Last Horizon: Beta

by Daniel Schinhofen

  She shouted this to the group, not realizing that Petunia was charging at her until it hit her and launched her though the air taking off 45% of her health bar.

  Terets, Emelia and Dumadin had to change directions to try and attack the mount as it charged at Amythyst. As soon as it hit her it wheeled again and charged at Kittish, who had rushed to Felton to heal him. Dumadin's Anger howl did nothing as it charged by him, knocking him, Terets, and Emelia flat as it rushed by.

  “It doesn't have an aggro list,” Dumadin shouted as he got back up. “Amythyst, come back to the middle quick.” Dumadin dropped his shield and reached into his bag pulling out the Shield of the Righteous and strapping it on. He triggered the ability just as the boar reached Kittish, teleporting him there and stopping the blow.

  “Hurry up and run back to the others, I can only do this a few times.” Dumadin said, pulling Felton to his feet as the boar wheeled and rushed back at Emelia who was standing behind the other two.

  Dumadin triggered the shield again and waited as Felton and Kittish ran behind the boar. Petunia got to Emelia only to be stopped cold again by the shield and began to turn again. It found itself surrounded by the group and started to gore them.

  Kittish began to cast Healing Light and stepped back a half pace to make sure she was clear of its head. Terets, Emelia, Felton and Dumadin tried to cut at Gormek, but to no avail. Amythyst cast Icebolt at Petunia from point blank range and watched the spell affect it.

  “He's immune until the pig dies,” Amythyst shouted again to the others.

  The group, hearing this attacked the pig as it kept trying to gouge them with its tusks. As it was doing this Gormek swung his two handed axe down at the group hacking into Terets, who stumbled back with 25% of his life gone.

  “What the fuck, he hits like a tank.” Terets cursed as he saw the pig wheel towards him and he quickly closed the distance again. Kittish kept casting Healing Light as the group attacked Petunia. A lucky Block and Parry helped her keep up with the damage. A minute later Petunia squealed and collapsed, causing Gormek to leap from her back.

  “She was my favorite,” howled Gormek as his eyes turned red and he started frothing at the mouth.

  “Berserk,” Dumadin yelled using Anger Howl and Iron Blood. Gormek turned to him and attacked with wild swings of the two handed axe.

  Terets and Emelia both tried Dirty Tricks, saddened that the debuff didn't stack. Felton used his Crippling Shout, grinning as the chieftain got another debuff to his accuracy. They group then attacked Gormek with ferocity. They soon realized that Gormek was only slowly being hurt by their attacks.

  Dumadin did his best to keep the shield between him and the axe. Luckily for him it missed about half of the time and he got a Block now and again. Kittish was working to keep his health up as every time the axe hit him his health bar dropped by 20%. The healing was an issue as a bleed debuff stacked on Dumadin every time Gormek connected with his axe. The fight dragged on for two minutes with the bleed debuff stacking up and eating away at his health.

  The bleed kept ticking on Dumadin even after Gormek died. A minute later the bleed fell off, taking the group out of combat. Dumadin sat with a fraction of his life bar still there and chuckled.

  “Not a hard fight once you know the pig charges at the furthest person. That bleed really fucking sucked though,” Dumadin groaned.

  Kittish agreed with him, “That bleed was getting to be an issue, if not for the two debuffs causing him to miss more often we wouldn't have won.”

  The group reformed and made sure everyone was good then looked into the central hut. There was no sign of the old shaman, but there was an iron bound chest near an impromptu throne. The group took a moment to loot the chieftain and skin and take the meat from the boar before going inside the hut. The chieftain had an Excellent Steel Axe, along with Fine Steel armor, and a necklace. The necklace turned out to be Light Weight Weapon Necklace, allows the wearer with a two handed weapon to attack faster. The group gave the necklace to Emelia, who also picked up the axe as she had been using a two handed sword before. After Felton donned the Fine Steel Armor the chieftain dropped they went into the hut.

  As the group entered, Dumadin noticed the journal under a leg of the makeshift throne and retrieved it before motioning Terets to the chest. Terets checked the chest and found it unlocked, shrugging he opened it up for them all to see. There was over one hundred gold inside along with silver and copper coins. Atop it all was a necklace. The necklace when appraised with the UI informed them it was Crafters Exquisite Necklace. Any crafter wearing the necklace would have an improved chance of making Fine quality or better items.

  Laughing at the lucky loot they gave the necklace to Felton, whose eyes had lit up on seeing it. “Wow, thanks guys. This necklace is amazing, going to suck losing it when the game goes live but until then I'll be the crafter to rule them all.” Felton cackled, causing the group to laugh.

  “Let's step out and kill the next group outside. Once we finish them we can step a bit further away and take a break for a bit.” Dumadin suggested and was met with unanimous approval from the others.

