# Planeswanderers (Magic multiverse setting; updated May 17)



## fissionessence (Apr 1, 2009)

Author's Note: So, I've never written anything like this before, or even kept a campaign journal . . . but I've regretted it. Here's me trying to rectify that. I'm starting several weeks behind, but our sessions are short, so it should be easy to catch up.
The players are starting out at level 3, for reasons not having to do with the campaign itself really, and I'm running a heavily modified and pared down version of _Keep on the Shadowfell_ to start off.
EDIT: Added some updated information and hyperlinks to resources.

Here are the players. As this is a *Magic* universe, some are color-aligned. Some are from familiar planes, while others are from planes of their own devising.

*Grrda*: Gnoll Rogue — Brutal Scoundrel. What Grrda knows about her home plane doesn't extend past the area she's from. She lived on a continent pretty much controlled by gnolls who kept humans and other races as slaves. She tried to help said slaves, becoming an outcast herself.

*Murgatroid*: Catfolk Rune Soldier — _rune of inferno, rune of vigor, rune of mystery_. The catfolk race is a modified shifter; the rune soldier class (download the free heroic tier playtest) is one I'm working on for Silent7Seven Games, and the player thought it sounded interesting and wanted to play one (yay, playtesting for me!) She is a calico-striped leonin from the green-red-and-white plane of Naya; each of her runes represents one of the plane's colors. (The _rune of inferno_ is red, _rune of vigor_ is white, and _rune of mystery_ is green; in the write-up it's more blue, with mind-control effects, but she re-flavored it to be mind-affecting spores.) The character learned of these magic runes and how to wield them by studying the _Obelisk of Naya_.

*Whisper*: Dauthi Witch Doctor. The dauthi are a race of shadowfolk living in a shadowy demiplane-type-thing off Dominaria. It used to be between Dominaria and Rath, until those two planes merged. Many dauthi entered Dominaria, but some remained in the shadow-plane, and Whisper was one such individual. She and her [twin?] brother, Windows, were 'seers' of the tribe, Whisper having the ability to hear her ancestors, and Windows having the ability to see them. Whisper has a very eccentric personality. The player described her as a combination of Drusilla from Buffy/Angel and River from Firefly/Serenity. He's very good at coming up with creepy and weird things for her to say. He's playing the witch doctor class from One Bad Egg, but with lightning powers replaced with necrotic; he chooses those powers along with psychic-based ones, and uses the mask of the ancestors. For the dauthi race, he used shadar-kai (_Dragon Magazine_ 372), with modified ability score bonuses.

*Empath*: Saproling Artificer. This small saproling character from the Selesnya guild of the Ravnica plane developed a personality that didn't totally mesh with the 'hive mind' type mentality of the guild. It was interested in magical artifice and things of the sort, and kind of went its own way. It stayed in the guild, but remained misunderstood. For the race, the player used the oakling, one of the Remarkable Races line. However, with the release of the Tvari, he's rebuilt his character (nothing is wrong with the oakling, but the saproling is more of a fungus like the Tvari, plus the racial stuff is a much better fit).

*Tars*: Minotaur Barbarian. Tars is a proud minotaur (_Dragon Magazine _369) warrior from the plane of Dominaria. He is a descendant of Tangarth of the Skyship _Weatherlight_, and as such is far more familiar with the concept of the 'multiverse' and the 'planes' than the other characters. However, this knowledge can only take him so far, as he is still a barbarian.

One of the first things I realized was that none of these characters was human, or even pink-skinned. We have three furry characters (gnoll, minotaur, leonin), a mushroom, and a black shadowy form of a young girl. The first adventure, being filled with humans, doesn't really mesh well with this concept, but it's something I've taken into account somewhat for future adventures. The multiverse is a big place, so I'll try to find places where you don't have to be human to fit in.

*Part 1: Keep on the Æthark* — Session 1

As the morning dawns on the town of Winterhaven, five beings from across the planes awaken to find themselves in cozy, yet completely foreign environments. For the gnoll and the minotaur, the human-sized bed is an awkward fit. The leonin purrs herself awake, having discarded the blanket to enjoy the warmth of the sunlight pouring in through the window. When she opens her eyes, the indoors is an entirely unfamiliar sight. She has seen the stone buildings of the ancient leonin city . . . but she has seen nothing such as this place.

