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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 6351872" data-attributes="member: 6692807"><p>So, with the aid of my spell, I was able to teleport everyone next to the walls of Gabal’s Tower; Drudge flew up to the top of this wall cautiously and then returned quickly:</p><p> </p><p>“I couldn’t see anyone in the outside grounds; if there is anyone there, they’re very well hidden and there will be very few of them. Oh, there’s also a battle going on outside the city; I think it’s our lot versus the Ragesians.”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim nodded:</p><p> </p><p>“Right! That’s all we need to hear; just as long as there isn’t half a regiment in there we go quickly and quietly. Faden, please describe the Tower quickly!”</p><p> </p><p>I spoke quietly:</p><p> </p><p>“On the lower floor, there is a large central hall which is circular; on the interior wall, there are a series of doors which lead into student dormitories which surround this hall; about a dozen of them; if we go in from the outside, we’ll burrow into one of these. Also along the central wall, there is a set of stairs which goes up into the dueling arena; that’s one of Gabal’s greatest accomplishments. Although it smarts, any harm committed inside it is not permanent; the arena also has a sand mosaic which is supposed to represent the four elements; standing on each patch conveys certain powers and spells. Duelists were able to use these without expending any of their own magic. I wasn’t powerful enough to build up any expertise in using this arena but I did see some very complicated magic being tossed around like….well, very easily.</p><p> </p><p>Oh, all of these things only work on the dueling floor.</p><p> </p><p>There is another set of stairs along the wall leading up to the upper floor which were Gabal’s personal quarters, laboratory and workshop. I was never allowed up there; only his best students were invited.</p><p> </p><p>Finally, please remember what I said: all the doors will be magically locked; and all the corridors and open spaces will be filled with mist so don’t stray from each other or there is a very good chance you will get lost, even in such a tight space.”</p><p> </p><p>Everyone had been paying rapt attention and then Longhelim said:</p><p> </p><p>“Good description; right, everyone ready?”</p><p> </p><p>We nodded, all grasped each other and another transport spell was cast to take us next to the Tower; there, Felix then cast his powerful spell which created a tunnel into the astral plane and which then came down into the interior of the Tower.</p><p> </p><p>The aperture duly appeared, secretly surprising me as I thought that Gabal would have warded against it but for once I was glad that my master seemed to have missed a trick.</p><p> </p><p>At the far end, we could see one of the normal student dormitories that had been converted into a makeshift cell; inside was a single human with a shrouded, spectral figure hovering next to him; it had red pin points where its eyes should have been. We had met them before:</p><p> </p><p>“Wraith!” shouted Felix as he brandished his holy symbol and the creature turned to dust.</p><p> </p><p>The two warriors quickly moved through the tunnel into the room and Longhelim concentrated. A few moments later, the paladin said:</p><p> </p><p>“There are five evil creatures beyond this door.”</p><p> </p><p>Then John stepped forward and took out an odd little device from one of his pouches; it was a chime. He sounded it once and nodded at Victor. The warrior tried the door with a grunt but it was still locked; looking annoyed, John used the chime again and this time the door opened into a misty wall. Victor stepped in but only just, making sure we could still all see him.</p><p> </p><p>Just as he did, a voice could be heard from the mist:</p><p> </p><p>“You dare intrude into my school! Your mission will fail but just in case, come and meet me upstairs!”</p><p> </p><p>The voice was saying exactly what Gabal would say to recalcitrant students so I didn’t really pay any attention to it.</p><p> </p><p>John then took out another little trinket and suddenly we all felt a draught sweeping the mist away from the central part of the hall; it revealed two huge dogs; and when I say huge, I meant the size of draught horses; they were coal black with red, blazing eyes; again, we had met them before:</p><p> </p><p>“Hell hounds! The big ones!” I shouted as soon as I saw them.</p><p> </p><p>Victor strode forward and began to stalk one. They may have been big, ugly and fire breathing but I had just put a defensive spell on Victor which helped him against fire, so I didn’t worry too much about him. Longhelim also moved forward to engage the other, again making sure not to stray into the mist. Although John had blown away a chunk of it, it was still congregating on the edges of the room, hiding the doors.