Lyra and Trixie, still wearing the magical masks that Ly'leth had given them, took a different route to reach the party area that their newest ally had been hosting, though once they returned to the area they approached the portal that they had opened earlier and slipped through it. When the two of them arrived in Shal'Aran, however, they paused for a few seconds before the illusions they had been wearing faded away, informing them that the masks only functioned inside the city, to which they pulled them off their faces and stored them inside their packs. The moment that was taken care of the two of them walked around Shal'Aran and found Thalyssra standing near Theryn, on the lower level of their new hideout, though when they approached her she pulled herself away from the withered elf and stopped in front of them.
The look on Thalyssra's face told them that she was hoping that they had good news, so they could get to the next stage of the rebellion that she had in her head and work with their new allies to undermine Elisande's authority.
"Lyra Heartstrings, Trixie Lulamoon," Thalyssra said, though at the same time they could tell that a question that was forming on her lips, one that they were both prepared to answer the moment it was asked, "were the two of you able to make contact with our sympathizers?"
"Indeed we were," Trixie replied, though as she replied to the question Lyra pulled out the bottle of wine they had been given, before she handed it over to the elf, "Ly'leth Lunastre sends this with her regards."
"The Lunastre family is well connected." Thalyssra stated, though at the same time she accepted the bottle of wine with a smile on her face, telling Trixie and Lyra that it was something that she recognized and that they could relax, "They will be of great help when the time comes for the rebellion to start."
"I'm eager to take down Elisande and find Gul'dan," Lyra said, to which Trixie nodded her head, as that was one of the big reasons as to why they had come to Suramar, but the other reason was because of what was happening in the city at the moment, "So, how are the experiments going?"
"All of Kel'danath's experiments to connect with the withered failed, and some of them even made them more dangerous." Thalyssra answered, to which she turned towards Theryn and waved a hand to him, though the poor elf simply stood there and ignored her, "Until he found Theryn. His arcane essence, the very soul of the shal'dorei, had been touched by something special. But what? By weaving my arcane essence together with Theryn's, I can create an empathic bond. This communion will bare his soul to us all... or what's left of it. We need only to feed him mana, and lots of it, in order to begin."
Trixie and Lyra opened their mouths to say something, as they honestly had no idea where to find the necessary amount that Thalyssra would need for such an undertaking, but before they could say anything Thalyssra smiled as Taniel approached them and gave them a basket that contained several small mana crystals and three larger ones.
"This should be more than enough for what you are talking about," Taniel said, though at the same time he also smiled as the basket was accepted, before he bowed his head and departed from the area, leaving the three of them to their own devices.
"Thalyssra, you cannot be serious!" Valtrois commented, to which she tore her gaze away from the strange center of Shal'Aran and turned towards the group, while at the same time glaring at Theryn, "I cannot believe that you are even considering wasting your time on this... creature! We should be planning our attack on the city."
"That is precisely what I am doing." Thalyssra replied, though her response seemed to catch Valtrois off guard, while at the same time Lyra and Trixie patiently waited for some sort of explanation for what she meant, before she turned towards Theryn and fed him the mana crystals she had been given, "Once he has had his fill we should be able to attempt to see what makes him so unique among the withered."
"Thalyssra, what exactly are we doing?" Trixie asked, because she was interested in what the First Arcanist was doing, while at the same time remembering what she had gone through with her own training when she first landed in Azeroth all those years ago.
"Theryn is at the mercy of his own mind." Thalyssra answered, though at the same time Lyra suspected that there was more to what they were doing, as Valtrois was walking away from where they were standing, "Whatever we find in there, it may be difficult to control. I will need your help to sort through the visions, so be ready for anything. With any luck, we will discover what makes Theryn special. And... whether there is anything left of who he used to be."
Trixie and Lyra glanced at each other, as Trixie had explained what she had been through and that she had even fought inside old memories at one point in time, to which the two of them drew their weapons and prepared for whatever was inside Theryn's mind. Thalyssra brought them to the area near the stairs and started channeling her magic towards the withered elf, where a few moments later she said that she could feel Theryn's memories, starting with the day he was exiled. As the echoes of the memories started to form around them, and Thalyssra beckoned for them to dispel the echoes so they could move on, Lyra stood near Trixie as she wove her magic into the air and dismissed them entirely... before Thalyssra continued with her work.
That was before the maelstrom of emotions inside Theryn's mind, from all of the experiences he had faced since his exile and coming to the day he finally withered to his new form, caused dozens of echoes to appear all around them and threatened to overwhelm Thalyssra... until Trixie wove her magic through the air and tore the connection apart. She told Valtrois that she was fine when the elf came over to check up on her, as Thalyssra had fallen to one knee while they were checking Theryn's memories. As they all walked towards the middle of the area they were in, however, Thalyssra told them that she had found something interesting... which would give them some peace that they desperately needed right now.
