[https://i.imgur.com/UTEn6mp.png]
The bright blue carnival lights flooded the streets of an otherwise uninteresting town. A river ran through the town, surrounding the river were dozens of tents and stalls, both NPC and player owned.
The large stone walls surrounding the towns were a recent addition, constructed by many players concerned with a possible attack on the NPCs, as a result, every gate was specifically enchanted so you couldn't enter with a weapon.
Thanks to the fact the entrances were so small, a long line of players and NPCs formed at each gate, thanks to the presence of some strong players compensated by a few of the pro-NPC guilds relative peace was maintained.
Inside Bonifacius, XxFoxlyxX and Bromy were browsing through the items, a max-level player would have nothing particularly useful to buy at a festival like this, aside from toy items, but every year, the event sold different items like clothes, placable decorations, food and toys.
Bromy and Foxly sat at a nearby bench, surrounded by piles of food as Bonifacius explored the surrounding stalls.
Bonifacius: Thou would not believe it! The fake-moustache mask is available this year!
XxFoxlyxX: Which one?
Bonifacius: Tis a chromatic-match! he exclaimed.
Allow me to explain, a chromatic-match item works by changing its hue to match a colour on your character, this could mean a moustache that fits your hair colour for example.
Some items have specific colours on them already, so, for example, they could check your character's eye-colour and always be the opposite colour.
Bromy: I see your cosmetic-hoarding obsession continued...
Bonifacius: A roleplayer must be ready to take any role! For that, I need every piece of clothing possible.
Bromy: And when was the last time you roleplayed as anything other than... yourself?
Bonifacius: ...this not important! What are you two doing?
XxFoxlyxX turned to the large piles of food.
XxFoxlyxX: You see, now that we can taste food, we decided to decide on this world's best dist, for that purpose we decided to rate the festival food! he exclaimed proudly.
Bonifacius: Thou merely wishes to stuff thy face, right?
Bromy: Yes, but it's for science.
XxFoxlyxX: Exactly! And so, the food-tasting experience, part one starts now!
First meal: Festival Buns
XxFoxlyxX and Bromy investigated their meals before digging into the food.
Bromy: A soft, fluffy bun, almost like a mix between a pancake and a burger bun in texture...
XxFoxlyxX: Mhmm, inside seems to be a soft creamy substance with a tiny note of sourness, sweetened cottage cheese is my guess.
Bromy: While the flavour is nice, the texture of the flour on the bottom of the bun is really unpleasant on the teeth...
XxFoxlyxX: Yes, and the amount of cream is really low in comparison to the dough.
Bromy: 5/10, not worth the journey here.
XxFoxlyxX: 4/10, not my kind of pastry...
Confused Bonifacius picked up one of the festival buns and tried it,
Bonifacius: Mhmm... yes, it is indeed food, I like it.
Second meal: Flame strips
XxFoxlyxX: Flame strips, a traditional festival meal in the game, a thinly cut slice of meat rolled in spices and herbs, then fried.
Bromy: Yes, the crisp texture is nice, and the smell is pretty appealing, not to mention the fact it doesn't seem hard, just the right amount of flexibility.
They bit into their sticks.
XxFoxlyxX: Hmm, while the meat is nice, I can't say I'm all that happy with the choice of seasonings... It's as if you had a slab of meat covered in those little balls of pepper.
Bromy: I disagree, while there does seem to be a lot of spicy flakes on the meat, the flavour is quite nice, if they offered a dip I'd give a higher score since its pretty dry.
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XxFoxlyxX: 6/10, not a fan of the spice.
Bromy: 7/10, would be great with some mango chutney sauce.
Once again, Bonifacius picked up one of the flame strips and ate it.
Bonifacius: Mhmm... I like it.
Third meal: Sweet and Savory Boxseed
Bromy: From the look of it, the name boxseed seems to be misleading, the seeds look and feel like a certain trademarked type of rice-like cereal held together by an orange sticky substance.
XxFoxlyxX: I noticed that too, the orange stuff seems to have a consistency similar to caramel sauce, though flavour-wise it's more savoury.
Bromy: Mm, it smells a bit like soy sauce, maybe a bit of citrus?
They bit into it.
XxFoxlyxX: It's a strange flavour, savoury and sweet, not something I would usually eat.
Bromy: It's alright, the texture feels a bit like those rice-cereal treats, except runnier, and the flavour reminds me of the glaze you'd put on meat.
XxFoxlyxX: 3/10, the texture and flavour don't mix well.
Bromy: 6/10, while the flavour and texture don't match, the flavour itself is great, and rice-cereal-like-seeds are great at combating the very potent sauce.
Bonifacius picked up the food and ate it once more.
Bonifacius: Mhmm... tis alright.
XxFoxlyxX: And this concludes the first part of our festival-food-reviews! Tune in next time for the next series of Bromy&Foxly food reviews!
Bonifacius: Who are thou talking to?
Bromy: *Insert laugh track*
Bonifacius: What laugh track!?
From the opposite side of the town, through another gate in the wall entered ♕, Lorb and the Forest Cut-Throat.
Lorb: This place looks nicer than I remember making it!
♕: So you made the festival?
Lorb: I created the story behind it as well as the design for the stalls, mini-games and whatnot.
Forest cut-throat: So you made the festival?!