</p><p> </p><p>The two warriors engaged the dogs; I saved my spells as I felt that they were literally no more than guard dogs, left here to delay us more than anything. Then I saw John whispering with Metamorphosis; the trillith nodded and cast a spell on one of the side wall; suddenly it became malleable, like clay and soon, she was molding a hole into it; in the meantime, John had gone to Felix and drawn his attention to what she was doing; as soon as there was a small hole in the wall, we could see another human prisoner with a wraith next to him; Felix again destroyed the undead but I was beginning to see a pattern; the rooms must have been full of prisoners and each had a wraith next to him or her. It was diabolical; the wraiths would turn their hapless victims into undead at the first sign of trouble and command them to attack us, their potential rescuers.</p><p> </p><p>If we had known what was going on, we may have devised another plan but as it was, we had to move as fast as possible now.</p><p> </p><p>Felix shouted:</p><p> </p><p>“Metamorphosis, use your spell to make holes into two cells simultaneously; right in the centre between the doors; all I need is just a small hole and that way I can affect two wraiths with the power of my God!”</p><p> </p><p>The trillith nodded and well all stepped out of our cell except for the two prisoners. They cowered behind us.</p><p> </p><p>As Metamorphosis began to cast her spell on each of the walls, more wraiths began to appear out of the walls; I wasn’t sure if all of them were coming out of the cells or from above or below as they swarmed all around us; Felix of course was brandishing his holy symbol as skillfully as Victor brandished his sword, and everywhere he pointed it, wraiths crumpled into dust.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim swung his axe with its fiery head into the enemy; the Torch completely ignored their translucent nature and the paladin was almost dropping a wraith after each blow; finally, Drudge was also getting into the act, shooting his arrows into them with surprising success, again dropping several of them.</p><p> </p><p>Four or five of the creatures surrounded me and began trying to suck my soul; a couple even succeeded in bypassing my natural defences so I had to try to get to Felix. I knew he had a spell which could help.</p><p> </p><p>The central hall evolved into a swirling melee of wraiths and us; the hell hounds had long been dispatched by this point; another swarm of the foul creatures came out of the ceiling only for at least half to be destroyed spectacularly by Felix; the others converged around Drudge, who dodged while shooting. It was a magnificent display of aggressive acrobatics, with arrows flying out of his bow while doing summersaults, running on vertical walls and back flipping.</p><p> </p><p>Victor was cursing softly as his blade passed through them harmlessly more often than not. The creatures flew furiously but slowly and surely the combination of Felix, Longhelim, Drudge and to a lesser extent, Victor, whittled them down.</p><p> </p><p>Metamorphosis had opened holes into each of the cells now and we had managed to rescue more prisoners. I had a horrible feeling though that those would be all the ones we would be able to get.</p><p> </p><p>Felix was aware of my plight and took out a wand. He tapped me with it but we both knew that it would take a several moments for the magic to work; nervously, we waited for it to take effect and also for the next wave of enemy.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, just before the spell from the wand took effect on me, there were four flashes of flame near the ceiling; these usually characterized the arrival of teleporting beings although we couldn’t actually see anything.</p><p> </p><p>“Something invisible is up there”, I shouted, just as a green beam shot from the ceiling and hit Longhelim, enveloping him in a green aura. I recognized the spell immediately; it prevented magical transport; it didn’t last very long but could be very dangerous under certain circumstances, preventing emergency retreats.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as the ray hit, a creature appeared on the ceiling; it was a bone devil; why they had decided to come in right now and hit us with those spells was a mystery but at least they hadn’t joined in with the wraiths.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim shouted back:</p><p> </p><p>“We’re still a little busy here,” as he dodged several and fought more swirling wraiths.</p><p> </p><p>John ran up to Longhelim and cast a spell, brushing his eyes:</p><p> </p><p>“Now you’ll be able to see them if they go invisible again!”</p><p> </p><p>Felix had finally finished casting his spell on me and I felt my normal vigor return, thank the Gods. Despite the fact that there were far less of them that there had been at the beginning, wraiths were still dangerous undead and they were a major danger to all of us, especially as all they needed to do was touch their victim. I wasn’t very good at dodging.</p><p> </p><p>Finishing the spell also freed Felix and he was able to use the power of Farlanghn in conjunction with Victor and Longhelim. This renewed onslaught of the warriors and the priest finally managed to slay the last of the wraith swarm.