The Void Stares Back

The Void Stares Back is a quest that was released on 6 October 2010. It is the third Grandmaster quest released. It is also the third and final quest of the Void Knights quest series.

The plot revolves around the impending threat of a full-on invasion by the void pests. The quest also includes strong enemies and difficult puzzles.

Getting started

 * 1) Speak to Captain Korasi, who is at Falador park. She will give you a special set of Black Knight armour: Black full helm (bugged), Black platebody (bugged), and Black platelegs (bugged).
 * 2) Head north of Falador to Black Knights' Fortress. When you enter you will automatically go into a dialog with Commander Colby who will then teleport you to the Black Knights' headquarters in Taverley Dungeon. Once in the dungeon you will meet Captain Gilroy.


 * After taking Colby's teleport, you cannot get teleported again from the Black Knights' Fortress to the headquarters. If you leave or are killed in the headquarters during the quest before the pest queen is summoned, you will have to travel by foot to Taverley Dungeon and the headquarters there. The headquarters is deep in the dungeon, with most of the quest taking part in an even more remote set of rooms off the headquarters, so if you die it can take some time to get back to your gravestone. Accordingly, players are recommended to purchase the longest-lasting Gravestone they can afford. Players should plan on running back and should bring items like Energy potions that quickly restore run Energy, as even high-Agility players can run out of energy during the lengthy trip. Also, players with level 5+ agility should consider switching their respawn point to Falador, since the agility shortcut in the city's western wall is one of the quickest ways to get to the dungeon's entrance. (There is a bank near the shortcut, too, for players who need to restock. Speak to Sir Tiffy Cashien in Falador's park to switch the respawn point to Falador.)

Security Room 1 : The Weight Distribution

 * Talk to Captain Gilroy and you will be taken to a cutscene of a black knight dying while trying to open the door.
 * Open the big metal door, you will be in a room with some crates, search the crates and you will find out that the labels are incorrect. Captain Gilroy will tell you that he can determine the weights' actual weight.
 * Take all the weights out of the crate, use two on him at a time, and determine the order of lightest to heaviest. This puzzle is different for each player
 * Keep in mind that the lower the number the lower the weight.
 * A good way to solve the puzzle would be to bring each pairs of weights to Gilroy, and then arranging them in your inventory in order lowest to highest.
 * Talk to Gilroy when they are in the proper order and choose "I think I've got it."
 * When asked each weight, give the weight from its position in your inventory - for example if the order in your inventory is (lowest to highest weight) 3, 5, 2, 6, 4 then 3 should be 2, 5 should be 3, 2 should be 4, 6 should be 5, and 4 should be 6.
 * After which he will tell you to correct the scales and the password of the day is fifteen in each.

The solution is:

Security Room 2 : The Ambush
After you set the scales, you can open the door. Prepare for a fight first if necessary, as you will be ambushed by a gang of void pests when entering the room. Captain Gilroy and the other black knight will each fight one, while you have to fight four: a Torcher, Brawler, Shifter, Spinner. These fight as they do in Pest Control. They are capable of dealing a lot of damage (especially since you are wearing weak black armour), so consider using Protect from Melee or Deflect Melee to block most of the damage. Attack the spinner first as it will heal the other creatures.

As you kill a pest, each one of them will drop a security block. Be sure to pick these up; there are four in total, but one is broken, so it will not stack with the other three, they will occupy two slots in the inventory. If you miss one, talk to Captain Gilroy to get it back.

After you collect the blocks, speak to Captain Gilroy. He will tell you to go fix the block at the mini-forge in the north-west room of the black knights headquarters in the Taverly Dungeon.

Now exit through the first gate and head to the north-west room where the mini-forge is. You will need a limestone brick, a hammer and a piece of hard leather to fix it and then you will need a tinderbox and logs to light it.

For those who did not bring the required items :
 * The limestone brick can be obtained from searching the crate in the same room as the forge.
 * Now head North to the entrance room with the large banqueting tables. There is a kitchen off to the East of this main room and the logs are in one of the crates in there.
 * The hammer and tinderbox are in another crate in the room South of the kitchen.
 * Return to the main room and head North-East to the jail cell, the hard leather is in the crate beside it.

Once you have obtained all of the materials, return to the mini-forge and use your limestone brick or hard leather on it. Now, use your logs on it and then, finally, light it with your tinderbox. After you have lit the mini-forge, use the broken block with it. You will obtain a security block. Now head back to the room with Captain Gilroy and place the four blocks in the wall. Open the security door and enter the next room.

Security Room 3 : The Control Panel
Begin by searching the control panel, on the eastern wall, for magical traps. After disarming the trap, open the panel. The goal here is to create a horizontal line spanning all three control panels. Keep in mind that you will never have to line them up facing up or down, as long as you use up your horizontal lines. The puzzle will not be complete until every block is placed, including the ones that are not needed. Note: The 3 boxes do not need to be in the same order as shown here, and there are other possible solutions that can be used still resulting in a correct answer.

