Last Horizon: Beta

by Daniel Schinhofen

  He smiled and then made his pitch, “If you would do me the honor of leaving me your excess coin in your absence, I will return it all back to you with a 1% profit when we meet after the event. It will help me with a project I have started just recently.” Tabitha came in with a round of drinks and stood with Bjorn at the head of the table smiling. The group smiled, thinking they knew what he was speaking of.

  Dumadin smiled and chuckled, “I will bring back all but a hundred gold in a few minutes then, Bjorn. I just need to go to the bank to retrieve it all.”

  Bjorn shook his head and handed them each a copy of a contract and continued, “This form will transfer the amount you list at the bottom from your account, saving you the trip. If you read it, you will note it states what I have said- that I will use your coin in a task that is not specified but that a 1% profit will be returned to you along with your original coin in just over one month. If you wish to include any items in your vaults as well, we can do the same with them.”

  Felton and Em took their time reading though it before nodding, “Seems solid to us,” they signed off on it, not caring as it would be moot with the close of beta. The others also signed off on it and handed them back to Bjorn. Each of them included all the items and gold that they’d collected so far, except for one hundred gold each that they kept for incidentals during the Carnival.

  Bjorn grinned and hugged Tabitha to him, “We thank you for your generosity, Heroes.”

  Quest: Fund Bjorn’s project

  Let Bjorn use your coin during the Carnival.

  Reward: A 1% return on your coin and increased reputation with Stoutbank.

  Quest Complete: Fund Bjorn’s project

  Receive: Max reputation with Stoutbank. Speak with Bjorn after the Carnival to get your coin back.

  Achievement: You are Legend

  Max your reputation with a Town or City.

  All allied or neighboring towns will view you as Heroes of their settlements.

  The group blinked as the achievement popped up on their UI, then chuckled. Saying their goodbyes to Bjorn and Tabitha, they fast traveled to Veno to grab a portal to Floreme. As they appeared before the gates along with thousands of others, they agreed to meet up around seven and make their way towards the main square were the amphitheater was.

  CARNIVAL BEGINS

  The group reformed and began to make their way through the throng. Eventually they made it to the main square, which was massive. The amphitheater stood in the middle of the area, taking up most of the square. There were vendors and booths scattered around the structure. Today the place was packed- it was estimated that at least one hundred thousand players would log on today to see and partake of the events.

  The group had used the online registry to make sure they were registered for the events. They worked towards the amphitheater with determination and finally made it inside the walls. More moving through crowds followed until they reached the top tier, and moving out into the stands, looked for a place for them all. Taking their time, they walked around until they found six seats all together and sat down gratefully. Five minutes passed with idle chitchat as the stands filled to capacity. Over a thousand others were standing in the walkways when a booming gong sounded.

  A flash of light brought everyone's attention to the floor of the area where a gossamer winged human stood. He began to speak, his voice easily reaching all who were inside.

  “Greetings Adventurers! I am Paval, one of the leads for Last Horizon. This month we are holding many events for you to compete in. Everything earned here will be added to your inventory when live launches a few days after the event. We will be resetting all the quests and events from beta to give everyone a fresh start Last Horizon goes live. Which means the coin and items you can earn here are very valuable indeed.”

  He paused as the crowd murmured, then spoke again, “Each of the developers will be presiding over different events. I will handle the PvP events, Larry is watching over the crafting events, and Jazzy will be handling the rest. You need not worry about missing an event you have signed up for, you will be teleported there before the event starts, as long as you are within fifty miles of this city.”

  He paused again as everyone cheered this announcement. People had been worried about being able to get to each event on time. “The Grand Colosseum here will be holding the group PvP events and the single and duo PvP events will occur in smaller amphitheaters around the city. The trade district will be host the crafting events. The vendors there have gladly agreed to help us for these events.”

  He paused again as the crowd laughed at the idea that the NPCs had a choice. Paval chuckled along with them then went on, “The equestrian events are being held in a few different parts of the surrounding country side. Again, do not worry, you will be teleported there in time to prepare yourselves. Everyone who was here for the opening, including those stuck outside will be receiving upon launch a commemorative coin. Each year we will hold these events and each year will have a different coin. We’re still debating if these coins will be used for anything later, but it looks doubtful. However, some NPCs might want to buy them from you simply for their rarity value. The longer you keep yours the more it might be worth.”

  His wings beat and he rose gracefully into the air, “On the last day we will be unveiling a tribute to those testers who have helped us the most. In each city will be an obelisk with the names of the avatars who helped the most inscribed upon it. On our web page will be a list of their real names, but with no hints at who is who. Welcome to the end of Beta and the start of our Carnival!” With that a flash of light he was gone. After a moment, everyone started to file out of the stands. The group stayed where they were, waiting for the crush to abate.

