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Ambrose Mod's Thoughts on Darkmoor (from what they can remember)

(Below this line is a handful of summarized paragraphs detailing what I understand of the story of Darkmoor. Expanded thoughts will be provided at the very end)

Prologue - Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme After being called to the Arcanum for an Induction Ceremony as the Scholar of Applied Magics (and a brief interruption from our friend Sybil; the local magic tree who's asleep and traversing the dream world most of the time); the fancy skyship is suddenly infiltrated by an organization known as the Broken Branch, headed by a mysterious Earthborn known as Miranda Briar. Their objective is clear; commandeer the Arcanum for knowledge, that being ALL the knowledge they've gathered on the Spiral. Obviously, our desire to play the hero and recognize a potential threat drives us to fight the intruders; especially given how they have a vehement hatred towards Bartleby; whom we represent as his Scion. After taking back several core facilities of the Arcanum; because our focus was divided and pointed elsewhere, and we were SO insistent on playing the Hero, it gave Miranda an opportunity to pursue her backup plan; take a seed directly from Sybil by force, which ends up killing her. This was likely our breaking point; Miranda took an innocent life that we had a connection to, and just… left without a word. This is what prompts us to follow her trail; to track her down and make her answer for what she's done… and presumably to also learn more of the Broken Branch, their motives, and how to stop them if they pose a threat.

Act 1 - Welcome to Darkmoor We're in a strange new land where our status as a hero of the Spiral means next to nothing more than an empty promise to the few human survivors we meet. We're introduced by Velma von Venkman to the Outsiders; a small band of humans who are constantly on the run from the monster houses of Darkmoor… yet are unable to truly leave as they are often unwelcome or shunned wherever they go. They're the only friendly connection we seem to have, however; courtesy of Velma, and thus, they assist us with traversing Darkmoor by means of a temporary magic disguise in order to learn more of our mysterious Broken Branch through the residents of Graveholm; monsters in every sense of the word. Arriving in Graveholm, we set out on our expedition; and are pointed towards the house of the Lord Arthur Easton and his daughter(?), Lucy after hearing of something befalling the vampire lady. With a bit of coercing for information, discipline, and investigation, we come to discover the Broken Branch is using Lucy in an experiment to turn an immortal… into a mortal. Lucy is taken before the Parliament of Night for her fate to be judged; proceeded by the Lords of the Houses and a mysterious, feared entity known as the Gray Man, before she is stolen away by the Broken Branch. At this time, the jig is up; our glamour is exposed, and we are a few steps away from being torn to shreds by the four Houses. For whatever reason… perhaps he sees some use in us yet, the Gray Man vouches for our safety; informing the Houses that we are not to be harmed, as our focus is on the Broken Branch alone.

Act 2 - A Miserable Little Pile of Secrets Our travels take us to a place known as the Mortal Plain; a small human village just on the outskirts of Castle Strigoi… where its inhabitants seem blissfully unaware of the dangerous nature of the Vampires of the House of Cups. It is here, we find Lucy Easton in her Mortal state, claiming to be… fine! If not oppressed by an angry mob claiming her to be a dissenter of the town's way of life. We fight for Lucy's safety, and come to find out, the Broken Branch brought her here… for what purpose exactly, we don't quite know. But we do know something is wrong; the town praises the House of Cups for its benevolence, but we know the true nature of its members. In attempting to learn more of the strange circumstances of this town, we inevitably run into… Miranda. Our chance to make her answer for everything is finally at hand, however, we're told to stay our hand… Miranda just saved a man's life from a Vampire who was about to eat him. Reconvening with Miranda, we come to find out, she claims to be attempting to save Darkmoor; to unmake the curse that plagues it. Lucy also manages to convince us to consider what opportunity has presented itself; a chance to save Darkmoor. After all, she claims that becoming human again has only been positive for her. We have a common enemy; the House of Cups and its deceit. We reluctantly set aside our original goal to hear Miranda out, and assist her with her investigation and plan to instill revolution in the village and infiltrate the Castle. All the while, Lucy seems to be unwell; her condition rapidly deteriorating, but she claims to be fine. It isn't until we storm Castle Strigoi and seal the vampire away that the truth of Lucy's condition cones to light; without the curse to sustain her, the 200 years of life she had experienced had finally caught up to her, and in that instance, just as things seemed to be looking up with the promise of change for the better… she turns to dust, and dies. Miranda leaves us with what we've done, running off to pursue more knowledge, likely to chase a different or improved method of "saving" Darkmoor. And we are left with the consequences of our actions. The House of Cups is fallen; our sense of righteousness shaken; we have betrayed our word to the Gray Man, and once more than ever… we are practically alone. Its only by some unknown grace that we are allowed to live… perhaps the Gray Man isn't done with us yet

