Hunting Diresharks



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A week later, Moriarty's agents reported to him that in response to the 'rebellion' near The Lurching Tower that Breland has pulled all of it's troops from it's western border and was marching them towards The Lurching Tower. The divisions stationed in central parts of Breland, close to the main lightning rail line, were sent east on the lightning rail but were stopped at the point where the conductor stones were destroyed. Repairs have been slow because of squabbling between House Cannith and House Orien.

The day after The Lurching Tower fell the leadership of The Church of the Silver Flame announced a prophecy had been received by Jaela that the fall of The Lurching Tower in Breland was not a simple revolution but the work of "The Great Destroyer" who would bring ruin and devastation to all Khorvaire and possibly all of Eberron. Because of this Thrane mobilized it's army and marched them south into Breland in violation of the Treaty of Thronehold and sacked The Lurching Tower.

Aundair very vocally denounced Thrane's actions as violating the Treaty of Thronehold and have stated if Thrane is not somehow punished then they would consider the treaty null and void. They have suggested Thrane ceding control of the region of Thaliost as being an acceptable punishment. They have very blatantly started moving more troops then usual to their border with Thrane to "protect themselves from Thranish agression after they get done with their illegal invasion of Breland". The agents report they have noticed the distribution of troops along the Aundair border is not even and there is a higher concentration around The Starpeaks then any other part of the border.

Raids by pirates from the Lhazaar Principalities has dropped recently as the pirate princes have ordered their ships to return home for some reason. The agents report that while all the pirate princes have ordered their ships to return, they do not appear to be working together.

Moriarty's agents also report they have evidence that the Daughters of Sora Kell are secretly massing an army in Droamm, probably to attack the now undefended western part of Breland, but this isn't general knowledge.

Tensions are high in all the other nations of Khorvaire as they watch the build up between Thrane and Aundair. It is generally assumed that what's happened in The Lurching Tower and now Starilaskur is a local rebellion but there are divisions between those who believe Thrane is simply attempting help Breland until they can get their own forces into the region and those who agree with Aundair that this is an excuse for Thrane to make a power grab for territory that was hotly contested during The Last War. An emergency meeting has been called in Thronehold to resolve the apparent dispute between Aundair and Thrane. The Karrnathi seem to be taking the lead and trying to convince the others to come to a mutual agreement.

Moriarty decides that he will focus his attention on the Lhazaar Principalities. He wants to bring the pirate princes into The Corporation as their ships will help him with selling war materiel when war breaks out between the nations. He sent orders to a special agent of his currently in Regalport to unite the pirate princes and make certain the leader is someone that will obey Moriarty.

Moriarty's agent has no real name. He uses various pseudonyms depending on what he's doing and those he works with simply refer to him The Agent. Receiving his orders The Agent considered the political situation. He knew that of the 6 principalities that the Seadragons were the strongest and lead by Prince Rygar, as the current leaders they are likely the least willing to take orders. The Cloudreavers were the 2nd strongest group lead by Prince Rockface, they are mostly Dwarves, Orcs, and Half-orcs and not fond of otherraces however they might following an outsider who proved themselves strong enough. The Diresharks are the 3rd strongest. The Direshark were the 3rd strongest and led by Prince Kolberkon, the Diresharks were the most eager to increase their power and prestige but Prince Kolberkon was known to be very honest, never accepts bribes, and the least 'corruptible' of the princes. The other three principalities, The Gray Tide, The Bloodsales, and The Wind Whisperers were relatively minor compared to the first three and The Agent was not as familiar with their situation.

The Agent decided since Prince Kolberkon never accepts bribes and couldn't be easily blackmailed that he was the most dangerous of the princes and would focus on him first. Knowing he would need some assistance he hired an assassin named Haragmeth and a bard named Zellos to help him, and then found a ship heading to Port Verge and bought passage. A few days later they arrived in Port Verge. On the way there they learn from the sailors that Prince Kolberkon spends little time at Port Verge and generally stays with his fleet as they sail around the islands.

