QUICK QUEST SUMMARY

Go to Castle Oztroja and pick a coffer to obtain the Rogue's Culotte.


Part 1: Prepping Yourself to Evade Detection and Pick a Lock (Solo)

The Rogue's Culotte is obtained by opening a coffer in Castle Oztroja. No messy NM battle or anything, you just pop the coffer top and boom you get the item! You either can use an official Oztroja Coffer Key (100% success rate but unlikely that you would have one of these), or do what all thieves do and pick the lock (Thief's Tools or Living Key or Skeleton Key). Inside the castle you will need to avoid being detected by Yagudos, and in one spot, Leeches. The Yagudos are generally easy to avoid because they are sight-based, so simply keep yourself under the effects of Invisible. There is only one coffer spot that has Leeches nearby, and you only need to get close if a coffer has popped in the spot. If this happens you can either use Sneak, or just run to the coffer and open it while the Easy Prey Leeches beat on you (then Perfect Dodge + Instant Warp to get out). The use of Sneak on this coffer hunt is optional. As for your options in staying out of harm's way:

THF/WHM or RDM: Allows you to cast Invisible and Sneak on yourself indefinitely, as long as you make sure to keep your MP up. You must have the mage leveled to 25, as Sneak is level 20 and Invisible is level 25. I used /WHM, and while the thought of raising a mage just for this might freak you out, it is a good investment. Having easy, free access to these spells will allow you to coffer hunt in the future! I planned for my AF and began raising this mage when I was around level 52. If you do decide to use /WHM or /RDM, bring along some juices and food and consider wearing items to boost your MP.

THF/NIN: This combo is great for Castle Oztroja since sight detection is your main adversary. It really isn't even necessary to bring any Silent Oils, because you can avoid the Leeches easily while passing through the area. If a coffer pops near the leeches, again you can either use an oil or just steamroll and open it while they attack you. Nothing wrong with the latter method in my opinion.

THF/XXX + Prism Powder: This option will cost you some gil, but may be the best for you if you are an alchemist or if you don't sub NIN and hate the idea of leveling a mage. It's hard for me to say exactly how many powders and oils you should bring. I suggest at least two stacks of powders and maybe one oil. This area is not too big, but it is severely camped by thieves seeking Astral Rings and as such you may be there a while before seeing a coffer. You do not want to be caught here and run out of powders. You will have to go back for more because there is no way to finesse your way around the Yagudos. If you are visible, they will get you.

Invisible casting tip: Unlike Sneak, you can re-cast Invisible on yourself and have it take effect. Sneak must be cancelled or have worn in order to be received again, but you can keep yourself hidden without ever having to cancel Invisible. Remember this!

Warning about Sneak and coffers/chests: As you know, you cannot even attempt to pick a lock while Invisible. What you may not know is that attempting to open a coffer/chest with Sneak on will remove the effects of Sneak. If you were for example nearby some mobs that detect sound and you tried to pick a coffer, Sneak would instantly be removed and the mobs would attack you. Remember this and plan accordingly.

I strongly suggest that you set up a "panic macro" if you don't have one already. I use the following one, and since I play with a controller I place it on Ctrl5 with Ctrl4 and Ctrl6 empty so there is no chance of me hitting it accidentally. If you run into trouble along the way, you can save your skin with one simple button press. There is no time to fumble with the interface when you are being chased by a Yagudo train, or even worse a Mimic.

/ja "Perfect Dodge" <me>
/wait 1
/item "Instant Warp" <me>

Warning about Mimic poison: It is also a good idea to set your home point somewhere VERY near a mog house, for example I set mine at Port Jeuno right outside the mog house. Reason being, a Mimic will instantly poison you when it pops, and even if you successfully warp away you can still be killed by the deadly poison. Whenever you arrive at your home point, run in and get back to full HP. For the record if you use /WHM you can remove the poison with Poisana, but it's still a good idea to have home point near mog because you may not have enough MP to cast Poisana.

Now let's get a quick refresher course in the monsters you will be dodging in the castle and all their detection types. This isn't really a risky hunt because Yagudos are what you are evading 99% of the time, and they only detect and pursue by sight. Even if you catch aggro you can easily lose it with a quick Hide. Leeches are only in one coffer spot, and you will only need to aggro them if a coffer has popped and you need to open it. Otherwise you can safely just run around them and be fine, without using Sneak.

