Exploring Terrorwing's Creative Haunted Mansion

At the time of writing, I'm sitting in a well-crafted graveyard inside a mansion in the Mists. Beside me, a 'dead body' lays in the grass, beyond which riches are sealed in a locked room. As I type away on my exoterminal, I'm watching a bard perform on a small stage, while behind a metal link barrier other adventurous souls try to navigate an abandoned factory. This afternoon, tonberries 'killed' me twice.

Approaching the Terrorwing Estate, a patron could be forgiven for thinking it was a genuine ruin. No effort was spared, from overgrown grasses to run-down and weathered towers and walls around the estate grounds. I wiggled my way through a ruin so decayed I couldn't tell if it was a welcoming arch, a ticket booth, or a guard house. In reality, it had been none of the above, simply an accoutrement meant to evoke what I may have expected it to have at one point been. But losing oneself in the fantasy of a haunted house is always the goal, and it was a goal Terrorwing was able to achieve with flying marks.

Not to borrow Ambassador Yumitori's whole deal - and in truth her own first All Saints experience was an entertaining story all its own - but attempts to frighten in Alexandria feel somewhat hollow in comparison to all the work on practical effects Eorzean haunted houses use. Maybe it's the regulators, maybe it's the use of holography, but the caliber of fright Terrorwing offered was far more engaging and atmospheric. 

Terrorwing presents its guests with a series of unnerving vignettes bound loosely by the concept of a cursed manor, a product of witchcraft binding memory and nightmare to brick and stone to spill forth wickedness unto Eorzea. One of these nightmares features a kitchen with tonberries hiding around corners, ready to strike and send patrons back to the start of their journey. At the heart of the kitchen stands a giant oven, more like one found in a crematorium than used by a chef.

Another vignette features a psychodelic corridor of black and white that seems to be a spiral befitting the upcoming production of "the Twilight Zone." This may not be accidental, as the legendary interior designer Demi Deningrad who is Terrorwing's mastermind also worked on that play as an actress and set designer. At the end of that tunnel, a terrifying little doll floated ominously, like she was going to gorge herself on my regulator. 

Another area was a forest clearing, one that had a small amount of tranquility if not for the threats not quite out of sight of morbols looking for a snack. Escaping this room was one of the more clear-cut paths that nonetheless felt a challenge, because scaling the obsticles made me feel easy pickings for the morbols lurking in the darkness. 

The heart of the journey between haunted vistas, though, is a jumping puzzle. Or, two jumping puzzles that guests can choose between. I am, I admit, horrible at this sort of thing. The first path involves some truly daring leaps in the dark, from one floating point of safety to the next. This path seems quicker, but demands some extreme precision that would befit a Leap of Faith course at the Gold Saucer. But those who fall from that route land in the factory I mentioned earlier; a longer series of leaps but doing less to trigger a fear of heights and having a much easier approach for reattempting. With determination, even I could make it through the factory. It gives me satisfaction to write this while watching others attempt it. 

Speaking with Deningrad after I completed the gauntlet of haunted vignettes (and, I admit, boasted about it), she told me that while this year was largely individual scenes and strong atmosphere, next year she felt inspired to create a stronger framing narrative. She also touted the major event night for Terrorwing to be held tomorrow - the second sun of the Sixth Astral Moon - but noted the estate would be open for exploration for the entirety of the Sixth Astral Moon for those finding out about the festivities late. 

For someone vaguely familiar with the concepts of horror but new to All Saints' Wake, it was an exciting introduction to what kind of spooky moves Eorzeans, and I found it surprisingly thrilling to my admittedly sheltered Alexandrian sensibilities. I look forward to seeing what frightful story Deningrad and the Terrorwing Estate will hold next year, but for now I'm content to sit in the cemetery and listen to the music while the corpses groan and dance around me.

The Terrorwing Estate is located in the Zalera neighborhood of the Mists. Ward 16, Plot 2.