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  : You opened an eldritch portal to another universe? : Goatse.     : 
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Jun 28, 2014 05:51
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| # ? May 12, 2024 13:31 |
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Update 13  A quick trip back to town to heal and restock nets us a couple of levels just getting back to the A tunnel and Rooks two more of his Call Spells. The encounter rate in here is absolutely insane, and the experience just piles up.  "Hey, I remember these? Darwin, do you remember?" "Umm…" "Care to let the rest of us in on it?" "You know, when you watched me and Salah fight one and then popped up out of the bushes after all the work was done?" "Still sore about that?" "Not really, but I couldn't pass up the chance to bust your chops a bit." "Looks a bit undersized for me… here you go, to show that there's no hard feelings." "And selling my other armor means more money for the honey pot?" "That never entered my mind, but it sounds like a wonderful idea." "Wait, are those things using magic? Who taught them magic?" "Why are you looking at me when you ask those questions? I have no idea!" "A likely story, considering all of the other shenanigans your family has been up to." "I wish I could defend you, but he does have a point." "Dibs." "You say that like we can't just magically travel back to the inn at any time and sleep in actual beds." "It was partially for old times sake, but if you're not going to argue about it…" Wandering through the tunnels turns up a Gold Flask and some Medicine, as well as getting Rooks another level and his final spell. The level cap in this game is 60, but we're actually approaching end game levels now. Any other levels are just going to add stats and some buffer HP.  "Not one hundred percent about this, but do bees normally live underground?" "Not normally, but they're also not usually scaled to cyclops size." "Ha! Finally, something for me!" "Not counting the flasks, the sleeping bags, and all the honey?" "Okay, finally something that lasts for more than a single use for me!" "I guess that's slightly more accurate…" "Seems like some of these sword masters have been down here a bit longer than others." "Either that or two of them found something to ea… you know what, let's go with your idea." "And I'll be taking that." "Not even going to offer it to Teefa?" "Oh, it looks a bit big for me… and besides, he's the one fighting hand to hand more often." "I think his hands are a bit girlier than you think, but I take your point." "Is there something you're trying to say?" "I think that I'm just in an edgy…"  "Heh, heh, heh… so, it's you." "Holy… what happened to your eyes? Have you lost your drat mind?"  "I think that's a 'yes.'" "Not that he was a frequent visitor to sanity-town even on the best of days." "You're not kidding. In that case, I'll get us started." By this time the strategy is pretty well established. Debuff with the human characters, buff with the spirits, and just hammer them with physical attacks. At this point Rooks and Darwin hit like a pair of trucks.  "Hey! What is with you guys and attacking my spirits? Pick on someone who's… equally corporeal or something." "Thanks Rooks… but I'm still out after this one spell." "Fair enough."  "Ha! Ha! Ha! Is that the best you can do?" "C'mon Teefa, I know you can do better than that. Why go with 10 when you can go with 11?"  "GOTCHA!" "And this is why we never listen to the enemy's taunts. What is this, amateur hour?" "The hour's up. I'm finishing this."  "Ah hah hah hah!" "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." "It has no effect… I'm the one who holds the power!" "Wow. I didn't want to say this, but I think you just got uglier." "Oh? The only people who are ugly are those who don't have POWER!"  "HAH! Like that!" "Let's… not let him keep doing that…" "THEN YOU SHOULD STOMP HIM HARDER." "Is that hard enough?" "Rooks, you're starting to slip a bit in my estimation." "Seriously, Darwin what the hell? Can you not show me up here?" "I'll try to remember that." "This goes a long way toward making up for it." "So if you're ever upset, just get you something shiny. Nice to know." "What, the sword? No, it's awesome. But… when a man perishes at the hand of another man, what is there to do?" "Obviously, go through his possessions and see if he has anything you can use." "Not to interrupt, but aren't those…stairs?" "Huh, guess this actually does connect the castle to the tower. Unfortunately, I'm short on honey and have a wad of gold burning a hole in my pocket." "I'm afraid of where this is going." "Too late! HOME!" Before going on to the next update, just as a note we've actually maxed out our gold at this point. Turns out that we were only about 5,000 away from maxing it out at the beginning of Chapter 5. Kind of ludicrous considering just how much items cost at the end game. Character Update    The Spirit Sword pushes Rooks to having an untouchable attack power, and the Grand Shield brings him to top tier defense. This shot might just be post-honey binge, but it's been a couple weeks since I played through this portion. At this point Teefa and Darwin only have one piece of store-bought equipment, so all that money has to have gone somewhere.     And thus, the spirits. Overall this seems to confirm that spirit stats are based on level, rather than on Rooks individual stats. Dao is particularly relevant, since his stats shouldn't be that uniform if they were using Rooks stats in the calculations. Next update: the final climb up the tower.
