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Post by Jina on Jan 11, 2010 16:03:58 GMT -5
Tabloid Town A shockwave came from the gem. It got through Corenu's shield without a problem, and hit Patri, sending her flying back. Corenu turned around to heal her, and when he looked back again, there was a flame coming from the gem.
"More where this came from." Then, TMC was distracted by Celestial.
Corenu signalled for Sandra to transform back. She did so, and then they went over to Patri and helped her up. "The other servant wanted us to do this in the first place, let her handle it. We need to go find a place called Brassport and meet up with Halin."
They set off, but stopped when they heard something loud behind them. "Fooooooooood." It was coming from a large black beast. Sandra smiled. That'll be a fun form to play around with. They set off again.
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Post by PFA on Jan 11, 2010 18:26:04 GMT -5
((Forest near Ninja Dojo))
Apparently Ikkin had decided to come back and greet the ninjas. "Hey, do you guys have any bandages?" she asked. "And, is it just me, or is there a tiger following me?"
"Bandages... um..." was PFA's response. "...Not on hand, but I'm pretty sure there's some back at the dojo. I could help you find some if you want." In response to her other question, PFA added, "And yeah, well... I'm not really sure where the tiger came from. But it seems friendly and wants us to follow it."
---
((Tabloid Town Hospital entrance))
Apparently, despite the bombs, the door still didn't open. Or rather, the door blew off, but the bars remained intact. Jernath stepped out from behind the rubble, raising an eyebrow. But before he could get any closer to the door, or even say anything for that matter, a mysterious cloaked figure--had Jernath seen him somewhere before?--used what appeared to be some kind of magic to blast the bars off.
"Go ahead. Your nightmares are waiting for you," he said in a very peculiar voice before turning and heading straight into the hospital.
"...What was that all about?" was all Jernath could come up with to say, as he stared for a moment in utter confusion. He soon shrugged it off--or at least tried to--and walked back over to the now open door. "So, um... you think we should head in, or what?"
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Post by Celestial on Jan 11, 2010 19:23:23 GMT -5
((Tabloid Town Hospital))
So it was TMC in control of that pirate's body. There was a twist she was unprepared for. It just made the game so much more challenging. The other servants ran off, leaving her.
"And I never expected you to be this stupid. You reek of Underdeep all over the place. I could see that as soon as you walked into that tavern. The human mind isn't meant to accommodate something like you. You don't even think. You're just using that girl's brain to think. Put you on your own and what're you worth? Nothing." he said to her, trying to almost be nihlistic. Celestial laughed. It was a good try but unfortunately, the Underdeep couldn't care less. It had what it wanted so why should it care how it got it and what the consequences were?
However, before she could reply to him, the Blarf was heard with his trademark cry, unmistakable and quite chilling. And not in the same way owls hooting is chilling but in the way that a lion's claws in your back were chilling. And all she could do was throw her head back and laugh. It wouldn't even get the chance. The dragon mage turned around and headed for the entrance, forgetting about the pirate. TMC could be dealt with later, when she had time.
She didn't go far though. The sound of heavy footsteps came down the corridor, ones which were unmistakably the work of the man who had ingjured her so badly earlier. He was different this time. The traces of Underdeep inside the hospital carried information of a kind of wild magic with him, something resembling what kept her away at the house of the witch. So, he had a voodoo object with him. And no doubt the Blarf was here, along with the pirates and reinforcements from Spacefleet. This was not good. Even the Underdeep inside her knew that. But it was prepared.
TMC was right, it was using the girl's brain and body. But who said that they were not a good match? Not to mention the fact that her inherent evil made her so easy to latch on to.
It was time to try and escape.
The Underdeep slid out of Celestial's mind and trickled down her neck, using her hair as cover. It trickled out of her eyes and her ears, all gathering at the back of her neck. The girl's mouth was open but no screams came out as it wrapped around her body like a second skin where it hid under her robes and reached in, grasping her organs so it still had control of its puppet, just in a different way.