  TUSKS AND TRAVEL

  Logging back in, the group went on an orc cleansing rampage around the palisade. They kept at it for six hours before finally taking a break for the night, agreeing to meet back up the next day. The next day they met back up for two six hour sessions of orc slaughtering. By the time they were done Felton and Emelia were level fourteen and the other four were level thirteen.

  “Time for a break again. The orcs are really getting easy now,” Dumadin chuckled and continued, “if we take an eight hour break we can come back for a few more hours of orc bashing. Then we can fast travel for you guys to turn them in with a bit to spare.”

  “Works for us,” Emelia agreed, “hopefully we have enough. No idea as we haven't seen any others out this far.”

  “True, well let's take that break and then grab a few more and hope,” Dumadin finished.

  The group reformed eight hours later for a final round of orc slaughtering. With thirty minutes to spare on the quest timer the group fast traveled to Evergreen Hills after splitting the tusks between Emilia and Felton.

  They popped into the square, which was loaded with adventurers. Many of the adventurers were under level ten.

  “Hm, makes me think maybe we are playing too much?” Dumadin said, looking at the other people nearby.

  “Well, we are retired and they might still be working,” Kittish reminded him.

  “True enough. Oh look, there's the town speaker.” Dumadin started towards the speaker only to find the crowd didn't want to move. “Okay, then. Time for impolite.” He pulled his shield out and started to forcibly push through the crowd with his friends close behind him.

  “Excuse us,” Kittish muttered to people when they finally got the idea and moved aside.

  Ten minutes of pushing through the crowd finally got them to the town speaker. It became obvious that some people were trying to stop others from turning tusks in.

  “Speaker,” Dumadin yelled, “we have the tusks from an orc village and wish to turn them in.”

  The speaker turned to face them and nodded. Two guards appeared and cleared a space around the town speaker. Dumadin quickly motioned Em and Felton into the gap.

  “Our thanks, speaker,” Felton said with a bow. “Here are the tusks from me and an equal amount from my wife,” Felton laid his on the table in front of the speaker as Em did the same.

  The speaker blinked and looked stunned, “This is indeed a mighty feat you have accomplished. It looks almost as if you slew the entire village of the Skullcrushers.” The speaker then chuckled as if at an absurd thought.

  Em smirked and placed the new axe on the table, “Yeah, we did. Also killed the chieftain and his mount Petunia and all of his champions. An old orc shaman got away though.”

  The speaker's eyes grew round as he listened to the tale and noted the armor Felton was wearing. “That is a
stounding. They have been the principle thorn in the side of Evergreen Hills for years. The last time that village was cleaned out was by a small group of friends from the west. Two elves and one dwarf. I can't remember their names at the moment though.”

  Kittish giggled, “Thallien, Bjorn, and Bettie. I think those are the names you are looking for, sir. We had to retrieve a book for Thallien from there.”

  “Oh goodness, well I doubt anyone will match your mark but we must wait.” the speaker stammered and motioned for them to take a spot behind him. Ten minutes later the quest ended and the speaker stood. “Friends, townsfolk and adventurers we have tallied the tusks brought back to us. I want to say thank you to everyone who tried even if you only brought back one tusk. There is to be a feast at the Rolling Hills Inn shortly. First though, let us cheer the two mightiest adventurers who brought back the greatest number of tusks. Emelia and Felton please step forward.”

  Emelia and Felton took a few steps forward and faced the crowd, to the cheers of many and a few boos and hisses.

  “These two brave adventurers came back with well over two hundred tusks each easily passing their closest competitors.” The crowd muttered at this news, “For their dedication to helping the town we are awarding them each a mount from the Evergreen Stables.” With that said he handed each of them a scroll that stated such. “For the people who placed third and fourth, we will be awarding you each one item of your choosing from any store in town besides the stables. Choose wisely.” He then handed those two players scrolls stating what they had gotten. “Now let us go to the Inn and celebrate this fine day as the Skullcrusher clan has been decimated by brave adventurers.”

  The crowd turned and made their way to the Inn as the group stayed where they were.

  “Grats to you two,” Terets smiled. “Go pick out your steeds. We'll give the loot the once over and get it separated into shares while you do.”

  Felton chuckled, “If it was any other rogue, Terets, I would have a few choice words about that idea. Since it's you though, sounds good to me. Be back shortly.” Felton and Em walked towards the stables.

  About an hour later the group met back up with Em and Felton, who were now mounted on two beautiful horses, one a dark black the other a pure white.

  “They're called Night and Day,” Em giggled from the back of the white horse. “Day here is a fine stud. While Night over there is a fine mare.”

  Felton smiled, dismounted and dismissed his steed. A moment later Emelia did the same.

  “They were beautiful steeds,” Amythyst said smiling at her new friends.

  “We got it all sorted out,” Dumadin interjected, “once we can get to an anvil I can break these weapons and armor down and then give you the metal, Felton. Until then they're taking up almost all of my crafting bag. The coins worked out to fifty gold each along with a few hundred silver and copper. I set aside twenty gold so you two can afford the portal from Dalton to Veno. This way you can come with us to turn this second journal in. Also in Veno is a leather shop where we have a 50% discount for a one time purchase. We wanted to wait until you were with us to go and do that so you can get in on the action.”

