Day 6 – I recently reminisced about this earlier in regards to Bahamut Day, so I won’t repeat myself a lot. This day I will absolutely never forget. The first big event I ever put together to take on all 13 Coils of Bahamut on Saturday morning with a bunch of friends that I had made on Mastodon was such a blast, and led to many many more gatherings with them and so many more friends we made along the way thereafter.
I could emotionally gush about that day until the end of days, and I still want to try and organize a second one someday down the road for more folks who have never done the Coils.
We decided to get together in the Lavender Beds, an old spot we used to relax and just enjoy the tranquil scenery from time to time before we had HQ. It was a cool misty morning, and all that could be heard was the rustling of the leaves with the waterfall off in the distance as the only sounds.
We sat there on that rock for what felt like an eternity in time. I knew what was coming, and I just wanted time to stop if only for a moment. “You know, you don’t have to do this, Little One.” Finally speaking up, breaking the tranquility, but really not looking away from the waterfall. I didn’t get a response, just a pause and the light brushing of Aikirees’ shoulder onto mine. Her tail swished and curled up to my back.
She was trying to comfort me.
I let out a sigh; not of despair, but of acceptance of what was to come. I looked over at her, and tried my best to give a happy and supportive smile. Aikirees just beamed the brightest of smile, such that it could pierce even the thickest of misty mornings, right back at me. “I’sies zee know’sies.” She replied, before laying her head into my shoulder comfortably. “But’sies yew zee know’sies we has hadeded dish zee talk’sies already. I’sies want’sies tew dew dish tew get zee stronger’sies and have mi’s own adventurrrre’sies fur zee once’sies.” I put my arm around her, and give her a gentle hug. “I know, and I know I’ve brought this up numerous times. Sirena and Juli seem very supportive as well, so I just need to as well. I am you big sister still, so I’m always going to worry regardless.” I let her go, and she springs back up smiling all the same still.
We spend a few bells there, mostly reminiscing about the last two summers or so of all the things we’ve done. The good, and the not so; from heading to Sharlyean for the first time, and when we returned after such a long journey. We really have done a lot in what feels like such a short time.
Once the afternoon sun was upon us, she hopped up and went to change real quick, but before long she was back in more traveling attire with a large knapsack on her back. “I’sies should’sies get zee gewing’sies, zee Big Sissy’sies.” I nodded back at her. “Alright, I suppose I should head back to HQ and make sure I have everything packed for the journey as well…”
Aikirees smiles warmly. “Promise me, you’ll make it to Tural safely. Still planning on meeting near the port once we arrive?” She nods at my inquiry, and leans in to give a hug while I just sit there on the rock still. “Zee yup yup! I’ll’sies be zee der’sies!! Yew’sies zee see’sies! I’ll’sies be strrrrronger’sies and zee talk’sies zee bettah’sies!” Without pause, I just simply laugh. “Alright! Deal! Safe travels, Little One; I’ll see you there.”
With that, we exchange our farewells, and I watch her walk off to parts unknown. The last time I watched her doe this was in Kugane many, many summers ago. I had a similar fear back then, but we did finally reunite and I was very hearkened to see how well she had been fairing.
After what felt like days, I finally got up from the rock, and head back to HQ to proceed with making sure HQ’s orders were all in affair before departing myself.
HQ felt so quiet and empty. The cats were all packed and ready to go themselves and were off getting their final rests in before heading out. Lizicus and Laureine had already embarked themselves, much to Lizicus’ chagrin. I make my way to the office, gather some notes from my messy desk and begin to head out.
Glancing at our bunk beds, with all of Aikirees’ carbuncles still lying around at the foot of the bed, a somber feeling washes over me. I shake my head, gather the rest of what I want to take to Tural, and begin to head there myself. Having Aryiah look over HQ with all of us away shouldn’t have me worried at all. She’s done it all before and she’ll keep everything in check, I just know it.
