Chapter Idea: Sins of The Wicked

New Killer: The Scarecrow(4.6 m/s)

Jacob winces in pain as his muscles rub against the rusted nails holding him to the post. The pain is getting bearable, not that he's getting comfortable, but it's getting easier to deal with. He gives a small shout as a crow bit at the inside of the neck. He wriggles until the bird flies off. He takes a short moment to breathe and moves back into a position where the pain isn't as bad.

He knew there were others, their names... He can't understand. But someone else is here, someone else is in pain, but he doesn't know what to do. His arms are stuck outward, and the nails and screws in his bone keep him in place. Mark, wait, Mark, that was one of them. Jacob looks out into the field, he can't see anyone else, but he feels their presence, Mark.

Aaron lands at his side and caws. Jacob slightly turns his head to look at his friend, Aaron comes by occasionally, and if he's being honest, Jacob has no idea if it's the same bird every time or not. But the company is welcome nonetheless. Jacob portrays his thoughts to the bird, in hopes that it could understand him, but nothing happens.

Aaron caws once more then flies away. Jacob turns back and lets his head rest, already he's feeling tired. A crack of footsteps heightens his senses, The Farmer walks right past him, looking up at his work. Jacob wants to jump down and tear out the man's throat, but he can't even if he managed to get off, he would be amazed if he could walk.

He watches The Farmer leave, heading over to the other one. The next victim. Jacob tries to think about Mark, hoping whoever he was, that he could stop The Farmer. But something tells him that Mark is in the same position as him. Then another voice calls out, Jacob recalls the voice, noting it to be familiar. Rachel, he asks. The familiar voice responds with an unintelligible word.

How many others are like this, who else is in here, Jacob asks, this time making out a noise. Arnold, another says. Mark then lets everyone else know that they're the only ones who are alive, or not alive. It's confusing and Jacob can't keep his mind straight, but then another voice enters... Aaron?

The voice comes from a crow circling overhead. The voice promised something, help. But not their help, they would help the victim learn to help themselves. But it asked for an oath from the four scarecrows. One they all accepted with glee.

Killer Perks:

Frighten: They are friends, and here to help.

• Survivors who startle crows outside of the terror radius become afflicted with the oblivious status effect for 20 seconds.
• While survivors are afflicted with the oblivious status effect, startling crows cause them to scream, revealing their position for 3 seconds. Survivors who scream while this perk is active cannot be afflicted with the oblivious status effect for 60 | 50 | 40 seconds, if the survivor is asleep, they will wake up.

Caw Caw: many expect their presence. Some will fear them, others will adore them.

• Crows will reveal the aura of anyone who startled them to everyone in the trial for 2 | 3 | 4 seconds.

Aware: You will always be aware, no matter the circumstance.

• When a survivor makes a quick vault, they will obtain a crow above them, this crow will disappear 80% | 60% | 40% faster than a normal crow build-up.
• Survivors who gain idle crows reveal their auras to you, or the aura of the locker.

Killer Power: Shambling Allies

New Power: Possession

10 Scarecrows are summoned at the beginning of the trial. When Scarecrow spawns, they will be in Spirit Form, unable to see survivors, scratch marks, or pools of blood, and have the deafened status effect, but able to move at 6 m/s. When the Scarecrow approaches an idle scarecrow in Spirit Form, they can possess it by interacting with it. Pressing and holding down the secondary power button will pull the Scarecrow from the body, allowing them to reenter Spirit Form.

New Ability: Shaping

Pressing and holding the primary button on a pallet or vault location will have the Scarecrow return to the spirit world as the body shapes itself to block the said location. Survivors can break Shaped scarecrows to destroy them, but this takes some time(7 seconds, broken scarecrows will return in a randomized position on the map, further than 24 meters from hooks/other shaped scarecrows.)

Killer Add-ons

Common

Rusted Nail: A rusty nail that was used to Kill Hershel's first victim, the death was not immediate.

• Injured survivors who break Shaped Scarecrows are afflicted with the mangled status effect.

Pizza Box: A box of pizza Hershel ate after killing his competition from the market, a relaxing meal for a grim action.

