Fan-Made Chapter: A Quiver of Fear
Something I did for fun, anyone (including devs as unlikely as it may be) is free to steal any story, perk, mechanic, add-on or any other ideas they want.
Killer: The Bowhunter:
Reggie Burton, as he came to be known, suffered abuse and neglect by his parents, a nightmare that ended when social workers took him out of his home and arrested them. Although some saw a growing darkness in the boy already, they were determined to do their best for him... and indeed, he was adopted by a good family, the Burtons, who not only gave him a new name to distance him from his nightmarish past, but more importantly the love and support every child is due. That love might have saved him... after a few rough starts where he seemed to take pleasure in hurting his new sibling and other kids around him, his new parents didn't give up on him... instead, he was taught to channel his anger and pain into more healthy avenues. His new parents stressed that he was a good person who had suffered, but he chose whether or not that defined him. A love of comics bonded him to his brother, who stressed that superheroes had rough origin stories, but they were the good guys and followed a code. Reggie loved that colorful, sometimes simplistic stories in comics, but he soon also took an interest in sports and hunting, delighted to realize that there was a way to still be a good person his new parents wanted him to be, and follow a code, while still satisfying the darker urges inside of him... the urge to hurt, even kill. The urge to excel, be better than someone else, was almost as good, and he did, in many areas, including a remarkable skill with a bow. And although, when his father took him hunting with that bow, Reggie didn't fully understand the concept of a 'clean kill' and why it was important to minimize an animal's suffering, he adopted it into his code and abided by those rules just like he did the rules of the sports field... when others were watching at least. He was known for taking a few too many roughness penalties on the field, but it was excused for exuberance, and there were times, hunting alone, where he got to experiment with watching animals suffer. Those lapses filled him with shame, not for any inherent respect for life, but rather mostly because he felt he was violating the code he was supposed to live by, but he had his moments of weakness... and, deep inside, he didn't see any reason the suffering of another living thing couldn't be enjoyed, savored even, as long as it was for a good purpose, like winning a game, a trophy, or dinner, or fighting crime in the comic book adventures he loved.
The military offered another route to the same end, the opportunity to become the closest thing to a comic book hero, really fighting the bad guys, serving his country, and, again, to excel. His brother had joined, and it seemed only natural to follow his footsteps. His excellence was noticed, as was his lack of qualms about killing, and he eventually was tapped for an elite special forces training as a sniper.
His record is classified, but somewhere along the way Reggie began to realize that he wasn't the good guy he imagined he was, that yes, he was serving his country, but the military was full of people who had the same type of darkness inside them as he did, and many had no code beyond their own success or advancement, that at least some of them were villains, and he felt some had duped him into acting like a henchman for them.
Nobody could prove that he was the one who threw a live grenade into the command tent. He passed a polygraph for it. But enough suspected and few people wanted to work with him, he was soon dishonorably discharged on other charges that were trumped up.
Denied his benefits, he attempted to return home and lead a quiet life, but political winds had turned and many derided his service, fighting in what they felt was an immoral war, a convenient scapegoat for that feeling, especially with the suggestion that the reason he wasn't honorably discharged was because he'd committed war crimes against civilians. Instead of getting a job and forging his own path, making friends and eventually forming a family, like they wanted, he found himself isolating, helping his parents with anything they needed but otherwise emotionally shut off except for what pleasure he got out of hunting.
His brother died a year later, still in service, died a hero, but the stress of trying to get the body home took its toll on Reggie's parents, and although he tried his best to take care of them, cancer and a heart attack took them as well, within five more years.
That left Reggie as the sole heir, and his parents, who managed real estate properties, left him with more than enough to buy a small plot of land out in the woods and a small cabin where he could deal with people only on his own terms... near enough to town to get supplies and occasional human contact at the bar, yet far enough that nobody would bother him if he didn't desire it, which was most of the time. Sometimes he didn't have to go into town for days, for he could hunt for his own food... starting at first by following the rules his father had set. Now, though, his father was gone, and he didn't believe in heaven, so there was nobody to disappoint if he slipped, no one to stop him from following his darker impulses, and although he still believed it was his duty to choose what defined him, he began experimenting more and more. Finally he came to a decision that causing suffering wasn't a violation of his code... in some cases it could be a mercy, for death was 'the end', and a 'clean kill' only brought that end on faster... at least if an animal's suffering, they're alive a little longer than they otherwise would be, and they might have a chance to escape with their lives. His own early childhood had taught him that much. The darker truth he denied though, was simply that watching other's suffering just made his own lessen. It always had. But there was nobody left to tell him it was wrong, nobody he cared about, anyway.
