The two of them, in pure silence, gazing out at what was and what could have been should they have not succeeded. While one perpetually ponders the ‘what-if?’ the other only sees how far they have come and accomplished. They have done so much, the two of them together, and much more lies ahead before them.
Just for a moment though, time seems to freeze seeing what had happened and what could have passed, but it did not and the two of them are thankful they were able to help stop the second coming of the End of Days.
“Let’s go, Cuz, we’ve seen how this plays out, and gave it Hells. We got a lot of tails to kick on the road ahead.” Laureine snaps out of her thoughts and glances over at Lizicus showing her usual confident smirk back at her. She smiles with what confidence she can muster, and they both return to their world below, safe from what could have come to pass once again.
One late afternoon over at HQ, I managed to catch up with Miss Laureine who was working on some side-projects. This project in particular, seemed to be some combat field research, and so I decided to give her some assistance for a spell. Once that was all done for a moment, we sat down in our gazebo to chat at see how things were going.
Hearing what her and her cousin had been up to, it took me back just how far Miss Laureine has come every since that faithful day I met here just roaming around Gridania.
“Do you remember that day those summers ago?”
Laureine just stopped for a moment looking up at be bewildered. “W-what’s that, Missus?”
Miss Laureine has always been known to be prim, polite, and professional in everything she does to everyone she talks to, well everyone but her cousin. She tends to keep her in line as much as possible, which I have to admit I find amusing as it reminds me of the early years with Tess, Aikirees, and I.
I smile back at her and give a subtle chuckle. “The day I met you, back in Gridania.”
“O-oh, that day! I very much do, Missus, but why do you bring it up?”
“It just came to mind talking with you and hearing all of the adventures you’ve been up to with Miss Lizicus.” Miss Laureine smiles back. “It was quite a day; I do recall being very overwhelmed by Gridania seeing as I had just arrived there not too long ago. I-I wasn’t sure where to go or what to do.” I nod in return, and she continued. “But then you came along, Missus, gave me assistance, and helped me understand Gridania far better by coming along with me around the town answering all of my inquiries with no objections!”
“You were very excited to be there, and just so exploring every area of the city you could access!” Miss Laureine laughed. “I really did, Missus!” She recomposed herself and then continued. “But then, when the day came to an end, you asked me that one question that forever changed my life. You asked me to come with you!”
I smiled and nodded back at Miss Laureine. “I did, and you accepted. You learned about everything you could get your hands on and feel deeply in love with Allagan technology” Miss Laureine smiled and nodded warmly in return before I continued. “Here you are now, you’ve gone to the ends of the known existence and back, you’ve grown to protect those around you, including not just Aikirees and Aryiah, but our beloved Juli and Sirena as well. You’ve become so strong, and I am so proud of you for it.”
“M-Missus…” Miss Laureine’s voice began to waver with emotion; this might have been the first time I’ve ever seen her like this.
“You can craft like the best of them, brought Miss Lizz into the fold, and have helped me out tremendously even though I never asked you to. I’m very grateful we crossed paths on that faithful day; you such a wonderful Au Ra”
I could sense that Miss Laureine was on the brink of tears at this point. I got up, grabbed her hands, and lifted her gently to her feet, and then hugged her as tightly as I could. Miss Laureine began to weep, and I continued to comfort her.
“M-Missus…” I just kept embracing her.
“Thank you, Miss Laureine. Thank you for everything.”
After a little bit, Miss Laureine hugged me back gently, thanked me, and then we parted ways back to our adventures again. Seeing her back then to now feels almost like it was yesterday that faithful day happened. She’s grown so strong and so powerful with everything she’s learned over these summers. I look forward to where her adventures with her cousin take her, especially as we inch ever closer to our journey to Tural.
The two cousins, one garbed ready to use Black Magic, while the other ready to use White Magic. Both gazing ahead as best as they could through the winds, dust, and ash floating through the air getting ready to transverse an area of Othard known as the Burn. Laureine ready to protect Lizicus from whatever hostile denizens they’re happen to come across as they seek out additional cartographic notes from their previous journey here long ago.
While it was a less intensive evening on their Islands, the two cousins, after many moons toiling over their hideaways, have laid the land for the final landmark plot currently available. Laureine’s excitement cannot be contained as they await what will happen next once this last structure is finally complete!
Upon returning to HQ, Laureine heard something faint but familiar coming from downstairs.
