City of the Ancients

City of the Ancients

Quest giver

Y'shtola

Location

The Tempest (X:33.0, Y:16.8)

Quest line

Shadowbringers Main Scenario

Level

79

Required items

1   Mythril Knife
1   Qitana Ravel Mural Copy

Experience

 228,960

Gil

 968

Previous quest

Waiting in the Depths

Next quest

The Light of Inspiration

Patch

5.0

---

Main Scenario Progress: 642 / 960 (66.9%)

   

Shadowbringers Progress: 101 / 157 (64.3%)

   

“

Y'shtola appears deep in thought.

— In-game description

Walkthrough

Survey Point: (X:21.9 Y:11.0 Z:-1.7) Just north of the "Walls of the Forgotten"

Steps

• Speak with Y'shtola.
• Inspect the Ondo Cups from the survey point
• Use the mythril knife to collect scrapings from the remnant wall.
• Speak with Y'shtola.
• Find a structure which resembles those in the copy of the Qitana Ravel mural, then inspect it from the survey point.
• Speak with Y'shtola.

Journal

• Y'shtola appears deep in thought.

Dialogue

Y'Shtola: ...Ah, Forename. Have you learned aught of note?
Y'Shtola: Fascinating...and precisely the sort of information I was hoping to hear.
Y'Shtola: In fact, if you have a moment, I'd like to borrow your eyes to confirm a theory I've been working on. Come.
Y'Shtola: Now, there are two tasks I would have you perform.
Y'Shtola: The first requires you to inspect the buildings which surround the Ondo settlement, and note their most distinctive characteristics.
Y'Shtola: For the second, I wish you to use this knife to take scrapings from one of the remnant walls.
Y'Shtola: Pray be as thorough as you can. I shall be waiting here for the results of your investigations.
Y'Shtola: 'Tis strange to be here, under the ocean. It seems a lifetime ago that we stood amidst the trees of Rak'tika... 

System: Inspect the structures of the Ondo Cups for distinctive features. You may move the camera, as well as zoom in and out. Target a building and examine it with keybinds.
System: You set the point of the knife against the wall, but even after applying considerable pressure, you cannot remove so much as a flake of stone. 

Y'Shtola: And what have you discovered?
Y'Shtola: Yes, I would agree that the windows are most distinctive. 'Twould seem the structures appear the same to both your sight and mine...
Y'Shtola: And you say you could not so much as scratch the wall? Even with all your might behind the blade?
Y'Shtola: Forename, everywhere I turn in this place, my gaze is drawn by peculiar materials for which I do not have a name.
Y'Shtola: The buildings I had you investigate are prime examples. They may appear to be constructed of ordinary stone, but I assure you it is nothing of the sort...
Y'Shtola: If pressed, I would describe the substance as a composite of several mineral properties, blended to create a material of unparalleled durability.
Y'Shtola: Even the Ronkan Empire, once the greatest power in Norvrandt, produced nothing which compares to this level of perfection.
Y'Shtola: But if not the Ronkans, then who? Who were these ancients the Ondo claim as the architects of their sanctuary?
Y'Shtola: I suspect our answer lies with the reason Emet-Selch withdrew here to the Tempest.
Y'Shtola: He may simply have wished to retreat somewhere mere mortals would struggle to reach...but there are many such remote locations. Why here, specifically?
Y'Shtola: Emet-Selch is devoted to his role, and thus we might assume his choice of stronghold somehow serves the Ascian agenda.
Y'Shtola: Or mayhap...'tis a place more dear to him than any other. 

Question:  What will you say?

Answer: Are you saying this was built by ancient Ascians...? 
Y'Shtola: That is my theory, that these structures are remnants of a time before history─of a star that was yet whole and unbroken.

Answer: Could this place provide power to Emet-Selch? 
Y'Shtola: That was my first thought as well. Yet no matter how superior the materials, a ruin is just a ruin. 'Tis naught that would decide a battle's outcome.
Y'Shtola: Which brings us to my second theory: that he has some other, more personal connection to this site. What if these structures are remnants of a time before history─of a star that was yet whole and unbroken?

Answer: I couldn't say either way... 
Y'Shtola: It is my theory that these structures are remnants of a time before history─of a star that was yet whole and unbroken.

Y'Shtola: Such traces in the Source would have been obliterated by the succession of Umbral Calamities, but here in the First they might have remained untouched for millennia...
Y'Shtola: ...A copy of the mural in the Qitana Ravel. Almet presented it to me during my visit to Fanow, after our victory in Kholusia.
Y'Shtola: Here, in the first scene...
Y'Shtola: By Emet-Selch's own words, it depicts a city of eons past and the disaster which befell it.
Y'Shtola: The design is much simplified, of course, but do you see the similarities between its towers and those you have just inspected?
Y'Shtola: We are close to the truth, I feel. Let us search the surrounds for another tower─one which matches the picture near enough to remove all doubt.
Y'Shtola: From what I have seen, naught more than sand and more sand lies to the east, and the south held no such structures. I suggest we try our luck further to the northwest. 

System: You may view the Qitana Ravel mural at any time during this quest by using the relevant item in the Key Items menu.
System: The quest destination will not be displayed on the map. You must search for a structure which resembles the buildings in the mural, then inspect it from the survey point. The survey point will be found nearby, in a location which allows a full view of the structure.
System: Search for a structure which resembles one of the buildings in this mural, then inspect it from the survey point. The survey point will be found nearby, in a location which allows a full view of the structure.
System: According to Y'shtola's investigations, the area further northwest of the Ondo Cups may be a good place to start. 

Y'Shtola: Aye... This is the mural writ large...
Y'Shtola: Though I cannot guess at its purpose, it must have been an imposing sight. How much of the tower's height lies hidden beneath the ground, I wonder...
Y'Shtola: Centuries of our history have settled upon such ruins. Countless layers of dust and sediment...
Y'Shtola: ...An entire civilization, its existence forgotten by all except a handful of Ascians.
Y'Shtola: And yet it did exist. They lived here, in this city...
Y'Shtola: But let us focus on what we've learned thus far. The Ondo chieftain spoke of mysteries stirring─of a land illuminated.
Y'Shtola: Judging by his words, he believes this phenomenon related to the ancients' return.
Y'Shtola: Thus can we surmise that what the Ondo saw shining in the abyss was, in all likelihood, yet another remnant of this age-old civilization.
Y'Shtola: And who else would “light the lanterns” as Ryne put it, than Emet-Selch himself? 'Tis almost certain he is there!
Y'Shtola: But if we are to find this stronghold in a timely manner, it seems gaining the Ondo's trust remains our swiftest path forward.
Y'Shtola: I only hope our deeds are enough to win them over...