While his moral view steadily got murkier, the desire to be a hero, to improve society, never really left, though, and isolation warped that urge and his code began to evolve. He took a stab at working to develop the real estate he owned with the idea of improving his local community, but it seemed that despite his efforts, things were getting worse. A theater his parents bought and put their name on was steadily becoming the worst part of town, and it hurt him to see their legacy being destroyed. On his antenna TV, it seemed like the theater's problems were only a small symptom of what he saw as the declining state of the world, increases in crime and urban decay, and people refusing to take responsibility for their own lives. He slowly became obsessed with an idea, that it might be better to get rid of certain people, bad people obviously, the scum of society. And, his hunting was getting too routine... why not just both clean up the streets and hunt a more interesting animal? He began with a gang member, abducted, brought to the woods, and killed like an animal, and felt such a rush hunting and killing him that he was lost forever, and after a few of his special hunts his idea of scum became as flexible as his own moral code. He moved on to drug dealers, and finally decided that drug users were just as guilty, that the dealers wouldn't exist without them. Unlike him, some people were just contributing nothing, and their removal might make the town suffer but hopefully survive and improve itself, as he had, and indeed, everyone all had a chance to best him, to escape, didn't they? His code became the code of nature, the strong survive, the weak either get strong fast, or get taken down.
He had two chosen hunting grounds, one, the streets around the theater his family owned, which he had reason to visit from time to time but was crawling with prostitutes, addicts, and the homeless, and often he could get one alone and put them in his van with promises or force. Then he would take them to the woods near the quarry, give them a head start, and hunt them with his bow, play with them, letting them live as long as the could until downed by his superior skill. Then, like a good hunter, he would use every part of the animal he could.
In all, he hunted down at least 20 people, and only one escaped, a runaway girl he tormented for three days, who managed to hide and hit him with a rock, snapped his bow, then ran for the woods before he could come after her. She finally made it to a road and flagged down a passing motorist to call for help.
Reggie, after regaining consciousness, stumbled deliriously towards a spot inside the quarry, where he'd hidden a second bow, a special project, one made from bone and sinew, and continue the chase, but the head injury was more severe than he'd thought, and after collecting his gear he got misdirected on the way back, and stumbled into a pit, broke his beautiful new bow before it had ever been used, and a few bones besides. In agony for hours, he only started to become afraid when everything began growing dark. He knew he was weakening, would probably die, and for all the pain he suffered, he didn't want to die, for death was The End. With one last burst of effort, that he knew risked bringing the end out faster, he struggled to free himself from the pit... until he heard a strange voice was whispering to him, promising him, in words that weren't intelligible and yet somehow unmistakably clear... continued existence, and the means to hunt better prey, to make them suffer. "I'll need a new bow," he found himself mumbling before darkness took him.
The police never found his body, although they found the bodies of many of his other victims hidden in the woods and parts stored at his cabin. Some say he escaped and went on to kill somewhere else. But the truth was, he'd been taken for another type of game, found a realm where death was not the end, and the most important thing was the hunt. And he was always good at the hunt... better now, with his promised new bow.
Appearance:
Vaguely Robin Hood-ish because that's the popular archetype, but in black and with the hood down to avoid it being too close to certain archetypes. Bandit-style mask. Has a quiver on his back. Since he's adopted and given a new name he could have any ethnicity.
His bow is supernatural, perhaps with the appearance of being made of bone, and metal AF, maybe a faint glow, the arrows shooting out of a human skull on the front or something.
