The Secrets of Worship

In contrast to the month's delay it took TrueRune to organise a reattempt at Ouryu, we decided to go make a Sacrarium run just one scant week after Ouryu fell. Thankfully, Sacrarium isn't nearly as trying as Ouryu, although there still was a little bit of prep work that people needed to do.



First off, it is a good idea to head down to Sacrarium first and farm up two Coral Chest Keys, which drop from the Fomor there. We did this yesterday in preparation for "the run" today. The drop isn't too horrendous, although be prepared to stick around here for a while. Here's a map of Sacrarium.







Fomor can be found on the passageways through the second map, and you can camp just outside any of the six rooms to the north and south of the map. Not too close to the doors, mind you, otherwise you might pick up some unwanted aggro.



However, to get to this section, you must first navigate through the maze, which is displayed on the first map. The maze changes with each Vana'diel day, but navigating it isn't too difficult. However, it's still quite easy to get lost inside the maze, and in particular, it is easy for people to get separated, so stick together.



Lunaofsevi of Midgardsormr has penned up some fantastic maps to help you navigate Sacrarium, which I stumbled across on the Kool-Aid Linkshell's FFXI website. Alternatively, you can go visit Lunaofsevi's own website as well.



Basically, Lunaofsevi's managed to plot out just what the maze really looks like on the appropriate days, which is a huge help in nagivating through this place smoothly.







We had already come here previously to farm up some Coral Chest Keys off the Fomor here. You will need two Coral Chest Keys among your party in order to complete this mission. However, in order to open the double doors that's required for this mission, you need a second key, a Sealion Crest Key, which is a drop from a Corse NM named Keremet. This is where the "main event" starts.



Yes, that was just prep work. >_<



Before you set off to complete this mission, ensure you have the following things: First, have your two Coral Chest Keys. Secondly, make sure everybody's Fomor hate level is zero.



Here's how the mechanic works. Similar to Tonberry hate, your Fomor hate level increases as you kill Fomor. To lower it, simply kill the beastmen mobs (Orcs and Gigas) that are found in the Lufaise Meadows and the Misareaux Coast. I'm still not quite sure just how many beastmen you need to kill in order to lower your Fomor hate, but Alla has a rough equation at two beastmen for every Fomor killed. Having higher Fomor hate does not increase the amount of damage you may take from abilities like Everyone's Grudge, however, with higher Fomor hate, Fomor will start to aggro you, and will even start to aggro through Sneak if your hate level is high enough.



You can check your level of Fomor hate with Resauchamet on the top floor of the Tavnazian Safehold, (K-7). He will babble on about the dark blood of the undead dripping from your garments or something like that. Regardless of what he says, the important part is the line after he goes "Hmmm..."



You want him to say "Hmmm.../You still have a farily good head start, but they will not let up until they have found you and filled your heart with poison and pain."



If he says that, then good job, you have the lowest level of Fomor hate possible, and are now ready to proceed on with the rest of the mission. Please make sure everybody has reset their hate level, otherwise you may jeopardize the mission.



Going back to the mission, you will need a Sealion Crest Key from Keremet, who is found on the very eastern room of Sacrarium, on the second map. There are two passageways leading up to that big room, lined with six Azren skeletons each. The skeletons will all link with Keremet when Keremet is pulled, so clear all twelve skeletons before proceeding onto Keremet. Fortunately, all the skeletons are pushovers.







Keremet himself, on the other hand, is a bit of a pain to deal with. He is a Corse mob, so he has Dance Macrabre, which is a frontal Charmga move. I think Keremet's version of Dance Macrabre is only single-target though, but just to be safe, make sure the tank is having Keremet facing away from the rest of the party. It helps if your primary tank is not a Paladin as well, since you will need to sleep your tank once he gets Charmed, and a Paladin's Resist Sleep trait can get...rather annoying. >_< Keremet is also highly resistant to all forms of magic, but if you must nuke him, use Fire-line spells only since he is, after all, an undead mob. Ice spells are a no-no here.



Once Keremet is defeated, he will drop a single Sealion Crest Key. Give the Sealion Crest Key to someone who is not holding a Coral Crest Key, and move onto (H-7) of the second map, where a pair of double doors awaits you with a "Large Keyhole" and a "Small Keyhole".



Have one of the people with a Coral Crest Key trade their key to the Small Keyhole, and have the person with the Sealion Crest Key trade that key to the Large Keyhole. Note that the person with the Coral Crest Key will be immobilized while using the key, so he/she will not be able to trade the Sealion Crest Key as well. (This is why you give the keys to two different people). The Sealion Crest Key must be traded within about ten seconds from when the Coral Crest Key was traded, and the doors will open. The Coral Crest Key will break after it's used regardless of whether the doors are successfully opened or not, while the Sealion Crest Key is multi-use.



Once inside, turn right and head to the Wooden Door at (G-8) and watch a cutscene. You are then asked to find a Requilarium Key.



Go back out into the passageways and start poking around each of the six rooms that are on the north and south side of Sacrarium. Each room has a ??? on the desk at the end of the room, which may or may not spawn a Ghost NM by the name of Old Professor Mariselle. Old Professor Mariselle is accompanied by two small ghosts named Mariselle's Pupil. If the pupils are killed, Mariselle will simply resummon additional ones, so ignore them as best you can. They dont' hit for much anyway- just keep them away from the mages.



However, Mariselle occasionally Warps back to her spawn point, which gets irritating rather quickly, not to mention that she has a noticeable regen on her, and likes casting Sleepga II (bring Poison Potions). We initially tried pulling Mariselle out into the corridor and fighting her that way, but it proved to be futile since she'd teleport back into the room and by the time we managed to Carby-pull her back out, all the damage we dealt her previously had been regenerated.



After a bit of experimenting, we figured that we actually needed to go into the room (yes, with all the Fomor) and fight Mariselle in the room itself. This is why you want zero Fomor hate, otherwise the Fomor in the room will aggro! Once we figured that it was safe to fight in the room, even without any Sneak and with yellow HP, Mariselle went down in rather painlessly, although be careful not to accidentally hit one of the Fomor by mistake!







Once Mariselle is defeated, click on the ??? again to receive a key item, a Requilarium Key.



Now, head back to the double-locked door and open it again (this is why you need a second copy of a Coral key) and head to the same Wooden Door where you got the earlier cutscene. You'll get another rather lengthy cutscene that goes quite deep into the storyline, and from there, you're essentially done with Sacrarium!



Be sure to take a picture with the statue of Promathia that's lying in the corner. ^^







Also note that all the doors here are one-way, so once you exit, that's that. Once we were done, a bunch of us decided to stick around and try farming up subligar. We got a RDM Subligar to drop, but I didn't get it. >_< Ah well...guess I'll have to come back here again sometime then...; ;



Next up, Promyvion-Vahzl. {fear}!