Wow, that was sad. So beasties apparently know the entire time that they will ultimately fail in their (self-imposed) task to protect the survivors, or worse, have them freak out and leave them when they see what's behind their masks (still wondering what could be that horrifying that everyone leaves their protectors over it, but it might actually be something that the house specifically designed that way). That's pretty tragic.
Have to say, I can't agree with Flish at all, Duskmourn seems to have pretty well thought out worldbuilding all thinks considered, and I have to admit, it engages me way more than Bloomburrow did (but that's might just be because of the theme resonating with me more). And so far the stories also seem very interesting. Not masterpieces of fiction mind you, but the story feels engaging, the horror is definitely palpable in a lot of ways, and I think the characters were pretty well chosen. I am actually kind of sad that the main story only has two more chapters. Hopefully they will not feel rushed because of that like a lot of last few chapters felt for recent sets.
From the panel and confirmed by the extras the beasties where once the transformed pets and urban animals of the plane turned into monsters. Very sad and beautiful story and really adds more cool layers to Duskmourn.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
No DVD Extras yet, and oh boy, was today's episode a doozy. ...With one ambiguous part that I'd love the DVD Extras to explain.
Tyvar finds that House monster flesh and House walls/floors(/ceilings?) feel like they're made of exactly the same stuff - disturbing
Tyvar still periodically incorporates House walls into himself and Zimone, but extracts themselves at the first sign of thinking like the House
Tyvar and Zimone eventually encounter that last scion of the latest homeowners, Marina Vendrell, in a impossibly ordinary- and harmless-looking room
Upon hearing what has become of the rest of the House, Marina panics and semi-consciously sics House monsters on Tyvar and Zimone, but does confess the existence of An Architectural Accounting, a book the previous homeowner created that the realtor told the Vendrells to keep up-to-date
Zimone snags Marina's diary in the commotion, and Marina's diary reveals that she once fed school bullies (intriguingly from "necrobiology class") to Valgavoth after starting to think of that house-maintaining demon as a friend, and then Valgavoth expanded the house and Marina started regretting her actions
Nashi leads the main party to a Cult of Valgavoth hideout because that's where he senses Tamiyo's mother-scroll is, Winter cynically claims about the Cult: "They're inevitable in Duskmourn. They, like their Devouring Father, are everywhere."
The Cult captures the main party, and this wham exchange happens between a Cultist and Winter:
The speaker moved toward the pair as Niko struggled, trying to break free. He smiled and placed an approving hand on Winter's shoulder. "You shall be most favored," he said.
"At this point, I better be," said Winter, and stepped backward, pulling a loose stone from the wall. A slab of solid granite crashed down between him and the others, sealing them in the room with the cultists.
Is Winter interested in escaping the Cult with his alignment intact, or does he already have an in with the Cult? Did he purposefully and spitefully trap the rest of the main party, or was that a side effect of him grabbing that loose stone from the wall as a weapon? Better hope the DVD Extras (or next episode) have the answer to this!
Tamiyo's mother-scroll is indeed with the cultists, telling them tales of other planes
Kaito's planeswalk to Ravnica and back to Aminatou and company is successful, but he seems to have trouble planeswalking afterwards - it's notably ambiguous whether Himoto is still with him post-planeswalk
Proft picks up the piece of House Duskmourn Kaito found in his hand post-planeswalk and says he has a plan for it (tracing its past, perhaps?)
tyvar and zimone keep switching in and out of the material of the house so they can't be spotted and doing become the house, they find marina, she scoffs them off but zimone pickpocketed her diary. And they read it and figure out the key to the house it’s really a demon named Valgavoth making the house a plane and this whole thing started by marina making a contract with Valgavoth to deal with some bullies she had and that cause him to be free.
