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Post by StyxD on May 26, 2017 17:15:37 GMT
Okay, you might say I'm caught up, so to speak. Boy, this game is pretty crazy and R-rated, isn't it? Even in-universe, I mean, if having a bad guy lion that eats his victims is not gapsploitation than I don't know what is! Also, sorry Hark, I know I shouldn't pick on your sentences, but I will, because this one is just too good. Flare also retrieves her bow and fires another stun arrow, which Flare leaps out of the way of, while Flare hurls her throwing knives, which Flare stops in the air with her psychic powers so they drop down harmlessly onto a large glass table that separates the two fighters. We're all Flares now! *shrugs* Gimp thing just made me think of Muerte to be frank, like that was his zone. I know, right? I also thought that, but like a straight video game feel. It's like in MegaMan! You walk into a place where there's a lot of BDSM gear and rave appliances, you fight GimpMan at the end. Same with a opulent mansion with lion statues and LionMan. And then, he escapes to Lion Yacht where there are more royalty / jungle themed enemies to face! Also, I swear that in the latest chapters Steel comes off like the anime archetype of a good-looking, tough-acting asshole guy that gets beaten up (and possibly shirtless) every fight but pulls through thanks to his superhuman toughness. I can't for the life of me think of any examples of the trope, but I'm pretty sure I've seen it. So for the second chapter, I almost feel like the stakes are lower compared to the first chapter. I dunno, a drug cartel with ridiculously violent goons seems less poignant than morally grey terrorist organization. But at least GimpMan got a proper sendoff. I also liked how switching characters allowed the conflict over allying with CLAW to feel more real. The party didn't decide to just stick together (as RPGs usually go), but some characters actually left. Of course, they've just come around in the last fragment, but it was good drama while it lasted. I just gotta know: is the container the party used to imprison several people one after another (something you've remarked on), something that the players improvised at one time, and then kept dragging on missions to use it the same way because it worked so well the first time? It sounded like just that kind of an object in an RPG.
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Post by Harkovast on May 26, 2017 20:28:21 GMT
I fixed the typos. Or maybe I should say Flare fixed the Flare with the Flare. FLARE OFF!
I don't want to know what weapon Megaman got from Gimpman. Ive heard of Megaman X, but this is Megaman XXX.
The storage container was something I said they had access to and then it just came up again when they captured more people. In Weird Britannia I always want things to recur, continuity is really important. I have a long list of NPCs (some of them pretty minor) so they can recur to make things feel "lived in". Things like the police chief, the rival reporter, the pub owner and other minor parks are the same named characters each time. Like the Simpsons with talking animal super heroes.
One thing to notice is that every time they go to the Clinic, it is more crowded because of the drugs epidemic getting worse. Chimera are threatening to lay waste to the whole country, and the adaptive community in particular. They've got (or had) high up allies to protect them while they basically do as they please spreading violence, addiction and crime all over the place. They had back up from big business, racist gangs and the freaking CIA! They also have no moral limits, unlike CLAW and will do anything (even shooting Insight) to achieve their goals.
I think they are a pretty major threat all things considered!
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Post by StyxD on May 26, 2017 22:00:52 GMT
It's not that Chimera is not dangerous, it's that… well, in most games you start with fighting gangs and move on to more existential threats. At first I thought that Chimera was also going to be a foil to Insight in some way, just like CLAW was - a cartel that shows adaptives that they can live as equals, but outside the law. But it turns out they're really just a powerful gang. Whisper makes clear that she thinks Flare is a sentimental fool clinging to a lost cause and tells her she can say hello to Acuity IN HELL! Maybe Whisper converted to Catholicism and that's why she hates Unity so much?