Variations: I view Reggie's military service as being during Vietnam, and so a Vietnam soldier's uniform seems like an appropriate variation, also a ghillie suit that might help in maps like the Yamaoka Estate. Also various mountain-man style, and maybe even a 'respectable' outfit because he does have that side when he's luring people in.
Speed: 110%
Power: Phantom Bow
The Bowman's Phantom Bow fires Soul Arrows, which are semi-incorporeal and cause less physical damage than a normal arrow would, but stick in the survivor's soul and cause pain and despair until removed... and like all arrows, they may cause more damage being removed than when they entered.
In order to fire an arrow, the killer must stop and crouch to aim, and while an arrow is cocked, he cannot see auras and survivors hear faint chase music. However, the arrow passes through many obstructions within the killer's terror radius (survivors, generators, hooks, shack/basement walls, and floors/ceilings prevent arrows from phasing).
Healthy survivors hit by an arrow are put into the injured state, but otherwise, they receive only a Hindered effect, being slowed progressively for every arrow. Upon removing an arrow themselves, survivors scream and take a deep wound (or lose some time from their deep wound status), but cannot mend themselves or heal until every arrow is out. Having a fellow survivor remove an arrow, or using a medkit (taking up a set number of charges) prevents the scream and deep wound effect.
A survivor hit by one of these arrows is also pushed backward in the direction of the arrow. If they would hit an obstruction like a wall, they are pinned by the arrow, and cannot move at all until they pull the arrow out, a task which is more difficult than regular arrow removal. If the killer reaches them before they pull it out, they can be grabbed.
It's possible to be pinned to another survivor. In which case, survivors must move in the same direction to move at all, or complete a Remove Arrow action. Survivors pinned to each other cannot be grabbed by the killer, or pinned to anything else, and are freed if one of them is downed.
Each arrow disappears after a miss, when removed or after the survivor is downed, and regenerates in the killer's quiver 30 seconds after it disappears. A survivor might choose to leave the arrow in and suffer the hindered status effect to keep it from being useful by the killer.
If the killer manages to grab a survivor pinned to an object or in a locker or vaulting, any arrows they're carrying instantly regenerate.
Add-ons:
Blood-stained Comic (Ultra-Rare):
A comic book, soaked almost to illegibility in blood. It seems to portray the activities of a vigilante who uses arrows to fight crime, although many of the trick shots are physically impossible.
- Soul Arrows no longer pass through solid objects.
- Soul Arrows ricochet up to 3 times if they don't hit a survivor.
Iridescent Ghillie Suit (Ultra rare):
A suit made of pustula petals that seems to shine with an unearthly light... it seems to attract attention more than allow the killer to blend in.
-When aiming, terror radius covers the entire map.
-Auras blocked even when an arrow isn't cocked, including generator auras.
Gunpowder Tip (Very rare):
A specially prepared arrow that contains a small amount of gunpowder and magnesium powder which bursts into a blinding flash on impact.
- Anyone within 5m of a Soul Arrow impact are blinded as though by a firework for 3 seconds.
- Survivors hit by a Soul Arrow suffer from the Blindness status effect until all Soul Arrows are removed and for 30 seconds afterwards.
Transmitter Plans (Very rare):
Detailed sketches of an arrow with a simple transmitter built into the shaft, made to stick in game and allow the killer to easily track them down. The killer was never able to perfect his idea on Earth, but in the Entity's realm the arrow can bind his soul to his prey's.
-Soul Arrows hinder, but do not injure, cause deep wounds or screams, when removed.
-Soul Arrows embedded in survivors reveal auras every 30 seconds for 5 seconds.
Tattooed Quiver (Very rare):
A roughly stitched quiver made of a strange colored leather which contains what looks like a tattoo of a skull with roses growing out of it.
-Allows killer to start with 3 more Soul Arrows.
Barbed Arrowhead (Very Rare):
A wicked arrowhead with curling barbs, making it even more difficult and dangerous to remove without help, as well as sticking firmly into obstructions.
-Considerably reduces the Deep Wound timer after being pulled out.
-Considerably increases the time to escape from being pinned.
-Moderately increases the time to remove an arrow.
Tranquilizing Arrowhead (Rare):
Arrowheads tipped with a small, dilute tranquilizer, enough to dull reflexes but not reduce pain.