Arriving at Port Verge the party noticed three main points of interest. The first was the docks and warehouses, the 2nd was a guardtower placed to watch for enemies and apparently as a capital when Prince Kolberkon wasn't on his ship, the 3rd was the tavern/brothel located near the fields and homes of the farmers that lived here. Zellos volunteered himself to investigate the brothel and left before getting an answer from The Agent. Haragmeth told The Agent that he was very skilled at climbing and suggested that he be sent to investigate the tower but it would go wherever The Agent wanted him too. The Agent agreed that Haragmeth best suited for investigating the tower and sent him to do so while he investigated the warehouses and docks.

Since it was the middle of the day Haragmeth walked up to the tower to take a look at it first. The tower was located on top of a hill near the sea and situated so it could see the city and the surrounding ocean. There was nothing else on the hill the tower was on, no trees or buildings and nothing that could be used for cover. Realizing there was no way to sneak in during the day haragmeth walked back until he found a nice shady tree, laid down underneath it and took a nap waiting for the cover of night.

Zellos walked past the farmers working at their fields on his way to the brothel. The farmers paid little attention to him. He tried talking to one and learned way more about beets then he ever cared to know but nothing about the current location of Prince Kolberkon. He walked into the brothel and saw a large muscular man sitting at a table look up at him.
"This establishment is reserved for the honest working folk of Port Verge." He shouted "We don't want no foreigners with their diseases here."
Zellos tried to talk to the bouncer but he stood up and shoved Zellos out the door.

Looking around Zellos noticed a hut that was a little bigger then the others and had smoke coming out the chimney. Zellos walked up to the door and knocked. A huge man wearing a blacksmiths apron opened the door. Zellos could see a forge and tools behind him indicating this man was a blacksmith.
Looking at Zellos he said "I only make tools for farmers. I don't know anyone on the island who can fix whatever happened to your trumpet."
Looking around Zellos didn't notice anyone visible besides himself and the blacksmith.
"I'm busy now, so leave." The blacksmith said as he started to close the door but Zellos quickly drew his weapon and stabbed the blacksmith, killing him.
Zellos dragged the blacksmiths heavy body inside the hut as quickly as he could. He cast disguise self on himself to look like the blacksmith. He then cast alter self on himself to look like the blacksmith. He stashed his clothing and equipment in the hut, put on the blacksmiths clothing, then walked back to the brothel. As he entered the brothel the bouncer looked up at him in surprise.
"John?" the bouncer said a little surprised "You're back AGAIN!? This is the 4th time today and it's barely afternoon! I suppose you'll be wanting Amy again, that'll be another copper".
Zellos, disguising his voice as the blacksmiths as best he could, asked "Do you know where the prince is?"
The bouncer looked at him confused, "The prince? He doesn't have anything to do with the likes of us." He then looked at Zellos suspiciously "What's with the questions about the prince all of a sudden, don't you want Amy?"
Zellos quickly responded "I want the best whore in this place, the one the prince would use if he ever came in, that's what I meant".
The bouncer believed the bluff "The best whore?" he responded "She costs a silver and we both know you can't afford that, you waste too many coppers here!".
Zellos handed the bouncer a silver coin "There's some strangers in town and one of them accidentally dropped this. Now give me the best whore you got."
The bouncer was a little surprised at seeing the silver coin but quickly scooped it up.
"Well then, Mr. big spender" he said with a grin "You're getting something special, you're going to have Miranda."
As Zellos was guided into the back by the bouncer he failed to see the smirk on the bouncers face. There was another guard in the back hallway. There were a number of alcoves on either side with only worn curtains providing any semblance of privacy. "4th room on the right, you got all the time you want, no refunds!" the bouncer hollered. Zellos really didn't want to continue but was worried about getting found out as an imposter and hoped maybe Miranda might know something. He opened the 4th curtain on the right and saw a very old diseased woman lying naked on a nasty pile of stray. Before Zellos could say a word she jumped, grabbed him, pulled him into the alcove.

Hours later Zellos managed to finally get away from Miranda. His disguise spell had long since worn off but Miranda either didn't notice or care. He kept his face out of view as best he could hoping people would assume he was John just from the clothing. As he walked past one alcove he heard a womans voice call out "John? You were with someone else? I thought you always picked me?" he looked at the woman out of the corner of his eye and saw she wasn't that bad looking. Not wanting have his face or how poorly John's clothes fit Zellos just walked past.
As he reached the front the bouncer saw him and laughed "That Miranda will can wear a man out fast can't she! Hope you had fun!"
Zellos didn't say anything and just walked out the front door. As he did, he became aware of a growing itch in a very sensitive spot.