Solution to Control Panel:

Into the portal - Pest Conquest
As you enter this room, a cutscene plays where Captain Gilroy spots a portal, and immediately calls Lord Daquarius. Daquarius then persuades you to remove the helmet, to congratulate on a job well done, and show your true self. You will be given an option of how to appeal to Daquarius, it does not matter which answer you chose. Just as he is about to banish you from the headquarters after finding your true identity, Sir Tiffy, along with Korasi and Jessika teleport into the room with Savant's help.

With a little help from the player, they manage to convince him to join forces agaisnt their common enemy. Both parties agree to unite under the leadership of the player. When Daquarius agrees to join forces, more temple knights, white knights and void knights teleport in. Commander Tyr will then ask you to talk to Korasi who gives you her sword, instead wielding a void mace. Talk to Commander Tyr again and step into the portal where a cutscene plays. The cutscene reveals that Wizard Grayzag is behind the pest manipulations and plans to gain revenge against his enemies (basically everyone) by summoning the Pest Queen. Grayzag is not quite ready and sends a force of Splatters to attack, forcing a cave-in on the area where the player was standing. The player and the NPCs take shelter in the nearby cave while waiting for reinforcements. While the NPCs attempt to make a way out, the player plays a modified Conquest game against the AI-controlled pest force. You have a slight advantage, as the pests cannot use commands (such as battle cry, etc.) while you can. There is a slight correlation between class types, as well. While everyone may go about this in a different fashion, keep the following in mind:


 * The Spinners are similar to Champions in that they are very powerful. They do not heal their units (which is what spinners do in the Pest Control activity).
 * The Ravagers have the movement range of Scouts and the damage rate of a Soldier. They can easily decimate your party if they are not dealt with swiftly.
 * The Shifters are less of a threat than other units and can be tanked if need be; however, watch your 100 LP units!
 * The Torchers are similar to Mages.
 * The Defilers are similiar to Archers.
 * The Splatters will explode and deal 100 LP of damage to any adjacent unit that is within 1 square.

The AI has a fair amount of randomness in its play and does not always make what seems to be the best move. One winning strategy against it is to line up your units near the back of the playing field (not advancing toward the enemy) and destroy the enemy units as they close to do combat. Taking out enemy units faster than they can take out your units will usually win. Only a reduced set of commands are available, but these are key to winning:
 * Use Chastise to stop the move and attack of powerful enemy units when they come close, and then destroy (or at least heavily damage) them before they can move and attack again.
 * Use Regenerate to heal powerful units that become damaged. The Champion, Halberdier, and the Mage are all worth healing.
 * Use Battle Cry to buff up the attack of your units so that they can destroy enemy units. As with regenerate, the Champion, Halberdier, and the Mage all can be worth buffing. (For example, with this command, the champion can often take out a unit in a single hit, the halberdier can hit hard from two squares away while being out of retaliation range of 1-range units, and the mage can inflict 400 points of damage at several squares range.)
 * The Charge doubles a unit's movement and is less useful but can be used to pick off a distant unit on occasion, although the charging unit will be vulnerable if other enemies are nearby.

This game is safe for if you lose, you do not take any damage or lose any items. Instead, you return to the cave and can try again.

If the AI is playing well, one tactic is to retreat from the game and start a new one, as the AI may not play well the next time.

A good tactic is to only use your high-hitting units such as your champion and knight. You can fight recklessly as there are no units that can take them out in one hit, unlike in conquest. If they get low on health you can just use regenerate on them to fully heal them. Most pest will go down in two hits of the knight and all pests will go down after two hits from the champion.

The Final Battle: Pest Queen
Enter the door at the end of the Conquest room. The first thing you will notice is that Valluta is not a metaphor, but a giant turtle! You also find that Wizard Grayzag is very close to summoning the Pest Queen, and he needs a sacrifice for the ritual to be complete. After a bit of arguing, he leaves the decision, on whom to save, upon you. Now, save either Korasi or Jessika. After killing the spare, Grayzag summons the Pest Queen from the portal in the middle of the room.

Before continuing, bank and gear up for a tough fight! Fighting the Pest Queen can go through an entire inventory of Saradomin brews, although if you have high stats (90+) an inventory of rocktails can be enough food. If taking brews, also take enough Restore potion to recover your stats from the brews' effect. Korasi's Sword seems to be very effective against the Pest Queen, so you can just bring that (as you need its special) without a second weapon to save an inventory space

If you happen to die during the fight with pest queen, your gravestone will appear in front of the portal in the black knight's headquarters. This means you can regain your items without risk of combat, but be aware that it can take some time to get to from your respawn point.

