Dishonored: The Wyrmwood Deceit

Dishonored: The Wyrmwood Deceit is a four-issue comics series, written by Gordon Rennie and illustrated by Andrea Olimpieri and Marcelo Maiolo, published in late 2016 by Titan Comics in collaboration with Bethesda Softworks. The story is set in Dunwall, two years prior to Dishonored 2, and revolves around the Royal Protector and Spymaster Corvo Attano and City Watch Officer Martha Cottings tangled in a conspiracy involving Dunwall's criminal underworld.

Issue One
"The city of Dunwall; whaling capital of Gristol and industrial hub of the Empire of the Isles. Twelve years have passed since Corvo Attano scuppered the Lord Regent's duplicitous plot against the crown and cleared his name of the Empress Jessamine's murder. Now a little older and perhaps a little wiser, Corvo sets his sights on the future and securing an apprentice to continue his legacy. But when confronted by an impossible face from his past, the supernaturally-gifted assassin finds himself drawn once again into an otherworldly conspiracy, one that threatens to shake the very foundations of his ancient city."

- Official synopsis

Twelve years have passed since the end of the rat plague and Corvo Attano, Royal Protector and Spymaster of his Empress and daughter Emily Kaldwin, worries of his own age. He starts looking for an apprentice among members of the Dunwall City Watch selected by Watch Officer Alexi Mayhew, and is eventually impressed by Officer Martha Cottings during a sparing session.

The same night, Corvo wears his mask and, with the help of the powers granted to him by the Outsider's Mark, tracks down the rumor of an incoming contraband shipment among Dunwall's criminal underworld. This leads him to the Old Port District where the Roaring Boys, a splinter faction of the Hatters, are unloading their newly acquired cargo hidden from city officials. The Lord Protector starts taking out his foes one after another, but his plan is botched by the discovery of a young boy by the gang members. The boy, whose face bears the likeness of Corvo's long estranged sister Beatrici, escapes from his grasp. The docks then become soon enough a fiery battlefield between the Roaring Boys and the City Watch, led by Corvo. Cottings ends the fight by taking down the Big Lad, a Roaring Boy utilizing a Tallboy's stilts, an oppressive technology abandoned since the end of the Lord Regent's reign.

After the fight, Corvo picks up a locket the boy left behind and finds a portrait of his sister within. On the other hand, the discovery of more powerful weaponry hints at some mysterious adversary arming Dunwall's gangs. Despite the urgency of this threat, he leaves Cottings in charge of the investigation to look for the child. Meanwhile in an isolated manor, a woman and her servant Griz comment on the the night's events and their success in diverting the Lord Protector's attention from their operation.

Issue Two
"A face from Corvo’s past draws the Lord Protector deep into a nest of jeopardy. Meanwhile, Officer Cottings' investigations lead her to Wyrmwood Place [sic] in the heart of Dunwall’s arcane district."

- Official synopsis

Corvo reminisces of his life back in Serkonos and how his sister Beatrici, dreaming of Dunwall's life opportunities, left to pursue her own adventures. Back in the present, Corvo invades the manor of Charlington Ludd, a merchant and once slave trader, to obtain information regarding the mysterious boy. Ludd reveals to him that a certain Broken Tom took over the slave trade, which leads him to the Berrington Ironworks in the Rust District. There, Corvo is ambushed by the one he was seeking, and soon enters a fight. To his surprise, Broken Tom uses both technology enhancements and bone charms to overpower him and shoot him through a window. Semi-conscious and floating down the Wrenhaven River, he is rescued by the boy on the riverside.

Meanwhile, Martha Cottings pursues her investigation alone, despite Lieutenant Mayhew's doubts. She obtains with force from Osric a lead to the shop of Titus Grindle in Wyrmwood Way, an infamous and illegal marketplace for fringe alchemy, bone charm crafting and forbidden dark arts. Cottings finds the proprietor dead and falls into a trap with a terrifying creature shaping itself out of a blank painting. She overcomes her own fears and defeats it by quickly firing at the painting. Yet, her investigation lead is at a standstill.

Issue Three
"Barely surviving his ordeal with Broken Tom, Corvo stalks his childhood for answers about his lost sister’s whereabouts. But is there something untoward about his new companion?"

- Official synopsis

Martha Cottings examines the cursed painting and discovers its sorcerer's mark. She takes it to Coldridge Prison to interrogate Esmeralda Duggins, a woman condemned for heresy and locked away in the Heretic Cells. The blind woman accepts to study the mark and tells the Watch officer everything she knows about it. This new lead drives her to an apartment, but the City Watch guards she led activate a deadly trap. She escapes the fire from the Whale Oil incendiary device with one of her men in extremis, but this prompts Lieutenant Mayhew to discourage her from pursuing the investigation without the assistance of Corvo Attano. She is then followed on her way home by two senior members of the Roaring boys, Sly Harold and Dapper Rodney, unnerved by her investigation. She ambushes them in a street in order to get direct answers on the nefarious plot they are part of.

