What Happened in the Duskmourn Story?

Duskmourn: House of Horror releases on September 27th, and it’s set on a brand new plane with the same name. It’s a world inspired by modern horror tropes, so it’s just in time for spooky season! The plane is entirely contained within the walls of a frightening and sentient haunted mansion. This makes Duskmourn one of the most terrifying planes in all the multiverse. And it has a story to match.

THE SEARCH FOR NASHI

Duskmourn’s story begins not on the eponymous plane, but on Kamigawa. There, the planeswalker Kaito is breaking into a stronghold and attempting to obtain a confiscated scroll that belonged to the late Tamiyo. While on his mission, he encounters the desparked planeswalker, the Emperor. At first, Kaito thinks she’s there to stop him.

However, she reveals that she’s actually in search of Tamiyo’s missing son, Nashi. Kaito and the Emperor have intense guilt about the situation since they had to kill the phyrexianized Tamiyo during the invasion. 

The Emperor informs Kaito that Nashi has been missing for at least three months. Nashi had a scroll that contained his mother’s living memory, but it disappeared. While searching for it, he found a strange door where he heard his mother’s voice, and went through it. But the door disappeared before anyone could follow him.

In search of that door, the Emperor ended up on Ravnica, and found the door guarded by Niv-Mizzet, who will allow them to go through the door. Neither Kaito nor the Emperor trusts Niv, who they suspect is most concerned about discovering more about the area beyond the door than he is about tracking down Nashi.

The Emperor convinces Kaito to help her gather a party to go on an expedition to whatever plane lies beyond that mysterious door. Kaito agrees, and they use the Omenpaths to recruit Tyvar Kell, Niko Aris, Zimone Wola, and Aminatou. Although the latter doesn’t go on the expedition herself, she gives them several fateshifters. These are strange dolls that she says “can be used to evade horrifying ends.”

Now, with their party assembled, Kaito and the others go through the mysterious door and they find themselves in a strange house. Then, the door slams shut behind them.

“THE HOUSE IS THE WORLD, AND THE WORLD IS THE HOUSE”

Kaito and the Emperor’s party begin to make their way through the strange corridors. They attempt to use footage from Nashi’s drones to navigate, but they quickly realize that their surroundings are not the same as what Nashi must have seen. Niko’s experience with labyrinths on Theros leads them to posit that the house may be some sort of shape-shifting labyrinth. They suggest that the party take right-hand turns until they end up where they started.

Eventually, the party ends up outside. Or at least, that’s what it looks like at first when they see a cornfield and the night sky. However, Zimone uses an illumination spell to reveal that they are still in the house. Even “outside” areas are “inside” this mysterious structure.

They continue exploring the house, until they hear a scream. Tyvar runs off to help the person in need, and Zimone chases after him. The house shifts around them, and Tyvar and Zimone end up isolated from the rest of the party. Not long after, the floor opens up and swallows Kaito. Now, Niko and the Emperor are on their own. 

For their part, they find themselves trapped in a room that looks like a meat locker, where they realize they are being stalked by a menacing figure. There, they are saved by a raggedy man who uses a slingshot to create a diversion. They manage to escape with the stranger, who calls himself Winter. He reveals he has lived in the house for all of his life, uttering the ominous words – “The House is the world, and the world is the House.”

Winter also explains that everything that has happened to the Emperor’s party so far follows the House’s modus operandi. It lures in prey in and then slams the door shut behind them. It splits people up and tries to scare them, and once they are frightened enough, it sends razorkin after you. These are humans who serve the House by relentlessly hunting down any interlopers.

A GLIMMER OF HOPE

He tells them not to trust anything on the plane apart from “glimmers.” These are spectral beings that represent the hope of individuals on Duskmourn. The Emperor asks her glimmer, which is the legendary Kamigawa dragon Kyodai, to help them find Kaito. It takes the lead, and Winter, the Emperor, and Niko follow it.

Still lost in the House, Zimone and Tyvar are exploring a massive library, where Zimone is having a very good time. She begins to research the history of Duskmourne and finds a book with many annotations in it. She learns that the house they are in used to be a normal house built by humans. But the use of dark magic is likely what led to the current situation.

