DBD Chapter Idea : Eldritch Horror
Killer:
The Maw Below
Difficulty: Hard
Height: Tall (huge)
Terror radius 50-60 meters
Origin: Realm Of Mortal Envy
Speed 4.2 M/s
Weapon: Tendrils and beak
Name: ☼ Ael’Miraethrah (pronounced: AYE-el-MEE-ray-eth-rah)
Power:
Womb Of Torture: This is a passive ability. The survivors in the trial are subjected to the horrors of true envy and hunger; they see the hallucinations of the Maw charging at them, The Maw Below's terror radius is an infectious virus, the longer a survivor stays in it, the more they gain Akrasia the more they have the more they will move toward The Maw Below, when in the terror radius of The Maw Below Survivors hearbeats will begin to become unrecognizable and will hear a deep bellow from below. Survivors who try and work in the terror radius will be affected. Every 5 seconds, a survivor is doing an action in the terror radius, a skill check that is upside-down and shaking will appear. If they fail, they will become Lured by the Maw, they will walk toward the Maw's inner terror radius for 5 seconds. This will stop if they begin running or are attacked. (Survivors cannot see if their Akrasia is going up.)
Akrasia: If the Akrasia meter is full, the survivor will be slowed down on all action speeds by 30%, generator progression will slow by 35%, skill checks will appear faster and have a smaller success zone. As akrasia meters fill, the survivors will randomly gain exhaustion status effect every 15 seconds till the meter fills fully, then they will have a hinder status effect till the meter goes down. Akrasia, as it fills can cause the survivor to drop items and slam pallets against their own will. Akrasia takes 45 seconds to fill if exposed in the terror radius. Survivors will be alerted to it filling with a visual cue (the screen will become dark by just a tiny bit, then sharp teeth will slowly appear in the corners). Akrasia takes 30 seconds to deplete after being out of the terror radius for 5 seconds or seeking out the Maws Light, a ball hidden around the map that will drain the Akrasia in 10 seconds. The Akrasia meter does not go up around a hooked survivor; it will drain, taking 50 seconds.
Tectonic Abyss: . Button 1: Activate Power
The Maw Below burrows beneath the surface, tunnelling beneath pallets, vaults, and dropped windows. While burrowed, The Maw moves at 4.5 m/s and is immune to stuns. It cannot see survivors but instead detects footfalls, scratch marks, and terrain through echolocation.
Survivors standing on disturbed ground are affected by Akrasia 20% faster(36 seconds). Survivors at 50% Akrasia emit a faint aura within 10 meters of the Maw.
While burrowed, The Maw can use one of two attacks:
Two attacks can be activated/chosen. The Maw will stay burrowed for 60 seconds. (While charging, this attack will lose 30% faster = 42 seconds.)
Tendril Flay: Button 2 (While Burrowed): Activate Tendril Flay
After 1.5 seconds, The Maw erupts in a violent radial attack up to 20 meters. Tendrils thrash wildly, injuring all survivors in line of sight and breaking pallets and doors.
Blocked by walls. (A visual cue will happen; tendrils will come out of the ground in the radius.) Ends the burrow.
Cooldown: 15 seconds.
Breaking Beak: Hold Button 2 (While Burrowed): Activate Breaking Beak
The Maw aims in a 12-meter cone, alerting survivors with a distinct audio cue. After 1 second, The Maw bursts forward with its beak.
Survivors within 6 meters are downed instantly. Others in the cone are injured, thrown back, and afflicted with Hindered.
Ends the burrow.
Cooldown: 25 seconds.
If either attack misses, The Maw lashes out in frustration. Survivors within 30 meters are deafened and disoriented. The survivor will not be able to read auras for 6 seconds, suffering audio distortion and a “broken” screen.
Both attacks enter cooldown for 50 seconds.
Perks:
Broodbound Hunger:
When a survivor becomes injured by any means, another random healthy survivor within 32 meters becomes Oblivious for 20 seconds.