Act 3 - Into The Woods We return from our… arguably successful work in the Mortal Plain to find the camp had been raided by Weres. Queen Glorina and a handful of other humans; including ones we've liberated from the Mortal Plain, have gone missing. We take it upon ourselves to travel into the Howling Lands to seek them out, incidentally running into the Broken Branch once more… though Miranda is nowhere to be seen. Instead, we find ourselves acquainted with Runa; a Broken Branch magician who seems more level-headed than the rest. She shares the same ideals as her fellow Broken Branch colleagues, though she is willing to help us… just to get us to leave the Broken Branch to their devices. With her assistance, we track down the remainder of the lost Outsiders, cure those who had recently been turned into Weres, and confront the Lord of Coins; Barghest. After our foray into the Howling Lands, everything we know is suddenly brought into question. The Broken Branch are pursuing a cure for Darkmoor's curse…which could ensure the Outsider's survival and perhaps restore the desolate, haunted world to its former glory. It brings up the question of if we're truly in the right for what we're doing… especially since we've once again violated the Gray Man's "benevolence". But it all makes the Scion wonder… Why are they only just now coming to save this world? A world that feels as if it's been abandoned by the Grandfather Tree.

Act 4 - Sister Location With the Lords of Cups and Coins done away with, and only one potential lead into discovering the Scholomance before Briar; we follow Velma von Venkman to the Black Lagoon; the home of the Scholomari Sisterhood… and Velma's past. It is here, we discover the horrors of the Scholomari; how they condition young children they spirit away from their families, and inevitably curse them to the immortal forms they take by submerging them in pure shadow magic. We see the corruption in action, and with backup from Velma and the fortune teller Keziah, we make a plan to unweave the Scholomari's lies… no Broken Branch in sight. This is our decision, and perhaps… it's better to finish the job. Though ultimately, it's for our own unique purpose. A series of rituals; trials on a path to reveal the Scholomance to us… to find its terrible secrets before Briar does. We confront our shadow; our truth, our darkest innermost thoughts that question everything we've been told to believe. We follow it into the darkness, and come out the other side with new truths… and a voice. A small piece to a grander puzzle. Our path to the Scholomance is one of music; memory and the pursuit of our purpose in spite of the watchful eyes of Bartleby… who allowed himself to falter, to turn away from worlds who needed his aid. We proceed to unravel the lies of the Scholomari in our pursuit to collect more voices; demonstrating we understand our will, our reality, and our power. Our path to the Scholomance only reinforces the questions we've come to ask ourselves; why have we only come here now to a world in dire need of saving per our own volition, our own purposes? What has the Grandfather Tree been keeping from us? What are we; the Divine Paradox, to Miranda and her purpose? … These questions will have to wait, but they are vital to our path forward. The Shadow School rebuilds itself piece by piece with every voice we collect, and once it is finally remade, we enter to claim our score… though we are interrupted. Unmaking the Scholomari and insulting its Hierophant does not come without consequences, and though we defeat the madwoman in combat… we are still without the score; the set of notes, the song the Scholomance instructs us to play. Our only lead now is the Gray Man, though when we return to Graveholm, he is nowhere to be seen. The trail we follow leads to a hidden lab behind a bookcase; as for what lies on the other side? Interesting revelations. Behind the door, we find a lab; along with interesting research notes telling a story we never knew; the Gray Man was pursuing a cure for Darkmoor, just as the Broken Branch were, but his methods of rediscovering the Scholomance rested on the aid of a mortal; none other than Merle Ambrose. We learn he turned away from the horrors of the Scholomance; seeing the forbidden potential drove him away, to abandon Darkmoor to its curse. We confront the Gray Man in this lab, and discover a result of his works; multiple golems made of an assortment of monster parts; amalgamations of gargoyle, vampire, were, and scholomari. Back-up bodies. The Gray Man was never a physical being.