Note: Sir Tiffy Cashien will teleport you back directly to the boss portal. Therefore, the fastest route back to your gravestone is to teleport to Falador and talk to Sir Tiffy. An even faster route is to make Falador your respawn location and then talk to Sir Tiffy to get back, therefore saving time and runes.

Note: If you teleport out of the black knight headquarters, Korasi's sword will disappear; you can get it back by entering the Pest Queen's chamber and talking to the NPC you saved in the cut scene.

While gearing, keep in mind that your primary weapon will be Korasi's sword. In particular, you will need to frequently use the sword's special attacks to prevent the queen's charge attacks, as these cause 500 points of damage to you and your archers as well as healing the queen. Because of this, you should not bring another powerful special-attack weapon such as Dragon claws or a Godsword, as you will need to use all your special attacks with Korasi's sword. You can save yourself an inventory space by not bringing another weapon, although a good weapon like a chaotic weapon or an Abyssal whip can be useful when dealing with the queen's elite defenders.



Strategy 1
As for fighting the Pest Queen, she has two styles of attack: Melee and '''Magic. '''You will, however, take damage regardless of your prayer, as prayer only lessens the damage to around 100-130 LP.

Most importantly, when the Queen stops attack and looks upward, use your special attack to prevent her from activating hers, dealing upwards of 500 LP of damage (To you and the knights and archers attacking the queen as well). This is why it is important to either bring Recover special potions or not bring a special attack weapon at all, as you have no means of defending yourself if you run out of special attack energy. Also important to note is the fact that she will heal herself after using the special attack as well.

Also using a chaotic weapon/Abyssal whip instead of Korasi's sword will quicken the battle, but remember to switch to Korasi's sword and use the special attack when needed, and then switch back to the other weapon

If you spoke to Valluta, you will know that in order to defeat the queen you must defeat her drones. As you can't attack them, you must rely on the archers that enter the room periodically. In order to prevent them from dying, be sure to kill the level 83 Elite Defilers when they spawn in, as they will attack the archers.

Be wary, when the queen's drones are defeated she will begin swapping Attack style in accordance with your prayer. ''This means that she will always be dealing damage to you. ''At this point, you may choose to attack the Elite Pests once to get them on you as opposed to defeating them so as to remain attacking the queen as long as possible. After a short period, the drones will respawn. Be sure to keep the archers around so they can quickly dispatch the drones again. If you did not keep the Elite Pests off the archers, you may find her fully replenishing her health.

When you leave the queen to kill the elite defilers, switch your melee protection to magic protection to avoid taking as much damage.

Strategy 2
This strategy is much simpler but requires 84 Herblore.

Summon a tortoise filled with rocktails. Bring 3-4 Prayer potion (4), a Recover special, a Super attack + Super strength, and the rest of the inventory filled with Rocktails. Go to the queen and wait for the other NPCs to enter and attack the queen. Turn on leech defense, leech attack, and deflect melee. The fight is very simple, attack the elite pests once to switch their attention on you, then go back to fighting the queen. Always make sure you have 15% of your special bar remaining and always use the special when the queen lifts her head.

The beginning of the fight will be mostly a waste (the healers will continue to heal the queen). When you have taken the queen down to around 1/2 health, the healers will not appear in large groups and you can really start adding damage. Continue to hitting the queen with Korasi's sword and using the special when necessary. Eventually the queen will die.

Equipment
When gearing for the Pest Queen, try to emphasize Magic and Melee defence, as these are her two attack styles (one will always be hitting you, so bring defence against both!).

High value items can be taken, as your gravestone will appear in front of the portal. You can teleport directly there by talking to Sir Tiffy Cashien in Falador Park. (He will only teleport you after the pest queen has been summoned. If you leave or die in the Black Knights' headquarters before the queen is summoned, you must make your way back there by foot.)

Necessary equipment:
 * Korasi's sword

Suggested equipment is as follows (you may wish to mix and match; this is fine as long as you have decent magic and melee defence) :


 * Helm: Verac's helm > Helm of neitiznot > Dwarven helmet > Black d'hide coif


 * Amulet: Amulet of Fury > Amulet of Glory


 * Cape: Ardougne cloak 3/4 or Soul Wars Cape or Fire Cape. (Ardougne cape is useful as the sword has a decent stab bonus already.)


