Shrine of Reflection

"Who will face the half-remembered horrors of their past?"

- -The Academic

The Shrine of Reflection is a node location in Darkest Dungeon 2. Found randomly on the map, their main function is to unlock new abilities for the heroes and reveal their past to the player. When entering the node the player must choose one of the 4 heroes to start.

Some of the nodes will present a short narration of the history of the hero while others will present a small mini-game in the form of combat where it must be successfully completed in order to unlock the skills.

Plague Doctor

🔸The Plague Doctor gains access to 6 skills over 5 Chapters in The Shrine of Reflection.

Chapter One: The Good Student

Chapter Two: Head of the Class

Chapter Three: Extra Credit

Chapter Four: Failing Grade

Chapter Five: Do No Harm Chapter One: The Good Student

🔸Unlocks Emboldening Vapours "The jeers, the whispers... they pushed me deep into my studies."

- The Plague Doctor

"Brilliant and bold, her unconventional theories created nothing short of a scandal in her fourth year. The mocking whispers and scornful glares of her peers and professors had an ironically invigorated effect upon her 'extracurricular experiments.' The mysteries of the human body - of life and death itself - hovered just above her scalpel's reach... If only she could acquire a corpse of sufficient freshness."

- The Academic



 Chapter Two: Head of the Class

🔸Objective: Disprove The Professor

🔸Unlocks Plague Grenade "I was the smartest, but wisdom was not on the syllabus."

- The Plague Doctor

"Her professor was a relic, hacking and wheezing his way through a hopelessly conventional curriculum!"

- The Academic

"She delighted in the combative debate, and, behind her bookish glasses, reveled in their outrage and confusion."

- The Academic



 Chapter Three: Extra Credit

🔸Unlocks Indiscriminate Science "Ostracized, I had to prove myself, no matter the cost."

- The Plague Doctor

"By the second semester, her research was at a critical point. And regular supply raids of the University laboratories had become necessary. During one such expedition, she stumbled upon her professor, awkwardly slumped over his podium, a bloody kerchief on the floor. Here, then, was her ideal cadaver, her long-awaited opportunity. And she would not waste it."

- The Academic



 Chapter Four: Failing Grade

🔸Objective: Stabilize The Patient

🔸Unlocks Cause of Death "I could not say if it was madness, revenge, or naked ambition."

- The Plague Doctor

"Success! Vindication. The human machine, restored to action!"

- The Academic

"The shrieking was horrible, but the silence that followed... was even worse."

- The Academic



 Chapter Five: Do No Harm

🔸Unlocks Disorienting Blast and  Magnesium Rain "Those screams will never leave me."

- The Plague Doctor

"Disposal of the body was a procedural affair, a carboy of acid would dissolve the thing, and no evidence would remain. In the weeks that followed, however, she found herself unable to focus, instead sitting motionless at her desk, paralyzed by the ceaseless wailing that reverberated in her mind."

- The Academic Runaway

🔸The Runaway permanently gains access to 6 skills over 5 Chapters The Shrine of Reflection

Chapter One: The Pigs of Saint Martha's

Chapter Two: Beloved

Chapter Three: Drawn to the Flame

Chapter Four: Burnt Offering

Chapter Five: Ashes

 Chapter One: The Pigs of Saint Martha's

🔸Objective: Steal The 3 Keys And Escape

🔸Unlocks Ransack "I only felt the pain from the brand the first time."

- The Runaway "Her pious caretakers had marked her for the last time... Tonight, she would escape their cruelty at last."

- The Academic "She ran blindly into the rain, the squeals of the pursuing Sisters lost in the howling wind."

- The Academic



 Chapter Two: Beloved

🔸Unlocks Cauterize "My painful memories hid from the warmth of their love."

- The Runaway "Good fortune is a rare and wondrous thing. She straggled from place to place, drenched and hungry, until a kindly woodsman and his wife happened upon her. Childless themselves, they welcomed her into their home, where she warmed herself in the glow of their hearth and hearts."

- The Academic



 Chapter Three: Drawn to the Flame

🔸Unlocks Controlled Burn "How could this thing that warmed us on cold nights be terrible?"

- The Runaway "She would stay up long into the night, tending the fire. Captivated by its shifting hues, she thrilled to the eerie dance of spark and ember, running her fingers absentmindedly over the scars that patterned her arm. The hearthlight seemed somehow alive, and in these private moments, she yearned to reach out and be touched once against by its searing embrace."

