Bard AF Guide - Complete & ComprehensiveFollow

�Bard AF�

Ever since I've came into the Bard forums, the first thing I noticed was that there was no AF guide or whatsoever, while other job forums had one. I made it a point to write an accurate AF Guide when I've completed my personal AF, and here I am. If in any way or another I have made any errors, kindly correct me. Thank you very much.

�AF Basics�
Ever job's Artifact Quests consists of a total of 6 pieces. A weapon (AF1), as well as 5 pieces of armour.
The methods and quests involved in these pieces vary for different jobs, but for Bard, it is as follows:
AF 1 � Paper Knife
AF 2 � Choral Slippers
AF 3 � Choral Justacorps
Coffer 1 � Choral Roundlet
Coffer 2 � Choral Cannions
Coffer 3 � Choral Cuffs

The first 3 AF pieces stated here must be done in chronological order. In full, it means that you must first do AF 1, then AF 2, before you can get AF 3. The Coffers, however, differ greatly.
Firstly, AF pieces from Coffers do not have to be done in order. They can be done in any order as you please. However, in this case of Bard AF, you MUST first complete AF 1, then RECEIVE the quest for Coffer 3, which is the Choral Cuffs, before you can safely open Coffers and find your AF inside, rather than the normal treasure items.
AF 1-3 are all NM fights, whereas Coffer 1-3 require you to open Treasure Coffers in specific places WITH the Bard job I will mention later, using a Coffer Key.
Coffer 3 however, has a catch to it. Besides opening the Treasure Coffer, you need to fight an NM, Dark Spark, before obtaining your Choral Cuffs. All these will be discussed in detail below.

�AF 1: Painful Memory�
Client: Mertaire of Merry Minstrel House, Lower Jeuno
Requirements: Must be Bard of Level 40.
Walkthrough: First, you have to speak to Mertaire of the Minstrel House, the same person whom you speak to for the Bard Flag quest. After speaking to him, he will request for you to sink the arm ring of memory into the pond at the furthest place of the Ranguemont Pass. From there, go to D-5 of Ranguemont Pass and click on ???
Before you do that, I STRONGLY recommend that you clear the room of Weapons before clicking on the ??? Clicking on the ??? spawns the NM Tros, and even as a Level 55 Bard, I had Weapons aggro-ing me. This NM fight is seriously easy, and can be done with a 55 RDM and 55 BRD, provided the RDM knows how to tank well. After killing the NM, investigate the ??? again and you receive a cutscene. When the cutscene ends, viola, you�ve received your Paper Knife.
This fight personally took about 5-10 mins when duo-ed with a RDM.

�AF 2: The Requiem�
Client: Bki Tbujhja of Merry Minstrel House, Lower Jeuno
Requirements: Must complete AF 1: Painful Memory, and Bard of Level 50 at least.
Walkthrough: Speaking to Bki Tbujhja lets you know about some Holy Water, and you would have to trade the bottle of Holy Water to her first. She will not take the Holy Water, but instead, requests that you pour it over some coffins in Eldieme Necropolis.
From there, proceed on and grab a Teleport-Vahzl to Xacarbard. Then go to Beaucidine Glacier and exit to Batallia Downs. Enter Eldieme Necropolis through F-5 of Batallia Downs. The coffins are found in D-4 of the of the first map of Eldieme Necropolis. Trading the holy water to any one of the Coffins will spawn 3 NM Bones. The specific name of the coffins is 'Sarcophagus'.
It is recommended that you bring about 6-10 Level 60 friends with you for this one, and make sure you clear the room before trading the Holy Water to spawn the NMs. I highly recommend you bring more Monks for this fight because they simply own the NM like anything. When ready, make sure you have Sneak on you, and then spawn the NM. Once they have been spawned, run all the way back to the stairs. The puller in your party will do a Cure pull prefably. It is possible to fight only the Main NM, whose name's Yum Kimil. After killing him, wait and the other 2 NMs will disappear. If you choose to fight them all, its fine too. When all of them either die or disappear, talk to the SAME coffin you traded the Holy Water to and you should get a cutscene, with this Hume Bard in full AF. Return to the Minstrel House again after the cutscene, and talk to Bki Tbujhja again, and you will receive your Choral Slippers ^^
2-3 mins for this fight with 2 Level 70 Monks, and a few others.

�AF 3: The Circle of Time�
Client: Imasuke
Requirements: Must complete AF 2: The Requiem, and Bard of Level 50 at least.
Walkthrough: Speaking to Imasuka near the Qufim Islands entrance activates the quest, and he wants you to bury a ring. Go to Xacabard and bury it at I-10. Wait till the next day and dig it out. From there, proceed Chateau d�Oraguille in North Sandoria. Talk to Chalvato and he�ll send you to the Altar in Monastic Caverns. Chalvato can be found on F-7. To get to the Altar, you will need to enter through H-11 of Davoi. Inside the Monastic Carvern, go to J-8 and investigate the Altar there. It will spawn Bugaboo, the NM you would have to fight. Bring an Alliance of Level 60s prefably, just to make things easier. Killing it gives you your Bard Justacorps ^^
5 mins for this one.