</p><p> </p><p>During this time, the bone devils on the ceiling had been shooting their green rays until all of us were glowing green. I still wasn’t sure why they chose to cast this spell at this time but I had a horrible feeling it was part of a specific plan.</p><p> </p><p>Once they were finished with the wraiths, Victor and Longhelim flew up to the ceiling and began to engage with the bone devils but they began to teleport out in flashes of fire. There was one who was caught by Victor and Longhelim and who may have just about been sent back to the hell he came from but it was impossible to tell as he teleported out just as Victor hit him.</p><p> </p><p>So, glowing green, the warriors flew back and everyone was healed. The wraiths had not actually done a great deal of physical damage so it did not take very long. Then we also took stock of the prisoners we rescued and told them to stay together in one of the rooms down here.</p><p> </p><p>Then we readied to move upstairs.</p><p> </p><p>Just as we began ascending, a voice suddenly spoke magically again:</p><p> </p><p>“That’s good! Almost there! I hope you enjoyed the screams! Soon you will hear more!”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim carefully motioned Metamorphosis to make a hole under the stairs which would allow us to emerge through them rather than walking up them, therefore giving our potential enemy time to set up in ambush. Unfortunately, this precaution made little difference; when Victor and Longhelim emerged through the hole into the floor with the dueling arena, there was a great shout of:</p><p> </p><p>“Welcome!”</p><p> </p><p>This shout was magical in nature but I was able to resist the spell. I knew that it was one of the spells that was available in the arena and I had been caught by it in the past; it caused a certain amount of pain by sound and could send you deaf temporarily but that was no great loss to the warriors.</p><p> </p><p>There was more shouting, this time from Victor:</p><p> </p><p>“There’s another wraith up here; it’s casting spells! Powerful ones! It’s also got elementals! They must be summoned; they can’t get near me or Longhelim! He’s concentrating on Longhelim! He’s recognized the Torch!”</p><p> </p><p>We all began to fly up through the aperture and saw that it was as Victor had described. The warrior had moved slightly to make room for the rest of us and we saw that he was surrounded by four elementals, one of each type. I remembered that summoning these was one of the abilities of the dueling arena. Thankfully, the warrior had been warded against summoned beings so they were charging impotently against his insurmountable magical barrier.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as I flew up, I was just in time to see a set of powerful rays of fire target Longhelim; there was also a rolling ball of fire attempting to engulf anyone who was on the stairs; it looked as if the fact that we had come through a hole had obviously spoilt part of the plan; then quick as a flash, the wraith cast another spell. This time a ring of fire appeared surrounding it, like a shield. As soon as it did that, I saw that there was something hauntingly familiar about its casting style; it took me but a few moments to realise it!</p><p> </p><p>“Gabal!” I shouted. “That wraith is Gabal! Bastard Ragesians!”</p><p> </p><p>Then I had to stop as we were all hit with a new powerful, deadly spell; my skin wrinkled, my eyes began bleeding and I felt as if I couldn’t breathe! It felt as if all the water in my body had been sucked out! Moments later, the wraith turned invisible! Oh, he may have been a wraith, but Gabal had not lost any of his skill in the arena; he had conceived it, built it and taught us in it; but none of us students had even come close to besting him. Except that now, instead of a training exercise, it was deadly.</p><p> </p><p>“Longhelim, where is he?” I shouted, remembering that John had cast as spell on the paladin, allowing him to see invisible beings; the paladin pointed at a particular spot.</p><p> </p><p>Using all my paltry skill in spell dueling, I cast my spell and hoped that I would be able to slip it past him. Apparently it worked as a cloud of glittering motes materialized in the spot where Longhelim pointed and within it, they also outlined the wraith.</p><p> </p><p>There was a cackle and an almost mocking inclination of the head of the wraith in my direction which was quickly cut off as a volley of arrows went through its torso. Some of them obviously did nothing but enough did hurt it; this was then followed up by Longhelim; this was a completely different proposition as the wraith suffered badly against the Torch, especially as Longhelim felt that this was serious enough to summon the power of Heironeous to aid him in this combat.