Chapter Idea from the Corners of my Dreams

VolantConch1719

A while back, I had a dream about a new chapter for Dead by Daylight, but the forums really didn't want me to bring it to life than. So instead, I put what I remembered in a Google Doc. And now, I've fleshed it out (except for a name).

Survivor: Esther Whitman, the Redeemed Soul.

Esther Whitman didn’t have a good childhood. Her father was abusive and, while she was alive, her mother was arguably worse. To escape, Esther would stay out for long nights until she was sure her father was asleep before sneaking in and hiding in a closet for the rest of the night. This lifestyle led to hanging out with rough crowds, and by the time she was sixteen, she was in juvie almost as often as she was out, for more crimes than she remembered doing, and her schooling was a half-remembered dream. When she was approaching eighteen, Esther’s childhood friends, twins Alec and Alecia, called a meeting of their ten-other-person gang together. It was time to do something… “intense.” For the first time, Esther saw the heavy duty weapons that her friends brought to the meeting. Sub-machine guns, rifles, silencers, C4, the list went on. Alec announced that tomorrow night, on Esther’s eighteenth birthday, they would “bring her to the big leagues.”

Esther observed the weapons with appreciation, and smiled at Alec and Alecia, but something had been nagging at her these past few years. The further and further she turned from the law, the more she wondered if this was what she truly wanted in life. If she truly wanted to live on the misery of others. Pickpocketing wallets, stealing cars, vandalising private property… was this really what she believed in? As she snuck home, avoiding her father as usual, she had a feeling something was going to happen at the bank robbery they were planning on performing. Something that there would be no turning back from. She started feeling sick to her stomach, and she made a decision.

The robbery went smoothly, with all of the members of the gang doing as Alec and Alecia said. Esther stood watching the bank teller as he began opening the safe, rifle pointed at his head. Alec stood nearby, smiling until he heard a noise. Sirens. Alecia ran to the back, telling Alec and Esther that there was a SWAT team outside the bank. How? No one else could have known about the robbery? It was too well planned.

The SWAT team brought the gang down, almost as if they knew what their plan was. Soon, only Alec, Esther and Alecia stood, surrounded, the rest of the gang in cuffs. Alec opened fire on the officers, but one of them got a quick shot on Alecia before he fell to the ground. With his sister bleeding with her kneecap torn through, Alec started panicking. He shouted at Esther, noticing how she hadn’t fired a single bullet. That’s when it clicked with him. Esther dropped her rifle and raised her hands.

From that point on, Esther did everything she could to absolve herself. She went back to school, eventually graduating from high school and going on to her local college. She confronted her father, no longer afraid of him, and he was finally convicted of his abuse. She made a few friends. Real friends. Not sociopaths who would attempt to control every aspect of her life. These friends loved her, as did her teachers. For the first time in her life, Esther Whitman felt… happy. She had even started going on dates.

She was talking about it one night with her friend, Tabby. The five-mile walk to her house from the college was dark, and a heavy fog had started to close in. To ease her mind, the two talked about how much Esther had improved. She was given a second chance and she took it. She had planned on becoming a student council aid, working to help other children from going down the path she had. She was trying to make the world a better place, making up for her failings as a youth.

Suddenly, she heard rustling in the grass behind her. The fog was getting harder to see through and Tabby offered to give Esther a ride home. Esther declined, saying she was only two miles out. Her voice was quivery. Tabby could tell her friend was scared of something… or someone near her. Then she looked out her window and saw just how little fog had truly settled. Esther said, “I need to go,” and hung up. Tabby immediately called the police.

The police searched for over a month, but the only thing that turned up was Esther’s phone, broken on the side of the road, as if thrown to the ground in a hurried run. The community simply assumed that the call to crime was simply too strong for Esther to resist, and she ran from the town to pursue it. Her friends and teachers knew better. She had spent four years trying to repair her image, she wasn’t about to turn back now.

To this day, Tabby and the others believe that Esther Whitman had been kidnapped. Alec had escaped prison the week earlier, and no one has seen him since. However, the police ruled it out as there was no sign of a struggle at the scene. Esther’s footprints simply vanished. However, without any other explanation, it is what they believe. They were half right.

