The second chapter of the Duskmourn: House of Horror story finds our team of heroes making their way carefully through the halls of the manor. Kaito leads the group, using his meticulously honed ninja skills to pick up on any trace of Nashi (and potential danger).
With the mysterious doorway from which they entered through having disappeared into thin air, their only option was to press onward into the depths of the manor. Despite the Wanderer confirming that the door they came through was the same as Nashi had, the hallway they had entered into did not match the footage Nashi’s drones had filmed, leading Niko to surmise that the home could be a shape-shifting labyrinth similar to the ones on their home plane of Theros.
Flexing their experience with mazes and labyrinths, Niko recommends that the party search using a pattern by starting with a “…right-hand turn and keep following to the right until and unless [they] wind up back where [they] started.”
Despite following Niko’s pattern, the manor proves to be totally nonsensical, with “…kitchens leading into bedrooms, bedrooms leading into conservatories.” After a time, the party enters a large room with glass doors, allowing them to see what they perceive as being outside the manor. A large, untended cornfield blows in the wind, and beyond that what looks like the decaying structure of what used to be a traveling carnival. Relived to see an “exit”, Kaito moves forward, but Zimone catches his arm and uses an illumination spell to reveal more panes of glass in the sky above them, signifying that even the “outside” is still part of the manor.
The party quickly realizes that if that space outside is actually inside, there would be no wind to rustle stalks of corn, meaning something else was moving them. With this in mind, they decide it best to turn around and take their chances back way the came.
The Wanderer, despite losing her spark, can still feel a lingering connection to the Blind Eternities, and notes that being inside the manor feels wrong, like being “encased, like a moth caught in amber, and rotting from within.” As she finishes her thought, a scream rings out from somewhere nearby, and Tyvar, unable to contain his desire to help those in need, immediately rushes off toward the voice before the group can react. Being the closest one to Tyvar, Zimone attempts to run after him to stop his mad dash, but as she catches up, their surroundings change and the two are alone, cut off from the group.
Still stunned by the disappearance of Tyvar and Zimone, the other party members stare at the doorway they had passed through ahead of them. They decide it’s best to stick together and try and find their missing party members, before investigating deeper. As Kaito steps toward the doorway, a giant maw of teeth opens beneath him and he plummets into the darkness below. Without thinking, the Wanderer moves to go after him, but Niko catches her by the arm and reminds her that Kaito still has his spark, and is likely the only one among them that can escape that situation.
With the party fractured, Niko and the Wanderer continue to backtrack what they can only assume is the direction from which they came. Before long, they reach a large steel door with frozen hinges. The duo remarks how out of place the door seemed, even in contrast to the rest of the unreasonable things that they had seen so far. Niko opens the door, and they are met with a burst of freezing air, leading into a “cold room with stone floors.” After entering, the door swings shut behind them, leaving the pair sealed inside what looks to be a massive freezer containing countless hanging hooks with chunks of meat skewered on the ends.
Niko and the Wanderer begin to make their way through the room, being extra careful not to make any noise or touch their surroundings. Suddenly, Niko stops the Wanderer with an outstretched arm and silently points ahead where something big had pushed aside some of the hanging carcasses. Preparing for a fight, the pair readies their weapons, but a pair of hands at their back suddenly grab them, pulling them to cover behind a large piece of meat. Naturally, Niko and the Wanderer turn prepared for another fight, but find a slim man with ragged clothing standing with them, his finger pressed against his lips and a piece of paper that read “BE QUIET,” written in dozens of languages including Theran and Kamigawan.
Recognizing the man was trying to help them, they watch as he produces a makeshift slingshot and readies what looks like a ball of bloody, matted hair in the sling. Just then, a tall figure wearing a mask and bloody apron and brandishing a butcher’s knife comes into view. The stranger fires the slingshot, sending the gross projectile flying across the room, striking one of the distant meat-hook chains. The ominous figure turns and begins walking toward the sound, only to step into a beartrap, obscured by the freezer mist on the ground. With the present danger’s attention diverted, the trio escapes with the stranger guiding them through a nearby door.
Once safely inside the next room, the stranger introduces himself as Winter, and tells Niko and the Wanderer that the monster they had encountered was called a “Razorkin,” and they were lucky to escape in one piece. Winter goes on to state that he has lived in the manor all his life, and states that “The House is the world, and the world is the House, and once it has hold of you, there’s nowhere else to go. You’ll see that soon, if you don’t already. You belong to Duskmourn now.”
Duskmourn: House of Horror is scheduled to release on September 27. View our official preview gallery.
Read the original story from Wizards of the Coast.