Before Zimone can learn more, a frightening human-spider hybrid emerges from a hole in one of the bookshelves. Tyvar is wounded, but manages to fell the creature before the two make their retreat.

AMINATOU GIVES AWESOME GIFTS

The Emperor’s glimmer does its job, taking them to a wooded area where they see hooded figures made of wood and twigs. They are holding several Nezumi prisoners, including Nashi. Winter warns the Emperor that these Wickerfolk are very dangerous, but she immediately enters the fray. She finds herself almost immediately impaled in all directions. 

As she starts to lose consciousness, she touches the fateshifter Aminatou gave her. Then she finds herself intact and once again alongside Winter and Niko, as if she never attacked the Wickerfolk. Using this extra life, the Emperor plans a more careful surprise attack with Niko and Winter, and it works. Once Nashi is freed, he explains that he has found Tamiyo.

Meanwhile, Zimone and Tyvar are still running for their lives in the library. Now, instead of sending frightening grotesque creatures after them, the House shows Zimone Kianne – her old Strixhaven dean. Zimone is swayed by her appearance, but Tyvar points out that Kianne is an imposter. He points out that it has plaster-like skin when you look at it closely.

This sends the creature mimicking Kianne into a rage, and it attacks them. Tyvar jumps in front of Zimone and the impostor Kianne’s claws rip into him and he starts to lose consciousness. As with the Emperor, Tyvar’s fateshifter gives him a do-over. This time, he hardens his skin before embracing Zimone and covers them both in plaster-like skin, much like the monster’s. The fake Kianne immediately retreats.

Tyvar explains that he realized that the impostor Kianne was never a person, but something the house constructed. His transmutation magic has now made the two of them part of the house, too.

As they try to continue on their way, the two of them encounter enticing doors. Zimone sees a door with the Quandrix symbol on it, and Tyvar sees a door resembling one from his brother’s feasting hall. They realize the house is trying to trap them.

As they are having this conversation, Tyvar starts to speak strangely about how the House will eventually consume everything, even on other planes. Zimone realizes that making themselves part of the House has a serious downside – they are now truly becoming part of it. Zimone’s fateshifter saves her, and she has Tyvar break the magic before it becomes fatal. 

The two decide that Tyvar’s magic is useful for protecting them, but they shouldn’t maintain that form for too long, or the house will consume them.

BETRAYALS ALL AROUND

Meanwhile, Kaito finds himself in darkness, before suddenly finding himself in an ashen landscape where dragons are destroying an entire plane. This turns out to be a vision, and Kaito believes the House is showing it to him. Just as he comes out of this vision, someone creeps up behind him. Kaito is ready to fight whomever it is, but when he throws the first punch he sees that it’s Jace Beleren.

The two of them agree to explore the House together, during which Jace explains that Vraska and Loot are somewhere in the House. Suddenly, Kaito and Jace find themselves trapped in tar-like sludge in a cavern. Kaito saves Jace, but then Jace quickly betrays him, escaping the sludge and leaving Kaito behind. Sinking into the sludge, Kaito is left with no choice but to planeswalk away from Duskmourn.

When he arrives in Ravnica, he attempts to planeswalk back but finds he is unable to. He returns to Niv-Mizzet and Aminatou, who explains that he can still planeswalk, but the House has locked him out.

Meanwhile, The Wanderer, Niko, and Winter are making their way through the forested room along with Nashi and the other rescued Nezumi. They find themselves in a cavern that turns out to be a hideout for the cult that worships the House. The room contains many writhing chrysalises. The head of the cult is preaching to three captured humans that they should submit to the House.

One girl agrees to, and as the cultists move to put her in a chrysalis that will transform her into a razorkin, Niko intervenes. However, their intervention fails and it is revealed that Winter has betrayed them. He led them all to the room in exchange for freedom from the House.

THE HOUSE’S ORIGIN STORY REVEALED

Tyvar and Zimone find that their new technique for exploring the House is effective. Eventually, they find themselves in a strange room where a young girl is drinking tea. When she leaves the room, it starts to decay into the frightening surroundings the pair have become accustomed to. They chase after the mysterious girl, and see that everywhere she goes in the house becomes a safe and peaceful place.