Lorb: That's right, sometimes I forget you're an NPC. he said with a laugh.
♕: Now that you mention it, do NPC think of the lore for the game as the actual factual past?
Lorb: They will, the first phase of the animus-shift requires blank canvases, they'll become more NPC-like with time, for example, they may become more drawn to their previous roles.
Forest cut-throat: Our previous roles?
Lorb: Yeah, like the bakers will make bread and the children will get dumber.
Forest cut-throat: I see...
♕: What's the matter? Afraid of going back to standing around in the field and getting killed?
Forest cut-throat: Maybe a little.
Lorb: There is always the chance that you might be able to resist it, though it's slim.
♕: Whatever, I'm off to get some booze. she said turning to a nearby stall where large barrels of beer stood, they had different colours of liquid, black, red, brown even a green.
Soon she returned, several stacks of booze in her inventory and two massive pints in her hands as she marched over to a nearby bench.
She sat down and proceeded to drink the various different types of booze available.
Tea-ale was a popular drink amongst the fish people, it was like their equivalent of wine fanciness-wise, aside from that she had seven other types of booze to try out.
Lorb: There you are, I assumed you flew off somewhere.
Out of nowhere Forest cut-throat appeared beside them.
Forest cut-throat: Man, this pet-storage thing is awesome!
♕: Yeah, just don't make a mess in there. she warned glaring at the NPC like he was a dog who just pissed on the floor.
Forest cut-throat: Ok, ok! he replied shakily before looking over to the massive stash of alcohol ♕ had on her.
Forest cut-throat: Are you planning to drink all that by yourself?
♕: What's your problem? I'm drinking with my own money.
Lorb: You should at least have something to eat with it, your kidneys aren't real but the hangover you will feel will be. he laughed.
♕: You take the good with the bad. she shrugged before taking another gulp of her beer.
The cut-throat looked around and noticed a small stall with festival foods, as he was about to order he was called over by someone from a nearby bench.
XxFoxlyxX: Hey! Forest cut-throat!
Forest cut-throat: You called for me? he asked in confusion turning around to see XxFoxlyxX and Bromy sitting at a bench surrounded by food.
XxFoxlyxX: You wanna test some food out with us?
The cut-throat looked in his pocket seeing only twenty copper coins.
Forest cut-throat: Thank's for the offer, but I can't afford it. he smiled politely.
Bromy: Don't worry about money, we already bought all the food. he explained gesturing to the massive pile of food.
Upon hearing this, the cut-throat turned to see ♕ and Lorb discussing something at a nearby bench.
Forest cut-throat: Sure, I'm in!
He ran up to the two and sat down at the bench.
Forest cut-throat: So, why are you guys doing this anyway?
XxFoxlyxX: We came to the conclusion that since we have working taste buds and an endless stomach we should enjoy some of that borderline endless money we saved up. he explained.
Forest cut-throat: E-e-endless money?!
XxFoxlyxX: Well, as far as food, housing and toys we're covered, but when it comes to weapons the price is ridiculous. he shrugged.
Bromy: Well, let's get to the taste-testing.
Fourth meal: Icedfruit
The three of them picked up one each.
XxFoxlyxX: Right well, the texture seems like a grainy popsicle, the colour is a dark brownish yellow, I have to say it looks pretty gross, especially with the little chunks of fruit inside.
Bromy: Well, personally the colour reminds me of apple sauce, so I don't mind it as much, it's hard to get any smell from it since its frozen, but it looks alright.
The two turned to the forest cut-throat who looked at them in amazement.
Forest cut-throat: Ehhh... the outside looks kind of bumpy, I guess...
Bromy: True, the outside is covered in what seems to be cubes of fruit protruding from the frozen form of the treat.
XxFoxlyxX: Right, now we try it!
They bit into it.
Bromy: It's very sweet, much like traditional ice cream, it's good because it's cold.
XxFoxlyxX: Yeah, it's super sweet, the little cubes feel kinda off to me, it's like it can't decide if its apple sauce or sorbet.
Forest cut-throat: Uhm, it kind of tastes like an apple, I would add a bit of sourness to it, I guess.
XxFoxlyxX nodded, XxFoxlyxX: Yes, I definitely agree.
XxFoxlyxX: I'm generally a fan of cold things, so I'll give it an 8/10.
Bromy: While I would generally be willing to give a 10 to any ice-cream, sorbet is just an imposter. 5/10.
Forest cut-throat: Well, I like it, it's a little too sweet for me, so I guess I'll give it a 7 out of 10.
XxFoxlyxX: See, that wasn't that hard! he exclaimed.
Forest cut-throat: Yeah, I guess you're right. he laughed.
A trade window opened from XxFoxlyxX to the Forest cut-throat.
Forest cut-throat: Hm?
XxFoxlyxX: For helping us out, 10g, that should help you enjoy the festival a bit. he replied.
Forest cut-throat: Thanks, but there's no need for that. he replied with the same polite smile, though he didn't close the trade menu.
XxFoxlyxX: Don't worry about it, 10g is nothing to me. he laughed.
As soon as he wrote that, the NPC replied, Forest cut-throat: I guess I'll accept then, thank!
XxFoxlyxX: Don't worry about it!
The NPC stood up and after saying his greetings moved back into ♕'s pet-storage.