I just truly fear that this will be the last time I see Aikirees the way she is and has always been…
Day 7 goes to the first time we visited Azelma’s place when she was still on Diabolos on a Friday evening. We had finished our evening up pretty early, so decided to hop over to Crystal and visit her place. When we got there, she was out and about but as soon as she realized we were there, she arrived momentarily later.
We had an absolute blast of a wonderful time talking about a whole lot of things, one being music and swapping some artists to listen to. We ended up spending quite the time there, I think it was at least 2.5 hours or more before we all were just so exhausted.
Since then, we’ve had a lot of wonderful moments together, whether it was taking on some battles or chatting it up with the group of us, it has always been a really great time when she’s around.
Day 8 – I’ve never forgotten the evening that Vysk and I spent together for Valentines Day in 2023. Roughly a couple of months after joining Mastodon in late 2022, a little circle of friends started to form and Vysk was one of the first I met over there. He asked if I wanted to do something for the Valentine’s, which was also tied to the currently running Valentione’s Event, and I was delighted to accept.
The evening was so wonderful, and he was such a gentleman through the entirety of it. We did the 2-person maze challenge together that was part of said event, some stargazing in a couple of places, and ended the night chatting at his place. It was certainly a magical night, and it was just the beginning of a lot of wonderful times & memories ahead with all of the folks we were meeting over at Mastodon.
Day 9’s goes to a Burgundy Room event: Burgundy Gives Back. Out of all the shows that I participated in before placing my Burgundy dress into the Archives, this was one of the most stellar events that we planned. This was a 12 hour marathon consisting of bards, dancers, DJ’s, and live-chats all for donating to the Trans Lifeline. We ended up raising over $3,000.00 for the organization, and it ended up being one amazing time through it all.
While I wasn’t able to be there the entire time due to other obligations, once we got there it was such a fun and very long night. Some old friends from the Adamantoise Alliance even paid a visit so even got to catch up and chat with them as well.
Day 10 – Esprit’s Halloween (2022). This was the last performance I was able to make of theirs before their self destruction the following year. The things they did in this show were mind blowing. The trickery of using the backdrop to have people move in and out of the stage area was so darn clever!
Every single one of their performances for this show were some of the very best I have ever seen in all of my time seeing these. They kept raising the bar and this was pretty high up there. A lot of the tunes were very memorable like the Ghostbusters Theme or This is Halloween. They even did a Five Nights at Freddy’s one with one of the dancers even dressing up as Markiplier to open it with.
Even with this being the last one I ever saw them do, it was still very wonderful to see everyone one last time together on stage like this; even with it being a smidgen bittersweet.
Day 11 – A friend of our friend who has the Silent Hill 2 themed Private Chambers invited a lot of us to her Birthday Slumber Party that was being held at their Free Company Estate. We we’re able to go and celebrate with her, and it turned into such a fun night with everyone!
Day 12 – Before my feelings towards all of this shifted, way back in 2020 when I saw my first bard troupe perform, I was very fascinated by it. Aikirees and I would always stop in towns just in case there was someone playing and then stick around for a moment or so just to listen. Usually was a very nice way to end an evening of adventuring.
There was one group that decided to follow us on Twitter (before our departure from that platform), and we did the same. Their name was Forty Forties PAPOTTE and they are a group that performs specifically Final Fantasy music. Since they were based on the Japanese Data Center, it was nil impossible for us to see a show, until several years later they popped up across all of them and performed around the world.
Aikirees and I managed to catch their show on Primal one night and I was so happy we were finally able to!
Day 13 – Once Data Center Travel was available, we spent an evening hopping around trying to say hi to some of our friends on Primal and Crystal. While we didn’t get to see anyone, we did pay visits to their abodes. This one, in particular, was a friend we made over on Crystal and she made her private chambers into that of the hotel room from Silent Hill 2, and it is incredibly well done!