The Agent saw lots of warehouses and one building that appeared to be some sort of office. He went into the office and saw a man known locally as Duncan the Drunken asleep at a desk with an empty bottle of booze near his hand. There were some papers strewn across the desk under Duncan and maps on the wall. As he closed the door behind him Duncan woke up and looked at him bleary eyed.
"Well who are you?" he asked with a drunken slur.
The Agent said he was looking for the prince.
"The Prince? He ain't no lubber like them Seadragon's, he's on his ship like any true prince should be."
"So where's the ship?" The Agent asked a little exasperated.
"Uhh... in the ocean?" Duncan said in a confused voice.
Duncan picked up his bottle, tried to take a swig from the empty bottle, then looked at confusedly, finally seemed to realize it was empty then asked "Got anything to drink?"
The Agent ignored Duncan and started looking at the maps.
"Hey!" Duncan called out "Them maps are.... something..."
Duncan stood up as best he could, stumbled over to The Agent and drunkenly tried to push The Agent away from the maps. The Agent lost patience with Duncan, pulled out his knife, and stabbed at him. Duncan was flailing his arms trying to push The Agent and so The Agent only cut Duncan's arm badly. Duncan just looked at the cut at his arm as if he didn't know what it was. The Agent didn't waste any time and stabbed Duncan again. This time The Agent hit him right in the heart, killing him instantly. The Agent took a look a look at the maps and saw they were full of routes and dates when ships were scheduled to arrive. He noticed one map in particular that was marked with the crest of Prince Kolberkon and assumed this one showed the route of Prince Kolberkon's fleet. He wrote down the dates and locations of the next few destinations and then left to find Zellos at the brothel.
 
Haragmeth got up refreshed shortly after the sun went down and went back to the tower. He saw that there was a different guard and the front gate standing next to a torch, but saw no other lights or guards either around the tower or on top of it for some reason. Haragmeth traveled about 1/3 of the way around the tower from the front door. He carefully crept up to the base of the tower without any obvious sign he had been seen or heard. Haragmeth estimated the tower to be about 50 feet tall so he spent a little time meditating and then sprinted straight up the side of the tower to the top. At the top he found he was at one of four lookout spots situated around the tower. They all appeared to be currently unmanned for some reason. He saw a trapdoor which he silently opened a crack and peeked down. He saw a ladder going down to the ground floor and saw some light shining in through a doorway at the bottom. Haragmeth very quietly crept down the ladder, intentionally going down head first. As he neared the doorway at the bottom of the ladder he carefully looked out through the doorway being careful not to be spotted. He saw a large room that appeared to take up the entire space of the tower. He saw a guard sleeping on a hammock against a wall and a couple other guards sitting at a table playing cards together. He noticed some food and weapons around the room but didn't see any papers, maps, or anything else likely to indicate the location of Prince Kolberkon. Figuring this place is a bust he silently crept back up the ladder to the top of the tower, ran back down the side of the tower, and began making his way to the warehouse district in order to report back to The Agent.

It was dark when Zellos left the brothel. He went back to John's hut and got his clothing and equipment back. He then cast disguise self to make himself look like the prostitute he had seen in the brothel. He went over to a nearby hut that he could tell had people in it. He knocked on the door and it was opened by a farmer. The hut was a small single room with little more then a fireplace, a bed, and a table in it. Zellos could see what appeared to be the farmers wife lying on the bed.
"Amy?" the farmer asked "When did you start making house calls?"
Hearing this the wife just silently got out of the bed and lay down on the floor.
"Don't know why you're wearing that costume, you don't need it" the farmer continued "hurry up, get in here and take it off."
Zellos turned around and ran away.

As The Agent walked up towards the brothel he saw what appeared to be a young woman dressed in Zellos' clothes and carrying Zellos' tuba running away from a collection of huts with a farmer chasing and calling after her. Zellos just sighed, shook his head, and started following "her".