 * Plate: Karil's top > Black d'hide body


 * Legs: Verac's plateskirt (For the combination of prayer and melee defence bonus)/Dragon platelegs/Dragon plateskirt


 * Shield: Dragonfire shield/Divine spirit shield/Spectral spirit shield > Rune defender > Toktz-ket-xil > God Book


 * Gloves: Gloves (barrows) > Regen bracelet > Combat bracelet


 * Boots: Dragon boots > Infinity boots


 * Ring: Onyx ring (i) > Warrior ring/Berserker ring > Explorer's Ring (Ring Of Life - Recommended on first few attempts)

Inventory
Suggested Inventory:
 * 10+ Saradomin brews, 5+ Restore potions (2:1 brew:restore ratio with 1-2 extra super restores for prayer).
 * 1 Super attack potion or Combat potion.
 * 1-3 Recover special potions (optional; use if queen is going to use her special but you have under 15% special attack energy).
 * Empty slots filled with Sharks, Rocktails, or other high-level food.
 * Familiar: Titan (fire, ice, or moss titan) / Unicorn stallion / Spirit kyatt.
 * Familiar scrolls: Titan's constitution scroll / healing aura / ambush (in accordance with your familiar; detailed below)(When using a Helm of neitiznot you could enchant it to store scrolls in it to save an inventory spot).

Suggested Familiar/ Familiar Inventory:
 * Before leaving the bank, fill a Beast of Burden familiar (Spirit terrorbird, War tortoise, or Pack yak with food).
 * Bring a titan, unicorn or kyatt and many scrolls for it in your inventory.

When the food in your beast of burden is depleted, dismiss it (you will need to click quickly, as the queen will be doing continuous damage; it is easiest to dismiss when the queen is charging, but it must be done quickly). Then summon your second familiar. If you bring a kyatt, the overall strategy is the same; however, now is when you begin spam clicking ambush scrolls.

Additional info

 * All damage against the Queen is capped at 450 LP.


 * It is possible to attack and then quickly run away while praying against magic to avoid the swapping of attack styles; however, this is risky as you may do less damage before the drones return.


 * The Steel Titan familiar is very handy when defeating queen, as its special attacks can hit very high.


 * Vengeance does NOT work against the Queen.



Rewards



 * 1 Quest point
 * Void guardian torso, Void justiciar torso, or Void executioner torso, depending on how you answered several psychological questions/decisions in the void quests. (You can change the colours, White for Guardian, Grey for Justiciar, and Black for Executioner, by talking to Commandor Tyr and paying 100k)
 * Korasi's sword
 * 2 Book of Equilibrium - 50,000 experience each in any combat skill over 75 (except Constitution)
 * The ability to upgrade your void knight armour for its elite version at the cost of 100 Void knight commendation points. (Leggings and torso)
 * 20,000 experience
 * 20,000 experience
 * 20,000 experience
 * 20,000 experience
 * 20,000 experience
 * 20,000 experience

Music Unlocked

 * In Security
 * Precarious Void
 * Mystery Revealed
 * Give it your Pest Shot
 * The Void Stares Back
 * Who Are We To Judge?

Trivia

 * The title could be a reference to the famous quote by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche "Whoever battles monsters should take care not to become a monster too, for if you stare long enough into the Abyss, the Abyss stares back into you.".
 * This quest is the first quest to have an 80+ skill requirement, which is 80 Magic.
 * There is a massive jump in requirements between the previous quest, A Void Dance, and this quest. A Void Dance requires around level 55 in some skills, while this quest requires multiple skills in the 70s and even a level 80.
 * The day the quest was released, the spoilers said "Sir Tiffy, Commodore Tyr and Lord Daquarius are squabbling over the rewards. This may take a while..."
 * On the Adventurer's log there is a bug where the quest is listed on the top with quotations "The Void Stares Back" when the quest name actually starts with a V rather than with quotes.
 * When Grayzag tries to escape, he summons some henchmen and cries "Say hello to my little friends," a direct quote from Al Pacino in the 1983 version of the film Scarface.
 * The bugged black armor will disappear from your bank or inventory once you have killed the pest queen or when you have died.
 * There is a bug that after viewing some cutscenes once you have entered the portal you will be kicked out and have to enter the portal again.You then view them again and remain in the portal.
 * There is a reference to the book "A Separate Peace" during the quest, if you talk to the black knight next to the colonel before starting the last puzzle, the security panel, he says: "Join the Black Knights, they said... See the world, they said..." which is a reference to when Leper Lepellier gets back from war, he was discharged because of hallucinations, and says "Join the army, they said... See the world, they said..."
 * Wizard Grayzag implies he has been an enemy of the player character for years, even though it has been year 169 of Fifth Age since the game was released.
 * Upon the completion of this quest, one's Adventurer's Log will read: "I led an alliance of knights against the Pest Queen and defeated her."
 * The portal that the pest queen came through looks very similar to the stargate in the TV show Stargate-SG1.
 * Right before the Conquest section starts, Savant mentions an interference, if you lag or log out or teleport away and return, Tiffy refers to that as the interference, the interference being the player or lag.