“Let the revel begin!”
“Susano!?” She thought with a quickly flashing moment of panic, but she knew that couldn’t be as he was dispatched many summers ago while traveling through the Ruby Sea. She paused and gathered her thoughts for a moment as to how this could logically be possible.
“The seas part for we alone!”
The Susano-like voice could be heard faintly echoing across HQ once again. Laureine snapped to her senses, and rushed downstairs to see what it could have been, ready to summon one of her weapons to assist in stopping the Primal once again if necessary…
…Only to be bemused upon discovering Lizicus knocked out from a teeny-tiny version of the Lord of Revel. Recalling a gift she had acquired from Missus Sirena a few moons ago, Laureine wouldn’t have thought that her cousin would actually attempt to spar with the innocent looking wind-up figurine and be completely knocked out by it’s finely crafted replica of Susnao’s famous sword.
Laureine let out a sigh of disbelieve and relief, covered her cousin with a blanket, turned off her miniature Susano to not cause anymore unintentional havoc, and went to bed. She knew once her cousin awoke she would stumble into the bunk eventually, as it’s not like Lizicus to miss out on sleep when she can.
After many, many, moons, Lizicus finally managed to get a bathhouse going close to the shore of her Island Hideaway. With that all being taken care of, she invited her cousin over to enjoy a gorgeous sunset while getting some much needed relax in the nice rejuvenating hot spring waters.
It was a clear windy night out in Western La Noscea, and Laureine had just found her mark for the week. Before departing the area, she stopped at The Brewer’s Beacon and just looked out into the sea towards Pharos Sirius. The cool breeze gently moving her dark blue/teal accented hair, and simply enjoying the tranquil view with nothing more than that as company.
Even with it being near the sea at night, the cool night didn’t affect her at all. The warmth of her Allagan Suit comfortably kept her warm even on the coldest of nights. Not long thereafter though, her exhaustion caught up from all of the day’s adventuring and she decided to head back at HQ with her cousin awaiting already asleep in the bunk.
A tuckered out Lizicus rests her weary head on Laureine’s, as they both bask in the warm campfire’s glow on a beautiful starry night sky relaxing on the beach after a full day of adventures.
The cousins got all dressed up and had their Little Ladies’ & Hatching-Tide outing the other evening, even with Laureine insisting that Lizicus wear a pair of bunny ears for the occasion. Even with the two of them radically approaching the festivities in their own way, they kept the spirit of both seasonal events to heart.
The event itself is incredibly short, only with a couple of things to do around Gridania before it migrates over to Ul’Dah to conclude. It’s still a bit of fun though with a nice mount acquired at the end, along with all of the wonderful festive decorations that can be seen across the realm as both of these are celebrated together.
Couple more images showing all of the scenery an their outfits close-up.
May y’all have a very wonderful Little Ladies’ Day & Hatching-Tide event 2024! Head on out there in your favorite outfit, hug a bunny or two, enjoy some deliciously confection delights, and have lots of fun with it all!
With all the battles fought, going to the far reaches of existence and back again, along with delving into adventures on the Thirteenth, the two weary cousins finally take time to enjoy some quiet island relaxation.
There is quite the surmount of tasks to do on their islands still, but the far laid back take to these said tasks will be a good change of pace, especially for the ever punctual Laureine, as we get ever closer to heading westward to Tural…
Over the past weekend, we completed not only the remaining two role quests series left to do, but also the finale series after one has completed all of those as well! Bearing in mind that the last ‘bonus’ questline doesn’t appear until after completing the Endwalker MSQ, but just up to 6.0.
Note: Minor spoiler talk about the bonus finale role quest series, along with the achievement image.
The Caster Role Quest series was pretty good, nothing really to write home about but did a nice job adding in an additional story relating to Heavensward. The instance fight at the end was super fun and even Black Mage friendly! The Healer Role Quest, however, was by far the absolute best one in terms of story. The ‘fight’ was fun and required using an ability that most of the player base keeps forgetting about (this would be Esuna). To me, it felt more manageable of an instance fight than the Shadowbringers’ one was, but that might have also something to do with how they fixed how heals work with NPC’s in these sort of scenarios.
Originally, to the best of my recollection, AoE heals wouldn’t work correctly and everything had to be hard-targeted to NPC’s for them to work in instance fights. I can’t say for Trusts as I’ve never healed for them before. I could be very inaccurate in this thinking, so definitely take my thoughts about this with a cup of salt.