  “Wow, that's a nice chunk indeed,” Felton whistled. “This was excellent for profit, and fun too. It's horrible that in two more months it will all go away when the game goes live.”

  Dumadin nodded, “Yeah, it will kind of suck but thems the breaks. Anyway, if you guys are good to go then let's head out.”

  The group was in agreement and the four fast traveled to Veno while Felton and Emelia fast traveled to Dalton. About half an hour later Felton and Em appeared just outside the gates of Veno where the other four were waiting.

  “Oh good, you made it,” Kittish greeted them and gave them a hug. “Follow us, we really want to show you this leather shop.”

  The group wandered through the main intersection so Felton and Emelia could get the city unlocked on their map. Then they made their way to Silken Leathers and entered the shop. Franklin Awlfist glanced up and welcomed them to his shop, and introduced himself and his shop to the two new adventurers.

  “It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Awlfist. Our friends have been speaking praises of your shop and we just had to come by.” Emelia smiled as she finished her greeting.

  “That is well and good indeed.” Turning to the original group Franklin asked, “Are you ready to make some purchases?”

  “We will indeed be buying some of your fine products dear sir, give us just a moment to select what we want.” Kittish replied with a small curtsy to the dwarf.

  Nodding, Franklin retreated behind his counter to wait for the group to bring the items up. The group milled around, checking various items and talking among themselves as they did.

  “It looks like we can afford either a set of these wonderful leathers or we can each get a fifty slot backpack. Which is a tough choice normally, but I think we can tough it out with armor for the next two months. However, having that much carry space would be great considering how close we have come multiple times to running out due to the weapons and armor we pick up.” Dumadin informed his friends of his thoughts.

  “Yeah, but you haven't had a set of these gloves on which are so nice,” Amythyst replied. “I do agree though that more carry space to make sure we get all the loot is a big thing.”

  “Get the bags for the next two months. It will be interesting to see just how often we need the room and if during live it will be worth the investment.” Felton placed his opinion before the group.

  After a little more debate they agreed to get the bags, which cost them fifty gold each and left them substantially lighter in the pocket for the moment. Leaving the shop, the group headed to the bank as Felton wanted to make sure they really were connected and pull out his mats.

  “Should we toss the ten gold needed at bank access?” Dumadin asked his friends as they walked through Veno.

  “It wouldn't hurt, but I don't know if we really need to right now,” Kittish replied. “I mean, it would get rid of all the extra copper and silver we're carrying. I'm so glad they don't make us take that into account when traveling.”

  “Yeah, having close to two thousand silver and three thousand copper is a bit of a pain,” Terets added. “Let's do it and convert the rest of the coin to gold. Then we can just leave the excess in the bank since you can use your bank coin at any vendor without carrying it. This way we won't drop as much if we get ganked.”

  Seeing the logic there, the group each set up an account and converted their coins into gold which they left at the bank. A few minutes later they were leaving the bank with no extra coin but happy in the knowledge that at least what they did have was safe.

  “We need to travel to Thallien's to return the journal and collect our reward,” Dumadin said as they left the city. “We've been on for over five hours now though, so let’s take a break here and meet back up in say, two hours and make the first leg of the trip.”

  RETURNING THE SECOND JOURNAL

  The group reformed two hours later and mounted up for the ride to Thallien's cave. They rode in peace chatting about things coming up in RL soon.

  “I have to go back for my test results in ten days,” Dumadin remarked. “Hopefully they finally have what's wrong nailed down with me and we can start on fixing it.”

  “They still trying to find out?” Felton inquired. “They've been looking for how long now?”

  “Close on to two years now. With the range of things I've had wrong they keep checking for different things.” Dumadin shrugged, “Doc was sure he could tell me after this last test. Hopefully he's right and we can move forward.”

  “Reminds me of Em's issues from nearly twenty years ago. They kept trying all kinds of different things with her. Finally they pinned it down and got her onto the right treatment. Took them over five years to get it right.” Felton grumped, thinking back then shaking his head and smiling at his amazing wife.

  “Yes dear, and now you have your own iss
ues. Thankfully we have those being taken care of with the right medications.” Emelia smiled at her husband and rode close enough to lean over for a kiss.

  “Kittish has had a few scares with her heart over the last few years, and I've had spine issues and the crippling arthritis.” Terets added and shook his head, “I believe they call them your golden years because it takes all the gold you've amassed to live them.”

  The group laughed long and hard at this old saying, while Amythyst rode along behind them with her head down, not adding in. Her mind flashed back to the accident that cost her so much and left her body in its current condition.

  About an hour into their ride Kittish suddenly dismounted and put her figurine away after dismissing her mount. The group paused and looked at her as she struck a dramatic pose for them and then pointed at an oak tree.