We have had a chance to go back and see its progress much later on, but not since and there has been some turbulence between us that hasn’t helped either. Perchance one day we might be able to catch back up.
It’s almost done now: Rank 19 and this should be the last week before Rank 20. It’s been a really good journey all this way developing our Island Sanctuaries. Never thought upon arriving on the island and just barely understanding how to build the first cozy cabin, we’d be standing here at a multi-level hideaway filled with all these neat little things.
It really was the one of best ending projects we’re currently trying to accomplish to Endwalker we could have asked for.
Day 14 – Prior to founding EOCA, we both were in another Free Company on another server. The name of that FC is Risen Ashes, and we made a lot of friends there for in which a few we still keep in touch (or try to rather). Thanks to this Free Company, I was able to be introduced to the Burgundy Room, which spawned off to meet so so many wonderful folks that I ended up becoming friends with over the years.
EOCA would not be EOCA it it wasn’t for Risen Ashes, and so one evening we finally were able to meet up with our old Free Company leader and catch up about what’s been going on. Haven’t really had a moment to head back to chat, but perhaps one day down the road.
After a week, between all four of us, the first EOCA airship has finally been created! Aikirees held the pieces until it was fully completed, whereas Lizicus and Laureine finished the final part this evening. The naming of the airship was asked across everyone with the prompt for ‘favorite starship name,’ and Voyager was the first one said.
The accent for the gondola section was picked to be black with the dirigible part to be pink: representing both Juli and Sirena respectively. Shortly thereafter, it was sent out on its first ever maiden voyage!
Very morning hours, the U.S.S. Voyager took maiden flight!
This is a very exciting time for EOCA, as we’ve never been able to do airship missions before, and I’m certain they’ll be another airship down the line and it will be picked/voted for the name once again. Safe travels, little Voyager; explore the sea of clouds and boldly go where none of us have gone before!
Day 15 – We were so excited to see that Hildibrand Manderville had finally made his grand return, that we had to dress up for the occasion. He was sorely missed during Shadowbrringers, so him coming back during Endwalker was a very ecstatically happy warm welcome.
Day 16: Esprit Presents: The Flower Festival. The decor for this show was phenomenal, and the songs were all just so beautifully choreographed together. Was also really lovely seeing other old friends I hadn’t gotten the chance to see in a long while either.
If I recall, this was the one I was able to hang-back for a spell after the show and chat with a few of them too. All in all, it was a very memorable evening for certain.
Day 17’s – The day Eorzea Cartographers got the HQ house. We scoured the plots right after Empyreum was opened up to the public to pick out the perfect place for our Free Company’s new home. We finally found one, put in to the housing lottery and when it came up, we had our new place!
Was a really and truly exciting moment; from there, we spent a lot of time planning the entirety of it, gathering & crafting as much as we could do, and then placing all of that hard work. It took a few months of on and off working on it, but it paid off in spades at the end.
Highly doubt we’ll ever move HQ, as it’s just become such a part of EOCA as the name itself.
For Day 18, the last day of the original Cape Westwind Trial, Aikirees and I paid our respects to it one last time.
The reasoning as to why this was a memorable moment is before this patch, it was an 8-player trial and the first one everyone encounters during the Main Scenario Quest. It was such an easy trial that it got joked and meme’d to pieces. Was always such a hoot seeing a couple of sprouts with us and a few of us talking it up like it was some really difficult fight about to beheld and then it ending in literal minutes.
The best one I ever did was someone literally put placement markers on the ground, something one would mostly do during an extreme trial or a savage run. It was great, and a lot of fun silly memories taking this poor feller on as we all kept forging ahead.
Day 19, I chose the first Esprit performance I got the chance to see, MacroCosmos. Esprit and I had an interesting history, as a lot of people that were former Burgundy Troupe members splintered off to create Tech Step and then Esprit shortly thereafter Tech Step severely self-destructed. It wasn’t… pretty to say the least and I had to watch as a bunch of friends turned to enemies.
