Last Horizon: Beta

by Daniel Schinhofen

  The group listened with fascination, gripped by emotion as the dwarf shed tears during his tale. They huddled around him and spoke words of comfort until he was able to bring himself back to the present. “Do not go, heroes. Only death lives in that cave. You will not return from the north if you enter that cave. I doubt even the Messengers themselves could survive the Beast.”

  Dumadin stood and looked at Bjorn, “But we must go Bjorn, it’s Thallien's last wish. I will see this deed done before I pass on. I want him to have his peace. When a loved one is snatched from you it is tough to go on. I lost my first love, and soon my current love will lose me. I will not leave a person to mourn for their loved one without attempting to help them. He’s a friend and as such if I can bring succor to him in his last hours, I WILL!”

  He was panting with emotion as he finished and looked at his friends. “I’ll go into this cave and get the journal. I might not be able to slay this thing, but I will bring that journal out with me. Will you come and help me?”

  His friends voiced their agreement to this task and Bjorn wept for them. “Fools. You are all going to your deaths. The Messengers say that you do not truly die but are reborn after a time, even so it is folly. I will not stop you, but I can't in good conscience aid you in your doom.” He stood and left the room with tears still streaming down his face.

  The group stood there with their own tears, the emotions raw and red in all of them. “Fucking game sucks at times,” Kittish hiccupped with tears.

  Dumadin and the others hugged her. After a few minutes the tears subsided and they finally disengaged. “Yes, it does hit you hard and make you feel, doesn't it?” Amythyst agreed.

  “Look, we have an hour left before it’s time to log for the night and we won't be back for over a day due to the appointment. Let’s get back to Iglooluit and start the mounts on the way. They can get some of the traveling done for us while we’re out.” Terets suggested. Agreeing, they went back to Veno and took a portal to Iglooluit.

  Riding out of the city heading to the northwest, they rode in silence and a little bit of fear.

  FRIENDS

  The office was the same as before and the doctor was going over the test results that they had from the easy and quick tests. “I hate to inform you of this, but pending the other results it looks like the cancer is more advanced than originally thought. You are looking at less than six months at this point. Once we get the other results back we might have a better time frame.”

  David nodded, “I was afraid of that with the increasing pains and how fragile my bones seem to be of late. Thank you for your time Doctor, please contact me when the other results are in.” He stood with Miriam and they turned for the door.

  “David,” the doctor said hurriedly, “have you given any thought to my request?”

  David turned back and looked at the doctor levelly. “Yes I have, and once I am gone I am being cremated Doctor. I do not want to leave parts behind to be poked at.”

  The doctor stood and spoke gravely, “Please sir, consider what a waste it will be. If you let us have your body for science we can maybe get a better understanding of your new type of cancer. It might help others in the future.”

  David stood there and thought for a moment. After all, he was pushing beta to help make sure others had a place to enjoy after he was gone. Why was he being so selfish as to not let them try and unravel this new cancer once he was gone? It’s not like he would be around to feel them work on his dead body. Shaking his head, he turned back to the door, “I will reconsider it.”

  “Thank you, when you come to a decision please inform us and we will work with your attorney to get all the paperwork in order so all you’ll have to do is sign if you agree.” The doctor walked them out to the lobby, seeing them off.

  “It’s your choice love, but if it can help others later we should think about it again.” Miriam spoke softly as they left the building and got into the car.

  “Yeah, I know but I’m selfish. I promised her that our ashes would be together after I died and I want some for you to have as well.” He thought back to the first woman he loved in his life and the promise he made her before her death. “I promised I would continue to try and find happiness and to have our ashes mixed together. I did the first when you and I got together. I don't want to fail the second.”

  Miriam nodded sadly as she drove them to the restaurant, “I can understand. I’ll look into what we can do to accomplish it all, then and if I find a solution I’ll let you know.”

  Arriving at Celebrity Frank's they noted Will's truck and went inside to join their friends. “How are you two today?” David asked as he sat with a sigh. Walking was becoming painful.

  Will eyed his friend for a moment, then put a smile on, “Doing well. We went and did some browsing at some of the gun shops in town. We also have a concert to attend later, and I happen to have two extra tickets.”

  Miriam smiled, “Is it the video game music concert?”

  Lav giggled, “Yup, the old eight bit music done by an orchestra. I’ve wanted to go to one for a while and they happened to be in town today, so. When I mentioned it he drove us right over to the venue and bought the tickets for all of us.” She smiled at Will.

  David grinned, “I see how it is. Planning my night for me eh? What if I planned kinky sex later instead?”

  Will laughed, “You’ll have time after the concert, you deviant. This is something we can all enjoy.”

  Miriam giggled, “Technically we could all enjoy the sex, too.”

