Under Oath - PLD AF3  

Hello everyone!

While the above description is correct, I found it to be lacking in detail, hopefully the following walkthrough will benefit those seeking a more detailed walkthrough. Good luck!

Helpful Information
===================

* Ahriman detects by sight and sound.
* Demons detect by sight.
* Goblins detect by sight.
* Orcs detect by sight
* You will need sneak and invisibility for both parts
* Castle Zvahl is like a mirror image, often you have a choice of going either N or S, but you eventually will get to the same place.
* In Castle Zvhal, always, always stay in the middle of the hall/road/etc. If you go to the edge and a mob sees you below or above, you will get aggro and a huge train of mobs.
* Most Orcs around the well area con as EP, EM or DC to a level 60.
* A full PT of lvl 58-60 is more than enough for the Zvhal portion (key hunting).
* You really want a full alliance (18 players) for the Davoi part.

San d'Oria
==========

You can start the quest at 50 once you must have completed AF2 (Gallant Leggings). Start out by heading to Chateau d'Oraguille and go to Prince Trion's chambers. After the cutscene, you need to head to South San d'Oria and talk to Vemalpeau (M-7), who lives inside a small house. Once you talk to him, head on over to the Lion Spring's Tavern and talk to Najjar. Next, head to Count Caffaule's Manor (C-6) and talk to Ullassa. Ullassa will tell you about Mique's Paintbrush (name will appear in purple-blue, the color for key items). Once you see the reference to the paintbrush, you are flagged and can go key hunting.


Castle Zvhal Baileys
====================

I will be referring to the maps at: http://ffxi.killvoid.com/maps/zvahl1.htm

The top left map is the 1st Map, below (bottom left) is the 2nd Map and the 3rd Map is the one in the upper right corner. You are mainly interested in maps 2 and 3.

You start at J-8 on map 1. Follow the main hallway until you reach the 1st intersection at G-8. Go north at the intersection and follow the small hallway until you reach a set of stairs leading down (Note that you can go South at the intersection if you wish, you will eventually reach the 2nd Map all the same).

Go down the stairs and turn to your left (South), follow the hallway on a SW direction until you reach the tunnel that leads to the 2nd map.

You enter the 2nd map on I-8. What you want to note here are the 4 round holes located at G-6 (southern portion), H/I-6, G-9 and H/I-9.

You can follow the hallway straight to the end, and then go up the set of stairs. You will then be able to look down the NE hole (H/I-6). From here you also have access to the other holes.

-= Camp 1 =-

If you approach the edge of the hole and look down, you will notice that there are 3 ledges sticking (like platforms) and then the bottom floor. The bottom floor is populated by Demon Generals (L57-59), Demon Magistrates (L57-59) and Demon Commanders (L57-59). You do not want to drop down to the bottom floor just yet. Instead, align yourself to the ledge/platform which looks to be the highest of the 3, and drop down.

You will now be on the 3rd map, and behind you will be a small hallway that leads into one of the 4 square rooms on the 3rd map (F6, I/J-6, F-9/10, I/J-9). This is where the mobs that drop the keys are located. In the hallway you will usually find Ahriman's (L63-65) and in the big rooms you will find Doom Demons (L64-66), Blood Demons (L64-66) and Arch Demons (64-66). All these mobs con as either T or VT to a L59 PLD.

Now, you can setup camp in the ledge/platform, just be sure not to drop down and, more importantly, to avoid being seen by any mob below or above. As an alternative, you can set camp inside the big room, in one of the corners. Usually you will find there is enough space and hopefully the mobs wont come wandering near the corner. Kill these mobs until you get your key.

-= Camp 2 =-

Starting from map 2 at the top of the hole, look down and this time you need to land on the 2nd highest platform, which will also lead you to the 3rd map, except this time you will be in the hallway which leads to the center of the map (big central square room). This hallway is usually populated by Ahrimans only (usually 2 or 3, spread out). You can set up camp close to the ledge and kill Ahrimans. In my experience the key drop rate seems to be better for Ahrimans. I got my key after the 3rd Ahriman, but your milage may vary.

If you run out of mobs, you can always move camp into one of the other holes/ledges. To do this you need to drop down to the bottom floor of the hole, and follow the hallway until you reach a set of stairs. You can't miss them. Go up the stairs and you will be back again on the 2nd Map. Navigate to another hole, drop down and repeat.