• Decreases the number of scarecrows in the trial by 6. Gives a 100% blood point bonus for the Deviousness category.

Rotted Potato: The rotted potato is from Mark's last box of produce before Hershel asked to meet with him.

• Leaving a possessed body is shortened by 30%

Pulled Tooth: A trophy obtained by the Farmer's cruel methods.

• When possessing an idle scarecrow, all idle scarecrows will begin to twitch for 5 seconds.

Uncommon

Dog Tombstone: A tombstone for a dog named Henry, a close friend of Rachel.

• When a survivor loses a health state, leaving a possessed body within 30 seconds grants the afflicted survivor the mangled status effect for 30 seconds. This can only activate every 60 seconds.

Donated Hair: Long brown hair donated by Hershel to a cancer charity.

• Putting the obsession into the dying state shows the auras of all other survivors who are within 8 meters of an idle scarecrow.

Legal Document: The document states a court case between Rachel P. Rivers and Hershel K. Winters on animal cruelty. Ms. Rivers did not show up to court.

• Survivors within 20 meters of an idle scarecrow are afflicted with the oblivious status effect while within the range and 3 seconds after leaving it.

Empty Syringe: A syringe that was used to hold a liquidated depressant, the dog used in the experiment died due to an overdose of the substance.

• Survivors within 32 meters of your position while in Spirit Form suffer from the hindered status effect and 5 seconds after.

Stripped Screw: A stripped screw that wasn't fully embedded into the girl's arm enough to hold her onto the post.

• Increases the time for survivors to break idle/shaped scarecrows by 15%

Rare

Sneaker: A lost shoe found at the crime scene of a missing student, Arnold Hemingway.

• Possessing an idle scarecrow grants a 10% movement speed bonus for 5 seconds

News Article: A news article warning of a new serial killer, nicknamed the Specter.

• Spirit Form movement speed increased by 20%

School Computer: A computer Hershel had to throw away, due to not knowing the password and lack of internet.

• Placing a survivor into the dying state within 8 meters of a Shaped Scarecrow will give them blindness for 45 seconds.

Broken Doorknob: A doorknob one of Hershel's victims broke off whilst attempting to escape.

• Shaping time is decreased by 25%

Bent Nails: A group of nails that had bent due to a victim's resistance against The Farmer.

• Survivors who break Shaped Scarecrows are given the exhausted status effect for 25 seconds

Very Rare

Hammer: A hammer used to kill a small group of high schoolers.

• When possessing an idle scarecrow, survivors within 24 meters will scream, revealing their position for 3 seconds.

School Jacket: a high school jacket used to make a student proud of where they came from.

• All idle scarecrows have a 16-meter terror radius, this terror radius is affected by perks

Pocket Knife: A pocket knife Jacob was given a few years before quitting boy scouts, he still used it from time to time.

• Survivors who are within 8 meters of your position while in Spirit Form suffer from the exposed status effect for 30 seconds, only one survivor can be affected at a time.

Victim's Picture: The last picture taken of the victim by Hershel, a trophy for his age.

• Possessing a new body increases all action speeds by 15% for 25 seconds

Iridescent

Glass Crow: A formation of a glass crow, a reminder to the Scarecrows of who their friends are.

• Survivors who startle crows within 24 meters of an idle scarecrow reveal their auras to you for 5 seconds

Deceased Body: The last victim of The Farmer's killing spree, luckily this soul was freed.

• Shaping time is decreased by 45%

Killer Attire:

Weapon: Gift - A gifted hook connected to a chain and the Scarecrow's arm

Head: Jacob - The face of a highschooler who just wanted to help other people

Body: The Post - A dangling body of one of Hershel's victims, extremely decayed and rotting, but alive.

Killer Blighted Form:

Weapon: Salvaged Veins - A series of hardened veins molded to be a weapon to inflict more pain than the wielder is feeling

Head: Corroded - The face of an experiment, the bulbous formations making the subject completely unrecognizable

Body: Husk - The pores of the body are welting, the bubbles on the heart acting as muscles

The Farmer: Living Corpses

Tome 1 - While in a chase with a Survivor, enter Spirit Form and possess an Idle Scarecrow in 15 seconds. Do this 4 times. Complete this challenge within a single trial.

