Last Horizon: Beta

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “I will be off then. Our policy doesn't let devs include players as friends in game, to stop overt favoritism. Otherwise I would have asked to tag you. Ah well, if you wouldn't mind sending any bugs or glitches to my attention though, let me give you my email address for work.” After getting the information they said their goodbyes and with a flash of light Jazzy popped out of existence.

  “Hmm, that was interesting and informative,” Kittish began eyeing Terets from the corner of her eye. “Just happened to pick us to check on due to quests. I'm sure her wanting to meet her sister's brave hero was surely just a minor after thought.”

  Terets blushed again, “What is that old line, no good deed goes unpunished? I can see being nice enough to save her is going to get me no end of ribbing from you two.”

  Dumadin pulled up and waited for his friends to pause and turn to face him, “Dude, I will not make light of the fact you helped her. I will not rib or poke fun at you for it, it was the right thing to do, and you just barely beat me to accepting the quest and starting that shindig myself.” He started walking again and hugged Kittish as they did so.

  “Okay, I'm sorry Terets. I'll stop,” Kittish said and hooked her arm around her friend's shoulders and gave him a half hug.

  They strode on in silence for a bit before Kittish stopped and looked to the right. “Oh, an herb, one sec,” she said and walked over to the base of a tree and pulled out a silvery leaved plant. “Woodsage, main component for healing potions, and five experience for picking it, too.”

  Once she rejoined the other two, Dumadin began talking about professions. “Just let us know when you're going to go get an herb, hun. In case something jumps you we can be slightly more prepared. We should also look for beasties that Terets can skin. Ore probably won't show up for me until the mountains.”

  “Not a whole lot of critters running around so far, but we're less than twelve hours out of town,” Terets added. As he finished speaking, a wolf that had been hiding in the brush lunged at him and sank its fangs into his hip. “What the fuck!?”

  Kittish began to cast Healing Light on Terets as Dumadin unleashed Anger Howl, causing the wolf to release Terets and lunge at the dwarf.

  The wolf clanged off the shield which rebounded into Dumadin's face, causing him to groan. Terets drew his swords and began attacking the wolf from behind, while Kittish cast a healing light on Dumadin.

  The wolf leapt to the side and turned to face Terets again. Terets had out-aggroed the taunt and was once again being bitten by the wolf. “Fucking furbag, get off me.”

  Kittish again cast Healing Light on Terets and stepped in, smacking the wolf with her staff. Dumadin hit the wolf in the back with his hammer, waiting for Anger Howl to come off cooldown. “Couple more seconds for cooldown, Terets.”

  Wincing, Terets plunged both blades down into the wolf's back, causing it to let out a pitiful howl and fall over. “Damn, didn't see that one coming,” Wincing he checked his leg, which looked awful, until another Healing Light washed over him. He looked again and saw no sign of damage and his health bar was full. “Thanks Kittish, nice to have a pocket healer.”

  A small window popped into each player's view, showing they had gained fifty experience from slaying an Aggressive Wolf.

  She laughed and slapped him on the back, “Wait ‘til we level a bit and I can do more than just heal. Hrmph, pocket healer.”

  Dumadin shook his head and put his hammer away while motioning to the wolf. “All yours Terets, neither of us can skin.”

  Terets reached towards his belt and pulled out a skinning knife then knelt down next to the wolf, wondering how this would work. As he studied the wolf he could see a light blue dotted line blinking along the body. Nodding he took the skinning knife and began to cut along the line. A UI pop up informed him that he acquired five experience for skinning. A moment later the skin came off intact, and in another minute he had finished cutting off the usable meat for cooking, getting three pieces of meat. “That's easy, nice little blue lines to show you what to do, and I got five xp for it to boot.”

  “Mine was a ghostly hand showing me where to grab and pull the woodsage,” Kittish said.

  “Cool, looks like the gathering professions will be easy to use. Guess we'll find out about mining later. Also, where was that knife before you grabbed it from your belt?”

  “It's just there, it doesn't show but I know it's there, along with needle and thread for my leatherworking.” Terets said making a move to his belt and coming up with needle and thread.

  Dumadin reached towards his belt and came out with a mining pick, then a sharpening stone. Kittish pulled a mortar and pestle and some vials from her belt.

  “Looks like you two might be able to craft in the field, I guess all I can do is repair work though,” Dumadin said as they put the gear away and started off again. “Alright keep eyes open for aggressive beasties and herbs, and let's get on the trail again.”

  Another hour later a pop up on Dumadin's UI distracted him. Felton wanted to friend him, and recognizing Mike's standby gaming name he accepted. Immediately another pop up happened telling him a friend was initiating a private conversation.

  “Hey David, we made it on finally. Had the family over this morning so wasn't able to get on until now. Have you guys found anything interesting?”

  Dumadin blinked; he was actually hearing Mike's voice for the conversation and a small portrait of Felton's profile was near the right hand side of his field of view with a little speaker icon, which glowed as he replied.

