The Void Stares Back Pt 1
Entry posted by Merch Gwyar
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"He who fights with monsters should be careful least he thereby becomes a monster. When you stare at the abyss, the abyss stares back at you."Friedrich Nietzsche 'Beyond Good and Evil'
I have to admit to a mixture of trepidation, in with the excitement, as the system update counted down to this quest. It was good timing as well. I hadn't long finished my penguins and killed my jade vine. I'd just that second emptied my bank of ore and gems, through several visits to Edgeville furnace. I was just looking to see what was next. But a grandmaster quest. Last time that happened, Nomad was seared into our collective consciousness; and my personal trauma. And this quest recommended 100+ combat level and had a title that bounced off Nietzsche.
Nevertheless, I wanted my quest cape back and I'm a quester, Guthix damn it! A glance at the requirements said that I was in, so I went to Fally. But Captain Korasi was having none of it. The information to start this quest is classified until I'm knowledgable enough. Go and do the Conquest Tutorial. WTF?! I've had a Conquest Tutorial. Calanon did it. Calanon and I spend hours playing Conquest a couple of weekends back. He got a Void deflector out of it. I let him win repeatedly until it was so. Then he let me win repeatedly, so I could get mine. Unfortunately, this takes so long that I'd only just got my ranks nearly to where I started. We need to meet up again, with several hours to spare, so I can go all the way on to filling that spot in my costume room. Korasi was of the opinion that tutorials by Calanon don't count. Nor does playing the game for several hours. You have to do the in-game Tutorial. That counts. *sigh* So I went to the Void Knight's Island and spent 4 minutes reviewing all that Calanon had taught me. Now I was ready.
Something that I hate in quests is when you're interupted to go and get supplies. Therefore, I do reveal what's needed first: hammer, tinderbox, hard leather, limestone brick and logs. My quest begins, as do the others, with me getting the supplies ready in my bank. Hammer and tinderbox were already there. A quick visit to the copse next to Fally West Bank sorted out the logs. Up at the limestone mine, you could spot the questers. Dude001 was already there mining; Shikaeru came while I was filling my inventory. Then off to Lumbridge, where there wasn't many people in the cowfield at all. Josephboyoo needed his cowhides, so I couldn't buy them. I moved across to the other side of the field, so not to compete with his range training. Quick massacre and visit to Al-Kharid later, I was ready to start the quest proper.
As soon as I entered the Black Knights' fortress, Commander Colby shouted at me and then teleported me to the storage area. I ran around the vast area, until I realised that I was actually under Taverley. I even picked up a dusty key en route. What I should have done was speak to the bloke, who was standing right next to where I teleported into the room. I only found him, when I went back to bless someone's grave. One word from him and I was in a puzzle room. Here is the solution:
3 = 2
5 = 3
2 = 4
6 = 5
4 = 6
At least, it was for me. But the puzzle isn't over. I thought that you just had to get the weights to 15 in each. So I shoved in two 5s, a 3 and a 2 into each balance tray. That really didn't look right. They were skewif. I spoke to Captain Gilroy again, but he was neither use nor ornament. Realising that this was maths, I had a fruitless few minutes trying stuff. Then gave up and did something that I never usually do. I checked the RS wiki for a guide. It was there! I copied their formula and carried on.
I thought that the next bit was really clever! We were ambushed by a variety of Pest Control creatures. I started fighting back, but they were healing. They also took much longer to get injured than normal. It's one of those situations when a level 64 is really 164. Back in the real world, if a void creature is healing, then there's a spinner around. I gave up the fight and went looking. It was hiding in a corner. I killed the spinner and the rest were suddenly vulnerable. I then lured the brawler to protect me, while I picked off the others one by one. Easy for someone with knowledge of pest control. I should imagine it would be annoying for those with none.
Afterwards, it was forge repairing time. It it turned out that I hadn't needed to collect all of those supplies earlier on. They were all waiting for me now in various crates. Oh well. I by-passed the couple of other questers, as I had mine already in my bag.
Next up, it was a jigsaw puzzle. You have to place all of the pieces to fill three panels. That passed quite quickly. LOL
We were into a room with a void pest portal. Lots of testosterone fuelled shouting things, between the white and black knights, but they eventually agreed to co-operate. We went through and there's a bit of story, which was really interesting. Then we reached the 'boss' fight. It was a game of Conquest. *sigh* Jagex are back to the promoting minigames through quests strategy again. Desist! I know it's their way of promoting lots of extra game hours to play, but it's really annoying. I'd probably go and explore Conquest anyway, through the more subtle promotion of having an empty space in my costume room. It really rankles, though, when it's in your face advertising like this. Especially when it's interupting one of my favourite RS pursuits: questing.
Anyway, I played 'Conquest', but retreated. I only had a scout left, but Grayzag had a torcher and defiler. I didn't fancy my chances. I thought the retreat would just restart the game. It didn't. It teleported me right out of there. I took the opportunity to nip and check my GE, then bank all of my armour etc. I wasn't going to need them.
Then I stopped for lunch, beause I'd lost enthusiasm for the quest. It was the insertion of the minigame that did that, not the actual losing. Until then, I was really enjoying the quest. Now fed and watered, I'll go back and play 'Conquest' again, so I can get my questcape back.
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