Last Horizon: Beta

by Daniel Schinhofen

  Dumadin spoke up, “If the building styles are based on the maker’s province, let’s take a quick trip to a different city. We can see if we can trade our large house and manor blueprints in for different ones.”

  “That sounds like a good idea.” They picked a northern city and traded in the large house blueprint for one of that style. Luckily, the city wasn’t packed like Veno so it didn’t take long. “Look, let me get the manor one and I’ll make the next trip while you guys check the house out. I want to take a trip to Perans and trade for one from there as I like the look of that style.” Dumadin pleaded with his group, who agreed. The others went back to try out the large house while Dumadin went off to Perans.

  As they finished setting up a nice looking Victorian house with multiple stories and letting Kittish play with the land, Dumadin came back with a grin. They showed him the ten room house with the large dining room, kitchen and gathering room with multiple fireplaces throughout. “Oh wow, this is really nice,” he agreed looking around at the house and fields Kittish had set up. They looked at him expectantly once everyone had taken a look at Kittish’s house.

  “So, we need to start walking south a bit. The land for a manor is large, and these are set too close for me to do this without the space.” He grinned and they started walking. About an hour later he called it and began to select the UI interface. A twenty five by twenty five acre area came into existence which he placed.

  “God damn, no wonder the manor blueprint takes ten thousand gold. That quest is slightly broken since we were able to get it for free.” Terets said, laughing, “We need to make sure that is underlined in our next email.”

  Grinning, Dumadin took out the blueprint and set it down, allowing the ghostly image to form, watching his friend’s faces. They were impressed as a manor fit for a musketeer movie formed into existence at the center of Dumadin’s acreage. As it solidified, they walked inside and took a grand tour of the house. There were well over twenty rooms including three dedicated bathing rooms, two dining areas- one large and one small, and a giant kitchen with roasting spit and wood ovens and stoves. “Awesome, isn’t it?” Dumadin enthused, “I talked with the architects who said that the mob had finally settled down when people realized that they couldn’t afford the manors yet.” Laughing, he waved at the house, “According to the NPC if I furnish it and such I can recruit NPCs to work for me here. He suggested a grounds keeper, cook, a few maids, a hound master and stable master to start with. The list went on a ways and he had suggestions as to who to talk to in the city.”

  The group looked stunned, “Staff, really?” Kittish said, “You mean not having to try and clean it all by ourselves? Did he hint at what it would cost?”

  Dumadin nodded, “He didn’t give hard numbers, just that your reputation would affect how much it would cost and if they get treated badly they would leave. So, yeah a manor and up lets you recruit NPCs to help with the place, keep and castle of course having larger staff. On top of the pay you have to provide food and housing as well.”

  Terets laughed, “So we get NPC henchmen to take care of the place?”

  Dumadin gave them the next tidbit, “Yeah and the staff will harvest your plants or ore for you and store it until your return. If you set up a hunt master that includes hides as well.”

  They took a moment to let it sink in and then started commenting about how nice it would be to get extra mats without the extra work. Dumadin went on, dropping the next tidbits, “If you have a keep or castle you can recruit professions to work in your domain. For instance Dunstun, Alvira, Bjorn if you get an inn, etc.”

  They paused again and started to laugh, “We get to become overlords?” Kittish started rubbing her hands, “Okay, I want a castle or at least a keep now.”

  Dumadin paused again and then continued, “The land you have surrounding the keep or castle you can let NPCs settle and collect tax and tithe from them. Of course, that will affect their rep with you so you don’t want to go too overboard.”

  “So we can set it up so the tax is enough to pay for the upkeep of a keep or castle?” Amythyst asked, seeing the bonus to that. “It would stop it from being a continuing drain on us.”

  “Yeah. Now imagine for a moment if we had a legendary weapon smith housed there, say, Felton? Imagine all the extra traffic it would raise, the extra potential for the Inn and other professions to make more money.” Dumadin finished, watching his friends with glowing eyes.

  “Sounds like home sweet home to me,” Kittish said and hugged him.

  Terets laughed, “Yeah, sounds pretty sweet man. We will get it done, no worries.”

  Amythyst nodded her agreement, “It might take a bit of work after live, but yes we will do this.”

  “Did you notice that you have the option on the map to fast travel to your home, without having to waste a marker on it?” Kittish spoke up after a moment of silence. The others checked and laughed as they hadn’t noticed it until then. “Well, we still have a few weeks until we are slated to check in with Thallien, and we should probably get another two levels at least, so what should we do?”

  BJORN'S TALE

  A little over two weeks had passed with the group finding and completing a few quests from Veno. With the random mobs and quests they had been able to reach level twenty. They talked over what abilities would be the most helpful going forward with a supposedly killer dungeon coming. Dumadin took a Frost Explosion, which centered on him and bound all enemies with ice for two seconds. Terets took Vanish, so he could restealth in combat and drop any aggro he had picked up. Kittish took Paralysis, which paralyzed a single enemy for two seconds. Amythyst chose Freedom, which would remove any status effect that locked a character in place. The ability was an instant cast with a slightly high aether cost, but could be used while stunned. It removed stun, paralysis, and frost.

