With my affairs in order, it was time to pull the plug on this virtual adventure.

But first, I needed to distribute my things and get my money out to my friends. I had roughly 4 million gil which I would split between Meretrix and Schultmc, as well as a large amount of gear to give to each. Some of this gear they would sell, others they would keep.

I started out giving stuff to Schultmc. This, unfortunately, involved him traveling a good deal to my various mules to pick up items. The money was stored with Mesohonee in Jeuno, so I tried to minimize his travels by getting most of what was his to her.

To Shultmc I gave most of my BST and WAR gear that was applicable to his PLD. This included my trusty Luisant Moufles, my Haubergeon +1 and my Scorpion Harness. To be honest, I'm not sure how much of these items a PLD can use, but since he could equip them I figured he'd be more likely to use them than Trix.

Next up, I met with Meretrix. For him, my stuff was really all over the place. But that was okay, because he could get around easier than Schultmc and had mules that could meet me. We started in Windy where Clarabelle traded with Trix's mule "Perite". I gave him all of my NIN gear that was level 30-40 (he had no intention of leveling up NIN, but in case he needed to pull his NIN out for whatever reason, I wanted him to not be gimp). I also gave him some of my end-game stuff that one of his jobs could use, which included Kirin's Osode and my Maneater which he could use (perhaps not very well) with RNG. I also gave him my Apollo's Staff, so he could sell it to get his RNG's Vulcan Staff.

I also split between them my furniture. I gave my beds to Meretrix, and a lot of my high-storage items to Schultmc. I, unfortunately, had a lot of Rare/EX stuff that couldn't be traded, which was too bad because they were some of my favorite Mog House furnishings.

For my final resting place, I decided on a little spot on the Airship docks in Port Windurst. This is one of my favorite places in the game, and where I've sat many times to watch the sunset. It was where I first shared with the world my Nadrs as well as many other events. At the docks, there's this wonderful little sloping hill you can sit on and watch the sun as it goes down. The sky is painted in oranges and purple, and it's quite lovely. I decided I would sit there, watch one last sunset, and then log out from the game for the last time.

As the time approached, Meretrix came to say goodbye.

We sat together for a good deal of time.



It was fitting that my last moments in the game with anyone were with Meretrix. I was there when he was born, he was my oldest friend currently playing FFXI, and was the only one from the original ClanAM still in the game.

But he couldn't be with me at the very end. Afterall, death is an intensely intimate experience, and it was a journey I had to go alone.



So, at the very end, I sat by myself and quietly watched the sun set across the bay in Port Windurst. Soft, white birds flew overhead, and I logged from the game for the last time.