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Jun 29, 2014 05:13
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This is prime avatar material here.
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Jun 29, 2014 07:27
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"When a man perishes at the hand of another man, what is there to do?" is something Rooks actually says in the game. I never understood what it's supposed to mean.
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Jun 29, 2014 07:47
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Man, that is a ridiculously small gold cap considering how much things cost.
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Jun 29, 2014 22:07
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I love how lazy that gold cap is. 0xFFFF, or the max value that two bytes can store. I guess they just thought no one would get that much gold. Also:  Not even Arcana is safe from Ganon stealing the villain spotlight.
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Jun 29, 2014 23:17
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And knowing that encounter rate, you'll have enough money for another epic honey binge by the time you reach that spot again.
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Jun 30, 2014 05:17
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Most of the top tier equipment has good, useful uses as items in the item menu in battle. Some of them duplicate spirit buffs or cast attribute, although I can't recall which does what offhand since it's been so long.
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Jul 2, 2014 15:12
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Update 14 "SEVENHEADSTHREEBODIESFOURWINGSONEAXEKILLKILLKI… oh gently caress me, why does my head hurt so much?" "Thank all the gods, he's finally coming down." "Should we make him pay for all the damage he did getting us back down here?" "No, I'm pretty sure Salah agrees with me that we were going to redecorate anyway. He actually probably saved us some money on the tear down." "I appreciate that, since my pockets are kind of light right now." "That's because you spent it all on ho… oh no, here we go again." "CAN'THEARYOUMOREHONEYSTRENGTHHONEYRETURNRINGTENTENDURANCEHONEY" "QUEENBEEREGICIDEGUARDSHOULDBEINFRONTPUNISHFORFAILURE" "Princess, cover your eyes!" "What? Oh god, it's splattering everywhere!" "Some things are too cruel even to inflict on monsters… are we really the good guys?" "This is just about my size… what's Rooks doing?" "Staring off into space and occasionally attacking a wall." "Good enough. Yoink!" "NOTGOODENOUGHISEEPREVIOUSGAUNTLETCONFISCATED.FOR.MORE. HONEY." "We're going to need a really sturdy cell for him once this all wraps up." "Oww… I don't think that'll be necessary. I just looked at the map, and we're too far to go back for more honey." "We'll just space our your doses until you come down completely. You don't want to go cold turkey." "Thanks… now is it me, or are these floors a lot smaller?" "This is the secret way up the tower… if it were much bigger it'd be impossible to hide." "Not going to ask why armor that only I can fit into is hidden up the secret stairs in Stafen tower." "There's a lot of things about this place that we're all better off not knowing." "Like why most of the inhabitants seem to be undead?" "Three can keep a secret, if two are dead." "There are three of us here. I don't like where this is going." "Rooks, what the hell was that? That looked like…" "The other side of the spirits. The card spirits are the support side, but there's an offensive side that I've only just learned to control. I haven't used the amulet before since it's not controllable, but this worked out pretty well." "We're getting close now… only three more stairs to climb." "Somehow I don't think it'll be that easy…" "And I hate being right." "Axs, you're alive!" "Like a little thing like summoning the Empress of Evil would do me in…especially since it'll take time before Rimsala starts to move. Hurry and get to her!" "All right! Axs, be careful!" "You too, Salah!" "At least SOMEONE remembered me. Thanks, Teefa!"A few steps later...   "It looks like we'll have to split up here!" "Seriously? This'll take all of five minutes!" "That's five minutes we might not have. If we don't hurry Rimsala will awaken!" "No matter what, we must defeat Rimsala!" "Darwin… Teefa…" "I'm sorry!" "It's okay. For this, we need a Card Master." "Just you and me now, Rooks… I can't say I'm sorry about that, either." "Oh! It hurts my head!" "YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE." "No! C'mon Efrite, we're going to stop her here and now!" "I KNOW JUST WHAT WE NEED." "Great job, big guy. Alright, defense impair to compliment it, and you can take a rest. Sylph, come on out!" "Just don't get hit, Rooks. That's all I can do for you."  "Sylph, no taunting eldritch abomination!" "Geeze, if you're going to be like that about it…" "Oh my! Well, I'd help your accuracy but I think you seem to have this taken care of." "She's winding up for another attack. Just keep me…" "On second thought, you'll be fine." "Fair enough. Take a rest and me and Dao will finish this off." "Did you not say to not taunt?" "Nobody likes having their words thrown back in their face. Okay..."  "Wait for it…." "This was the intended outcome?" "Umm… no…" "That could have gone better…"  "You couldn't have stepped in earlier? I guess if I don't do it, nobody else will…" "This is an improvement." "Maybe, but that doesn't make it pleasant by any means." "Wait, where did this sword come from?" "Crystal and Spirit, joined by a Hero." "I can't complain, in that case." "All right, nothing to it. Efrite, keep us alive… Wind Spirit, bring the cyclone to my enemies!" "Fire Spirit, burn all things to ash!" "I AM RIGHT HERE." "Sorry. It gets a bit confusing when you're both working at the same time." "Serpent of Water, drown my… wait, that looks like…" "MARID'S OTHER SIDE IS AN IDENTICAL TWIN." "Gemini… of course." "Golem of Earth, bury all of those who oppose us!" "ALL FOUR ELEMENTS HAVE BEEN CALLED… I MUST WITHDRAW." "Wow. I think I saw that bone on that one, and that's a bit gross. Are you okay with this?" "I can do it, Marid. Just take it easy for the moment." "You've come a long way, Rooks… hard to believe that you're the same guy who fell apart facing Ariel and Teefa." "Thanks,Sylph. That means… watch out!" "Ouch.. um… we can fix that, I promise. Efrite?" "I CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH." "You've done enough, Efrite. I can do this…" "It's time, Rooks! Finish her!"  "Crossing my fingers on this one…" "Now that's what I was expecting the first time!" "Um… Rooks…" "I think you might have overdone it just a little bit."Next update: The Epilogue.
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Jul 4, 2014 04:40
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Rooks was too good for this cruel world.
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Jul 4, 2014 04:58
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Man, I laughed so hard at the honey binge. Good stuff. Can't wait to see the end.
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Jul 4, 2014 05:19
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Are you going to show off the weird little bird spirits you can summon with the Call Amulets? What are those things, anyway?
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Jul 4, 2014 06:28
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ddegenha posted:
 The party splitting up at the end is one of those things I actually remember perfectly from playing this ages ago. Not so much the rest of it, though.
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Jul 4, 2014 09:35
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You have to show us his end-game stats. They will be so glorious
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Jul 4, 2014 11:00
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ddegenha posted:
No such thing! This is an RPG, and we haven't had enough silly plot twists yet!
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Jul 4, 2014 16:28
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Rooks has pretty much soloed all the boss fights, hasn't he?
