The Story of Darkest Dungeon (with the Crimson Court & Color of Madness DLCs)

since darkest dungeon was released by Red Hook studios in 2016 the game has gained a reputation for being quite challenging unforgivable and brutal death is a near constant in the game which requires a team of Heroes to make Expeditions into the dark Halls of a formerly prestigious manner to rid them of eldritch's Horrors and crazy cultists successful Journeys result in the Gathering of Loot and gold which is then used to upgrade the buildings of a hamlet which can be used to upgrade the hero's equipment or skills or let them recuperate from the stresses of their previous journey to set them up for success in a future Expedition while the main draw of darkest dungeon is this gameplay Loop of killing monsters and upgrading your heroes in Hamlet there is a story in the game that explains where all the awful creatures that cover the Hamlet The Manor and the surrounding Countryside come from and why you need to clear them out and it has to do with the main characters mysterious ancestor whose curiosity led him to a cosmic horror that not only drove him mad but now threatens to destroy everything with no restraint on spoilers let's take the time to piece together his journey see what he found during his dark research and what his descendant undergoes to stop the encroaching evil of the darkest dungeon the story starts in a rural Hamlet off in the countryside of some unnamed land the people that lived in the hamlet were ordinary folk that did the normal things needed to get by they farmed the land to provide food for themselves in their Community they spent time in the tavern to wind down and pass the time they went to church to pay their respects or to pay Penance to the light of the flame which kept them sane and safe and they manufactured weapons and armor which they used to outfit Defenders of the Hamlet were used for trade with the merchants or Travelers that came to the Village through the old road that wound its way through the countryside it was quiet simple living in a large manner on a Hilltop overlooking the Hamlet lived the noble family and from their Regal Homestead they ruled the Hamlet and his people for many years although by most accounts the family residing within the manor was quite respectable after all some of the family members would occasionally come to the Hamlet and mingle with the people there there were rumors of a dark secret or shadowy power residing under the ground upon which The Manor stood but there wasn't any kind of proof to substantiate these stories so the years passed and the noble family of the estate grew in wealth reputation and influence eventually becoming familiar with the other Nobles of the area however as their power and authority grew the respectable appearance exuded by and indeed expected of the noble family of the estate and even the Nobles that visited them began to slowly degrade the parties in the halls of their Manor are in The Gardens of their Courtyard began to become more and more wild and unrestrained and the normally composed disposition of the Nobles gave way to their more impulsive desires they excessively drank intoxicating wine they feasted for weeks on exotic food past the point of moderation and they relished and the pleasures of the flesh this degradation had an ill effect on the court and a sort of Madness seemed to take a hold of it a Viscount completely fell to his gluttonous impulses and continued to eat the exotic food of the feasts even when it had rotted away and a baron held Knights of games and entertainment where he tortured and tormented his guests the lighting and the suffering he caused them the lord of the family of the estate a man only known as the ancestor not only allowed this madness to continue but being bored of conventional extravagance also took part in it one day while hosting one of the large debaucherous parties in his manner the ancestor was approached by a woman who seemed quite ordinary but the ancestor could sense something dangerous underneath her unassuming appearance the sensation gave the ancestor a thrill and he decided in the typical Spirit of his court to murder the woman in a grand Macabre display right before the ancestor struck the light of the Moon fell upon the woman's face and revealed the Monstrous horror that was residing within her despite the shock the ancestor was able to overcome the woman and continue with his gruesome plan he took her to his Cellar strung her up and drained her of her blood which he then used to create a new flavor of wine to be consumed at his next banquet however after he fed the drink to his guests something happened that he did not expect the Countess he had encountered was infected with a unique vampiric disease named the Crimson curse and when he fed her blood to his guests he had inadvertently infected them with the disease instead of relishing in their horror when they learned where this wine came from it was he who is horrified as the Crimson curse manifested in the court and caused a violent frenzy to break out amongst the Nobles who were each desperately trying to consume the blood of their peers to slake The Thirst that now burned in their bodies in the bloodbath that ensued a single drop of wine fell into the ancestor's mouth but instead of becoming infected with the curse he received a vision a vision that showed him the truth behind those dark rumors that had always surrounded his ancestral home and from that moment on the ancestor was a changed man at that moment motivated by a passion of discovery that had burned in him ever since his youth the ancestor made a vow that he would find the power that lay beneath his home and look upon it with his own eyes as the ancestor started to make his exit from the courtyard though he noticed huge monstrous insects flying to it to Feast upon the bloody corpses that were the unfortunate victims of the infected Nobles some of whom still walked amongst its Gardens perhaps recognizing that if they were not contained then their infestation would spread to the rest of the estate and likely lead to the ruin of his Newfound goal the ancestors sealed the gates of the courtyard trapping the bloodsuckers within where he hoped they in their curse would never see the light of day again he then returned to his Manor and immediately set to work at uncovering what lay beneath his home using his vast Fortune to hire Miners and workmen to begin excavations he also began to purchase and import relics Trinkets and texts from far-off places in an effort to deepen his knowledge of the more forbidden subjects of the world hoping that in understanding them he would be closer to learning about the power that lay beneath his manner it wasn't long before the townsfolk of the Hamlet began to notice the strangers and convoys flowing from the old road to the manor which inspired stories of morbid Wonder in them the ancestor knew that while their stories were fancible tales for now if the townsfolk ever learned about the taboo subjects that concerned his research they would try to stop him so he decided to stop getting his trinkets from Traders on the old road and hired a crew of Smugglers to sail across the world and bring him the Trinkets and texts he wanted using a hidden stair in a Cove that lied at the bottom of the Manor's Cliff to ensure secrecy was maintained the plan worked and talk of the ancestors work seemed to die down in a town so the ancestor got ready to begin his research in Earnest starting with some interesting texts on herb War he was repeatedly interrupted by a beautiful young woman that incessantly came to his house demanding to meet with him at first annoyed at her interruptions upon learning that she had a deep knowledge of horticulture and its Arcane uses he decided to work with her performing research