She collapsed on the ground, breathing and restraining the urge to vomit. Slowly, her eyes dissolved into their normal blue. Without the Underdeep in her mind, visions of past nightmares flickered into view. Hateful jeers, horrific pain, failure, all those things suggested themselves to her mind.
Celestial curled up in the foetal position, unable to do anything. They could find her here, she didn't care. She just wanted to see them so she could beg for forgiveness. Now that she was free, all sorts of thi-
Don't forget your purpose, messenger.
No, she was not. Celestial had to do as she was forced, no difference.
((The Dropship))
The guy turned away to speak with a technician and The Author respectfully decided not to listen in or peek at his post, no matter how curious she was. She just sat back and waited for whatever was expected of her. However, she took the opportunity to have a look at the name, just so she wouldn't have to keep writing 'that guy'. It was just too vague.
"Okay, we were talking about what kind of help you were offering." Amneiger said to her once he was finished. The Author grinned.
"First of all, I can provide you with nice information on Celestial, a few scraps which I can gather by peeking at things I shouldn't. It should be useful to you. Second, if you trust me enough, I can use some equipment which contains memory space to store me and fight her," she replied and looked around. It was a token gesture but she didn't mind too much if it mean something. And if that made no sense, you only have her writer to blame.
"Dare I suggest, this ship?" she asked, trying to smile but at the same time attempting to make it genuine and not suspicious.
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Post by Draco on Jan 11, 2010 19:57:50 GMT -5
<<The Hospital Entrance OF DOOM!>>
Right after Draco finished his previous questions, a man appears at the entrance doorway. "Who? How? Whatever..." The bars are ripped out, twisted, and thrown into the sky within moments with the use of magic. The man takes another moment to speak to the group, "Go ahead. Your nightmares are waiting for you," and the man disappears into the hospital. Draco's coat flaps around wildly as he rushes over to the entrance and looks inside. "You heard the guy, our nightmares await us. Whatever that means..."
Gil runs over to the door, "That guy might want to lay off smoking, never heard a voice like that," He turns to Draco, "What about the injured out here? Should we drag them in or leave them out here?"
"We can leave them here and let him take care of them," he points to the NNPCS copilot person, "He should be able to protect them long enough for us to gather a few supplies that can help them. Maybe a book on how to help them to..."
Thinking for a moments Gil nods his head. "I'll go in with you to help. When we get the stuff I'll run back out here with it while you continue to investigate the building."
"Sounds like a plan to me." ---
<<Random Place In Tabloid Town>>
A group of three random ninjas, members of the NNPCS, are walking through the town.
"We were told to seek out other guilds. Tabloid Town is the perfect place to look for help."
"Yes, it's also very safe."
"What's the worse that can happen here?"
The twisted bars from the hospital entrance fall from the sky and crush the ninjas like flies.
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Post by Amneiger on Jan 12, 2010 2:07:03 GMT -5
((The dropship))
"Celestial? Is that the name of the person we're after? And what do you mean by storing yourself and fight - "
Amneiger looked out the window and saw that Strife and the Pirates were, in addition to ignoring the dropship coming down a short distance away to them, were standing around the hospital he'd seen several hours ago. There seemed to be a number of people he didn't know standing around as well. As Amneiger watched, Strife pulled open a door and stepped through it.
Things appeared to be going a bit faster then he'd hoped. "Excuse me. You three, keep the dropship here. Stay inside of it until I give you further orders." With those orders given, Amneiger ran from the dropship to where the Pirates were standing. "Hello. What's going on?"
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Post by Omni on Jan 12, 2010 2:11:26 GMT -5
Tabloid Town Hospital entrance
Ethan was surprised when he heard not one, but two destructive sounds at the door of the hospital, the second one less concussive than the other. Then there was another, distinctive sound...
"Go ahead. Your nightmares are waiting for you."
The voice sounded... distorted, but it still had a familiar ring to it, one he couldn't exactly forget. It definitely wasn't a voice he had expected to hear now, if ever. His eyes popped open, and he snapped around. There was still some dust, but he still saw a familiar silhouette with a familiar, waving piece of cloth, just as it walked into the building.