- The Academic



 Chapter Four: Burnt Offering

🔸Objective: Play With Fire

🔸Unlocks Dragonfly "If I made the fire my friend, it couldn't hurt me anymore."

- The Runaway "An accident, but surely there was time to contain the flames!"

- The Academic "The walls were alight! There was no stopping it now..."

- The Academic



 Chapter Five: Ashes

🔸Unlocks Firestarter and  Backdraft "Fire itself is not evil. It can't choose what it devours..."

- The Runaway

"She stood in the center of the inferno, transfixed by its swirling, kaleidoscopic beauty... Her rapturous fixation was cut short by a heavy beam falling from the ceiling, blocking the door. Panicked, she dove headlong through a window as the cabin bloomed into a pyre. Heaped upon the wet grass, she heard the screams of her adoptive parents... trapped and burning in their bedroom."

- The Academic

Occultist

🔸The Occultist permanently gains access to 6 skills over 5 Chapters through accessing memories in the Shrine of Reflection.

Chapter One: The Ritual

Chapter Two: A Door in the Desert

Chapter Three: Some Parts Must Die

Chapter Four: The Guest

Chapter Five: An Eternal Flame

 Chapter One: The Ritual

🔸Unlocks Vulnerability Hex "Few minds are ready for the other planes."

- The Occultist

"On certain portentous evenings carefully selected for their astrological potency, he would gather his devotees around the ancient onyx table, and, joining hands with them, he would send his spirit out into the void. Safely tethered by their vital energies, he was free to wander the Outer Sphere in search of some dark communion and impossible power."

- The Academic



 Chapter Two: A Door in the Desert

🔸Unlocks Binding Shadows "That pyramid changed everything."

- The Occultist

"He found himself in a vast expanse of windswept dunes. Ahead, the stone spires of a pyramidal temple called down jagged bolts from a roiling, angry sky. Undaunted, he crossed the threshold of the towering aperture, settled himself upon the central dais, and prepared for the coming sacrifice."

- The Academic



 Chapter Three: Some Parts Must Die

🔸Objective: Slay Your Virtues 🔸Unlocks Malediction "Back then, I was not yet wise enough to know fear."

- The Occultist

"Terrible though it was, he would pay the price for power!"

- The Academic

"The emptiness in him called out across the boundless gulfs of unknown space... for nature abhors a vacuum."

- The Academic



 Chapter Four: The Guest

🔸Objective: Protect The Seance 🔸Unlocks The Burning Stars "It took too much and gained even more, but..."

- The Occultist

"Drawing vitality from the assembled mediums, he would hold fast against the thing, and harness a portion of its power!"

- The Academic

"Imbued with strange currents of infernal origin, his apotheosis was complete..."

- The Academic



 Chapter Five: An Eternal Flame

🔸Unlocks Anamnesis and  Chaotic Offering "I am shrouded by an endless night where they prowl and whisper all names."

- The Occultist

"Emerging from his trance, he met the charred, steaming corpses of his acolytes with a shudder. He cound sense the eldritch entity stalking the edges of his consciousness, probing for weaknesses. He had become a beacon - a conduit to unknown regions... and would be assailed by those blasphemous forces all the rest of his days."

- The Academic

Man-at-Arms

🔸The Man-at-Arms gains access to 6 skills over 5 Chapters through accessing memories in the Shrine of Reflection.

Chapter One: A Premature Promotion

Chapter Two: A Leader of Men

Chapter Three: One Eye Open

Chapter Four: Ghosts of the Past

Chapter Five: In the Trenches

 Chapter One: A Premature Promotion

🔸Unlocks Bellow "My ambition outflanked my fellow officers at soirees and mock skirmishes."

- The Man-at-Arms

"The politics of a military career are perhaps as treacherous as war itself. Though untested in combat, his acumen for advancement was unmatched. Through a dubious campaign of influence and intimidation, he had at last claimed a coveted command, and was eager to bask in the glory of the victories that were sure to come."

- The Academic



 Chapter Two: A Leader of Men

🔸Objective: Onward To Glory! 🔸Unlocks Stand Fast "Clever repartee and a poison tongue meant nothing on the battlefield."

- The Man-at-Arms

"Behold the conquering General, marching his men to victory!"

- The Academic

"A rout, massacre... a complete and total failure of command."

- The Academic



 Chapter Three: One Eye Open

🔸Unlocks Retribution "Were they dreams or did I truly see scratches on my arms in the morning?"

- The Man-at-Arms

"Every night, the men of his regiment would interrupt his fitful convalescence. Mutilated and maimed, the spectral garrison clawed as his bedcovers, whispering hateful truths in his ears. The exhausted attendants in the field hospital would wake to the sound of panicked screaming and inglorious sobs. It was not the war that had taken his eye. It was pride."