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Post by Harkovast on May 26, 2017 22:03:42 GMT
Trace and Flare chase the yacht in the helicopter down the Thames. Flare ties some cloth around her wounded forearm to stop it bleeding everywhere.Trace flies down low, allowing Flare to jump off onto the boat.She moves towards the bridge, a door opening in front of her and a chimera goon rushing out to see whats happening. He doesnt' have a gun (the ones on the boat are just the ones who happened to be there, as they weren't expecting to leave in a hurry!) An axe kick to the head sends him stumbling backwawrds through the doorway and falling over. Flare rushes inside, stamping on his head as she goes. Reaching the bridge she sees King manning the boats wooden wheel. He spins around and fires (another) large revolver at her (he has those things all over the place...never know when you will need a giant revolver!) Flare darts to the side of the doorway. King says "The trouble with you Flare, is that you always seem to have friends...but you're on my boat now." He swings the wheel to one side, causing the boat to suddenly tip to the side and her to stumble into the door way. He then opens fire again. Flare tries to defend her self with her mental powers but they are not strong enough to stop bullets and she is hit repeatedly into the chest, knocking her onto her back. Fortunately she is wearing her body armour! Having emptied his fire arm, King leaps on her, punching her in the face and then pulling up and slamming have against a wall. Flare spits blood into Kings face, causing him to stagger back onto the bridge. The two of them engage in a vicious fight, but Flare manages to get the advantage, getting hold of one of his arms and holding it out straight and twisting it behind him. Holding this she forces him to one knee. Flare taunts him that his plans are crumbling, but King responds that she is still on his boat, just as two of his minions rush onto the bridge. Flare evades the first man punch by kneeling on Kings arm in the process, breaking his elbow. She then lays into the attacker She leaps up at the next one, but while she is engaged fighting him, King gets up and kicks her in the back of the knee and then slashes her across the side of the face with his claws, cutting her badly on the cheek. the other claw goon goes after her with a knife, but she punches him in the side of the knee, causing him to fall over. She then grabs the other grabs the minion by the collar and pushing him back into the wall while roaring in a terrifying manner. She slams him against the wall and then flings him over her shoulder, leaving him stunned. At this point, the man Flare punched in the knee gets up and two more of King's goons, these two with assault rifles, rush onto the bridge. But just then! Trace flies the helicopter down in front of the bridge and fires her assault rifle into the bridge. Flare sees this coming and ducks down, but the three standing Chimera minions are cut down in a hail of bullets, shattering the bridge window in the process. Trace then pulls away in the helicopter. King grabs the knife and attempts to stab Flare, but she lets it stick in her chest armour and starts beating on King, knocking him back against the ships wheels. She brutally beats him against it and calls him a coward who has to hide behind others to fight but now he is on his own. King, now badly injured growls that she is pathetic, and that even if she kills him nothing will change, another will take him place and she will still be left with nothing. Flare flings him through what remains of the bridge window and then follow him out onto the prow section of the boat. She pulls the knife out of her armour and drives it through the shoulder of his uninjured arm, pinning him to the deck. The boat is now veering off course at high speed towards the sides of the river. She tells him she wants him to know shes going to enjoy him dying and grabs onto the helicopter as it passes by. The Yacht ploughs into the side of the river at great speed, exploding dramatically. Trace looks back in shock at Flare, who is covered in blood, both hers and her enemies. "Are you alright?" Flare, grinning "I feel great" Trace smiles and nods and flies the helicopter back. Frost, Riptide and Ghost stand uneasily behind Insight as she faces off with Judgement, who is backed by Strife, Gloom and Bulletproof. Insight says "It was good to fight on the same side again." Judgement kneels down and hugs her. "Indeed, I hope it isn't the last time." He then advises that the police will be here soon and they should go. Insight and her team hurry to Frost's van and drive out of there. Judgement says "Insight is one of the best of us, a truly noble spirit...." End of chapter 2 (What a happy ending! Everything worked out for the best! Hooray!)