�Coffer 1: Choral Roundlet�
Requirements: Must complete AF 1: Painful Memory, RECEIVE OR COMPLETE Coffer 3 (Choral Cuffs): Borghertz�s Harmonious Hands and Bard of Level 50 at least.
Walkthrough: For your Roundlet, make sure that you have received or completed. your Choral Cuffs quests, called the Borghertz�s Harmonious Hands by talking to Guslam in Upper Jeuno of the Durable Shields shop. If you do not do this, opening the Treasure Coffer will only yield regular treasure items, not something you want.
To obtain your Nest Coffer Key, you need to kill Helm Beetles, Wespes, Knight Crawlers, Water Elementals and Crawler Hunter. All of them drop the Nest Coffer Key, and you will need about 4-5 Level 60s to make the killings easy. My key took a painless 5-10 mins to drop. Fast and sweet. Once you have the key, open any Treasure Coffer in Crawlers� Nest and you will obtain your funky hat. If you do not have the map of Crawler's Nest and do not know how to navigate well, you may want to try the Blazer Beetles room, which has entrances filled with Rumble Crawlers.
Map of Crawlers� Nest Treasure Coffer Spawns: http://www.speakeasy.org/~sticks/ffxi/treasure/Mp_Crawlers'_Nest_01.html

�Coffer 2: Choral Cannions�
Requirements: Must complete AF 1: Painful Memory, RECEIVE OR COMPLETE Coffer 3 (Choral Cuffs): Borghertz�s Harmonious Hands and Bard of Level 50 at least.
Walkthrough: Go to the top floor of Castle Oztroja with 6 or more Level 60s and kill Yagudo Prelates, Assasins, Conductors and Flagellant to get your Coffer Key. One incentive to get people to go with you is that Yagudo Prelates drop Tornado, an ancient magic scroll worth about 150k on Kujata Server. After getting your key, open any Treasure Coffer in the Castle and you will get your Choral Cannions. However, finding coffers in Castle Oztroja is a real and pure pain because Thieves love camping these coffers because chest items they can get from there include Astral Rings. I wish you good luck though >< The key was one heck of a pain. 6 hours for 2 keys.
Map of Castle Oztroja Treasure Coffer Spawns: http://www.speakeasy.org/~sticks/ffxi/treasure/Mp_Castle_Oztroja_01.html

�Coffer 3: Choral Cuffs (Borghertz�s Harmonious Hands)�
Requirements: Must complete AF 1: Painful Memory. receive AF 2: The Requiem and Bard of Level 50 at least.
Walkthrough: Talk to Guslam of Durable Shields in Upper Jeuno. Grab about 6 level 60s for this one, and go to Castle Zvhal Baileys and kill Ahrimans, Arch Demons, Doom Demons, Blood Demons and Abyssal Demons for your Coffer Key. Easy key drop, but mobs are few. Took about 30 mins for this one due to the fact that spawns were really too slow. I had 2 Level 75s helping out with then and Demons and Ahrimans died fast. Do make sure you have a White Mage to Silence and cure. Opening any Treasure Coffer in the Castle gives you a key item, �Old Gauntlets�.
Map of Castle Zvhal Baileys Treasure Coffer Spawns:
http://www.speakeasy.org/~sticks/ffxi/treasure/Mp_Castle_Zvahl_Bailes_01.html
Go back to Jeuno, and talk to Guslam again, and then head to the Tenshodo Headquarters and speak to Yin Pocanakhu. She will ask you if you want to buy a box for 1000gil, say yes. Then go down to Auction House of Port Jeuno and outside the Duty Free shop, you will find a ??? Clicking on it gives you a cutscene and Borghertz asks if you want a pair of gloves, say yes and he will request for a Shadow Flames.
To obtain Shadow Flames, you will have to go to Castle Zvhal Baileys to kill the NM, Dark Spark. Bring about 3-4 level 60s for this easy fight. Dark Spark is a pushover. To spawn Dark Spark, go to F-8 of the first map and investigate the �Torch�. After defeating him, investigate the �Torch� again and you will reveive your desired Key Item, Shadow Flames. Go back to Port Jeuno and talk to ??? again for another cutscene, where Borghertz will go: �My work is finished�.
Damn right. AF completed ^^


Edited, Thu Nov 25 21:43:19 2004 by fedex

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Edited, Sat Nov 27 08:18:46 2004 by fedex

Edited, Mon Jan 31 21:34:03 2005 by pikko

Edited, Fri Aug 5 03:10:11 2005 by Pikko

Thanks for the info.. I'd also like to know how long did it take for u to get the Ostroja Key to drop... I've been there twice now (dying 4 times in the process) for about 5-6hrs.. and I've yet to see any key to drop... How are the other bards' experience with that key? Am I just horibly unlucky or is it true that the key has a horible drop rate?