- The Academic



 Chapter Four: Ghosts of the Past

🔸Objective: Honour The Fallen 🔸Unlocks Courageous Abandon "I knew what waited for me back there, but I had no rank and they deserved rest."

- The Man-at-Arms

"Demoted and disgraced, he returned to the battlefield, ready to endure the wrath of his regiment and grant them some small peace."

- The Academic

"At last, he would sleep undisturbed, and perhaps find some comfort in that murky abyss of dreamless wonder."

- The Academic



 Chapter Five: In the Trenches

🔸Unlocks Command and  Strategic Withdrawal "Someday, on some forgotten front, I'll spell contrition with my blood."

- The Man-at-Arms

"He resolved to spend his remaining years seeking atonement in the trenches of bloody battlefields the world over. For him, there could be no respite from the horrors of war. And when, at last, he was struck down, he would die alone and unremembered. Surely he deserved no better."

- The Academic

Leper 🔸The Leper gains access to 6 abilities over 5 chapters through accessing memories in the Shrine of Reflection.

Chapter One: Shun Them Not

Chapter Two: Infection

Chapter Three: Treason

Chapter Four: The Purge

Chapter Five: A Beautiful View



 Chapter One: Shun Them Not

🔸Objective: Foster The Sick 🔸Unlocks Break "A lion in the blood-soaked grass, circled by hyenas who move as a pack..."

- The Leper

"Despite the protestations of his royal advisors, he would visit with the sick and dying, providing what comfort he could."

- The Academic

"The ailing and infirm were far less repulsive to him than the venomous whispers of his scoffing entourage..."

- The Academic



 Chapter Two: Infection

🔸Unlocks Revenge "A hollow clanging echoed throughout the palace."

- The Leper

"Early signs could be ignored or concealed, but soon the reality was inescapable. Whether by some affliction of lineage or by direct transmission, symptoms of incurable disease began to openly manifest themselves. Wracked with pain, he summoned doctors and aides from the farthest reaches of his lands, all of whom concluded the worst: the King was dying."

- The Academic



 Chapter Three: Treason

🔸Unlocks Intimidate "With wicked plots, they forged the blade that slew them."

- The Leper

"Sedition, like any illness, spreads slowly. Rotten with a cynical opportunism born of longstanding entitlement, the scheming circle of advisors drafted mutinous plans. Though bedridden, he had long since divined their intent, and feared the disastrous results of their would-be rule. Summoning his blacksmith - and his strength - he hoisted his blade, and rose to meet the coming threat."

- The Academic



 Chapter Four: The Purge

🔸Objective: Survive Their Treason 🔸Unlocks Hew "Fury and blade to excise malignance - no matter the agony!"

- The Leper

"He had shown his compassion. Now... he would show his fury!"

- The Academic

"His blade had broken, but so too the treasonous plot."

- The Academic



 Chapter Five: A Beautiful View

🔸Unlocks Bash and  Ruin "Even present, sunlight throws aside the clouds to pour into the people's hearts."

- The Leper

"Satisfied that the spirit of his benevolent tenure would endure, he abdicated the throne. People gathered at windows and along the roads. Weeping, some threw petals at his feet, while others watched in reverent stoicism. As he walked beyond the city gates, he marveled at the beauty of the world, and was grateful for his many blessings."

- The Academic

Jester 🔸The Jester gains access to 6 skills over 5 Chapters through accessing memories in the Shrine of Reflection.

Chapter One: Some Strange Melody

Chapter Two: Music of the Night

Chapter Three: Play to the Crowd

Chapter Four: A Dark Song

Chapter Five: Finale



 Chapter One: Some Strange Melody

🔸Unlocks Play Out "The accursed melody was a trap beyond all cunning"

- The Jester

"He was a layabout without aspiration or purpose, content to loiter on street corners languidly busking for passersby. Roughly ushered from the bustling commercial blocks, he wandered the forgotten corners of the city. An intoxicating melody drifted over a nearby cemetery wall, and he stumbled deliriously amongst the tombstones in search of the performer..."

