Last Horizon: Beta

by Daniel Schinhofen

  Dumadin glanced at his friends and nodded, “Yes, after a bit. I want to finish a little smithing first. I'm sure Kittish and Terets will also craft a bit as well. You said yesterday though that you wanted to speak with us before we left. Did you want to do so now or after we've done our crafting?”

  “Oh, now is fine. Please, come sit down while I get my thoughts in order.” Al waited for them to settle down then began, “I have been having some minor issues of late. I have started to write a memoir of my old adventures, but I have had issue remembering some things. When I went to consult my old journals I find that I am missing some. If you could collect them for me I would be quite grateful. I am sure I can some way to reward you that you will find of worth.”

  Quest: Find Thallien's journals, part one.

  Collect the first journal from the goblin cave and return it to Thallien.

  Warning this is a group quest and will be almost impossible alone.

  Reward: five thousand experience and a bonus to crafting.

  They blinked at the amount of experience for the reward and Kittish accepted it for them.

  “We'll be glad to do so for you Al. You've already been more than generous, we're happy to help you. Where is this goblin cave located exactly?” Kittish asked.

  “It is south of Stoutbank by two days. When you go by give my regard to Bjorn and let him know I am well.”

  “Of course we will, and thank you again for all you've done for us thus far. We'll return after we find this journal of yours. First though, we'll finish our crafting. Then we shall head out to deal with a bear.”

  “That is fair. I might be dozing when you go, if I am just let me rest please. I will look forward to your return.” With that Al turned back to the pond and recast the lure.

  An hour later they'd finished their crafting and replenished their stamina. They left the cave as neat as they could set out back down the trail.

  “Nice guy that, the AI in this game is fricking amazing,” Dumadin said as they were walking down the path.

  “Yeah, unless I think about it I forget that they aren't other players. The scripting is very good.” Kittish added as they turned a corner and paused for Dumadin to get some more iron ore.

  “So do we have a game plan for Theodore?” Terets asked as they began walking again.

  “Well, we know he's way tougher than we are, so I say go all in on him.” Dumadin began, then explained at their puzzled looks, “I'll use the stoneskin potion and you use the discernment one, then we abuse the hell out of our new gear and hope the bastard drops before we do. I have block now which hopefully will help absorb some of the incoming damage. If Kittish puts the mark one me from her necklace then if Teddy does go for you at any point she can heal us both with no major issue. That's what I have anyway, any suggestions?”

  “Hmm well, simple is best. I can't think of any improvement, just do your best to not get hit. He almost one shotted you last time. I'll have to be almost chain casting Healing Light on you.” Kittish added and gave her love a half hug as they walked.

  “I would normally want to control the start but I need to be in stealth to get the most out of the blades. So, let me stand to one side of the entrance and you the other when we get his attention. That'll give me the best vantage point to start from. Kittish pulling with her new dot then you taunt it off her is probably the best way to pull.” Terets smiled as he finished.

  “True that. Okay, Kittish will dot it and duck behind me, I'll taunt and get its attention. Once I got it you attack it from behind. Better give me a three count so you don't pull it back off me right away, and give me a chance to get Anger Howl off cooldown.” Dumadin took a deep breath as the crevice was coming into view. “Okay, Terets go stealthy and see if it's in the cave, if it is come back and let us know and we’ll move up. I don't want to get ambushed by it.”

  Terets nodded and stealthed, then made his way through the crevice and towards the cave. A few minutes later he whispered to his friends that the bear was dozing in its cave. With a last quick hug Dumadin then squeezed through the crevice and paused to wait for Kittish. Once she was clear they carefully walked towards the cave, trying to be as quiet as possible.

  Dumadin and Kittish watched Terets slide past the opening and place himself ready for the attack. Dumadin pulled out his stoneskin potion and nodded to Terets, who drank his discernment potion. As they drank Kittish moved to stand in the opening and looked into the cave. It was littered with various debris consisting of mostly bones of all sorts. Taking a deep breath she began to cast Weaken. The bear raised its head just in time to catch the emerald bolt of her spell square on the snout.

  Roaring in outrage it got to its feet and charged the entrance. The group had forgotten effect of the bear's roar. In seconds it reached the cave entrance and swiped at Kittish, sending her flying. The paralysis wore off and Dumadin activated Anger Howl, hoping his love survived the bear's attack.

  Theodore turned on Dumadin and snapped at him, but his muzzle bounced harmlessly off the dwarf. That's one, Dumadin thought as he swung his axe at the bear, which seemed puzzled by the lack of blood. The axe grazed the left side of Theodore's head, causing the bear to growl loudly and try for another bite.

  As Theodore went for a second bite on Dumadin, Terets launched his attack. He planted both blades square into the back of Theodore and promptly disappeared again. Dumadin was dismayed though, what had cost him fifteen percent of his life in the duel yesterday only cost Theodore three percent now. That's when Dumadin noticed the small silver crown above Theodore's portrait.