Act 5 - The Road To Hell Upon our victory over this crime against science and nature alike; we collect a suitable source of Arcana; a brain in a jar presumably with all of the Gray Man's research stored within it. We use this trophy of our victory to finally open the way to the Scholomance; a rather abrupt change in tone from the dark and gloomy atmosphere we were used to. It feels almost alien; fey in nature. Something you aren't supposed to understand. Perhaps that's on purpose. Nevertheless, this is where you reconvene with the Broken Branch; and supposedly... where you finally face Miranda Briar. You find her in what she calls the Liar's Grove; something she created with the Dream Seed she took from Sybil --which she later absorbs into herself--, reaching into the Dreaming to pull the failed foresights of Bartleby into being. We confront these truths, lies, and possibilities... and we're faced with a choice. Miranda shows us two doors; one that supposedly leads back to Earth, and one that continues on into the Spiral. No matter our decision, the outcome is the same; they're both two regular doors that lead to the same room... with an adversary that pushes us to our limit. With Miranda's assistance, we defy the omniscience of an all-seeing entity, if only for the moment. Once we return, the effects of the Dream Seed begin to show; transmuting Miranda from something real; to a living dream. She has officially left Bartleby's radar, and can no long be predicted by him. At the same time, a familiar voice resounds from the databrain we used to get here then gave to the Broken Branch; The Gray Man. Or rather, as he is properly called, Balaur, the twisted mind behind the Scholomance, and our final adversary. Now returned to the forbidden realm he sought for so long, he is to be restored to full power... and we have to put a stop to him. We enter the academy of the Scholomance, prove ourselves to the Preceptors, and face the horrible multi-headed wyrm that is Balaur in our final confrontation; casting him back into the darkness he so coveted. Epilogue - The Nightmare is Over With Darkmoor's greatest threat dealt with, and the Broken Branch's cure efforts brought to the Outsiders; Darkmoor appears to be on the path to steady recovery... though with all that we've experienced and learned about ourselves, our purpose... and our path from this point forward... We return to Ravenwood to confront Bartleby with our revelations... though our future is now weighed down by the cruel reality;

Miranda Briar is no longer of the Spiral's waking reality. We do not know what she will do next.

MOD'S THOUGHTS

You might've noticed it in my posts; but initially, I was... a little less than stoked with Darkmoor's story. Only in one specific part of it, though. The beginning wasn't too bad; losing Sybil wasn't necessarily too impactful for me? Mainly because I honestly wasn't too attached to her. But the idea of The Other Earthborn raiding the Arcanum being our first introduction to who we expect is... probbably our primary antagonist for this arc, is honestly not too bad. She shows up, does stuff we don't agree with, then backs down when we prove too persistent to lose. But ultimately, she won that encounter. Not the way she intended to, but she took something from us that later revealed its purpose in her schemes.

So we figured "Miranda bad! Okay!"

Graveholm wasn't too awful; I liked the idea of blending in with the monsters to get information, even working alongside them to FIND said information. The glamour plotline was a little weak in my opinion and we feared it was going to end up Another Thing We Can Do That Kingsisle Forgets About (COUGH water-breathing COUGH we keep having to come up with a new method of water-breathing every time it happens but i guess it's just permanent now. comes with being the divine paradox. ANYWAYS), but the fact that it went up until we entered a room with Multiple Different Monsters who each saw us as something different... it's a bit wild, and almost too convenient. And besides, the Scholomari were basically able to figure out we were duping them the entire time. We luckily have an explanation for why the Gray Man didn't say a single thing, because he figured "oh I could play this kid like an instrument actually".