- The Academic



 Chapter Two: Music of the Night

🔸Objective: Win The Duel 🔸Unlocks Harvest Hint: This is the order by which the player should use their skills to complete this Hero Shrine:

"The song found ambition buried dead in my heart and made it dance..."
 * Round 1: Violinist (Verse), Jester (Chorus)
 * Round 2: Violinist (Verse), Jester (Chorus)
 * Round 3: Violinist (Break), Jester (Bridge)
 * Round 4: Violinist (Missteps), Jester (Solo)
 * Round 5: Violinist (Chorus), Jester (Verse)
 * Round 6: Violinist (Chorus), Jester (Verse)
 * Round 7: Violinist (Solo), Jester (Finale)

- The Jester

"He could learn this unearthly hymn... and claim it as his own!"

- The Academic

"Ambition, so long dormant within him, had been roused. He delighted in fantasies of fame, renown... and respect."

- The Academic



 Chapter Three: Play to the Crowd

🔸Unlocks Echoing March "And so the trap snapped shut on me."

- The Jester

"When word of his uncommon talent reached the palace, he was summoned to entertain King and Court. Anticipating an historic performance and enthused adulation, he was stunned to find himself instead the object of their debased ridicule. While his noble audience dined drunkenly, he was mocked, tortured, and subjected to an obscene array of decadent humiliations..."

- The Academic



 Chapter Four: A Dark Song

🔸Objective: Play 3 Melodies 🔸Unlocks Finale "Just as it was meant to, the song loosed the leash of my inhibitions..."

- The Jester

"He unleashed his resentment upon instrument and crowd, playing the demoniac melody with unrestrained fury!"

- The Academic

"This was the song of the dead - and it had exacted a fitting tribute."

- The Academic



 Chapter Five: Finale

🔸Unlocks Solo and  Encore "Ask any animal if it was worth it to gnaw off a limb for freedom."

- The Jester

"Bowing low, he basked in the echoing applause of dripping blood. The scene of wholesale dismemberment drove him to fits of mirthless hysterics. He was laughing still as he placed the blade against his own hand, severing his connection to whatever twisted talent he had so fleetingly enjoyed. Aimlessly, he drifted from the hall, humming broken bars of a discordant melody he could not quite remember..."

- The Academic

Highwayman

🔸The Highwayman permanently gains access to 6 skills over 5 Chapters through accessing memories in the Shrine of Reflection.

Chapter One: Freedom

Chapter Two: Laying Low

Chapter Three: One Last Job

Chapter Four: Highway Robbery

Chapter Five: Shackled



 Chapter One: Freedom

🔸Objective: Defeat The Guards to Escape 🔸Unlocks Point Blank Shot "Walls will never again hold me."

- The Highwayman

"A prison riot! A fleeting chance to escape incarceration!"

- The Academic

"He would be a fugitive, a hunted man, but a free one nonetheless..."

- The Academic



 Chapter Two: Laying Low

🔸Unlocks Open Vein "Freedom was nothing like what I'd hoped for."

- The Highwayman

"Harried by a pursuing garrison, he took refuge in the foetid canals of the city. Concealment took its toll, and soon he began to see himself in the furtive, scurrying pests that formed an unfortunate portion of his meager diet. Freedom, once so fondly imagined, had become a vortex of degradation."

- The Academic



 Chapter Three: One Last Job

🔸Unlocks Highway Robbery

"Can't teach an old dog new tricks."

- The Highwayman

"He was sick and starving. And in desperation, offered his expertise to an unscrupulous malefactor. Shackled once more to an unsavory task by an advance of gold, he lined his belly, girded himself, and prepared for One. Final. Heist."

- The Academic



 Chapter Four: Highway Robbery

🔸Objective: Rob The Coach 🔸Unlocks Grapeshot Blast "Was I desperate? Yes. Was I greedy...?"

- The Highwayman

"The stagecoach arrived, and he set himself to the business of bloodshed and robbery!"

- The Academic

"He fulfilled his obligations with exceptional lethality, but his grim satisfaction would prove short-lived..."

- The Academic



 Chapter Five: Shackled

🔸Unlocks Double Cross and  Double Tap "Regret binds fiercer than any manacles."

- The Highwayman

"The lifeless bodies of a woman and child, horribly mutilated by errant gunfire, stared spectrally through the remnants of the coach door. Arrested by the ghoulish sight, he felt the cold chains of remorse tighten around his heart. Guilt was a pursuer he could never outrun, a prison he would never escape."

- The Academic

Hellion 🔸The Hellion gains access to 6 skills over 5 Chapters through accessing memories in the Shrine of Reflection.

Chapter One: The Eve of Glory

Chapter Two: The Brave

Chapter Three: Night in the Woods

Chapter Four: Shame and Exile

Chapter Five: The Great Emptiness



 Chapter One: The Eve of Glory

🔸Unlocks Bleed Out "I was too young. Too loud... too certain..."

