The Brink of Extinction

The Brink of Extinction is the fifth Grandmaster level quest to be released, being the sequel to The Elder Kiln, that concludes the TzHaar storyline. It is considered to be one of the most challenging quests in all of RuneScape, with extremely difficult combat and skill requirements matching the highest in the game.

Official description
The continued survival of the TzHaar race hangs in the balance. Lead a second expedition into the Elder Kiln, where the TzHaar hope to resurrect their greatest warriors by fusing them painfully with the Ga'al.

Walkthrough
''All of the combat sequences during this quest are safe. You  will not lose your items if you die during them.''

The Heroes of Yesterday
Speak to TzHaar-Mej-Ak or TzHaar-Mej-Jeh in the main plaza of TzHaar City. They inform you that the TzHaar race is dying, because only Ga'al, which do not inherit the memories of their ancestors, are hatching from the eggs. Mej-Ak and Mej-Jeh wish you to take more Ga'al to the Elder Kiln to infuse them with the memories held in a dead TzHaar's TokKul, as you did before with Ga'al-Xox. Specifically, they wish for you to resurrect some of the greatest champions in TzHaar history so that they can live again. While understanding your reluctance to do it in regards to Xox's torture, they ask you to do it anyway, for they believe that the Ga'al are just abominations and the TzHaar race is on the brink of extinction due to the volcano cooling.

Mej-Ak suggests TzHaar-Mej-Gek, one of the wisest and most powerful magicians in TzHaar history, and Mej-Jeh suggests TzHaar-Ket-Teg and TzHaar-Xil-Kal, excellent guard and hunter and formidable in the Fight Pits. They give you a communication orb to find the TokKul of the three named champions, and ask you to also round up three Ga'al wandering around the city and send them to the main plaza.

TokKul Artefacts
Mej-Gek's TokKul is found to the east, in the birth pools. As you approach, a cutscene plays, of the birth of Ga'al-Jeh by TzHaar-Mej-Het. As it hatches, Het becomes angry that it failed again and sends the Ga'al to die in the Pits. Go to the north of the pool and speak to Mej-Het, who was paid Mej-Gek's TokKul in return for charging a human adventurer's staff earlier. Saying he needs to take care of the eggs, despite the fact that half of them die and the other produce only Ga'al, he gives you the TokKul.

Ket-Teg's fragment is to the north-east, close to the Fight Kiln entrance. This has to be mined from the statue of TzHaar-Ket-Teg. This gives five fragments, which must be taken to the furnace in the south-east corner of the main plaza in order to reform them into one piece, the TokKul of TzHaar-Ket-Teg.

Xil-Kal's fragment is to the south, near the surface entrance to the city, from the statue of TzHaar-Xil-Kal. Again, only fragments are obtained, which must be forged into ToKkul of TzHaar-Xil-Kal.

Return all TokKul, then track down the Ga'al. The first Ga'al is found to the north-west, at the cave-entrance to the library. The next is found by the sulphur pit south-east from the Fight Cave entrance, near the Cooking icon on the mini map. The third is slightly south-east of the second, which is south of the main plaza. There are more Ga'al in other locations though; any suffice. Send all three to the main plaza.

The Chase
Return to Mej-Jeh and Mej-Ak. The three Ga'al are also there. They say they're heading out to the entrance to the Elder Kiln. Use TokKul-Zo to teleport to Fight Kiln, pick the quest option at the cave entrance. You meet with TokHaar-Hok. Jeh and Ak request that the Ga'al be turned into TzHaar, but the TokHaar-Hok says they are too weak and that the TokKul is simply "lost" in the sacred lava, to be reborn as TokHaar. Afraid of losing the TokKul, Ak asks you what to do. No matter what you choose, Ga'al-Xox suddenly enters and slays Mej-Ak before anything can be done. Enraged, Jeh berates him for murdering a TzHaar on sacred grounds, but Xox simply explains he cannot allow any more Ga'al to be tortured like he was, before fleeing with the champions' TokKul. Jeh sends you after him and you appear outside the kiln. Activating the Communication Orb here and choosing option 1 tells you to go south and then to the far east. The cave entrance you need is on the eastern edge of the city map.

Ga'al-Xox flees out of the Kiln and through the city, ending up in a cave to the far east end of the city. Activate the communication orb before the cave entrance and enter the cave.

