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  To skip ahead to our hero's character sheet and update links, please turn to post two Hey! So, I was wondering earlier about buying a Fabled Lands CYOA book or two and going through it in a thread, getting feedback on what kind of direction you imps might want me to take, when decisions, etc. come up. (Never done a Let's Play/group CYOA style thread though, so I'll probably either post about decisions too much, or too little... let me know which!) I then pitched the idea to the two Larries and neither of them said it was a bad idea, so here we are! Anyway, in an attempt at demonstrating that I'm a responsible adult with self-control and not in any way like TLD who blows heaps of money on IZ social experiments... I blew a (small-ish) heap of money on the whole run of eight books, including the 'new' one that was released in 2018.  Fabled Lands is a CYOA book series, that also features dice rolls and a character sheet with stats and an inventory, etc. - so it's kind of a middle ground between regular CYOA books and PnP RPGs like D&D.SO! When these books arrive between 15-20 days from now (courtesy of Book Depository, which is going defunct by the end of month FYI), I'll post about it and start the adventure. If there's actually any interest in seeing what the character gets up to, I'll post about what happens on the adventures and get feedback whenever decisions on where to go/what to do arise. No stress either way. In the meantime though, what area(s) do you think I should start in? This is a list of the books, with information on their respective starting areas - keeping in mind, you can travel between books/regions: The War-Torn Kingdom This is the one I've played before, so I remember a bit about it. Start in the titular war-torn kingdom, called Sokara. The game takes place right after a civil war, where the monarchy was overthrown by the army. It's a fairly standard/western coastal region with some more common tropes like a big coastal city (Yellowport) that has sewers with rats and other horrible creatures in there, etc. Cities of Gold and Glory Start off in the region of Golnir. I'm not 100% on what the cultural theme for this place is. Supposedly a prosperous region - from what I can find it seems...kinda like an idyllic version of Britain and/or France, with a focus on commerce. From what I gather it has much more fairy tale vibes, compared to the more 'gritty' country of Sokara. So I imagine it'll be similar to Toussaint from the Witcher books/games. Over the Blood-Dark Sea Swashbuckling on the Violet Sea, between the two main continents! Can't do much without a ship so this isn't really a good book to start in. It's more of a 'transitional' book from what I recall, where you go from your origin country -> this book -> your destination, if travel involves crossing the sea. Nevertheless, there's still adventure on the seas - whether it's encountering monsters or pirates, finding buried treasure, going to coastal/island cities here and there, etc. The Plains of Howling Darkness As the title suggests, this book is focused on the Great Steppes in the far north. Grasslands and tundra, much like Mongolia and central Asia. This book is pretty closely linked to The War-Torn Kingdom and The Court of Hidden Faces, as they're neighbouring regions and some quests/raids etc. can involve crossing the border. The Court of Hidden Faces The nation of Uttaku. This is themed after the Byzantine Empire, before...well, its eventual collapse. It used to be the seat of power for the entire northern continent (Harkuna) however these days they're more of a regional power, roughly equivalent to Golnir and Sokara. There's a lot of intrigue and backstabbery for/against the nobles and the like here, similar to its real-world counterpart. There's also some mask/masquerade stuff going on in their culture, too. Supposedly there's an old run-down castle somewhere that you can rebuild and claim, however you can also just buy houses in any book/region, too. (I assume repairing the castle will cost a fortune too, so that's probably something to look at later on, at best) Lords of the Rising Sun This book is set on the isles of Akatsurai, which is essentially a direct rip-off of feudal Japan. At the time of the book's events, the region is gearing-up towards civil war between the shogunate and the emperor. I checked online and it doesn't seem like an all-out war starts during the book's events, so you cannot enlist in the army and fight in 'proper' pitched battles and the like. However you can still perform quests and covert ops, etc. for either side, to help one or the other gain an edge in the lead-up to the war. There are also other Japanese-themed creatures and the like, that quests involve. The Serpent King's Domain This is the new book from 2018, after a big hiatus from their last release in 1996. I'm not sure about starting off in this region as there are a bunch of new systems (like, some new secondary magic system, that might involve weird spiritual magic?) but I'm sure it'll work out either way. This book takes place in the southern continent of Ankon-Konu, which is essentially South America, with it's dangerous fauna and large swathes of rainforest. Judging from the map it seems like there might be some less-forested areas too, similar to the rugged terrain of Chile, etc. down south. The Keep of the Lich Lord This book is kind of a standalone adventure on an evil island that can be slotted into an ongoing campaign, or played separately if you really want. From what I can gather, this area can be accessed from one or two of the books set in the northern kingdoms. Here's a map of the world, for reference:  NOTE: Books for the western continent, the south western isles and I believe the western part of the southern continent don't exist yet. So at present we're unable to go to those regions Major Isoor fucked around with this message at 04:55 on May 10, 2023 |