  “We should check back in with Thallien today,” Dumadin started before pausing. “Tomorrow though, me and Miriam won't be around. Have to head into Vegas for a checkup. We could do dinner again if you two are up for it?”

  “Oh that sounds grand!” Amythyst said and gave him a hug.

  Terets chuckled, “We seem to be easing her out of her shell.”

  Amythyst playfully slapped Terets’s chest after the hug, “Yes, you really are helping.” She beamed at the other two, “The last few months have been amazing. I have friends who really care for me, and a boyfriend who is taking his time to know me. I feel loved and happy.”

  “Aw,” Dumadin said and grabbed her into a big bear hug. “Group hug on Amythyst.” The other two piled on and squeezed.

  Laughing, they broke up and fast traveled to Thallien's. They let Amythyst hit the ore nodes to see if she might get a gem. Sadly, it seemed the chance of getting gems really was low. “You have only gotten what, three gems this entire time?” Dumadin queried with a frown.

  Amythyst nodded as she put the ore into her crafting bag, “Yeah one from mining and two from smelting after all these weeks. The forums are going nuts with complaints but Larry replied and locked the thread. Saying that as Jewelry was indestructible they didn't want a glut on the market. He then put up a poll asking if jewelry should have durability with gems being more common or to leave it as is.”

  “Hmm, tough choice there,” Terets mused, “It would give Jewelers more work if the items decayed, but it would make it harder for people who had items they liked as they would need to keep replacing them.”

  “Yeah but look at our weapons and armor,” Kittish chimed in, “currently they are good for a month or so at a time with repairing them before we need to think about replacing them. So, the low end stuff we blow by and are upgrading before they need to really be replaced due to durability issues. Now we’re getting more selective with our stuff that has special abilities. Dumadin's breastplate that makes him unmovable, for example. It’s good for one more fight, so he has it stored for a fight we’ll need it on.”

  “Good point. At higher levels, though it sho
uld create a good market for the smiths. I mean the weapons will get better and such, but they’ll only be making a few items a day.” Terets shrugged as he finished speaking.

  “True. Felton will find out when he gets back that being a crafter only might be a little bit of a letdown in that way. However, having the legendary stuff for sale will mean that people will always come to you for the best which is nice.” Dumadin countered with a smile, still visualizing a keep or castle with a Bananas flag flying above it.

  They reached the top of the path and looked at the canyon. Snow covered the ground and the lake had a layer of ice. The river had ice forming along the banks. The river still flowed, but it was freezing up here.

  Terets shivered, “I hate the damn cold.”

  A hoarse, scratchy voice called from the cave, “My friends have returned in time, praise be to the gods. Come my friends, we have little time left for what must be done.” The group went into the cave and found Thallien curled up in his bed with mounds of blankets over him. “Time grows short for me I fear. You should be able to make it in time though for me to finish my work. Will you collect my last journal? It resides in the Cave of Death far to the north.”

  Quest: Find Thallien's journals, part five.

  Collect the fifth journal from the Cave of Death and return it to Thallien.

  Warning this is a group quest and all but impossible alone.

  Reward: One million experience and the Word of Thallien.

  They accepted the quest and Thallien motioned to the map on the table, “There is where the cave can be found in the frozen north. Return as quickly as you can heroes, I shall be waiting.” With that his eyes closed and he began to snore.

  Consulting their own maps, they saw the city of Iglooluit was closest to the cave, and would still include over a week of travel through the frozen wasteland of the north. “We’ll need to get some warm clothes for the trek, should be easy enough in Iglooluit though to find some.” Kittish commented as they made their plans and exited the cave.

  “What do you think the Word of Thallien is?” Amythyst inquired of her friends.

  “More than likely the memoir he has been working on with the journals. Goodness only knows what it might do, though. It might just be a static book that has his travels, or it could be the guide to some fabulous treasure. Once we finish the quest we’ll know. Weird, though that he’s getting sicker as we progress with the quest chain. I mean, I don't think NPCs can die, so this is getting slightly weird.” Dumadin finished as they fast traveled to Veno to grab a portal to Iglooluit.

  Appearing just outside the gates of Iglooluit found them in a blizzard. Terets cursed as the group pushed into town, making for the leather shop in hopes of getting some fur insulated armor. As they entered the shop they were greeted by the owner as they stamped the ice and snow from their clothes.

  “Greetings, and welcome to Furry Leather. I am Kirima, the owner of the shop. How may I assist you today?” the smiling face of the Inuit lady asked them.

  “We’ll be traveling to the north and require clothing to keep us warm on our trek.” Kittish replied as she finished knocking the snow off herself.

