368 lines
22 KiB
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368 lines
22 KiB
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<h1>Section 11: Dialogue</h1>
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<p>Along with special encounters, character dialogue is a key way to give your scenario a
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plot and depth. Writing good dialogue is difficult and time consuming, but there is no
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better way to get a player involved.</p>
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<p>Each character has a personality number. This number determines what the character the
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party talks to says. Only characters in towns can be given personalities.</p>
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<p>Each town has 10 personalities stored in it. Town 0 has personalities 0-9. Town 1 has
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personalities 10-19, town 2 has 20-29, and so on. A character from any town can have a
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personality from any town. To enable the party to talk to a character, place the creature,
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press Select Monster, click on the monster, and put the personality number in the
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Personality area. Now that the personality is there, you just need to write the
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dialogue.</p>
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<h2>Writing Dialogue</h2>
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<p>Press Edit Town Dialogue to edit a town's 10 personalities. A character always responds
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to name, look, and job, and has a response for when the party asks about something weird.
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The first 10 entries in the dialogue lists are where these responses are written. Entries
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for name, look, and job must be given. The Don't Understand Response can be left blank (a
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generic response will be given).</p>
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<p>Dialogue has nodes, like special encounters. Each town has 60 dialogue nodes. Each
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dialogue nodes represents one thing the party can ask about. The 60 dialogue nodes are
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listed when you press Edit Town Dialogue. Click on a dialogue node to edit it. The
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dialogue nodes editing window will come up. It has these options:</p>
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<p><b>Personality -</b> This starts at -1, which means that the node is unused. The number
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of the personality to whom this node belongs. If this is changed to -2, any of the 10
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personalities in this town respond to this.</p>
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<p><b>Response to #1, Response to #2 - </b>The key word (or key words) the player must ask
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about to get this node as a response. Each node can have two different words that activate
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it. These words must consist only of letters and numbers.</p>
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<p>The game only looks at the first 4 letters of these fields, and a word that the player
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can ask about must be at least 4 letters/numbers long. You can have a character respond to
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insect, but not to bug.</p>
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<p>The default value for these fields is xxxx. If you only want a certain response to be
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given for one key word (as opposed to two) you can leave one of the fields set to
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xxxx.</p>
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<p>If one character has redundant talking nodes (i.e. two nodes which respond to asking
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about fish) the earlier one is used.</p>
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<!--
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<p>If the talking node is for a store of some sort (buying or selling) and the player
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presses the Buy or Sell button, this node will be used as a response. Again, if one
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character sells two sorts of things, the earlier one will be used should the player hit
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the Buy button.</p>
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-->
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<p>Example: You set the first field to swor and the second to demo. Then this talking node
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will be used as a response when the player asks this character about sword, demon,
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demonstration, Sworgenov.</p>
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<p><b>Node type - </b>Click the light for the appropriate talking node type. These types
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are described below.</p>
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<p><b>A,B,C,D - </b>These four fields define certain things for the node type (such as how
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much an item costs, or what items are sold in the store). In the descriptions below, the
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value of Field A is referred to by simply A, as in "The cost for identification is A".</p>
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<p><b>Text 1, Text 2 -</b> The text the character actually says. For some node types, the
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character responds with the text in both boxes, one before the other. For some node types,
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however, the character will only respond one bit of text or the other, depending on the
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node type.</p>
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<p>Create New - To edit a fresh dialogue node, press this. To return to an earlier node,
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press Go Back.</p>
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<p></p>