Team nashi/wanderer are find the scroll land into a place where cult a Valgavoth is they see a ritual of getting survivors to join Valgavoth they jump in save the girl the main one instead of being surprised saids “you have delivered!” And who were they talking to … winter so he was infact gonna betray them (good call for people called this) knocked out and see a room possibly in “the bellow” (valgavoths main chamber) or near it and in front of them with the scroll nashi is looking for it’s forcing story’s to Valgavoth so his house can go beyond it’s plane.
Kaito got back to ravnica quickly tried to get back it but couldn't so Valgavoth can do the same trick Michiko Konda + Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa did with preventing leshrac from getting in kamigawa, kaito had a piece of house with blood on it, kaito told niv-mizzet that Jace is still alive and niv became beyond furious with that, then Alquist Proft examined the wood and he said he now has a plan and this being the key to saving the whole team
For a little spoiler proft's plan might involve this picture
Valgavoth might be bending time specifically for Marina, perhaps the only person to start to befriend him - at any rate, it's confirmed that Valgavoth purposefully lets Marina's environment be like safe old times as a sort of parting gift
It's indicated that the previous owner was the one who summoned Valgavoth
The Cult of Valgavoth is at least part white on the colour pie
The Cult also uses cocoons - this time, to finish conversions of cult initiates
Sunset and Rill from the side stories are sighted, imprisoned by the Cult
The author pretty explicitly indicates that Winter betrays the main party - that's by inaction, right? The closest I found was "Winter only bowed his head, saying nothing, as the cultists rose up and grabbed Niko in turn." Everything else can still be construed as Winter not wanting to feed strangers to the Cult but prioritizing his own sanctity first, including the exchange straight afterward where Winter picks up a rock.
Kaito's trouble planeswalking is Valgavoth's fault - but is that because of something as simple as kidnapping Himoto?
Episode 6 is indeed the last episode of the main story
tyvar and zimone keep switching in and out of the material of the house so they can't be spotted and doing become the house, they find marina, she scoffs them off but zimone pickpocketed her diary. And they read it and figure out the key to the house it’s really a demon named Valgavoth making the house a plane and this whole thing started by marina making a contract with Valgavoth to deal with some bullies she had and that cause him to be free.
Team nashi/wanderer are find the scroll land into a cult a Valgavoth and guess what… winter betrayed them (good call for people called this) knocked out and see Valgavoth in front of them with the scroll nashi is looking for
Kaito got back to ravnica quickly tried to get back it but couldn't so Valgavoth can do the same trick Michiko Konda + Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa did with preventing leshrac from getting in kamigawa, kaito had a piece of house with blood on it, kaito told niv-mizzet that Jace is still alive and niv became beyond furious with that, then Alquist Proft examined the wood and he said he now has a plan and this being the key to saving every single survivor in the house.
For a little spoiler proft's plan might involve this picture
I really hope they don't mean literally every Survivor on the plane. Don't want one of MTG's interesting planes to die off on its first appearance.
tyvar and zimone keep switching in and out of the material of the house so they can't be spotted and doing become the house, they find marina, she scoffs them off but zimone pickpocketed her diary. And they read it and figure out the key to the house it’s really a demon named Valgavoth making the house a plane and this whole thing started by marina making a contract with Valgavoth to deal with some bullies she had and that cause him to be free.
Team nashi/wanderer are find the scroll land into a cult a Valgavoth and guess what… winter betrayed them (good call for people called this) knocked out and see Valgavoth in front of them with the scroll nashi is looking for
Kaito got back to ravnica quickly tried to get back it but couldn't so Valgavoth can do the same trick Michiko Konda + Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa did with preventing leshrac from getting in kamigawa, kaito had a piece of house with blood on it, kaito told niv-mizzet that Jace is still alive and niv became beyond furious with that, then Alquist Proft examined the wood and he said he now has a plan and this being the key to saving every single survivor in the house.
For a little spoiler proft's plan might involve this picture
I really hope they don't mean literally every Survivor on the plane. Don't want one of MTG's interesting planes to die off on its first appearance.
if it were to happen the correct to that is going back to what it originally was.