Anyway, in terms of Role Quests stories, I’d place them in this order from my favorite to ‘least’: Healer -> Tank -> Caster -> Ranged -> Melee. Melee and Ranged aren’t ‘bad,’ but they just didn’t hit any interesting notes with me. I think I said in the prior post about these, that one’s mileage will vary with how one feels about them as well.
The cousins just after finishing the bonus Role Quest series.
Speaking specifically of the healer one without getting into spoilers, it just had me moved to tears on a number of occasions. If one appreciates the later Stormblood MSQ sections, I’m certain one will very much appreciate the entirety of the Healer’s Role Quests series as well.
Moving on, once we were able to access the final bonus questline, it had us heading to Garlemald to deal with one more Blasphemy with all of our friends from all of the role quest series. The entirety of this whole adventure was an absolute blast! Everything upon entering Garlemald to the instance fight (dungeon?) it had was so darn fun. One recommendation I will say as of right now the instance fight is not iLevel Sync’d, so go in with whatever one is more comfortable with and/or highest iLevel for a fun tail kickery.
Once it’s all done, everyone goes home, and hints at something to come that I believe was mentioned for Dawntrail, but we’ll see. We’re asked to return to Radz-at-Han and let them know that the end of the Blasphemies are upon us and all is well once again.
Yisss~!!
Overall, I cannot recommend these enough to anyone wanting to see the entirety of it. It’s just so fun, but please don’t go out of one’s way to level 5 different job types just to see this specifically. If one is already going to level said job types, then that is where I recommend looking at these.
Comparing it to Shadowbringers’, I think it suffers a little bit in terms of anchoring the stories as well as those did. However, they’re nice little additions and follow-ups (or perhaps conclusions) to specific areas of previously told parts of the story/MSQ. One nit-pick is I hope in Dawntrail and beyond is they start them again at base expansion level (i.e. 90 for Dawntrail) instead of halfway through.
With those behind us, on wards to the next adventure~!!
After a long day of adventure, the two cousins reconvene at the end of it at EOCA HQ’s warm fire pit. Shortly thereafter arriving and telling both tales of adventures they did separately, as well as talking about the ones they did together, poor Lizicus begins to nod off right then and there.
As much as Laureine wanted to chastise her cousin for doing so, she simply just smiles and lets her drift for a moment before nudging her to let her know it’s time to retire for the evening.
“Cuz, you looked so peaceful nodding off there at the fire pit, even if it was for just a spell. I know you really appreciate sleep and rest, so I just let you do so without giving you a hard time. Sorry I had to, but I really didn’t want you to go fully asleep in that position, especially with exposed legs and that corset out in the cold weather for a prolonged period of time. Even so, thank you for the brief talks about how everything went today; these little moments together mean so much to me.”
Over this past weekend, the long journey of us going from just a whee Lancer all the way to jumping and diving our way across the battlefield has come to an end. I’m so glad this was the melee class that I was recommended to start out with coming from being a caster main, but by no means would I ever main play this class.
Melee range to me is such a foreign thing along with making sure I’m in roughly the right area of the enemy to make sure the damage is correct for that part of the combo. The final combo, albeit long with a number of abilities/proc’s, felt good and thanks to the cooldowns each one has, it gave me a moment to think about where I am in the chain of abilities and what to do next.
The four of us early on as Lancers.
Paralleling acquiring new abilities for the combos was also learning and acquiring all of the jumps and how they worked was so fun to do along the way. To this day, since Peloton is located in the same spot on Bard, I still Evasive Jump instinctively thinking it’s Peloton only to either be slightly embarrassed in a Duty or some awkward part of a town that we were simply just trying to get to our destination a bit quicker.
A ton of the early leveling was using Frontlines, so learning PvP and understanding how that worked along the way was a nice added bonus aside from the obscene amount of experience it gives in lower levels. Laureine was planning on wearing the Late Allagan set, so this really helped her acquire that well before any of us were even able to plan outfits!
All of us after attaining 50 Dragoon
Side thought, running Frontlines from 30-50+ every day kind of burned me out from wanting to do them, so we all ended up taking a break from it starting in the mid-50’s and just focused more on Poetic acquisition to keep gear up to date easier. Aside from that, Frontlines is still a lot of fun in moderation and I do recommend it to anyone unsure if they would like PvP or not – just be sure to visit Wolf’s Den to set up the PvP crossbar for it!
