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Dueling Fates · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
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  Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are
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  Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. War requires sacrifice. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: lives are lost, but war takes its toll on everyone,
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  Speaker 1: from the soldier's mother waiting for that fateful knock at
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  Speaker 1: her door to the unemployed workers in the recession that follows.
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  Speaker 1: That even forces people to adapt. Spies assume new identities
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  Speaker 1: so they can infiltrate enemy lines, while taxi cabs and
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  Speaker 1: libraries turn into ambulances and infirmaries when the real things
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  Speaker 1: are in short supply. That's what happened with two ships
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  Speaker 1: during a maritime battle at the start of World War One.
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  Speaker 1: In September of nineteen fourteen, two ships, the British h
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  Speaker 1: M S Carmenia and the German Captrefalgar, engaged in a
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  Speaker 1: contentious duel in the South Atlantic. Dozens died, and by
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  Speaker 1: the end it was Britain's pride and joy the Carmenia
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  Speaker 1: that had defeated the German Captre Falgar and sent it
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  Speaker 1: to the bottom of the ocean. I know I'm kind
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  Speaker 1: of giving away the ending right up front, but bear
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  Speaker 1: with me. All will become clear in a moment, I
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  Speaker 1: promise you. See. Both vessels had begun life as passenger ships,
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  Speaker 1: carrying folks to various ports all over the world. Brazil, Argentina,
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  Speaker 1: and Uruguay had all been intended destinations. But in August
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  Speaker 1: of nineteen fourteen, the Captre Falgar was commandeered by the
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  Speaker 1: German Imperial Navy and turned into a warship. A naval
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  Speaker 1: crew outfitted her with guns and other artillery, while the
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  Speaker 1: Carmenia underwent similar treatment by the British, including having its
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  Speaker 1: red and white funnels painted gray to match the st
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  Speaker 1: of the hull. Not only did their respective militaries decked
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  Speaker 1: them out with all the latest weapons, but they had
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  Speaker 1: also made their ships as stealthy as possible, allowing them
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  Speaker 1: to sneak by the enemy undetected. Once complete, both vessels
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  Speaker 1: were released back into the ocean to perform their new
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  Speaker 1: jobs hunt down and sink the enemy. The Carmenia's crew
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  Speaker 1: had gotten word of the Capture Falgar's position off the
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  Speaker 1: coast of Trinidad in South America. They were closing in,
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  Speaker 1: but the area was swimming with German ships. It was
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  Speaker 1: time for their Commania's crew to put their stealthy efforts
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  Speaker 1: to the test. They spotted the Capture Falgar in the
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  Speaker 1: exact spot that they'd been told. At least they thought
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  Speaker 1: it was the Capture Falgar. It fit the description and
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  Speaker 1: had just left a German supply base with a fresh
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  Speaker 1: belly full of coal. But something felt off. That ship
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  Speaker 1: looked awfully familiar, like the Carmenia crew had seen it
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  Speaker 1: before somewhere else. The Capture Falgar tried to get away,
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  Speaker 1: but the British were right behind them. The Carmania fired
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  Speaker 1: first straight across the bow of the enemy ship, and
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  Speaker 1: the Captre Falgar stopped running. It returned fire with its
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  Speaker 1: main gun, firing out fifty six pound shells at half
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  Speaker 1: a mile per second. That was it. The battle had begun.
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  Speaker 1: They fought for over two hours, firing bullets into each
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  Speaker 1: other's hulls. Would splintered off and fell into the water
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  Speaker 1: as metal exploded inward, leaving gashes in the sides of
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  Speaker 1: each ship. The Capture Falgar's machine guns turned the Carmania
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  Speaker 1: into Swiss cheese, but the Carmania managed to hit the
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  Speaker 1: other ship's bow and start a fire. Both vessels did
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  Speaker 1: their best to take out each other's guns and water lines,
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  Speaker 1: but it was the Carmania that proved victorious. The Captre
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  Speaker 1: Falgar started taking on too much water and the crew
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  Speaker 1: was forced either flee in lifeboats or jump into the
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  Speaker 1: waves below to escape the sinking ship. All told, about
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  Speaker 1: sixty sailors died that day between the two ships, and
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  Speaker 1: another were wounded. Those who managed to escape the Capture
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  Speaker 1: falgar sinking were rescued by another German ship and taken
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  Speaker 1: to Buenos Aires for safety. Though to those who witnessed
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  Speaker 1: the sinking, it might have looked a little different. It
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  Speaker 1: might have looked as though the Carmania had been sunk
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  Speaker 1: in battle instead. As it turned out, the crew of
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  Speaker 1: the Capture Falgar had intended to entrap British merchant ships
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  Speaker 1: off the Trinidadian coast. To do so, it had to
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  Speaker 1: look friendly like one of British's own ships, So the
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  Speaker 1: crew took down her forward funnel and painted the remaining
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  Speaker 1: two funnels with red and black tops. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: they had disguised the Capture Falgar to look just like
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  Speaker 1: the Carmania and the Carmania. Well it must have been
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  Speaker 1: like looking in a mirror, or maybe like seeing a ghost.