-Survivors struck with a Soul Arrow are Exhausted until it is removed, and then for 30 seconds more.
Camouflage Face Paint (Rare):
A small jar with compartments for various woodland colors, allowing a hunter to make their face blend in with their surroundings while they line up a shot.
-Considerably reduces terror radius outside of aiming mode.
-Slightly reduces terror radius in aim mode.
Silk Bowstring (Rare):
This gossamer string faintly glitters and yet is impossibly strong and elastic, as though spun by some impossibly large spider.
-Considerably increases the time to escape being pinned.
-Considerably decreases the draw time of an arrow.
Barbed Fletching (Rare):
Sharp protrusions carved into the end of arrows make it more difficult to remove safely.
-Considerably increases the time to remove an arrow.
Hefty Shaft (Rare):
A thick arrow made out of a heavier wood, making it harder to move swiftly after you've been hit.
-Slightly increases the Hindered effect of every arrow.
-Reduces arrows carried by 2
Sinew Bowstring (Uncommon)
A bowstring made of a natural material harvested from a previous kill, the elasticity drives arrows in with incredible force.
-Moderately increases the knockback of a successful hit by a Soul Arrow.
-Moderately increases the time to escape being pinned.
Serrated Broadhead (Uncommon):
An arrowhead designed to do serious damage on entry and cause bleeding which can be tracked.
- Survivors struck by an arrow suffer from the Hemorrhage and Mangled status effect until they are fully healed..
Blood-Stained Quiver (Uncommon):
A simple black leather quiver that is stained with blood.
- Gives the killer one extra Soul Arrow.
Hair Lock (Uncommon):
Tied around the arrow as fletching, this chunk of red human hair seems to be a momento of some prior conquest.
-Moderately decreases cooldown between firing arrows.
-Slightly decreases regeneration time of arrows.
**Bone Arrowhead (Uncommon): **
A simple arrowhead made out of a worked piece of human bone.
- Moderately increases the time to remove an arrow from a survivor.
Blood-soaked Bowstring (Common):
A bowstring, reddened with old blood. That should make it less effective, but it has a surprising snap to it.
- Slightly increases the knockback of a succesful hit by a Soul Arrow.
- Slightly increases the time to escape being pinned.
Target Point Arrowheads (Common):
Arrows designed more for target shooting, these can be removed with relatively little damage to the material it is embedded in.
- Soul Arrows do not cause Deep Wounds or screams when removed.
- Killer receives 50% bonus to the hunting category post-trial.
Notched Arrowhead (Common):
A few simple notches on this arrowhead make it more likely to snag against flesh when being pulled out.
-Slightly increases the time to remove an arrow.
**Nooked shaft (Common): **
A simple nook at the back of the arrow make it easier to put into a new arrow into its proper position quickly without any thought.
-Slightly decreases cooldown between firing arrows.
Secondary Weapon:
Hunting Machete: Good for chopping bush in jungle or woodland areas, also good for causing a severe wound to anything too close to take down with a bow.
Mori:
The Bowhunter, having downed his prey, reaches up, pulls an arrow from the air, uses it to pin one of the survivor's hands. Does likewise with the survivor's other hand. Then He stands on their chest and shoots arrows into their eyes.
Killer Teachable Perks:
Hunter's Blind:
You are adept at using elevation to your advantage, letting you literally get the drop on a survivor and deliver a devastating blow. When you are more than 2m above a survivor, they don't hear your terror radius or chase music (however, chase and terror-radius related effects still apply). If you drop down a fall of more then 3m, any survivor within 12m/16m/18m is Exposed for 2/4/8 seconds. Any offensive action disables this perk for 60/45/30 seconds.
"I don't look down on my prey... except sometimes literally because I have the higher ground."
Hex: Balance of Nature
A hex rooting its power on the conservation of suffering. While the hex totem is active, every person who completes a heal action on another person in the injured state screams and immediately goes into the injured state themselves. If you are already in the injured state, or heal somebody from the dying state, you do not scream and take no further injury. If you heal yourself using Self-Care or a medkit, you scream and immediately return to the injured state.
