Vana'diel Bestiary: Invincible Shield  

Good Information. Got me through ^^

I had the hardest time figuring out how to get the ballista license; the instructions from the NPCs are remarkably unclear. 3 times I thought I had the quest finished, only to get back to my home city and find out I hadn't done everything and I needed to go back. To prevent this confusion in the future I'm going to write my own mini-guide and post it under all 3 of the Ballista Commanders.


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Before you start
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You cannot get the ballista license until you are at least rank 3.


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To get the license
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First you need to talk to the Ballista Commander of your home city. The commanders are:

San d'Oria
Excenmille
D-9, Northern San d'Oria, by the gate

Windurst
Mhabi Molkot
H-7, Heaven's tower, inside the clerical chamber

Bastok
Invincible Shield
G-8, Bastok Metalworks, 2nd floor

If you are at least rank 3, you should be treated to a rather long cut-scene about the origins of Ballista. After that, you are given 2 key items, letters to the Ballista Commanders of the other nations. You are also told to meet with the respective heads of state of the other 2 nations.

You are only required to do this in the other 2 nations. Residents of San d'Oria must go to see the President of Bastok and the Star Sybil in Windurst, a Bastokan only needs to visit King Destin in San d'Oria and the Star Sybil, and so on.

This is the part where I messed up. You MUST meet with the heads of state BEFORE you can give the letters to the Ballista Commanders. Speaking with the Commanders first serves no purpose.


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Going to Bastok
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First, head over to Bastok Metalworks and get an audience with the President of Bastok. Then, after the cutscene, talk to Invincible Shield, the Ballista Commander of Bastok (G-8 of the 2nd floor of the Metalworks.) If you did this correctly, he should take the key item from you.


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Going to Windurst
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First thing to do is head over to Heaven's Tower inside the Star Tree. Go through the door in the back to get to the clerical chamber and talk to Kupipi behind the desk, who will grant you an audience with the Star Sybil. After that is done, talk to Mhabi Molkot who is just behind you in the clerical chamber, next to the door. She is the Ballista Commander for Windurst. If you still can't find her, she's at H-7 in Heaven's Tower. If you did everything right, she should take the key item from you.


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Going to San d'Oria
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I am Sandorian myself, so I didn't have to do this part, but to make an educated guess I would imagine you need to meet with King Destin inside Chateau d'Oraguille. After you watch the cutscene, go to Northern San d'Oria and talk to Excenmille, who is (you guessed it) the Ballista Commander for San d'Oria. He is at D-9, near the gate to West Ronfaure. If you did it right he should take the key item from you.


A side note: the people from the other nations seem to really like to insult your abilities. I'm guessing this is in order to put you in the fighting spirit ^^.


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Heading back home
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Once you get back home, go and talk to your Ballista Commander FIRST. He should acknowledge that you've done everything right, and then he'll send you to meet with your country's leader. Your King (President, whatever) will then give you the right to participate in Ballista. That's not quite the end though; now you need to go back to your Ballista Commander and he will give you your actual Ballista license.

That's all there is to it; but I recommend that you also ask your Commander about the Ballista earring, which will give you tips on how to play ballista, as well as warn you when the next match is coming up. It's a key item, so you don't have to worry about it taking up inventory space.

I spent all night writing this, so if you like my guide, please rate me up ^^.

Edited, Tue Jul 26 00:24:50 2005

i found excenmille in sandoria but finding mhabi in windurst is getting to be a headache. it's part of this guys quest. Where is Mhabi?

This is the guy who starts the Ballista Liscence Quest for bastok, thats all I can say.