-I'll take my gold star thank you Grant ^.^. That said I do think Winter does want to escape the house and will betray the cult to help our protagonist get away since that will be his best chance to escape.
-Marina Vendrell back story def feels like a possible bad ending for a Beetlejuice like story. Poor girl and I do think she has some more awareness of what she did but the bubble and her own guilt is keeping her "trapped" in her delusion.
-It would be neat to have a flashback set to Duskmourn pre-Val taking over/ as he does and see what the world was. High fantasy 1980's is a such a differnt idea, even more when you add in demon powered consumerism.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
I’m starting to wonder something about the main set Valgavoth
now bare in mind I’m aware the main set version could also just be BR
it's occurring to me that Valgavoth could be the first ever demon legend to be WUBRGlegend
1. Obviously he controls the entire house/plane
2. We know dang well the “horrors” and “Nightmares” and possibly including “spirts” (glitch ghosts) and “toys” will be within all colors in the set
3. W will mostly comes from the cult of Valgavoth the author confirmed they are atleast white aligned (but there will be white horrors/nightmares/spirits (glitch ghosts)/toys)
4. U there’s water in the floodpits and balemurk plus teasers throws in a shark (based on Jaws) and fish insect that could be based on something called GYO/Gashunk
5. G comes from the wicker folk and the hauntwoods
I’m starting to wonder something about the main set Valgavoth
now bare in mind I’m aware the main set version could also just be BR
it's occurring to me that Valgavoth could be the first ever demon legend to be WUBRGlegend
1. Obviously he controls the entire house/plane
2. We know dang well the “horrors” and “Nightmares” and possibly including “spirts” (glitch ghosts) and “toys” will be within all colors in the set
3. W will mostly comes from the cult of Valgavoth the author confirmed they are atleast white aligned (but there will be white horrors/nightmares/spirits (glitch ghosts)/toys)
4. U there’s water in the floodpits and balemurk plus teasers throws in a shark (based on Jaws) and fish insect that could be based on something called GYO/Gashunk
5. G comes from the wicker folk and the hauntwoods
Elesh Norn controlled the Machine Legion yet she remained mono-white. So Valgavoth will probably be Black/Red and still have control over his minions, much like the mono-Black demons of Innistrad control the mono-Red devils
I’m starting to wonder something about the main set Valgavoth
now bare in mind I’m aware the main set version could also just be BR
it's occurring to me that Valgavoth could be the first ever demon legend to be WUBRGlegend
1. Obviously he controls the entire house/plane
2. We know dang well the “horrors” and “Nightmares” and possibly including “spirts” (glitch ghosts) and “toys” will be within all colors in the set
3. W will mostly comes from the cult of Valgavoth the author confirmed they are atleast white aligned (but there will be white horrors/nightmares/spirits (glitch ghosts)/toys)
4. U there’s water in the floodpits and balemurk plus teasers throws in a shark (based on Jaws) and fish insect that could be based on something called GYO/Gashunk
5. G comes from the wicker folk and the hauntwoods
Elesh Norn controlled the Machine Legion yet she remained mono-white. So Valgavoth will probably be Black/Red and still have control over his minions, much like the mono-Black demons of Innistrad control the mono-Red devils
indeed thats why i said im aware he could be a rakdos legend in the main set as well
Okay, I didn't expect to see a story of the house slowly eating the world, with the last survivors to boot. Pretty cool. Probably my favourite Duskmourn story so far.
Elesh Norn controlled the Machine Legion yet she remained mono-white. So Valgavoth will probably be Black/Red and still have control over his minions, much like the mono-Black demons of Innistrad control the mono-Red devils
Valgavoth is heavily associated with moths and moths in turn are heavily associated with white. The cult is apparently also associated with white and the preview artwork we had of Duskmourn showed (presumably) Valgavoth's form, which was like some sort of skeletal nightmare moth thing that was entirely white. I wouldn't discount Valgavoth being RWB.