Yagudos: Sight
Leeches: Sound (also pursues by scent)

As far as what type of keys you should be using, it's hard to say and this is a subject of great debate on many thief forums. I prefer Thief's Tools, mainly because I can make them and so they are almost free. People say that Skeleton Keys have the best success rate and least chance for Mimic. When I was here it took me two tools to open the coffer and get my culotte. A stack of tools goes for about 9,000 gil on Midgardsormr as of May 22, 2004. Make sure to bring more than one, I suggest a stack for best value. If for some reason you want to use an Oztroja Coffer Key, check out this list of key-dropping mobs.

You should also make a lock picking macro. This way you just target the coffer and hit one button and boom. Below is the one I use for my tools, if you use Living Keys or Skeleton Keys just substitute the correct name.

/item "Thief's Tools" <t>


Part 2: Getting to Castle Oztroja (Solo)

I suggest you start your trek in Jueno, and the route is Port Jueno > Sauromugue Champaign > Meriphataud Mountains > Castle Oztroja. I am in the habit of walking there and killing Tabar Beaks along the way, but sometimes I use Chocobo when feeling lazy and in a hurry. If you are coming from Windurst or something that is fine too. Just head to the spot on the map below.

Part 3: Finding and Unlocking the Coffer (Solo)

Once inside Castle Oztroja, you need to head to the first lever door and unlock it to move on. Follow the red line on the map below to reach the door. You must stand in between the two levers and target one to see if the door will open. If you get lucky and target the right lever, the door will open and you can run through it. If you target the wrong lever, the floor will open and you will fall down. Each time you enter the castle the correct lever is randomly assigned, so there is no way for me to tell you what one to try. I always try the left lever first, but that's just a personal superstitious preference.

If you do happen to fall through the floor, you will be in a room with no apparent exit. There is a little manhole cover thing in the floor that you can target, and it will open and let you fall through. From here you run through a tunnel out to the courtyard, and then you can head back to the door where you should use the other lever. It sucks when you try the wrong lever and fall, but it happens to us all so don't feel like you did anything wrong.

Pro tip: I was just made aware that you can in fact avoid falling through the floor if you target a lever and then immediately run back away from the door. If you hit the wrong lever you don't have to fall down! This works 100% of the time, be sure to do it.

Good work, you are now smack dab inside the coffer area, but you need to move on to check all the spots. Begin running around the bend to reach the next map area, but be sure to check the two stairwell coffer spots you see on the above map. The area in the map below is the one spot I mentioned that has Leeches. The coffer spot in the middle of H-9 is in a pool of water, and the Leeches are inside the pool. It almost looks like you cannot run onto the water, but you can. Of course, do not go near the pool unless you see a coffer. You can easily run around without the Leeches hearing you. They still check as Easy Prey to me at 58.

Take a deep breath, because when you reach the area in the map below you are in a top tier Yagudo lair. Up until this point the birds mostly check as Easy Prey or Decent Challenge, but in here you are faced with IT Yagudos, and plenty of them. Be very careful in here because if you catch aggro you have much less time to save yourself.

The coffer spots at G-7, H-8 and H-9 are easy to see, but the other one at H-7 is behind a massive locked door. In order to get this door open you need to target and examine one of the torch stands in the rooms at G-7, H-7, G-8 or H-8. Lighting one of the torches will open the door. To make it in time, get next to a torch stand, drop Invisible when the Yagudos aren't looking, then activate Flee and Hide and run for it. You should make it in time, but it wouldn't hurt to have a helper working with you who can run into the room while you open the door. There is a lever inside the room to let you back out (or let your helper let you in). It is up to you whether or not you want to stress about checking this room. I was there by myself and just ignored this spot and kept checking all the other ones.

When you spot a coffer, try to keep your heart from stopping. My adrenaline surges every time I see one because I fear that some other hidden thief will nab it before I can. Do NOT hesitate for a second. Get up next to the coffer, drop your Invisible and hit your lock pick macro. Keep using the macro until you see "obtained rogue's culotte". As soon as you pick the lock, use Hide to shed aggro if any Yagudos are beating on you.

You can of course wait next to the coffer until the nearby Yagudos turn around, then cancel Invisible, but I strongly suggest you do not. Castle Oztroja is packed with greedy thieves nearly all hours of the day and they will not think twice about stealing the coffer even with you right next to it. Don't let them get it! Update 5/28/05: Castle Oztroja no longer has Astral Rings in the coffers, so competition might have died down since I did this, but I can't say for sure since those coffers still have gil and other items.

If you fail to open the lock, try again. If the chest was trapped, you become weakened for a while and must wait until the weakness wears off (could last for an hour or maybe only 10 minutes it varies) and then go find a new coffer to open. If you get a Mimic, use your panic macro as fast as possible. You cannot run from a Mimic.