If the injured survivor is downed within 12 seconds of the first injury, the second survivor becomes exposed for 16 seconds.
Cooldown: 40 seconds.
<“Even when you do not feast, your children do.”-Ael’Miraethrah>
Forbidden Nurture:
(Protecting them won't work, for I am meant to)
When a survivor takes a protection hit, they are put into the broken state for 40/50/60 seconds. During this time, any action they do will make them oblivious. If this survivor chooses to heal another survivor, the survivor who was healed will scream and give them the oblivious status effect till the 60 seconds is up. This has a cooldown of 35/30/25 seconds
<” I was once a mother, I know what it is like to lose someone, you will regret preventing me from taking your someone.”- Ael’Miraethrah>
Burden Of Gods:
(Gods can fear too.)
When a generator is completed, it reveals the aura of anyone in a 3/4/5 meter radius around it for 3/4/5 seconds. If any of the revealed survivors interact with a vault or pallet, it will become blocked by the entity for 4/5/6 seconds.
If every generator is completed, all vaults and pallets become locked by doors for 60/65/70 seconds.
Once a door is opened, all survivors will scream and become exposed till the endgame is finished.
<” Your gods fear me, for I devour their creations, I am a burden to them.”-Ael’Miraethrah>
Lore:
The Maw Below is an ancient hunger, an immortal beast locked away from the mortal world for envying the living, for coveting the fragility of mortality. Born from the greed of the Celestial Ancient Ones, it ravaged realities, devouring stars and consuming realms without remorse. It took what it desired. And it never gave anything back; it was a mother, a nurturing soul, that's all she wanted from the mortals.
The creature was sealed in a realm outside time, a void where nothing breathed. A purgatory of gnawing silence, where it relived memories of its ruinous past—universes crumbling, worlds blackened, gods silenced.
Its worshippers, maddened by devotion, tried to call it back. But something stronger than them—than even it—held the beast at bay. Something it could not touch.
Then came the hunger. A hunger so profound it left its nest, abandoning the brood it once guarded. For the first time in eternity, it moved without purpose, called by whispers in an unknowable tongue. They sounded like the Celestials, but older... wrong.
The fog came. Uninvited. Unfamiliar.
When it returned to its nest, it found only shattered shells and gore—and above them, a spidery silhouette of claw and void. A predator. A god.
The Maw attacked. It never stood a chance.
The Entity offered it a deal: an endless hunt in exchange for its overwhelming power. The Maw accepted. It would feed. It would rebuild. It would remember—and one day, it would brood again.
Now it waits beneath the trial grounds, hungering, burrowing, watching. The echo of its call is felt in dreams and deep places. It is no longer forgotten. It is The Maw Below.
☼ Ael’Miraethrah, the one who is never forgotten.
Tome:
☼ The Unspoken Matron, Ael’Miraethrah.
"She is not a god. She is not a beast. She is not a name meant for tongues carved of mortal flesh. She is Ael’Miraethrah—the Matron of Maw, the Womb of Want, the Hungering Below. Her name is sung not in prayers, but in convulsions of fear and need, by those mad enough to remember it."
"The Ancients, in their final breath of divinity, cast her name into the marrow of the world, where it could never rise again. But her brood remembered. Her flesh remembered. And when the stars broke, and the fog wept, she answered not with voice, but with hunger."
Comments
Hi!
I'm really happy to see you're both creatively driven and super excited about your ideas.
I usually love reading unqiue chapter/killer concepts from people and theorising how they'd work in game. However, we're three threads deep at this points. This forum can be pretty slow, so posting multiple threads a day will result in downing out conversation and reducing the recent discussions page pretty much to just your threads.
Post one and let it breathe for a bit before you throw more out there, that way you may see some feedback.
👍️ will do! just got excited! Since I didn't know this existed.
Thanks :) And welcome to the forum.