Truth From the Shadow: A Guide to the Khrysalis Orbs


Wizard101's Khrysalis Part 2 has a new history quest - and this is a good one. Grandfather Bartleby and Grandmother Raven neglected to tell you something. Morganthe is not the shadow, she is but a pawn in a much larger chess game... all this is learned from a side quest you might have missed.

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Shadows of History

To begin this quest, you'll want to talk to Zaltanna the Mirrormask in Bastion. She'll ask you to search the second part of Khrysalis for six orbs.

The first orb is in Crescent Beach.
The second orb is in the Ruined Alcazar.
The third orb is in Radiance Reborn.
The fourth orb is in Troika Palace (Sardonyx).
The fifth orb is in the Chamber of Solar Justice (Solar Arc, Khonda Desert).
The sixth orb is in the Shadow Palace.



Locating the Orbs

If done correctly, none of these orbs require fighting. The one that you might need to battle for is the first in Crescent Beach, as it is a battle that will pull you in before you reach the orb. However, if you have a friend activate the pull, you can safety go around to collect it. The others are in dungeons and areas that you may have to have someone teleport you to or wait until you can access yourself. You cannot teleport into the Shadow Palace dungeon required to obtain the last orb, but the mount trick may be used.

MOUSE OVER ANY IMAGE FOR A MAP

Crescent Beach Orb
Inside Steig's cave in a pool of
water in the back

Ruined Alcazar Orb
Near one of the phantoms
between two tower entrances

Radiance Reborn Orb
In the hallway between the
crab and hart towers

Troika Palace Orb
Go in through the very right
entrance - the orb is behind
the counter by some chairs

Solar Justice Orb
Inside the Balance room in the
Solar Arc in Khonda Desert


Shadow Palace Orb
Inside the dungeon with the
root bosses - check the back



The Shadow Tells All - [Spoiler Alert]

After you complete the quest, you get to go to Sardonyx and place the orbs in an obelisk. Here, you learn a very different story of the Spiral... a few things that Grandmother Raven and Grandfather Bartleby forgot to tell you. The story is told by Old Cob, a character from the late stages of Khrysalis part 2. I can't give you much information on his role there, as I've not yet progressed that far. But he does have a few interesting words in his retelling of the Spiral's history!


Sky and land once danced
as one, round the tree of 
magic's shade. A thousand 
years, a thousand more, 
memories of love and fury
fade.

Raven and Spider played 
across Sky, and battled
throughout the Land.
Spider fell into the deepest
hole, locked away by
Raven's hand.

Spider roared and thrashed
against the heavens, and
finally fell into a sleep. His
dreams made twisting
Shadow things, sowing
chaos to one day reap.

The Candle flickers across
the Night, A Child sailing
the Shadow Sea. The Spiral
bends, and twists, and
whirls, bringing the Chosen
back to me.
The Mirror will break... the
Horn will call. From the
Shadows I strike and the
skies... will fall!


The Shadow Web hums and 
stretches beyond the stars,
Touching all the Spiral
with Spider's welcoming
arms.


Everything Changes

Grandmother Raven and Grandfather Bartleby were not the only magical beings in existence in the First World. There was also Grandfather Spider - Old Cob, who tells these stories. Grandmother Raven locked him away, and in doing so set him into a deep sleep that led to dreams creating shadow creatures to one day bring chaos to the Spiral.

One major question is this - did this prophecy actually occur in Khrysalis with Morganthe, or is Morganthe a very small part of a much larger force controlled by Old Cob? In any case, it sounds here as if the prophecy we thought to be Morganthe's was actually Old Cob's! And it also sounds like the Spiral is at a much greater risk than Morganthe. But how do you kill an ancient being like Bartleby?

This also mentions that the Spiral "bends, and twists, and whirls" and brings the Chosen (that's us!) back to Old Cob. With all of Ambrose's mention of balancing light and dark within us and earning badges like Child of Shadow and Light, I have a very curious suspicion that WE ourselves might be Old Cob's ultimate tool of destruction. 


