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I say we genuinely pray that our mother will be OK in our absence and don't expect the pantheon to be our personal messenger service.
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Oct 16, 2013 20:49
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 12:54 |
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Yeah I don't think this is how prayers should be used. Vote to run back home if you really want to put mom at ease. Personally I say we spend more time with her when we eventually get back.
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Oct 16, 2013 20:52
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GH
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Oct 16, 2013 20:53
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No idea what # this is, so, M, I voted not to pray for mother because, honestly, we've paid barely any attention to her in the past few years, it's unlikely we'd think of it now. Maybe a passing thought now we're at rest without having anything else to worry about, a token prayer because we're growing up and we know that after we return home things will be different, but nothing major. There's food to find, pearls to hunt, dogs to feed! She looked after herself before she had us, and after. She'll survive a month on her own. Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Oct 16, 2013 |
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Oct 16, 2013 20:53
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C, to be quite honest.
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Oct 16, 2013 20:59
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4. B, don't actually know if prayer will work but if it gets through it'll be grand. We should still make our way home ASAP, though. By the way, guys, I think there's something some of you aren't quite realizing. The point of this manhood trial is that we stay out one month and then come back. We're not supposed to come back if we fail or, obviously die. And that's what people are going to think, as time goes on. First week or so, probably not a big deal, people get lost. But increasingly after that, they're going to start thinking: Maybe the wild got him. They're going to start thinking that either we ran off, being a cannibal savage, or that we just couldn't take the trial and died. After all, we did the much harder version that nobody does these days, they can't be expecting much of our chances. That's where our mom is. She's sitting in that city, listening to those people whisper. Every day she goes out to the gates, looks out at the wild, sits there waiting, asks the guards if they saw someone, anyone, and every day they'll shake their heads and say "No, ma'm." Every day she goes out there and every night, when the sun sets, and the guards ask her to go back inside, her heart breaks a little more because her little boy, her son, her child that she kept safe and alive all these years, is probably dead. Every day Danal asks her "Where's Enkidel? Where's my best friend?" She says he's fine, she's sure he'll be back - but every passing day she has to look away when she says that. She walks by the kitchen and she hears Keza: "The little devil probably ran away, like the heathen savage he is, not fit to live amongst men and he knows it, I say. But maybe he's dead, and if he is, so much the better." She goes to Tudiya - begs him, pleads with him, goes on her knees, asking - please, can't you go out? Can't you send a search party? Can't you bring him back? And he looks at her and he shakes his head, sadly, sternly, says "No. It is his trial, to pass or fail." And she watches, and she waits, and she weeps, and one day she breaks. Maybe she just dies. Maybe she just can't live with the pain anymore. But maybe something else happens. Maybe that spark in Enkidel's heart, that spark that calls him to try and be a hero? Maybe that didn't come from our father. Maybe a bit of it came from Jalitha. Maybe one day, without saying anything to anyone, she packs her things, and she goes out. Maybe she's got nothing but the clothes on her back and a bit of food, and the guards watch her, try to stop her, but she doesn't let herself get stopped and they watch her walk out there alone into the wilderness, the last person to care about her baby boy, the last person to try and bring him back alive. And maybe when we come back - maybe when we get back to the gates at last, roaring in pride and holding up our pearls? Maybe the guards will look at us and spit.
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Oct 16, 2013 21:04
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JT Jag posted:C, to be quite honest. I would like to personally applaud you for admitting it!
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Oct 16, 2013 21:08
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Yeah but, we're a teenage boy. How much of that would we actually consider? Why would the guards spit? 
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Oct 16, 2013 21:08
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^^^ Because they watched her keep her vigil for a month and kept telling her they didn't see us and saw her walk off alone to try and bring us back, jeez, it ruins the story when you need to explain it. By the way, Diog, two months is about how long we'll be out total if we just tried to head straight back home, right? About how long might pearl fishing take to get enough to be "good enough"? Tomn fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Oct 16, 2013 |
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Oct 16, 2013 21:09
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4. You did this because... B. What do you mean why? Because I am genuinely worried about my mom, of course! Why else?
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Oct 16, 2013 21:16
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ShotgunWillie posted:4. You did this because...
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Oct 16, 2013 21:20
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Tomn posted:^^^ Dude. Chill out. Tudiya most likely is aware of whether or not we are alive, same as Ishamal. He'll take care of our mother.
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Oct 16, 2013 21:21
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JT Jag posted:C, to be quite honest.