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<p>When writing character responses, remember that while the two halves of the response
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text can each be 256 characters long, there isn't room for more than 400 characters on the
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talking screen. Test your dialogue to make sure it is all fitting.</p>
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<h2>Special Node Types</h2>
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<p>The talking node types (and the meanings of the A, B, C, and D fields) are:</p>
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<h3>Basic Conversation Talking Nodes</h3>
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<p>These are the basic talking node types, the talking nodes you will use the most
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often.</p>
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<p></p>
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<p><b>Node Type 0 - Regular Talking</b> The character responds with the text in the Text 1
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and Text 2 fields. All other fields are ignored.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 1 - Depends on Flag</b> The response depends on a given Stuff Done flag,
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specified in the A, B, and C fields. If the stuff done flag (A,B) is less than or equal to
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the value in C, the character responds with the text in Text 1. Otherwise,the character
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responds with the text in Text 2.</p>
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<p>Example: Suppose A is 58, B is 3, and C is 2. If the Stuff Done flag (58,3) is 1, the
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response is Text 1. If Stuff Done flag (58,3) is 5, the response is Text 2.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 2 - Set to One </b>The character responds with the text in the Text 1 and
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Text 2 fields. In addition, the Stuff Done flag (A,B) is set to 1.</p>
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<p>Example: You want Stuff Done flag (100,2) to be set to 1 when the party knows that
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theres a treasure hidden in a tree. Old Man McGee tells them that its there when asked
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about tree. When Old Man McGee is asked about tree use a talking node of this type as a
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response, with A set to 100 and B set to 2.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 3 - Inn</b> If the party can afford it, conversation ends, and the party
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is moved to a different place and healed. Field A is the cost of the inn, and field B is
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the quality of the inn (Range 0 ... 3). If the party can afford it, the character says
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Text 1, and the party is moved to (C,D). Otherwise, they are told Text 2 and conversation
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continues.</p>
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<h3>If-Then Talking Nodes</h3>
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<p>What the character says when one of these talking nodes is called depends on
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circumstances, such as what town the party is in or whether a certain Stuff Done flag has
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been changed.</p>
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<p></p>
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<p><b>Node Type 4 - Depend on Time</b> Response depends on what day it is. If it is after
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day A, the character responds Text 2. Otherwise, the character responds Text 1. (For more
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information on this, see the section on passing time).</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 5 - Depend on Time w. Event</b> Response depends on what day it is. If it
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is after day A and event B did not happen before day A, the character responds Text 1.
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Otherwise, the character responds Text 2. (For more information on this, see the section
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on passing time).</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 6 - Depends On Town</b> Response depends on what town the party is in. If
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the party is in town A, the response is Text 1. Otherwise, its Text 2.</p>
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<h3>Shopping Talking Nodes</h3>
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<p>When one of these nodes is a response, conversation temporarily ends, and a different
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sort of screen appears.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 7 - Shop</b> A shopping screen appears. When the party is done shopping
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(and the player hits the done button), talking resumes. A is the cost adjustment (Range 0
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... 6, see below). B is the number of the shop (shop 0 is usually the standard healing
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shop; but if the scenario was created with an older version of the BoE Scenario Editor,
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0-4 are the magic random item shops and 5 is the standard healing shop). C and D are
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ignored and Text 1 is the name of the shop.</p>
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<p>The meaning of the cost adjustments are:</p>
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<ol start='0'>
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<li>Extremely Cheap</li>
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<li>Very Reasonable</li>
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<li>Pretty Average</li>
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<li>Somewhat Pricey</li>
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<li>Expensive</li>
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<li>Exorbitant</li>
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<li>Utterly Ridiculous</li>
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</ol>
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<p>Example: If A is 1, B is 193, C is 15, and Text 1 is Fred's Fish, and this talking node