  Will blushed and motioned them to stay on their side of the table. “You two deviants stay over there.”

  The group broke into a fit of laughter as the waitress came to the table. She seemed curious about what had caused them all to laugh as she approached. David smirked and explained they were discussing group sex verses a concert. The waitress turned crimson and stammered that she could take their order if they were ready.

  “I’m sorry for the jackass, he has a bad case of impoliteness,” Will told the server as they ordered. The server fled once they were done ordering. “Jackass, there goes the service.”

  David chuckled, “Always did have a habit of saying the wrong thing. Besides, she’ll be back with the food, and the way she kept looking at you Lav had better hold onto your arm.”

  Lav grabbed Will's arm and glared at David, “Mine.”

  This launched the group into another round of laughter just as the server came back with their drinks. Without a word she set their drinks down and blushed as she went away again. “See, I didn't even say anything that time. She’s just a bunny is all, rabbiting away at the thought of danger.”

  “Oh that was bad, I hope you don't pun again.” Miriam gave a deliberate pun back.

  “You two, I swear are a hare raising duo,” Will joined in.

  “I think I should go hide in my burrow,” Lavender chimed in and the group cheered.

  “Yes! We have got her into the pun-ishment game,” David cheered.

  As they finally wound down, the waitress came back with their meal. As she was setting it out David smirked. “Miss, if I can ask, which did you think sounded like more fun?”

  As she placed the last plate she looked at him clearly not understanding. “Which what sounded like more fun?”

  David grinned evilly, “The concert or the group sex?”

  The server turned a new shade of red and stood there stammering for a moment. “Jackass, leave her alone. You are not allowed to corrupt even more people to your deviant ways.” Will muttered and turned to make an apology to the server, who walked away quickly. “Great, you’re going to get us banned.”

  Smirking, David shrugged and leaned his head against Miriam, “Oops. Oh well, never know until you try.”

  Miriam sighed and patted his head, “Stop tormenting the mundanes and eat your food.”

  The group ate and talked about the game. Standing, they looked around for the server and didn't see her anywhere. David went
to the hostess and got their bill. Leaving a generous tip and an apology written on it, David put his cards away.

  “Guess I really did scare her off,” he murmured as they went outside. “See you guys at the venue for the concert.” They waved as they went towards their separate vehicles and drove to the concert.

  After the concert was over they said their good nights and David and Miriam went home. Will drove Lavender home and walked her to her door as he had for the past twelve times. Leaning down he kissed her good night and hoped she had a good time.

  Lavender pulled him down onto her lap and whispered into his ear, “Stay tonight, please.”

  Will was torn. He wanted to so badly, but he didn't want to rush either. “I want to Lav, but...”

  She cut him off with a deeply passionate kiss, “No buts, at least not tonight...” With that she pulled him along as she backed her chair into her apartment and closed the door behind them.

  MORE DOWN TIME

  When the friends went to log back in the following day they found that the game was having another day off for a patch again. Professions were being updated into specialties, with each having two or more choices. You didn't have to specialize, but there were bonuses for doing so. The instance system was also being reworked, but they didn't explain much about it. Also there was a big splash about the AIs being given more freedom. The world was going to become dynamic and responsive. The blurb was that all actions would have ongoing consequences.

  NPCs would now no longer respawn as had been the case before, and the program had been rewritten to reflect that they knew they were mortal and adventurers aren't. If you killed a crafter it would permanently remove them from the game. The AI would help another crafter replace the killed one, but it would take time. The same went for any NPC, even the low level farmers, which could cause food issues in an area.

  David looked into the crafting update a bit more to understand it better. Crafters who didn't specialize when crafting Master quality or better items would end up with random abilities on gear. If you specialized in, say, swords you had the option of choosing a specific set of abilities from a randomly generated list. Grand masters could pick exactly the two abilities they wanted on the gear they made. It made specializing very important for those crafters who wanted to corner the market in some way.

  He looked at each profession in turn. Armor smiths could choose chain or plate to focus on. Weapon smiths could choose a type of weapon; swords, axes, hammers, daggers, bows, crossbows, throwing weapons, and slings. Apparently if you chose swords or axes it included one and two handed versions. Leather workers could take leather armor, studded leather armor, or exotics. The exotics seems to be things like bags, saddles, or anything else not armor. Alchemists could choose potions or exotics, potion specializing gave your potions a 50% boost to the effectiveness. Exotics were anything else that they could make, such as poisons. The newest profession, jeweler, had rings and necklaces to choose from. Jewelry also had durability added, it degraded by one point a day and was not repairable.

  He carefully made his notes and sent them off to Mike, who was still on his cruise with Amy. He made a mental note to speak with the group about what they should look into once live kicked off, ignoring the fact he would only get a month or so of live in.

