Chapter Concept: The Mother
THE MOTHER
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Name: Joyce Hansen
Alias: The Mother
Gender: Female
Height: 5'9ft
Nationality: American
Hunting Grounds: The Hansen Estate
Weapon(s): Kitchen Knife
Movement Speed: Below Average
Terror Radius: Average
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Power: Made With Love
"The judge's cause of death was diagnosed to be asphyxiation; caused by the swelling of their throats from the ingestion of various breeds of blister beetles baked into Ms. Hansen's pastries. Because of the frequency and almost ingenious way in which the presence of the beetles had been masked, investigators could only conclude that this was a deliberate act of malice."
The Mother can deploy Mindfuls; sentient pastries with arachnid like legs sprouting from them. These minions will march to a target location upon deployment with M2, then enter a state of surveillance as they become stationary. If a Survivor Walks or Runs within their Detection Radius, the minion will start skittering toward them; granting The Mother the Survivor's Aura. If the Mindful reaches the Survivor, it will latch onto their back, attacking them. During this time, the Survivor's movement becomes locked in a Run and they will move in the direction their camera is facing. Their normal 8-way movement is replaced with the Struggle function (The same as when being carried by a Killer) as they attempt to fight out and remove the Mindful attacking them. This not only causes the Survivor's movement to sway left and right (once again, the exact same as what happens when a Killer carries a struggling Survivor), but if the Survivor makes contact with Terrain, the Mindful explodes and brings them to the Injured Health State. If the Survivor is already Injured, they will instead be inflicted with Crippled; preventing them from Running. Mindfuls can be sneaked around by Crouching. Survivors may also Crouch up to a Mindful and destroy it, akin to the Trapper's Bear Traps. Beware, however, as this creates a Visual/Sound queue for The Mother.
At the beginning of the Trial, The Mother starts with 2 Mindfuls to deploy. She can stock more by checking/interacting with Ovens scattered around the map; gaining 1 additional Mindful per Oven. Likewise, Survivors can also interact with these Ovens, destroying the baking pastry/Mindful while creating a Visual/Sound queue for The Mother. When The Mother or the Survivors interact with an Oven, it enters a Cooldown state as it prepares another Mindful. All Ovens start in the Ready state at the beginning of the Trial (meaning they have a prepared Mindful ready to be taken out), but Ready and Unready Ovens can be told apart by how a Ready Oven will emit a fiery glow from its doors. The Mother can see the Auras of her Ovens anywhere on the map.
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Perks:
TLC: Survivors that have been Injured for longer than a minute display an Aura seen by the Killer when at long ranges. This Aura disappears as the Killer reaches a moderate distance from the Survivor.
SECOND BATCH: The Killer starts with +50% more assets (Traps, consumables, etc)
OBSESSION: THE SCORNED: The Killer becomes Obsessed with a Survivor. For every Pallet Stun the Killer suffers from their Obsession, the Killer gains a Token. When hitting a non-Obsession Survivor, a Token is consumed and the Survivor is instantly brought down into the Dying State. Hitting the Obsession will not yield this effect but will still consume a Token.
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Mori: The Mother flips the Survivor over, holding one of her "Delicacies" in her other hand in a menacing gesture. Smiling down at the terrified victim, she proceeds to jam it into their mouth; force feeding them the pastry and keeping her hand over their mouth to prevent regurgitation. Emphasis drawn to their panic, the Survivor almost appears to suffocate for a moment until various spider legs pierce their neck and chest from the inside out as The Mother's Mindful sprout from within. Standing back up, she clasps her hands in a classic "endeared" gesture like a doting mother before returning to neutral stance.
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Strengths: Map Control, Quick Downs (When combining Power with M1)
Weaknesses: Stealth Builds, Movement Coordination, Map Awareness
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Lore:
Joyce Hansen was living the American dream. She had a loving husband, a beautiful home and two affable children. It was the picturesque embodiment of the American nuclear family and Joyce was fulfilled in the role she played as a housewife. Years of scrutiny from former classmates, colleagues, and her own family had finally paid off and she was living the dream. She had a purpose and people depended on her.
Sometimes, however, life comes at you quick. One fateful day, Joyce received a phone call no stay at home mom ever wants to receive: That her husband, son, and daughter had all tragically perished in a car wreck while driving home in the snow. Their car had slipped from the round when taking a bend and the ditch they fell into had proved unforgiving while the heavy snowfall had ensured their car would be obscured from sight long enough to prevent aid from reaching them at their most crucial moments. Joyce set the phone down, walked into their living room, and sat in front of the fireplace, basking in its warm glow, sat in silence. The house she once held as a monument to her achievements now felt terribly empty; wrong. A constant reminder of what she'd just lost.