and conducting experiments what was a fruitful relationship at first eventually soured as the woman started to use herself as a test subject which slowly caused her to become less of a woman and more of a hag the ancestor unable to stomach her process and Visage any longer sent her to live in the wheel where she could be in an environment that was conducive to her wild experiments where she would be away from him although his partnership with the hag had come to an end it wasn't all for naught as it inspired the ancestor to try experiments of his own his earliest efforts centered on necromancy and by learning some processes from the texts and relics found by the excavations were brought to him through traitors or his Smugglers he had some early successes he eventually learned of some experts that lived overseas and wanting to deepen his knowledge further invited them to his Manor so he could share ideas and processes in an effort to hone their craft however what he left out was his intention to use the men as his next test subjects after he had gained everything he thought was useful from the men he murdered them in the night and used his Newfound knowledge to bring them back to life the newly risen necromancers then set to work plying their new trade raising an army of the Dead from the tombs and graveyards of the estate his experiments with necromancia's success the ancestor then turned his efforts towards the art of summoning and it was around this time that he was approached by an old Miller who operated a Farmstead on the borders of the Hamlet the crop in recent years have been plagued by disease which had devastated The Miller's land and livelihood and having heard rumors that the ancestor is performing wondrous magical rituals in his manner the Miller turned to the noble and asked him for help in restoring a Vitality of his land the ancestor agreed to help erecting dozens of obelisks each carved with glowing symbols around the borders of The Miller's farmland the Miller anxiously watched his tarnished land believing the ancestors work would soon give life to the dead crops that littered it but the carved pillars were not going to restore life to the land they were sending out a signal to the Stars inviting something that lived out there to come to the Hamlet to answer the ancestors summon as he looked upon the cosmos the ancestor knew it was only a matter of time until the call was answered while he waited for his Celestial Harvest to ripen the ancestor began to work on another facet of summoning specifically blood summoning difficult work to master due to the Precision needed in process and materials to have something from Beyond the Veil possess a physical body on this plane his earliest efforts were otter failures but the ancestor worked through his issues soon finding that by having them inhabit the body of pigs he could successfully summon entities from the outer spheres to this plane he continued to work on honing this process and was eventually successful in achieving an amazing feat he reached past the bounds of this reality and brought through a great thing and put it within the body of a gargantuan swine creature in essence bringing a swine God to life although the effort was technically a success the ancestor wasn't fully satisfied with the results as the swine God was incredibly Primal and required a huge amount of Flesh to sustain but a solution to this latter problem soon presented itself to the ancestor while he had been able to hide most of his work from the people of the Hamlet through secrecy and bribes the Tales of Wonder that they had initially dreamed up concerning his recent activities had begun to turn to stories of Woe and they began to take issue with what the ancestor was doing their worry and fear were driven in part due to the words of a gibbering Madman that appeared in the hamlet not long after the excavations began in full while people normally wouldn't pay attention to the crazed speech of such a man he somehow had a deep knowledge of what the ancestor was doing up in his home and eventually his words whipped the townsfolk into a frenzy and they began to talk of rebelling against the ancestor to get them back under control the ancestor hired some brigands who had a fearsome war machine to come to the Hamlet and kill those that were most vocal about rebellion the plan worked and soon the townsfolk were scared back into submission the culling of the Hamlet also had the added benefit of producing a large amount of Flesh for the ancestor to use to sate the hunger of his swine God and to further his experiments with summoning however as the years passed the ancestor grew disillusioned with his blood summoning efforts having continually met with failure and finding the management of procuring storing and disposing of the amount of Flesh necessary to perform the rituals burdensome he saw an opportunity to solve his fleshy dilemma when the excavations Unearthed an old series of tunnels that ran under the estate he dumped the Gory entrails that he had accumulated over the years down into the tunnels to forever be rid of them and down in the darkness of the Warrens a funny thing happened the flesh possessed as it was by otherworldly entities melded together into a sentient shapeless Mass creating an Eldritch monstrosity the Warrens also became the home of the other swine creatures produced by the ancestor summoning work who made their way down into its tunnels in Pursuit Of Their Food Source making the Warrens a horrifying place of pestilence disease and filth having found something new in the ground Beneath The Manor though the ancestor redoubled the excavation efforts hoping that he would soon find what he had been looking for however the years of work had put a strain on his finances complicating this further with a multitude of men that were now on his employ there were the miners the brigands and the Smugglers the ancestor knew something had to be done to provide Financial relief so reviewed his situation to see where he could find it he couldn't get rid of the miners as they were the ones doing the actual work that needed to be done nor could he get rid of the brigands as if he did the prophet who had managed thus far to avoid having his voice silenced no matter what was done to him would eventually motivate the people of the Hamlet to rise up against him which brought him to the Smugglers the crew of Smugglers had steadily raised their prices through the years taking advantage of the ancestors need for secrecy a practice that angered him but was accepted as necessary now that he needed Financial relief he decided to end his partnership with the Smugglers but in a way that would ensure they never exposed his secret while also further developing the talents he'd been honing over the years one night while the Smugglers were asleep he cast a spell upon their anchor porting all of his ambition and contempt of their extortion into the spell which when completed dragged the crew down into the Waters of the Cove where they would rest in a watery grave for eternity while dealing with the Smugglers had provided some relief the ancestors still needed a way to fund his excavation efforts and he received his solution from an unexpected source the waters off the coast of the estate were home to more than the normal creatures that live in the ocean lurking in the waters were a race of fish folk that would periodically emerge from the waters to hunt along the coast According to some stories these fish folk would attack Travelers that made their way along the coastline but the more troubling ones told of people transforming into one of the fish folk after being bitten by them hinting at the reason why the beings Were Always On the Hunt and how they maintained their numbers whereas most people shied away from the fish folk the