"Commander STRIFE?!"
He stared, gaping. Was it really...?
"...What was that all about?"
"You heard the guy, our nightmares await us. Whatever that means..."
The voices of the others there snapped him out of his thoughts. The others hadn't heard what happened on the roof. They had no idea...
"So, um... you think we should head in, or what?"
"As much as I want to, I think you should hear something first," Ethan said, standing up. "I know you guys don't know me, but there's something else you don't know that I think you should." No time to pause. I just need to hope they trust me... "There were people on the roof before you got here. They said things about a prisoner, and about messengers of the Underdeep. I'm not a native, so I don't know much about this Underdeep. Does it mean anything to you?"
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Post by Strife on Jan 12, 2010 16:48:17 GMT -5
((Hospital Corridor))
Strife searched the halls of the hospital for any signs of the Underdeep's source. The emptiness of the hallway gave his footsteps a loud, metallic echo, and he slowly turned his head whenever he came across an opened door. He hadn't found anything suspicious so far.
For the most part, the power had been wiped out. There was, however, a few flickering ceiling lights scattered around the hallway, making it visible enough for people with normal eyesight to see where they were going. If there were even normal people here.
Strife entered a spacious room of the hospital. There were beds lined up against the walls on either side, and the sheets covering them were scattered around haphazardly, as if all of the patients had simply gotten up and left.
The moment he had reached the center of the room, he noticed the ceiling behaving strangely. He looked upwards. If his eyes weren't deceiving him, it seemed that the ceiling itself was starting to melt, with different sections slowly pulling themselves downward like liquid in a lava lamp. Instead of falling to the ground, though, the drippings gradually transformed into shadowy tentacles, which slowly fingered their way towards the former Commander.
Strife raised his arm to the side, lifted one of the hospital beds with his mind, and positioned it directly above his head, but the tentacles went straight through it as though it wasn't even there. He cursed under his breath and dropped the bed beside him, backing away from the tentacles while holding his sword with both hands.
Just as he was about to make a swing, though, his blade made that strange hissing noise again. The shadow tentacles paused and remained in place, waving slowly and silently in front of him like underwater plants.
Strife stared with a puzzled expression, then took a single step forward. The closest tentacles immediately moved out of his way. He took a step backward, and they returned to their original position. Whatever the voodoo woman had done to his sword, it seemed to be repelling the Underdeep in a similar way that her store did.
Resting the sword on his shoulder again, he continued towards the opposite end of the room. The tentacles in his path made way for him, and when he opened the door and went out into the hallway again, they retreated back into the ceiling, waiting for a more suitable victim.
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Post by Kiddo on Jan 12, 2010 20:26:35 GMT -5
Mage Manor
"Just... do whatever you mages do," Kiddo replied tersely, "Get me close to the dojo."
((permission to godmode whatever here))
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Post by Huntress on Jan 13, 2010 19:10:49 GMT -5
((Tabloid Town Hospital))
"Rane!"
"Aw bugger," Rane muttered. This crew always meant trouble. Then again, it also meant protection, and quite possibly info, and Celestial had thankfully lost interest in him and wandered off, so he headed towards the blarf, wearing something that hopefully was close enough to a friendly smile.
Exposition, please, TMC said in the depths of his head. It's a lousy possession when you can't get access to your host's knowledge and memories, but you have to make do with what you got.
Rane, holding a hasty conversation in his head, barely noticed his surroundings as his feet carried him towards the blarf, whose ears were now curiously perked, but Hunty was all of a sudden busy with other things anyway. Like a coati with glowing eyes.
"We should g-g-g-get off s-soon, right?"
And a new voice. "Well, I rather like it up here," Hunty said somewhat cautiously. "Good overview, lots of tentacles and claws backing us up, don't even get me started on the intimidation factor. Um... are you by any chance okay? You're a little..."
"Freaky," Bloody Mary said flatly. "And I'm a blue rodent with rabies, I know what I'm saying."