If you've played Pirate101, you know that evil has manipulated us to use our powers to take out entire shrines and islands of enemies for their will. If Old Cob is as powerful as he seems to be, we'd be more than capable or enacting his vengeance against Grandfather Bartleby, Grandmother Raven, and the entire Spiral.

What's even more worrisome to me is that no previous version of the Spiral's history, be it history books, the website intro, NPC's stories, or other history quests, have mentioned Grandfather Spider. This creates an interesting dynamic that I'll be touching on in a number of other posts about the possibility that, like Morganthe's memories, the history we read is distorted based on who's telling it. We could really be ill-informed as to what truly happened in the First World, when we think we know it all.

Morganthe is Only the Beginning

I can't wait to see what Old Cob will be up to as I conclude the Morgantha saga. I'll be back for more theorycrafting when the time comes! For now, thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral! Credits: Thanks to Lucas Walker and Alex Lionheart for teleporting me to a few of these locations.

18 comments:

  1. SPOILERS AHEAD------ SPOILER WARNING------ SPOILERS AJEAD DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED KHRYSALIS AND DO NOT WANT SPOILERS-




    My theory is old cob is the spider. In Kr, while getting Old Cob, we are going deep into the ground and awakening him from his sleep, and taking him from his locked away chamber. He has been there for some time, as at the very end of Kr he says "let us see how the spiral has changed during our time away" or something of a similar nature. He seems to be an antagonist quite obviously, as he releases a h
    bunch of what seem to be spiders, instructing them to essentially destroy the spiral. Old Cob reveals his spider eyes at the very end. Many of the bosses are afraid of Old Cob, which is apparent by reading most of the immediate dialogue said during KR just before and after we find Old Cob. Looking st all those facts, and that it is old cob who knows this story and seemingly nobody else, I feel it is very likely that old cob may infact be this grandfather spider.

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  2. Sorry for obvious typos, was typing rushed on my phone...

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  3. That symbol on Spider's back seems to resemble the symbol for Shadow Magic, and it was Grandmother Raven (who was the one who locked him away,) and Bartleby who told Ambrose specifically not to teach Shadow Magic, there had to be a reason, I can't help but think that maybe the two feared it could reawaken this great creature. Also, Atach-Leng was literally a spider who says he was there back in the First World, says he was there 'before Grandmother Raven locked the Shadows away'.

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    1. Where did we learn that Bartleby told Ambrose that? Also, was Atach-Leng a boss?

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    2. Yes he was, and I believe KI mentioned that they instructed Ambrose 'not to delve into it, and especially not to teach it to his students.'

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    3. I'm still confused on where it was mentioned that Bartleby, or anyone, instructed Ambrose not to teach shadow magic. Some dialogue suggests that it was his own choice.

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    4. Please read about Shadow Magic at the Wizard101 website. This is where it is clearly stated Bartleby and Grandmother Raven instructed Ambrose not to teach Shadow Magic:

      https://www.wizard101.com/game/shadow-magic

      Cunning Finnigan Sharp

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  4. Atach-Leng was a ghost. What force could be powerful enough to kill it? Atach-Leng was also not very deep underground. Atach-Leng shouldn't have died of old age, as both Grandmother Raven and Bartelby are both alive and well, and Old Cob did not say Grandfather Spider died.

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  5. it worked I did the qwest

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  6. what if, in the prophacy, morganth was the original "chosen one" the one the arachnia were looking for. However, old cob tested her by putting her against up. WHAT IF her attempt to expand the shadow web was just a practice test for a bigger purpouse? wat if there were series of chosen ones, because the prophachy said "bringing the chosen to me" which could be plural or numerous attempst to find a chosen one. A chosen one to put an end to bartelby and grandmother raven. But why did grandmother raven even send the grandfather spider or "old cob" into underground in the first place? Idk but it is just a theory

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  7. In addition to what i previousy said, the reason why morganth had failed old cobs prophecy was because she did not strike from the shadows. She broke the mirror (mirror lake retriving her deck of shadows) called the horn (horn of hurracune if i spelled it correctly) she brought down the sky or made it fall (Xibalba) BUT she did not strike from the shadows (most likely striking unseen but she made her plan of the shadow legion know to people) That is why great cob's plan had failed. We were able to stp here because she wasnt so "sneaky" about here plan, and was not the chosen one great cob looked for in order to seek revenge on grandmother raven. Thus he must make a new prophacy, but this time have the parts of the prophcy have different meanings. That way others will not be able to detect one striking from the shadows, can continue the plan with the falling of the sky, and old cobs plan will become sucessful.