  “Glad you guys made it, we're doing a delivery quest. The npc told us it was a week’s travel but then we found some other information. Have Amy send me an invite along with one for Miriam, and Will as well. I take it you couldn't initiate the whisper until we were friends?”

  “Yeah, guess that will cut down on the harassment for people. She sent them off, what information did you find out exactly?”

  Dumadin began bringing his friends up to speed on how traveling worked, thanks to the tip from Jazzy. While describing all that had unfolded for them Dumadin fiddled with the map and noticed an option to show friend's locations on the map. Mike and Amy's icons were roughly one thousand five hundred miles away, about the same as the distance from Nevada to Texas. After a bit more banter and Mike's enthusiastic comments of becoming the best weapon smith to be found on Last Horizon they ended the conversation. Still fiddling with the map, Dumadin noticed the option to place a Point of Interest. According to the help function a PoI was a place designated by the player for fast travel. A bit more poking at the help function about the relevant info and he stopped walking.

  “Hey guys, just found something that is fricking amazing. The map lets you denote five Points of Interest, which you can fast travel to. You have to have found the location on the map, a named location on the map, and then you can designate it. Once that is done a simple command will teleport you to that PoI.” Dumadin filled them in as they stopped next to him as he spoke. “It also seems you can change the PoI, but you can only change one once a day. That will help with some of the travel time.”

  “Nice man.” Terets began, “do you realize that when you were talking to Felton you were giving off this whispering sound? Like you were muttering to yourself.”

  “Great, invisible cell phones. Heh, seems you can only whisper friends though, which will be nice. Probably why we haven't been spammed with hate from the two idiots earlier.”

  “Ooh, flowers, be right back,” Kittish interjected and went to go collect another woodsage.

  “If we can kill a few dozen wolves we might be able to hit level three before the cabin.” Terets said as he watched his friend go pick more flowers.

  SMEE'S CABIN

  For days the group continued hiking through the woods, collecting herbs, slaying monsters and logging out for a few hours at a time due to the time limit of the machine. During one of those breaks after Terets logged out, Dumadin and Kittish decided to retest the intimate ca
pabilities of their avatars. They'd both been missing physical intimacy due to medical conditions and age, this unexpected bonus helped them feel more alive again.

  Finally, they were approaching the cabin and could make out a big garden around most of it with a hunchbacked individual moving among the plants. As the trio stepped into the clearing they had a pop up on the UI.

  You have found Smee's Cabin, this spot is now shown on your map.

  You receive one thousand experience.

  This was followed immediately by another pop up.

  CONGRATULATIONS! You have reached level four.

  Your stats have increased along with your Health and Aether.

  The friends looked at each other and smiled as they realized they had all leveled up upon finding the cabin. “Well that is a nice chunk of experience for exploring” Dumadin exclaimed softly.

  “Yes it is,” Kittish added, “let’s go see if that fellow is Smee and if he has anything for us to do.”

  “If we get the chance to pause I'd like to take a moment to make some leather armor for us with all the wolf pelts I've collected so far.” Terets said.

  “I should probably also see about our weapons. We've been in quite a few fights recently,” Dumadin chimed in as they moved forward to greet the hunchback.

  As they approached the gate leading to the house the hunchback looked over at them and straightened up as far as he could. “What brings you to my cabin youngsters?” Smee was an old man, one eye was a murky white, and his hands were gnarled and looked quite arthritic.

  “Greetings Smee. We're making a delivery to a person a few days from here in the mountains. We were told that your cabin would be along the way and thought we should stop and see if we could aid you in anything.” came Kittish's eloquent reply, while her friends stayed silent and nodded as she finished.

  “Oh people coming to help out old Smee, that doesn't happen often does it, no. Usually it is Bjorn who comes by on the way to the hermit. So I assume that the adventurers have arrived at last. Interesting that is, yes.” Smee was wringing his hands as he spoke and eyeing the group. “If you wish to help me I could maybe help you as well, tit for tat as I have no money. I need some special mushrooms, black they are with white spots along the head.”

  Quest: Help Smee.

  Bring Smee some Deathhead mushrooms.

  Reward: alchemical supplies and training if you are an alchemist.

  Kittish quickly accepted the quest seeing a chance to improve her craft, which caused her friends to chuckle. “We will be happy to bring you these mushrooms Smee. Will you can tell us where to find them and what they might be used for?”

  Smee's lips twitched slightly, “The young are always so eager. They can be found a few days to the north, they grow inside a cave. They enjoy rich dark soil that has been properly fertilized. You will either have to wait for the occupant of the cave to be out or try to fight him. With you being so young I would suggest waiting for him to be out.”

  “Would that cave belong to a bear?” Dumadin asked looking slightly bemused.

  “Yes it would dwarf, Theodore the bear, as I call him. He is old and grizzled and has killed many the unwary soul that ventured too near his cave. So beware the bear when you go that way.”