ancestor saw an opportunity he met with some of the creatures and struck a deal with them they would provide him with gold and jewels that would help get him out of his financial woes if he could provide them with an idol and a sacrifice the fish folk descended back into the Waters of the ocean whereupon the ancestor hearing something else close by turned and saw in the darkness a girl from the Hamlet who had a habit of following his every step her annoying habit had led her to seeing the deal between the ancestor and the fish folk which in turn had helped the ancestor decide who he was going to use to hold up his end of the deal a short time later he brought the girl and an idol to a dock in the middle of the night and before she could realize what was happening the ancestor changed her to the idol and sent them both into the depths of the sea when the ancestor went to the beach the next time the tide receded he found his lucrative payment lying in the Sands of the shore with his financial needs met the excavations continued and one day the miners broke through a wall and Came Upon a large stone door the ancestors soon realized what they had discovered after years of digging they finally found the gateway to the unnameable power that lay Beneath The Manor even through the door he could feel the weight of that power press upon its mind driving it closer to Madness a sensation that gave him an idea the prophet that had driven the people into a frenzy was still wandering the Hamlet having survived every assassination attempted by the ancestor thus far so since his body had proven so resilient the ancestor decided to see if he could destroy his mind he went and found the prophet and brought him to the door where he began divulging all he intended to do with the portal to the man he then watched with delight as the prophet having been driven insane by what he'd seen and heard tore his eyes out of his head and fled from the dig site crying that the ancestor was about to bring Doom upon them all triumphant the ancestor then turned to the door and opened it he and his men crossed the threshold and entered a world they were quite unexpected to meet a world of madness where grotesque creatures of the worst nightmares drove them insane or killed them monsters that came from a crawling chaos that lived in its deepest darkest depths only the ancestor made it out alive although not unscathed as the experience had left a mark on his mind and he soon lost consciousness it was at this time that the people of the Hamlet perhaps hearing the panicked cries the fleeing Prophet were once again whipped into a rebellious frenzy and they charged the ancestors home however when they got inside all they found was the ancestor who couldn't deal with the stress of his Eldritch encounter dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound thus the people returned to their homes hoping that with the ancestor's death the horrors that they had suffered during his rule would come to an end however the opening of the doorway Under The Manor had Unleashed an unquenchable Darkness upon the area around the Hamlet and as the years passed the evils that the ancestor had inflicted upon the land were Amplified the wields surrounding the Hamlet was completely corrupted by the hag who built a coven of witches to help with spreading her influence and weaponizing the Flora the Wheeled was also home to the bandits and their War Machine and from its thick brush they blocked the old road that led in and out of the Hamlet making travel 2 and Escape From The Village nearly impossible The Cove was overrun by emboldened fish folk who buoyed by the songs of the siren and the undead cries of the drowned crew attacked Mariners and passers-by at will the Warrens fell further into pestilence and disease as the Rotting Flesh of the ancestors experiments continued to mutate and be eaten by the detestable swine creatures that called the tunnels their home and the once great Halls of the noble family of the Hamlet fell to ruins were necromancers went about building an undead Army and the prophet continued to tell his maddening prophecies to any ear that was open these were not the only effects of the evil emanating from the depths below the manor though as the people of the Hamlet felt its Darkness as well compelling some of them to form or enlist into the ranks of a cult that worshiped the cosmic horror From Below these cultists would walk the land to the estate and capture unwary Wanderers whereupon they would sacrifice them in dark rituals so their blood could be fed to the thing residing below the manor thereby helping it grow in power and spread its corruption even further when one of these cultists had proven their dedication and devotion enough they would receive the highest honor of their faith and be granted access to the realm of the earth Lord where they would receive its blessing a blessing that would warp their human body into a form more suited to the Dark Realm of their God some of these Transformations were minor merely causing small fleshy growths with dark eyes to sprout on the body of the cultist but others caused major alterations to the physical bodies of the cultist weaponizing their appendages and granting them powerful abilities that made them incredibly dangerous once the cultists had received this blessing and underwent their transformation they became a guardian to the thing their complete and utter devotion ensuring that they would give their life to protect it from any foolish incursion that made its way into their world despite the horrors that engulfed the Hamlet and the hopelessness of its remaining populace and the devastation of the village occasionally Brave adventurers would come to the Hamlet and make their way to the abandoned Halls of the ancestor hoping to claim a portion of the Lost Riches of the former resident that were rumored to still reside in the ruins of his home but oftentimes bravery and foolishness are two P's in the same pod and more often than not those that embarked on these treasure hunts succumbed to the evils of the estate which helped deepen the darkness of the Hamlet even further as the blood of their failures was fed to the horror Beneath The Manor by its fanatical cultists thus the people of the Hamlet could do nothing but wait and watch as the corruption of the cosmic horror spread across their land threatening to consume it and maybe even eventually the world that is until a very special someone arrived in the hamlet someone that came at the behest of the one that Unleashed all the horrors in the first place after he fled from the darkest dungeon returning to the safety of his home the ancestor looked over his once beautiful house and estate and felt incredible guilt at the damage his ambition had wrought he wished to see the honor and Beauty it once had restored but feeling the madness that now lied in his mind knew he wouldn't be the one to undertake that Monumental task so just before he ended his life he wrote a letter to a distant relative begging them to come to the Hamlet right his wrongs and save the family name years had passed since that letter was sent but eventually an heir answered the call and came to the Hamlet making their presence known by dispatching the Bandits on the old road and opening the village to the rest of the world again once they arrived the air began organizing Expeditions into the various areas of the countryside where they hoped to wipe out the Eldritch Horrors and crazy cultists that now called the place home however similar to their ancestor they didn't actually do the fighting instead using mercenaries and soldiers that came to the Hamlet now that the old road was open to do the work for them the air did go with the adventurers on their Journey though and was actually responsible for all the other facets