Herschel stands back from his competitor’s body as it continues to twitch and squirm. He begins to laugh, finally, he’s done for. But what about the body? Eh, who cares? This is a time to celebrate. Hershel takes Mark’s wallet as the man’s eyes still dart around. He turns on his phone and orders himself a pizza, he feels like he should be congratulating himself for this huge success.

Once done, he hangs up the phone and looks at his competitor. No, his victim. The thought makes him smile even more. How could this day get any better? Hershel knew that the blood would need to be wiped away, as well as disposing of the body. But he didn’t like that last thought, he wanted to keep Mark close, very close.

Tome 2 - Shape scarecrows to block 4 pallets or windows. Complete this challenge within a single trial.

Hershel swears he sees Mark squirm as he sets the post in place, but he must be crazy, he must be. The post stands tall, about eight feet in height, in the center of his field, and the body of his victim seems to stare at him. Hershel stands to Mark’s right, and the head looks down at him. As if he’s being condemned.

Hershel scoffs and goes to the farmhouse, in search of a large enough sheet to cover the man. Bringing it out, Hershel stands to the left of the victim, feeling unsettled about being stared at. But when he went to throw it over the post, Mark’s head was turned to him. Hershel was sure he was seeing things, the human mind guilting him somehow. 

But to be sure, Hershel grabbed his victim’s head and knew it was cold to the touch. The outstretched arms caused the skin to pull apart, and there definitely wasn’t any blood gushing. Mark was dead, and Hershel knew it. Or did he?

Tome 3 - Reveal the auras of 4 unique Survivors while Caw Caw is equipped. Complete this challenge within a single trial.

While at the market, Hershel was selling big, with a smile on his face. His brother and sister-in-law were so happy for him, as well as his nephew. He couldn’t imagine his life getting any better. But then some girl came around the market with her dumb dog, leaving slobber and saliva on all of his products. Usually, he would lash out, and yell at the girl and her dog, but he kept his cool and didn’t mention anything.

The next day Hershel confronted the girl at the entrance to the market, telling her the problems he was having with her dog. She apologized and Hershel offered to watch her dog while she shopped inside. The girl was grateful and agreed. She turned and left for her groceries, promising to be back quickly so as to not waste Hershel’s time.

But Hershel pulled a syringe from his back pocket. It was a double dose of sedatives he’d gotten from his brother who works at the psych ward. Hershel had deceived him into thinking he was trying to make a new repellent for invasive bugs. 

Without so much as a second, Hershel takes the dog down to the alley, where the slobber dragged along the concrete. Hershel stabs it in the neck, injecting the full thing into the dog’s bloodstream. The dog shakes Hershel off and begins barking loudly, then stops and falls over. Hershel leaves the dog, returning to his shop. He’d know if it lived or not when the girl would confront him about it. 

He could deny any wrongdoing, saying he showed up late to work, as he often does, and had no idea the girl even had a dog. It all panned out great in his favor. And he smiled.

Tome 4 - Chase Survivors for 30 seconds when within 16 meters of a Shaped Scarecrow. Complete this challenge within a single trial.

Hershel finishes cutting Rachel’s hair down to her scalp. Please, I won’t say anything, just let me go. The girl pleads and begs, but after what she did, Hershel would not have it. You tried taking me to court over that stupid dog?

Rachel was already nailed and screwed onto the post, her arms stretched out so far, Hershel heard bones break. She broke down in tears, scared for her life. Perhaps, you could be something useful. Hershel talks as he puts the girl’s hair into a plastic bag, and stores it away for later. Grabbing a carpenter’s hammer, he hits Rachel over the head with it, cracking the skull and breaking her neck.

She didn’t have to die, Hershel knew that. She chose to die, if she had simply thrown that dog away, none of this would have had to happen. But no, she had to try bringing him to court. What a waste.

Tome 5 - While in a chase with a Survivor, enter Spirit Form, possess a different Scarecrow, and injure them within 30 seconds. Do this 2 times. Complete this challenge within a single trial.