  As Dumadin tried to puzzle out what it meant Theodore took the second bite, completely ignoring the backstab by Terets. Again, his teeth slid harmlessly off the dwarf, which caused Theodore to rage and swipe at Dumadin with one paw. Luckily for Dumadin the paw banged off his shield as his Block ability activated and prevented the attack from doing any damage.

  Dumadin figured the emblem out as the shield blocked the attack. “Theodore is a unique mob guys, no wonder he's such a tough bugger.” Dumadin tried to hit Theodore again but the bear backed off and growled at him.

  As that happened Terets again slipped both blades into Theodore's back, causing the bear to turn and snap at the thing stabbing it. Terets had vanished again, and for a moment Theodore presented his back to Dumadin, who hacked at a leg. Theodore was getting mighty angry and was starting to froth at the mouth slightly as he turned and bit at Dumadin only to once again have his teeth slide harmlessly off the dwarf.

  “That was three, I'll be in for a world of pain now.” Dumadin back stepped slightly and glanced over at Kittish, who had just finished healing herself back to full.

  “I have you now. Fucking bear hits like a truck,” Kittish began casting Weaken on Theodore again as the first spell expired. The bear's life was still above 70%.

  Terets stabbed Theodore in the back again, but this time though the bear was ready. Just as the swords began to pierce him he turned and swatted at Terets. Split second reaction is all that saved Terets from the paw. Seeing the turn start Terets ducked and felt the paw whistle over his head. Terets was no longer unobserved, which ended his chance of stepping back into stealth.

  Another Anger Howl from Dumadin turned Theodore back towards him, just in time to receive a cut from Dumadin's axe to its snout. “If you can't stealth then just start cutting Terets, the gods knows we won't last for long otherwise.” Dumadin staggered back as a massive paw hit him in the chest.

  Kittish finished casting Healing Light just as the bear lunged at Dumadin, filling his life bar just as the bear sank his teeth into the dwarf. Dumadin cried out as half of his life blinked away. Kittish tried not to panic and started to chain casting her healing spell as quickly as she was able.

  Terets nodded at Dumadin and started slicing into the back legs of the bear as it turned back to the dwarf. He tried to keep an eye on Dumadin's life bar and Theodore's bar. Dumadin was getting the worst of it and Kittish was doing her best to k
eep up.

  The teeth ripped into Dumadin’s gut as he taunted the bear back to him, costing him half his life. Kittish got the heal on him and he watched his life bar fill briefly. Then a paw came in and hit him removing some, then another paw came in and removed more. Theodore's health hit 50% and another bite clanged off the shield thanks to Block, which let Kittish catch up on the healing slightly.

  As Theodore's bar dropped to 45% he turned and lunged at Kittish, who was in the middle of a cast. Without thinking Dumadin activated the shield and appeared in front of the charging bear, causing the bear to rebound off the shield and Dumadin to slide back a few feet.

  Theodore shook his head, stunned for a few seconds, letting Terets get in several more attacks. With a roar Theodore turned and lunged at Terets, only to meet the shield in the face again and stagger back a few steps.

  Kittish was able to get them all healed and cast Weaken again on Theodore. As Theodore shook his head, Dumadin and Terets split to either side of him. Dumadin made sure Kittish was behind him.

  “I can only do that maybe one more time,” Dumadin called to his friends and attacked again.

  “He's down to 25%, shouldn't be much longer,” Terets called out and attacked again.

  “That's good. I'm running low on aether,” Kittish announced. She drank an aether potion, hoping it would be enough to see them through the fight.

  Theodore shook his head and tracked Terets for a moment before Anger Howl made him turn to Dumadin. “This is it, burn him down Terets,” Dumadin cried. The bear's eyes started glowing red and large flecks of saliva flew from its mouth. “Fuck, he's gone berserk!” The blows came with more speed and ferocity, raining down at the stalwart dwarf whose life bar began to dwindle rapidly.

  Kittish chain cast Healing Light but knew it wouldn't be enough. Dumadin only had a few seconds left before he would fall. A lucky critical on a heal doubled the healing Dumadin received, giving him another few seconds.

  Dumadin stopped trying to attack and focused on trying to defend as best he could, watching his life bar drop too fast for Kittish to keep up. Then Kittish landed a critical heal on him and his life bar took a swing back the other way, giving him another few moments.

  Terets put those moments to good use. Abandoning caution he went into a slicing frenzy. A last swipe threw Dumadin into the cave with his life bar apparently empty. Theodore turned and bit at Terets, only to meet a sword coming the other way. The sword entered Theodore's eye and ended in his brain, just as his teeth closed on Terets's abdomen.

  AFTERMATH

  “Fecking hell that hurts,” Terets complained and looked down at his mangled torso. The last bite from Theodore had taken him from full to one tenth of his total life. His abdomen looked horrible, with a red shredded hole oozing blood. As he mentally complimented the game on the visual effects for showing damage a white light engulfed him, restoring a good chunk of his hit points. Glancing at the wound he noted that it was just a set of red lines now. After the third healing spell washed over him he noted his shirt and armor were visible again and appeared undamaged.

