Khrysalis - Where The Shadow Things Are

Home to the alpha-arachnids of the Spiral, the Hive's "dark and twisted nature" is pretty apparent throughout, from the towering Magi to the mutation machines. The farther into Khrysalis, the weirder the creatures, apparently (even more so than this title's Maurice Sendak reference).

  

To start off the various references..

I finally realized that Taylor Coleridge has been quoting from "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" all this time. Samuel Coleridge probably wouldn't be amused with being portrayed by a rat :P

*Ding* new level cap :D

In the second arc, the level titles kind of fell off track. After Grandmaster, levels 60-100 would go better in this order: Archmage, Exalted, Transcendent, Promethean, Legendary. You can't really go much higher than that without sounding like a supreme being.

(Fun fact: The original title for level 80 was Omnipotent in Avalon's Test Realm, but was changed to Archmage, as the former basically means "god-like").

I get to celebrate my Exalted-ness by going down a spider web into subterranean depths. Cool.

Shrouded in secrecy - literally and figuratively - Old Cob appears to be a very complex and, well, ancient figure. The Khrysalis Orbs history quest expounds on this guy a bit --

In just two moving pictures (100% credit of Swordroll's site), the shroud becomes a little more transparent, yet more questions appear. As Grandfather Spider seems to be Old Cob, will Grandma Raven play a prominent role in the next arc? Will Shadow Magic be connected to Khrysalis as Astral/Sun/Moon was to Celestia? Will we have to battle even more spiders?

The clueless un-morphed bee best expresses 3rd Arc curiosity in five words.

Well that was... odd. I guess Coleridge will live out the rest of his days back in Scrimshaw as a crazy old guy no one bothers with.

Might as well bring a Valencian dude into this.

aaand an allusion to Pirate101's Hydra boss. The references have come full circle :P

As expected, The Hive didn't go without a shortage of colorful cheating warlords.

As if the new school wasn't volatile enough, Shadow has its own tree to guard the Palace -- and a Celestial Archway. Ravenwood can't live up to that.

Moros' roots are even more twisted than harpies, somehow.

And he falls.

Thus setting up a dramatic finale for the last questing post.

Happy Questing!