of the Expedition things like organizing the party and selecting exactly which adventurers to bring procuring managing and distributing the provisions the adventuring party needed commanding The Mercenaries during battle and collecting and Counting the gold treasures and heirlooms found in the areas and dropped by the monsters they came across the work didn't stop after the expedition was over either as Upon returning to the Hamlet the air then had to decide where to spend their hard-earned treasure they could allow their mercenaries to use it to partake in some of the relaxing activities in the village to de-stress from their harrowing Quest they could use it to buy better equipment for the soldiers in their employ or to train them to become better Fighters they could use it to cure the adventurers of any diseases or maladies they were Afflicted with or they could use the resources to upgrade any one of these buildings to provide better Services although there were times that Expeditions were met with failure for the most part the airs forays into their ancestral home were met with success thanks to their methodical process and over the next several weeks and months they eliminated the necromancers in the profit from the ruins they pushed the fish folk back from The Cove by putting an end to the siren in the drowned crew they cleansed the wield of the corruption of the hag and her witches they scattered the rest of the bandits by destroying their War Machine and killing their leader when he tried to raid the Hamlet and they cold the swine creatures the Warrens by killing their God in the Eldritch flesh they feasted upon hope began to rise in the hamlet as the populists watched The Heirs successes mount however there may have been something other than the heirs care and attention that contributed to their success as ever since they received the ancestors letter they felt they could hear his voice in their head pushing them to go on motivating them to continue their Journey despite any setbacks and making comments on how they handled the various dangers of the land whether this voice was the work of some Supernatural element of the Hamlet brought about by the darkness lying beneath it or the hereditary Madness that ran in the noble family of the hamlet manifesting in the air was unclear but it was an ever-present companion as the air worked to reclaim their Homeland in the midst of the Reclamation project the Hamlet began to suddenly be beset upon by an unordinary amount of mosquitoes and other pests while annoying nobody believed there was much to be concerned about until one day a villager stumbled into the Hamlet absolutely covered in insect stings wounds that unfortunately proved fatal before they passed the Villager said that just prior to their attack they had found a stone entryway into an old Garden on the borders of the Hamlet which surprised most people as no one in the hamlet remembered there being a garden on the estate therefore when the air decided to investigate they had no idea they were walking into the infested remains of the courtyard where years ago the ancestor had inadvertently infected the nobility of the land with the Crimson curse and unfortunately for the air and their companions the infected nobility still wandered The Gardens of the courtyard they soon Came Upon A group of these Nobles and were horrified to see grotesque insect human hybrids that swelled and oozed with blood a transformation brought about by the curse that burned in their veins the air in their party quickly cleared out all the bloodsuckers they can find in this initial foray into the area but with the gate that had previously sealed the area up now open nothing was stopping the monsters from ushering forth from the courtyard and spreading their pestilence to the rest of the Hamlet the infestation started slow beginning at a low level where little to no sign that the bloodsuckers was seen in the estate But as time wore on and the hoarded creatures of the courtyard ushered from their infernal spawning point the infestation level grew Higher and Higher and the signs of their presence started to be seen eventually bloodsuckers themselves would appear in other parts of the Hamlet attacking those they came across to save their thirst for blood during any one of these attacks there was a danger that one of the monsters could Pierce one of the adventurers in the Air's party with their proboscis and infect them with the Crimson curse whereupon they would begin to feel that same thirst for blood that bloodsuckers did the infected also began to feel other side effects from the disease effects that started off minor but became worse and worse as their Cravings became stronger and began to waste away from The Thirst culminating in their death if it was not sated the only way they could prevent this horrible demise was to consume blood but regular blood from normal creatures wasn't enough they needed the blood used in the special wine made by the ancestor all those years ago luckily there were still some remnants of that vintage scattered in the grounds of the courtyard drinking a bottle of the blood did not cure the infected of the disease however it only quelled the thirst for a time or sent them into a frenzy if they drank it while craving slowly but surely it would come back which meant the infected had a stockpile vials of the blood or continually search for them if they didn't want to die to The Thirst recognizing the danger that the curse posts the Hamlet and even the world the air resolved to eliminate the bloodsuckers to prevent the spread of their disease and they weren't alone in this endeavor as the infestation of the estate grew a zealous monk arrived in the hamlet with a single-minded purpose to destroy any and everything related to the Crimson curse however his religious fanaticism meant that he was unable to recognize that the heir was also trying to prevent the spread of the disease as by having infected people in their ranks they too were an enemy thus despite sharing the same goal as the man there were moments that the air in their party needed to defend themselves from his fanatic fighting him off so that they could continue their fight in eliminating the curse after their initial journey into the courtyard the air caught the attention of the baron the old acquaintance of the ancestor who having survived the bloody onset of the Crimson curse and becoming infected himself continued to indulge in his sadistic Habit in his own little area of the courtyard after seeing the air in their party inflict pain and hurt upon the other cursed Nobles of the area the baron invited them to his domain so he could show them a night of entertainment The Heir accepted the invite but soon found that they would have to fight their way to the noble and the way was a long and arduous recognizing the length of the dungeon was wearing down their party the air pulled back and vowed to fight another day but when they did so their invitation to The Baron's Grounds was revoked preventing their return however all hope was not lost as once the infestation of the Hamlet grew to a high level the air found a gatekeeper a special kind of bloodsucker out in the other areas of the estate and found that when this monster was killed it dropped another invitation allowing the air to return to The Gardens of the baron with fresh mercenaries and supplies having regrouped and recouped the air continued on their way until they found the baron on his stage as the show began the baron hid in one of the pulsating egg sacs behind him forcing the air to burst open one of the pods to try and find him attacking the party with his whip-like appendages or chewing into them with his fanged teeth when found however he wasn't the only thing hiding within the eggs as other bloodsuckers were in the other