This cave starts the combat portion of the quest; after clearing each room, progress is saved, meaning you can leave to restock if you wish or need to. There is a TzHaar-Ket banker just outside the cave. Followers cannot enter. You have to activate the communication orb to make the banker show up (and/or enter the cave and then exit it).

''This area is safe; if you die, you do not lose your items. You simply respawn by the bank with all items and armour. If you run low on health or prayer and aren't prepared to deal with the next room, the fastest and cheapest way to restore your reserves is to purposely die, spawn at the cave entrance, resupply if needed, and then head back into the cave, at which point you skip ahead to where you left off at the last indicated checkpoint.''

Room 1
As the gate closes, the security system begins to summon monsters. This first room of this cave contains four Tz-Kih, which are weak to stab. However, it may be best to kill them with ice spells from the Ancient Magicks to prevent them from draining your Prayer points. As they are weak, anything can be used to kill them really. At the far end of the cave are two scales and three weapons, an obsidian mace, sword, and knife, one on the ground and two on the scales. Put the mace on the western pedestal and the sword on the eastern pedestal to unlock the ancient gate.

Room 2
Inside the next cave are two water-weak Tz-Kek, followed by another Tz-Kih and a slash-weak Tok-Xil (which appear after all Tz-Kek have died). Kill them - Jeh remarks that there is a bookcase with reading orbs at the other end of the cave. Read it to discover it is a very ancient site. In fact, the first TokHaar to escape the Kiln to become TzHaar created this tunnel system. As such, it is directly connected to the Elder Kiln. It also speaks of a ring of living fire, TzKot-Zo, which Jeh cannot remember from his previous lives. Solve the puzzle by moving the statues into the combat triangle; the TzHaar-Ket facing the TzHaar-Xil, who is facing the TzHaar-Mej, who in turn faces the TzHaar-Ket. Arrows on the ground appear as you move the statues to help you; these turn purple as the statues are positioned properly. Try to make a small triangle, so that the statues face each other.

Room 3
The third room contains a grid floor over lava - reading the bookcase reveals it is the TzKot-Zo. It is a special mechanism, connected to the Kiln on both ends. It filters and purifies the lava before passing it on to the Kiln. He remarks that it was constructed by neither the TzHaar nor the TokHaar. As soon as you pass through the hot vent door, some of the squares start glowing and several TokHaar appear to protect the sacred lava. The squares first glow a dull orange for a few seconds, and then turn bright yellow. At this point, any player standing on one takes rapid hits for heavy damage - can walk in and die - until they stand on a safe square, and any TokHaar standing on it rapidly heals. You must defeat the TokHaar while avoiding standing on the glowing squares. During the fight, it is advisable not to leave a monster alone for too long, as it may fully heal. The first wave of TokHaar use melee and are weak to water. The second use mage and ranged and are weak to bolts and crush respectively. Finally there is a single TokHaar champion, with zero weaknesses, and he has a high defence against all combat styles. Also, just like in The Elder Kiln, his melee attacks drain prayer.

Abilities that hit multiple enemies are useful when opponents are close together, especially on waves with several melee opponents. Be careful with long combo abilities in these lava rooms as the square you are on might start glowing, time them so that you only use them when the squares have recently changed.

The champion drops an obsidian maul, which can be used on the scales to open the gate.

Note that if you have access to Soul Split and Turmoil, they may be reason enough to stick with Ancient Curses for the quest, as they can save a few precious inventory spaces for any other necessary items. The prayers above were listed in the event that you do not have access to both.

It is a good idea to turn retaliate off; you do not want to be dragged onto a hot square by a Xil attacking you at distance. Wherever possible try to stay at the corner of any given safe square; the warning time before a square becomes damaging is so short that you may not have time to run from the centre before being hurt.

The combat triangle is rather heavily enforced here, so when picking weapons try to play on your enemies' weaknesses. Hurs and Kets are weak to water spells and Xils are weak to crush damage. It may be advisable to use bolts against Xils, as if they are standing on a hot tile they range you from it out of melee range. The Greater runic staff is useful here, as you can charge it with your highest water spell saving 2 inventory spaces for food. The Chaotic maul or in absence of that the Saradomin sword or Verac's flail are good choices for crush damage.