Once you have your key, use the following map to find out where the coffer chest spawns:

http://www.speakeasy.org/~sticks/ffxi/treasure/Fr_Castle_Zvahl_Bailes.html

By now you already know how to navigate the map, so drop down accordingly into the holes until you find the chest. This part you can do solo if you have WHM subbed, or just remember to bring some oils/powders. What you mainly want to do is go around Map 3 (by using Map 2 to navigate) and check the big outer rooms, and the 4 central hallways, this is where the coffer spawns. If you are in a PT, I suggest you have a mage follow the circuit since it would be easier for he/she to recast sneak and invisibility.


San d'Oria
==========

After you obtain Mique's Paintbrush (key item), you need to head back to South San d'Oria and talk to Vemalpeau again (M-7). He will tell you that all of his son's belongings are still in his room upstairs. Head upstairs and investigate the painting on the wall. You will get an option to look at a strange piece of paper (letter), do so.

Once you have the letter, head to the weapon shop (K-7) and talk to Exoroche. He will tell you that you need to dip the letter on a well in Davoi to have the ink appear. At this point you are now ready to head to Davoi


Davoi
=====

A few comments before I go on. I have battled these two NM orcs a total number of 7 times (mine and other friends' AFs). We have defeated them with as few as 9 people, but we had 2 L75 players tanking. You really want to have as many people as possible. You can do it with only 12 people (2 PTs) but you may have to use a couple of 2hrs or more. So, unless you have high level help, I really do recommend you gather 18 people. Easiest way to do this is to contact other paladins around your level range (and really, you should know them by now anyway), and coordinate the alliance with them to combine forces.

I will be referring to the map at: http://ffxi.killvoid.com/maps/images/davoi.jpg

There are 2 key places you want to note here. The Village Well, which is located on the S-W corner of G-9, and the entrance to the Monastic Caverns at H-11. I will explain.

Head to Davoi, once in there make your way to the Village Well (G-9) by going through the S-E portion of the map. Note that level 58-59 you should be safe of aggro up until the intersection at H-10. At this point you will encounter some EP orcs to the north (where a treasure coffer spawns), and to the south (where the entrance to the Monastic Cavern is). Memorize this part of the map very well, because if the main NM battle goes wrong, what you want to do is run as fast as you can and zone into the Monastic Cavern. Especially if the tanks or damage dealers fall, have the mages zone and then come back.

The first thing you want to do is clear the area around the well from all the orcs. They con as EM or DC to a lvl 59-60 player (with the exception of the Orc Dreadnought, which is IT). Use this opportunity to get TP. Now, the are 2 relatively safe areas around the well where you can rest and regen MP. One is immediately to the south of the well, and another one to the north. In both of these 'rest' areas you can go up a small ledge in the wall and hopefully the orcs wont see you.

If you have a 3-PT alliance, what I suggest is the following: 1 PT will tank the paladin orc (One-Eyed Gwajbo), while the other 2 PTs will dispatch the ranger orc (Three-Eyed Prozpuz). The ranger orc hits hard, but goes down fast, whereas the paladin orc hits for less, but has a ton of HPs. If you have a 2-PT alliance, have 1 tank and 1 mage concentrate on the paladin orc, while everyone else takes care of the ranger orc.

The best way to tank the paladin orc and not lose hate is to load your TP to 300% before the fight (when you clear the area of orcs), and start with a provoke and immediately follow with a Spirits Within WS, which will do anywhere between 540-560 damage, then tank as usual.

Once you have killed the paladin Orc, a 'well weight' wlll drop. Trade it to the well and you will get a cutscene in which you will be able to read the contents of the letter. You are now done with Davoi.


San d'Oria, Jugner Forest, San d'Oria
=====================================

Go back to North San d'Oria and speak with Ailbeche (J-9). He will make reference to a lake in Jugner Forest, where his 'friend' is fishing (if you did AF2, you know who I mean). Now go to Jugner Forest and head to the Maiden's Spring which is located in H-6 of the map. Once you approach the well, you will get a really cool cutscene in which most of the storyline from the quests will wrap up. After the cutscene, head back to San d'Oria and go to Prince Trion's Chamber in Chateau d'Oraguille. There you will get an even cooler cutscene and the end of your AF adventures.

(Congratulations) you now have your Gallant Surcoat!

Anduniel @ Seraph

Edited, Mon May 17 04:48:44 2004

This quest is not called "Sword of Oath" in the NA version. It is rather called, "Under Oath." When I didn't get "Sword of Oath" in my quest area, I was wondering if I had actually been doing it alright considering I had completed all the steps for it to open... but yeah, it's called "Under Oath."

Just to let all you know the pond is "Maiden's Spring" E-6. Just so you know and dont spend 30 mins getting frusturated while searching that huge lake in the north like me. >>

-Lionhart , Full AF Paladin Leviathan Server

The other AF pieces quests aren't labelled as AF#