three and once they were revealed they assisted the baron in the fight against the air slowly but surely the party eliminated the bloodsuckers and wore down the baron whereupon he started the second act and once again retreated into the eggs thus starting the cycle anew but again the air eliminated the bloodsuckers and wore down the baron until finally the third and final Act was brought to a close with The Baron's death ending his sadistic show and any other future performances as they return triumphant to the Hamlet The Heir found that with The Baron's death the bloodsucker infestation in the hamlet had receded in the infection that plagued their mercenaries was brought to an end while this reprieve was only temporary as the bloodsuckers ushered forth from the courtyard again a short time later this indicated to the air that the Crimson curse could be controlled or even stopped by eliminating powerful bloodsuckers in the courtyard and they didn't have to wait long at all to find their next Target immediately after The Baron's demise they received an invitation from the gluttonous VI count who having seen the air eliminate the baron wanted to treat them to a special dinner just like the baron the vi Count's domain was a sprawling network of hallways and rooms the length of which was guaranteed to wear Down The Heirs party but just like they did with the baron the air retreated when necessary to regroup and after finding another invitation Dove back in until they met the vi count and his disgusting kitchen while the party could inflict some damage on the noble he would take bites from the hanging carcasses around him to heal the injuries he sustained which had the Dual effect of powering him up making his attacks on the party very powerful however once recognizing the Buffs the hanging bodies gave him the party cut them down and with his ability to heal gone the vi count followed shortly after after the vi Count's death the bloodsuckers again retreated The Mercenaries were again healed and the air received another invitation the delicate intricate writing of this one though along with the Royal seal binding it indicated that the one that delivered this invitation was none other than the Countess encountered by the ancestor all that time ago who had been kept alive when her blood was harvested by the man and once you've left had escaped her bindings and took up residence in the courtyard the air thought about what happened after the vi count and the baron were killed about how the bloodsuckers retreated back to their Lair when their masters were destroyed and then recognized that every single one of the bloodsuckers in the hamlet was descended from the Countess which gave them the realization that if the Countess could be ended so too could the spread of the Crimson curse so they accepted the invitation of the woman and dove into her dungeon fighting their way through the infernal creatures within retreating and returning when necessary until coming face to face with the Countess while At first she appeared to be nothing more than a noble woman dressed in an elegant Regal gown the danger of her power quickly became apparent in addition to the dances she used to sway and stress the party she would implant an egg in them that would chip away at their health anytime they attacked her until eventually exploding dealing severe damage to the adventurer it was attached to despite this the party chipped away at the Countess believing they were slowly gaining the upper hand in the fight that is until their enemy after becoming flush with blood revealed her true monstrous form driven by a fierce bloodlust the Countess overwhelmed the party with devastating attacks whipping them with her tongue causing them to bleed out stunning them in place with a fearsome Roar and of course using her proboscis to drink the blood of one of the mercenaries to restore her health however luckily for the party the Countess couldn't maintain this form for very long and soon diminished back to her initial state where the party could use a few precious moments to attempt to recover from her assault this cycle continued for the rest of the fight until finally the party was able to strike down the progenitor of the Crimson curse with her death the bloodsuckers once again receded from the Hamlet and this time it was for good while some of the creatures still lived in the courtyard they would never again infest the Hamlet additionally after the defeat of the Countess the healers of the sanitarium had developed a cure for the disease perhaps helped by a sample of her blood brought to them by the air after the battle and with that the worry that the Crimson curse could take over the Hamlet and spread to the rest of the world was put to rest the air didn't have much time to Relish in their Victory though as nearly as soon as they returned from the courtyard a brilliant Comet streaked across the sky and crashed into the old Miller's Farmstead on the edge of the Hamlet the Harvest of the otherworldly seeds planted in The Miller's Land by the ancestor all those years ago as the dust from the impact settled reports came in of a miasma that had begun to emanate from the building covering all of the Miller's land and those that risked a look upon the farm saw Twisted vegetation and Eerie Dancing Lights the air decided to investigate coming upon one of the large Stone pillars erected by the ancestor they removed a portion of Stone from the center allowing them to continue through with a soon Came Upon some of the Miller's Farm hands but were shocked to find they were no longer human they were now hollowed out husks with a strange light glowing from within them they were immediately hostile and attacked the party so they were quickly struck down and the party found that when they fell their bodies were consumed by crystals crystals that would explode and damage them if they were not quickly destroyed even with this danger though the farm hands were dealt with but just as they thought they were finished with the fight and could explore The Farmstead a new wave of enemies appeared before the party requiring them to continue the fight as it progressed the party noticed that it wasn't just the farmhand that had been changed the four men had become hollowed-out husks as well as had the horses used by the farmers but the cavity of the horses had become filled with those same sighing crystals that consumed the dead bodies of the husks and those same crystals were seen upon scarecrows as well scarecrows that had come to life and joined the other enemies in the attack with the prevalence of these crystals it was clear that they were involved in some way with what happened to The Farmstead the party didn't have much time to think about this though as no matter how many enemies were defeated by them other farmhands or Foreman or scarecrows just took their place finally there was a break in the fighting and the air decided to pull back to the Hamlet they were not empty-handed though as they walked away with some of the shards of the crystals they had seen in The Farmstead and upon their return they found that there was a number of uses they could put these shards to they could grind them down into a fine powder which when consumed by their mercenaries during battle would weaken them a little in order to give them powerful Buffs they could use them in the construction of some new buildings for the Hamlet which would provide new beneficial effects to some of the provisions used in the Expeditions through the estate or they can meet with a mysterious Merchant that appeared in the hamlet and trade the shards for powerful artifacts not seen anywhere else in the land they also found that the Allure of the unique Treasure of the Comet brought special mercenaries to the Hamlet mercenaries that would only go on Journeys