"Hello. What's going on?" Hunty turned her head, straining eyes in the relative dimness to see who it was.
"Oh, hey, Amneiger," she said, sounding more relieved than she probably would've liked to admit. "So you did survive. Well, we just got here too, and quite frankly, beats me. By the looks of things, everything's done already. Any news? How's the Underdeep going, still spreading?" Only now did she notice the dropship. Must've missed it descending in the darkness. Lovely thing, nighttime, it can excuse a lot of sloppy reading in roleplays.
The blarf's head lowered down, letting a lanky figure in pompous red clothes emerge from behind his muzzle. Rane smiled nervously as the beast sniffed him.
"That's a pleasant surprise," he said. "What brings you here?"
"Oh, you know, this and that," Hunty said vaguely. "How's the wife?"
Oh, for chrissakes, TMC moaned as the two captains engaged in what Rane had once explained was a polite conversation and what the Horseman, who could really be pretty sharp at times, had instantly dubbed as cautious water-testing of each other's mood before asking for a huge favor. But now he knew that this girl was the person who'd sent him-inna-gem to Rane, and this meant that he was all of a sudden one big step closer to bringing his plan to fruition. But he had to watch and plot some more for this.
"So, you haven't by any chance noticed that the Underdeep is expanding all possible ways?" the girl in question was asking at this point. TMC tensed.
"Closed a few widening entrances back out at sea a while back," Rane said, "but I figured it might be some local thing. You mean it's global?"
"Yes, seems so." Hunty's eyes narrowed. "So you got that gem, I take it?"
"Yes, I did, thank you." Rane smiled rather weakly. "It's really been rather useful."
Aw, you really do love me, TMC cooed in the depths of his head, sporting a wide proverbial grin. Rane ignored him pointedly.
"So you could fix the entire Underdeep with that gem and kinda sorta save the world?" Bloody Mary suggested, his eyes fixed on Rane with his best unnerving meepitglare.
"Mm, yes, one entrance at a time," the pirate lord said regretfully. "I can't use it to fix the entire Underdeep from the inside out. It'd take planet-wide energy consumption. It might work, might not work, I'm not sure, but at the end of the day it'd break the gem and let the soul inside it out. And I don't think you'd want that."
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Post by Jina on Jan 13, 2010 22:30:17 GMT -5
Mage Manor "Just... do whatever you mages do. Get me close to the dojo."
But I'm not a mage... Ah well. Owen picked up Kiddo, then went outside to meet with the mage. "Alright, let's go."
((And Michelle, you may as well godmode us to near the Dojo.))
All Over the Place ((Due to the confusion, I'm going to make the assumption that everyone's in the Assembly Hall.))
As soon as they left Tabloid Town, Sandra transformed into a Roc, and the other two climbed on her back. She flew straight up.
"How do we find Brassport?" asked Patri.
"Ask Halin."
Patri nodded. She thought about Halin, and formed some words in front of him.
Halin was walking through the Underdeep, the shadows in front of him pointing the way. Which way is Brassport? Halin looked at the words, then spoke to the Underdeep around him. "Show them the way."
The shadows did nothing, but they didn't seem to like the suggestion. "I don't care if you don't want to leave. Show them the way."
Reluctantly, they forced their way through the roof, and the shadows in front of him flew straight up. They hung in the air in front of Sandra, in the shape of an arrow. She adjusted her course, and then they quickly went back down under ground.
Sandra's size meant she was able to get them to Brassport quite quickly. They landed far enough away not to be seen by anyone, and Sandra transformed back.
They snuck up to the city walls. "Alright," said Sandra. "Corenu, you stay here, wait for Halin. Patri will make sure you know what's going on. When Halin gets here, tell him what's happening. Patri, give us two some illusions, make us look like Tabloid Town watchmen. Oh, and hide those wooden patches, too. Corenu, you'd better shield us in case they can detect Patri's illusion."
