Migelo’s ingratiation cleary rubbed Vaan the wrong way, or perhaps given Vaan’s intentions at the fete, he doesn’t want to put Migelo’s reputation on the line by getting into the palace on the old Bangaa’s recommendation? Either way, Migelo is unsuited for the purpose of gaining access to the fete, so you’ll need to look elsewhere. Specifically, you need to seek out one Old Dalan, who dwells in Lowtown. Before you go running off and getting into trouble. However, there’s plenty of new business to tend to in town.

First things first, you’re in a new area - the North End section of Rabanastre. There are plenty of people to talk to, most of whom will comment on the new consul, his military history, and a few will mention Old Dalan. You can also head south to the Muthru Bazaar area, but aside from more NPC chatter, there’s little to recommend in this area right now… for the moment, anyways. In fact, all the gates of the city are open to you, allowing you to freely return to the Estersand and check out the Giza Plains and the Westersand. You’re probably better off waiting for that, however, as the story will shortly take you to one, and the other’s probably a bit dangerous for one person to tackle. That being the case, you might as well explore the North End, first.

The Clan Hall¶

Along the western side of North End, you’ll find a mysterious building, marked only as ??? when you approach. Talk to a Conspicious Bangaa outside and he’ll mention your Clan Primer. When prompted, answer “Okay, let me in.” to find yourself in… The Clan Hall! This is the home of Clan Centurio, a hunter’s guild devoted to hunting monsters. More specifically, this is where you can find Elite Marks, particularly dangerous beasties that need the attention of especially talented, battle-hardened hunters. Right now, this most certainly doesn’t describe you. Still, you might as well go chat around the place and make the acquaintance of hunters both friendly and adversarial.

Be sure to talk to Montblanc, the Moogle standing on the railing atop the stairs, as he’ll admit you into the ranks of Clan Centurio with nary a glance. Moogles are quick to make up their minds, indeed. While this grants you few immediate opportunities (again, you’re in no condition to hunt Elite Marks), it does give you access to the Clan Provisioner in Muthru Bazaar. Before you go running off to check out these new wares, talk to Montblanc again after the first conversation ends and - having cleared up your admittance paperwork in record time - he’ll decide to reward you with a commemoration gift. As you attain higher ranks in the clan, you can return to Montblanc for more rewards, as listed in the table below. For now, however, the entrance reward of three Potions is… well, something.

Now that you’re done with your business in the Clan Hall, leave the building and head south to Muthru Bazaar, where you’ll find the Clan Provisioner (now marked on your map) behind a stall. Talk to this Bangaa and, after he babbles for a bit, you’ll get to see his wares… much of which you won’t have access to yet, but the full table is provided below, for you to ogle as you will. You’ll be periodically reminded to visit the Clan Provisioner as you increase your Clan Rank and pick up choice items he sells.

Bargains at the Bazaar I¶

While you’re dealing with this merchant, there’s another bit of old business to bring up. While you were in the Estersand, it was suggested that you pick up a few choice bits of loot, namely an Earth Stone, two Wolf Pelts and two Cactus Fruits. If you bothered to do this, sell them by entering the “Sell” menu at any store, then scrolling over to the Loot category (press [Left] or [Right] on the D-Pad, or use [L1] and [R1] to toggle item categories), along with any other extraneous bits of loot you may have acquired. Once you do so, you should be informed that new items are currently available at the Bazaar. Sure enough, scroll over to the Bazaar menu and you should find the Unassuming Surcoat (Earth Stone x1, Wolf Pelt x2) and a Potion Pack (Cactus Fruit x2).

That’s really all there is to the Bazaar - sell enough loot of the correct type and you’ll unlock new mystery items. Well, mysterious until you buy them, unless you have a guide at your disposal. Some items can only obtained through the Bazaar, but unlocking many early Bazaar bundles simply allows you to get items at a discount, or purchase them more quickly than you’d otherwise find them at your current stage in the story.

Keep in mind that you don’t need to sell all the loot required to unlock a recipe in one go; the market remembers what you sold and how much, so just keep selling loot to the merchants and you’ll unlock new Bazaar items as you go. Be wary however, that every time you purchase an item from the Bazaar, the stock of loot you sold to unlock that item will drop to zero in the Bazaar. This can work both to your favor and your detriment.

For example, assume you sold ten Earth Stones at the Bazaar just now (part of the requirement to unlock the Unassuming Surcoat) the Bazaar’s inventory will record those ten Earth Stones, which also count towards unlocking the Iron-Forged Blade (three Earth Stones) and Wooden Pole (four Earth Stones). If you buy the Unassuming Surcoat, your stock of Earth Stones recorded in the Bazaar will be reduced to zero units, even though it only took two to unlock the Unassuming Surcoat. This means you’ll have to find three more to unlock the Iron-Forged Blade and four to unlock the Wooden Pole. This isn’t so bad for common items like Earth Stones, Wolf Pelts and Cactus Fruit, but for rarer loot, it’s something to keep in mind.