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, the wraith was retreating but then he began to cast his spells with all the speed and accuracy of the Gabal of old. Moving back in the arena, a ball of flame engulfed everyone of us and it was one of his special effects which also stripped us of magic; and another set of rays of fire hit Longhelim again, this time toppling the paladin as he was defenceless against fire; thankfully, Felix was next to him and was able to heal him. I managed to get out my wand and point it at the wraith and Victor was next to him although most of his powerful blows did little to the undead because of his translucence.</p><p> </p><p>Everything was in the balance!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cafu, post: 6351872, member: 6692807"] So, with the aid of my spell, I was able to teleport everyone next to the walls of Gabal’s Tower; Drudge flew up to the top of this wall cautiously and then returned quickly: “I couldn’t see anyone in the outside grounds; if there is anyone there, they’re very well hidden and there will be very few of them. Oh, there’s also a battle going on outside the city; I think it’s our lot versus the Ragesians.” Longhelim nodded: “Right! That’s all we need to hear; just as long as there isn’t half a regiment in there we go quickly and quietly. Faden, please describe the Tower quickly!” I spoke quietly: “On the lower floor, there is a large central hall which is circular; on the interior wall, there are a series of doors which lead into student dormitories which surround this hall; about a dozen of them; if we go in from the outside, we’ll burrow into one of these. Also along the central wall, there is a set of stairs which goes up into the dueling arena; that’s one of Gabal’s greatest accomplishments. Although it smarts, any harm committed inside it is not permanent; the arena also has a sand mosaic which is supposed to represent the four elements; standing on each patch conveys certain powers and spells. Duelists were able to use these without expending any of their own magic. I wasn’t powerful enough to build up any expertise in using this arena but I did see some very complicated magic being tossed around like….well, very easily. Oh, all of these things only work on the dueling floor. There is another set of stairs along the wall leading up to the upper floor which were Gabal’s personal quarters, laboratory and workshop. I was never allowed up there; only his best students were invited. Finally, please remember what I said: all the doors will be magically locked; and all the corridors and open spaces will be filled with mist so don’t stray from each other or there is a very good chance you will get lost, even in such a tight space.” Everyone had been paying rapt attention and then Longhelim said: “Good description; right, everyone ready?” We nodded, all grasped each other and another transport spell was cast to take us next to the Tower; there, Felix then cast his powerful spell which created a tunnel into the astral plane and which then came down into the interior of the Tower. The aperture duly appeared, secretly surprising me as I thought that Gabal would have warded against it but for once I was glad that my master seemed to have missed a trick. At the far end, we could see one of the normal student dormitories that had been converted into a makeshift cell; inside was a single human with a shrouded, spectral figure hovering next to him; it had red pin points where its eyes should have been. We had met them before: “Wraith!” shouted Felix as he brandished his holy symbol and the creature turned to dust. The two warriors quickly moved through the tunnel into the room and Longhelim concentrated. A few moments later, the paladin said: “There are five evil creatures beyond this door.” Then John stepped forward and took out an odd little device from one of his pouches; it was a chime. He sounded it once and nodded at Victor. The warrior tried the door with a grunt but it was still locked; looking annoyed, John used the chime again and this time the door opened into a misty wall. Victor stepped in but only just, making sure we could still all see him. Just as he did, a voice could be heard from the mist: “You dare intrude into my school! Your mission will fail but just in case, come and meet me upstairs!” The voice was saying exactly what Gabal would say to recalcitrant students so I didn’t really pay any attention to it. John then took out another little trinket and suddenly we all felt a draught sweeping the mist away from the central part of the hall; it revealed two huge dogs; and when I say huge, I meant the size of draught horses; they were coal black with red, blazing eyes; again, we had met them before: “Hell hounds! The big ones!” I shouted as soon as I saw them. Victor strode forward and began to stalk one. They may have been big, ugly and fire breathing but I had just put a defensive spell on Victor which helped him against fire, so I didn’t worry too much about him. Longhelim also moved forward to engage the other, again making sure not to stray into the mist. Although John had blown away a chunk of it, it was still congregating on the edges of the room, hiding the doors. The two warriors engaged the dogs; I saved my