For defence, it is best to select the type of armour most effective against all of the attackers in a wave. The Vampyrism aura is very useful here.

The higher your individual combat levels, the better you can perform. However, inventory space is at a premium so unless you have access to overloads it may be best to use individual skill-boosting potions and quickly bank at the mouth of the cave before entering the arena. Remember the final wave has a prayer-draining champion, so you probably need a prayer potion with you containing a couple of doses.

Room 4
The fourth chamber contains four level 148 Tz-Kils (lava monsters), which use magic and are weak to bolts. Kill them, go to the other end of the room, and pick up the obsidian weapons on the floor. There are four scales, each with a statue behind it. On each scale, place the obsidian weapon that is wielded by the statue behind it. The obsidian mace goes on the northeastern pedestal, the obsidian throwing ring on the southeastern pedestal, the obsidian staff on the southwestern pedestal, and the obsidian sword on the northwestern pedestal. This opens the door.

Room 5
The fifth chamber contains three Tz-Kih, then two Tz-Kil, and one Yt-MejKot which heals when within melee range. If you are taking a lot of damage try luring the Mejkot over to the pedestals and trapping him on the south side while you safely attack from the north side. Alternatively, you can use the corner of the south entrance to block the Yt-MejKot while ranging the Tz-Kils. After killing all of the enemies within the area head north and touch one of the pedestals to start the puzzle. In this puzzle, you must click the pedestals in the order in which they light up. This must be done eight times, but the sequence is always the same each time. However, initially only one pedestal needs to be clicked, then two, then three, and so on to the full sequence of eight pedestals. If you ever mess up, you must start again from the beginning.

The order you touch the pedestals are different for every player, but a common sequence has been: southeast, northwest, southwest, northwest, northeast, southeast, northeast, and southwest.

Room 6
Once you have opened the door head into the next room where there is another door to the north and another grid arena to the east, similar to room 3. Here you have to fight first four TokHaar-Hur, then two TokHaar-Xil, then two TokHaar-Mej, and finally two TokHaar Champions while avoiding standing on the floor that starts glowing throughout the fight. Once the fight is done pick up the Obsidian maul and place it on the scales to unlock the door.

As before, the glowing floor heals the TokHaar. Remember to wear armour appropriate to the attack style you are using, as this is the strongest against the enemy attacks.

Due to the massive amount of damage you take, and therefore the amount of food needing to be eaten, a set of two-handed weapons are advisable instead of using a shield for the increased damage, as gaining enough adrenaline to use shield-based ultimate abilities is difficult with the copious amount of eating.

Room 7
From this point onwards, the orb fails to function as it is out of range of the city, and you are not able to read the manuscripts on the bookshelves (as you do not know how to translate the Tzhaar language) or ask for advice on the puzzles.

You are attacked by 3 Tz-Kek upon entering. You can use the pedestals up ahead to block them or just have them block each other while firing magic at them.

When that's over with, go over to the pedestals and pick up the weapons lying around, plus a stone tablet. Written on it is a way to link the types of weapons found on the ground to the types of TzHaar written on the pedestals. The correct sequence varies from player to player. The correct weapon for each pedestal are as follows: Once complete, the door opens to the next room.
 * "Xil" - obsidian sword
 * "Mej" - obsidian staff
 * "Ket" - obsidian maul
 * "Ket" and "Hur" - obsidian mace
 * "Xil" and "Hur" - obsidian knife

Room 8
This room leads with three Tz-Kil, followed by two Tz-Kek and the loud arrival of a Ket-Zek. Range the Tz-Kil while edging your way around the northwest wall ahead, so that when you kill the last Tz-Kil, you won't have the Ket-Zek spawn on top of you. From there, switch to magic gear and try to get the attention of the Tz-Kek from behind the wall while keeping exposure to the Ket-Zek to a minimum until you remove the Tz-Kek. Use the Protect from Magic prayer when in view of the Ket-Zek to avoid taking more damage than you have to. Alternatively, you can try to have the Tz-Kek stand behind the Ket-Zek while you take it down, but there may not be enough room in the immediate area to stand far back enough to avoid the Ket-Zek's melee attacks.

Up ahead, a giant scrambled Tzhaar symbol lies on the ground. Turn the tiles to form a large circle like the others you have seen around the city and the tunnel to unlock the way forward to the last battle.