As Haragmeth approached the office in the warehouse district he saw a number of people surrounding it. Seeing him the group came up to him.
"Why'd you kill Duncan? He was a great guy!"
Haragmeth quietly told the group that he had not killed anyone, had spent the entire day sleeping in a public area and had just arrived wondering what the fuss was about. Some of the group mentioned they did remember seeing him under the tree earlier. One of the group said that it's suspicious that this guy had arrived today the same day Duncan was brutally murdered. He said that Haragmeth should make an official statement to the guards at the guardtower and they would escort him there to "make certain he didn't get lost". Haragmeth said he had no reason not to talk to the guards and said he would go with them. Three members of the group surrounded him and guided him away from the office and warehouses. Haragmeth noticed almost immediately they were taking him in the complete opposite direction then from the tower. Haragmeth didn't say anything or indicate that he knew they were going the wrong way but did surreptitiously keep a hand on his dagger. The three 'escorts' took Haragmeth to a remote area with no one around and a cliff with the distant sound of ocean coming from the bottom. Haragmeth took the initiative and charged the first killer pushing him over the cliff. The other two killers pulled out knives and positioned themselves so that Haragmeth was trapped between them and the cliff. Haragmeth also pulled out his knife. The killers were not anywhere near as skilled as Haragmeth and he easily avoided their attacks while wounding them. One of the killers grabbed Haragmeth and tried throwing him over the cliff. Haragmeth managed to slip out of his grasp and the killer accidentally fell over the cliff. The last killer kept trying to kill Haragmeth with his knife. It took awhile but Haragmeth eventually killed the last killer with his own knife. After the last killer was dead he tossed the body over the cliff. Haragmeth couldn't really hide the blood on the ground and it was pretty obvious someone had been killed here but there was nothing Haragmeth could do about that. He started heading back to Port Verge.

The farmer didn't follow Zellos very long before giving up. The Agent reached Zellos and told him he had learned where the prince would be and suggested Zellos drop the lame disguise. They went back to the docks to see about getting a ship. They reached the docks around the same time Haragmeth did. As they came up a magically powered ship came up and stopped at an empty dock. A lone figure jumped off the ship and signaled them. The party jumped on the ship. The figure went to a control wheel and the ship started sailing away from the dock. The ships pilot said he had been sent by Moriarty to arrive at that exact moment and take them where they needed to go next. The Agent said he had found out there is a small island in Eel Bay about a day or two away being used as a cache by Prince Kolberkon and the princes fleet will be arriving there in a few days to restock. The party had the pilot take them there.

They arrived a day before the maps had indicated the fleet will arrive. There was only one beach to land on and no docks. The party took a small rowboat to the beach to investigate. They found a brewery and distillery on island but no people. The party also found a large amount of barrels full of ale stored on the island. They didn't find any food or other supplies besides the ale and the party was pretty certain the ale was the only reason the fleet came here. After they finished searching the party went back towards the beach but as they reached it they saw that the fleet had arrived early. They saw that the fleet had already boarded their ship and as they watched with a spyglass they saw their ship get commandeered and sailed back to the fleet. The party figured they had an hour or two before the fleet arrived. They had been back towards the trees and were pretty certain they hadn't been spotted yet and they considered their options. Zellos wanted to hide in the ale barrels and then sneak out after they got loaded onto the ships. Haragmeth thought that was a stupid idea as they would most likely be caught and even if they weren't would be trapped in a hostile fleet in the middle of the ocean. The Agent agreed with Zellos and Haragmeth eventually agreed he couldn't think of a better plan. Zellos emptied a barrel so it was still half full of ale and started to climb in. He said that if the pirates hear the ale sloshing they would be less likely to question it. Haragmeth pointed out these barrels are not labeled "this side up" and if a barrel is stacked the wrong way he'll drown. Zellos was insistent this was the best plan and went into his barrel half full of ale. The Agent followed Zellos' suggestion and also kept his barrel half full of ale. Haragmeth refused and completely emptied his barrel muttering "they're going to get us all killed".