to The Farmstead hoping to get some of the otherworldly treasure for themselves however the air also found that these Crystal Shards weren't the only things that came to the Hamlet from The Farmstead as apparently their journey into the corrupted crystallized lands had released one of the creatures into the estate but unlike the other entities of The Farmstead it did not seem to originally hail from The Miller's lands instead being a thing from the Stars this thing would wander between the various areas of the estate appearing at times in the Warrens and then other times in the wheel of the ruins and if the air took an expedition into that area of the estate they risked an encounter with the otherworldly being if they were unlucky enough to come across the thing then they would have to fight for their lives finding that its defenses continually increased as it sustained more damage but if they were able to wear the thing down until eventually destroying it they would be rewarded with more Crystal Shards as well as a unique crystallized item that gave the bearer special powers the rewards weren't limited to just these items however as one of the mercenaries involved in the fight could be deeply affected by the battle so much so that they would gain a new intrinsic power a power that was unique to the warrior that gained the ability despite defeating the thing from the stars the air found that it would continually return and stalk the Hamlet remembering that defeating the masters of the bloodsuckers caused them to retreat back to the Courtyard the air figured the same thing would happen if they destroyed the power controlling the thing so prepared another expedition to The Farmstead believing that if they found the Miller they would be able to end the thing's wanderings in the crystalline threat of The Farmstead the straightforward fight through the Miller's lands that they were expecting though was not what they were greeted with as after killing dozens of the husk creatures of the area and the initial wave of enemies a strange floating rock with an exposed Crystal core appeared and warped the party to a safe room in a structure around the mill where they were granted a moment's respite as a party exited the room to get their bearings a light with a strange Hue washed over them and when it faded they saw that their surroundings had changed from the barren Wasteland of The Farmstead to one of the other areas of the Hamlet like the Cove the ruins of the Warrens and the enemies now in front of them were not the creatures of the Farmstead but the monsters that infested the corresponding area of the Hamlet having no other option the party fought through these monsters until once again one of the floating Stones appeared and took them to another safe room this time though when the party exited they found that they were back to The Farmstead and a little closer to the mill despite them not having actually taken any steps to close the distance to the structure this warping of the space around the party indicated to the air that whatever entity was in control of The Farmstead had the extraordinary ability to manipulate space itself using those floating stones to do so the party fought on and after getting teleported by a floating Stone one last time they came face to face with the Miller finding that he had become a hollowed-out husk just like his farm hands as the battle with the Miller started the air found that their belief that the Miller was the one in control of The Farmstead seemed to be correct as the man was able to summon some of his workers as well as the floating stones to Aid him in battle additionally he could Force crystals to grow over his workers by breathing on them which forced the farmsteads to permanently guard their master and prevented The Mercenaries from doing the same for their own allies protected as he was by his workers the Miller used his large Scythe to slash at the party dealing heavy damage to every single party member however while a fierce foe the Miller also had a weakness in one of the safe rooms that they were warped to the party came across the hollowed-out husk of a woman who unlike every other husk they'd come across was not hostile to them when they took a closer look at her the party learned that the woman was The Miller's wife Mildred but before they could learn much more Mildred shattered to pieces the only thing she left behind was a locket with a picture of the Miller figuring it would help them in their fight through The Farmstead the air had one of the party members put on the trinket and once the Miller caught a glimpse of the locket around the neck of that party member he fell to his knees and let out a whale of grief from that moment on the one wearing Mildred's locket was protected Against The Miller's most powerful attacks as the man even in his hollowed-out form couldn't bring himself to harm the one wearing the momento of his wife it also weakened his resolve against that party member causing him to take more damage from their attacks with the help of the locket the party was eventually able to fight their way through the allies of Miller summoned and weakened the man until he finally fell at their hands the party returned to the Hamlet triumphant expecting the crystalline Terror of The Farmstead to abate but found that nothing had changed the thing still wandered the cursed areas of the Hamlet the miasma still emanated from the mill and the crystals still covered The Farmstead upon seeing this the air realized that they had been wrong about the Miller being the one in control of The Farmstead figuring that they would find more answers if they made their way to the comet within the Old Mill they prepared for one last Expedition and then set out the area once again they went through the same cycle as before until They Came Upon a familiar face the old Miller strangely he stood before them as if he had never been defeated by them as if something had brought him back the party didn't dwell on this too long again defeating the man and going through more waves of enemies until finally descending down into the depths of the mill where they came upon the comet suddenly a fracture of the object dripping with a mysterious liquid and with a strange Mass pulsing within it defended the comet from the party growing explosive crystals to prevent them from investigating further the party fought back hoping that once they destroyed the fracture they would be able to investigate the comet and find out what was going on with the Farmstead but to their shock after the fracture took enough damage from them the comet itself came to life an entity referred to as the sleeper that resided within it having been stirred awake by their attack their battle began Anew with the sleeper devastating and horrifying the party with a look from its eye or the feel of tentacles that made up its body which stayed hidden in its Rocky shell but despite this power the party managed to weather its attacks and kill the entity however just like with the Miller when the air Returns the Hamlet they found that nothing had changed which was impossible because they knew they had traveled to The Farmstead and killed the sleeper but when they tried to think back on it they realized that they and the mercenaries they had taken with them actually had a hard time remembering how and when they stepped into its lands and a subsequent visit to the area revealed that the Miller the fracture and the sleeper were all alive and well again as if nothing had ever happened it was then that the realization hit the air in addition to having the ability to control space in The Farmstead the sleeper could also manipulate time and anytime they were defeated by the party it just restored things to a time from before it was killed thus keeping The Farmstead and the Miller and