Last Horizon: Beta

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “Ibu's only at the moment, you know how much I hate opiates. Though the last two weeks I have been having more nagging pain in my back and hands. I need to schedule a checkup with the specialist to see if my prognosis is still the same or if it is worse.”

  Miriam spoke up, “I set up an appointment with them yesterday. Three weeks from today at four in the afternoon. They’re going to take scans of your bones and take some more marrow.”

  David glanced at Miriam with a sad fondness, “Always taking care of me.” He leaned over and gave her a kiss as the server came to get their drinks and orders.

  As the server left, David looked at the other two. “So, been a little over a month now right? How are things going with you guys?”

  Will smirked at his friend, “None of your business.”

  “Oh come on, I just want to know if you’re still feeling the love? I didn't ask if you two were doing anything specific.”

  Lav spoke, “We are fine, thank you. We’re taking things at our own speed and enjoying our time together.”

  Miriam placed a hand on David's shoulder, “Leave them be. They’re finding their own way and we should not influence that at all. After all, considering how we met and stay together we aren't the best on advice.”

  Lav grinned, “How did you two meet and hook up exactly?”

  Miriam began to relay the story as the drinks arrived. She touched upon David's first love, who had met Miriam in an internet chat room. How they’d found common ground and talked, and eventually David had joined them in conversations. As the food arrived she continued the story between bites, how the friendship had bloomed between them. Then the tragedy of the pulmonary embolism, taking the life of a friend. How she had helped keep David sane through the loss. The issues she’d had with housing and about to be homeless. The offer and acceptance, and a trip across the country to reach him, ending with the twenty plus year relationship they were currently enjoying.

  Lav had tears though part of the story as Miriam spoke of her lost friend. She was smiling along with Miriam when the tale finished along with the food. “How amazing for you two. Friends for over thirty years and together for over twenty.”

  Miriam smiled, hugging David, “Yeah. We still argue about who the lucky one is.”

  Will cut in, “Still say him, after all I’ve had your cooking. We should do a get together at your place tomorrow so Lav can experience your food.”

  Miriam laughed, “You just want more of it. You’re good with BBQ pork and cheesy mac I hope, Lav. It's his favorite.”

  Lav agreed smiling, “That would be wonderful. I haven't been to a friend’s house in many years.”

  “Okay then, we’ll get everything set up and see you tomorrow night,” Taking David's arm, the duo made their way towards the door. David stopped and paid the bill with the hostess as Will stood up to object.

  “You know he wanted to pay, so why did you do that?” Miriam asked as they got into the car for the trip home.

  “Because I won't be able to soon, and it makes me happy.” David replied staring out the window on the way home. “I am selfishly taking all of it I can.” The drove the rest of the way home in silence, not broaching the subject again.

  The next night Will arrived with Lav and used the ramp he’d built to get Lav’s chair into the house from his truck bed. “Glad I asked you about a ramp,” David smiled as they came inside.

  “Welcome to our home,” Miriam greeted Lav and Will. “Will, you stay with David while I give her the nickel tour?” Miriam then proceeded to show Lavender the house and all the special bits she enjoyed the most. “Lastly the best room, the kitchen. All this counter space and storage space. I love my kitchen the best.”

  “How much longer for food hun?” David called from the living room.

  “About five minutes, feel free to set the table.” Moving to the stove, she checked the cheesy mac and the simmering pulled pork.

  David and Will came into the kitchen and got the table set along with beverages. Making sure Lav was settled, Will sat to her right. David then helped Miriam bring the food over and get it set for serving. “We don't stand on protocol here, so dig in,” David finished as he sat down.

  Will served Lav and then himself before passing the spoons to Miriam. Miriam served herself and set the spoons aside with a smirk. David grumped and reached for the spoons to serve himself. “Brat,” he mumbled as he finished.

  Miriam beamed and turned to Lav, “Just remember to keep him on his toes with little things.”

  Lav giggled and dimpled, “It's not the little things I think about...” Her face flushed as David started laughing. “That is not how I meant it...” she stammered.

  Will rolled his eyes, “He knows, but he can't help himself. Simple minds are easily amused. And he is used to thinking of some things in small terms, after all.”

  Laughing, David wiped his eyes, “Touché, sir. I’m sorry Lav, but that was a softball being lobbed over the plate. I normally would have said something other than laugh but I wasn't expecting it.”

  Miriam rolled her eyes, “Yes, yes. Eat your food and let the civilized people talk, dear.”

  David rolled his eyes now and furrowed his brow, “Ape no like people. People poke at ape and make mean comments.”

  Will laughed then, “Yeah, but you stopped throwing poop at least.”

  Lav's eyes widened as she looked at them all, “He used to...”

  The entire table fell out laughing for a few minutes, to Lavender's confusion. Miriam explained when she got hold of herself, “No. It’s an old joke we have about house training an ape, meaning David.”

  Lav nodded slowly, “Okay. I was worried for a moment. I mean, I would believe it if it was true.” This caused Will and Miriam to fall over laughing again and got a smirk from David.