Story-wise, the Lancer story was fun and pretty good. The climatic ending to it I liked a lot as was the fight. Becoming Dragoon at 30 and heading up to 50 had a good tale to tell as well, which also ended on a really fun battle. It was nice to see Estinien so early on too and get more of his back story. Never really knew much about him before we ever got to Heavensward proper. Speaking of that, the Heavensward section was the absolute highlight of the whole story; it was just so good!
The Level 60 Milestone
The Stormblood section was alright, but nothing real memorable until the final battle. Each section really did have a fun and memorable battle of some kind for certain! Leveling-wise, Aikirees and I, along with the Cousins, wanted to keep our levels fairly synced up as we took the journey together. Early on, this was fairly simple to do, but once we all reached 60 and the range of raid choices opened up, that was where it became a bit more of a challenge.
In some cases, it was fairly easy depending on say Aikirees got World of Darkness and I got Syrcus Tower. It would only be a matter of a Tribal Quest or two to address the difference. However, if one of us got something like Dun Scaith and the other Labyrinth of the Ancients, then the catch-up was a lot more comical to figure out! Aside from one misstep, it went pretty smooth.
Celebrating the 70 Milestone
I mentioned earlier that going from Caster Main to melee is a rather jarring adjustment, especially in Raids. Trials and Normal Raids, it wasn’t too bad as we all could see the battlefield fairly easily even with all of the effects. Sages and Summoner’s did make some of the Normal Raids even at 60 a bit challenging to see if we were poking and prodding the right spots though. I believe by the time we all were reaching the NieR raids, this was a lot easier to understand and moving around to avoid certain mechanics had become significantly easier.
On the annoying-side were melee mechanics where we would have to wait it out until it was over not being able to do a whole lot aside from possibly using our buff, or just hurling spears comically (seriously, where do we put all of those?!) Trial Bosses that were facing-only still kind of puzzle me if we’re doing the right thing with positionals, but it seems to always go alright. These are mostly just nit-picks though from someone who is usually just sitting in a corner lobbing Fire IV’s everywhere.
Level 80~!
We did have to do a rework of some abilities on the crossbar once we approached the 80 tier as some of the abilities’ combos started to get a bit longer than I was expecting, but really helped the flow going further. Approaching up to and obtaining level 90 is just a blast with nearly having all abilities at one’s disposal and just continuously jumping and diving all over the place! Raiden Thrust is so darn pretty and reminds me of a certain saga of a Two-Headed Dragon from another Star and I will always see it as that.
This is certainly a class we’ll happily continue to run around and adventure with for the foreseeable future taking on odds and ends or for a different change of pace/view. As for the Role Quests, since we did the Shadowbringers one as a Bard since it was before physical damage was split into melee and range, we’re looking forward to seeing the melee role quests as a Dragoon. As for post Endwalker, well now that all those levels are behind us, getting it up to 100 will be just like the rest of ours and we are very much looking forward to more fun as Dragoon in Dawntrail!
The End – Level 90
Thank everyone over the past few years that has recommended Dragoon to us. I adore this class, and very much pass that recommendation along to anyone wanting to start out as a melee job in their adventures through Eitherys!
“Oh, heya there, Cuz.” Lizicus says to Laureine on a rainy night in Gridania. They both have been fighting hard in their Dragoon training to nearly reach the top now.
Laureine smiles back at her “So what are you doing here, aside from getting wet?” A quick pause happens between the two before Lizicus comes to the realization of the surmount of rain and puts up an umbrella for the two of them to temporarily reside under. “Ah well, you know me, absent minded at the likes of even the weather.”
The both get a good quick chuckle out of the retort before Laureine looks at her cousin with a heartfelt expression. “You did good tonight assisting the Missus Sirena; proud of you.” Lizicus, taken aback from the compliment for a moment before reacting. “Y-yeah w-well, i-it’s nothing really. Just felt like you needed a hand is all!”
Laureine smiles a faint blushing smile. “While that may be true, you really did a good thing, so thank you for that.” Lizicus faintly smiles in response before glancing away.