Corenu picked up a flat rock from the ground, and Patri put a Formation on it so that it would show what she saw, and displayed anything said underneath. Corenu shielded them both with a weak shield that would protect against magical detection, but also be invisible. Then, Patri raised the illusions. "Alright, we're set."
"And remember, you're looking for the other servant."
Sandra turned into a troll, threw Patri over the wall, then turned to a vulture and flew over herself. Then, she turned back into a human.
They walked along the streets, and found someone else doing the same. "Excuse me sir, what's your name?"
"Er..." Apparently, he was quite shocked at being spoken to by a stranger. "Peesee. Randomen Peesee."
"Well, Randomen, would you be able to tell us where we might find some sort of leadership?" ((Oh, the irony.))
"Err... well... I think everyone's in the Assembly Hall about now. It's down that road-" he pointed "-you can't miss it.
Sandra smiled. "Thank you."
They went down the road until they reached a building that sounded full of people, and went in. "Excuse me everybody, we are from the Tabloid Town City Watch, and we're looking for a conm..." Sandra took a look around the room. "Alright, what happened here?
Tabloid Town Rane came over, and started talking to the pirates. Hang on, why'd the dragon just leave him alone? ...That doesn't seem right.
"Er, if nobody minds, I think I'm going to go see why that dragonmage isn't attacking us any more. If anyone wants to come, get in the back seat."
She waited for people to get in, then drove off towards Celestial.
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Moonlight
Frequent Visitor
-insert something witty here-
Posts: 153
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Post by Moonlight on Jan 13, 2010 23:30:21 GMT -5
~Tabloid Town Bookstore~
"Ah...What was that?" Liyer looked up from the book and heard the large blast, feeling tiny vibrations. Seemed like it came from-
"The hospital. Whatever that sound was, it came from that direction..." the black bookstore cat stood up on the armchair and twitched an ear. He glanced at Liyer and licked a small furry paw, "What?"
"You can talk, too...Did that spell also affect you?" he replied and stared at the cat, perplexed.
"'Course not!" the feline replied. "Seeing as you can understand me...were you once a kitty or somethin'? Weird guy." the voice was rough but friendly. He stretched out on the seat and blinked his purple eyes.
"Ah..."
"Er, Liyer? Why're you talking to a cat?" Juverna watched the pair, obviously not being able to understand the cat-speech going on.
"Hmph," the feline seemed to chuckle, "I suppose you better see what that sound was. Probably important, no? Not like I'd care. All I'd rather do is laze around in here and get free scratches behind the ears." he jumped off the chair and landed softly on the floor. "I'm Raphael, by the way. Oh, and if you want to keep that book, I'd suggest you not let my master find out. Nobody likes thieves."
"Hey, why would you think we'd wanna steal it?" he muttered indignantly before realizing they didn't really have any money. Liyer grabbed Juverna's wrist and pulled her to the entrance of the shop, "C'mon, we're leaving."
"But, the book..." she protested.
"Forget it, I want to read it more than I got the chance too. Besides, maybe Rivanth can use this so he doesn't completely kill us over what happened earlier."
"What do you mean, "us?""
Raphael flicked his tail and watched the pair leave while the store owner had gone into the back room to check something. "This is far more interesting than the usual fare of customers. I wonder what's really going on..."
~Streets of Tabloid Town/Near Hospital~
"Eh?" Liyer pushed Juverna away from him, watching as a burning chunk of metal bar crashed about a foot in front of him. "Well, that's not good."
Another, bigger piece destroyed a nearby cart and reduced it to matchwood. "Definitely not good. I guess we should hurry."
~Tabloid Town Hospital~
"Ow, ow, ow," Wilhem muttered and brushed some debris off himself. A small piece had got the back while he was down, stinging in the small of it. The others were gathering around the door, yet it didn't seem to be opening at all. He got up to join them as a large guy appeared and hacked at the bars lacing the entrance before dashing inside. "Who...? Oh, forget it." The entrance to the hospital lay open; it seemed like more trouble to get inside than it was worth. Oh, well.
But still, something that strange guy had said didn't seem at all very cheery. Was something wrong here?
