Last Horizon: Beta

by Daniel Schinhofen

  Will's eyes tracked to Miriam who was in the kitchen. “She agreed to this?” Miriam turned and nodded with tears on her cheeks hiding her face from David. “I take it your sisters will scream and kick and do everything they can to try and force you to stay longer.”

  David nodded, “Very likely. They will come around eventually once I make it plain. I also plan to keep playing. In the last month I have had more fun in the game than I have in the past year out of game. It will be two weeks before we log back in, but we will continue. Will you join us?”

  Will looked at his friend and spoke softly, “Yes. Of course I will until the end, my friend. What are the plans for once you are gone? What about the funeral and wake?”

  Miriam cut in, “We’ll be talking with a funeral home this week. As for the wake we plan to hold it on the day beta goes down. They’ve hinted there will be a forty hour delay between beta and live. We’ll be inviting everyone here, everyone that we still talk to. This way he gets to attend his own wake which he found funny last night.”

  Will laughed at that, “Yup, that’s him all over. Can't let us mock him when he goes, oh no he has to be there to make sure we don't go too far.”

  David started to laugh but his voice caught and the tears started to spill. Miriam came out of the kitchen and hugged him. Will got up and knelt down and joined the group hug.

  “We are with you until the end, just keep moving forward. If you stumble we surely will as well.” Will mumbled into the hug trying to keep his own tears at a minimum.

  A few minutes later they broke the hug and moved into the kitchen as Miriam informed them the food was ready. After eating they broke out the old Joking Hazard card game by Cyanide and Happiness and tried to lighten the mood some.

  Once Will left for the night the lovers lay down and cuddled on the bed. “Am I being selfish in my wants?” David asked his lover, holding her tighter.

  “No dear you aren't. You just want to have as much happiness as you can before you leave the rest of us. It would be selfish of us to impose our wants on you instead at this point. I will be a little selfish though, you are warned.” Miriam smirked into the darkness as she rolled him onto his back and started to plant kisses on him.

  “This kind of selfishness I approve of,” he sighed as she continued.

  After they had finished and began to cuddle David broke. His walls came down and the wracking sobs took over. Miriam pulled him in tight and began to soothe him. Whispering to him, she rubbed his back and tried to be his strength now.

  MAJOR PATCH

  The next two weeks went by fast as all of their friends were called and informed of the news, along with multiple visits to the attorney’s office to get the will and estate nailed down so Miriam would be secure when he passed. Finally, two weeks later the morning had come to log back in. David and Miriam embraced for a bit longer than normal.

  Miriam questioned him, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “Yes,” was all he said as he kissed her and they got into the pods. They tried to connect but got a message saying that they could not connect. Grumping, David grabbed his tablet and checked the Last Horizon web page.

  Miriam’s phone rang, it was Will calling to tell them that the server was down due to a major content patch being pushed today and that the server wouldn’t be up until eight tomorrow morning. After a brief talk about the day being shot they decided to invite Lavender to dinner at the Simmering Bowl at five that evening.

  With the knowledge that they had a good chunk of the day free David decided to see if there was any info on the patch. They didn’t have a lot of detail, just broad information. All abilities were being reworked and all chosen abilities were being reset for players to be able to choose again. Stamina was going away for something called Crafting Points. Instance entrances were being changed from the creepy oily blackness to a white mist because of player feedback. Poisons were getting a complete overhaul as they had been too overpowered. Spells were going to get aesthetic components to help players feel more unique. The fast travel relocation went from one a day to one a week, making that even more important.

  The friends talked and decided to take separate cars, as Will hoped to spend a bit longer talking with Lavender again. Will ended up following David into Vegas and to the restaurant, never having been there before. When they arrived they found that Lavender had already arrived and secured them a booth in the back. They greeted her and sat with Will sitting next to her and the others across from them.

  Lavender started to express her sympathy about the medical diagnoses, but David quickly cut her off. “It’s fine. When life gives you lemons,” He paused briefly letting them all think of the normal refrain, then continued, “You scream and cuss that it wasn’t oranges.” He chuckled as all three of them blinked with puzzled looks. “Curve balls are the best. Listen Lav, life isn’t fair and yes while it sucks that I’m going to die relatively soon it doesn’t matter. I will not lie down and wait for it. True I am not going to try and prolong it, either. I will however grab it by the head and make it my bitch. I will live every day as I have before, possibly with even more gusto. I shall curse, yell, and be wildly inappropriate. The reason why is that is who I was before and who I still am. I absolutely refuse to change for the universe and this cancer. To refuse to be who you are and live life as the gift it is...” He cut off as Lavender’s face started to crumple and a few tears slid down her cheeks.

  Will looked at his friend and slightly shook his head and then laid an arm around Lavender’s shoulder and started whispering to her. After a few moments of that she lifted her head and looked at David. “I haven’t lived that way for the last twenty years. I hid and ran and distanced myself from everything but my sister. I have regretted doing that more since I met you all. Now you sit there defiantly yelling at the universe that it can bite you. I don’t know if I can, but you make me want to try.” With that she wiped her tears away and turned to Will and kissed him square on the lips.