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is the response, the player gets to shop in a store called Fred's Fish. The prices are
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quite cheap, and the player can buy items 193-207.</p>
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<!-- TODO: Above example no longer works -->
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<p><b>Node Type 8 - Training</b> The training window immediately comes up. Text 1 & 2
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are ignored.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 9 - Job Board</b> Brings up the job board, where the player can choose to
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accept a job or quest. This could be something simple like delivering a message or
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package, or it could be something plot-relevant. A is the number of the job board to
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show. If the job board is angry at you for failing too many jobs, no job board will be
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shown and the response will be Text 2. Text 1 is currently ignored, but reserved to be a
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name for the job board.</p>
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<h3>Item Button Talking Nodes</h3>
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<p>Each of these talking node types makes a button appear by certain items in the PC
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Inventory Screen. Pressing these buttons does something with the item, such as sell it or
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identify it. When two of these nodes are used in a row, the buttons created by the second
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node replace the buttons created by the first.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 13 - Sell Weapons</b>The text in Text 1 is the response, and the party can
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sell all their identified weapons.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 14 - Sell Armor </b>The text in Text 1 is the response, and the party can
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sell all their identified armor.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 15 - Sell All </b>The text in Text 1 is the response, and the party can
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sell all their identified items.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 16 - Identify </b>The text in Text 1 is the response, and the party can
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identify all their items. A is the cost to identify.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 17 - Enchant Weapons</b> Enables the part to spend money to have their
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weapons augmented. The character responds Text 1, and Enchant buttons (with costs) appear
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by all of the character's identified, non-magical weapons. A is the sort of enchantment the
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party can buy (0 - +1, 1 - +2, 2 - +3, 3 - shoot flame spells, 4 - flaming weapon, 5 - +5,
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6 - blessed)</p>
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<h3>Buying Talking Nodes</h3>
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<p>All of these talking nodes try to sell the party something (such as the location of a
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town) but are not regular shops, and don't bring up a shopping screen.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 18 - Buy Response </b> The party is charged A gold. If they have it, the
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text in Text 1 is the response. Otherwise, the text in Text 2 is the response.</p>
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<p>Example: If the inn sells drinks with a cost of 5, use this talking node type. Set A to
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5, and have Text 1 be what happens when the party buys the drink.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 19 - Buy Response, Change flag</b> The party can spend money to get a
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response and have one of their Stuff Done flags changed. The party is charged A gold. If
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they have it, the text in Text 1 is the response, and the value of Stuff Done flag (B,C)
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is set to D. Otherwise, the text in Text 2 is the response.</p>
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<p>Example: You want Stuff Done flag (100,2) to be set to 1 when the party knows that
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there's a treasure hidden in a tree. Old Man McGee tells them that it's there when asked
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about tree, but he charges 50 gold for the knowledge. When Old Man McGee is asked about
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tree, use a talking node of this type as a response, with A set to 50, B set to 100, C set
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to 2, and D set to 1. Write in Text 2 Old Man McGee's acerbic response if the party
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doesn't
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have 50 gold.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 20 - Ship Shop</b> Sells the party a boat. A is the cost of the boat. B is
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the number of the first boat sold in the shop (from the scenario's boat list). C is the
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total number of boats sold in the shop, taken from the list of boats in the game, starting
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with B. If the party buys a boat, one boat in the given range becomes their property. Text
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1 is the response if the party buys a boat. Text 2 is the response if the party doesn't
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have enough gold. If all boats in the given range are already owned by the party, the
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character's response is "There are no boats left".</p>
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<p>Example: If A is 100, B is 5,C is 1, and the party has 100 gold, if the party doesn't
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already own boat 5, it becomes their property and they're out 100 gold.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 21 - Horse Shop </b> Sells the party a horse. A is the cost of the horse.