Sometime later the party heard the pirates arrive and start loading up the barrels. They were not suspicious of any of the barrels and took all the barrels that the party was in. As they were being taken on the shoreboats to the fleet Zellos started to get tipsy from the fumes of the ale he was sitting in. When the barrels were stacked in the ship hold Zellos' barrel did get placed upside-down. Zellos tried holding his breath but it was hard for him to hold it for long due to already being tipsy. Eventually he couldn't hold his breath anymore and started rocking his barrel and knock it over. He accidentally swallowed a mouthful of ale while doing that and became completely sloshed. The Agent had been placed right-side up and had managed to avoid the affects of the alcohol fumes in his barrel. He heard Zellos banging around in his barrel and so got out. He saw he was in the hold of a ship and there was no one else nearby. It appeared their barrels were the last loaded. The Agent opened the top of Zellos' barrel and helped him out. There was no sign of Haragmeth. Zellos was so drunk he could barely stand. The Agent pulled Zellos behind the barrels so if someone came in the hold he wouldn't be visible. Zellos muttered that he could help and started blowing random notes on his tuba. The Agent took away the mouthpiece of Zellos' tuba to keep him quiet. Zellos kept trying to play his tuba without the mouthpiece but wasn't making any major noise because of it. Zellos eventually got tired and passed out.

Haragmeth's barrel had been placed on a completely different ship then the one The Agent and Zellos ended up on. He had been placed upside down as well but with no ale in it had no fear of drowning. He waited for noise to die down and then opened up his barrel and climbed out. He found that he also was in the hold of a ship and didn't see anyone else including Zellos and The Agent. Haragmeth carefully opened the one door to the hold and peeked out the door. He didn't see anybody and carefully crept out. He saw that he was in a hallway that appeared to run the length of the ship. Directly across from him was a door, one end of the hallway had a ladder going up and the other had another door. Haragmeth peeked into the door opposite of the one he entered. Inside he saw the ships magazine that was full of cannonballs and black powder. He closed the door without bothering to search. He then went to the door opposite of the ladder. He found that this opened a a privy located on a balconey on the back of the ship. The privy was little more then a hole down to the ocean and there was no back wall so he could see out to the ocean. He saw that it was dark already and could see the light of another ship behind them relatively close behind him.

Haragmeth went back and silently crept up the ladder. The ladder went up to another level but still inside the ship. He heard some voices and from the darkness he saw a pair of guards standing towards the some doors situated towards the bow. They were looking in his general direction but didn't happen to see him. Haragmeth didn't think he could eliminate both guards fast enough to avoid having an alarm raised and didn't think he could sneak past them with them just standing there. He went back down and headed to the privy. Poking his head out the back wall he saw that the top was about 14 feet up or so. He saw some windows directly above him that he assumed went to a cabin on the level above him and then it went straight to the deck. Haragmeth concentrated for a little bit and then ran onto the wall, ran out onto the aft part of the ship and ran all the way up to the top of the deck. Instead of running into the deck, Haragmeth intentionally slipped then grabbed for the railing on the aft of the deck. He hung there for a little bit listening for evidence of someone coming his way. When he felt the situation was probably clear he lifted himself up and looked onto the deck. He saw that he was looking at the poop deck of this ship. He could see the helmsman who had his back to him. On the starboard side was someone with a spyglass looking in that direction. He noticed sailors down on the main deck working near the ships single mast. There were some torches situated around the decks but there wasn't one where he was and it was shadowed.

Haragmeth climbed up onto the deck and looked around. He could see there was a ship to their starboard and of course the ship behind them and he could see another light far ahead which he assumed was another ship. The ship to starboard was close enough for him to get an idea of it's shape. He saw that it had a main deck with shoreboats on it, a raised poop deck with a wheel, and a raised forecastle. It appeared identical to what he could see of the ship he was on. He noticed gun ports directly below the main deck on what he guessed was the level he saw the two guards on his own ship. Staying hidden in the shadows Haragmeth heard the sailors talking and quickly determined that the prince was on a different ship. Deciding he probably couldn't capture the entire ship by himself and had no way to sneak a shoreboat without being spotted he dived off the rear of ship into the ocean and started swimming to the ship directly behind him figuring it was close enough to swim too especially with it coming his way.

While The Agent waited a bit to make certain Zellos wasn't going to wake up and start making noise he heard the door open and someone try to silently walk in. Peeking through the barrels he saw a pirate sneaking into the hold.
The pirate closed the door, saw the open, empty barrels, and muttered "Guess I'm not the only one who wanted an extra ration".
The pirate opened up an available full barrel and dunked his entire head into it and could be heard gulping noisily. The Agent silentely crept up behind the pirate and pushed his head all the way into the barrel. The pirate struggled but was pretty drunk and The Agent was able to keep him under until he drowned. The Agent held him for a few more minutes to make certain he was really dead then let go of the body.