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Jul 4, 2014 22:20
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Epilogue The land that was blackened by conflict has now turned to green.  A feeling of hope has returned to the hearts of all. The passage of time has washed away the memories of that dark era. "I'd like to say 'you're welcome,' but..." The sun shines again on the land of Elemen. "And once again, the guy who does all the work gets none of the credit." "Excuse me, did the official Card Master of the dual-throne of Elemen have a complaint to voice?" "Or was that the Headmaster of the Elemen School of Card Mastery speaking in his official capacity?" "More work doesn't equate to credit!" "The main reward for a job well done is another job. I guess you shoulda slacked off a bit if you didn't want this to happen." "YOUR 10 O'CLOCK APPOINTMENT HAS ARRIVED." "It never ends…" "But there are certain compensations." "Show him in?" "Fine, but I'm taking a long lunch after this." And with that we cut to the credits, a long series of names that won't mean much to most of us but do feature nice portraits of our main characters like Salah here.  Darwin's next… he's actually the support character who shows up in the most chapters, and he's pretty useful in all of them.  Ariel is another also-ran, and in some ways a bit of a puzzler. Was he ever really a match for Rooks? You have an initial encounter where you get your rear end kicked, but you're paralyzed and alone. The next time you face him directly is much later, and at that time it's kind of a beat down. Still, he gets some credit as the primary antagonist before Galneon shows up.  For some reason the spirits start off with Marid, in a particularly picturesque pose...  And moves on to EFRITE, who seriously looks like the biggest badass among the elemental spirits. It's the horns, I think.  Sylph has her eyes covered in this image, and I'm sorry for that. Despite the way that wind is stereotypically the weakest element, she's actually pretty tough.  For some reason, we might have skipped Dao. As a late comer, it's hard to really miss him… instead, we get a picture of Rooks. The last Cardmaster, in some ways his story is kind of tragic. Hopefully Card magic isn't a bloodline thing, or else he's going to have to work overtime to get a training program off the ground.  And with that, we're done. Arcana was a fun game, and I'm glad I got a chance to play it for an LP.  Even before some of you asked, I had the stats for Rooks at the end of the game and after spending a ton of cash on Honey. This isn't anywhere near the top level in the game (I believe that's 60, but I'm not entirely sure) and it's already enough to tear the final boss a new one.     Just for comparison, the stats of all Rooks spirits. He's stronger, tougher, and has more HP than the Earth Spirit, smarter than anyone except Marid, and only gets beaten in alertness by Efrite and Marid. The spirits have been a lot more consistent than the humans we've dealt with, and that's for sure. Final update upcoming: Cheats and Music ddegenha fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Jul 7, 2014 |
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Jul 5, 2014 06:34
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ddegenha posted:
Nice job on the LP, as always ddegenha. So, when is the next one starting up? 
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Jul 5, 2014 07:00
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ddegenha posted:The next time you face him directly is muh later, and at that time it's kind of a beat down. Supposed to be a much there.
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Jul 5, 2014 15:34
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Huh, I did not remember that ending. Well anyway, fun seeing this game again - nicely done.
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Jul 6, 2014 00:44
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So is "long lunch" code for another honey binge? You know he's using his authority to keep a stack of that poo poo somewhere. He's like Winnie the Pooh, only with godlike powers and prone to drunken insanity. Anyway, nice work on this LP.
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Jul 6, 2014 04:31
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Thanks for the well done LP! I've always had some interest in this game because of the card gimmick, but I tried it briefly and didn't get very into it. It was nice to get a chance to see what it was really like.
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Jul 6, 2014 04:39
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I like that the ending text doesn't necessarily mean that Rooks survived.
