QUICK QUEST SUMMARY

Trigger the quest at Windurst, trade 4 Quake Grenades to a guy at Jueno, go to Mhaura and talk to an old man, go to Garliage Citadel with an alliance and examine a bunch of ??? spots then kill a bomb NM to get an item (Lump of Chandelier Coal), go back to Mhaura and trade the item to the old man, go to La Thiene Plateau via Ordelle's Caves and trade a Pickaxe to a ??? to get your Rogue's Poulaines.


Part 1: The Preparatory Stuff (Solo)

Go to Windhurst and talk with Nanna Mihgo. She will explain that you must first find a pair of thieves. One is located in Jueno and another in Mhaura, but it doesn't matter which one you go see first.

Go to Lower Jeuno to the balcony at G-10 and find Yatniel. He asks for 4 Quake Grenades. These cannot be found on any mobs, they are an alchemy synth, so you must buy them from the Jueno AH (8,000~ gil each on Midgardsormr 5/18/04). Trade the grenades to Yatniel and he tells you that the first letter is "O". Update 12/2/04: In an email I received I was told that the level 65~ Goblins in Labyrinth of Onzozo have a chance to drop these. The ones near the Mysticmaker Proflblix (BLM earring) spawn point to be specific. Might want to try camping those with a high level friend if you can't find any on the AH.

Go to Mhaura, up some stairs to the inn at H-8. Find an old man in the first room named Hagain and speak with him. He asks you for a Lump of Chandelier Coal and gives you a key item, Bomb Incense.

Thieves are well-advised to do all these preparatory steps on their own as soon as possible. Then, if you are presented with an opportunity to go fight the NM someday, you are ready to go and won't delay the alliance!


Part 2: The Notorious Monster Battle (Need Alliance)

Go to Garliage Citadel with an alliance of 12+ good people around level 60. The more the better and you need a very strong tank. The NM is a bomb and can double-hit for 500~ on a 67 AF Samurai using Defender. It can also blow up to deal massive damage so bring mages with Raise II or III. Update 5/28/05: A high level blink tank is recommended to tank this. Instruct your patient helpers that you will all be going around to 6 ??? spots which the thieves must examine. Nobody else in the alliance needs to examine them, but they need to come along to help fight bats/skellies and escort you safely. Once the 6 spots have been checked, you will go to one last spot to spawn the NM. The whole run-around isn't that dangerous, and it is up to you if you want to fight your way through, or use Sneak. A little bit of both works well.

Spot #1: Once you have prepped your alliance and are inside Garliage, go to I-9 and inspect the ??? near the hole in the ceiling. You must tilt your camera so you can see the ??? or it will say you are not in range. You are asked to use the Bomb Incense. Say yes. It will say you should take another look, but you do not have to. The first spot is now done, but you need to do the same thing 5 more times at 5 different spots.

Spot #2: Now go around the corner to H-9 and inspect the second ???.

Now you are ready to go through the first banishing gate. Get everyone together and run through it. As you make your way to spots 3 and 4 watch out for the Acid Grease monsters. They can be handled, but they have very nasty AOE attacks.

Spot #3: Go the left part of the cross at F-9 and examine the ???. For spots 3 and 4 the whole alliance doesn't need to come. Just use Sneak on the thieves and maybe bring along a mage or two in case they need it again. Be careful though because there is a magic pot near the cross and it will aggro to magic. Spots 3 and 4 are the most dangerous of the entire run. Do them carefully.

Spot #4: Go across to the right part of the cross at G-9 and examine the ???.

Spot #5: Now run back towards the gate, but do NOT go back through it. Have the thieves now go to the middle area, to the bottom nub at G-9. Examine the ???. Again, not everyone has to come if the Sneak lasts long enough.

Spot #6: Go to the top nub at G-7 and examine the ???.

You are now ready to fight the NM. Have everyone meet at the dead end at I-7/I-6. You will see the final ??? spot, and using the Bomb Incense here will spawn Chandelier. Warning: Do not spawn it until everyone understands the rules and has been buffed. Read both the claim tips and battle tips below before starting this fight. This boss has a very finicky spawn and needs to be carefully claimed to avoid disaster.

Claim Tips/Requirements:

Newest Strategy:
Update 5/28/05: This is another controversial part of the thief AF journey. Back when I did this nobody knew a sure fire way of flawlessly claiming the NM, and since then a number of new theories have surfaced. I thought about condensing this section and listing only the current favorite method, but I'm gonna leave all the past strategies below in case you want to piece some of those together for your group. Right here I will list the newest and most proven strategies of claiming the boss.

