Episode six of the Duskmourn: House of Horror story picks up with Niko having regained consciousness within the cultists’ lair.
Realizing they were alone in the room, Niko calls out to the Wanderer and then to Nashi, confirming they were awake. Despite everything that happened, no harm had come to the trio, but Nashi made it clear that he thought himself at fault for leading everyone into Duskmourn’s trap.
Niko and the Wanderer reassure Nashi that everyone that followed him into the unknown did so because they cared for him, but before their words could sink in, the cultists returned, bringing with them the small box containing Tamiyo’s memory.
Placing the box back upon the altar, the head cultist launches into a speech detailing why they were so eager to steal Tamiyo’s stories and equally thrilled to have captured the trio.
“You carry the dust of as many worlds as there are rooms in paradise,” said the head cultist, focusing on Niko. “Places that have not yet known the threshold, have not yet felt the flame. Through you, we will be led to them. Through you, our Father will be able to plant His foundations, and he will feast.”
While in the midst of his monologue, the cult leader taunts Nashi by promising him rebirth as a reward for luring everyone else to Duskmourn. Hearing the word “reward,” Winter breaks through the crowd of cult members, demanding the reward he was promised – true freedom.
Unexpectedly, a voice responds to Winter that belongs to none other than Valgavoth himself, who takes the form of a large, grotesque moth, with wings melded to the walls of the house. The great demon assures Winter that he would be keeping his promise to grant him freedom, then contorts his body to form a door, made of “…the same cherry wood as the others, the frame carved with moths and harvest wreaths, a full moon where the peephole should have been, the traceries of tentacles peeking out from around its edges.”
As Winter approaches the door, his escape is interrupted by the sound of splintering wood, followed by a cult member being thrown across the room. Dressed in full Duskmourn camouflage, Tyvar and Zimone burst onto the scene and quickly started working to free their comrades.
While Tyvar handled the hoard of cultists, Zimone set out to break the restraints on the Wanderer, Niko, and Nashi. Zimone frees Niko’s upper-half first, who then turns and throws their magic shards which easily slice through the Wanderer’s bindings. Without missing a beat, the Wanderer swiftly moves across the room to grab her sword and freeing Nashi before jumping up onto the stone altar to directly engage Valgavoth.
Free from his restraints, Nashi rushes to collect the box containing what was left of his mother’s image. As he scoops up the box, Tamiyo calls out to Nashi and tells him that Valgavoth had been stealing her stories.
“Those stories were what let me exist in this form. They were my blood and breath and bones after all those things were lost, and now they’ve been taken. The people who took me have me connected to this ghost-trap to keep me here—that is the only thing keeping me here, Nashi. They are the only thing keeping me here. You can’t save me this time.”
Despite all she’d lost, Tamiyo assures Nashi that he was the one story the could never take from her, and sends him off to be the hero he’d always meant to be.
With Tyvar and Zimone busy fending off the hoard of cultists, the Wanderer and Niko are able to focus on Valgavoth. While the pair bolsters a strong defense, the nature of Valgavoth’s attacks leave little room for offense, and despite their efforts, they slowly begin to lose ground.
While focused on the moth demon, a cultist is able to sneak up on Niko and manages to deliver a killing blow to them. Thankfully, Niko still had Aminatou’s fateshifter, and reverts back moments before the sneak attack and evades it the second time around. After dispatching the assailant, Niko moves to ready a volley of shards to throw at Valgavoth, but is hit from behind and knocked off balance.
In a similar fashion, the Wanderer’s legs had become entangled in a web-like substance produced by Valgavoth, and while she could still swing her sword, her movement was greatly hindered. Seeing the opportunity, Valgavoth rips his huge wing from the wall and knocks the Wanderer down – her sword sliding out of reach.
With his prey now helpless, Valgavoth moves in to consume the Wanderer, but his advances are halted when a bright light fills the space behind him and followed up by a katana piercing his chest. Severely wounded, Valgavoth retreats through the ceiling, revealing Kaito and behind him, Proft, holding open a clearly unstable Omenpath, formed from a piece of Kaito’s “…spark, Proft’s mind magic, Aminatou’s fate-twisting, and a piece of the House.”
With Kaito giving cover, each of the heroes is able to rush through, and Proft quickly closes the door connecting to Duskmourn. While crossing the path between the doors, Nashi stops briefly to tell his mother one last goodbye, and leaves Tamiyo’s empty scroll behind to be taken by the Blind Eternities.
With the heroes now safely back on their respective planes, focus shifts back to Duskmourn, where Valgavoth is surveying the damage to himself and the house. After concluding that he would need time to heal, he begins to plan out his next moves. Reaching into the attic, he grabs a ball of fur that turns out to be Loot, the small creature that Jace and Vraska had worked tirelessly to free from the vault on Thunder Junction. Intentions unknown, Valgavoth then turns his attention to Winter, who’s cowering in a corner. Grabbing the youth, Valgavoth tells Winter “I promised you freedom,” and “I will give you freedom. Of a kind…” before pulling the screaming youth into the bowels of Duskmourn.
Duskmourn: House of Horror is scheduled to release on September 27. View our official preview gallery.
Read Episode 6 in full from Wizards of the Coast.
