings that were placed before the tree made me think about the Blooming Witch and Corva and the whole weight thing that the two of them were obsessed with.

I don't think there was anything actually magical happening there. At least, I couldn't see anything, although that's not saying much. But there were a bunch of objects that had clearly been carried by people who cared about them. You could almost feel that those things meant something to somebody once. They had a history attached to them, and all I could think about was how much weight was wrapped up in that tree. I decided that I wanted to leave something there. You know, again, doing as the Romans do.

I stood there and patted my pockets and tried to come up with something I could leave but I was coming up empty. Everything that I had on me and everything I had in my dimensional storage space was all survival oriented. I've got clothes and medicine and a flashlight and a bunch of tools that are meant to protect me when something is trying to kill me. What I don't have is a photo or a letter or a small keepsake I've been carrying around because it means something to me. I did eventually leave something though.

It was the blanket that I found when I was in the Glens. It was one of the first things I'd grabbed when I got dropped into this world, literally on my first day here. The thing is ratty and worn out and I never really used it that much. I think I might have used it twice, after I left the House of Seasons and was hiking through the Deadlands to get to The MIZ. And maybe I used it on that first night I fell asleep in the Glens. I can't remember. Anyway, I took it out and left it with the tree.

I don't think it means anything. It probably doesn't. But it made me feel a little better putting it there. If there's some kind of luck associated with the tree, I need it. DeadMienWalking Look at Zeke, getting slightly profound after we spent the last 20 minutes laughing at his chihuahua routine. HollowHeartsClub Yea. I think the blanket means more than he's giving it credit for. Not because the blanket itself is special or anything, but because it was one of the first things he picked up in the Fracture-verse.

It's basically a little piece of the Glens that has been carried all the way to Lashings. Hmm. Now I'm wondering if there is a way for Zeke to learn more about weight. How do you think the Blooming Witch and Corva started studying it in the first place? Do you think they could see weight? If those two walked into the Chandlery of the Drowned and looked at that tree, what do you think their reactions would be? JimothyTheBarber | what do you think their reactions would be? | Oh, my poor family.

10161066 Zeke, I threw this together for you. I've got to warn you that I haven't checked the grammar yet because I wanted to post it before someone else beat me to it and gave you the worse version of the Lucky Bilge's history. This isn't going to be like Cole's history posts. I've cut out a lot of what you would think is "boring academic stuff," so you should be able to read this without your eyes glazing over.

That said, I'm about to write a giant lore post about a wrecked ship that became a bar, casino, market, and town hall, so if that's not your thing I apologize in advance. The Lucky Bilge is one of the coolest pieces of Lashings' history and I really think you should go there. Let's start with the ship itself. First, it wasn't originally called the Lucky Bilge.

Its original name is one of those details that gets lost depending on which NPC you speak with, but the name that shows up the most in the older accounts is the Margaret By the time someone came up with the idea of Lashings as a city, the Margaret was already an ancient ship. It had been sailing for generations, and somewhere along the way it picked up the reputation for being cursed. I'm not talking about "sometimes bad things happen when you're at sea" cursed, either.

I'm talking about the kind of curse where you're beset by catastrophic, comical levels of bad luck. Storms appeared out of nowhere and hit the Margaret when everything around it was calm. Cargo would disappear from locked holds. Ropes snapped for no apparent reason. Masts would break in the middle of a voyage. Crew members suffered bizarre accidents that sounded like something out of Final Destination. There were stories about sailors being swept overboard in completely calm seas.

One supposedly vanished while standing below deck. Another disappeared during a storm and was later found alive on an island hundreds of miles away with no memory of how he'd gotten there. There are stories about crew members falling sick with the plague, only for the disease to somehow only spread through half the ship while leaving the other half untouched. The really strange part was that the Margaret itself kept surviving. That's what makes the stories so ridiculous.

A normal ship would have been destroyed by half the things that supposedly happened to it. But not the Margaret. It lost a mast and survived. It lost half the crew and survived. It got caught in a storm that wrecked everything around it, and it survived. Its captain died and it survived. It was stormed by pirates, those pirates came down with horrible cases of scurvy, they tried to scuttle the Margaret but somehow failed and it survived. Eventually though, the Margaret finally did give up the ghost.

There's actually a quest in Emberveil where you can dig into the ship's history and one of the fun things about it is you get seven different versions of what happened to the ship. Depending on which NPC you talk to, the ship was cursed by a witch, cursed by the ocean, haunted by its dead crew, was carrying some artifact that attracted bad luck, or was simply the victim of a series of incredible coincidences. There's actually no definitive answer about it in the game.

Here's the thing though: the people of Lashings don't really care which version is true anymore. The story has been told for so long that all the different versions have become one big tale and it's become part of the ship's identity. What everyone does agree on is what happened at the end. The Margaret was one of the first ships to wash ashore in the area that would eventually become Lashings.

By then it was already half-wrecked and, depending on the story, had somewhere between almost none and all of its crew still aboard. The people who found it looked at this enormous wreck on the shoreline and decided, well, we're not getting that back into the water. So they kept it. They dragged it to the center of town and started building around it and on top of it. Buildings went up against the hull, and then into the hull, and eventually on top of the hull.

Streets formed around it, shops opened inside it, other ships were dragged onshore and incorporated into the growing settlement. Then someone had a terrible idea, which was to turn the Margaret into a gambling hall. The reasoning was that the Margaret had accumulated so much bad luck over its lifetime that the only way to get rid of it was to wear it down. If misery and disaster had soaked into the ship, then maybe you could counteract it with happiness and celebrations. People started drinking there.

They started gambling. They sang and danced. Weddings were held there. Festivals were held there. People celebrated birthdays, victories, successful voyages, and anything else they could think of. The idea was that if the ship really was cursed, they were going to bury the curse under so much good fortune and good memories as humanly possible. Eventually, the place became known as the Lucky Bilge.

Now, nobody can actually prove that the curse was real in the first place, much less prove that gambling and drinking and celebrating somehow defeated it. But the tradition of celebrations at the Lucky Bilge has stuck. It's this place where people go to have a good time because it's a part of the ship's ongoing exorcism. It's now the center of Lashings. It's a tavern, gambling hall, market, meeting place, and de facto town square all rolled into one.

If you need to meet up with someone, there's a decent change they'll be at the Lucky Bilge. If there's an announcement for people to hear, someone will probably make it there. If you're throwing a party, there's a chance that it'll end up at the Lucky Bilge anyway. Now… the best part about all this is that the game only gives us the broad strokes of the story. What I just told you is gathered by everyone playing the games. We pieced it together from a bunch of smaller stories and interactions with NPCs.

But YOU have the opportunity to walk around the place and find out what exists outside the parts of the story that we already know. And then you can come back here and tell us all about it. That's what I want from your Lashings updates. I don't want you fighting bosses or a second Fracture. Just go drink at the Lucky Bilge and ask why the giant cursed ship in the middle of town is called the Lucky Bilge. Z3ke (Original Poster) Uh… okay.

I did read all that, and you're right that it wasn't like Cole's history lecture. But I've got to warn you. I've had a bad experience with a woman named Margaret once before… so I just know some shit is about to go down.