The trick here is not so much the fight itself, but claiming the NM before it self-destructs. Here's a common scenario of the fight going wrong: Thief spawns NM, it immediately explodes (well after a couple seconds, but immediately starts to self-destruct is what I'm getting at), kills some people and doesn't drop the item. The bottom line seems to be that the bomb will self-destruct if it sees anyone before it is claimed. So then, it sounds like maybe your party should hide around a corner and have one person range-claim the NM when it spawns? Good enough for me, here's how I envision it:

1. Clear the area of monsters.
2. Everyone but the thief in question hide around the corner to get out of sight.
3. Buff everyone and have thief move into position and bring up the Bomb Incense window.
4. Thief announce he is going, activate Flee, spawn the NM, immediately use Hide and run back around the corner.
5. Have the biggest most badass blink tank either range claim it, or voke it while invisible.
6. Everyone run back into position and kill it.

Alternate Strategy Info:
The spawn of this NM is tricky, because it loves to use a self-destruct ability as soon as it pops (this will likely kill a few people and the item will not drop if it kills itself). Other guides suggest that casting magic before claiming it will cause it to blow, and so if you don't cast it won't blow. This wasn't true when I fought it, and others have told me that it exploded for them no matter what also. I heard a new theory that it will blow up if it sees anyone, so your PT should stand out of sight around the corner and have a single or invisible member claim it. Another option is to have the spawning thief make a macro that will use Steal as soon as it pops. This way the mob is near-instantly claimed and it "shouldn't" blow. The macro is:

/targetnpc
/ja "Steal" <t>

Have the thief stand near the wall/hole in ceiling and spam this macro right after the Bomb Incense window is closed. It should steal from the NM fast enough to claim it and prevent the self-destruct. Credit for this tip goes to Cephita from Phoenix server. You may want to take it up a notch and have everyone hide around the corner, cast Invisible on the thief, spawn the NM and have the invisible thief spam the macro to claim.

Update 12/2/04: Since I did this quest it seems that people have found a much better way to deal with the NM. Thanks to Nezrah for posting this on the forums. You might want to try this method first.

"1.) WHM casts Invisible on our War so bomb can't see him. He's ready to range attack for claiming (rest of the party is around the corner so bomb won't see them)
2.) Thief touches the ??? and immediately used Hide so bomb won't see the thief
3.) War range attacks it and claims it
4.) PLD vokes it and we all attack"

Battle Tips/Requirements:

Before the NM is spawned, make sure to Protect, Shell and Barfira everyone, mages can Stoneskin and Blink if they like. The thief should bring up the Bomb Incense window, wait for everyone to get buffed, and then give everyone a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 countdown before clicking yes. Make sure to clear out nearby skellies first and try to have the melee with 100% or more TP.

If you are good on the claim and it doesn't blow up, cool! You can now fight it like any normal monster. Keep the tank at full HP so he can take the powerful double hits. Update 5/28/05: I see more and more people suggesting a blink tank for this fight, so it's in your best interests to keep the hate off the Paladin for this one. NIN/WAR is ideal, although a very high level RDM/NIN or THF/NIN would also probably work. Stun the bomb if it tries to explode, but the fight isn't all that hard if you have enough people (and a beastly tank to take the hits).

The bomb will drop a Lump of Chandelier Coal, which the thief should lot on. This isn't a key item, so you need inventory space for it. If you have more than one thief in your party, wait about 15 minutes and then you can spawn the bomb again. Important: You do not have to zone out or anything, but in order for it to spawn, the triggering thief must have examined all 6 ??? spots.


Part 3: Getting the Boots (Solo)

Go back to Mhaura and trade the Lump of Chandelier Coal to Hagain. He will tell you his papers had the letter "D".

Go back to Windurst to Nanna Mihgo. She will explain that the "O" and "D" and a host of other letters combine to form "Ordelle", and that you will need to go to Ordelle's Caves because it is a spot where thieves gather.

Buy a pickaxe and head to La Thiene Plateau to the F-6 Ordelle's entrance. Go inside and head to G-10 (see map below), then zone back out to La Thiene Plateau. Update 5/28/05: Just to clarify a bit more, you will need to enter Ordelle's and then zone out to LTP from the spot pictured on the map below. Some people have mentioned to me that they wish more information was provided here about making it to that spot. Unfortunately I can't provide a more detailed walkthrough of Ordelle's, sorry.

Go to the spot with some flowers near H-10 and locate the ???. Trade the pickaxe to the ??? to get the final cut scene and... your brand new level 60 boots! The longer Flee duration is so very nice.