The Agent took of his gear and clothes, hid it back where Zellos was, and put on the pirates clothes. He then used his abilities as a changeling to disguise himself as the pirate, he then left the hold. The ship that The Agent was on was identical to the one Haragmeth was on, he discovered the same hallway, magazine room, ladder and privy that Haragmeth did. He carefully searched the magazine room but found nothing beyond the obvious bags of powder and cannonballs. He also noticed there was a ship visible following behind the ship he was on. Climbing the ladder he found some guards quietly chatting with each other. They saw The Agent as the came up and seeing him they just shook their heads.
"Earl" one of them called out to him "You've been down in the booze again haven't you?".
The Agent pretended to be drunk and slurringly said "Ahhmm... not.. drunk! Ahh.. was jus' using da can".
The guards didn't notice anything wrong with "Earl" and just chuckled and shook their heads knowingly.
"Yeah right, I can smell you from over here" the other said "What'd you do fall in? Smells like you soaked yourself in the ale".
"Ahh may ha' fallen and knocked up one o' dem barrels... but I drank... er... cleaned up da mess!"
"Well, you'd better not let the captain catch you like this again. I heard that the prince asked him why he has someone like you working on his flagship."
"The prince is here?" The agent asked. "This is his flagship... you'd better head down and sleep this off before your shift Earl, you're liable to get planked otherwise."
The Agent muttered he was tired and pretended to stumble his way back down the ladder and back to the hold.

The water was colder then Haragmeth expected and it took his breath away. He swam towards the ship which was coming towards him quickly. He tried climbing up the side of the ship enough to run up the side but he had trouble maintaining the concentration to run up walls and his hands were also too cold to grip the side of the ship enough to climb up enough to try running as well. The ship continued on it's way and eventually passed him. Haragmeth saw another ship behind that one and tried for it but hypothermia was starting to set in. He noticed no more lights and it appeared this was the last ship. He summoned all the energy he could and managed to grab this ship well enough while maintaining his concentration to run up the sides of it. The gunports were open and he ran into one of them, desperate to be out of the cold. He ran into a room with some guards in it, one of them happened to be looking right at him as he ran in.
"Thank goodness this ship was here, that stupid wizard completely flubbed his teleport spell" Haragmeth said trying to bluff the guard.
He doesn't know if the guard didn't believe him or just didn't care but the guard rushed Haragmeth. Haragmeth was freezing and couldn't move out of the way in time. Haragmeth got pushed out the gunport back into the ocean. He tried desperately to swim back onto the ship and climb up but the ship was moving too fast and it eventually sailed away into the distance. Haragmeth tried treading water but the water was so cold, he quickly lost his strength and drowned in the middle of the ocean.

The Agent went back to the hold and woke up Zellos. Zellos was still completely sloshed but The Agent was able to get him to his feet and able to at least stumble around. The Agent brought Zellos to the privy and encouraged him to vomit as much ale as he could. The agent went to the hold and got a barrel. He took the barrel into the magazine and poured out the ale in it. He then took another barrel and poured it out in the hallway. He then went back to the privy and lit a torch. He tossed Zellos into the ocean, tossed the torch into the hallway, confirmed the ale caught fire and it was spreading towards the magazine then dived into the ocean himself. It didn't take long for the ship to explode. The Agent held onto Zellos and just treaded water and watched as the ships in the fleet just continued on without stopping despite what had just happened to the flagship. Shortly after the last ship sailed away a magical mini-sup surfaced underneath Zellos and The Agent. The hatch opened and another of Moriarty's agents welcomed them in.

Moriarty soon confirmed that Prince Kolberkon was killed in the destruction of the flagship. Prince Kolberkon's successor was not as noble and was quickly bribed into obeying Moriarty. He learned that Droamm had assembled their army more quickly then expected and had started invading western Breland. He also received news that the meeting in Thronehold couldn't come to resolution and ended with Aundair declaring war on Thrane. The other nations were divided between those that thought Thrane was in the wrong, those who thought Aundair was in the wrong, and those who thought they were both wrong. The one thing that everyone agreed on was that the treaty was being violated, there wasn't enough consensus for the other nations to work together to enforce it, and that the Treaty of Thronehold was essentially null and void.


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