his wife and all their workers locked in an inescapable dimension of the sleepers making and due to these Powers over space and time there was nothing the air could do to break the sleeper's hold over The Farmstead the air worried that the sleeper's influence would continue to spread that it would take over the Hamlet and possibly the rest of the world but then they noticed for the first time that the miasma from the mill stopped at the stone pillars set up around the border of The Farmstead by the ancestor apparently before he called the sleeper to come to Earth he made sure he had a way to contain the entity while they weren't exactly happy about it the air was forced to accept that quarantining the sleeper in The Farmstead was the only way they could deal with it and they turned their eyes towards the final leg of their Journey as the air had worked over the weeks and months to push back against the darkness of the estate their ancestral home had always loomed over them an evil reminder of what they had come to the Hamlet do and when the sound of great gongs rang from the depths of the manor and the air noticed that cultists were rallying to it for some dark reason they then knew that the time had come for them to take the plunge into the maddening realm unveiled by the ancestor it was time to dive into the horrors of the darkest dungeon for their initial foray the air aimed to find the old base camp of the ancestor so they could have a solid foundation in which to launch further expeditions they built a party of their best fighters went down to the depths of the manor and crossed the threshold of the great door coming to a realm where maddening symbols stood bathed in an unsettling red glow as they progressed deeper within they had to fight their way past the mutated cultists that lived there who were determined to protect their God from Invaders while the fights were harrowing and arduous the party managed to overcome the cultists and eventually came to the old base camp whereupon they were attacked by a creature that truly horrified them a shambling horror that like the cultists had been warped by its time in the dungeon although they were able to overcome the creature and re-establish their presence in the base camp the journey into the dungeon and the encounter with the shambling horror deeply affected the mercenaries that went with the air so much so that they refused to go on any other Journeys into that evil realm forcing the air to build a new party of mercenaries in order to continue the air was also affected by their descent into the darkest dungeon although for them it didn't manifest as fear instead they began to see terrifying images in the faces of their allies in The Villages of the Hamlet which according to the voice of the ancestor that still rang in their head was how things in the world truly were what exactly he meant by that wasn't completely clear so the air chose not to focus on it too much and readied the next Expedition into the darkest dungeon this time they plan to stop the rituals the cultists were performing to feed and awaken their God by lighting three beacons in the dungeon with some unique artifacts they found in the old base camp as the party moved deeper within the dungeon they found that disgusting fleshy masses began to cover the cold stones of the halls and Gates likely the results of the cultists previous rituals and apparently some of these malignant growths had grown sentient as when the party came across the cultists the growths assisted them in battle the party wasn't exactly surprised as they figured that as they moved deeper into the Gory realm these battles against the cultists would only become more perilous but the true extent of that Peril did not become clear until they came upon the beacons they needed to light where they found them defended by the most powerful and devoted followers of the cult by using their monstrous appendages these beings called Templars launched devastating attacks upon the party but their most dangerous was when they opened up the core of their being and gazed at them with a maddening eye giving the target a terrible Revelation which inflicted a huge amount of stress and damage no one person could be exposed to this attack without succumbing to either the madness it induced or the harm upon the body it inflicted but luckily for the party when they reclaimed the base camp in their previous Journey they found a set of talismans that protected those that wielded them from this attack although the fights were still incredibly difficult with the protection of these trinkets the party was able to eliminate the Templars and light the beacons thus ending the rituals of the cultists and if the Deep groaning that accompanied the lighting of the beacons was any indication upsetting the thing below with the illumination of the beacons a way deeper into the darkest dungeon was revealed and as the new party looked down through the opening they saw the stone Halls of the previous levels completely gave way to Halls of pulsing flesh and from the depths they could hear a rhythmic beating reminiscent of a heart it was almost as if they would be descending into the depths of some sort of creature not a dungeon it was then that the ancestor's voice rang in the Air's head again and confirmed their suspicions they had come upon the god that resided in the darkest dungeon a creature of such immense size that the only way to take it down was by destroying it from within they would have to destroy its heart the party started their journey and as they made their way through the tubes of the great things insides they were attacked by hounds of Flesh and flying polyps pieces of the body of the great thing that were trying to repel these Invaders while these creatures were dangerous the real danger came from the mammoth cysts and the white cell stalks they came across as the white cell stocks had the ability to teleport the party away from the center of the thing preventing them from progressing towards its heart and anytime this stock was killed the mammoth cyst would quickly create another one meaning the party had to take down the cyst while preventing the white cell stock from teleporting them in order to progress a task easier said than done as the cyst was incredibly bulky and a powerful attacker in its own right however they were able to get the job done and soon Came Upon an orb swirling with cosmic energy the way to the heart of the Beast the air assembled their final party and then walked into the orb where they seemingly found themselves amongst the stars of the cosmos as they walked through the clouds of dust and pinpricks of light they came across apparitions of the ancestor and when they moved past the ghostly projections the ancestors spoke to the party revealing the true reason he brought them here he told them that when he unsealed the darkest dungeon he actually achieved the goal he set out for himself all those years ago and made it here to the deepest part of it where he beheld the horrific Splendor of the heart of the Beast with his own eyes at that moment he had a realization this being this thing it was more than just the heart of the Beast it was the heart of the entire world and from its shapeless flesh all the life of the planet had come and just as it had given them their existence so too was it destined to end it as there would be a time where the thing would rise from the dungeon again and all life was to return to it thus bringing about the end of the world once you learn this truth the ancestor recognized how foolish it would be to try and fight against this inevitability and instead of just waiting around for the end to come he decided to help Usher it in becoming the embodiment of the will of the Beast he then revealed that the reason he brought the air to the Hamlet