Complex sentence: Ruth attempts to locate Nao in the real world, and succeeds at finding several threads--but her efforts are continually thwarted, and culminate in a curious convergence between the two worlds.
Split into simpler sentences: Ruth attempts to locate Nao in the real world, and succeeds at finding several traces. Although her efforts to do so are continually thwarted, these attempts eventually culminate in a curious convergence between the two worlds.