“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
we have the BIG BAD VILLAIN! for the 3 year arc......
aka the villain for War of the Spark 3 (Bolas was War of the Spark 1, Elesh norn (other praetors except urabrask) for War of the spark 2)
Its Valgavoth
He has full possession of loot now. so jace failed to save loot and
to remind Valgavoth can do the same trick Michiko Konda + Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa did to prevent leshrac from entering kamigawa. he prevent kaito from getting back in. so jace should easily be no different so jace will never get another chance.
and yes Valgavoth can also mind read just like jace so he definitely has access to the map in loot
and it looks like he might be starting with either ravnica or the space opera plane.
Nashi blames himself for leading his Reckoner buddies to their deaths (this also confirms that Nashi has gang connections, in case you couldn't guess that from his earlier cards)
It's implied that Valgavoth promised Winter a normal House if Winter sacrificed enough people to him, but Winter implies that Valgavoth promised him freedom from the House
Winter as good as admits that he sacrificed his best friend first (and that letting Nashi lead the main party into the Cult counts as 3 sacrifices)
Tyvar and Zimone burst in, and Zimone is wrapped up in a wickerfolk, courtesy of Tyvar's magic
Winter is temporarily trapped in one of Niko's shards before he can walk to freedom
Nashi retrieves Tamiyo's mother-scroll, and the mother-scroll reveals that she was forced to lure Nashi (as if Nashi wasn't lured on his own anyway) and wants Nashi to free her from the Cult and essentially kill/total her
Proft makes a temporary Omenpath with his trace-constructing magic, Aminatou's fate-moth magic (note the hopeful moth designs on the Omenpath), Kaito's spark, and the piece of House Duskmourn (but where's Himoto?)
While the whole party is escaping through the Omenpath, Nashi purposefully drops Tamiyo's mother-scroll into the temporary Omenpath to give her the rest she requested
It's implied that Valgavoth kidnapped Loot
Valgavoth is wounded from the encounter and needs to recover, so he grabs Winter and gives him "freedom. Of a kind." Might Winter be granted control of some of the House's monsters as Valgavoth drains him, or is death the form of freedom the demon will grant Winter?
The whole experience has apparently troubled Proft so much that House Duskmourn doors are leaking into his work
we have the BIG BAD VILLAIN! for the 3 year arc......
aka the villain for War of the Spark 3 (Bolas was War of the Spark 1, Elesh norn (other praetors except urabrask) for War of the spark 2)
Its Valgavoth
He has full possession of loot now. so jace failed to save loot and
to remind Valgavoth can do the same trick Michiko Konda + Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa did to prevent leshrac from entering kamigawa. he prevent kaito from getting back in. so jace should easily be no different so jace will never get another chance.
and yes Valgavoth can also mind read just like jace so he definitely has access to the map in loot
and it looks like he might be starting with either ravnica or the space opera plane.
The story writer still gets a card preview, so I think the epilogue at preview time will involve Jace rescuing Loot (or at least attempting to). Last time we checked, Jace was still in the House...
Rats, the author only gets to preview in Tweets. Welp, the card's about Loot getting kidnapped instead, but I still hold out hope that Jace reaches Loot instead of abandoning him...
On another note, this is what happens when the story writers provide twice the stories - actual more fleshing out of the world than you might think. Yesterday's story was actually great from a world-building point of view (at least IMO) and definitely makes the idea of House Duskmourn swallowing the plane more believable. I do suspect that writing a story depicting a civilization being swallowed up by the House was optional from Wizards's point of view, though, and that we get such a story at all is more the author's good grace towards us. This is especially apparent when Wizards only initially revealed that we'd get stories starting on Aug. 26.