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B is the number of the first horse sold in the shop (from the scenario's horse list). C is
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the total number of horses sold in the shop, taken from the list of horses in the game,
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starting with B. If the party buys a horse, one horse in the given range becomes their
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property. Text 1 is the response if the party buys a horse. Text 2 is the response if the
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party doesn't have enough gold. If all horses in the given range are already owned by the
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party, the character's response is "There are no horses left".</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 22 - Buy Special Item </b> Sells the party a scenario special item. A is
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the number of the special item being sold. If they already have it, they are told "You
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already have that". Otherwise, the cost of the item is B gold. If the party can afford it,
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they are told Text 1. Otherwise, they are told Text 2.</p>
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<p>Note: If you set the cost to 0, the party is always given the item.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 23 - Receive Quest</b> If quest A has been completed, the response is Text
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2 and nothing special happens. Otherwise, the party is given quest A (if they hadn't
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already received it) and the response is Text 1.</p>
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<p>Note: This node is not set up for the possibility that the quest somehow failed. If the
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quest is one that has a deadline or other failure condition, it might be better to instead
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use node types 29 or 30 to call a special node and check the quest's status before giving
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it.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 24 - Reveal Town Location</b> Charges the party money, and enables them to
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enter a hidden town. The cost is A gold. If the party can afford it, they are told Text 1,
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and they will be able to see and enter town/dungeon number B. Otherwise, they are told
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Text 2. If the party already knows where this town is, no gold is taken.</p>
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<p>Note: If you set the cost to 0, the party is always told where the town is.</p>
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<h3>End Conversation Talking Nodes</h3>
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<p>When one of these node types is the response to something the player asks, the
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conversation ends immediately. Only the Record and Bye buttons at the bottom will be
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active, and the player can ask about nothing else.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 25 - Force Conversation End</b> Responds the text on Text 1 and Text 2
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normally, but then the conversation ends.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 26 - Hostile Conversation End</b> Responds the text on Text 1 and Text 2
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normally, but then the conversation ends, and the character attacks the party.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 27 - Town Hostile Conv. End</b> Responds the text on Text 1 and Text 2
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normally, but then the conversation ends, and the entire town becomes hostile.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 28 - Eliminate Creature</b> Responds the text on Text 1 and Text 2
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normally, but then the conversation ends, and the character will disappear. If the
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character has a Go Away Permanently Stuff Done flag chosen for it, that flag is set to 1
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and the character will disappear permanently.</p>
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<p>Uses: A dying character who tells the party one last thing and expires.</p>
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<h3>Special Encounter Talking Nodes</h3>
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<p>These highly important node types provide the way to have elaborate special encounters
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embedded in conversations. When a talking node of one of these types is the response, a
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town (or scenario) special node is called, which can give the party gold or items, set
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Stuff Done flags, or do most anything else a special node can do.</p>
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<p>When a special encounter is called inside a conversation, the big question generally is
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what the character will say (be it "Here's some gold", or "This is where the hidden treasure
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is".). What the character says in response to the player's question is determined using the
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Mess 1 and Mess 2 fields in the special nodes called. How this works is described
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below.</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 29 - Call Town Special</b> Calls Town Special Node A, and does what it
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says. This special encounter can do anything but damage the party or other monsters or
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move the party.</p>
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<p>Displaying messages in special encounters works differently in talking special
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encounters. If the special node(s) called bring up a dialog box, it is displayed normally
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(over the talking screen). However, if one or two messages are selected in one of the
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special nodes, they are not displayed in a dialog box (as they would be if the special
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encounter wasn't called while talking). Instead, the one or two messages selected in the
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special node will become the character's response while talking. If no messages are ever
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selected in the special nodes, the character says the text in Text 1 and Text 2.</p>
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<p>There is one serious limitation to using talking nodes of this type. The special
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encounter will only work correctly if the personality is one of the current town's 10
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personalities. For example, the 10 personalities for town 5 are 50-59. A talking special
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encounter for personality 55 will only work correctly when the party is in town 5. If you
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placed personality 55 in town 6 and the party triggered a special encounter while talking
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to it, it wouldn't work as you might expect - it would call a special node in town 6,
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rather than one in town 5. If you want to have a personality special encounter work the
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same no matter what town the party triggers it in, use a Call Scenario Special talking
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node (type 30, described below).</p>
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<p>Example: Suppose Text 1 is "He casts a spell", and the special node selected heals the
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party, and is the only special node called. If, in Mess 1 and Mess 2 of that special node,
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no messages are chosen, the character will say "He casts a spell". If messages are chosen in
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Mess 1 and Mess 2, that will be what the character says in the talk area. The player can
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then ask about things mentioned in those messages in the normal way (clicking on words to
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ask about them).</p>
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<p><b>Node Type 30 - Call Scenario Special</b> Calls Scenario Special Node A. Except for
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calling a Scenario special node instead of a Town Special Node, this is exactly the same
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as Call Town Special, above. The main difference is that you create the special encounter
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in the Scenario special node list instead of the Town special node list.</p>
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<p>Note: If a town special is called, only a town message will be shown. If a scenario
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node is called, a scenario message will be shown.</p>
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<h2>The Buy and Sell Buttons</h2>
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<p>When the game is in talk mode, there are Buy and Sell buttons at the bottom of the
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talking area. The player will expect that, when the former is pressed, the game will go
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into shopping mode (if the character has anything to sell), and when the latter is pressed
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the character will offer to buy items (if he or she is so inclined).</p>
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<p>When the Buy button is pressed, that is equivalent to the player asking about purchase.