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Oct 16, 2013 21:25
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dyzzy posted:This place seems ideal for experimentation. Huh, drat it, just made me wonder. Is the shore actually the best place to experiment with El-invoking powers? What if it makes Asherah take notice; he didn't react very well the last time El-inspired heroes started loving around on the coast. As for the new vote, eh, hell, I'll vote 4: B. Why not? We may not spend a lot of time around her, but we're not heartless, can't hurt to ask El to send her some comfort.
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Oct 16, 2013 21:25
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1) B - Heading for home doesn't mean the adventure is over. It's not like we're going to immediately be back at the city. There is still a good two weeks of travel that we can find adventure and treasure on the way. We can look for impressive sea-treasures for the 4 days we walk along the beach, even. There's no reason to stay here specifically. We don't NEED the pearls anymore, we don't have to gather riches to sacrifice just to prove our piety. 2) J,Ma,Mb - We are proving ourself personally, not for the respect of anyone specifically, not even Tudiya. 4) A - I'll pray for my mother, that she remains safe and sound. I'm not going to pray to El to deliver messages to her for me.
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Oct 16, 2013 21:26
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ShotgunWillie posted:Dude. Chill out. Tudiya most likely is aware of whether or not we are alive, same as Ishamal. He'll take care of our mother. If I sound annoyed, it's more because I put a bit of thought writing that up and was kinda annoyed that the last line was missed so badly. Apparently I put less thought in than I'd, well, thought. That said I'm not sure why you'd assume that Tudiya has any idea where we are or how we're doing right now. What's the rationale?
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Oct 16, 2013 21:27
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4. B We didn't even get to say goodbye, but I would assume that she knows Tudiya wouldn't put us out here unless he didn't think we could do this ourselves.
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Oct 16, 2013 21:29
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1. A E 2. F G J Mb 4. L. Prayer posted:I'm not praying to "Cover my bases." El puts me and my mother in a world with real dangers and real consequences. My prayer neither empowers El to do something for my mother, nor does my not-praying disable El from comforting her. My prayer with El is because I love my mother and I love El and I want to pray to El for her comfort because I believe El would want her to have that comfort too. Whatever El wants, I will swallow, but if there be some way Jalitha could receive comfort for my danger, I pray for this.
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Oct 16, 2013 21:32
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4. A
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Oct 16, 2013 21:34
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Tomn posted:That said I'm not sure why you'd assume that Tudiya has any idea where we are or how we're doing right now. What's the rationale? Tudiya may or may not know, but Ishamal most certainly does. He disappears from time to time, and later we learned that part of his job description is to retrieve the bodies of adventurers who went out of the city to look for monsters, treasure, fame and glory. I'm almost convinced the guy is periodically dropping in on us from a distance/up close with an invisibility spell cast on himself. In fact, if we stay out here for longer than a month I fully expect him to show up, tell us that our mother is worried, and that we need to get our rear end home.
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Oct 16, 2013 21:36
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I just had a nifty idea. Do some pearl diving, then set the pearls in the eye sockets of the jackal skull. As for the prayer, can I mix B and F? All I'm praying for is that she gets some reassurance that we're fine, that her potential grief is lessened, etc., not a divine messenger service. Still curious about the moon phase.
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Oct 16, 2013 21:39
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1. A But not too long though. If we can fish and hunt well then we can start filling our belly a little better. Should be worth staying a few more days if we can craft a good barb spear. If it doesn't work out that well then we can just start heading back. 2. I Simple. 3. There is no 3 4. B Are people seriously doubting El here? I mean c'mon.
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Oct 16, 2013 21:39
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You have been out about 3 weeks? It might take about another 3 weeks to get home if you go, now. The shortest possible time away from home total at this point would be about 2 months, total, roughly.Tomn posted:^^^ Perhaps one or two extra weeks.
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Oct 16, 2013 21:43
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Vavrek posted:1. A and E, in order of importance.
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Oct 16, 2013 21:46
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Voting to head home doesn't mean the trial is over, people. It just means we don't spend an extra two weeks here diving for pearls to toss on the altar when we get back. We start heading back now, and there's still 3 weeks to do stuff before we get to Zepath. This is like a halfway point.
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Oct 16, 2013 21:49
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Diogines posted:You have been out about 3 weeks? It might take about another 3 weeks to get home if you go, now. The shortest possible time away from home total at this point would be about 2 months, total, roughly. Jalitha isn't going to kill herself when we're our just a bit too long, perhaps a month too long at most. And Ishamal/Tudiya both likely have the ability to tell if we are safe or not. If we stayed out here for like a year? Yeah, that'd be different, but a month, or less?