Showdown with the deadly Tokhaar-Hok!
In the final room you finally catch up to Ga'al-Xox in another grid chamber, this one with a pair of valves and what appears to be a giant tap in the shape of a TokHaar's head looming above the area. Ga'al-Xox reveals the reason for the TzHaars' troubles: The TokHaar have shut off the flow of sacred lava from this chamber, which has cooled the TzHaar City and prevented the eggs from hatching properly. Help Ga'al-Xox turn the valves simultaneously and reopen the flow of lava, which pours from the large TokHaar head down into the river of lava below.

At this point, TokHaar-Hok appears, expresses disappointment in "his" Ga'al-Xox, and challenges you to a battle.

Strategy - Post Update

 * Ice magic spells are highly recommended, since there are no other methods proven to be as effective as ice blitz or ice barrage.
 * TokHaar-Hok now hits through prayer and drains prayer points with each hit.
 * Protect from Missiles the entire fight (only if using Ice Barrage/Blitz!). Otherwise, Protect from Melee.
 * Wear the best magic equipment possible, with the highest ranged defence possible.
 * It's a good idea to keep adrenaline at threshold level, and have a stun threshold handy, and use that when you get the half hp healing message.
 * Always be cautious of the lava squares - immediately move onto a safe square when they start to glow. The combined damage of the lava, TokHaar-Hok and his minions can result in your death almost instantly.
 * TokHaar-Hok now summons different waves of enemies- TokHaar-Tok-Xil, TokHaar-Mej, TokHaar-Xil, TokHaar Champion, TokHaar-Ket, finally TokHaar-Hur.
 * Once each enemy is defeated, TokHaar-Hok will not summon them again. Therefore if using melee, defeating the first 4 waves to get to TokHaar-Ket is vital. Once it is only TokHaar-Ket and TokHaar-Hur, the player will not take much damage as Protect from Melee will protect from all enemies. At this point focusing on TokHaar-Hok and avoiding glowing squares is all that is required and the battle should end quickly.

Strategy
The key information to know about this battle:
 * Ice Barrage/Ice Blitz is an extremely effective spell against TokHaar-Hok. Use of anything else is not recommended. Be warned, however, that this does not stop him from attempting to heal (see below).
 * If using Ice Barrage/Ice Blitz, use Protect from Missles! While freezing TokHaar-Hok, run around to avoid his melee, while your Protect from Missles is deflecting against the TokHaar-Tok-Xil.
 * TokHaar-Hok only attacks with melee. He can hit up to 8000 damage, so Protect from Melee is mandatory, unless you are using Ice spells.
 * Activate all the necessary prayers/curses before talking to TokHaar-Hok as he immediately attacks you when the conversation ends.
 * Familiars are not allowed into the fight. Proper shield abilities (Debilitate, Reflect, Resonance, and Preparation) should be used instead to aid with tanking and healing.
 * Sections of the floor heat at regular intervals, causing heavy damage to players who stand on them. A trick is to stand on a corner where 4 tiles meet, requiring only one step to avoid damage.
 * TokHaar-Hok has the ability to heal himself fully once he reaches half health. He attempts to move into the lavafall on the north part of the room when this happens, and Ga'al-Xox warns you to stop him. If he reaches the lavafall, he heals himself for 5000 life points every game tick. To prevent him from healing, use a stunning ability (Bash, Barge, Kick, Backhand, Destroy, Binding Shot, Asphyxiate, or Impact) on him (try using stunning abilities which corresponds with your equipped armour, as it is more effective than any other stun ability, so if you attack with melee, use Backhand and Kick etc.). Ice spells do not stop him from healing - you must use abilities. To prevent him from healing himself, use one of the stunning abilities when he gets close to half health or as soon as the message "TokHaar-Hok is now able to heal." appears in your chatbox.  Use the other ability when the timer on the first ability is half way through. Use the first ability again when it recharges, and so on.  In spite of the descriptions of these abilities, stunning TokHaar-Hok keeps him from healing for roughly the duration of the ability's cooldown (15 seconds). The Asphyxiate ability is a good option to use if you are using magic, as it both stops TokHaar-Hok from healing as well as deals some damage on him; however it is a threshold combo ability, so keep an eye on your adrenaline level and watch the floors.
 * If you are on the ancient curses, make use of the sap/leech defence curse.
 * This, just like the previous combat, is safe.