  As soon as Terets's health was over half Kittish ran for the cave where Dumadin had been thrown. She saw Dumadin laying, there his chest barely moving and no sound coming from him. She began casting Healing Light and watched as the light enveloped him.

  “Fucking Hell that hurt! Good gods, how did I even survive that!” Dumadin gasped and groaned.

  A soft hiccup escaped Kittish as she worked at healing him. “I thought you were done, your bar was basically empty but then I saw you there and breathing.”

  Raising his head he saw a few tears marking Kittish's cheeks as she used the last of her aether to get him back above half life. He stood up and walked over to hug her. “It's okay hun, everything is fine now, it is just a game, shh.”

  She clung tighter to him as she wrestled her emotions into check and wiped the tears away on his shoulder. “Yeah I know, but sometimes it's so real and we get caught up in it and....” She broke off and hugged him closer, burying his head in her chest.

  Terets came into the cave a moment later and patted them both on the back. “I skinned the bear and took the meat for cooking. I need that box, though, Teddy had a heart.”

  Kittish disengaged herself from Dumadin and composed herself. She handed the box to Terets who placed a heart inside of it and gave it back to her. “Maybe we should look around the cave, see what else is going to be here outside of the mushrooms for Smee.” Terets suggested.

  Now that the fight was over, they noticed blinking notification near the bottom of the UI. A series of pop ups flashed by when they checked it.

  You earn the achievement: Bloody Unique.

  Be the first to kill a unique mob in Last Horizon.

  NPC's will look at you with more favor for your adventurous spirit.

  You earn the achievement: You're a special kind of......

  Defeat a unique mob at least ten levels above yours in Last Horizon.

  NPC's will favor you more due to your fearlessness.

  Congratulations you have reached level 6.

  Stats increase along with health and aether.

  Congratulations you have reached level 7.

  Stats increase along with health and aether.

  They stood there stunned motionless and speechless for a moment taking in what they had just read.

  “Bloody fucking hell,” Dumadin muttered, “He was at least ten levels above us. We truly are some kind of stupid for that.”

  “Yeah but we kicked his ass,” Terets laughed, “barely, but we survived and he didn't which is all that matters.”

  “That was a lot of experience for killing him if we jumped two whole levels,” Kittish chimed in.

  Shaking off the wonder of what they'd just accomplished they turned and headed into the cave to search for anything worthwhile amongst the bones. Kittish went to the back and started collecting the Deathhead mushrooms for Smee. Dumadin and Terets began searching the bones, finding a collection of loose coins and salvageable items scattered among the debris littering the floor of the cave.

  They found in total two gold, thirty eight silver, and eighty five copper coins. They also found a battered rusty breastplate and two rings. The rings proved to be a Ring of Agility which granted an increase to agility, and Ring of Intellect which granted an increase to intelligence. Terets and Kittish each took the appropriate ring as Dumadin grumbled about not having a ring of his own and looked over the breastplate.

  The breastplate was battered and rusty in appearance and the UI only said it needed to be cleaned to know its true nature. “Great, I get the mystery surprise item. Long as it isn't cursed it should at least help me survive.” Dumadin sat down outside the cave and began cleaning the breastplate. “You know, I probably should have saved that stoneskin potion for the end of the fight when he went all berserk. Can you make those, Kittish?”

  “Yep. Might as well make some now while you polish your metal,” Kittish laughed and sat down next to him to brew her potions. “I have four mountain bloom, so I can make four of them and I have three nights cradle for the discernment potions. Might as well make them all.”

  Terets sat down and studied the bear skin he'd collected along with the copper buttons Dumadin had given him. He looked over the interface and pondered what to make. Dumadin's yell snapped him back to attention.

  “Woo frickin hoo, this breastplate is a Steel Breastplate of Sturdiness,” Dumadin yelled and started to put it on. “It has triple the armor protection of just the armor and stops the wearer from being moved by opponent's abilities. Meaning good ol' Teddy couldn't have tossed me into the cave with that last swipe.”

  “Sweet man! I'll look over what I can do with the bear skin later. Do we want to fast travel to Smee's or walk?” Terets packed the skin and buttons away in his bag.

  A bright light interrupted them, as a gossamer winged elf appeared near them. Jazzy looked around then focused on the three friends who look
ed back at her. “What have you done? Theodore was a level fifteen unique creature, there should have been no way for you three at level five to beat him.”

  The three friends looked at each other and laughed. As they tried to control themselves her foot started tapping, sending them off for another round of giggles. Finally Terets regained his composure enough to speak. “Well, we did. It was close, and it took everything we had but we downed Teddy all the same.”

  “With starter gear and at level five that is impossible. What hack or trick did you use? I need to know so we can patch it before live, please.”

  Dumadin shook his head, “None. We used the potions that Smee gave us and the equipment from Thallien. A little teamwork honed by years of playing together and some luck was the rest of it.”

  Terets's face took a stern cast, “We do not hack, cheat, or anything of the kind. We never have in twenty years of gaming and we wouldn't start now!”

  Jazzy took a step back and blushed and shifted her eyes down, “I... I am sorry... I didn't mean...”