was so that they could help bring about this end so that in their Pursuit for Glory they would spill the blood necessary to feed and give rise to the thing they had done their job spectacularly well and now that they were here trapped with the ancestor at the heart of the world it was time for the final sacrifice the ancestor pushed them to accept their fate to feed themselves to the thing and Usher in the end of the world however unlike their predecessor the air in their party refused to accept this apparent inevitability or to give up their lives without a fight they moved forward coming to a tear in the void where they could see the Beating Heart of the thing they approached it but before they could get too close the ancestor sensing their intention came to the heart's defense upset that they still considered themselves separate from the thing he attacked them determined to show them how futile their fight would be he started the fight by creating three perfect replications of himself using them to show the party that they were the same or to Relish in the reunion with his descendant the ancestor himself was immune to all of the attacks at the party so they had no choice but to focus their efforts on the reflections but as soon as one was cut down the ancestor would create another however perhaps due to the stress of combat there were times that these New Reflections were imperfect where webs of Flesh covered their bodies revealing their tarnished nature and when one of these imperfect Reflections were destroyed it injured the ancestor once they figured this out it wasn't long until the ancestors switched tactics casting a spell to grow in size and spawn voids of absolute nothingness before him these clouds of Darkness were completely impervious to anything the party tried to do to them but this protection did not extend to the ancestor who is now vulnerable to their attacks while he casted devastating spells that avulsed their bodies and used the power of his will to convince them to give out the fight the ancestor eventually succumbed to the attacks of the party but before he was destroyed he withdrew into a pulsing fleshy cocoon after a short time the Heart of Darkness and all its maddening Splendor emerged from the fleshy mass and prepared to kill the party and Usher in the destruction of everything however undaunted from the sight of the Eldritch Horror the Plucky party continued their attack as they wore it down they felt that they were getting the upper hand until a heart Unleashed an attack that instantly killed one of the members of the party giving them a glimpse of the fate of everyone in the world paradoxically it pushed the party to go on and then another party member was killed they began to wonder if they would be able to come out ahead but they knew there was no turning back now so Unleashed a final assault and eventually destroyed the heart thereby killing the crawling chaos that lurked in the depths of the planet and saving Mankind from their Doom however as the Victorious Heir made their way back to the Hamlet the voice of the ancestor rang in their head again telling them that their victory was pointless that they hadn't destroyed the creature they only delayed the inevitable and it was only a matter of time until they and all of humanity would be consumed by the thing that resided within the very core of the planet itself now the air was like the ancestor having seen the truth of the world and they suffered from the same Madness that he did but unlike the ancestor they refused to be manipulated by the thing to help Usher in its return instead they took their own life but death wasn't the end for them they ended up becoming a ghost in the hamlet just like the one they saw when they first arrived and as they manifested in their new ectoplasmic form they saw a stagecoach ride past them and drifting from The Carriage was a familiar letter the air then realized that they were not the only person to have received a letter that there were others out there that had come to the hamlet in order to reclaim their Birthright and one of these heirs had answered the call as the stagecoach rode away towards the Hamlet the ghostly air was left with questions would this new air be successful like they were and be able to Stave off the Heart of Darkness or they give it the blood it needed for it to finally return and Usher in the end of the world they could only hope for the best as the end had come to their story in the story of the darkest dungeon it's a story that carries a lot of similar themes as Lovecraft Stories the existence of Greater old ones fate and inevitability the dangers of experimenting with forbidden knowledge but with its ending also shows how defiant and resilient Humanity can be when put to the test or capable of even toppling Gods when we put our minds to it now I'm not perfect so there may be something wrong somewhere in that telling of the story for instance all the shenanigans the ancestor gets up to before the events of the game may not happen in the order that I described them and the ending may not be exactly what I said it was but for the most part this should tell the story of the darkest dungeon in full now this isn't the end of the story of the game as there's a sequel currently in Early Access that indicates the darkness seen in the hamlet has actually spread out to The Wider world but as of the making of this video that game and thus its story aren't complete yet so we'll just have to patiently wait and see what the new Heroes of the world have to do to save it from this encroaching darkness and I'm sure there'll be a time where we'll talk about that as well as for the story of the first game though it's a very long one that could be a little confusing at times so if you have any questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer them before I go I'd like to give a shout out to mofoman123 for Their donation to the channel not expected at all but very much appreciated I'd also like to give a shout out to my little boy Kieran I love you and I miss you buddy I hope I'm making you proud all right that'll be it for this one until next time thank you for watching and see you later

Channel: Squatch Gaming Official

Views: 778,228

Keywords: Darkest Dungeon, Hamlet, Ancestor, Heir, Descendant, Warrens, Ruins, Weald, Cove, Necromancer, HP Lovecraft, Eldritch, Cultist, Prophet, Brigand Pounder, Hag, Siren, Crew, Flesh, Swine God, Baron, Viscount, Countess, Courtyard, Farmstead, Miller, Fracture, Sleeper, Heart of Darkness, Heroes, Mercenaries, tips, tricks, understand, who, what, when, where, why, how, Manor, vampires, lore, story, explanation, summary, summarization

Id: D4QgMo3E1Z0

Length: 68min 22sec (4102 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 07 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/Hapokas112]

"The story of Darkest Dungeon has to do with the player's mysterious Ancestor and his single minded pursuit of learning of and experimenting with the taboo subjects of the world, work that led to the release of monsters into his Hamlet, and to a confrontation with a Cosmic
Entity that caused him to lose his mind. It's told by the man himself, who recounts the details of his descent into Madness in various soundbites throughout the game. With the addition of the Crimson Court and Color of Madness DLCs, which expanded upon the lore of the game, the Ancestor's dealings with the forbidden are quite extensive, so let's go through all of the
information that we learn of the Ancestor's actions as well as what we need to do to clean up his mess, so we can see the story of the Darkest Dungeon in full."

"Note: the video doesn't cover EVERYTHING in the game (I don't talk about the Shambler or the Collector, for instance), but it should cover everything important to the story. Hope you enjoy!"