He walks by his scarecrows, their sheets billowing in the wind. He held Rachel in the cornfields and Mark in the potato patch. He often visited his old competitor to brag and gloat about his superior techniques. But today was different. Upon coming to look at his work, there was a poster at the base of Rachel’s post. He looks up at her dead body, with the corpse merely looking down.

Hershel snatches the poster from the ground, it’s a missing poster. Signed by a bunch of people he didn’t know. They were looking for Rachel, and the poster ended up here. Whoever was looking for her, they were looking close by. How would he get them off his trail?

Within the next week, he left his part of the market empty, claiming a vacation. He began driving around town, seeing several young teenagers putting up posters for Rachel, wasting their time. He then found a boy all on his own. He’s small and skinny, and easy to take care of. The boy has an armful of posters and a stapler in the other.

Hershel rolls down the window to his truck to speak to the boy. Need some help, feller? The boy turns around, and smiles, unaware of what’s going to happen. Certainly sir. Hershel steps out from his truck with a hammer in hand. The boy turns away, and Hershel seizes the moment, striking him hard on the back of the head. 

The boy falls but doesn’t completely black out, as Hershel wrestles him into the truck.

Tome 6 - Make Survivors scream 6 times while using the perk Frighten. Complete this challenge within a single trial.

Hershel scoffs at the boy as he drags him back to the shack. You don’t get to run from me, ya hear? The claw of the hammer is embedded into the boy’s ankle as he whines in pain. Upon getting inside, Hershel slams the door shut, throwing the doorknob to the floor. Stupid kid, now I got no choice.

Hershel lifts the boy onto the table as he begs for his life. The hammer is torn from the boy’s leg and slammed into his palm, keeping him in place. Hershel picks up a post from the side of the shack and throws it onto the table, then maneuvers the kid into a promising position.

Hershel then makes a cross with the thick pole he used to keep the scarecrow’s arms from drooping, and prepares the boy’s left arm. I’m gonna make it hurt, boy! Hershel holds a nail up to the wrist and pulls the hammer out from the kid’s hand. He hammers the nail in, shattering the bone in two hard swings.

When he looks at the kid, Hershel smiles, then frowns. The boy had fallen unconscious due to the pain. Pitiful can’t even handle a proper punishment.

Tome 7 - Injure 4 unique Survivors who have crows overhead while using the perk Aware. Complete this challenge within a single trial.

The plan worked, just as he suspected. The kids putting up posters stopped coming around his farm, and started police investigations far from where he usually goes. And now, he’s in the newspaper, what an honor. Hershel cuts out his part of the paper and puts it up next to the other trophies he has on his office wall.

Giving a sigh of relief, Hershel sits down in a comfortable chair, shutting his eyes. It would be two days until he should return to the market, so he’ll take them easy. 

That is until a flicker from outside catches his attention. He turns to look out the window and sees a group of boys lighting off firecrackers in his potato field. Mark! If they see him- No, he wouldn’t let them out. Hershel walks out the back with a hammer in hand, ready to knock some sense into those boys.

Tome 8 - Shape Scarecrows to block 10 pallets or windows. Complete this challenge within a single trial.

Hershel had tied ropes around the boys, knowing they would have too much time to escape if he gave it to them. So he worked fast. The first two boys he worked on were already dead before he got them on the post. But the third, the third one gargled on his own blood, a horrible fate, but who cares? 

Suddenly, Hershel was blinded. He wiped his eyes and saw that this boy had more blood on his lips. The boy tries to spit on Hershel again, but a strike to the leg simply spills it from his mouth. Hershel worked diligently but looking back, he could see that the last kid had already passed, the grey skin was a fairly good indicator.

You’re the last one breathin', know that? The boy showed no change, even when his arms were being nailed down. It’s almost like his face had frozen, because he certainly still squirmed. Once done, Hershel made sure to cut open the stomach and take pictures. These boys were young and strong, how couldn’t he revel in this, especially as an old man?

Tome 9 - Using the perks Frighten, Caw Caw, and Aware, kill 4 Survivors by any means. Complete this challenge within a single trial.