  The group smirked as once again they were being warned of the bear, then Kittish spoke up “We'll be careful of the mighty Theodore, to be sure. For the moment, could we impose upon you to let us rest here for a few hours? I'd love to learn all about this lovely garden, and my friend Terets would like time to make us some leather armor for our journey.”

  “Oh a new alchemist, by all means come into the garden and find a place to sit, mind the herbs though. Come with me young elf, and I will show you each herb in turn and tell you what they can do if properly used.” Smee held out an arm for Kittish. She accepted the gallantry and they moved off among the plants.

  Dumadin and Terets found places to sit and began working on their own crafts. Dumadin collected Terets's swords and began sharpening them, they'd become noticeably dull and nicked during their journey through the woods. He watched as the items durability was restored, but as the overall durability was brought down a few points. After he finished with the swords he considered his hammer and wondered what to do with it. After a few moments a ghostly hand could be seen carefully polishing the weapon. His shield and Kittish's staff showed similar animations. So, getting the polish rag from his blacksmithing kit he went to work on shield, hammer and staff. A few minutes with each had their durability returned minus a few points from the overall number. He noticed that he received twenty five experience for each item he repaired.

  “Nice, I get some xp for repairing this stuff, only twenty five but it should help keep you two from getting too far ahead.” Dumadin said as he finished his work.

  Terets pulled his skins out and grabbed the needle and thread from his leatherworking Kittish. Holding them on his lap he studied them and tried to figure out how to craft a chest piece. A moment later he could see pale blue spots on two of pieces of the leather and began to connect them with thread. A few minutes later the skins had become a leather chest piece of rough quality. It had low durability but did provide some armor. A message on his UI also informed him he had gained one hundred experience. After some time he'd put together three chest pieces and three sets of leggings. One of the chest pieces came out as a Fine leather chest piece, with increased durability and slightly higher armor value; that one he handed to Dumadin who gladly accepted and put it on.

  “My stamina is at 50%, so yeah unless you plan on long crafting sessions it doesn't seem that bad so far.” Terets stated. “Also got a total of six hundred experience for this bit of crafting.”

  Once Smee finished describing each herb and its general uses, Kittish came over to her friends and saw that they'd been crafting. She joined them on the ground and began milling herbs in her mortar and pestle. She asked Dumadin, who was watching her, to fetch a bucket of water from the well. When he brought it over she put some herb powder into a vial and added water then vigorously shook it. After a few moments it became light translucent red, and the next one she made turned light blue.

  “Red for healing and blue for aether, only minor tonics at the moment but much better than nothing at all. At our level they will replenish up to 25% of our bars. Oh, and fifty experience per potion. Just let me do the rest of these herbs and we can go.”

  Shrugging, Dumadin and Terets waited patiently as they both knew that those potions would be useful later. They decided to make a quick fire and cook some of the wolf meat they'd collected from their kills. They each brought out a frying pan and laid a strip of wolf meat into them. A few seconds on each side was all it took to get them wolf steak, which would replenish 25 stamina and ease hunger. Terets and Dumadin each cooked off one third of the meat they had gathered, then Kittish cooked the rest when she'd finished making potions.

  “Smee,” Kittish called to the owner of the cabin, “would you like some wolf steak? We have more than we can use at the moment.”

  Quest: Helping the elderly

  Reward: Potions from Smee and five hundred experience.

  Quest completed: Helping the elderly.

  Collect your potions from Smee.

  You receive five hundred experience.

  The three of them blinked as the quest notifications scrolled by, without allowing any of them a chance to accept or decline. Smee seemed to smile, it was hard to tell though.

  “Oh how kind of the youngsters. Wait one moment please,” with that he stepped into his cabin then reappeared carrying a metal box about a foot on each side. “If you end up finding a heart please put it into the box and bring it back to me, and I can reward your generosity. For now I have potions I'm sure you will need soon. Dwarf, this potion is called Stoneskin, fitting for you it is, it will make your skin hard enough to withstand any three blows, but don't take it for granite. Human, this potion I call Discernment, it will aid you in finding key
spots to slip your blades into an enemy. For you, young apprentice I have these scrolls for you to study. You will likely fail many times in learning to make these potions, but do not lose heart.”

  Quest: Bring Smee a heart.

  Reward: variable.

  Kittish accepted the quest and handed the potions she'd made to each of her friends. “We'll be glad to help you Smee. Thank you for the opportunity to rest, and to learn and these magnificent gifts.”

  “Beware the bear, younglings,” Smee called out as he stepped back into his cabin and shut the door behind him.

  “Okay now we have the bear necessities to do this, hopefully,” Terets said as they all walked out of the garden.

  “All I want is a Teddy Bear,” Kittish quipped.

  “Oh this punning is going to get grizzly again I can see it,” Dumadin laughed.

  With the puns flowing again about the bear they started north again. After a few moments Dumadin noticed that Terets seemed distracted.