spells as I felt that they were literally no more than guard dogs, left here to delay us more than anything. Then I saw John whispering with Metamorphosis; the trillith nodded and cast a spell on one of the side wall; suddenly it became malleable, like clay and soon, she was molding a hole into it; in the meantime, John had gone to Felix and drawn his attention to what she was doing; as soon as there was a small hole in the wall, we could see another human prisoner with a wraith next to him; Felix again destroyed the undead but I was beginning to see a pattern; the rooms must have been full of prisoners and each had a wraith next to him or her. It was diabolical; the wraiths would turn their hapless victims into undead at the first sign of trouble and command them to attack us, their potential rescuers. If we had known what was going on, we may have devised another plan but as it was, we had to move as fast as possible now. Felix shouted: “Metamorphosis, use your spell to make holes into two cells simultaneously; right in the centre between the doors; all I need is just a small hole and that way I can affect two wraiths with the power of my God!” The trillith nodded and well all stepped out of our cell except for the two prisoners. They cowered behind us. As Metamorphosis began to cast her spell on each of the walls, more wraiths began to appear out of the walls; I wasn’t sure if all of them were coming out of the cells or from above or below as they swarmed all around us; Felix of course was brandishing his holy symbol as skillfully as Victor brandished his sword, and everywhere he pointed it, wraiths crumpled into dust. Longhelim swung his axe with its fiery head into the enemy; the Torch completely ignored their translucent nature and the paladin was almost dropping a wraith after each blow; finally, Drudge was also getting into the act, shooting his arrows into them with surprising success, again dropping several of them. Four or five of the creatures surrounded me and began trying to suck my soul; a couple even succeeded in bypassing my natural defences so I had to try to get to Felix. I knew he had a spell which could help. The central hall evolved into a swirling melee of wraiths and us; the hell hounds had long been dispatched by this point; another swarm of the foul creatures came out of the ceiling only for at least half to be destroyed spectacularly by Felix; the others converged around Drudge, who dodged while shooting. It was a magnificent display of aggressive acrobatics, with arrows flying out of his bow while doing summersaults, running on vertical walls and back flipping. Victor was cursing softly as his blade passed through them harmlessly more often than not. The creatures flew furiously but slowly and surely the combination of Felix, Longhelim, Drudge and to a lesser extent, Victor, whittled them down. Metamorphosis had opened holes into each of the cells now and we had managed to rescue more prisoners. I had a horrible feeling though that those would be all the ones we would be able to get. Felix was aware of my plight and took out a wand. He tapped me with it but we both knew that it would take a several moments for the magic to work; nervously, we waited for it to take effect and also for the next wave of enemy. Suddenly, just before the spell from the wand took effect on me, there were four flashes of flame near the ceiling; these usually characterized the arrival of teleporting beings although we couldn’t actually see anything. “Something invisible is up there”, I shouted, just as a green beam shot from the ceiling and hit Longhelim, enveloping him in a green aura. I recognized the spell immediately; it prevented magical transport; it didn’t last very long but could be very dangerous under certain circumstances, preventing emergency retreats. As soon as the ray hit, a creature appeared on the ceiling; it was a bone devil; why they had decided to come in right now and hit us with those spells was a mystery but at least they hadn’t joined in with the wraiths. Longhelim shouted back: “We’re still a little busy here,” as he dodged several and fought more swirling wraiths. John ran up to Longhelim and cast a spell, brushing his eyes: “Now you’ll be able to see them if they go invisible again!” Felix had finally finished casting his spell on me and I felt my normal vigor return, thank the Gods. Despite the fact that there were far less of them that there had been at the beginning, wraiths were still dangerous undead and they were a major danger to all of us, especially as all they needed to do was touch their victim. I wasn’t very good at dodging. Finishing the spell also freed Felix and he was able to use the power of Farlanghn in conjunction with Victor and Longhelim. This renewed onslaught of the warriors and the priest finally managed to slay the last of the wraith swarm. During this time, the bone devils on the ceiling had been shooting their green rays until all of us were glowing green. I still wasn’t sure why they chose to cast this spell at this time but I had a horrible feeling it was part