For a time, few heard from Joyce. She rarely left the house, refused to speak with family. She had only shown up to the collective funeral for her spouse and children. Then, one day after a year hiding away, the whole world got to see Joyce's face as she premiered as a contestant in the ongoing gameshow, The Cutting Board. It was a show where amateur cooks from around the globe would arrive and go through rigorous tests and challenges pitted against the other contestants for a cash prize and immortalization as that year's Cutting Board Champion. Joyce had entered, like many, with a more personal motive in mind: Paying homage to the family she had lost. With no children left to cook for, she'd instead display her skills on the big stage. It wasn't about her ego, it was about showing the creativity and love she was once able to bring to the lives of her family. It was all in their name.
Initially, audiences found her plight fairly run of the mill, but it wasn't long before Joyce had knocked out many of the other contestants with her phenomenal skills in the kitchen. She was quickly becoming the leading lady of the season and many projected her as a potential winner. To no one's surprise, Joyce made it to the finals with flying colors. However, the judges for the competition, typical in their ways, decided to throw Joyce a curve ball. As with many other contestants who had experienced challenges shaped around their "personal journey", they had assembled her final challenge against her fellow finalist, Dani Renolds (The associated Survivor of this chapter), to the tune of the holidays: Joyce and Dani would have to bake something fitting for a winter feast with the family.
The intent was to show how far Joyce had come; to let her shine as a woman who had lost everything and had overcome her life's worst moment. This was not how the challenge transpired. Stricken with agonizing memories and terror, Joyce stumbled for the first time in the entire competition and produced her one and only bad dish, losing to Dani Renolds in humiliating fashion. And just like that, Joyce had lost everything once again, only this time at the expense of her dead family's good name.
Returning home, Joyce could only stand idly over her stove as her TV in the next room over covered the roaring success of her former rival and all of the book deals, collaborations, and interviews her victory on The Cutting Board had earned her. For weeks she would exist like this, finding herself more attracted to her trusty kitchen knife by the day. But she never committed, and continued to wallow in her misery. She feigned the practice of her stove, but it was only her going through the motions as her kitchen had quickly filled its countertops with terrible plates, each more dreadful than the last. Suffering from depressed sleeplessness, she fell asleep at the stove.
Moments later, she would awake to searing pain streaking across her face as her flesh melted against her stove's burners. She pulled away, stumbling out of the kitchen and into the hall, tumbling into the bathroom and pulling herself up to the sink. In the mirror, she should have seen her mangled face, but all she saw was this years next Cutting Board Champion. Before assuming her place back in the kitchen, Joyce smiled. How lucky she was to have just enough time to make the esteemed judges something special, with all the tender love and care only a talented mother like herself could bring to the table.
... Some weeks later, the judges for The Cutting Board assembled their amateur chefs for the show's upcoming season. Each was disappointed to see last years near-victor, Joyce Hansen, had not come back to reclaim the title they all felt she had fumbled on. This disappointment was assuaged when their producers brought them a package addressed from Joyce herself, apologizing for her absence and offering a box of confections as a consolation for her absence. The judges, appetites still wet from her performance last year, sampled her offerings without a second thought; trusting in her talents. Fatal was the nature of this mistake as mere minutes later, each was convulsing and thrashing on the floor, clutching at their necks as they swelled from the toxic insects which had been finely baked into the confectionaries. Blister beetles, vespids, even certain butterflies known for their poisonous secretions were found within the edibles. Naturally, the authorities came to the dilapidated Hansen residence looking for answers and, more importantly, justice.
But not a soul was there.
Not in or around the property.
Only a messy kitchen, burning stoves, and a droning TV from the living room, stuck on a rerun of The Cutting Board...
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Inspiration:
This art and the associated music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLElGVjI7AY) obviously are not my creation. "The Mother" is a popular Killer pitch that has been going around as of the last few months and I'm neither the first nor last person that will bring it up. However, it was simply too enticing a concept to leave alone. It's one of the few Killer concepts that genuinely makes my skin crawl and unnerves me and I've love to see the team adapt this. I jus wanted to throw my hat in the ring and offer suggestions on how she would operate and what kind of lore could be presented for her.