Hidden in shacks over the river, Corvo is recovering from his fight with the help of the young boy. His respite is brief, as the Roaring Boys and Broken Tom searches the river for him, forcing them to flee to the sewers. There, the child reveals himself to the Lord Protector as Milo Ridpath, son of Corvo's sister, Beatrici. He tells that his mother sailed the Empire and came back to Karnaca long after Corvo moved to Dunwall. Both Milo and Betrici were eventually captured as leverage against the Royal Protector and Spymaster, moved from place to place before reaching the Empire's capital city where the boy finally escaped. Partially healed, Corvo then moves out with his nephew to find his sister. Unknown to them, the woman behind this machination, at work on a painting, receives the latest report from her servant. She then uncovers the painting from which she created Milo, claiming his existence was only to deceive Corvo Attano.

Issue Four
"Corvo’s search for his long-lost sister reaches its heady climax as sorcery and suspicion spills onto the streets of Dunwall. But will his new protégé survive the arcane machinations she finds herself embroiled in? Find out in this thrilling conclusion to the series."

- Official synopsis

Martha Cottings interrogates Sly Harold and Dapper Rodney at point-blank range. They reveal to her that the plan was to equip Dunwall's gangs with powerful weapons to cause chaos through the city and keep the City Watch diverted. Their associates' end of the bargain, in exchange of the contraband, was to obtain bone charms. The criminals then try to take the upper hand on Cottings. The Watch officer blows Rodney's head off, but Harold stabs her before she severely wounds him. Dying, Harold tells her that those are witches she is up against. Following his indications, Martha returns to Wyrmwood Way with the bone charm she recovered on him, in hope of finding the culprits. Bleeding, she falls into an ambush by lowlifes who overpower her. She is rescued by Griz, the servant of the witch mastermind behind the deceit, who asked for her.

With the help of his nephew's memories, Corvo reaches a whaling ship graveyard downriver. They enter one of the rusted husks after eliminating the Dead Eels gang members guarding it. Milo leads him below, to the machinery's deck, to the person he points out to be his mother, but turns out to be Broken Tom, waiting for one final confrontation with the Royal Protector. Corvo was expecting this fight, and decided to face his foe without his mask. In his understanding, Broken Tom was prepared to take advantage of his reliance on the mark of the Outsider, and so Corvo only uses his own skill to cut him pieces by pieces and kills him. He then finds his so-called nephew, confused as much as him by the events.

Martha, still weak, awakes in the isolated manor where the witch had her brought by Griz and her wound tended to. The woman explains that she serves Delilah Copperspoon, restored to the world, and that she created Milo with her powers to either kill or distract Corvo Attano. The witch also observed the investigation and cunning mind of Corvo's apprentice, and decided to paint her portrait to control her so she can serve Delilah's plans. Gathering her remaining strength, Martha decides to sacrifice herself and throws a knife at Griz's whale oil lantern, rupturing it and provoking a formidable explosion frying both her captors and the painting from which Milo came out.

With his painting burning out, Milo starts to disappear in Corvo's arms, leaving the Lord Protector bitter that the only clue on a plot against the Empress just vanished. Meanwhile, time stops for Martha Cottings just as the blast was about to reach her. Billie Lurk appears, reaching her able arm to her, and they both leave through a portal while the manor's top floor is blown away.

Release Dates

 * Issue #1 – August 3, 2016
 * Issue #2 – September 7, 2016
 * Issue #3 – September 28, 2016
 * Issue #4 – October 19, 2016
 * Dishonored: The Wyrmwood Deceit (graphic novel collection) – November 29, 2016

Trivia

 * Harvey Smith worked with the writer and artists to ensure continuity and provide ideas, and is credited for Additional Editing.
 * The comics was officially announced alongside the Dishonored novels on May 25 2016.
 * The first issue has two exclusive covers, both reusing concept art by Arkane Studios Concept Artist Sergey Kolesov. The first variant is exclusive to two retailers, Jetpack Comics and Forbidden Planet. The second variant was offered by Best Buy Canada as pre-order bonus of Dishonored 2.
 * The third cover of each issue features a fan art drawing by Charles Bae, former Chief Creative Officer at Bethesda's marketing agency Rokkan, and who worked on the game series' promotional art up until 2016. Those fan artworks were originally just black and white; a concrete-like texture was added by Titan Comics as background for the covers.
 * The fourth cover for the first issue is part of an official artwork of Dishonored, which was first used as cover for the Game Informer Issue 220 of August 2011 and later for the Definitive Edition.
 * The first issue has a fifth official, blank cover labelled "Cover E".
 * Billie Lurk's clothes and equipment at the end of the story are based on her appearance in Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.