The Mortal Plain, however. That felt like the weakest part of Darkmoor to me and the friend I played through it with. Because we suddenly SIDE WITH THE BROKEN BRANCH. FUCKING MIRANDA IS THERE. It was confusing in the sense of THIS IS OUR PRIMARY OPPOSITION RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW. If it was maybe JUST Lucy, or a Broken Branch representative (kind of like Runa in the Howling Lands but we'll get to her), I would've probably been okay!! But it was just confusing why we would just... so willingly drop our vengeance quest (not sponsored by khonsu. .......khonsored), solely because "we are a hero and heroes help people". Like... yeah, I know we would've seen the shenanigans of the Mortal Plain and go "this is not right. i should fix this." But did Miranda REALLY have to be involved and be all buddy buddy with us??? Lucy dying because of the 200 years catching up to her wasn't too bad, but Miranda just going all "experiment complete" and being so nonchalant about taking a life (what happened to "saving darkmoor"). It just... didn't sit right with me. I know she's supposed to be our antagonist, but... really.

The Howling Lands turned it around a bit, not by much, but enough to quell our earlier confused rage. Runa honestly wasn't too bad, I even remarked on her and said "Runa feels like she's written to account for... ALL of the confusion regarding siding with the Broken Branch. Here, it's out of necessity; our allies were kidnapped by weres, Runa's got a solution that we KNOW won't have too many consequences, and she even said she's just helping us so we'll just... stop. and leave the Broken Branch alone." I liked that. I liked Runa's writing. The final dungeon against Barghest was probably my favorite of Darkmoor's bigger dungeons because of the final battle. It reminded me a lot of Medulla's fight, but your allies are with you from the beginning. It took us a while, but we did it regardless. It honestly wasn't too bad, we definitely liked it better than we liked the Mortal Plain.

But what REALLY turned everything around for us was the Black Lagoon. We LOVED the Black Lagoon's story; taking down the Scholomari was a SIDE thing for us; we were here on our initial purpose of tracking down Miranda, which meant looking for the Scholomance. And it gave us good insight into Velma's past as well! Velma was the one who BROUGHT us here, but she hasn't really been active in her OWN HOME WORLD until just now, and oh boy do we learn some things. We learn how she was a former apprentice of the Scholomari, how she and Keziah defected and escaped, and she plays a role in helping us with our personalized trials to get to the Scholomance. And overall? It was just wonderful, mainly because the Broken Branch had no involvement here. It was... just us. And our quest. No questioning of who we're siding with. The Gray Man fight was also a wild reveal; this guy not actually being physically real, but split across multiple artificial bodies made of parts of the other houses? Metal as hell.

Scholomance was honestly one hell of a finale. We were already questioning Bartleby from the events of the Black Lagoon, but here, we learn even more. How he sees basically every possibility and pushes the "best course of action" from his foresights. And how apparently... it's possible to evade the all-seeing. And it really delved into our choices; sure, they only matter as much as an enemy fight (Black Lagoon trial of cups), or a badge (Earth Door vs Spiral Door), but it's the story potential that matters. I understand why we didn't try to jump Miranda here; we just wanted answers, because we were suddenly brought to question EVERYTHING we've been told to believe by the grand deity who considers us his Scion. We, like her, just wanted to know things. Our purpose was to track down Miranda and get answers for her actions, but now we had too many questions. If it wasn't for Balaur coming in to claim the Final Boss spot, I feel like we might have tried to confront Miranda then and there. But it's not time yet; it's only the beginning of the arc, by the way. ON THE TOPIC OF THE FINAL DUNGEON, MY FRIEND AND I COLLECTIVELY WENT INSANE OVER SEEING MORE KRULHU; THE LAST ONE WE EVER SAW WAS THE OLD ONE, TECHNICALLY DASEIN, BUT THE OLD ONE WAS THE LAST REAL ONE WE KNEW OF. We recently just made the connection that the reason Scholomance feels so alien and drives people to madness through sheer horror is that it's probably quite literally lovecraftian cosmic horror.

But yeah, honestly... Darkmoor really turned around for us at some point. Don't take our opinions as fact; we're just two young adults playing a funny Wizard game; and despite me being a game writer for a different project, I don't hold my opinion on writing in high regard. Just go enjoy the horrors of Darkmoor at your own leisure. ^_^

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