As for the beneficial aspect of this system, you don’t need to sell enough cumulatively to unlock all the Bazaar items that require it. Using the previous example, you wouldn’t need nine Earth Stones to unlock the Unassuming Surcoat, the Iron-Forged Blade and the Wooden Pole (2 + 3 + 4), you only need to sell enough loot to unlock each recipe individually. In this case, selling four Earth Stones is enough to satisfy the requirement for all three Bazaar items. This can be quite handy when trying to unlock multiple Bazaar items that requires you to sell the same rare loot.

Needless to say, as you explore new areas, fight new foes and acquire new loot, the new Bazaar items you can unlock will be pointed out in progressive “Bargains at the Bazaar” sections scattered throughout the walkthrough. If you want to be safe you can just wait to buy Bazaar items, or failing that, farm loot in abundance and sell them ten or so at a time, stopping the first time you sell such a number and nothing new unlocks.

Leads in Lowtown¶

There’s still a bit to do in Rabanastre, like claim your reward for the Rogue Tomato, to start with, but you might as well press on with the main story for now, as it’ll make all your short-term endeavors somewhat easier. Return to North End and make your way to the eastern edge of the area, where you’ll find a new shop - Yamoora’s Gambits. What are Gambits? Eh, wait a few minutes and they’ll be explained. For now, the shop isn’t yet ready to do business, so put it out of your mind and head over to the stairs on the eastern edge of the area, southeast of Yamoora’s Gambits.

Take the stairs down to Lowtown, more specifically the North Spawl. Down here, you’ll find many NPCs crammed into these tunnels, which now serve as Rabanastre’s slums. Most of them complain about the conditions in Lowtown, whine about the Archadians, pass on personal stories about the war and the later occupation, and a few mention Old Dalan. If you head west from where you start (assuming you entered Lowtown via North End, you should be in the northeastern corner of Lowtown), you’ll find Kytes standing near a locked door to Storehouse No. 5, which he’ll open for you if you interact with it. This allows you to return to the Garamsythe Waterway, which is currently empty. Further west, you’ll find a Traveling merchant, one of two such peddlers down here. This one sells Onion Bolts (crossbow ammunition) and the same curatives that Migelo sold - Eye Drops and Potions.

You also may notice lootable urns scattered about. There are up to nearly a dozen of them in Lowtown (six in the Northern Spawl, five in the Southern Sprawl) all of which have a chance to spawn (around 50% per urn). If you want to hunt for these things, by all means, as they randomly contain a small amount of Gil or a low-quality restorative item (Potion, Antidote, Eye Drops, Phoenix Down, etc.). These lootables have a chance to respawn every time you leave the area, if you care to exploit them.

When you’re done searching around the North Spawl, make your way to the southern end of the area to find the area transition to the South Sprawl. Aside from your destination, there’s one thing to check out here; in the “courtyard” - a depressed circular platform in the center of the Southern Sprawl, you’ll find another Traveling Merchant, who also has some onion munitions to peddle. In this case, he’s selling Onion Bomb, Eye Drops and Potions.

Talk to NPCs, shop for onion ammunition, loot randomly spawning chests with random loot and when you tire of that, make your way to Old Dalan’s house in the southeastern corner of the Southern Sprawl. Inside, you’ll find Old Dalan, who is all too willing to help Vaan fulfill his larcenous ambitions. Better yet, he has the means to secure passage into the palace via a magick gem called the “Crescent Stone”. Unfortunately, the Crescent Stone is out of juice and requires a Sunstone to recharge it, a device which can be obtained from the nomads in the Giza Plains.

After talking to Old Dalan, leave his house and turn south to find the large door leading to Southgate, which naturally is the southern gate leading to the Giza Plains. Here you’ll find more NPCs to bother, as well as some Chocobos you can rent. Spare the extravagence and instead turn your attention to the orange Save Crystal - or rather, the Gate Crystal of Rabanastre. What’s the difference between a Save Crystal and a Gate Crystal? The latter also serve as fast travel nodes if you’ve got Teleport Stones you’re willing to spare. It’s another profilgate misuse of resources… or rather, it would be, if you had any Teleport Stones to waste. Or another Gate Crystal to teleport to, for that matter.

Before you leave the city, there’s one more thing worth grabbing. If you talked to the woman in Old Dalan’s house, she’d have suggested talking to the Moogle from the Cartographer’s Guild in the Southern Plaza before venturing forth into unknown lands, and it’s good advice. Head through the South Gate to the north to reach the Southern Plaza, then make your way upstairs and turn northwest at the fountain to find a Cartographer’s Guild Moogle waiting your patronage. From this critter you can procure several maps - including the map for the Giza Plains - for a mere 30G. You’ll be exploring quite a bit of the Giza plains shortly, so it’s a worthwile purchase, and if you have extra Gil burning a hole in your pocket, consider also picking up the maps for Dalmasca Estersand (50G) and Dalmasca Westersand (550G).

With a map handy, return to the Southgate area, save at the Gate Crystal and prepare to venture bravely into the Giza Plains. The story walkthrough is continued in the section “Sunstones in the Giza Plains”, but if you’re extra adventurous and want to get your hands on some power weaponry - not to mention a good bit of Gil and XP - consider checking out the following section “Dustia Grinding”.