    Anoother theory, put aside the mirror breaking and the horn calling, could be old cob or grandfather spider him self striking from the shadows of the uinder ground (where he was trapped) and bring or have the sky fall which is the real of grandmother raven. Idk but it is just a theory

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  8. (Long detailed theory(ies)
    In extension to my previous post, what if the reason old cob had us defeat morganth was because he did not fulfill his intended prophecy. If morganth was to be the "first" chosen one, she did not follow the prophecy given to her, which is why old cob helped guide us to her, and put her down so she could no longer ruin the plan. Now through out morganths storyline the prophecy The Mirror will break... the
    Horn will call. From the
    Shadows I strike and the
    skies... will fall!
    morganth broke the mirror retriving her shadows from mirror lake, she called the horn of hurrican, and she brought down the sky of azteca with Xibalba, HOWEVER she did not strike from the shadows. This could potentially mean to strike silently or strike with the uprising of the umbra legion unnoticed , which she did not do by letting us know her plans and intentions. But she did not follow the prophecy and old cob might have though his plan of taking grand mother raven down would not work without completing the prophecy. Thus he aids and leads us to morganth and bring her down. at the end of KR where he says a new prophecy must be made, it just may be the same prophecy, but with a different chosen one to fulfill it (possibly us) but this time in order from anyone preventing or knowing the prophecy since morganth had fulfilled part of it all ready, thins like the mirror breaking and horn calling can have different meaning, but that new chosen on will still have to strike from the shadows, unnoticed...

    Another theory would be that this prophecy could apply to old cob or the grandfather spider. I am not entirely sure about the mirror and horn part just yet, but the "from the shadows i strike" could resemble the grandfather spiders silent escape from his under ground prison and the "falling of the sky" can resemble the fall of grandmother raven
    (Land: Bartelby's realm
    Sky: Grandmother Raven's realm
    Underground: Grandfather Spiders realm)

    Idk it's all just a theory though

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  9. WHAT IF, the song of creation was a song used to create a new universe not only were morganth is the villan but grandmother raven is under ground and grandfather spider is in the sky. Great way for pay back lol
    Idl but it is just a theory

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  10. Swordroll, would you mind giving an example of Pirates being manipulated by evil to destroy shrines and islands? I can't seem to remember a specific time when we did.

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    1. That specific reference is to Lo Pan in the form of the Dragon Prince commanding us to desecrate the temples and steal artifacts from the Wai No Shrine. And we do.

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    2. Oh I remember that! you have a good point there.

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  11. Most creation stories require a good and an evil. The idea that that seems to be coming forth through the Morganthe storyline is that the great evil that the very memory of was long repressed is coming back. We seem to have Bartleby as the neutral representative of the spiral, Grandmother Raven as "good" and Grandfather spider as "evil". Whether those appellations are deserved or warranted remains to be seen.

    However, what is clear is that Grandfather Spider is attempting to come back. Whether he always was or was recently reawakened by recent events is not clear and without any input thus far from the game from Grandmother Raven, Bartleby, or the Headmaster it isn't clear what this entails. Given our new knowledge of shadow magic it could be that the spider is not bad at all. The use of the name shadow suggests that since you cannot have light without shadow, and shadows in of themselves are not evil. This suggests that a war against shadow is not in order but perhaps merely a restoration of the balance between light and shadow, though Old Cob is clearly bitter and would take it farther than that. What is clear though is that this coming story arc is going to be an epic unlike any other.

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