The hex totem only lights up after the first survivor is injured. It only notifies survivors of the hex after anyone heals for the first time. When a survivor screams because of this curse, the hex totem's aura glows for 3/2/1 second for the screamer if they are within a range of 32m/24m/18m.
"Nature's a vicious struggle, and someone was is going to suffer... the only decision is, is it going to be you, or someone else?"
Judas Goat:
After a survivor is removed from the hook, as long as that survivor has not been downed or healed, for the next 30/45/60 seconds, the icon lights up if you are farther than 16m away but closer than 32m away from that survivor. When the icon is lit, the auras of all survivors within 18/24/32m of the unhooked survivor are shown to you as long as they are not currently running.
Judas Goat cannot be applied to a survivor while one is already affected by it, and it cannot be applied to the same survivor twice in a row.
Any survivor escaping from a hook, even if they are not affected by Judas Goat, get Hasted for 20/15/10 seconds.
"There are all sorts of ways to flush out prey. Sometimes the easiest thing to do is just hurt something they care about."
Maps:
You know what, this is MY chapter, and odds are infinitesimal that anything I write here is ever going to make it into the game... so I'm going to go wild and declare this chapter comes with TWO maps. The early maps were divided into zones with multiple variations, and the offerings didn't take you to a specific one, just one in the zones. They went back to it with the Clown, putting his map in the same realm as the nurses, but why not spoil the fans with two maps, one closed and indoor and one outdoor and open... that way you can't guarantee which version you're getting if you play the offering.
Map One: Orion Quarry
A wooded area surrounding a small quarry. Probably mostly wooded area, like many maps, but the trees are relatively sparse, and the main features surround a cave-like quarry in Graffiti on the walls suggests that it was a place teens sometimes congregated, and there are a couple half-standing building facades (including the killer shack/basement) and rusted machines surrounding it. One of the features might well be an area where it's far easier to go down than up, with multiple falls.
Map Two: Burton Theater
This is actually a section of street, with a creepy old abandoned theater (stage, not movie) being the centerpiece, and the others being abandoned warehouses and other buildings. The generator on the stage lights up the house lights. Multiple levels on a number of buildings and even rooftops.
Survivor: The Actress, Melissa Lopez:
As long as she could remember, Melissa wanted to entertain, and, although she might have denied it, to be a Star with a capital S. The acting bug caught her early with school plays and pageants, and she was soon trying out for every one.
Most people agreed that she was pretty good in what she did... she got a role in almost every production but she almost never got the big meaty roles she tried out for. She never got to play Juliet, she got to play Juliet's mother, twice. She never got to play the plucky lead, at best she got to play the lead's best friend. And, too often, she got parts for merely one or two scenes. "There are no small parts, merely small actors," people said to her regularly, and she grew to hate that phrase because neither seemed to fit her style.
Her parents were mildly supportive of it as a hobby, but their constant warnings that only a tiny fraction of people earned a living as an actor, and she should study something more practical. When it came time to choose a college, she succumbed to that advice and abandoned her earlier dream to move to Hollywood... instead, she went to community college for economics... but there was a drama program there that she could minor in.
There, she grew to loathe her major, succeeding academically but only really living for her acting classes and the stage productions. Still never a lead, but fun roles, and some of the film students even cast her in their independent films. She found she shined in horror films and though she was usually only one of the girls who was killed before the Final Girl, everyone complimented her screams and prolonged death scenes.
It was this that led her to her final role, her big shot... she was performing in a musical in the newly restored Burton theater, and after a rehearsal, the director and several of the cast and crew were sitting around, and one told the old legend of the Mad Bowhunter, a serial killer who hunted his victims through the woods, and who was rumored to be one of the prior owners of the theater (although since he disappeared without being put on trial some people thought he was merely a victim). Only one girl had escaped, and, after decades of avoiding the public eye, she'd sold her story to Hollywood, who were making an adaptation right there in town... low budget, but the director was a reasonably well-known name, and he prized authenticity.
Why not try out for it? she thought. She might not get the big part, but a movie was a movie, it could get seen by the right people and be her big break.