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  Speaker 1: We weren't always such a litigious society. Ever since the
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  Speaker 1: Middle Ages, people in need of mediation didn't turn to
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  Speaker 1: lawyers or conference rooms to settle their disputes. Honor would
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  Speaker 1: not be one at an hourly rate. Now. Instead, they
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  Speaker 1: handle things personally, some might say dramatically. Before the late
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  Speaker 1: eighteenth century, they let their swords do the talking. As
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  Speaker 1: technology progressed and firearms became the norm, it was pistols
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  Speaker 1: at dawn. Yes, I'm talking about dueling. If someone besmirched
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  Speaker 1: to the honor of you or someone you loved, you
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  Speaker 1: were expected to defend that honor by any means necessary,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes to the death. Alexander Hamilton's famously died after being
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  Speaker 1: shot in the stomach by Aaron Burr, who had challenged
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  Speaker 1: the former Treasury secretary to a duel to restore his
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  Speaker 1: reputation following a vicious smear campaign. Painter Edouard Manet was
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  Speaker 1: forced to defend his art after his friend, a critic,
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  Speaker 1: disparaged it in a review. One sentence was all that
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  Speaker 1: friend had written, but it had been enough to put
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  Speaker 1: two men on opposite sides. They drew their swords and
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  Speaker 1: After the critics sustained a minor wound, man A considered
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  Speaker 1: his honor restored. The two men patched things up and
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  Speaker 1: resumed their friendship as though nothing had ever happened. Andrew
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  Speaker 1: Jackson killed several men defending his wife's honor, long before
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  Speaker 1: he became President of the United States. It was how
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  Speaker 1: certain matters were settled. In most cases, one dueler had
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  Speaker 1: to be faster than the other, quicker on the draw,
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  Speaker 1: and a steady shot, with nerves high and the stakes
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  Speaker 1: even higher. One slip up and that would be it
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  Speaker 1: lights out. It was not something one did lightly unless
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  Speaker 1: you were Nri Trona. Henri lived in France during what
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  Speaker 1: was known as the Beautiful Era, a period of peace
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  Speaker 1: and prosperity. It was a time of dance, art and literature,
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  Speaker 1: a modern renaissance of sorts, and the people were happy,
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  Speaker 1: well most of them, not Unri. He had a bit
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  Speaker 1: of a reputation for his bad temper, which got him
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  Speaker 1: in trouble with certain folks. Five folks to be exact,
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  Speaker 1: five men, all of whom he challenged to duels to
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  Speaker 1: defend his honor or, the honor of a loved one.
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  Speaker 1: And it all started in eighteen sixty one, when Henri
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  Speaker 1: fought his first duel. Actually fought is a bit of
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  Speaker 1: a loose term here. He didn't really fight the other man.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't get off a single shot, and yet Unri
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  Speaker 1: emerged victorious. Nonetheless, as it turned out, his opponent dropped
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  Speaker 1: dead before the duel had even begun. From eighteen sixty
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  Speaker 1: one to eighteen seventy eight, unredueled men who had wronged
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  Speaker 1: him in some way, and as you can tell by
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  Speaker 1: those dates, he came out on the other side. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: The funny enough, Henri's talents for dueling never got a
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  Speaker 1: chance to shine. See that first opponent who dropped dead
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  Speaker 1: before the duel. He wasn't the only one. The next
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  Speaker 1: person he challenged also before either man could fire their pistol,
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  Speaker 1: and the man after that, and the man after that,
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  Speaker 1: four men, all of whom died mysteriously just before they
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  Speaker 1: were to draw pistols against Henri Trona. It's certainly possible
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  Speaker 1: that Henry might have continued dueling after eighteen seventy eight.
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  Speaker 1: He clearly had luck on his side when he faced
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  Speaker 1: off against the four men who died of very natural
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  Speaker 1: causes heart attacks, most likely brought on by the fear
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  Speaker 1: of losing against such a formidable opponent, but we'll never
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  Speaker 1: know what Henri would have gone on to do. Like
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  Speaker 1: I said, he'd faced off against five men over the years,
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  Speaker 1: but I've only mentioned four of them so far, and
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  Speaker 1: it was the fifth who proved to be his greatest challenge.
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  Speaker 1: Henri and the other man stood with their backs to
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  Speaker 1: one another, guns at their sides. They marched in opposite
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  Speaker 1: directions one step, two, step three, step four. Then when
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  Speaker 1: they'd gone far enough, both men turned and one of
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  Speaker 1: them dropped dead, just like before, though neither man had
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  Speaker 1: fired a single shot. This time it was Unri who lost.
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  Speaker 1: You can't win them all, I suppose, but we can
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  Speaker 1: die trying. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of
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  Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
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  Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
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  Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky
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  Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
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  Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
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  Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it
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  Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until
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  Speaker 1: next time, stay curious,