"The withered... Not only do they suffer a burning thirst for the Nightwell, but their own memories torture them as well." Thalyssra commented, though at the same time Valtrois nodded her agreement, as she had been watching their experiment with some interest, despite her earlier words against such a thing, and now knew how terrifying the withered transformation was, "Truly a fate worse than death..."
"Thalyssra, what did you see in Theryn's memories?" Trixie asked, because she was positive that the elf had seen something interesting while she was looking through the various memories earlier, something that she and Lyra needed to know about if they were going to be able to help her and the others in the future.
"I do not know what Theryn found, but I know where he found it." Thalyssra answered, though at the same time Lyra pulled out the map that she and Trixie carried with them, where she made a brief arcane mark on the map, "Moonshade Sanctum, to the west. Beyond the Temple of Fal'adora. Whatever power altered Theryn's arcane essence... Whatever power allowed Kel'danath to create a spell to soothe the withered... Its source rests there. I know this as surely as if I had been there myself."
Before Trixie and Lyra departed from Shal'Aran, and headed back towards Ambervale, Thalyssra called for someone to hand her a piece of paper and drew a quick sketch of the artifact she had seen in Theryn's memories, which she handed over to them. With the sketch in hand the Equestrians headed outside the hideout and headed to the west, where they carefully walked over towards the location that Kel'danath had called home, as that was the best place to start considering what the elf had been doing before he had withered. Once they arrived at the tower the elf had been living in, and noticed that the withered were staying away from the wards they had activated, the two of them searched the nearby area for anything that matched the sketch that Thalyssra had given them... or anything that looked like a Nightborne temple, whatever that actually looked like.
After a few minutes of searching the parts of Ambervale that they had been through earlier, where the withered avoided them despite the fact that they didn't stay near the other wards, Trixie spotted a bridge that would allow them to cross over to a new area... one that appeared to have the structure that they were searching for. As they walked towards the sanctum that the relic was supposed to be housed in, however, they both noticed that there were a large amount of webs scattered all over the walkways and the trees around them. That made Trixie wonder what sort of spider based enemy called this place home, because she was sure that once they touched the relic that they were after the enemies would come out and attack them.
As they walked forward Trixie and Lyra heard Thalyssra speak to them in their minds, something that was formed when they performed what she called 'Arcane Communion' and could transcend space itself, though at the same time she could tell that there were some seals that were blocking them from taking the seed like relic they had come for.
Trixie stared at the two coils that were sitting around the relic, finding that the one on their right was shooting a beam of energy at a mirror that reflected it back at the seal that rested behind the relic, while the coil on the left was releasing a beam at the seal on the left of the relic. She beckoned to the coil on the right and Lyra changed it, where the beam changed to firing at the seal on the right of the relic, before she nodded to the other one for a few seconds and watched as it was redirected towards the same one that the first one was being fired at. Once the two beams were in place she approached the seal and activated it, though as she turned to Lyra, to have her chance one of the coils, she found that her friend was fighting a large spider creature that looked like it was partly made out of crystal.
As the crystal spider fell to the ground, however, Lyra could hear more of them coming towards them, to which she called for Trixie to finish the puzzle and claim the relic, while at the same time she held the warglaives out and hacked at the second spider that was coming towards the entrance.
Trixie moved quickly, finding that the reflective mirrors could also be changed, to which she made sure that the two coils were pointing towards the seal on the opposite side of the entrance and activated it, though that also made more spider creatures charge at the entrance. She carefully undid the third seal as well and watched as the barrier surrounding the relic came apart, though at the same time she heard the sound of a larger force of enemies approaching the temple she and Lyra were standing in... to which she walked towards the entrance and found a large force of spider creatures standing in front of the entrance.
"Okay, I think that this might be too much for you," Trixie commented, though she meant alone, as she knew that Lyra could take on a lot of demons on her own and likely could do this if she wanted, but with the two of them they could defend the relic until they found an opening.
A few seconds later a lone spider flung itself over their heads, from a direction they couldn't see until it was too late, and landed on the seed shaped relic, before pulling itself into the ceiling and pulled the relic away from them... to which they watched as the spiders headed back into the hole they came from, along with a furious looking night elf male approaching them.
"Do the two of you have any idea what you have just done?!" the elf shouted at them, though at the same time Trixie and Lyra realized that they might have just made a critical error, one that might cost them everything if they didn't correct what had just happened.
At the same time, however, Lyra growled as she stared out at the hole the spiders had crawled out of, because they had waited for who knew how long until some brave adventurer broke the seals that were protecting the obviously important relic... and now it was in their claws, which meant that they had to recover the relic, before something terrible happened to it, and figure out why it was so important. Things appeared to be getting slightly worse this time around, but she was determined to correct what was wrong and make things right... even if she and Trixie had to leave a trail of bodies in their wake when they went to recover the relic.