  There was a paragraph right at the end of the update, though, that caught his eye.

  We will be holding a variety of games and events in the last month in Floreme. This will be a crafting competition and include arena matches for prizes that will carry over to live. Compete and prove your worth and valor in many areas. All abilities will be reset just before the events, so you can try and get an edge in the events. The events will take place every day during the last month of Beta as our thank you to all of you for your aid. We will be unveiling special thanks to our best testers during the beta phase at that point.

  David sadly shook his head, having already turned in his email with his approval for his character name and RL name to be used in the thanks. He would leave a monument behind for some time that he had helped make the game better for all to enjoy.

  David then began to sift through the abilities that his group should take to maximize their chances of winning a few events. He had a sneaking suspicion that certain people would be there for another go around of humiliation.

  The next day the friends reformed their group, finding themselves riding though the great white north in the middle of light snowfall. Terets shivered, “I hate the cold.”

  Dumadin frowned and considered, “Actually man, I think part of that is psychosomatic. It is cold, but not as cold as it should feel. I would say it feels like right near freezing, not the sub-zero temperatures it looks like.”

  Terets grumbled, “It’s below seventy which means it’s too damn cold. I live in fricking desert for a reason.”

  Amythyst giggled, “He does enjoy the heat.” Realizing what she’d said, she blushed and turned her head.

  Dumadin smirked, “Hot and wet I take it is what he really enjoys.”

  Terets turned towards him, “Jackass, shut up.”

  Smirking Dumadin continued, “Congratulations on your second coming...”

  Amythyst giggled, “You should make that fourth...” Her blushed deepened but her smile was wide.

  Terets turned towards her, scarlet himself, “You’re only encouraging him. If you keep at it he won't stop.”

  Amythyst smiled at him, “But you deserve the praise. You have given me love, affection and happiness. If he wants to be crude about it, like he seems to be with most things, I can't stop him.”

  Kittish giggled, “Oh no, on somethings he is very refined, trust me.”

  Dumadin blushed slightly and Amythyst pointed at him and laughed, “Oh, so the tables turn do they? Tell us more Kittish, see if we can get that blush to deepen.”

  Kittish took a deep breath with a grin to begin talking and Dumadin urged his mount into a trot. “You know,” he began, “if we push a little we won't be out in the cold as long.”

  The other three laughed at him trying to avoid his just due and let their mounts speed up slightly. After a few minutes he eased the pace back and rode next to Amythyst. “I’m sorry. My mouth runs off ahead of me at times. I do not mean to offend you.”

  She smiled and patted his head, “It's okay. I have come to understand that you joke and jest as a sign of affection. Even if the jokes are crude and sexual in nature. If Kittish ever gets you refined, you might match Terets.”

  Kittish giggled, “Twenty years and trying. I’m saying it’s a lost cause. I should have seen some improvement by now.”

  “He stopped throwing shit everywhere, remember,” Terets added in with a grin.

  Rolling his eyes Dumadin sighed, “Point, set, match. You win, I yield, please have mercy on me.” The group laughed at his mock surrender and gently ribbed him a bit more before changing the topic.

  “You all saw the update right?” Dumadin asked with a smile.

  They murmured agreement as he launched into his ideas for the month long events. The solid facts about what was going to be contested were still very much up in the air. He laid out his ideas for them and mentioned he thought that the Tweedles might be there for round three.

  “Unless they grew some intellect I doubt it will be an issue,” Kittish muttered.

  Agreeing with her, the group rode on in silence for a moment or two. “You know, this is a long and boring ride. There’s a village we can set the mounts to one day’s ride for us from the cave. Why don't we take the next three days off and just let our mounts get us to the village?” Kittish mentioned to the group, throwing out the idea.

  “That would work for me, it means only one day of cold,” Terets readily agreed to the plan.

  “Well, that works for me as well. We’ll miss seeing what we might find up here, but meh. Besides, it will give the two teenagers over there time to get all warm again.” Dumadin chuckled as he finished, looking at Terets.

&nbs
p; “We’ll be fine,” Amythyst said with a grin and wished them a good night as she set her horse on course and logged out.

  THE CAVE OF DEATH

  They reformed and spent a day riding through a blizzard, staying on course by using the map. They reached the cave entrance half an hour before they had to log out due to time. Taking a quick look, they noted an icy barrier before them. On the other side of the clear ice they could make out the white mist of an instance portal.

  “Well, this looks like it,” Dumadin said to his friends. “Let’s meet back here right at eight in the morning.” The group agreed and quickly logged out to get some rest and food in anticipation of the instance tomorrow.

  “Makes it look like no one has been in or out since Bettie sealed it,” Kittish murmured, after they reformed the group the next morning. “Let’s break this and go inside.” She tried Shock and they watched as the electricity just played over the ice.