Whisper, too, is disoriented by her surroundings. She finds herself sleeping several feet above the ground on a strangely soft surface. She quickly realizes the folly of this and escapes under the bed, where she can be much more comfortable. However, she remains confounded by the utter lack of shadowy wisping of everything around her. Why is everything so stable, and where is her brother Windows?

Empath feels the uncomfortable rays of sunlight as they awaken him. He much prefers a dark, damp place . . . and why is he stuck in a pot, his tendrils dug into the soil? He pulls himself out; whoever has placed him here is decidedly ignorant, and Empath is offended.

The five misplaced invidividuals exit their rooms, meeting almost simultaneously in a shared hallway. They share awkward glances.

"Has anyone seen Windows? I haven't seen him; he is the one who sees."

The minotaur, gnoll, saproling and leonin look at the shadow-girl.

"Who is Windows?" asks the leonin.

"He is the one who sees," says the girl. "I listen."

"I see."

"He sees. Have you seen him?"

"No."

A moment more passes, and the gnoll and minotaur share furtive glances. Neither is much for talk, nor for talk with strangers. Though they share no words, they are of like-mind. They immediately begin to leave the awkward scene and gain their bearings and whereabouts. Just as they approach the stairs leading down, they are interrupted.

A pair of elves — one male and one female — have acended the stairs. The male has green hair to his shoulders and wears a bow and quiver on his back. The girl has stark white hair to her lower back and wears a blank expression and white tattered robes.

"Ah, I see our guests have woken up," says the male elf.

"Your guests?" The minotaur raises an eyebrow with a huff.

"Ah yes," the elf smiles. "We found you all unconscious last night just a few yards out from the town. We brough you here and paid for your rooms." He glances at his companion, who nods solemnly.

The minotaur lifts his head to reply, "And ju—"

"No, no," interrupts the elf. "Don't worry, we've paid for it and all is taken care of; no need to thank us."

"And just who are you?" the minotaur continues.

"Ah. I am Ninaran," says the green-haired elf. "And this is Palreah." Palreah smiles briefly at the mention of her name. "And who are you?"

The minotaur huffs again, and glances at the strange bunch behind him. Something about this elf seems off, and though he has just met these others, he feels more kin to them than the swift-talking green-haired elf. Regardless, he answers.

"I am Tars of Talruum."

"Have you seen Windows?" Whisper steps through the narrow hallway, past the gnoll and minotaur to ask.

"Uhm, ah, well. There are windows downstairs, and there's a window in your room, if I recall," Ninaran says. "And who are you?"

"Windows let outside come inside," Palreah says excitedly. Ninaran gives her an angry glance, and Palreah glances toward the floor.

"I am Whisper, but I am looking for my brother Windows. Have you seen him?" 

Ninaran curls his lip, and looks back up at Tars. "Well, Tars of Talruum, welcome to Winterhaven. Palreah and I had better be going, but you all enjoy your stay." The two elves begin to turn back toward the stairs.

"Winterhaven?" Tars asks. "Where is that?"

Ninaran replies, explaining the location within the kindgom and describing a merchant route along which the town lies. Tars seems to remain confused.

"Well then," Tars asks, "where do we go from here? How did we get here?"

"I don't know," Ninaran says. "We just found you. You could always go to the keep. You all look tough; plenty of treasure and fame to be gained at the keep."

With that, the elves turn and descend the stairs, leaving the characters in silence.

 * * * * * 

The five lost adventurers descended the stairs together, making brief introductions, all while Whisper continues to ask for her brother. They ask the innkeeper of the validity of Ninaran's story, and he says it's true; the elf paid him last night for all five rooms, after dragging their bodies into the inn where several townsfolk had seen them lying in the road outside town—seemingly from nowhere.

With not much to go on except the advice from their seeming-saviors, the characters head out toward the keep, following the innkeeper's directions.

Not a half mile outside of town, out on the road curved around a copse of trees, they encounter several rat-men scavenging the remains of a merchant's wagon. Lying strewn around the scene are a couple dead merchants with arrows in the backs, and one whose face and body have almost completely collapsed, dessicated. The nezumi look up from their pillaging task as the minotaur and gnoll charge forward.