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Post by Harkovast on May 26, 2017 22:47:26 GMT
(or maybe not) Judgement continues- "....but tragically naive."Then then instructs him minions to start "loading the truck" and Gloom to execute any Chimera minions left alive in the loading area. When Steel, Sidewinder, Praradox, Flare and Trace arrive, they find CLAW engaged in loading the large pallets onto their huge lorries trailer. The plastic wrapped blocks on the pallets contain money, vast amounts of cash Chimera planned to move out of the country. Meanwhile, Tranquility finds the package Steel left in her reception. Opening it she is shocked to find it contains stacks of money. COnfused she hurriedly opens Steel's letter to Insight, looking for an explanation. What she sees causes her to look shocked and then start to cry. Trace, Steel and Paradox hurry to help him load the lorry. Judgement explains that this money will help fund their organisation to continue their struggle. Sidewinder and Flare are outraged that they were actually being used so CLAW could fund itself....and Sidewinder is horrified when he realises that Steel is helping! Flare sneers that she is used to betrayal and Steel doesn't surprise her, saying "So you are working for CLAW now?" Steel says "we've all been working for CLAW, you just stopped." Sidewinder tells Steel "I thought you were cool, man!" Steel has no answer for his friend, avoiding eye contact. Judgement says there is a place for Sidewinder and Flare to help CLAW continue their fight. Flare, too injured and out numbered to stop what's happening, still refuses the offer, telling Judgement that Chimera started out claiming to be friends with good intentions, and is Judgement so sure he won't go the same way? Sidewinder strongly defies Judgement's offer, obviously disgusted....but then Trace comes forward and says "We couldn't have done all this without you. Claw needs someone like you..." she puts her hand on his chest "and so do I." Sidewinder looks at her, in silence and then turns and flees on foot, obviously not knowing how to respond to this situation. CLAW climb into their truck, with Judgement saying that he is sure that one day they will all find Unity. Hearing sirens in the distance, Flare sits down, accepting her fate. At the temple, Insight and her team get out of their van and are surprised to see Tranquillity rushing to meet them. Looking at the letter from Steel, Insight looks stunned, to the point that she stumbles back and falls to the ground, unable to believe what has happened. As the truck drives away into the night, Steel and Trace are sat in the cab, with Trace driving.Steel gets a call on his plastic walkie talkie. Answering it he hears Frost's voice how says "I just want you to know that If I ever see you again I WILL BREAK EVERY BONE IN YOUR FUCKING BODY! I WILL RIP YOUR GOD DAMN SPINE OUT! I'LL MAKE WHAT I DID TO MACAVITY SEEM LIKE A BEAUTIFUL DREAM COMPARED TO WHAT I'LL DO TO YOU!" Trace grabs the radio and throw it out of the window, causing it to shatter. She says "we've all had to sacrifice relationships that were important to us for the cause." Steel says "don't worry...he never kills anyone." Meanwhile, at a train station in the city, still late at night, Purity is sat on a bench, next to a man reading a newspaper, who is trying to ignore her as she rants loudly to no one in particular. "Oh boo hoo! Steel left and we're all sad! Let's have a cry! Look I'm playing the worlds smallest violin! What a load of shit! They think they're upset now? I've barely even got started! Judgement and Insight, they all talk about Unity, but you can't have Unity without Purity!" She then leans over to the man with the newspaper and says- "I and all the public know, What all school children learn. Those to whome evil is done, do evil in return." As the train pulls into the station, she flings the man in front of it, getting herself splattered with blood as she does so. "Ah...trains." She gets up and leaves. END OF CHAPTER 2 (for real this time.) (Judgement pulled a double cross! Even worse, Steel defected to Claw! Has Unity been shattered forever? Chimera was beaten, but at what cost?)
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Post by zaealix on May 26, 2017 23:32:42 GMT
So if I'm right... Judgement split the loot, which isn't good because that means more power to him as well as the Unity good guys. (Though to be frank, kicking Chimera out was always going to do that on some level. Trade-offs!) CLAW jacked Steel away from Unity, unfortunate! And King got blown to Kingdom Come! Oh, and Purity's kicking around and wants to start trouble again. That's not good. That said, she's also still just all personal power and no real political power. Just a bogeyman....For now. My guess is this: CLAW is gonna retreat and consolidate their gains made here. Insight is...Probably a bit pissed about how this went down...But I'm willing to bet she's only going to do so much to stop CLAW, if only because someone's got to do the lawful advocating. (Hilariously enough depending on her progress with this/Judgement keeping on the down-low, if she succeed Judgement's gonna still be a step ahead, he'll have the infrastructure to cater to Adaptive needs!) And of course, SOMEBODY NEW IS GONNA MAKE A MESS OF THINGS!
