Escort Duty

To

There wasn't much to do while I escorted Neyla.

make it easier to sell off old gear and unused equipment, I helped Neyla move two of his mules to Jeuno after work.

I switched over to White Mage so I could cast Raise if he got eaten, which prompted maudlin thoughts about it possibly being the last time I'd be on that job. That's the downside of planning to quit, because suddenly everything feels like it might be the last time you have that experience.

As escorts go, it was quiet. Getting his galka Babyfat from Windurst to Jeuno was pretty easy because there are lots of mob-free canyon areas. I clubbed a Goblin Fisherman or two, but that's about it. The tarutaru from San d'Oria was slightly more entertaining because the visibility in Jugner Forest can be spotty, but killing a tiger was the only action I saw. Neyla's very good at evading aggro.

Exit Strategy

Five

Neyla and I hit Bibiki Bay for some Beastmaster action.

years after I started playing, it's finally time to retire from Final Fantasy XI. Moving to the evening shift has effectively killed my ability to play the game, because it's harder to find time. There's plenty of solo content, but the game has been a duo endeavor of Halifirien and Neyla for a long time. We're not on the same clock in any meaningful way. The only time we manage has been on Sunday evenings. Four gaming sessions a month isn't really enough to justify a monthly subscription.

Today was the beginning of the end. We're selling off a lot of our old gear, but we're keeping the stuff for our main jobs. While we're pretty sure we won't be coming back, we know from the experience of others that there's always a chance we'll get nostalgic and return. When some people retire, they have a fire sale and sell off everything they have for 1 gil. Plus I worked too fucking hard for my Lu Shang Fishing Rod and my Noble's Tunic to let some other schmuck have them.

I deleted my Windurst mule, Dibbler. He didn't have anything of real value on him, mostly just fish and some cooking supplies. It seemed easier to just sell them to an NPC than try to get anything at the auction house. My other mules, Taraza, Kurrelgyre, and Zocalo, were storing more impressive gear. It'll take a week or two to sell everything, I imagine. We're going to use that time to have some final adventures.

Today we geared up on Beastmaster and rode out to our old stomping grounds in Bibiki Bay, charming rarabs and using them to kill dhalmels. We didn't have any competition; the only other people in the zone were mages killing goblin pets to the north of our camp. Naturally, I forgot to bring Tuna Sushi; Neyla gave me half a stack.

We were out there a few hours, getting about 10k limit points during the session. I earned a fifth merit, which made me wonder if I'd have time to earn four more to raise my STR stat again, which made me smile because I'm retiring and there's no real point in doing that.

We

Onzozo provided some entertainment and gil.

left Bibiki Bay and ran out to the Labyrinth of Onzozo. Neyla used to solo there all the time, but I never spent much time in the back except for the few maddening times I tried to fish coral fragments. We charmed Toramas and fought other cats -- I would've laughed if Ose had popped and given me a shot an Assault Jerkin -- and a few manticores.

There was a Thief running around and farming the area, so we left him alone and killed goblins on our way out. One of them dropped a key, so Neyla found the treasure chest and unlocked it for 3k gil. Not bad.

While Neyla hit Qufim Island and Jeuno to check his auctions, I rode out to Purgonorgo Island. I toyed with doing a little clamming on the beach, but I settled for charming the kraken and using it to kill a few urugnites. Lecan, one of our early BST role models, used to wow us with that when we were lowbies.

I'll be sad when we finally pull the plug. Still, I'll have five years of blog entries, hundreds upon hundreds of screen shots, and soundtrack albums. If I could get FRAPs to work on my machine, I'd make a DVD with video of my favorite zones. So it goes.

(Cross-posted at Random Notes.)