Hannah cried in the ropes she was held in, a sound that made Hershel chuckle. He had gotten this one from the market, some mother who thought her son was an absolute angel, just because he was paralyzed. Nothing’s perfect, not in this world. He turned to her, the open wounds on her arms.

Please, Hershel, I know you, you aren’t like this. Again, the farmer laughs. Oh, you have no idea how crazy I am. Who do you think took those kids? And what happened to them after, oh yeah, I’m definitely losing my mind. But that’s what’s so good about it, it feels… how do I say this, liberating to be insane. I’ve watched those scarecrows in my fields, they move, I swear they move, but they can’t, ‘cause they’re dead!

The woman begins to cry as Hershel whistles a melody to himself. But something sets him on edge. He stops whistling, but all he can hear are the woman’s cries. Shut up… I SAID SHUT UP! Hershel takes his hammer and smashes it against the woman’s head, killing her instantly. Then he heard the noise.

The groan of wood and nails fills the quiet shack. The sunlight above gets blocked out by something crawling on the roof. Then it stops, just as quickly as it came.

Tome 10 - Kill 3 Survivors while playing as The Scarecrow. Complete this challenge within a single trial.

Hershel rushes out from the shack, turning around. Expecting to see some beast or even a dragon. But nothing. There was nothing there. His heart beats loudly in his ears, was he scared? Yes, he was terrified! But why? What was he afraid of, nothing? 

He decides it’s just him overworking himself and needs some rest. He walks over to the house and sees a scarecrow out of place. The sight freezes him in place, how did it move? 

The head lifts up and the dead eyes stare into his own. The crack of sticks fills his ears, looking around him, he finds that he’s surrounded. Surrounded by four corpses on posts. With a series of crows cawing above, the Scarecrows attacked.

New Survivor: Ian Winters

The winter was something he's always hated, despite the name Ian adored the hot summer. But his uncle had called his dad and just hung up for no reason. Now, he's here to find out why, did the electricity go out? It's likely, and luckily he didn't see any of the power lines broken, so it shouldn't be too bad. Ian puts on a third jacket and gets out of his sedan, the rough wind almost blowing him off his feet.

Ian hurries over to his uncle's farmhouse, noting that the lights were on. So, not an electricity problem. Ian goes up to the front door and knocks, the door opens without someone on the other side. Was it left open? Ian closes the door behind him and calls out to his uncle but with no reply. The inside is warm, really warm, Ian's grateful and hopes that he can stay a while.

While walking through the house, Ian finds one of his uncle's scarecrows out on the table. The head was wrapped up, something his uncle taught him when he visited. Wrap a melon in cloth to make it look like an actual head. But now he's brought it too far, there are rat guts in the torso, and the smell is horrible. Jacob leaves the room and continues to look for his uncle.

Ian wanders into an office, the walls are filled with newspaper clippings and pictures. What is he now, a detective? Ian takes off one of the pictures labeled missing and sees Rachel, one of his friend's dates. Is he looking for these guys? Ian almost feels sorry for his uncle, he already has a lot of responsibility, but- wait a minute. Ian finds another picture, this one... it's Jacob.

Ian takes the picture and examines it, no no no, Jacob couldn't... wait... this is too close. Jacob's body is mutilated, the camera got up and close to the organs. Ian wants to look away, but he can't. But then something else strikes him, the body is displayed upright with the arms held out... like a scarecrow. Those weren't rat guts.

Ian looks out a window and sees a scarecrow staring back at him. This time, he can see the face. Jacob...

Survivor Perks:

Hard Working: Put your back into it.

• Gain a 100% bonus speed to repairing, healing, cleansing, blessing, and killer objective speeds after escaping a chase for 3 | 4 | 5 seconds

Buddy: Oh come on, we're buddies, aren't we?

• After healing or being healed by a survivor, you and that survivor share all aura reading abilities while within 14 meters for 30 | 45 | 60 seconds

Been Through Worse: Don't worry, I'll be fine. What, I've been through worse.

• You start the trial with 0 tokens up to a maximum of 5 tokens. When you lose a health state by any means, you get a 3% | 6% | 9% speed increase to healing other survivors and other survivors healing you.