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Apr 5, 2023 12:20
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Sir Ableton Live Class: Troubadour Rank: 5 Deity: Nagil, the god of death Titles: King's Champion Kills: 33 Deaths: 0 Properties/Assets: - A concealed room in the Yellowport sewers Current Goals: - Notable Accomplishments: - Entrapped and slew a vicious ghoul, which had been terrorizing the citizens of Marlock City - Was abducted by cannibal cultists of the southern god 'Badogor' and later escaped, butchering his former captors in the process - Infiltrated the ratmen settlement in the Yellowport sewers and assassinated their king, casting the remaining ratmen into disarray - Tracked down and slew a rare and dangerous beast called the gorlock, near the village of Blessed Springs - A prophesy was revealed by Damor the Hermit, claiming that Ableton's life will be widely considered 'the Greatest Story Ever Told' - Rescued a group of prisoners from the manbeasts of Nerech and killed the manbeasts' master in a duel - Assassinated the provost marshal on his second attempt, after being caught and escaping enslavement in the mines - Infiltrated the Citadel of Velis Corin and opened the gates at night, allowing the besiegers to assault it unhindered - Robbed one of the richest men in the world, then later fought him at sea. ----- The story so far... Shipwrecked in Golnir and the trek east (Part 1, Part 2) Street-fights and ghoul-bites in Marlock City (Part 1, Part 2) Rats, cannibals and robbers in Yellowport (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) Courting the merfolk and traveling to Venefax (Part 1, Part 2) The case of the Man-eating Blood-Thursday Gob-gobbler Blessed Springs and the legendary gorlock (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) The search for Damor the Hermit A daring rescue beyond the Eastern Marches (Part 1, Part 2) Seeking out the royalist rebels (Part 1, Part 2) Ghost hunting in the village of High Therys Assassinating the provost marshal of Yellowport (Part 1, Part 2) Penetrating an impenetrable fortress (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) Robberies, muggings and murderers in Yarimura (Part 1, Part 2) A battle at sea Major Isoor fucked around with this message at 14:07 on Jun 11, 2023 |
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Apr 5, 2023 12:41
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Definitely start off in book 1 - the rank you start at corresponds to the number of the book, so Book 1 means you start off at Rank 1, and so on. If you start at a later book, you’ll be completely OP when you come to one of the earlier-level regions.
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Apr 5, 2023 12:50
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Not sure if this is best suited for Imp Zone or the Scholastic Book Fair TBH, but seeing as this little pet project (assuming anyone cares and therefore this actually happens online, rather than just...me doing it normally) will no doubt take longer than the standard life of an RSF, I figure having it here in IZ is probably the way to go. Plus imps are the best posters as a general rule, so I figure IZ is a safe bet!  Drinkslinger posted:Definitely start off in book 1 - the rank you start at corresponds to the number of the book, so Book 1 means you start off at Rank 1, and so on. If you start at a later book, you’ll be completely OP when you come to one of the earlier-level regions. Wait, really? There's no way to play in, say, the steppes at a low rank? Interesting. Supposedly you can start in any region and go wherever, but yeah I guess I'll have to look into potential workarounds for the rank thing you mentioned, if people want to see one of the later books off the bat Major Isoor fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Apr 13, 2023 |
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Apr 5, 2023 12:53
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Major Isoor posted:SO! When these books arrive between 15-20 days from now Battle frontier 2.0
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Apr 5, 2023 12:54
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Major Isoor posted:Wait, really? There's no way to play in, say, the steppes at a low rank? Interesting. Supposedly you can start in any region and go wherever, but yeah I guess I'll have to look into potential workarounds for the rank thing you mentioned, if people want to see one of the later books off the bat 
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Apr 5, 2023 12:56
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Palme posted:Battle frontier 2.0 And hype is building to new unseen levels knowing the major is in charge
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Apr 5, 2023 12:58