Very nice, but your requirements are slightly off. The requirements for coffer/hand quest is only that AF2 be active. It doesn't matter if you haven't finished AF2, nor does it matter if you aren't 50 (in terms of deleveling).

That's it. Only two quests require a specific minimum level.

Coffer/Dark Spark quest can be started anytime once AF2 has been activated. There is no minimum level.

AF3 can be started anytime after AF2 has been completed. There is no minimum level.

The key item for your hand coffer can be opened on ANY job because it is a key item. I personally have opened my BLM Hands with my Bard (level 71).

AF5 and AF6 (high and low level coffers) must be opened on that specific job.

And yes, I have tested this, but not on Bard. My Black Mage has had AF2 open for 7 months and been level 49 forever (damn Rank5 runs). I have started getting AF parts for him using my Bard. Coffer quest is open once you have started AF2, and AF3 can be started once AF2 is complete. He now has AF hands, legs, feet, and is only level 49 and has been 49 for 7 months.



Partially correct. I was unable to start the hands quest a while back when Bard was level 50. Unless you have personally tried it, the requirement is AF2 has to be activated, not AF1.

It should also be repeated that your legs and head coffers (AF5 and AF6) MUST be opened as Bard. If you attempt to open them with another job, you will only receive normal treasure. AF Hands is the ONLY coffer you can open as another job, because it is a key item, not an inventory item.


Edited, Fri Nov 26 03:17:18 2004 by Russellius

Ok a few things:
You don't have to be the right job for any AF (unless it involves the 2 hour, like blm AF3, but you can do that early and then change), just the right job to start the quest.
AF2: it's a sarcophagus. Owl guardian is NOT the main NM. Yum Kimil is. Dog Guardian is the other NM. When i did my AF2, we only killed Owl, and I was a Blm. Also, if the quest is active and you kill the NMs for someone else, it does count for you. You still have to trade a holy water to get the key item and the cutscene though.
AF3: remember, days reset at JP midnight, so it doesn't necessarily have to be 24 hours.

Read what I posted again. I never said you didn't HAVE to be level 50 to start AF2. Starting AF2 != finishing the entire set.



This is true for the most part, but AF5 and AF6 (low and high coffer) MUST be opened as the intended job. If you wish to try to prove someone wrong and waste a coffer key that may have taken you hours to get, be my guest.

pretty nice, good job! it would be even more comprehensive if you had lvl requirements and such.

thanks =\ but i was told that there will no longer be anymore stickies, especially in individual forums ; ; we'll see how lol.

BTW Just did AF2 Had a party of 54-55's. BLM, WHM, BRD, PLD, RDM, DRK. Good party just no monk. WHM had to use benediction, PLD had to use invicible, DRK used souleater. Yum was hitting the PLD for 90 a hit, but had a nasty additional effect of 200. He also Casts Freeze, Tornado and Quake. The DRK (a Galka) ran out of MP with the absorbs and prior stuns. 4 Members died (not myself as the BRD) so I was able to trigger the cut scene.


Suggestion... Take atleast 8 people who are decent, or a pair of monks.

hello, i just wanted to mention something..

i was working on AF2 (the eld. necro. NM one) well, i went in as my RDM, just to "test" out on somethings. Trading the holy water, i was able to spawn the NMs, but do/will i get a cutscene, i don't know (someone said if we did it for someone else, you should... does this count as it? lol) i was not able to kill the main guy (he rocked me pretty bad.. lol) so i can't confirm anything about the cutscene. hmmm, wonder if this info was at all useful, i hope so, lol.. i died trying.. LOL anyways, good luck to all^^ cya

Also, I've heard that a HNM, Orcish Overlord, spawns near the alter. Is this by chance true? That's probably why no one wants to do this with me. XD;

He's not an HNM, just an NM. It's also the Orcish Warlord (16-20 minute repop), not the Orcish Overlord. We leveled in Monastic at level 60 in my static and killed the Orcish Warlord and Orcish Hexspinner when they popped. If your alliance is strong enough to kill Bugaboo, then the OW isn't going to be a problem at all.

******bump*******
for a friend who wishes to read this. ^^

I helped a level 40 bard friend last week with this.

40 bard, 50 monk, and myself, 51 bard.

Cleared the room of weapons, rested up. I casted Blade Madrigal, and Minuet III, as well as barwatera. The 40 bard casted Water Carol and Minne III. Monk boosted, 40 bard spawned it and we went to town. Threw Elegy and Requiem on it, and then switched to sword. Monk used his 2 hour. As his was wearing off I used mine and threw up Madrigal and Minuet again. Things go hairy... the monk hit the red, and both of us bards had used all our MP... I threw out Paeon III+IV (thank god SV was still active) the monk ALMOST died, but we managed to beat him.

It was a rough battle, but seeing as when I got my AF1 I had a 65 DRK and a 70+DRG kill it for me, it was kind of a personal accomplishment to be able to beat him down myself. ('_^b)