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Thus, you should have every shopkeeper respond to this word. Similarly, pressing the Sell
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button is equivalent to asking about sell. Any character who buys things should respond to
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this word.</p>
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<p>However, if the player presses the Buy button and the character doesn't respond to
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"purc", the engine will also try "sale", "heal", "iden" (for "identify"), "trai" (for
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"training"), and "ench" (for "enchant"), in that order. So, if your character responds to
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one of those, you don't need to also make them respond to "purc".</p>
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<h2>Defining Shops</h2>
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<p>To edit shop definitions, click Edit Shops on the main screen and select a shop from
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the list on the right, or click Create New to make a new one. A dialog comes up, showing
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the contents of the shop and giving a number of options.</p>
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<p>The top half of the dialog lets you set various properties of the shop:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><b>Shop name:</b> Enter a name to use for the shop, so that you can identify it in the
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scenario editor. When the shop is used in-game, the dialogue or special node will override
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this name, so it won't be seen - thus, it could include information for you to distinguish
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it from other similar shops.</li>
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<li><b>Shop type:</b> The first two options determine whether things can be purchase while
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a dead character is active. If the shop contains anything other than alchemy or healing,
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you probably shouldn't use the second option (and don't add Resurrect to the shop unless
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you do use the second option). The third option allows the shop to contain
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randomly-generated items. Use this type if you have any shop items that involve random
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chance. Note that this also prevents dead characters from buying.</li>
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<li><b>Message:</b> This lets you set the message shown at the top of the shop. Pick the
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one that best matches the shop's contents.</li>
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<li><b>Standard random items shop:</b> The original Blades of Exile included five random
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item shops which could contain almost anything, but they no longer exist by default. If
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you want to create one, simply click this button and click OK. That's it - you don't have
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to do any extra work. Of course, you could instead make your own random items shop that
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uses different rules.</li>
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<li><b>Shopping Face:</b> Select the dialog face that will appear while shopping
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here.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>The bottom half of the dialog lets you manage the contents of the shop. Use the arrow
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buttons to navigate between pages of buttons. A shop cannot have more than 30 items, so
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there are six pages. If there are items already there, you can edit or delete them with
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the corresponding buttons. You can add more items using the buttons along the bottom.</p>
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<p>Most types of items will simply let you select from a list. Regular items also let you
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specify a quantity, and optional items offer a quantity and a percentage chance. The most
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complicated option available is Special. When you click that to add a new item (or when
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you edit an existing special purchase), a dialog comes up presenting several options:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><b>Name:</b> The name of the item that will appear in the shop.</li>
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<li><b>Special Node:</b> When this item is purchased, the special node will be
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called.</li>
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<li><b>Quantity:</b> The maximum number of times this item can be purchased. If left at 0,
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there is no limit.</li>
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<li><b>Cost:</b> The amount of gold taken. Whether the gold is taken (and the quantity
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reduced) depends on the special node - if it calls a Prevent Action node, then neither
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will occur.</li>
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<li><b>Icon:</b> The item icon to display for this purchase.</li>
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<li><b>Description:</b> Some text that will be displayed if the player clicks on the Info
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button for this purchase.</li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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</body>
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</html>
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