  “Okay, okay the food is getting cold. Let’s stop with the David bashing for a bit, eh?” David finished and filled his mouth by example.

  Silence settled for a few minutes as they all enjoyed the food. “This is wonderful Miriam. Can I get your recipe?”

  “Oh sure, I'll email it to you tonight. It’s really easy, but the BBQ is always slightly different as I use a blend.” Miriam smiled and made a mental note to make sure she did so after dinner.

  After dinner for the rest of the evening they played board games and laughed with each other. Eventually, Will called it a night and escorted Lav out to the truck.

  Helping his friend place the ramp back into the bed, David smirked. “So taking her home, or home?”

  Will smirked back, “To her house and shut up. We’ll see you guys tomorrow in game to check the housing addition.” Saying goodbye, he left and David went back inside and cuddled with his lover.

  “I think they’ll make a great couple, if they stop being awkward teenagers and actually get on with it.” David said as he held Miriam on the sofa, in a good cuddle.

  Miriam nodded with her head on his chest, “Yes, they will be fine. Let’s go to bed and get some rest.” Helping him up and into the bedroom she demanded attention and he did his best to give her what she wanted.

  Logging back in near eight am, the group collected themselves in the town square of Stoutbank. Almost a hundred players were also here, all of them talking about the new housing addition or the jeweler profession. The group looked at all the others and held a brief discussion about alternate places to try the housing UI. Fast traveling to Thallien’s they found themselves at the base of the cleft as usual. They started walking away from Theodore’s cave for a bit, once they had gotten about half an hour from the base of the cleft they started to fiddle with the housing UI.

  “Okay, so with the costs what they are we could all easily build a large house. However why don’t we spread it out and see what each of the lower settings can do. Kittish, if you build the shack, Amythyst the cabin, and Terets the house, I will build the large house.” Dumadin explained so they could really get an idea of what the options looked like and were capa
ble of.

  Kittish began to look into making a shack and the only option was something that looked like a yurt with a ghostly appearance. Selecting it she indicated a spot and it popped into existence. They entered and checked it out. It was roomy enough for the four of them with the place for a small fire in the middle with a vent hole in the top. “Not horrible, but what do you expect for the low cost?” Kittish laughed. Checking the UI she noted a button and pushed it which made the yurt vanish with a pop. “Okay no clutter when you push the abandon house UI button.”

  Nodding they waited for Amythyst who fiddled with the UI and watched as a ghostly one acre area appeared for her to place anywhere she wanted to place it. She picked the spot and it appeared with the existing landscape disappearing. “Wow tree removal express,” she giggled and checked the UI and noted she had access to shape the landscape of the acre but that was it. “Why can’t I place a house like the yurt? The UI only says I need a blueprint from an architect.”

  Dumadin nodded, “There was one of those in Veno if I remember right. I guess they do the actual building of the structures, I wonder how? Let’s go to Veno and see what we can find out.” Shrugging, they fast traveled to Veno to find the place teeming with life. Most adventurers were all heading in one direction- towards the architects, Mason and Sons. Approaching the shop they found that it was packed with players all cursing and complaining about everyone else being there. Motioning to his friends Dumadin broke for a side street and got away. “Fuck that is crazy and about right, ha,” Shaking his head he laughed. “Patch day madness. Everyone wants to play with the new toys. I have an idea, however if you all want to give it a go.” They nodded and waited as he continued, “A few of those major cities had mentioned that no adventurer before us had been there, so let’s go to one of them and see about housing near them with the local architect.”

  The group grinned at the idea of how simple it would be to get away from this and hurried to the Magi guild and took a teleport to Tiblama. Walking through the city, they found the local architect guild with no one near it and, laughing, went in. They were greeted by the owner as normal, “Welcome to Happy Houses, I am the owner Ai Shu. How may I help you?”

  Dumadin greeted the owner with a smile, “We are here to speak with you about building homes for us Ai Shu.”

  Ai Shu nodded, “Yes homes are very important, please look over my homes and select the one you like best. I have all styles up to Manors for sale, I only have one style of those sadly. I need to learn more, but my city is isolated compared to others.”

  Quest Available: Houses for Sale

  Bring Ai Shu five blueprints he doesn’t have.

  Reward: A house blueprint of your choice from his stock.

  One hundred thousand experience.

  Bonus available: Bring Ai Shu a different Manor blueprint and receive a choice of either style for free, only one per group.

  The group grinned and looked at each other, seeing a way to turn some quick xp for a bit of gold. “Ai Shu, we can help you with this. If you will show us the blueprints that you have for sale we shall find you different ones,” Kittish spoke with a large smile. Ai Shu showed them his ten selections, two cabins, five houses, thee large houses and one Manor. The group conferred for a moment and coming up with hopefully a viable plan bought all of his blueprints minus the manor, which cost too much. They left the shop and went to the Magi guild to head for another secluded City. They quickly found the way to the architect of the city and entered eagerly. The owner greeted them, but they weren’t paying much attention, only catching his name not the name of the shop.