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Jul 6, 2014 07:23
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Arcana Extras For the final part of this LP, we have to start from the title screen. Feels like forever since I've seen this. Anyway, the main cheat code for Arcana is the following: Down, Select, Select, X, Y, Select, Select, L, R, Select, Select, Left, Right, Up followed by either A, B, X, Or Y to select which stage you want to start in.  For demonstration purposes we'll start in the last chapter. The formula for your level when you use this cheat code is 10 levels for every chapter already cleared. This suggests that I was a bit under-leveled for starting this chapter, and might have even been a bit behind when I beat it with Rooks at level 41.  For reference, these are the base stats that Rooks has at level 40. Compare those to my finishing stats, and you'll see how much of a difference all that honey made.  You also start out with a small supply of Gold, but that's not all...   You also get a stock of weapons and armor equivalent to the best gear you could have had at the end of the last chapter. This doesn't factor in the various chests we could have gotten in the last chapter, so things like the Golden Sword, Roccoco Armor, and various Demon equipment are nowhere to be found.  Due to equipment incompatibilities, poor Teefa just has a single gauntlet to her name. It's a good thing there's gear for her lurking just inside Bintel Castle.  Darwin doesn't do much better, but at least he has a weapon to use. We're still underprepared, but selling all the extra crap can allow you to buy a few decent pieces of equipment.  Just to check a couple of things, I went and re-inputted the code for Chapter 3, getting Rooks at level 20.  At this point we'd only had access to a bit of honey so the stat differences aren't so stark, but it definitely shows that Rooks is skewed toward Strength and Endurance.  Our equipment remains a mishmash, but it's enough to get a good start in the Ice Cave and move forward. There's a secondary cheat code (L+R+B) to access a sound studio, but it's a bit difficult to access on an emulator. Instead. we have this: Music of Arcana Courtesy of PFlats we have MP3s of all of the music of Arcana available for your listening pleasure. A lot of these are pretty obvious as to their placement, but other titles don't really give you any indication of where they're supposed to go. Rather than go back through the last 14 updates and try to figure out where each song goes, I'm presenting them in bulk. If you're really curious, enjoy figuring out what goes where. Otherwise, just enjoy the music: Arcana 01 - Grass Flue Arcana 02 - HAL Logo Arcana 03 - Our Story's Name Arcana 04 - Prologue to the Tale Arcana 05 - A New Chapter Arcana 06 - Rooks ~ the Card Master Arcana 07 - Crowded Marketplace Arcana 08 - Alchemist's Workshop Arcana 09 - Weapon Shop Arcana 10 - Magician's Tent Arcana 11 - Resting Arcana 12 - The Legend Arcana 13 - Reinoll ~ Generous Hermit Arcana 14 - Death of a Loved One Arcana 15 - Crystal Sword Arcana 16 - Got Item Arcana 17 - Trusted Circle Arcana 18 - Journey Arcana 19 - Trickery Arcana 20 - Conflict Arcana 21 - Fanfare Arcana 22 - Ariel ~ Soldier of Betrayal Arcana 23 -Fanatical Warlock Galneon Arcana 24 - Shrine for the Worship of Chaos Arcana 25 - Draven's Valley Pass Arcana 26 - Silent Forest of Doubt Arcana 27 - Darwin ~ Treasure Hunter Arcana 28 - Cavern of Ice Arcana 29 - Decisive Battle Arcana 30 - Dark Castle Bintel Arcana 31 - The Goddess Arcana 32 - Birth of A Hero Arcana 33 - Second Armageddon Arcana 34 - Two Beautiful Princesses Arcana 35 - The Symphony of Elemen And with that, we're done with Arcana! I'm glad to have gotten a chance to play this game, and even happier that so many people have enjoyed the LP.
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Jul 7, 2014 06:13
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One of my favorites. Thanks for another fun LP!
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Jul 7, 2014 19:41
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Starting the last chapter at level 40 would take far more grinding than I'd recommend anyone to do. I think that ten times chapters cleared is just a nice round number that's close enough. Anyway, good job on the LP.
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Jul 7, 2014 19:47
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Awesome LP, thanks again!  Someone mentioned Shining in the Darkness earlier in the thread, which has the same style of dungeon navigation. It inspired me to go back and read this in the archives (great job vilkacis). The 16-bit era of RPGs really had something simple yet endearing about it (or it's just those nostalgia goggles talking).
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Jul 7, 2014 23:50
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| # ? May 12, 2024 13:31 |
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Hey folks, glad to see that people enjoyed this. I'll leave it open for a bit, but it's headed for the archives now. In other news...Nemo2342 posted:Nice job on the LP, as always ddegenha. So, when is the next one starting up? Since I walked into this one, I'll say in a couple of weeks. I'm going to be tackling Fallout Tactics for the next one, and I need to pick up a couple of things and actually have my furniture arrive since I have no intention of going through missions that can last an hour or more in a canvas chair.
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Jul 8, 2014 17:18
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