"...Who do you think you are?" a harsh voice sounded behind the mercenaries, and Wilhelm turned. It was that person. The person...that they had run over in the phantom merc...He limped a little, and his left arm hung limply, some drying blood staining the sleeves.
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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on Jan 13, 2010 23:37:31 GMT -5
Mage Manor Lupehunter made it just in time as he saw Owen, a mage and her cat, and a weird night creature head out. Even though he was tired from all the running from the library to the hall, he mustered up some more energy and managed to catch up to them.
"Before we head out to wherever we are going, I have a question to ask to the night creature," he said, breathing heavily. As soon as he recovered his breath, he focused his attention to the night creature.
"Is there any chance that the largest Underdeep entrance is located somewhere in Tabloid Town?" he asked her. He swore he saw the creature nod her head, but he wasn't that certain.
"I'll take that as you're not sure if it is."
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Tokala
Fan
Rider's gonna kill me for this...
Fox in Box
Posts: 92
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Post by Tokala on Jan 13, 2010 23:50:06 GMT -5
It took him a long time to take it all in. Too long for any normal situation, but this was far from a normal situation. An angel-man knew this witch? Had he really brought them here? He shook his head, that was impossible, even for an angel. Something clicked in his head. Angels weren't real. Neither were witches, and neither were other dimensions that sucked in whole cities, but apparently they happened. He motioned at the man. "Sarn, if you would, please come and speak with me in private. It seems we have much to talk about. Athar, can you take watch over the woman? Even if she would normally never do this, she did, and she needs to be kept under guard. The rest of you, please give me a moment to discuss this and to think."
_____________________________________________________________________________
The great beast had flown off. Of course, this other thing had flown in, but it seemed much less likely to listen to what he had to say. Athar paced until he heard Blackstone start talking to him. He nodded curtly. This mage-woman with the bone wand could still be useful, even if it was just some maddness that was affecting her.
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Post by Rider on Jan 14, 2010 0:42:05 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Tabloid Town Hospital[/glow]
Ahh, there was nothing like the sound of Blarfcry in the morning. It had the same effect on enemies' spines that ice would have if ice were on fire.
That being said, this conversation between Rane and Hunty was growing more awkward by the minute. Rider couldn't fathom the reason. When Jina offered to investigate why the dragon wasn't attacking anymore, Rider's first thought was to never tickle sleeping dragons.
Her second thought was that it'd get her out of this awkward conversation.
"Suicidal dragon run? I'm game."
((Time passes and whoever else is on this bandwagon is here too))
Oh geez, it felt like the whole RP town was here. It seemed like every gawker and thrill-seeker this side of the ninja mountains had gathered to this one place.
"This can't be a coincidence. A dozen other entrances and they all gather around this one? No, something's going on. Oh crud, mercs. I can smell them from here. And it looks like they're with... someone who seems to be in need of a hospital. Well, he certainly came to the wrong one." She raised her voice to a shout. "Hey, what're you doing to that poor bugger?"
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Post by Draco on Jan 14, 2010 1:10:17 GMT -5
<<The Hospital Of Fear>>
Draco and Gil were about to step into the hospital when, the injured man spoke up and limped towards the group. Draco scratches the back of his head and turns to look at him. "Well, look who's up. We were just about to go into the hospital to help you out."
That is about the time a loud noise was heard, from Blarf (even though they didn't know it), and Rider appeared.
Crossing his arms, Draco watches the pirate call out at the group. He rolls his eyes and replies, "We were planning to get the man some help, along with one of the mercs who had his leg impaled earlier this night. Now the man wakes up like a zombie and you come shouting at us," he shakes his head, "Just like a pirate to jump to conclusions when hired help and ninjas are around." Thinking to himself for a moment, "The whole lot of us must look like a suspicious group though..."
Gil stares at Draco and then Rider. "Pirates? You have pirates here to? What's next, your going to tell me you have knights?" He looks back at Draco, who was now nodding his head slowly, "Oh... Wow."
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