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Palme posted:Battle frontier 2.0 Yeah I mean, I probably should've waited closer to the package arrival date before I posted, I agree. But hey, I might not be a veteran at this kind of thing, but I'm not gonna flake out on anyone! I might not blitz through game content quite at the rate TLD does (because man, how does he not burn out?!) but this should be something I can steadily get through and post about. It seems very feasible to me, personally (famous last words, I know)Drinkslinger posted:You could always just start in Book 1 and then travel to the steppes Hmm, true - I just thought, too: If I play a bunch in book one and then die, I could always just start in the next book, rather than replaying the original. That way it's new stuff and starting a rank higher, so that I'm not going over old material or playing as a rookie adventurer again Major Isoor fucked around with this message at 13:06 on Apr 5, 2023 |
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Apr 5, 2023 13:02
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Cool! When I was a kid I went through all of Joe Dever's Lone Wolf books, which were kind of a similar thing where you had a pnp style inventory and combat system on top of the CYOA format. Sounds like Fabled Lands is a little more sandboxy though. Some nerds went and made online versions of the Lone Wolf books too, good if you're the sort of person who always forgets what page you were on https://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Home
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Apr 5, 2023 13:06
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P-Mack posted:Cool! When I was a kid I went through all of Joe Dever's Lone Wolf books, which were kind of a similar thing where you had a pnp style inventory and combat system on top of the CYOA format. Sounds like Fabled Lands is a little more sandboxy though. Ohhh, interesting! That's cool - I'll have to check that out EDIT: But yeah, this certainly isn't even a blip on the radar compared to other ongoing threads like IZWF. But if anyone wants to relive their CYOA days (or want to live them in the first place, due to not having any prior exposure to them) I'm more than happy to try and plow through each/most of these books and see where the adventures lead us! One other thing though, is how people think I should play the character (like, do-gooder who accepts any quest to help people, doesn't betray anyone, etc., vs someone who is cut-throat and doesn't care who dies, as long as he's paid) as well as what class to use. Speaking of which, here are the classes: - Mage - Priest - Rogue - Troubadour - Warrior - Wayfarer All of these are fairly standard class archtypes. The wayfarer is kinda like a ranger, the priest is akin to a cleric and the troubadour is basically just a bard. So they're pretty much aligned with standard D&D-esque classes that most RPGs use. Major Isoor fucked around with this message at 13:48 on Apr 5, 2023 |
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Apr 5, 2023 13:22
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Major Isoor posted:the two Larries one always lies, and one always tells the truth... which is which??
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Apr 5, 2023 14:15
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Major Isoor posted:Ohhh, interesting! That's cool - I'll have to check that out I like the sound of a Troubadour. And I want to see some more of that Major bloodlust we've been getting glimpses of, so I say play as a cutthroat mercenary lol
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Apr 5, 2023 14:18
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Sub-Actuality posted:one always lies, and one always tells the truth... which is which?? hahaha! Well given the solution to that is "cut one's head off and ask the other if they're dead to see if they're the liar", Jeff has already completed step one for me
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Apr 5, 2023 14:41
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Always hated exploring a new place only to find an entrance to the Underworld, for which the actual book doesn't exist.
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Apr 5, 2023 15:50
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This sounds awesome
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Apr 5, 2023 15:52
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That Little Demon posted:This sounds awesome
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Apr 5, 2023 15:54
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That Little Demon posted:This sounds awesome
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Apr 5, 2023 16:03
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BTW, please accept my sincere apologies for posting this so early on. My brain was telling me to wait a week at least, so that there's less of a gap between posting and the books arriving... but my heart always says  Don't worry though; this isn't gonna end up like a certain other thread someone mentioned in here. Even though I definitely did the unwise thing and posted this now rather than later, it's happening! On the plus-side at least, Book Depository -despite being a thinly veiled moneymaker for Bezos- is generally pretty quick to ship stuff to me though - often arriving a little before the lower end of their ETA timeframe. So hopefully (/unless they're flooded with orders due to being shut down) I'll have it in two weeks or less, otherwise it'll be sometime in the third. I'll bump this once it arrives and go from there. In the meantime though, in addition to my earlier question about class preferences etc., are there any thoughts on a name for our
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Apr 5, 2023 16:13
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Opmi. Named in opposition to the cursed one.