  “Greetings to you as well Zulim, we are here to speak with you about different houses that might be available.” Kittish finished with a smile and a gleam to her eye.

  “Oh that is well, but my stock is limited. My city is not visited as often as others. I wish I could show you a larger display, but I have very little.” Zulim sadly declared, shaking his head.

  Quest Available: Houses for Sale

  Bring Zulim five blueprints he doesn’t have.

  Reward: A house blueprint of your chose from his stock.

  One hundred thousand experience.

  Kittish’s grin grew larger as she pulled out the three large house and two cabin blueprints they had from Ai Shu, and set them in front of Zulim. “Well then, let us help you with that. We also would like to buy some of your blueprints.”

  Zulim’s eyes widened and he took the blueprints carefully and secured them in a chest. “Yes of course. Here is my book,” he handed over his blueprint book for them to browse over. Kittish selected the manor he had as the quest reward, then they purchased the three cabins and five houses he had for sale. Thanking them, Zulim got them the blue prints they asked for. As they exited the shop the group laughed, “Okay, we might have found some easy xp but this is not going to be sustainable. We’ll need to let Jazzy and Larry know after we’re done.” They took another portal to turn in the quest to Ai Shu and give him four house blueprints and the manor blueprint. They received his manor blueprint as their quest reward and then selected the manor blue print they’d just brought him as the bonus reward. As they exited the shop, they noted that with all the xp from visiting different cities and now the extra two hundred thousand from this they’d reached level eighteen.

  “This is nice,” Kittish laughed. “We can try one more with what we have and it’ll cost us all of the blueprints we have except one of the manors.” Not seeing a reason to not do it one more time, they took another trip and made the same deal with another architect and received his manor blueprint in return for the five blueprints they gave him. He then offered them eight thousand gold for the other manor blueprint they had. The group conferred and agreed to give him the other one and then bought a cabin, house, and large house blue print from him. This gave them one of each type up to manor to play with. Fast traveling back to Thallien’s, they walked over to the plot of land Amythyst had claimed earlier. The land she had claimed had reverted to normal, and checking the UI they noted you had an hour to set up the correct house on the site or the land reverted back.

  “That makes sense. It will stop people from claiming land then doing nothing with it,” Amythyst sighed and again started to set up for a cabin. She selected her acre, then taking the blueprint set it inside the acre she had selected. A ghostly image of the cabin formed before her, it was stylized after the province they had been in. It looked like an adobe hut, as it was from the city of Managalpa. She turned the image in front of her and walked it around the acre. It turned red if she dragged any of it across the boundary. “Can’t build outside of the area.” She set it down in the center of the area and the cabin slowly took form, then with a whoosh it was solid.

  Smiling, she entered the cabin followed by the others to look around. In front was a single large room with a fireplace on one wall and a small Franklin stove. A smaller area in the back served as a bedroom. There was no furniture other than the stove in the building. “I take it the carpenters in town will have the furnishings for the homes, then.” Amythyst finished looking around and began to fiddle with the UI. “Oh, I can set what the grounds look like. Let’s go take a look at the options.”

  Stepping out, the group watched as various ghostly plants, trees and grasses flickered into view and faded. “Wow it’s really subdivided, there are herb plants, bushes, trees, rocks, even a well. Let me play for a few minutes and I’ll finalize it all.” After about half an hour she accepted her creation and the landscape became solid instead of ghostly images. She had placed one of everything she had the option to place trying to get a good view of everything that was available. “So, the fruit trees will bear fruit that can be used for cooking once a season. The herbs can be picked once a month. Some of the rocks have ore veins inside them and can be gathered by miners once a month as well. Other than that it’s all cosmetic, really. Some of them do look really nice.”

  Agreeing, they took the time to look around, then bl
inked as Amythyst stepped up to a rock and hit it with a pick a few times until it broke, giving her copper ore. “When did you take mining?” Dumadin asked with a grin.

  “I took it this morning along with Jeweler to try it out,” she replied and set the smelter out and melted the ore down. Laughing, she picked up her bar and a small aquamarine, “Got my first gem, which is funny as it told me that gems would be rare.”

  “Rather be lucky than good, as my dad always said,” Dumadin quipped and smiled.

  “I’m ready to try out this house and see what it’s all about,” Terets said and selected a three by three acre plot right next to Amythyst’s cabin. The ghostly outline of the acreage appeared and took a red tinge when he had it overlap with Amythyst’s land. “That answers that question about people trying to edge into your land.” Selecting a spot, he pulled out the house blueprint and placed it, then took the ghostly image of the house and set it on one of the back acres. It was a larger version of the adobe cabin, larger with thicker walls and a better roof. Inside the house were multiple small rooms along with a large central room with attached cooking area. There was also a large fireplace in central room and a larger wood stove. “Not bad. I take it the building is based off the blueprint maker, so all of ours will be in this style.” Stepping back outside, Terets fiddled with the UI for the grounds, “Hey, I can make a whole acre set for food plants, like potatoes or tomatoes. I can also set up a small quarry which should make getting ore easier, I think.”