  “Oh, a trek into the wilderness. Just be careful. If you travel too far you will encounter the Beast and its cave. I can easily supply you with the coverings needed to keep you warm on your trip. Look around the shop for what you would like. All of it is guaranteed to keep you warm here.”

  Terets asked, “Beast? What is the Beast and where is its cave? So we might be better advised about what to avoid.”

  Kirima faced dipped into sadness for a moment, “The Beast of the north makes its home weeks to the north west of here. Its cave is known as the Cave of Death by the entirety of the north. Only two people have ever seen the cave and lived to speak of it. Their friend didn't return with them, and they were a broken band after that.”

  Dumadin nodded, “The two who survived were an elf and a dwarf, both of which were male and the missing member was an elvish female?”

  Kirima nodded, “I see you have heard of the southerners who thought they could match the Beast. They did not speak of what they went through at the cave, but all know that only death awaits any who venture there.”

  The group exchanged glances and finished selecting the items they needed. Paying for full sets of fur insulated leather armor for everyone took a chunk of their remaining gold. Thanking the owner, they stuck the pieces in their bags and conferred briefly. Deciding talking with Bjorn first would be a good idea, they used their rings to fast travel to Stoutbank.

  They entered the Lonely Wood Inn and were greeted by Tabitha. They asked her where Bjorn was and she took them to the private dining area where Bjorn had a bunch of papers laid out.

  “Oh, greetings friends. What can I do for you?” Bjorn asked as they were shown in.

  “We have an update on Thallien for you and a few questions. Tabitha, can you bring a pitcher of mead please and enough mugs for us?” Dumadin asked as he chose a seat and looked at the papers.

  They waited for Tabitha to come back with the drinks for them, then she excused herself to tend to the bar. “Well, Bjorn, frankly in regards to Thallien we believe he is dying. He seems sickly but insists it isn't anything that can be taken care of and is becoming increasingly lethargic.”

  Bjorn nodded gravely, “I am surprised he has lasted this long frankly. I have worried about him doing anything drastic since Bettie died. If he is finally letting go of life, then we will plan for his passing. It is sad that he never got to finish his book though.”

  Terets raised a brow, “Well, that is what we were coming to ask about. He sent us off to collect the last journal which is in a cave to the north.”

  Bjorn grew pale and gulped his drink at the mention of the north. “He is asking you to go to the Beast's Cave of Death and get his last journal? He is sending you to die then, my friends.”

  Kittish frowned, “Why Bjorn? What do we need to know about this Beast? What makes it so fearsome that we can't possibly overcome it?”

  Bjorn poured himself some more mead and took his time answering. “It is painful to think about even now after all these years. We had traveled together for over ten years and crushed everything that came before us. We accomplished everything that we had been tasked to do with such ease. Then Thallien came to us with a story of a cave that none had returned from alive. It was supposed to house a vast selection of rich ore veins and a few rare herbs.”

  He took another drink and put the mug down, “In our pride we set out and traveled from Iglooluit to the Cave of Death. We ignored the talk of the city folk and town folk on the way, so sure we were. We had no idea what we were going into. When we entered its cave, it howled in fury. It chilled our very bones and froze us in fear. We could hear it deep in the cave pacing and throwing debris around.”

  He shuddered and downed what was left in his mug and poured again. “What happened next is a blur. I went to scout, to see what we were dealing with. I was hit by one of its paws as if I wasn't even in stealth. The claws ripped me open and I was bleeding out. Bettie rushed forward and cast her spell upon me to stop the bleeding and save me from death. Thallien charged forward to give us time to retreat.”

  Taking another drink he shuddered, his eyes unfocused as he relived the past. “Thallien's journal fell out as he rushed past us. Bettie picked it up and pulled me to my feet and shoved me toward the entrance. I stumbled that way, in a daze, when I heard Thallien scream in pain. He came crashing into me and we both were knocked to the ground. Then we heard Bettie scream in agony and we scrambled to our feet in time to watch the Beast throw her into a wall. She was impaled on several stone spikes that grew from the walls of the cave. As we started forward, she cast her free hand out and we were flung out of the cave. The entrance grew a solid barrier of ice. Her favorite spell, Ice Storm.”

  “We pulled ourselves together and I bound Thallien's arm as he lay there twitching. I lugged him back to town with me as he was
lost in his own mind. I don't think we made it, the townsfolk said we were found short of the village, that they brought us in and warmed us. Thallien wanted to go back to try and save her, not wanting to deal with the fact she was dead. I clearly remember the blood gushing from her mouth when she cast her last spell.” Bjorn shuddered, and wiped his face with his sleeve.

  “We argued for days. Eventually I left with him in a rage over my refusal to go back there. It almost broke our friendship entirely. I came here and settled down. A few years later Thallien came and spoke with me. Said he would be at the secluded cave he calls home now. Asked for me to bring him food twice a year and send anyone I believed worthy to him to recover his early journals. You were the first group I sent to him. Now he wishes to send you on a death errand.”