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Oct 16, 2013 21:49
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4)A This is starting to veer dangerously into "I'm going to pray to El for a pony!" territory. El is not our personal messenger service, he's a divine being. He's got better things to do than to send a divine paper airplane that hits Jalitha in the back of the head one day and reads "HE'S FINE - EL PS: SEND SEAWEED CAKES". We're starting to vote to pray to El on pretty much everything now and it's really getting old - on one hand we've all been big on being a tough manly man and doing the "hardcore" version of this coming of age test without cheating or help, and then we're praying to El to make sure our sandals stay attached to our feet. It's ridiculous. Also, if this does work, I get the feeling it will work in large part because of our badass jackal sacrifice and El repaying the favor in that way - let's save bothering El for, oh I don't know, an actual life or death situation instead of sending a letter to mom because we were kind of neglectful as a teenager. EDIT: Oh also if we actually end our test early so we can literally run home to mommy, I kind of think the kids are all gonna laugh at us. Task Manager fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Oct 16, 2013 |
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Oct 16, 2013 21:55
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4. A Not doing this because there is nothing to suggest it would work and we should just go home already. Pearls are a vain offering. They only have monetary value to the common man. They are easy to get--we could collect them as a child--so this offering will hardly please El. It may or may not impress Tudiya. The fact that we will return after surviving for 2 months in the wilderness will impress everybody. There is nothing to gain by staying out here to dive for pearls. We don't need money and we can't own property. We still have over 2 weeks of travel and survival ahead of us if we leave now. Deadly Ham Sandwich fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Oct 16, 2013 |
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Oct 16, 2013 22:00
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How big are those barbs dio?
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Oct 16, 2013 22:04
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Nettle Soup posted:1: A and E, a nominal F? - Let's stay here a bit, see how it goes. Practice the fire, fish for pearls, survive. I agree with this, except that I'd like to spend our mornings walking towards the river. If we run into something interesting, great. If not, we'll reach the river a little less fatigued. We could always camp there if we decide we still need pearls.
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Oct 16, 2013 22:04
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Zybourne Clock posted:Tudiya may or may not know, but Ishamal most certainly does. He disappears from time to time, and later we learned that part of his job description is to retrieve the bodies of adventurers who went out of the city to look for monsters, treasure, fame and glory. You don't think that's a bit of a stretch? Maybe the way he tracks down dead adventurers is just, y'know, tracking them and following their trail. Why assume that he's got magical locating powers, and why assume that those powers work while we're alive if he brings back adventurers AFTER they croaked, not before? Why indeed are we assuming he's busy following us around instead of doing all the other things he does? For that matter, why assume he's got magical teleporting powers that allow him to jump around from the city to where we are without having to go through the whole month's worth of travel? This bit's not a rhetorical question, incidentally, but where was it stated that Ishmael's job was to find dead adventurers? There's a lot of Diog to dig through. Seriously, though, why is anyone assuming that Tudiya of all people is keeping tabs on us? He's literally putting us through the hard wringer of the trial and condemning the fact that people put their kids through the easy version. Why would he be watching over us when he's specifically against people looking out over their kids while the trial is on? And why is anyone assuming Ishmael is in favor of doing the same? Task Manager posted:EDIT: Oh also if we actually end our test early so we can literally run home to mommy, I kind of think the kids are all gonna laugh at us. Running home to mommy to keep her from worrying after killing a monster barehanded and surviving for TWO plus months after reaching the ocean (which for most people is literally "HERE BE DRAGONS") in wilderness few have ever been through with nothing but a dog when most people are kept company by their relatives for shorter amounts of time and well-supplied with food. And keep in mind that we won't be early - we'd be late. I really doubt that kids laughing at us is anything we need to worry about. And that's leaving aside the fact that anyone laughing at us would have to KNOW about the manhood trial, which means they aren't kids anymore and know drat well what we went through and that it almost certainly beat the hell out of whatever crappy-rear end camping trip they had.
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Oct 16, 2013 22:04
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I'm Voting 1-B, but if we do end up staying here we should definitely do E. Have food and water handy and stay well off the beach when we try, but we need to see if we can 'Vayahi Or' again.