- The Hellion

"She was young to join the warband, but any who challenged her readiness were met with clenched fists and violent indignation. Having bloodied that last of her detractors, the matter was considered finally settled. On the eve battle, she joined her clanmates in raucous celebration, her stein and her spirits overflowing with abundance."

- The Academic



 Chapter Two: The Brave

🔸Objective: Prove Yourself! 🔸Unlocks Bloodlust "The invaders came. And with them came countless fears."

- The Hellion

"She was the tip of the spear - poised to sunder the enemy line, to live forever in the songs of her people!"

- The Academic

"Her entire life spent in preparation, but when it had mattered most... she had failed."

- The Academic



 Chapter Three: Night in the Woods

🔸Unlocks Raucous Revelry "I had no more courage than the buzzards feasting on my failure."

- The Hellion

"As the advancing army moved on, she huddled tightly in the tree's clammy roots, hoping to be somehow swallowed up into the earth. At dawn, she woke tormented by the exuberant cries of carrion crows, come to feast upon the corpses of her kin. When at last she stirred, the scavengers took flight, repulsed by sight of this undeserving revenant."

- The Academic



 Chapter Four: Shame and Exile

🔸Objective: Apologize to 10 Widows 🔸Unlocks Breakthrough "I had survived and I reminded them of those who had not."

- The Hellion

"She had shunned a warrior's death, and her cowardice would be impugned!"

- The Academic

"They cast her out. An exile - unwelcome, and unsung."

- The Academic



 Chapter Five: The Great Emptiness

🔸Unlocks Adrenaline Rush and  Howling End "It is said that even Death shuns cowards and fools."

- The Hellion

"Alone and untethered, she wandered the countryside fighting for sport, and soaking her wounds in wine. She sought death at every turn, desperate for a second chance to prove her mettle, but it seemed even that terrible wraith that forsaken her. Her isolation was absolute, her shame barely concealed by a fragile façade of fearlessness."

- The Academic

Graverobber 🔸The Grave Robber gains access to 6 skills over 5 Chapters through accessing memories in the Shrine of Reflection.

Chapter One: Luxury's Lap

Chapter Two: Night Cap

Chapter Three: Embarrassment of Riches

Chapter Four: Filthy Rich

Chapter Five: The Afterparty



 Chapter One: Luxury's Lap

🔸Unlocks Dead of Night "Tradition drove us into each other's arms. Or estates, rather."

- The Grave Robber

"Born into money, and married into more, she spent her days on horseback and her evenings in the ballroom. She was the object of her husband's boorish lust and drunken temper, placating his worst tendencies with a veneer of gracious deference. All the while, indulging murderous fantasies of freedom... and the fortune that would soon be hers."

- The Academic



' Chapter Two: Night Cap''

🔸Objective: Enough Is Enough! 🔸Unlocks Repartee "What did Fate expect as She flogged me towards a vindictive action?"

- The Grave Robber

"Night after night of disrespect and abuse - enough was enough."

- The Academic

"She listened, smirking, as his empty apologies came in desperate, choking gags..."

- The Academic



 Chapter Three: Embarrassment of Riches

🔸Unlocks Lunge "I cannot say I recommend impulsive murder. Always make a plan, love."

- The Grave Robber

"Years of decadence and financial mismanagement had left the estate in staggering debt. Humiliated and facing eviction, she wandered the empty halls, hurling inebriated indignities at the portrait of the deceased, whose hand had rested so possessively upon her shoulder. A gleam of gold on that painted paw reminded her that his rings were unaccounted for... and must have been buried with him."

- The Academic



 Chapter Four: Filthy Rich

🔸Objective: Loot Your Husband's Tomb 🔸Unlocks Shadow Fade "He meant to leave me as a pauper or a corpse eventually. I'm certain."

- The Grave Robber

"To preserve her social standing, she would pilfer the rings from his fingers - the gold from his teeth!"

- The Academic

"She was awash in exhilaration, the glint in her eyes outshining the fistful of ill-gotten gains."

- The Academic



 Chapter Five: The Afterparty

🔸Unlocks Pirouette and  Glint in the Dark "What use have the dead for such trinkets and baubles?"

- The Grave Robber

"Armed officials dispatched to oversee the eviction were shocked to find the front doors of the manor listlessly ajar. The lavish carpets were lousy with dirt and leaves. A heap of heirlooms gleamed on the ballroom floor - rings and broaches in a careless pile. The lady of the manor, however... was nowhere to be found."

- The Academic