The first chapter of the Duskmourn: House of Horror story picks up with Kaito, one of the few remaining planeswalkers still with their spark, breaking in to a heavily-guarded stronghold on Kamigawa.
The stealthy ninja easily bypasses the building’s security and makes his way into the treasure vault, in search of a scroll that belonged to Tamiyo. According to Kaito, the scroll had been “wrongly confiscated,” and took it upon himself to retrieve it and return it to Tamiyo’s husband, Genku. Once he had located the scroll, Kaito sent his companion, Himoto, to work untangling a web of security threads.
While Himoto continued its task, a voice sounds from behind Kaito and he turns to see the Emperor with Yoshimaru by her side. Kaito attempts to explain himself, but she reassures him she’s not there to stop him, but rather needs his help. Himoto finishes debugging the scroll and they depart to meet up with the Emperor, where she explains that Tamiyo’s son, Nashi, has gone missing.
According to the Emperor, it had been three months since Nashi’s disappearance, to which both she and Kaito feel intense guilt for not keeping closer tabs on the Nezumi youth. Grieving the death of his adopted mother, Nashi set out on his own, only to hear what he thought was Tamiyo’s voice calling to him. After following the voice, he came upon a door, covered in vines and etchings that “had no place on Kamigawa.”
Nashi then sent a few of his drones through the door to scout ahead before entering himself. The drone recordings would later be reviewed by the Emperor, but when she traveled to the location of the door, she found the area empty. With no further leads on Kamigawa, she entered the Omenpaths following a faint “echo” of the door, which lead her to Ravnica and Niv-Mizzet.
Despite not trusting Niv-Mizzet in the slightest, the Emperor agrees to his terms in order gain access to the mysterious door. Naturally, the Dragon is only interested in gathering intel for his research, but it would be the only way to search for Nashi. As her long-time friend and confidant, the Emperor asks Kaito to join and spearhead the effort of gathering party members, to which he agrees and sets off.
Kaito’s first stop is Kaldheim, where he finds the ever-reliable Tyvar fist-fighting a giant wolf. Even without his spark, Tyvar is no less jovial, and happily greets Kaito after knocking out the wolf with one, stone-laden punch. The pair then travel to a nearby tavern where Kaito explains the situation and Tyvar agrees at the first mention of “danger.” Kaito goes on to mention they’d likely need someone with defensive skills, to which Tyvar beckons to Niko Aris from across the room. Despite also being sparkless, Niko maintained their ability to manifest shards of magic, and agrees to join the party and the trio set off for Ravnica.
Since Kaito can still enter the blind eternities, he is the first to arrive back on Ravnica. As he approaches the agreed upon meetup location, he finds Zimone Wola waiting for him. She explains that she’s there to work on her “…graduate thesis on theoretical extraplanar spaces” and that Niv-Mizzet appointed her as their field researcher for the expedition. Not long after, Tyvar and Niko arrive through the Omenpaths, and the party follows Zimone to meet up with the Emperor and Niv-Mizzet.
At the end of a long alleyway, the party finds Etrata, who guides them through an Azorius containment barrier to a massive tent containing Niv-Mizzet, Detective Proft, the Emperor, and Aminatou, the fate-weaver. Once acquainted, the focus shifts to the mysterious door sitting just outside the tent. Proft explains their research has hit a dead-end and if the door is part of the Omenpaths, it’s like nothing they’ve seen before. Zimone then interjects, stating that they have Nashi’s drone footage before they went offline, and that what lies beyond the door appears to be the inside of a large manor.
Brimming with excitement, Zimone motivates the rest of the party to get going. Reluctantly, Kaito agrees to take Zimone with them, but refuses to bring Aminatou along due to her age. To his relief, Aminatou states that she cannot go through the door, as the magic within deflects her own and it would be dangerous for everyone if she were to be captured. Instead, she presents the party with a handful of fateshifters – dolls made in the party’s image that have the power to reverse fate for the user a single time. She concludes by saying that they’re extremely difficult to make and that if they don’t take them, at least one person among them won’t make it back.
With Aminatou’s warning in mind, the party steps through the door and into the plane of Duskmourn.
Read the original article from Wizards of the Coast.