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Oct 16, 2013 22:05
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Mum will be fine, she survived all those years in a cannibal village watching her son get raised to be a demon priest, so a month or 2 of waiting is small stuff, she'll just have the hotline to El going 24/7. And if anyone asks, she'll say that he's going to provide, just like he did before, so it'll be fine. 1 - Travel south, pearl diving along the way, until we either have enough or find something else. Seek stuff out, instead of sitting in a camp for a week or so and having stuff seek us out. Asherahs getting roused anyway, cause the full moon is holy ritual time for him, so lets not stay in one place for an extended period just yet 2 - JM 4 - A, remember when everyone was yammering on about El on the coast last time?, yea Asherahs probably got his ear tuned in to that name now, as best he can- especially if we've just been using his ocean without giving him what he usually expects. alpaca diseases fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Oct 16, 2013 |
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Oct 16, 2013 22:07
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I have to ask, what is the justification for staying longer to dive for pearls? If we need a sacrifice, the monster corpse seemed to please El more than any sacrifice we have ever seen. Its skull is a great sacrifice. If you want to be super serious, sacrifice Snarls.
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Oct 16, 2013 22:09
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Deadly Ham Sandwich posted:I have to ask, what is the justification for staying longer to dive for pearls? Because pearls are what we came for, everything else? That was just part of getting the pearls, the hardship from all of that is part of getting the real sacrifice.
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Oct 16, 2013 22:11
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Woo there's some maternal guilt up in this thread. Truly we are proto-Judea at heart. 1. A We've sacrificed far too much to leave without even trying to find an offering. That being said, don't dilly dally about things. Take the time we need to find some pearls or corals, get some good meals under our belt, and feel like we're in good shape to return. But no more. We don't want to tempt fishy fate. 2. F, K, L We're not impressed by any definition of manhood that involves dumping a teenager and his pet in the wilderness with no training. This sadistic trial does not define us. However, we still see Tudiya as enough of a father figure that we wish to impress him, even if we are increasingly pissy that he never had us taught wilderness skills before this. (Tudiya is so getting the cold shoulder when we get back. We're taking Danal camping every weekend before his trial too.) We also desire money for our future. Being able to buy our freedom and support Jalitha would both be pretty great. How nice would it be to get enough pearls that she could retire and never see Keza again? FWIW, I did not choose G because we've already apparently made El very proud with our offering; so from here on out the rest is basically for us/others. 4. A If anyone is a woman of faith, it's Jalitha. She has faith in El and faith in us. We can (and should) pray to El to bless her for taking care of us and helping prepare us for this trial, but I doubt she needs a divine telegram to reassure her we're alive when she has such stalwart beliefs. Her faith is strong enough to hold her a few months. That being said, we should still pay a pearl or prize to the first merchant/traveller we meet on the river to take a message to her that we're OK. FoxTerrier fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Oct 16, 2013 |
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Oct 16, 2013 22:11
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Tomn posted:...And keep in mind that we won't be early - we'd be late. Good points. I probably should have said "end our test earlier than I would personally like to so we can run home to mommy", as to any person in the city with a pair of eyes, us coming back after two months would be anything but early. I still don't think we should rush back because we feel bad about Jalitha. This is going to be our only manhood test - I just don't want to end it sooner than needed when we can make it up to Jalitha in person when we return with a boatload of pearls and become the talk of the town. Deadly Ham Sandwich posted:I have to ask, what is the justification for staying longer to dive for pearls? Why not bring back a monster corpse and pearls? We're not struggling too badly right now, we actually made it to the coast, have a good water supply, can hopefully fish to eat - let's do what we set out to go to the coast to do in the first place, maybe we find something cool under the water, and then head home two months and two weeks after we started our test a bit later than anticipated. Task Manager fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Oct 16, 2013 |
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Oct 16, 2013 22:13
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Neraren posted:Voting to head home doesn't mean the trial is over, people. It just means we don't spend an extra two weeks here diving for pearls to toss on the altar when we get back. We start heading back now, and there's still 3 weeks to do stuff before we get to Zepath. This is like a halfway point. Dude, the whole reason our trial is going to be two months instead of one is because we decided to hike all the way to ocean. We could have just stayed next to the obelisk, but no, we hiked another two weeks out of our way to get pearls. We are getting the damned pearls.
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Oct 16, 2013 22:15
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Angela Christine posted:Dude, the whole reason our trial is going to be two months instead of one is because we decided to hike all the way to ocean. We could have just stayed next to the obelisk, but no, we hiked another two weeks out of our way to get pearls. We are getting the damned pearls. drat, this is aaaalmost making me change my vote.
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Oct 16, 2013 22:20
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 12:54 |
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L because we know Jalitha is praying for us. This would be self evident and a natural thing to do. Edit: a potential added benefits of surviving a successful pearl venture is the ability to buy Jalitha's freedom. Sogol fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Oct 16, 2013 |
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Oct 16, 2013 22:21
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