  Will blinked but wrapped her in his arms and returned the kiss tentatively, while the other two looked on with smiles. After a minute the kiss ended, it hadn’t been wildly passionate but it had a certain promise.

  “I see why you drove yourself now,” David quipped.

  Will rolled his eyes leaving his arm around Lavender, “Jackass. I had no idea. I was going to stay and talk with her as she is smarter, funnier, and a better person then you.”

  David laughed a belly laugh and put his hand up in mock surrender. “I yield sir, you have bested me in verbal combat to defend the maiden.”

  The group chuckled as the server came to take their order. After their drinks had been brought and the appetizer had been sampled David asked, “Has your sister said anything about the patch, Lav?”

  She shook her head, “Not much beyond they’d found too many loopholes and issues and that she wouldn’t be available during the next two days.”

  “Well, that sucks. What have you all been up to? I mean, we did log out in front of the Red Baron’s keep two weeks back.”

  Will answered him as Lavender had just taken another bite. “We scouted the surrounding villages getting intel on the Baron. Seems he’s mostly okay, firm but fair is what we kept hearing. Some of his men are getting out of hand of late and he hasn’t curtailed it yet. I overheard an innkeeper mention that the Baron might be looking for unknown people to help him out with this issue. So, we might have a way of bargaining for the journal instead of having to try and assault the keep. I went into it a few days ago and the place is well done. It will either be a transaction or a ruse to get close and then trying to fight our way out.”

  “That at least gives us something that might be fun. It would be nice to have multiple ways to accomplish the objective besides just the standard killing everything.” David mused out loud as the server took the empty plate away and started setting out the first course of cheese.

  After the server had gone they fell back into rehashing some of what
they had already done in game and making guesses at things that might be changed. The meal went on with laughter and much speculation. After the dessert David and Miriam excused themselves, leaving Will and Lavender at the table talking. On the way out David paid the bill without telling the two left at the table.

  Will and Lavender talked about the game a bit more before a silence overcame them. “I did enjoy the kiss Lav,” Will started, “I don’t know if I am ready for more yet, but you are swaying me to do so.”

  Lavender looked down and took his hand squeezing it gently. “I want to try Will. I won’t lie. I don’t know if it is a good idea, but right now I really want to try. It is frightening and yet with David being so brave it seems a waste to not take some of his spirit and give life a try again.”

  Will untangled his hand to gently cup her head and turn it to face him. “Then we should do it right. Next week I’ll come to Vegas and pick you up for a real date. Just the two of us out for the evening. Say, a trip to Ammo and Guns, a few rounds at their shooting range then dinner.”

  Lavender blushed but didn’t look away from his eyes, “That sounds like the best date I will ever have.” She leaned slightly into him, resting her head on his shoulder as the server came over and informed them that the bill had been paid.

  Will stood and retrieved Lavender's wheelchair from the side. He waited with her outside for the taxi to come get her. Before she left, he took her hand and looked into eyes. “I will await next week with anticipation.” He bent and kissed her hand, stepping back when he was done. As the cab pulled away she looked back at him with a huge smile.

  LOGGING BACK IN

  The next morning the group reformed outside of the Red Baron's keep. Exchanging hellos they sat down and started going through the abilities to see what had changed. The talked as they looked them all over, sharing what they found.

  “Block is changed, it has two options under it now. The first is the random complete negation of damage, the other is a 5% damage reduction with shield on.” Dumadin said as he looked his first obvious choice over.

  “They changed Riposte to make it more believable, it only happens on a parry. The aether cost is still the same which is nice, but it means no more free attacks from misses.” Emelia mused, “Which helps bring it back down to not be so OP.”

  “Fuck,” Terets grimaced, “Poison is now a 10% application chance. To increase it you need to take Poisoner and then Master Poisoner to increase the chance to 25% and 50%. That is going to really cut down on us being able to use them. Especially since they said they nerfed poisons overall and we don't know just how useful they’ll be now.”

  The group murmured at that one, they knew it was the right idea as poisons had been a little too useful but it still hurt overall. “Oh nice, the spell aesthetics have a wide variety. I can make fireball look at least twenty different ways when I pick the spell. It also says I can change the look with a small fee at the Magi guild.”

  “Same with healing,” Kittish chimed in. “I need that single target heal, but I see a good Heal over Time as well. Might need to pick up that to help offset the small damage that adds up like the spiderlings.”

  Felton just hummed to himself as he picked up his beloved crafting abilities first. “Well, I have one ability for combat at the moment so I’ll wait for you guys and then take some kind of utility.” The group nodded as they were all focused on their UIs, going through the options.

  “They changed Iron Blood as well. It’s a passive now. A 5% reduction of all incoming damage and poison effectiveness cut by 25%. Hmm, that with the mitigation shield ability would give me 10% less damage incoming.” Dumadin started doing some math in his head and searching through the UI.