of a specific plan. Once they were finished with the wraiths, Victor and Longhelim flew up to the ceiling and began to engage with the bone devils but they began to teleport out in flashes of fire. There was one who was caught by Victor and Longhelim and who may have just about been sent back to the hell he came from but it was impossible to tell as he teleported out just as Victor hit him. So, glowing green, the warriors flew back and everyone was healed. The wraiths had not actually done a great deal of physical damage so it did not take very long. Then we also took stock of the prisoners we rescued and told them to stay together in one of the rooms down here. Then we readied to move upstairs. Just as we began ascending, a voice suddenly spoke magically again: “That’s good! Almost there! I hope you enjoyed the screams! Soon you will hear more!” Longhelim carefully motioned Metamorphosis to make a hole under the stairs which would allow us to emerge through them rather than walking up them, therefore giving our potential enemy time to set up in ambush. Unfortunately, this precaution made little difference; when Victor and Longhelim emerged through the hole into the floor with the dueling arena, there was a great shout of: “Welcome!” This shout was magical in nature but I was able to resist the spell. I knew that it was one of the spells that was available in the arena and I had been caught by it in the past; it caused a certain amount of pain by sound and could send you deaf temporarily but that was no great loss to the warriors. There was more shouting, this time from Victor: “There’s another wraith up here; it’s casting spells! Powerful ones! It’s also got elementals! They must be summoned; they can’t get near me or Longhelim! He’s concentrating on Longhelim! He’s recognized the Torch!” We all began to fly up through the aperture and saw that it was as Victor had described. The warrior had moved slightly to make room for the rest of us and we saw that he was surrounded by four elementals, one of each type. I remembered that summoning these was one of the abilities of the dueling arena. Thankfully, the warrior had been warded against summoned beings so they were charging impotently against his insurmountable magical barrier. As soon as I flew up, I was just in time to see a set of powerful rays of fire target Longhelim; there was also a rolling ball of fire attempting to engulf anyone who was on the stairs; it looked as if the fact that we had come through a hole had obviously spoilt part of the plan; then quick as a flash, the wraith cast another spell. This time a ring of fire appeared surrounding it, like a shield. As soon as it did that, I saw that there was something hauntingly familiar about its casting style; it took me but a few moments to realise it! “Gabal!” I shouted. “That wraith is Gabal! Bastard Ragesians!” Then I had to stop as we were all hit with a new powerful, deadly spell; my skin wrinkled, my eyes began bleeding and I felt as if I couldn’t breathe! It felt as if all the water in my body had been sucked out! Moments later, the wraith turned invisible! Oh, he may have been a wraith, but Gabal had not lost any of his skill in the arena; he had conceived it, built it and taught us in it; but none of us students had even come close to besting him. Except that now, instead of a training exercise, it was deadly. “Longhelim, where is he?” I shouted, remembering that John had cast as spell on the paladin, allowing him to see invisible beings; the paladin pointed at a particular spot. Using all my paltry skill in spell dueling, I cast my spell and hoped that I would be able to slip it past him. Apparently it worked as a cloud of glittering motes materialized in the spot where Longhelim pointed and within it, they also outlined the wraith. There was a cackle and an almost mocking inclination of the head of the wraith in my direction which was quickly cut off as a volley of arrows went through its torso. Some of them obviously did nothing but enough did hurt it; this was then followed up by Longhelim; this was a completely different proposition as the wraith suffered badly against the Torch, especially as Longhelim felt that this was serious enough to summon the power of Heironeous to aid him in this combat. Suddenly, the wraith was retreating but then he began to cast his spells with all the speed and accuracy of the Gabal of old. Moving back in the arena, a ball of flame engulfed everyone of us and it was one of his special effects which also stripped us of magic; and another set of rays of fire hit Longhelim again, this time toppling the paladin as he was defenceless against fire; thankfully, Felix was next to him and was able to heal him. I managed to get out my wand and point it at the wraith and Victor was next to him although most of his powerful blows did little to the undead because of his translucence. Everything was in the balance! [/QUOTE]
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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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