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Post by Harkovast on May 27, 2017 0:07:18 GMT
Judgemnet didn't split the loot. Judgement took all the money and left.
The good guys were there to stop Chimera. CLAW were there to stop Chimera AND fund their terrorist organisation. And it turns out Steel was very much in the CLAW camp the whole time. The good guys weren't even aware the money was there, because that wasn't their focus. Judgement just has an additional motivation.
The good guys got duped into helping fund a terrorist organisation, who also poached one of their members.
Steel is still in the Unity religion, as is Judgement. They are just in a much more militant branch of it. Steel lost trust in Insight, as she was too naive for what they were dealing with. He also hated and blamed Ghost for taking his job. The signs that he was angry and embittered were throughout chapters 1 and 2. He also seemed ot fit in well with CLAW and very quickly adapted to their violent methods. Everyone got a little too comfortable with all that murdering. Flare tried to sound a warning but she had too much blood on her hands nad sounded like a hypocrite. If you reread what Steel was doing throughout the story so far, the signs of his frustration are pretty clear.
Why do you assume Purity lacks power? At this point no one really knows what her agenda or true nature is.
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Post by StyxD on May 27, 2017 19:32:38 GMT
Now, that's more my thing! Now I have to wonder, was Steel a PC at all? And if he was, was his defection to CLAW a player decision or a GM mandate? Steel says "don't worry...he never kills anyone." Somehow, that would worry me even more if someone vowed to break every bone in my body and rip my spine. Flare accepting her fate sounds surprisingly grim. Is she going to die after all because of karma? And how can Purity just commit that murder in a public place and then walk away? At least lure this guy to an alley before throwing him into a train! Judgemnet didn't split the loot. And that's what makes him a villain in any RPG ever!
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Post by Canuovea on May 27, 2017 19:48:17 GMT
Honestly... I don't get why everyone is so angry at CLAW. I mean, is it really a surprise? The good guys are just sad they didn't think of jacking the loot themselves.
Also, Steel was a jerk anyway. Okay, that part is worth being angry about, but the money thing? Is that really a surprise? Now if CLAW started making wag for humans only, that would be a really bad thing. But that doesn't quite seem Judgment's style. But seriously. Steel was an asshole.
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Post by zaealix on May 27, 2017 23:51:38 GMT
...How to put it... Purity can make a mess of things. She could possibly (if she's lucky/skilled enough) single-handedly dismantle CLAW or Insight's team, since I suspect {This became less certain when Judgement did his pistol shrimp impression that sent Granite flying-holy cripes!} 1v1 no one can actually beat her-she's somehow very very tough. I suspect simmilar to how Paradox can do psychic mojo, Purity's got Adaptive energy making her essentially invulnerable. The trouble is...There's probably a limit, somewhere, to how much she can tank. Because she's not out one-woman armying straight through all the nazihounds or something else ludicrous. Soo very dangerous, very powerful personally, but since she seems to be in it for the sake of EVIL, I think she lacks that psychological element of 'maybe she's right' that makes you doubt and second-guess and distract you mid-fight, like CLAW has. And only being one person, and my suspicion that her best power is durability, she can only be but so much of a threat-without an organization she can't say, threaten bombings or cause wide-spread trouble, not without tying herself down to an area. That, and I recall her griping about there only being two sides...Which to me, says she wants to be the rouge element on a complex board, never letting anyone get complacent or relax whenever she's around since there's no telling if this is the moment she starts killing your dudes. I bet she REALLY wants to be in a situation where she can pinball around, taking out a few goons from the CIA, then smashing a HDL machine, to tussling with CLAW, before pulling out a detonator that blows out the ceiling to drop Insight's men into the fray and excaping in the chaos...That kind of thing. And being the mother of all loose cannons does not mesh with having an organization and things you DON'T want to get crushed. Hence my guess at her being a lone-man operation...Of course...If I'm wrong...brrrrrrr....