My idea with Esther was a Survivor who, had she made a different choice, could have been a Killer instead.

Appearance: Esther Whitman has pale skin, green eyes and dark brown, almost black, hair braided similar to how Princess Leia styled it in Empire Strikes Back (that’s literally the only way I can explain it. She wears a white shirt, navy blue, fingerless cloth gloves that go up to her elbows, a small, light gray poncho and light blue jeans that are slightly ripped.

Perks:

Second Chance: You’ve had a lot of mess-ups in the past, and you’ll do anything to make it up.

Each time you fail a skill check, you gain a token, up to a maximum of 2/3/4. For each token you have, your repair and healing speeds are increased by 2%.

Hitting a Great Skill Check consumes a token and provides 10% progress.

“I ran with a pretty rough crowd once. But that was a different life.” - Esther Whitman

The idea behind Second Chance is a risk versus reward. You can risk the Killer finding you in exchange for being able to make up for it faster, and sacrifice that faster speed for greater immediate progress, which comes at the risk of letting the Killer know where you are, and gaining more speed.

Debts to Pay: No one should have to suffer for your sins.

Performing altruistic actions on a Survivor who rescued you from the Hook is 10/15/20% faster.

“I messed up. For every wrong I’ve done, I want to do something right.” - Esther Whitman

Just a general Altruism perk.

Old Ways: You’ve changed, but some things stay the same. Sometimes, violence is the only option.

Upon pallet stunning the Killer, break into a sprint at 150% your normal running speed for 3 seconds.

Causes the Exhausted Status Effect for 60/50/40 seconds.

Old Ways cannot be used while Exhausted.

You do not recover from Exhaustion while running.

“I’m not proud of what I’ve done. But sometimes, I’m glad I did. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without it.” - Esther Whitman

I honestly didn't know what to do for Esther's final perk, but this is an Exhaustion perk we currently lack.

Killer: Richard Wauser, the Possessed

Richard Wauser was a prodigy. He was a natural with practically any instrument, but he especially liked the electric guitar. He was only seven when he won first prize at his school’s music contest. The Wauser family was rich and powerful, and used their connections to ensure Richard had the best schooling available, and ensure his success as a musician. All he wanted was to make people happy. To bring peace to the world.

In high school, he became the face of a garage band consisting of himself, his sister Evangeline, and his best friends Eric Grace and Zachary Truman. Everyone in school loved them, and they went on to perform on national television. Their first album, Boat to Rinto, was a record-shattering hit. But the band never took it for granted. Fame is a fragile thing. The band, becoming known as the Wauser Clan, instead donated much of what they earned to charities to help underdeveloped countries and children in need.

As the Wauser Clan became more popular, Eric’s sister, Nicole, who was also Richard’s girlfriend, became the person in charge of the fan-mail they received. Most of it was harmless fun, however, one letter in particular concerned her. She brought it to her boyfriend, who looked at the letter with confusion. This wasn’t any lettering he was familiar with. The script wasn’t cyrillic, didn’t resemble anything from Asia, and had no traditional letters. Maybe it was Greek? No… they didn’t have these letters. After several days of getting nowhere with the letter, Richard found it. Mayan. It was a chant to Buluc Chabtan, the Mayan god of war and violence.

He was horrified, but intrigued by this. This letter went against everything Richard stood for, but something deep within wanted to read it out loud. Nicole and Eric were over that night, trying to help him understand the letter. Richard took a deep breath and read the letter. He fell, nightmares taking over his brain. Horrible screaming from deep within his mind echoing. He wanted it to stop. He couldn’t take it. It was too much.