Anyway… – finally being able to see old friends perform again got me all excited as I hadn’t seen a lot of these folks since the fallout. The show was absolutely amazing and seeing what everyone came up with for their numbers all within the game’s parameters is always such a treat!
Thankfully, before Esprit’s ultimate ending, I did manage to see a couple more of their performances, and they kept getting better and better along the way.
I did this for the countdown to Endwalker way back when, and want to do it again for leading up to Dawntrail. I have picked out 20 of the most memorable moments from all of Endwalker and chronologically organized most of these. The last 5 or so are out of order, but are pretty important ones of the bunch. Some of these are retroactively posted, so I added the tag 20tillDawn to help with that.
With that, for Day 20, it was the first event I went to in Endwalker: Stellazzio Presents, The Henderson Horror Hall. Stellazzio Virtual Theater put on some of the most stellar shows, and this was no exception. The acting, the voiced dialog, the way the scenes changed and the great use of in-game practical effects along with the stage hands really brought this whole thing to life!
I was so blown away by this show that I had really wished I didn’t miss any of their previous ones as this was their absolute last one they ever did. There have been a few theaters that have appeared as spiritual successors, like the Firebird Theater, but never got a chance to see any of those yet. This was also prior to Datacenter travel, so another of the Kosmikros clan went in our steed.
A fair bit ago, during all of the major project planning and initializing, we achieved Rank 15 on our Island Sanctuaries! Comparatively there wasn’t really a whole lot different going on for how we went about attaining island experience, but what did help speed that up were the upgraded granaries and workshops as the ranks went up to 4 and slowly gaining access to those higher rank ones. Speaking of the workshops themselves, once we discovered that we could copy and paste entire agendas from one day to another was a huge game-changer for how we were able to quickly get the next week all scheduled out!
The Rank 4 Cozy Cabin.
The Rank 12 story quest was absolutely adorable and probably my favorite one thus so far with it having Sadu and Cirina pay a visit to the island along with Tataru. Aside from newly acquirable ranks for the workshops, granaries, and the cozy cabin itself, a new area was also accessible during this time named the Mountain Hollow. It really just allows for more gathering of resources to upgrade things, but it was just neat that there was a whole other new area to peak inside and explore along the way.
At around Rank 13, the final small area was able to be accessed for the final landmark spot and facility spot. By this point we already had maxed out the amount of granaries we could make (I recommend doing this sooner than later if one is starting Island Sanctuary), so we plopped down the last workshop we could make as well as the last landmark. Aiki and I picked a really neat looking clock tower for this last landmark plot. From here, it just becomes managing four workshops and two granaries weekly to keep the experience and cowries flowing to continue ranking up Island Sanctuary.
This isn’t really a daunting task for us, as we just keep the workshop agendas consistent week-to-week. This doesn’t give the best min/max results, but it’s positive progress nonetheless and this whole place is supposed to be relaxing anyway. Later on, we did start to tinker with island glamours, but before Rank 15, we just left everything alone as it was upgraded. In that regards, I think Cozy Cabin IV is by far my favorite looking cabin.
The Rank 15 quest rounded out the end of the journey thus so far. This was a fairly meaty story quest compared to the prior ones, having Emmanellain and Sicard pay a visit to the island this time around. I do rather enjoy their chemistry and taking them around the island to certain spots for chatting was a nice change. It ends with a really neat ‘old movie stylized’ cut scene encapsulating what we all did during that day on the island.
The outfit for this one I absolutely adore (you get an outfit per story quest except the last one), but sadly cannot wear the really awesome looking steampunk style top-hat.
Please…?
Perhaps one day, but for now, there’s only 5 ranks left till the end, and so far that has been going at a nice relaxing pace. We’re still really enjoying the relaxing feel of Island Sanctuary, and once we hit Rank 20, we’ll probably still return to our island getaway from time to time to just enjoy the scenery.