[This encounter is the Wagon Ambush encounter on page 94 of _Dungeon Magazine_ 155 from the 'Shadow of Kalarel' article. The kobolds in this encounter are described as ratfolk instead, and their numbers are reduced to make for a simple, fast fight.]

Some ratfolk hide behind the collapsed wagons, firing sling bullets from their hiding place, but Tars enters directly into their midst and begins cutting them down. Grrda as well slides into the fray, digging into their weak spots with her claws.

Empath and Whisper fire from their initial vantage as the leonin moves in, attacking the ratfolk with her spiked chain, drawing flaming runes with her strikes. Whisper conjures ancestor spirits to attack the minds and bodies of the nezumi.

After a brief and hopeless attempt at defending themselves, most of the rats have been defeated. One, though, sees his opportunity to escape, and runs off down the road. Grrda is quick to follow.

After a seconds-long chase, the gnoll rogue catches up to him and knocks him to the ground.

"Please," he says, begging for his life. "Please don't kill me!"

"Why should I spare you, when you didn't spare those merchants?" Grrda asks.

The nezumi's eyes widen. "What? We didn't kill them! We just found it like that and so we were . . . you know, finding stuff."

Grrda narrows her eyes, then turns toward her companions to garner their opinions. A whir and a thunk from the nezumi causes her to spin back toward him, where she finds an arrow set deeply into the skull of the now-dead ratfolk. Leaves from the nearby forest rustle and Grrda heads toward them to find the wielder of the bow.

Having heard the nezumi's last words, Empath, Tars and the leonin discuss whether the shifty ratfolk is to be believed. Whisper begins dragging the dead bodies into a pile, ignoring the conversation. Empath points out that none of the nezumi had a bow, or even arrows, and yet two of the dead merchants have arrows in their backs. That and the fact that another arrow flew from the forest to kill the rat lends credence to his story.

Whisper requests that the bodies be burned so that the spirits can leave and she doesn't have to hear them, and the characters turn her corpse pile into a pyre.

Grrda returns from the woods shortly after, disappointed from her failure to find the bow culprit, but now excited at the prospect of all this treasure left by the now-dead merchants. However, a closer investigation into the merchandise reveals that it is mostly a thrift shop on wheels, with very little worth its weight. They are happy to find a bag of holding; however, they also find a parcel marked for one 'Douven Staul' who seems to dwell in Winterhaven. Feeling compelled to fulfill the last few steps of the parcel's deliver—and also have words with this bow-wielding green-haired elf, Ninaran—the characters track back their steps into the town.

* * * * *

~ fissionessence


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## Kosh (Apr 18, 2009)

Using the M:tG universe for a campaign is a really interesting idea!  I've always wanted to do something like you are, but I could never get the specifics down.

Do you have a resource for the different worlds, races, and people from the M:tG universe?

Also, I like the reskinning and extra plot you've added into the dry and cliche Keep on the Shadowfell.


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## fissionessence (May 14, 2009)

Kosh said:


> Do you have a resource for the different worlds, races, and people from the M:tG universe?




No. I'll probably be pulling a lot from standard D&D resources, and just reskinning as necessary, or else just rationalizing with a 'the multiverse is big' explanation. For example, there are no gnolls in M:tG, but one of the PCs is a gnoll . . . oh well!

EDIT: Wait, do you mean a D&D conversion resource for these things, or just a story resource? I've read most of the novels for *Magic*, so I'll probably be mostly going off that along with a healthy dose of making stuff up. But there are wikis and stuff with a lot of storyline info that I may refer to. I also have _A Planeswalker's Guide to Alara_, which has a lot of background information for those planes/shards.



> Also, I like the reskinning and extra plot you've added into the dry and cliche Keep on the Shadowfell.



Thanks! Further in, I think you'll see more existing KotS elements twisted more and more.

~


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## fissionessence (May 14, 2009)

Okay, so it's taken me a really long time to post up this part 2. I realized it's primarily because converting a session into an interesting story with good dialogue and whatnot is daunting . . . so I decided just to describe everything with tiresome exposition  It's pretty dry, I know, but then hopefully I can at least get it written for my own records. Hopefully it's an acceptable read for interested individuals. 