“S-so anyway…” Lizicus continues, changing the subject and reverting her gaze back at Laureine, “Here we are near the end of our training.” Laureine smiles, “I suppose so, Cuz; it’s been quite the journey!” Lizicus grins in return and nods. “Yeah, and it’s been so rad taking it on alongside you!” Laureine’s expression unchanged, aside from showing some exhaustion. “So, Cuz, where to from here before the big trek Westward?”
Lizicus looks at Laureine expressing contemplation. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe reside on a tropical island on the outskirts of La Noscea for a while? Just want some additional time to relax and sleep before our big trek there would be so rad.”
Laureine laughs out loud. “That sounds like you!” Lizicus scoffs. “Oh yeah? What about you then!?” Laureine thinks for a moment. “Well, probably delve into more Allagan research, or help the Missus with anything they need.“
Lizicus pauses and thinks for a moment. “…Yeah, you know that does sound good too. If you need my help, you can always just ask after this training is over.”
Laureine smiles warmly at Lizicus. “Thank you, Cuz; I will try to not pester you on your vacation as much before we head Westward too after this!” She lets out a happy chuckle towards Lizicus.
All Lizicus can do is smile warmly back at Laureine while holding the umbrella until the rain stops. Once the rain ends they part ways for a spell.
Laureine returns to EOCA HQ before Lizicus and gets all settled into her bunk to sleep. Meanwhile, Lizicus, while getting settled into bed at HQ mutters something before falling asleep herself.
“Hey, Cuz, I know you’re probably asleep, but… thanks for everything and putting up with my antics. I do appreciate what you do for everyone and The Missuses. I’ll try to look after you as best I can, even if I have to use my brashness to get us out of a jam. Love you lots, Cuz, sleep well~”
One evening, while Laureine was assisting me with acquiring some crafting materials, she stumbled upon seeing the great Void Ark flying through the clouds below. She stood there for a moment with her beloved and trusty red panda to ponder the behemoth ship.
Why was it still out there, what does it continue to hide, who still resides within, will it ever return to the Thirteenth or is it just stranded on the Source only to aimlessly fly through the skies until the Twelve know when. Only time will tell if we ever do return to the Ark or if it is truly doomed to float in the skies above northern Eorzea for all of time if only to remind us all of the adventure we once had entering its eerie corridors all those moons ago…
This is a smidgen late, since as of this post we’re fast approaching 85, but we hit the Level 80 milestone on Dragoon! It has certainly been a wild journey looking back on starting out as a little Level 1 Lancer all the while ago. This job has been really really fun and every ability that has been added later on just makes the flow all the more enjoyable!
Don’t get me wrong, even at lower levels with the lack of the combo-chains and procs that can be done, it’s still a really enjoyable job with a pretty good balance between speed and damage. I’m still really glad we all picked it as our first foray into melee, but not something we’d be maining anytime soon though.
Level 80!!
Getting so close to the finish line now, and looking forward to it! Soon thereafter, we’re all off to finally start and complete all of the Endwalker Role Quests!
The Cousins would like to wish everyone a very happy Valentione’s Day today! Y’all are loved and appreciated no matter what. Love who you are, and spread that to everyone around you! ❤
After a long day of adventuring through all of Etheirys, and the First, the two cousins return to Headquarters on this cold wintry night. Laureine placing her technological Allagan Lance and bodysuit into her private chambers, meanwhile Lizicus placing her trusty bow that was a gift from Laureine and armor away in her (rather sparse) private chambers’ armories.
After a quick clean-up and having some hot tea with a little to eat, they both just relax in front of the lower level’s large stone fireplace. They’re normally seen either together or keep in touch as to where they are while running around the vast world, and even on occasion are seen sitting and chatting somewhere, but not like this. On this cold night, while the snow comes down in Ishgard, they are fully relaxed with not a single care in the world even if just for a moment.
Everything from their future endeavors in Tural, Laureine’s next big Allagan idea, Lizicus’ favorite type of drinks, and what the latest ‘rad’ thing she saw in Old Sharlayan the other day just to name a few. All sorts of other things along with that that just came to mind while resting there listening to the light jazzical music from the Orchestration and the crackling of the fire. Lizicus ultimately laying down on a floor pillow slowly dozing out as Laureine just looked at the fire smiling and enjoying the company of her sometimes stubborn cousin, their pets, and just letting time freeze in this tranquil moment.
While it may have been a cold winter’s night outside, it was an incredibly warm and cozy night inside. Stay warm everyone, and enjoy a wonderful fireplace with a hot drink on these cold wintry nights.
