A Short Fuse

Quest Giver: Auto-accepted during Set it Off! (the quest triggers as the explosion sends you into the pit)

Objective: Look for clues wherever the fall takes you. Find the Pulsing Crystal underwater in Naz’anak: The Forgotten Depths.

Quick Facts

• Level: 80
• Location: Naz’anak: The Forgotten Depths, beneath Icecrown Citadel [54.0, 87.3]
• Chain Position: 4th quest in the Icecrown Citadel/Matthias Lehner chain
• Leads To: A Voice in the Dark

Walkthrough

The Fall

• This quest triggers automatically during the scripted explosion from Set it Off!. The fuse burns far faster than expected, and the game takes the decision away from you. Your character jumps into the pit on his own.
• You plummet through the saronite-lined hole and crash through ice into the underground lake of Naz’anak: The Forgotten Depths. The fall is scripted and the water breaks your landing safely, assuming you do not have Path of Frost active (Death Knights) or land on an unfortunate mushroom near the edge.

Finding the Pulsing Crystal

• Once in the water, look nearby. The Pulsing Crystal is submerged in the lake, not far north of your landing spot at approximately [54.0, 87.3]. It glows faintly beneath the surface.
• Swim to the crystal and right-click it to interact. The completion text describes it as “covered in a thick layer of ice” that “shimmers strangely beneath the water.”
• The quest completes on interaction.

If You Left the Area by Mistake

• If you accidentally took the portal back to the surface before finding the crystal, you can return by flying to approximately [50, 84] on the surface near the base of Icecrown Citadel, finding the pit you originally fell into, and flying your mount down through it. You will be dismounted near the bottom crack but land safely in the water for a short fall.

If You Died

• Path of Frost deaths and shallow-water landing deaths are common on this quest. If you die, you respawn outside the area and must fly back to the pit entrance (around [50, 84]) to re-enter Naz’anak. You do not need to drop and retake the quest.

Lore & Secrets

Arthas’s Frozen Heart

The Pulsing Crystal you touch in this quest is one of WotLK’s most significant lore objects. It is Arthas Menethil’s literal frozen heart, discarded deep beneath Icecrown Citadel.

According to Matthias Lehner (who you meet in the very next quest), after Arthas defeated Illidan Stormrage at the base of the Frozen Throne, he ascended to merge with the Lich King. Before doing so, he cut out his own heart and threw it down into these depths, believing it made him weak because it kept him human. The heart froze over millennia of Icecrown’s cold, becoming the crystal you now touch.

By touching the Pulsing Crystal, you unknowingly establish a connection to Arthas’s last shred of humanity. This connection is what allows Matthias Lehner to appear to you and why the Lich King becomes aware of your presence. Everything that follows in this chain, from the visions of Arthas’s past to Tirion’s doomed attempt at redemption at the Cathedral of Darkness, stems from this moment.

Matthias Lehner’s First Words

In the follow-up quest (A Voice in the Dark), Matthias appears and tells you that you “really shouldn’t have done that” by touching the crystal.

He warns that “he” (the Lich King) will come looking for you now. Matthias never refers to the Lich King by name throughout the entire chain, only as “he” or “the prince,” reinforcing the ghostly child’s fragmented, frightened perspective.

Naz’anak’s Atmosphere

The cavern is unlike anywhere else in Icecrown. Where the surface is barren ice and bone, Naz’anak contains bioluminescent fungal growth, underground lakes, and ancient nerubian architecture.

Explore Icecrown’s hidden easter eggs, lore mysteries, and connections across Warcraft history in Vikstone’s Icecrown Chronicles, along with the complete quest storyline.