* * * * *

*Part 1: Keep on the Æthark* — Session 2

Their examination of the package reveals that consists primarily of arcane components and research materials. They return to the inn they recently left, asking the innkeeper where they might find Douven Staul.

They're informed that he left the town a few days ago, heading off to the ruins of Tibearest. He goes over there every year or so, worrying that "he needs to check to runes and make sure the seals are still in place." They learn he's a kind of crazy old man who's really old. Also he's a wizard, so this package is probably components for his wizardy stuff.

The characters also ask about Ninaran and his sister, but no one has seen them since they left the inn that little while ago. Apparently, they live some unknown place outside of town, so there's no house the characters can visit looking for them.

Deciding the package delivery is more important than some mysterious visit to the keep, the character decide to head to the ruins of Tibearest to find Douven Staul.

Having barely left the town on the road toward the ruins, they are stopped by Ninaran and Palreah, who ask why the characters aren't headed for the keep. The heroes make some excuse about thinking this was the way to the keep, or else that they heard the ruins are another good sight to see. Unconvinced or uninterested, Ninaran reinforces his suggestion that they go to the keep, and how it would probably be a much more interesting place for presumed adventurers such as themselves.

Meanwhile, Whisper is busy talking with Palreah, whose hair has somehow turned from stark white to a crimson red. The conversation between these two girls goes as might be expected from an exchange between River from _Firefly _and Drusilla from _Buffy_/_Angel_.

Wanting to appease the persistent elf, but also wanting to head their own direction, the players head back as suggested on the road toward the keep, but circle around the town into the forest to head straight west through the woods. The travel will be several hours longer, but this way they don't have to worry about the nagging Ninaran.

They camp in the woods without incident once night falls, and when they wake up they head south to the road to the ruins, completing their journey.

Following the last of the road, they come within view of the ruins of the former city of Tibearest. Buildings and walls are crumbled, and old corpses lie spread across the field within a couple hundred feet of the ruins. On the off chance these bodies may yet hold unfound treasures, Grrda scours one greedily. 

Unfortunately, this awakens the restless dead, including the disturbed corpse and many of its brethren in the area. 

[Here we used the Graveyard Exterior encounter from the 'Shadows of Kalarel' article on page 98 of _Dungeon Magazine_ 155. I added a second 'Maw' monster for a slightly more difficult encounter.]

The heroes readily defeated these zombies, but as each was struck the killing blow, its still-bound spirit attempted to escape the corpse and fly away. As they did so, black tendrils emerged from the ground grabbing these spirits and pulling them back down toward the ruins. 

Now readily disturbed by these spirits that couldn't escape their torment in the ruins and their former bodies, the players decided to venture further into the remains of the town . . . 

. . . next week.

 * * * * *

~


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## fissionessence (May 15, 2009)

* * * * *

*Part 1: Keep on the Æthark* — Session 3

The players go further and further into the ruins, searching buildings and rubble, but finding nothing that hasn't been scavenged or eroded in the last one hundred years since the city was destroyed. Eventually they come to a point where they can hear some kind of chanting or spell casting up ahead; it's a single voice.

Grrda sneaks up while the rest of the group hangs back, waiting for the news. Hiding behind the remnants of a wall, Grrda spies an old frail wizardly man performing some kind of ritual. Atop a surprisingly non-destroyed building are Ninaran and Palreah—whose hair has returned to white—apparently overseeing the ritual. Grrda gets in only a couple moments of observation before Ninaran spots her, and calls out, asking what she's doing here. 

Grrda says she's just wandering, and Ninaran asks where her companions are. She says they're all wandering around; they're actually still behind other rubble a ways back, listening in to the conversation basically being yelled across about fifty feet. Ninaran naturally asks why they didn't go to the keep, and Grrda says they just wanted to come here first. She says she's going to go find her group and awkwardly retreats.

She slyly rejoins her friends, and the five of them attempt to figure out what the heck they want to do at this point. Eventually they emerge together, and casually approach the man performing the ritual and the elves atop the other building. Ninaran waves absently.

