Back in Black

Walkthrough
Start the quest by talking to Sir Amik Varze, who can be found on the western side of the first floor of the White Knights' Castle in Falador:


 * Sir Amik: Good day [player]!
 * Player: Good day Sir Amik! I am in search of the quest.
 * Sir Amik: Your in luck! We're in need of a special operative to infiltrate the castle of the Black Knights.
 * Player: Why?
 * Sir Amik: There are rumours they're developing a new type of armour.
 * Player: Really? I could never even smith the old type.
 * Sir Amik: That needs sorting out straight away. Tell you what, go and see that old dwarf up north. He should know how.
 * Player: Why can't your smiths help?
 * Sir Amik: Well, to be honest, they don't know either.
 * Player: Ah, well then, off I go!

Go and see the 'old dwarf up north' - Doric:


 * Player: Hey Doric! I was wondering if you would help me...
 * Doric: What do you need [player]?
 * Player: I need to know how to smith black equipment.
 * Doric: Black? Like the knights?
 * Player: Yes, please.
 * Doric: Well, that's easy. You just smith steel with twice as much coal.
 * Player: Is that all?
 * Doric: Yep, that what makes it so dark.
 * Player: Thanks Doric!

Go back and talk to Sir Amik now you now the way to make black items:


 * Player: Sir Amik! I know how to do it.
 * Sir Amik: Good! Show me.
 * Player: Well I haven't tried it yet but apparently you only need...
 * Sir Amik: Go and try it out then! Bring me a bar and a platebody that you made yourself.
 * Player: Alright...

To smith the bar, you will need 1 iron ore and 2 coal. Smithing the bars requires 30 Smithing and the closest furnace is in Falador itself. The platebody needs an extra 5 bars - these can be bought or smelted personally with an extra 5 iron ore and 10 coal. Use a hammer on the 5 black bars to make a black platebody. The nearest anvils are Doric's or, if you haven't done What's Mine is Yours, in Draynor Sewer. This requires 45 Smithing. Take the bar and platebody back to Sir Amik:


 * Sir Amik: Well done [player]! I'll just take these off you and brief you on your mission.
 * Player: Here you go.
 * Sir Amik: Now, what we need you to do is infiltrate the black knight's castle and find out what this new armour is.
 * Player: How would I do that?
 * Sir Amik: You've done it before! Besides, you're highly resourceful - you'll figure it out.
 * Player: Thank you sir...

Enter the black knights' fortress and enter just as you did in the quest - through the back guards' entrance, wearing an iron chainbody and bronze medium helm (these can be bought from the Grand Exchange, Horvik, Wayne or Peksa or smithed from 1 bronze bar and 3 iron bars). Go through the castle until you reach the grill you listened through in the previous quest. Listen again and inside will be a Black Knight Captain and Chaos Dwarf Smith:


 * Captain: ...so the new armour is ready?
 * Smith: Yes, my lord, it is being tested now.
 * Captain: Excellent, soon the pathetic Saradominists will be powerless to resist.
 * Smith: Very good, sir.
 * Captain: I trust the armoury is secure?
 * Smith: Of course, nothing could possibly get in.
 * Captain: Good...

After you finish listening, choose instead to look through the grill. On one of the tables inside, there will be a plan of the Black Knight's Fortress. There is an arrow on the north side of the map pointing into the wilderness labelled 'Armoury'. Leave the castle and head into the wilderness over the ditch and search around until you find a trapdoor. It should be north-west of the castle, west of the mining site south of the Dark Warriors' Fortress. Attempting to open the trapdoor will cause a trap to trigger, hitting 300 damage. Only when you have triggered the trap and survived can you use your spade on the soil nearby to dig a small hole. Investigate this and you can see the trap mechanism. Use the spade on the hole again to bash the trap enough to break it. Now you can enter freely.

The armoury is a complex network of tunnels guarded by black knights. If one spots you, then you will be teleported to just east of the Black Knights' Fortress and have to start again. The correct order to proceed through the tunnels is randomized as the guards paths change for each player. Having navigated the maze, you will find yourself in a large laboratory. At the other end is a huge steel door that you cannot open yourself. Read through the books on the shelves around the room to try and find a way in. One book, 'Chemistry: Explosives and You', will tell you about all the different chemicals that will explode when they come into contact. The way to open the door is to find the chemicals that will react explosively to form a chemical that reacts with another and so on to make a chain reaction and blow open the door. Again, this is randomized for every player as our the names. The maximum chain is 5 starting compounds. Be careful to place the last one in first to avoid setting off the reaction prematurely. If this happens, you will be killed instantly and have to go through the maze again. The final chemical you need to place will always be a delayed reaction. As soon as it is put in, a timer of 5 seconds will start. Get behind a table or you will be killed and have to do the maze again.

Once the door has been opened, you will be in the final room. The blueprints of the armour are on the wall, guarded by a black knight wearing the armour itself. This armour is similar in appearance to elite black armour but without the gold trim and with spikes on the shoulders. The prototype black knight will now attack you and must be defeated. He is only level 57 but could be challenging for low levelled players. He attacks only with melee and can hit up to 60 with his longsword. If you use a melee prayer, he will switch to a warhammer that can hit through prayer up to 120 so its advised just to use food unless your a higher level. Once killed, the knight will drop his armour and you can collect the blueprints from the wall. Leave the armoury by teleporting or going back through the maze (if captured, you won't loose the blueprints). Take the blueprints and armour back to Sir Amik:


 * Player: I have them Sir Amik. Those spikes look nasty!
 * Sir Amik: I'm sure there's a lot more too it than that. Thank you for stopping this menace [player].
 * Player: My pleasure, sir.
 * Sir Amik: In fact, take this black armour we salvaged one of our battles. You may find it useful.
 * Player: Great!

Rewards

 * 1 Quest point
 * Ability to smith black armour and weaponry
 * Full black armour set (males will receive Black armour set (lg), females Black armour set (sk) - both are worth around 8,700gp)

Trivia

 * The quest rewards were not revealed on the day of release and instead read: The local shop's out of explodium so we can't get at the blueprints until tomorrow
 * When completed, the quest caused this message to appear in the Adventurers' Log: At last I have found how to smith black armour after halting another Zamorakian scheme
 * Despite having nothing to do with the east, the quest was released at the same time as the Eastern Realms because it formed part of the large smithing upgrade.
 * The title of the quest is a reference to the famous song and album by rock band AC/DC