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Post by RED_NED on May 28, 2017 11:48:16 GMT
I played Steel in chapter 2 (and Frost in chapter 1). Hark told me privately he wanted Steel to join CLAW when we started chapter 2, so I set it up that he was unhappy, so when given the choice it would be obvious that's what he would do.
I could have at the last minute not joined, but the fun was in setting up Steel's unhappyness and resentment, rather than a last minute choice. Flare and Sidewinder (the other 2 players) on the other hand had no clue, and could have gone either way when it came to CLAW.
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Post by Harkovast on May 28, 2017 14:17:43 GMT
Purity is definitely the villain. Beyond that I can't confirm anything.
Regarding Canuovea's comments- The good guys did not know the money was there. They thought it was all a selfless effort to fight evil Chimera. The idea that they were providing long term funding to a terrorist organisation came out of left field. Judgement did not betray them, but he clearly tricked them. Giving millions of pounds to terrorists is kind of a bad thing!
As to Steel, he WAS an asshole, but I think there was more to him then that. He was being clearly snubbed by Insight. He used to be her loyal body guard but after (they believed) killing someone defending the Temple he has been forced into hiding and treated as a social leper. Insight took him to the party and made him wait in the car! His hate for Ghost is because she replaced him and he blames her (since he can't blame Insight, since she is on a pedestal to him.) He was pushing everyone away from himself because he was in a lot of pain and couldn't express it (being a tough 1980's guy, he doesn't talk about feelings.) The rest of the group, and Insight in particular, didn't realise this and allowed it to continue to the point where he was open to another faction. He had already been captured by CLAW and heard Judgements views. He rejected them at the time but clearly that planted a seed in his mind. He was a guy who found his purpose in life and then had it taken away from him. The money he gave to Tranquillity was from him selling his home and belongings and giving it to her clinic (since he knew he was leaving with CLAW, he would not need that stuff any more.) He was always a jerk to Tranquillity while she kept giving him medical help even while he exasperated her. She was the one person he really regretted being a jerk to so did something to make amends before he left. Obviously he couldn't express it, so he just left the money and departed. Steel changing sides and the reasons and events that led to that was really the key theme of this entire chapter.
StyxD Flare wont be killed, but she will clearly be arrested. She has won her battle and now accepts her destiny. When Purity killed the guy, no one else was at the Station and the people on the train would not have seen what happened. Even the driver would just see someone suddenly dive out under the train, and she departed right after she did it. She could get caught, but could get away with it (and she will get away with it because she is the bad guy and will come back to do more evil later!)
Fighting alongside CLAW involved the good guys compromising what they stand for. By the end they were killing bad guys as casually and even enthusiastically as CLAW did. There was not difference between them any more. Just up and murdering people is an easier solution to getting rid of bad guys, but there was a price to pay for it. In this case, the price was Steel deciding that he was onboard with CLAW's methods permanently. The Darkside isn't stronger, but it is quicker, easier, more seductive. They all let themselves get seduced.
If Insight's team start killing people, is there even any difference left between them and CLAW?
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Post by Canuovea on May 28, 2017 18:48:29 GMT
Maybe its because I like Ghost, but Steel still just seems like an asshole. It was set up and all that, but him being a dick to Ghost the whole time actually makes me feel better about him being gone. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Sure, that's not a proper tactical assessment of things, but it IS an emotional response. And seriously, there is that massive drug dealing cartel that they're wiping out, of course there is going to be tons of money. CLAW definitely came out of this much stronger... which sets them up as an even greater threat in the future. A good storytelling move.
Also, maybe its just that I want someone to beat Steel senseless. I'll feel good if/when that happens. So I think Red Ned did a good job with him. Not only is he a traitorous bastard, but he's an asshole too.
As for killing and becoming just like CLAW... I disagree. They were killing people perfectly capable of killing them (and trying to). Not fighting to kill would have gotten them killed or slowed them down so the wag could get out. They weren't fighting civilians, the government, or the military (directly). They were fighting a cartel who was literally going to wipe out the entire community and then spread their drug to the rest of the population. In this case, the ends justified the means just fine. Especially since there wasn't really an option to not.