The group asks the wizard what kind of ritual he's performing. He distractedly replies that he's breaking the seals; they have to be broken so the spirits can be free. The players wonder, wasn't he coming to check on the seals? He says he was, but Ninaran helped him understand that they need to be broken, so he's breaking them. Well why would you want to make sure they stay in place? The seals keep the gate closed, but the souls have to be released. The man seems guilty about these souls somehow as he explains that they must be released.

Figuring this must be Douven Staul, they tell him they've delivered his parcel. He tells them thanks, and that they can just leave it at his tower in town, and that he has to finish his ritual . . . which, indeed seems to be reaching a crescendo. Somewhat offended at how passively the wizard disregards their delivery of his package and their day-long journey to do so, the players nonetheless continue their inquiry about the ritual.

They ask what is this gate that he's now unlocking, and he tells them that many demons came through it one hundred years ago and destroyed this city. He was one of the wizards who used the souls of the dead citizenry to fuel a ritual that would bind the gate. But Ninaran helped him understand that the souls need to be freed. When the characters ask what will happen when the demon portal is opened, the absent-minded and guilt-ridden Douven Staul just reiterates that the souls need to be freed. Ninaran smiles atop his perch.

The players move to pull Douven away from his ritual and end it, but this apparently doesn't please the city's bound souls, who then animate several more corpses which pull themselves out of the ground to attack the heroes and stop them from ending the ritual.

[For this encounter I used Interlude Three: The Dead Walk from pages 60-61 of _Keep on the Shadowfell_. I also added an additional monster, described below.]

The players begin slicing through the skeletons, which have bound souls as in the previous encounter. Ninaran fires some arrows at them to aid the characters, while Palreah stands idly at his side watching. After a few rounds, Ninaran turns on them, and announces to his sister that she is free to feed. She reacts gleefully, changing into a ghostly form and swooping down directly at Tars. Her long white hair wraps around him and drains much of his blood, causing her hair to return to its crimson color. Having taken some damage previously in the fight, Tars now falls unconscious, slightly dessicated . . . just as the poor man in the merchant caravan the day before. Ninaran is now standing atop the building, firing arrows at the heroes instead of the skeletons, while Douven Staul's ritual seems to be nearing completion.

[Palreah is not an elf, but actually a pale reaver masquerading as an elf and serving as Ninaran's companion. Statistics for the pale reaver are on page 176-177 of _Open Grave_.]

The heroes focus their fire on Palreah, and Tars is soon resuscitated. Palreah is soon defeated and disappears with an echoing undead scream, while Ninaran seems to disregard the loss of his companion, continuing to fire arrows and calling out that the characters will go to the keep, even if he has to carry them himself.

At one point in this combat, Murgatroid uses her _rune of mystery_ to mark one of the gravehounds. When it attacks someone other than her, she forces it to move, provoking an opportunity attack from Tars . . . he rolls a critical hit and the gravehound immediately explodes in a burst of flesh due to its _zombie weakness_ ability.

Finally, the earth in the distance seems to rumble. The spirits of the remaining skeletons, plus from all across the ruins, are freed and escape into the sky and into the great beyond, for their final rest. However, without the souls to fuel the binding of the portal at the keep, the rumbling results in a shadowy eruption, not unlike a volcano. A pillar of darkness erupts from where the characters expect must be the keep. 

In the confusion, Ninaran escapes into the ruins, despite a futile chase from Murgatroid.

Douven Staul has fallen unconscious, and, as it's still fairly early in the day, the characters begin their journey back to Winterhaven. As they will be taking the road instead of trekking through the forest, they should return by nightfall.

They carry Douven along the way until he wakes up. Then, as they walk, they ask him to explain some of what has occurred. His old age and reclusivity have surely reduced his capacity to hold a coherent conversation, but the characters are still able to garner some information. 

About one hundred years ago demons flooded through a portal from a cave mouth, and peoples from nearby gathered to defeat them. They were unsuccessful. Tibearest, the ruins that the characters had just been visiting, was the first city to fall, and the last. Despite the mortals' military attempts to battle the demons, it was a group of wizards who formulated the ritual that would use the killed citizens of Tibearest as fuel to bind the portal. Once it was sealed, the armies were able to destroy the lingering demons and all was well. Tibearest remained as ruins, as the bound souls were restless and often animated themselves as various corpses. Thus, the city was left alone, and Winterhaven was built nearby to replace it, though Winterhaven never reached the size or grandeur of Tibearest. Also, a keep was built atop the sealed portal. Its best defenses are not from outer threats, but rather it serves as a way for mortal armies to corner and bottleneck the demons if the portal is ever to open again . . . and indeed it does seem to be open, as the pillar of shadow looms in the distance, and frequent quakes shake the area. 