After what felt like an eternity, Richard woke up. In his hand, he held the broken neck of his guitar, strings hanging loose, wood caked in blood. Blood? Who’s blood? Richard looked at his sweater, bearing the blood-soaked emblem of the Wauser Clan. He looked at his hands… his broken, bloodied hands, skin exposing bones in places. A fog started rolling in as he realized he wasn’t at his house anymore. He was in the town, yes, but… something was off. It was quiet. Too quiet. There was a festival planned for tomorrow, where were all the people? Richard shouted into the darkness, calling for Nicole. Eric. Zachary. Evangeline. Only the fog answered. A promise that he would see his friends again. Very soon…

When the county police investigated the “Slaughter of Apple Woods”, they found thirty victims with wooden chunks embedded in their throats. Some were strangled with guitar strings. In his house, Zachary Truman was found with an empty shotgun in his hands and a terrified expression on his face. Eric Grace was found with his head caved in by a guitar. The worst discovery of them all was that of Nicole Grace, found completely disemboweled in the room of Richard Wauser, organs strewn about in some kind of sacrificial ritual. When questioned on what happened to the rest of the band, Evangeline Wauser had no statement, and was found dead the next day, grief overtaking her. Richard Wauser was never found again.

Out of everything in my dream, Richard Wauser was the clearest. The thing with him is how opposite from Esther he is. While Esther could have been a Killer but turned her life around, Richard isn't even AWARE that he's a Killer.

Stats and Power:

Speed: 4.4 m/s

TR: 32 meters

Size: Average

Power: Inner Demon

The Possessed begins the Trial in Human form. In Human form, the Possessed cannot attack, but can still perform breaking, vaulting, picking up and hooking actions is Undetectable.

When standing within 40 meters of a Survivor while in Human form, Inner Demon begins gaining strength. The closer the Possessed is to the Survivor, the faster he gains strength, Going from one unit per two seconds at 40 meters to ten units per second when within ten meters. The amount gained from multiple Survivors is additive.

When at full strength, the Possessed can activate Inner Demon to transform into his Monster form. He moves at 4.6 m/s, can attack and can use Buluc Chabtan’s Song after a 30 second cooldown.

Buluc Chabtan’s Song applies Deep Wounds to all Healthy Survivors, downs Injured Survivors (provided they are unaffected by Endurance), and reveals already downed Survivors within the Possessed’s Terror Radius that are outside of lockers.

Using Buluc Chabtan’s Song immediately ends Monster form and resets Inner Demon. Each successive transformation requires 5% less strength.

I know that I myself have stated that a shapeshifter could never work due to SWF. But I think this take on it possibly could (using Survivor form for stealth over disguise. Maybe it's even a little broken with the Song, but I feel that comes with enough of a drawback to balance it out.

Appearance: The Possessed has a gray sweater with a Golden “WC” on the front and “Wauser Clan” on the back. He has light skin and dark brown hair. His skin has torn away in places, revealing his bones. His eyes glow a dull green, and he holds a broken electric guitar neck. When he transforms, he grows spikes along his brow and spine as the tears in his skin begin glowing. He also becomes more muscular.

Perks (they're all related to gens being done):

Innocence Lost: No one is innocent here. Not anymore. Especially that one in particular.

You become obsessed with one Survivor.

Whenever a Generator is completed, the Obsession becomes Oblivious for 10/15/20 seconds.

If the Obsession finished the Generator, your movement speed is increased by 2% until Oblivious ends.

“I’ve tried to save the world with my songs. But, maybe, some things just aren’t worth saving.” - Richard Wauser

I think this would be a decent enough perk, due to the drawback of needing a finished gen but making the Obsession extremely vulnerable.

Happy Songs: You’ve made great music once upon a time. You still have that gift, with their screams.

Whenever a Generator is completed, all Survivors within 15/20/25 meters of it scream, revealing their locations.

“Evangeline wanted to make something dark, but I knew we couldn’t do it.” - Richard Wauser

A locating perk, although maybe it's outclassed by Bitter Murmur.

Grand Finale: The main show has ended, time to wrap it up real good.

When the final Generator is completed, the Exit Gate farthest from you is blocked for 60/70/80 seconds.

“This will make them scream ‘Encore’.” - Richard Wauser

Forces everyone towards you at the end of the game.

This was my (probably too detailed) idea of a chapter for DBD that has been haunting me for a while now.

DarkMagik

This is pretty good