Mission Name
 3-5 - Darkness Named
Locations

Pso'Xja
Level Cap
 uncapped farming, 40 for BC
Estimated Time
 1-2 for farming, 1 for BC
Special Items:
Colored chips, Pso’Xja pass key item
Difficulty:
 Medium. Farming is easy, but Diabolos can be frusterating.
Medicines Needed:
 The usual bunch. Many potions on the tank, because the WHM might be sleeping happily. Poison potions are optional, see below for why. One or two oils and powders
Recomended Jobs:
 A balanced level 40 party BCNM party. People say a NIN tank is helpful. DRK shines well here.
Brief synopsis:

Get a chip in Pso’Xja for a cat in Jeuno, then go with your party to a different tower and slap Diabolos a few times.


Darkness is actually named Bob, but that’s not a well-known fact.

Cutscenes:
Zone
 NPC name
 Location
 Other
Upper Jeuno
 Monberaux (G-10)
Lower Jeuno
 Ghebi Damomohe (I-7)


Chipping Away

In order to get to the BC for this mission, you have to go into the uncapped Pso’Xja tower near the Ranguemont Pass and kill some mobs for colored chips. You can buy chips from goblins in towns, but don’t try to buy those, because the don’t work. Go to Pso’Xja. Take two or three people, and at least someone that can heal. (or better yet, take your CoP static. You do have one, RIGHT?)

Pso’Xja is a total madhouse. Doors open and close by themselves, the walls have these weird spinning candles, some paths are one-way so that you can’t go back, and there are holes in the floor to drop down. Near the enterance are Cryptonberries, similar to Tonberries except they don’t have Everyone’s Grudge and (some believe, because they don’t have Grudge) they don’t add to Tonberry hate. They detect with sight. Invis your way by these and head up the stairs.


Inside on of the rooms up there you’ll see a ???. Touch this when ready and two golems will spawn. They’re not hard really (I tanked them both as my WHM) but they can toggle invincible. When one has invincible, the other doesn’t. The one that is invincible can be hurt with magic, the other can't. So switch targets to hit the one you can damage. Kill them and check the ??? again for some nice blue bracelets as a key item.


Now go downstairs and pass by the berries and bats and magic-aggro pots until you come to a door which you need the blue bracelets to open. (there is another door back where you get the blue bracelets, but it requires GREEN bracelets that you don’t have, and is just part of an unrelated quest anyway) Past this door is a hole. Drop down when ready. You’ll almost always land on a Treasure Chest, which will then attack you.

No, really. And it’s pretty mean too. Fortunately, it has a chance of dropping a colored chip that you need. The diremites in the hallway also drop chips. They are pretty common drops, but if you kill everything and don’t get them, continue down the hallway and find another room with bracelets and golems to get a second set of bracelets (green) that you don’t actually need for this mission, but it’s a fun way to kill time. Keep killing the Treasure Chest and Diremites as they spawn, and get everyone a colored chip. Doesn’t matter what color, and everyone only needs one.


I used it earlier, but it applies now. Kill the diremites!

Head back to Jeuno and give your chips to the cat in the inn where the Tenshado is, and she’ll give you a pass. Now get your 40-cap jobs and gear, regather, and Teleport-Vazhl again. This time enter the tower near the outpost guards that you always pass when traveling to Fei’Yin.

Farming:
Caramine Chip OR Gray Chip OR Cyan Chip
Cutscene:
Zone
 NPC name
 Location
 Other
Lower Jeuno
 Ghebi Damomohe (I-7)
 Trade colored chip.
Key item: Pso'Xja pass
500 gil too!

Capped Pso’Xja Tower


I hated this area with a passion. Not because it is hard, but just because my computer just didn't get along with it. In this Pso’Xja tower, there are these shimmering walls of different color. Every time you enter one, you zone, and all your buffs wear off. My computer zones slowly, so this was hell for me. In several of the rooms there will be mulitiple colored walls. The order of walls you want is red, black, red, black. Black looks more purple to me, but whatever. The first area has some sight, sound, and magic aggro mobs, and the rest are just sound. You can probably run through all the rest with no sneak at all. They are pretty small.


After the last black zone wall thing, sneak up and ride the elevator down. There is a gate, which your pass will open, and you will enter {The Shrouded Maw}!


The BC that Breaks its Own Rules:

Right. Diabolos cheats. You know how if you are taking damage over time (such as from poison) you can't rest and will wake up from sleep spells? Well, Diabolos has a move called Nightmare that both puts people to sleep and bios them. You’re taking damage over time, and can’t wake up. It’s total BS. The Bio does like 30/tic so it’s deadly stuff. You can lose this entire battle by just entering, getting Nightmare’d, and dying a miserable death.

Maybe it's just me, but when the game starts breaking rules like that, I feel cheated. I mean, yeah, it's kind of a cool concept for an ability, but we all KNOW that taking damage over time wakes you up from sleep. Why is this bio special?! Ah, never mind.


You start on a platform above, looking down on the arena. Once someone jumps, everyone else is dragged down, and the battle begins.

Many strategy guides will talk about squares that get removed, but I had to actually SEE it to understand.As can be seen above, the squares are pretty distinct. Some of the area around the squares has no walls, and Diabolos can knockback with a few of his skills. If you fall or are on a square that is removed, you will be eaten alive by about 8 waiting and hungry Diremite Assaulters.

Initial battle positions: Recomended Fighting Positions
OODOO
OOOOO
OOPOO
OOOOO
OOOOO		 OOTOO
OODOO
OOOOO
OOOOO
OOMOO

D - Diabolos
P - where party lands
T - tank's / DD melees' position
M - mages / ranged character's position

The reason people are places where they are is because Diabolos will remove a few squares when he gets lower on health. There are three possible patterns, and the positions for the tank and ranged charas above are some of the few squares that will NEVER be removed. If you're standing somewhere else, odds are that you won't fall, but you might get unlucky and have him remove your square, so it's just really not worth chancing.

If you look real hard at the beginning before jumping, you can see a darker outline around the tiles that will be removed. I can't see it in my picture. It may be more obvious in the game. This gives you an extra clue where not to stand.

The second reason for the position is that it puts some distance between the tank and the rest of the party. With hope, Nightmare will only hit the tank. Usually it hits everyone. Dark resist gear might help here. If someone resists, they can wake the WHM, and they can curaga, but that bio will eat you all alive. Fortunately Diabolos doesn’t have all that much HP, so when you’re not sleeping you can chew him up. Astral Flow is still powerful but avatars can be slept like their masters, so using it is somewhat frusterating.

Poison potions won’t wake you up from Nightmare, but Diabolos uses a few normal Sleep spells, and it will wake you up from them. That's just absurd to me, but I'll drop it. Poison potions aren't critical to win, but if you want to avoid those normal Sleep spells, go right ahead and use them.

Diabolos Strategy Information:
Move
 Effect
Nightmare
 Dark-based AoE Bio & Sleep
Ultimate Terror
 Drains a few attributes
Camisado
 Damage and knockback
Noctoshield
 Phalanx effect. Dispel this if possible.
Sleep II
 Puts target to sleep. Bio or poison wakes up as normal.

Strategy tips:


It’s more luck than skill this time. If you do defeat him, you’ll finish Chapter 3 and the Tavnazian Safehold will be hooked to Jeuno’s AH. Score! Tangible reward of sorts!

Cutscene:
Zone
 NPC name
 Location
 Other
Upper Jeuno
 Monberaux (G-10)


Exp reward for completion: 1000

(next mission)
(back to the main page)