  “Not sure if I should take Parry and Riposte now with the change. I’ll have to take Dirty Tricks for when I end up soloing things but, hmm. Dirty Tricks is basically unchanged, giving the targeted mob a 10% chance to miss each attack at least.” Emelia sighed, trying to figure out how to best distribute her abilities.

  “Oh, nice,” Kittish chirped, “A passive ability for healers called Retribution. Each time I direct heal a player it does 5% of the heal as damage to the healed person’s target. That would at least let me chip in instead of always being stuck chain healing.”

  “I wonder if that works with the necklace?” Dumadin mumbled. “If it does it might end up being partially broken.”

  “We’ll find out. I’ll have Healing Light for direct healing, Healing Pulse for my HoT, and Retribution. I’ve given up the idea that I might actually be able to cast boom magic.” Kittish pouted slightly, wishing she had been able to take DPS abilities.

  “Ummm,” Amythyst spoke up hesitantly, “I can take over healing if you want, Kittish. Since we’re staying as a group I don't feel the need as much for Stealth and Icebolt.”

  Kittish blinked and looked up, “Really? I can do it and don't want you to feel like you have to.”

  “No, it’s fine. I used to play healers all the time, it was just the first log in that spooked me. Dancing Angel had been set to be a healer and after the incident...” Amythyst shuddered and got a half hug from Terets, who was sitting next to her.

  “You know, if you both take some healing and DPS it would be good. This way if we lose one of you we don't lose all of the healing.” Dumadin added to their conversation, “Why don't you focus on healing, Amythyst, but take at least one damage ability. Kittish, take the HoT to chip in with so she can focus on healing me, and you can try to keep the group up between booms. Then Amythyst can get off the random spell here or there if I’m good on health.”

  The group talked it over and decided why not give it a try. Amythyst and Kittish also exchanged necklaces and rings, as it made the most sense.

  Terets spoke up, “I took Stealth because we need one scout. And did you see some of the new abilities for gathering? Each one has the chance of doubling your take from the animal, plant, or mineral depending on which one you take. I guess that’s for those that want to focus on gathering.”

  Emilia's head came up as she scrolled though the abilities again. “Oh so they do, at 20% per gathering. A little underwhelming unless you focus on gathering mats. I’ll take that one next time I get a new ability so I can check just how useful it’ll be in live for getting Felton his ore.”

  The group nodded as they tried to finalize their abilities. “So, Block with the flat mitigation, Iron Blood for flat mitigation, and Anger Howl for the area taunt.” Dumadin said as he finished up his picks, “Nothing to really help with damage but it should make me a better sponge. Block and Iron Blood are passives this way which means the only aether spender I currently have is Anger Howl.”

  Kittish giggled, “I have Healing Pulse, Chain Lightning, and Shock. Shock has a chance to stun an enemy for one second and does okay damage. Chain Lightning has less damage than fireball but does stun all mobs effected for one second. It’s a little pricier with the aether cost, but it should give you a chance to pick up all the mobs with Anger Howl.”

  “I’ve taken Healing Light, Fireball again, and Retribution. Even if I get stuck chain casting Healing Light I’ll at least be chipping in on Dumadin's target.”

  “I took Dirty Tricks, Parry, and Riposte again. Next level I’ll take Gatherer-Mining to check the usefulness for getting double mats.” Emelia said, and hugged Felton.

  “Stealth is easy, and since I still like dual wielding I took the Improved Dual Wield ability. That completely negates the to hit penalty using two blades as long as they’re both Light Blades. Which leaves me with one more ability.” Terets went back over the choices. “I’m thinking that Gas Bomb sounds good, it lets me toss a Gas Bomb up to thirty feet away, and it doesn't break stealth. The cloud causes all enemies in it to be weaker in physical combat. That should maybe mitigate a bit more damage for you, Dumadin.”

  “Sweet man, sounds good to me.” Dumadin gave him a thumbs up and chuckled.

  “Well, for my last ability then,” Felton spoke
up, “Maybe the Distracting Shout, which is a new name for Crippling Shout. It still gives a base 10% miss chance to all enemies effected by it. Which makes it the group Dirty Tricks. It’ll be my only aether using ability and has a thirty second cooldown on a fifteen second ability.”

  “Still sounds good, damage being mitigated and more chance of being missed means I should be able to stay up longer.” Dumadin stood, as did the rest of the group, “We’ve kept the Red Baron waiting awhile now. Shall we go and speak to his Bloodiness?”

  Laughing, the group walked towards the gateway of the Red Baron's keep. “For the Bananas,” Felton spoke as they stepped through the outer gate.

  THE NOT SO BLOODY BARON

  The passage from outer gate to inner gate was a killing zone. The passage way had arrows slits to either side, murder holes in the roof, and multiple portcullis waiting to be dropped.

  “Well, this keep is set up right,” Dumadin gazed around as he spoke. “Very nice. I am so glad we are coming to parley and not doing a direct assault.” The rest of the group noted the defenses and chatted as they exited the hall to be stopped by a guard at the inner gate.