TokHaar-Hok has no weakness, but players are advised to use magic during this battle, as ranged armour is weak to his melee attacks as well as those of the TokHaar monsters he summons. While ice spells keep him stunned through the fight, they do not stop him from going to the lavafall (you still need to use a normal stun ability).

With regards to equipment, bring the best you have available for your combat style. Players may prefer using a two-handed weapon, such as a staff, over a shield, but a shield helps players who have difficulty surviving the battle.

At the beginning of the fight, you only have to deal with TokHaar-Hok. Ga'al-Xox also fights, attacking TokHaar-Hok with ranged, but he does not deal very much damage throughout the fight. Keep an eye on the floor to ensure that you don't stand on a section that is heating up, and be careful not to accidentally attack any other monsters with a stunning ability, or TokHaar-Hok may heal himself.

Before long, TokHaar-Hok summons a level 184 TokHaar-Tok-Xil, which attacks with Ranged. This monster should be defeated quickly if you are not using magic, as its consistent hits of 1000 or more damage can easily stack up over a short time. If the first TokHaar-Tok-Xil is left alive, TokHaar-Hok summons more of them (up to four, depending how long you leave them alive), resulting in a very heavy drain on food and extraordinary difficulty in finishing the battle. A crush melee weapon is best to deal with this foe, though any melee weapon suffices. Do not attempt to change to the protect from range/deflect range curse as TokHaar-Hok consistently hits 7,000 to 8,000 or higher. After you've killed the TokHaar-Tok-Xil, TokKaar-Hok eventually begins summoning level 180 TokHaar-Ket Champions as well, but these should be ignored, as their melee attacks are weakened by your prayer. They can, however, drain your prayer, so keep an eye on your prayer points and restore them as necessary.

Magic Method

Melee Method
 * Wear the best magic gear possible with the highest ranged defense. Ganodermic suffices. A chaotic staff is also very effective against him, though other weapons may work well too.
 * Use Protect/Deflect Melee Sap/Leech Defence prayers at all times.
 * Do not bother defeating any enemies other than TokHaar-Hok, as it is unnecessary.
 * Bring around 2 prayer flasks along with an otherwise full inventory of rocktails.
 * For reference, a player with a magic level of around 90 requires about 7 rocktails using Ice Blitz and full Ganodermic.
 * With around 80 strength and attack, using Dharok's set is extremely effective here, however requires constant focus.
 * Also bring a crossbow+bolts (rune works fine with super range pots).
 * Dharok's set hits extremely high when you are below 1500 life points, so link a number key with your food and keep an eye on your health, as well as remembering to stun him to prevent healing (explained below). With super sets you should be more than safe so long as you avoid the lava floor. Multi-hitting abilities such as assault at low health can hit up to 7000 damage total.
 * Use other equipment slots for attack boosting rings and amulets (berserker ring..etc). Skillcapes/obsidian capes/fire capes good, and also barrows gloves work well.
 * Pray against melee at all times, and if using ancient curses, sap/leech defence. (the reverence aura is useful here as it allows you to easily sap all his stats using curses while only bringing one prayer potion at around 75 prayer)
 * It's best to turn auto-retaliate off for this fight, to prevent you from following the ranging/maging tokhaar into the lava.
 * Start off by instantly killing the TokHaar-Tok-Xil, while he is not on a lava space. Dispatch him and continue to weaken TokHaar-Hok. Before long, he summons a magic Tokhaar to aid him, switch to crossbow, and kill him quickly; using the abilities is very quick, as their defence to bolts is extremely low. After this, focus completely on TokHaar-Hok, as the only ones he summons at this point is more TokHaar-Tok-Xil, which have less accuracy now. (if you are still having problems, try standing next to the TokHaar-Tok-Xil, and then they melee you instead).
 * Focus; your priority aside from staying alive is keeping him stunned. Continuously use the stun ability. Your next priority is lava floors, keep an eye on them while watching your health. As long as he doesn't heal and you have roughly 1/3 of your food left the fight should be smooth. (sharks/cavefish at least are recommended).
 * This method is often quicker than the Ice magic method.