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Apr 5, 2023 16:21
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never heard of these before but they seem sick as hell. tossing my class vote in for Rogue
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Apr 5, 2023 16:59
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honestly it all sounds good so I'm just along for the ride, although I think the hero should be named Ableton Live Suite 9.0, because its such an amazing product and helps me do all my recording and create some truly incredible music. This post has been paid for by Ableton Live Suite 9.0
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Apr 5, 2023 17:02
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hell yeah, i'm down. voting for wayfarer
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Apr 5, 2023 17:04
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That Little Demon posted:honestly it all sounds good so I'm just along for the ride, although I think the hero should be named Ableton Live Suite 9.0, because its such an amazing product and helps me do all my recording and create some truly incredible music. hail and well met traveler. I go by many names, but I am known in these lands as Raid: Shadow Legends
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Apr 5, 2023 19:30
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Sub-Actuality posted:hail and well met traveler. I go by many names, but I am known in these lands as Raid: Shadow Legends Lol
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Apr 5, 2023 19:32
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Sub-Actuality posted:hail and well met traveler. I go by many names, but I am known in these lands as Raid: Shadow Legends lol
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Apr 5, 2023 19:37
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Sub-Actuality posted:hail and well met traveler. I go by many names, but I am known in these lands as Raid: Shadow Legends Lol
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Apr 5, 2023 20:28
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That Little Demon posted:honestly it all sounds good so I'm just along for the ride, although I think the hero should be named Ableton Live Suite 9.0, because its such an amazing product and helps me do all my recording and create some truly incredible music. My vote is also for Ableton Live the Troubador due to Ableton Live's extremely high quality product that enables the creativity of musical communities everywhere. Make your one perfect take with Ableton Live.
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Apr 5, 2023 20:36
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Plebian Parasite posted:My vote is also for Ableton Live the Troubador due to Ableton Live's extremely high quality product that enables the creativity of musical communities everywhere. Make your one perfect take with Ableton Live. He’s right you know
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Apr 5, 2023 20:39
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throwing in another vote for rogue. called whatever. nordvpn
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Apr 5, 2023 20:43
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I vote for priest
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Apr 5, 2023 21:44
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Fungah! posted:hell yeah, i'm down. voting for wayfarer You can hold your own in a fight if you get a decent weapon and armour, but you can also find your way out of a forest without starving lol
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Apr 5, 2023 21:53
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Plebian Parasite posted:My vote is also for Ableton Live the Troubador due to Ableton Live's extremely high quality product that enables the creativity of musical communities everywhere. Make your one perfect take with Ableton Live.
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Apr 5, 2023 22:14
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Dr. Cool Aids posted:throwing in another vote for rogue. called whatever. nordvpn lol
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Apr 5, 2023 22:19
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Plebian Parasite posted:My vote is also for Ableton Live the Troubador due to Ableton Live's extremely high quality product that enables the creativity of musical communities everywhere. Make your one perfect take with Ableton Live. Hmm, this is doable - especially that name.  A troubadour who travels around advertising and selling his services! (Perhaps also speaking in third person a lot, as well)
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Apr 5, 2023 22:31
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Another vote for troubadour here 
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Apr 5, 2023 23:42
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Troubs!
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Apr 6, 2023 12:34
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super sweet best pal posted:Always hated exploring a new place only to find an entrance to the Underworld, for which the actual book doesn't exist. Wait, I missed this earlier - really?! Interesting... hopefully they eventually flesh out any remaining loose ends, seeing as the kickstarter for their last book was successful. Either way, it looks like our adventurer will be Ableton Live, troubadour extraordinaire! As per Drinkslinger's advice, I think starting in book one is probably the way to go. Adventure around the city of Yellowport and the nearby forests for a bit to gain some experience, then see where our feet take us. Now, the hard part... waiting for these bloody books to arrive. I'll jump onto this as soon as they get here (again, hopefully before long as per my previous orders from this store over the years) and aim to get the first updates of the adventure quickly underway, to make up for lost time
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Apr 6, 2023 12:50
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Major Isoor posted:Wait, I missed this earlier - really?! Interesting... hopefully they eventually flesh out any remaining loose ends, seeing as the kickstarter for their last book was successful. What's been keeping me from the series is they wanted to make 12 "main line" books but have only gotten up to #7
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Apr 6, 2023 13:52
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Arrhythmia posted:What's been keeping me from the series is they wanted to make 12 "main line" books but have only gotten up to #7 Oh, very interesting! I know the western continent hasn't been done yet, but that's very curious... I wonder what else they have/had planned, other than that and the underworld. Hopefully once their Steam game catches up, they'll start releasing more books again
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Apr 6, 2023 14:52
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Major Isoor posted:Oh, very interesting! I know the western continent hasn't been done yet, but that's very curious... I wonder what else they have/had planned, other than that and the underworld. Hopefully once their Steam game catches up, they'll start releasing more books again fantasy arabia, fantasy india, fantasy greece, a flying-city, and the underworld
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Apr 6, 2023 15:08
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