  “Paval seems to like flaunting his wings, unlike another of the Devs,” Dumadin murmured to his friends as they waited for the crowd to thin some.

  Amythyst grunted, “He always liked showing off. It was his idea for the wings and light effect, after all. I still don't know how he talked Larry into it, but Jazzy fought it until Larry agreed.”

  The group shrugged and finally stood as the crowd thinned, “Let’s go take a look at the city. I don't think Felton and Em have been here before.”

  They headed through the streets, pointing out details to each other. This city seemed to be a cross between Florence and Rome. Each of them recognized iconic landmarks scattered through Floreme, though each one was slightly altered from the original it represented.

  Felton nodded, “I noticed that the amphitheater they have in place of the Colosseum is bigger than the one in Rome. The real one only holds maybe eighty thousand, this one holds one hundred thousand or more. And it was packed.”

  Everyone chuckled, “There goes that engineer brain, doing math during events.”

  Felton laughed and shrugged, “I am what I am, after all.”

  They found a tavern near the edge of the city and went in. The place was full of players and a few NPCs, but they found a table free. Ordering some wine, they continued to chat about the various events coming up.

  They kept an ear out for gossip as they talked, and caught snippets of various people bragging about how well they were going to do in one event or another. They finished their drinks and headed out of the city for a tour of the smaller amphitheaters where the single and duo PvP fights were going to be held.

  Dumadin chuckled and hugged Kittish to him, “Looks like our first duo fight is up. See you guys in a bit, we’ll be at the last small amphitheater.” The group nodded and hurried in that direction to catch the fight as Dumadin and Kittish disappeared.

  Dumadin and Kittish appeared in the arena across from two other players who were sizing them up. Dumadin grinned and waved to them and then to the crowd. A voice informed them the fight would start in one minute.

  Dumadin whispered to Kittish, “They both look like rogue types, as shocking as that is. I will pull them to me with Anger Howl once they attack. So get your Hot up on you then
on me, since I’m sure they’ll target you first. Back to back as planned at the start, then drop your DoT and I’ll bleed them. Then it just becomes outlasting them.”

  Kittish giggled and hugged him as the ten second count down started, “I hate PvP, you’re lucky I love you.”

  A gong sounded and they went back to back as the two opponents vanished from view. They waited patiently for the attacks as Kittish got the HoT's up on them both. The duo attacked Kittish in unison dropping her health to 25%. Before they could attack again Dumadin used Anger Howl and made them switch to him. He turned to face them and took a hit as he back stepped, making them follow as Kittish used Poison Cloud to DoT them. Dumadin then hit one, then the other with Seeping Wound so now they both had two DoT's ticking at their health. As the two attackers turned to go back to Kittish as Anger howl wore off she hit them with Chain Lightning, stunning them. As they stopped Dumadin hit one then the other before they were able to start moving back to Kittish. Anger Howl came back off cooldown and he used it again to turn them back to him. The attacks came fast at that point and he did his best to mitigate the damage.

  Anger howl wore off and both of the attackers vanished with under half health. “Back to back,” Dumadin yelled and ran to Kittish. She sprinted to him and they got back to back just as the rogues attacked her again in unison. Her health dipped to 5% as she hadn't gotten back to full before they vanished the second time. Anger Howl again pulled them off her so she could Poison Cloud them again. Dumadin got Seeping Wound applied to them both and watched as they began to turn to Kittish only to be hit with Chain Lightning again, locking them in place with a stun. Dumadin smirked as he finished one off with two attacks. The other one spun on him and got a critical bringing Dumadin down to 50% health. Dumadin just grinned and back peddled as the DoT's slowly claimed his opponent’s life. When the second one died the crowd cheered.

  The announcer gave the results of the fight and the duo was teleported to the front of the amphitheater. The rest of the group came out and congratulated them, with Terets showing off the extra twenty gold he’d made betting on them.

  “Great! Dinner is on him then,” Dumadin laughed and the group headed back to a tavern. “I know the bulk of the solo and duo fights are going to be stealth heavy. With Amythyst and Kittish it won't be so bad, but that's why I didn't advise you two to try, Felton.”

  Felton laughed, “I don't want any part of it really. I don't mind being an extra body for the Bananas but not in the low end fights.”

  Just as they finished their food Terets laughed and grabbed Amythyst, “See you guys in a few.” They vanished and the rest of the group left the tavern and started walking towards the outer amphitheaters.

  Terets and Amythyst finished their fight a few minutes later and found their friends waiting for them. “That was sad, really sad,” Terets laughed. “The guys fighting us were five levels below us and had no way to handle both of us getting healed at the same time. They almost got her at the end with a bleed, but no such luck for them.”