Essential objectives for surviving the battle

 * 1) Keep yourself above half health. The enemies in this battle can deal very high damage, so check your health frequently.
 * 2) Keep Protect from Melee/Deflect Melee on at all times. TokHaar-Hok can land hits of over 8,000 damage to you otherwise.
 * 3) It would be wise to set the Protect Melee/Deflect Melee as your quick prayers in the case where your prayer points run out and you are able to quickly enable your prayer again.
 * 4) Keep a close eye on your prayer points. Having your protection prayer drop is almost certain death due to TokHaar-Hok's damage output.
 * 5) Always avoid glowing floor tiles. If you stand on them when they are heated up, you take damage equal to 20% of your maximum health each game tick. This can kill you VERY quickly if you have little to no health.
 * 6) Keep TokHaar-Hok under the stun effect, while continuing to damage him; this is where ice magic spells prove themselves superior to any other fighting method. As soon as your stun ability recharges, use it again if you are not using ice spells. Do this even if he is stopped and you think he is coming to you, he will change directions quickly.


 * If you find the boss fight against TokHaar-Hok too difficult, you can deliberately have him kill you. As mentioned before, the battle is safe, which in turn means you do not lose any items in the event of dying. You spawn outside of the cave entrance, next to the TzHaar-Ket banker, allowing you to restock, rethink, and re-engage.

The Hero of Tzhaar
After defeating TokHaar-Hok, talk to Ga'al-Xox once more and then head to the Main Plaza to meet with TzHaar-Mej-Jeh. Go to the Fight Kiln, and after a short conversation with the vanquished TokHaar-Hok, Ga'al-Xox is fused with TzHaar-Mej-Ak's memories, and he becomes one with the lava. You are made an honorary TzHaar.

Rewards

 * 3 Quest points
 * 100,000 Experience
 * A lamp giving 275,000 experience in a choice of, , , , or (Skill must be level 80+)
 * Access to the Fight Cauldron
 * Ability to smith obsidian armour and donate 15,000 TokKul to a booth next to the Fight Cauldron to temporarily lower the chance of the obsidian armour being degraded to 20% during the minigame. The armour can be smithed from obsidian shards dropped by the TokHaar in the Fight Cauldron after the quest.
 * The "TzHaar-" title.
 * 2 extra spins on the Squeal of Fortune
 * Tokkul-Zo ring gains a teleport to the Fight Cauldron.
 * Ability to find a wandering Ga'al

Cultural references

 * The examine text of the Valves in the room where you fight Tokhaar-Hok reference the video game company Valve, which are known for constantly delaying their games, and running on "Valve time."

Trivia

 * After the quest, TokHaar-Hok explains the TokHaar's motives for shutting the lava conduit down - they only wanted to "save their brethren from extinction" by convincing them to return to the Elder Kiln, as the TzHaar get weaker with every generation through the memory loss. Also, the TokHaar are immortal but finite in numbers, hence the TzHaar would boost their ranks and learn from the TokHaar in wisdom and battle prowess.
 * It is possible to translate the final bookcase in the cauldron room after the quest has been completed. There is a Ga'al named TzHaar-Ga'al-Kot that is wandering Gielinor post-Brink of Extinction, that can only be seen under special conditions. For a long time (lasting from the 4th of December in 2012 until the 14th of March in 2013) after the quests initial release the exact details required to find this Ga'al were unknown. A group of players played a game of twenty questions with Mod Stu where one question would be answered per week, in order to try and find the Ga'al.
 * Another dialogue includes the explanation of why you cannot access all of TzHaar City. The guards reveal that even if you're a TzHaar born in a human's body, you would be roasted, as the streets of the inner city are flooded with lava.
 * Jagex labelled the rewards as one of the greatest portions of combat experience, the reward is 275,000 combat experience. Only the master quest, Blood Runs Deep, and the grandmaster quest, While Guthix Sleeps, have greater rewards of 450,000 combat experience and 400,000 experience respectively.
 * However, it could be interpreted as the largest amount used on one skill, as Blood Runs Deep grants 3 times 150,000 experience and While Guthix Sleeps grants 4 times 100,000 experience.
 * The part when Ga'al-Xox becomes one with the lava might be a reference to the movie Terminator 2: Judgement Day ending.