Flare was also all about killing from the beginning, she wanted to kill King right off. She showed up shooting arrows at folks and starting a huge fight right out in the open where there were civvies everywhere. I just get the idea she didn't like CLAW's message, but she was perfectly willing to use most of their methods right out. It makes sense given what Chimera had done, but lets not pretend she was some shining paragon ideal of batmanish justice.
Steel was going bad, so that makes sense, as he actually did end up joining CLAW.
Sidewinder? He's lovable and all that. But he IS basically snake Bond without the suave 'get all the ladies' crap. Still true he went a bit over the edge I suppose, but he was ordered to. For King and Country and all that.
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Post by Harkovast on May 28, 2017 19:31:13 GMT
As with Chapter 1, Weird Britannia often presents morally unclear situations where there isn't an obviously good or correct option and characters end up compromised while trying to do the right thing.
The peaceful or none lethal method isn't always an option when the stakes are high, and many characters struggle with very conflicted loyalties.
Flare complete betrayed her own principles by coming a violent vigilante. She was then a complete hypocrite to criticise CLAW about it. That doesn't what she did wasn't necessary or whether it was right or wrong, but it was behaviour that for anyone else in any other situation she would have been outraged by. This is part of what her sitting down and accepting her fate was about at the end. She had done what she came here to do, and wasn't going to run from the results of that.
Regarding becoming like CLAW from killing, I'm afraid you are just plain wrong there Canuovea. Sidewinder, Steel and Flare were totally like CLAW by the end. During the attack on the drugs factory in Liverpool the good guys could have killed TONS of people. Opening fire with machine guns would have made their job way easier! Riptide could have set some claymore mines and blown up all the bad guy reinforcements. Would have saved them a ton of trouble and wiped out all the bad guys permanently. The good guys didn't do that... because they are the good guys. If being in danger causes you to abandon your code against killing, you don't have a code against killing. In the end battle, CLAW were not in direct danger, they were going to find Chimera and exterminate them. There is no court in the land that would call that self defence! That was seek and destroy! Maybe it was necessary, but it was still a cold blooded murder mission. The CIA were helping Chimera, so shooting at those representatives of the US government would seem justified by your logic. Once you open the door to murdering bad guys, its open season because it just depends on who you define as a bad guy. Would you consider racist groups who campaign to get rid of the adaptives (and so politically pose a very real threat to adaptives) to be fair game? What about the racists committing actual hate crimes? Does one incite the other and are both part of the same anti-adaptive organisation that should be destroyed? Its dangerous territoty is what I am saying. CLAW view everyone they attack as a dangerous enemy that means their community harm, and in many cases they are not wrong. The question is, is lethal violence the answer? Now my point isn't to say CLAW are wrong, or the good guys are right, (CLAW did what the good guys had failed to do and destroyed Chimera in the UK, so their methods worked this time) but there is a clear moral distinction and once you accept the logic that "sometimes we just need to murder people" then you are agreeing with Judgement, not Insight.
The good guys aren't in the business of murdering people, even for a good cause. It's a very strong moral line that they follow (though obviously some of them fail to live up to that ideal.)
Also....its easy to say "of course there is going to be a ton of money" after the fact! The problem is no one thought of that until Judgement was putting it in his lorry.
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Post by Canuovea on May 28, 2017 19:57:04 GMT
They didn't become like CLAW, except for Steel, because they were already like CLAW to begin with. The first thing we saw of Flare was her coming in bow twanging and firefight breaking out... at a charity dinner. Sidewinder is a Secret Agent trained to kill folks who stand in his way if he has to, so him taking that step is not a surprise especially after being ordered to put a stop to the whole thing. Steel did change the most, actually, that's true.
And I suppose morality varies. Do you do what is necessary? Or do you not? CLAW didn't have to murder all the wounded survivors, that was going too far, but I would argue not killing someone if it is needed to save those you are responsible for is also immoral.
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