The author claims there were actually 6 Reckoners involved (and now they're all toast), not 4 - whoops
The author claims that "All moths are butterflies, but not all butterflies are moths" which is only true phylogenically, just like "all birds are reptiles", which is true in the exact same sense but flies in the face of intuition
The author explicitly states that Winter wanted to go home, which is in fact Innistrad based on where the author describes Winter's door is from (whoops, Valgavoth won't end up giving Winter that)
Innistrad is described as a "paradise" compared to Duskmourn (hey, at least the vampires are starting to blood tithe humans instead of kill or convert them, some of the werewolves are willing to negotiate with humanity, Tovolar isn't a complete murderer, not everyone is raising zombies, blazing geists won't consume half the plane...)
The author implies that Marina sacrificed 4 school bullies to Valgavoth that one time
The author states that Tyvar's magic suppresses the magic of everyone he coats (especially if he's coating you in a wickerfolk); I thought Tyvar dropped the wickerfolk coating just so Zimone would have nimble fingers again
In case it wasn't clear enough from the story, Tamiyo's mother-scroll loses a part of herself every time she tells one of her component stories
The author indicates that, from the point of view of the mother-scroll, Nashi's "real mother" is the flesh-and-blood Tamiyo and not Nashi's biological mother (though I really did think the mother-scroll meant Nashi's biological mother, and that said mother loved Nashi very, very much)
I see that the author is probably trope-aware - she mentions that Valgavoth is a "functional god"
Niko uses their Fateshifter - huh, I didn't realize a Fateshifter got used
The author leaves open a stronger possibility that Winter doesn't get killed by Valgavoth (gets incorporated into the House instead and becomes one with Valgavoth's flesh, his essence opening another door to Innistrad and fleeing through it, along with Valgavoth's outreach?)
Proft is seeing House Duskmourn doors in his work precisely because he touched that piece of the House - i.e. Valgavoth's extended flesh - so now Valgavoth gets to touch him anytime he wants
The author promises a post-mortem of the entire Duskmourn story suite in the next blog post
Wow, that was sad. So beasties apparently know the entire time that they will ultimately fail in their (self-imposed) task to protect the survivors, or worse, have them freak out and leave them when they see what's behind their masks (still wondering what could be that horrifying that everyone leaves their protectors over it, but it might actually be something that the house specifically designed that way). That's pretty tragic.
Have to say, I can't agree with Flish at all, Duskmourn seems to have pretty well thought out worldbuilding all thinks considered, and I have to admit, it engages me way more than Bloomburrow did (but that's might just be because of the theme resonating with me more). And so far the stories also seem very interesting. Not masterpieces of fiction mind you, but the story feels engaging, the horror is definitely palpable in a lot of ways, and I think the characters were pretty well chosen. I am actually kind of sad that the main story only has two more chapters. Hopefully they will not feel rushed because of that like a lot of last few chapters felt for recent sets.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/episode-five-dont-give-in
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Also there's sunlight even though the plane has no suns anymore, though it could be part of the illusion magic.
tyvar and zimone keep switching in and out of the material of the house so they can't be spotted and doing become the house, they find marina, she scoffs them off but zimone pickpocketed her diary. And they read it and figure out the key to the house it’s really a demon named Valgavoth making the house a plane and this whole thing started by marina making a contract with Valgavoth to deal with some bullies she had and that cause him to be free.
Team nashi/wanderer are find the scroll land into a place where cult a Valgavoth is they see a ritual of getting survivors to join Valgavoth they jump in save the girl the main one instead of being surprised saids “you have delivered!” And who were they talking to … winter so he was infact gonna betray them (good call for people called this) knocked out and see a room possibly in “the bellow” (valgavoths main chamber) or near it and in front of them with the scroll nashi is looking for it’s forcing story’s to Valgavoth so his house can go beyond it’s plane.
Kaito got back to ravnica quickly tried to get back it but couldn't so Valgavoth can do the same trick Michiko Konda + Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa did with preventing leshrac from getting in kamigawa, kaito had a piece of house with blood on it, kaito told niv-mizzet that Jace is still alive and niv became beyond furious with that, then Alquist Proft examined the wood and he said he now has a plan and this being the key to saving the whole team
For a little spoiler proft's plan might involve this picture
Notes:
I really hope they don't mean literally every Survivor on the plane. Don't want one of MTG's interesting planes to die off on its first appearance.