When the players ask about a way to stop the demons from coming through, Douven suggests the portal is most likely not fully open yet, but that there might be only a short window before it's open. Despite admitting that there may soon be demons flooding into the land, Douven Staul seems entirely pleased with what he's accomplished; apparently Ninaran has convinced him well.

* * * * *

~


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## fissionessence (May 17, 2009)

*Part 1: Keep on the Æthark — Session 4
*
Along with Douven Staul, the characters return to Winterhaven. They go to his tall wizard tower, which is quite obvious, come to think of it. He tells them he has a lot of work to do. When they ask if he wants his package, he seems excited to be reminded of it, and asks them to leave it with his assistant. Indeed, they had seen his assistant sweeping as they entered.

The characters peruse Douven's library, and talk with his apprentice, but are unable to learn much of anything about the keep that Douven hadn't shared on the walk back. Whisper finds many books she finds intriguing, and decides to keep one that is rife with illustrations of the beach and ocean.

When they leave the the wizard's tower, the characters are assaulted by townsfolk who are concerned about the pillar of shadow that appeared over the keep just several hours before. They blame both the characters and the wizard, but the characters are able to give enough excuses to escape the mob, leaving the angry townspeople at the entrance to Douven's tower. They resolve to get a good night's rest at the inn, then head over to the keep in the morning; they are reluctant to concede to Ninaran's apparent plans for them, but they feel they are too tightly wound up in whatever's going on to ignore the keep and its foreboding shadows.

The characters wake and head toward the keep the next day. The directions are easy enough: simply follow the old road to the north-west. The keep doesn't seem to be fortified or even defensible from the outside, but this meshes with what they learned about it the day before. The keep's best defenses should be inside to protect against a demonic incursion through the portal. Despite the big intentions of those who built the keep to have an army to man it in the case of another demonic incursion, the players heard no word of any nearby armies that would come to help. Apparently the region has seen much change in the last one hundred years. It seems the heroes will be on their own.

When the characters arrive, they open the thick front door. They are greeted by several rat men like those they fought at the thrift shop wagon. The ratfolk seem happy to see them and ask if the characters are here to see Kalarel. After the characters awkwardly answer that yes, they are looking for Kalarel, the ratfolk nods and invites them to follow him.

The characters awkwardly follow, looking around at the old stone interior of the keep as they walk . . . and Whisper wanders slightly off course. However, they walk for no more than thirty seconds before one of the leading ratfolk spins, throwing some kind of blinding powder at Murgatroid. However, the catfolk seems entirely unphased by the powder. As the characters and a couple of the rats fight, a couple other rats are in a nearby room struggling to free a giant spider from its cage.

[For this encounter, I used Hobgoblin Guard Room from Keep on the Shadowfell pages 64-65. I replaced all the hobgoblins with four wererats, if I remember correctly, having gotten sick of minions by this point.]

Tars follows the rats into the room with the caged spider, trying to prevent them from freeing it. However, he is unsuccessful, and one of the rats final actions before death is to throw open the cage door. Nonetheless, the characters are able to soon defeat the remaining rats and the spider, even finding more vials of the blinding powder on the ratfolk who used it initially. It's decided that Grrda will be the one to carry these thievish tricks.

The characters head into the halls of the keep, which are suffuse with black mana emanating from the portal. While it's not eating away their flesh, it does render them almost completely unable to see, making their trek through these halls akin to wandering a labyrinth.

After an hour or so of twists and turns and heads bumping on unseen walls, the characters spot a glowing light in the distance. They approach it, and as they do, it moves away. They continue following, and it turns down a corridor. The characters follow down the corridor.

Will the characters continue t'o trust this wisp of light?

 * * * * *

~ fissionessence


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## Dodavehu (Jul 6, 2009)

Quick, update this!  
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