Except when she auditioned, the director remarked about how she bore an uncanny resemblance to the woman the story was based on, and kept calling her back for a few auditions before deciding she was right for the role... that this was partly because the budget was cut after the director's previous movie was received poorly did not dissuade her good cheer, nor the fact that she'd have to drop out, at least for the spring semester, of her normal studies.
Because the killer had never officially been brought to justice, she was a little trepidatious about filming in the very same woods the murders took place, but the last of them had happened twenty years earlier, and there was a large crew and she trusted they would keep her safe, and was getting along with everybody.
The last thing she expected was to get lost in the woods and for her cell phone to die. That was the sort of thing that only happened in horror movies. She hadn't gone far, just taking her lunch in the shade of the quarry to get some break out of the sun, but on the way back she spotted a pit she hadn't seen before, and realized she must have taken the wrong route. The pit did look like part of the production, there was a weird broken bow in it that had to have been a prop because it looked like it was made of bone, so she complimented out loud about it, but only heard her own echoing voice. So she retraced her steps and got back into the woods, but nobody else could be found... but she wasn't that worried yet, for she hadn't been gone long, and she knew the route back to the trailers. If anything, she was sure it was a prank, maybe the director trying to wring real fear out of her by instructing everyone to pretend not to hear her cries for help. She gave them her best performance, but still got no response, and started calmly calling out for people she knew, not really afraid, despite the silence... until she noticed first that her phone was completely dead, and then secondly, the woods weren't leading her back to the trailers, and in fact, they seemed to change the more she walked, and, like a dream changing even if she turned her head and turned back. Finally her calm requests for directions back to the shoot site gave way to sobbing, desperate cries for help, but by then it was too late... it had gotten dark. Her only sign of hope came when she detected the light of a campfire. She had achieved a role in the Entity's own private show although she's disgusted to realize it's still only a supporting role.
Back home, her mysterious disappearance did not even cancel the movie... instead, it became part of the legend of the Mad Bowhunter.
(Alternatively, you could use a male actor who was taken by the Entity in similar circumstances, after he took a role playing the Bowhunter in a movie and disappeared on set, I just went with female because often male killers go with female survivors and vice versa)
Description:
Latina, college age, thinking slightly heavier than than the current female survivor models (a reason she tended to be cast as the curvy best friend rather than the lead). Basic form wearing fairly average clothes street clothes, maybe jeans and a blouse.
Variations: Various actor costumes inspired by classic Hollywood and acting themes (Shakespearean, Sci-Fi, Prehistoric Woman)
Survivor Teachable Perks:
Improvisation:
You're skilled at thinking on your feet and taking advantage of the scene. In a chase, you can fast vault a window at any angle or from a standing start, and exit a locker without being grabbed. Fast-vaulting a window you otherwise couldn't sends this perk into cooldown for 60/45/30 seconds, while evading a grab sends it into cooldown for 3 minutes/2 minutes/1 minute. Using the perk more than once in the same chase causes windows to be instantly blocked by the Entity for 30 seconds whenever the instant fast vault is used.
"You have to be ready to ad lib, especially if someone else screws up."
Scene Stealer:
You start the trial seemingly in the Broken state, staggering and making grunts of pain. However, the moment you take an injury, unless it applies a Deep Wound or would down a healthy survivor, you make a scream that mimics being downed, but instead of falling you become Injured, and you leave no scratch marks or blood trails, or make sounds aside from fast actions, for 5/10/20 seconds.
Thereafter, any time you heal fully, you get a red, difficult skill check at 80%... hitting it before the heal completes puts you into again into a false injured (though not broken) status icon and behavior. Failing or ignoring it merely causes you to be be healed as normal.
While in this false-injured state, your status icon will reflect the injury, but you are not actually injured, so any perks, of any player, that depend on you being injured do not apply. **No Mither* nullifies this perk.
"You know me... I never can resist a good death scene."
Encore:
Once per match, if you completely consume an item, 45/30/15 seconds after using it, if you are still in the trial and have not picked up anything else, the consumed item respawns in your possession with full charges. Both/One/One of any add-ons are lost.
"I couldn't possibly... oh, okay, just one more."