They catch up with the girl, who introduces herself as Marina Vendrell and asks what they are doing in her house. Zimone explains everything that has happened to them, but Marina doesn’t seem to believe them. Zimone realizes that this girl is the one who left the annotations on the book about the plane’s history.

Zimone scolds the girl and tells her that she’s probably to blame for everything that has happened to her home. Marina closes her eyes and covers her ears before constantly repeating, “You’re not real!” As she does this, the room begins to change and holes appear around them. Frightening nightmare beasts emerge from them, and Tyvar and Zimone retreat. However, Zimone manages to grab Marina’s journal before their escape.

As they look through her journal, they learn that Marina was a little girl who was drawn to the presence of a demon that is imprisoned in her basement. She endured harsh bullying, and this demon became her only friend and the only person she could talk to. Over time, this demon –named Valgavoth – promised Marina that he would protect her and get rid of her bullies. got Marina to research how she could release him. Marina did the research, but decided not to release him because she knew many people would die.

While Zimone and Tyvar are briefly relieved when they read that this powerful demon wasn’t unleashed, their relief doesn’t last long. When they turn the page, they find that it is covered in tear stains. After bullying got even worse, she decided to lure the main culprits to her basement, where Marina watched Valgavoth pull the girls into the wall.

This gave Valgavoth more power. And true to his word, he protected Marina. The same couldn’t be said for any of the other residents of the plane. However, he was still bound to the house he was trapped in. So, Duskmourn’s house of horror is actually a gigantic building possessed by a demon.

VALGAVOTH IS DEFEATED…OR IS HE?

The Wanderer, Nashi, and Niko wake up in the clutches of the cultists. Nashi informs the others that he feels guilty since it was his fault that they had all fallen into the House’s trap. The Wanderer reassures him that they came because they care about him, and it isn’t his fault.

Not long after, the cultists appear with the stolen scroll containing Tamiyo’s memory. The cult leader reveals that because the Wanderer and her companions have visited so many other worlds, he’ll be able to use them to help the House spread into other planes.

At this point, Winter demands that he be given his freedom. And Valgavoth himself appears in his true form – a giant moth-like creature. He responds that he will give him his reward, and creates a door for him. However, before he can use the door, Tyvar and Zimone appear using their camouflage and they attack the cultists. Tyvar holds off the cultists while Zimone frees the prisoners. 

After being freed, the Wanderer and Niko focus on Valgavoth, while Nashi rushes to claim Tamiyo’s scroll. Tamiyo explains that the only reason she’s able to exist in scroll form is because Valgavoth is keeping her around. She encourages her son to be a hero and tells him that he can’t save her this time.

Nashi joins the others in their fight against Valgavoth and the cultists, but the fight is not going well with Valgavoth’s massive size and his ability to control the surroundings. Just as the Wanderer is about to be killed, a bright light fills the room.

Kaito and Proft manage to hold open an unstable Omenpath using part of Kaito’s spark, Proft’s mind magic, Aminatou’s fate-twisting magic, and a piece of the house. Valgavoth is badly wounded by Kaito’s katana through his chest. Everyone in the party makes their retreat, with Nashi leaving his mother’s now empty scroll behind.

While the heroes made their escape, Valgavoth is far from defeated. He plans on entering a cocoon to heal from his wound. Furthermore, it is revealed that he has captured Loot, the creature that Jace and Vraska had stolen from the vault on Thunder Junction. Winter is also revealed to have survived the battle, and Valgavoth takes him with him for reasons unknown. 

LINGERING QUESTIONS

Not everything was wrapped up in this story. After all, the primary antagonist is still alive. Clearly, we’re going to be seeing more of Valgavoth in the future, since he’s managed to obtain the key to everything! Could it be that he can expand into other planes even without the Wanderer and her companions? And what fate does he have planned for poor Winter? It isn’t just about Valgavoth’s future, either. How did he end up imprisoned in Marina’s house in the first place? 

I think we’ll find out the answers to all of those questions in future Magic stories.