Current EDH Decks:
Dakkon Blackblade 2WUUB
if it were to happen the correct to that is going back to what it originally was.
-Marina Vendrell back story def feels like a possible bad ending for a Beetlejuice like story. Poor girl and I do think she has some more awareness of what she did but the bubble and her own guilt is keeping her "trapped" in her delusion.
-It would be neat to have a flashback set to Duskmourn pre-Val taking over/ as he does and see what the world was. High fantasy 1980's is a such a differnt idea, even more when you add in demon powered consumerism.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
now bare in mind I’m aware the main set version could also just be BR
it's occurring to me that Valgavoth could be the first ever demon legend to be WUBRGlegend
1. Obviously he controls the entire house/plane
2. We know dang well the “horrors” and “Nightmares” and possibly including “spirts” (glitch ghosts) and “toys” will be within all colors in the set
3. W will mostly comes from the cult of Valgavoth the author confirmed they are atleast white aligned (but there will be white horrors/nightmares/spirits (glitch ghosts)/toys)
4. U there’s water in the floodpits and balemurk plus teasers throws in a shark (based on Jaws) and fish insect that could be based on something called GYO/Gashunk
5. G comes from the wicker folk and the hauntwoods
Duskmourn House of horror | Dead End
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/side-five-dead-end
Elesh Norn controlled the Machine Legion yet she remained mono-white. So Valgavoth will probably be Black/Red and still have control over his minions, much like the mono-Black demons of Innistrad control the mono-Red devils
indeed thats why i said im aware he could be a rakdos legend in the main set as well
Valgavoth is heavily associated with moths and moths in turn are heavily associated with white. The cult is apparently also associated with white and the preview artwork we had of Duskmourn showed (presumably) Valgavoth's form, which was like some sort of skeletal nightmare moth thing that was entirely white. I wouldn't discount Valgavoth being RWB.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/episode-six-dont-die
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Current EDH Decks:
Dakkon Blackblade 2WUUB
we have the BIG BAD VILLAIN! for the 3 year arc......
aka the villain for War of the Spark 3 (Bolas was War of the Spark 1, Elesh norn (other praetors except urabrask) for War of the spark 2)
Its Valgavoth
He has full possession of loot now. so jace failed to save loot and
to remind Valgavoth can do the same trick Michiko Konda + Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa did to prevent leshrac from entering kamigawa. he prevent kaito from getting back in. so jace should easily be no different so jace will never get another chance.
and yes Valgavoth can also mind read just like jace so he definitely has access to the map in loot
and it looks like he might be starting with either ravnica or the space opera plane.
Not really, after all most of them had to use their fateshifters, otherwise all of them would have died (except Kaito).
Really like that the Story leaves with a very ambigious and foreboding ending, pretty fitting all things considered.
The story writer still gets a card preview, so I think the epilogue at preview time will involve Jace rescuing Loot (or at least attempting to). Last time we checked, Jace was still in the House...Rats, the author only gets to preview in Tweets. Welp, the card's about Loot getting kidnapped instead, but I still hold out hope that Jace reaches Loot instead of abandoning him...
On another note, this is what happens when the story writers provide twice the stories - actual more fleshing out of the world than you might think. Yesterday's story was actually great from a world-building point of view (at least IMO) and definitely makes the idea of House Duskmourn swallowing the plane more believable. I do suspect that writing a story depicting a civilization being swallowed up by the House was optional from Wizards's point of view, though, and that we get such a story at all is more the author's good grace towards us. This is especially apparent when Wizards only initially revealed that we'd get stories starting on Aug. 26.
https://seananmcguire.com/blog/2024/08/30/dont-die-the-dvd-extras/