  Amythyst dimpled, “It was funny. The one kept calling out that we had to be cheating somehow when my necklace healed him every time I healed myself. Guess they didn't know about the double healing effect on some items.”

  The group started off again as the afternoon wore on and they wanted to be close for Felton's first crafting competition. Just as they reached the avenue of crafters, Felton nodded and vanished. They hurried their steps and got to the small square where the various crafting events were being held. They moved to the left where the weapon crafting was and settled in to watch their friend.

  As the round ended, Felton was the one chosen to go onto the next round as his weapon had higher durability and damage than any of the other three he’d been up against this round. As he joined his friends he laughed, “None of them had been past Initiate in their crafting. That was a little disappointing. The next round will be fun, making the most with the limited mats they give us. If I get one proc from the bonus Thallien gave us I will win easily.”

  The group headed off and spent the next few hours watching various group fights. Their turn was coming soon, so they got an idea of how the group compositions were running. It seemed most groups ran one healer and burst dps. Dumadin smirked as he nodded, knowing his plan would work for at least the first few rounds.

  When it was their turn they appeared in the arena and bowed to their opponents and then to the crowd. Dumadin double checked that they each knew what to do and was roundly told to go teach his mother to suck eggs. Laughing, he waited as the countdown reached the ten second mark.

  The fight was surprisingly easy for them to win. Between the variety of DoT's they had up on the enemy and the double healing of Amythyst and Kittish, it proved to be too much for the other group to counter. More so when Dumadin pulled all the dps onto him for a few seconds, allowing his group to focus on and kill the opponent healer. Sure, he died for his trouble but by then the enemy was fighting a losing battle.

  When the fight ended he stood up, not dead in the technical sense but just knocked out of the fight like Terets had been as well. “Our Life Elixirs won't trigger here, something to keep in mind.”

  Dumadin laughed, “First round to the Bananas!” A cheer from his friends made him smile broadly and they went off to a nearby tavern for a drink and to sample the local food. The local food turned out to be a take of chicken parmesan, which was delicious.

  The night wore on with no other events for them the first day and eventually they called it a night and promised to meet back up around seven thirty the next morning.

  Dumadin reminded them before they logged out, “We have a group fight at nine and then again around five.” They all nodded and each of them logged out with smiles.

  MEET LARRY

  The next day the group had another easy fight with the first group at nine in the morning. The other group just was not prepared for the DoT's and burst on the healer. Dumadin died again, but he was perfectly happy with that outcome. The single fights went quick and easy as well, as both duos faced stealth match ups who didn't have an answer for a healer who didn't die right away.

  When the time came for the crafting event the group was watching as Felton did his thing and easily won the round. One of the other participants started throwing a fit as Felton had produced two more swords than he should have been able to. The NPC who had been officiating the event tried to explain but the whiner just wasn't having any and then lunged at the NPC with weapons.

  Felton responded without thinking, and the group found themselves in a PvP scuffle in the crafting area. When the dust settled, the NPC was being healed by Amythyst and the complainer was dead. The crowd had watched in silence and was starting to cheer when a bright flash alerted them that a dev had just arrived.

  When the light cleared there was a balding, pudgy human with gossamer wings on his back standing there. “Okay, what the hell is going on? I have way too many things going on for these interruptions.” The crowd blinked as the balding man rubbed his head and turned to the NPC. “Tell me what happened here, Antonio.”

  Antonio bowed deeply to the dev, “Messenger Larry, I am sorry you were interrupted. Please forgive me. There was an altercation when one of the contestants didn't accept my ruling.”

  Larry waved a hand at the NPC and sighed, “Make it march. I’m busy.”

  Antonio explained that the other player had objected to Felton being able to produce the extra swords. He described the conversation, and his own attempts to explain to the player, and being attacked by the upset player with no warning, then Felton and his group stepping in to quickly end the situation.

  Larry stared at the group, eyeing each of them in turn before pausing on Amythyst and shaking his head. When Antonio finished he sighed and nodded, “Okay, fine attacked you because he lost and these others stepped in and saved you, got it.” Larry turned his eyes to Felton, “I want to speak with you and your friends, do you agree?”

  Felton
nodded, “Of course...”

  A flash of light blinded them and they found themselves in a place that looked like a modern day pizza shop. The difference being all the waitresses were elvish females wearing very, very little, and the place was empty. The group were all sitting on one side of a large table and Larry on the other.

  Larry grinned slightly, “So the prodigal group is here and competing. I’m sure Jazzy knows and is keeping an eye on you. However, that is not the issue currently. What is the issue is if you are breaking my game.”

  Amythyst huffed, “It is also my sister’s game as well.”

  Larry waved her off, “Yes, yes I know. However I have spent the last five years of my life devoted to this game. I have spent well over a year of that time just on the crafting system. I want to know how you managed the extra swords and I want to know now.”