Event Tome 1 - The Midnight Grove

Event Tome 1 - The Midnight Grove was a special Event Tome that accompanied the The Midnight Grove Halloween Event and released on 21 October 2021.
It closed after the Event concluded on 11 November 2021.

Overview[]

It marked the first Event Tome in Dead by Daylight and only featured 2 Tome Levels.
It was the only Event Tome to feature a Character, namely Mikaela Reid.

Event Tomes are only accessible during their associated Event and are not added to the Compendium afterwards.

Stories, Logs, and Notes[]

Stories from the Witch Café[]

Tiny Awful Things[]

Stories from the Witch Café. The Forever Horror.

Welcome one, welcome all, to the Moonstone! Please enjoy today's special, Pumpkin Ghoul Pie with, may I suggest, a cup of Franken Spice Coffee while I do my best to entertain you with tonight's story. This one comes from a challenge I received from friends to tell a scary story that could go on forever. I'm not sure if it's as scary as it's gross, but it's certainly fitting for Halloween and it takes place in Medieval, Europe. I call this one, Tiny Awful Things, but my friends are telling me I should probably call it, The Forever Horror. Have a listen and let's discuss afterwards.

There was no doubt: Lucian was a coward. He was strong and clever and fast, but a coward, nevertheless. That's what made being drafted into the king's army and marched into battle all the worse. Not wanting to put himself in harm's way, Lucian thought of a clever plan to avoid injury or even death.

As soon as the horns blared and the infantry charged into the fray, Lucian executed his cowardly plan. He let loose a war-cry like none other, rushed forward with his sword raised, then, when no one was looking, when he heard the clash of iron and the agonising screams of dying soldiers, he made himself tumble to the ground where he played dead and hoped for the best.

Lucian was so scared that despite the stink of rotting humanity he kept his eyes closed for several days until he felt someone or something tapping his shoulder. When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring up at a man in dark robes, holding a bloody scythe.

Lucian was staring at Death.

Or, at least, that's what he thought.

Actually, it wasn't Death at all, but a lower dimensional demon making the rounds, making mischief, pretending to be Death, looking for someone, anyone, to torment. And if you know anything about lower dimensional demons you know that they absolutely delight in tormenting cowards—cowards and narcissists.

And so, this lower dimensional demon stared at Lucian with glowing red eyes and told him his time had come and asked if he had any last requests. Lucian, of course, extended a trembling hand and begged for his life. As the demon laughed and shook its ugly head, a thought came to Lucian, and he quickly begged for one last meal.

The demon stepped back, smiled, and said he would entertain his last request. He told him he would allow him to live for as much time it would take for him to fill his belly with whatever he could find on this battlefield… no… not battlefield… buffet… this buffet of death.

Lucian didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to eat. He wasn't a cannibal, and he certainly didn't want to commit any kind of sin before dying. He was about to surrender to his fate when he felt something squirm by his hand. He looked down and that's when he saw the… tiny, awful things… squirming out of the bloated belly of a corpse… falling on his hand.

Desperate, Lucian did the unthinkable. With a miserable sigh, he plunged his hand into the rotting belly, felt around the stinking, oozing innards and soon pulled out a dangling white maggot.

Swallowing a thickness in his throat, he held the tiny, awful thing up in the moonlight, then opened his mouth and let the maggot plop onto his tongue.

The demon winced in disgust, laughed in disbelief, then said some words in a strange, unknown language.

Lucian didn't understand any of it, but he thought he might have been cursed as he strangely began to feel a great insatiable hunger for maggots. More than this, he even began savouring them as one might savour a fine wine or coffee, enjoying, to his disbelief, the aftertaste.

I guess we can say that as a coffee bean soaks up the essence of the tree and land it grows upon, a maggot soaks up the essence of the corpse it feeds upon.

The demon smiled at Lucian as he desperately tried to delay the inevitable. When Lucian finally finished savouring the maggot, the demon told him his time was up.

But Lucian shook his head and said his belly wasn't full yet. Then he approached a corpse that had been crushed by a club. Blood and gore spilled out of the eye sockets like spaghetti and meatballs. And there in the spaghetti and meatballs tiny, awful things squirmed. Lucian plucked another maggot and plopped it onto his greedy, salivating, tongue.

Robust. Earthy. Slimy. A velvety maggot that bursts with herbal notes and soothes with its fresh and bold character.

The demon smiled at the coward and said his time was up.

But Lucian shook his head and said his belly wasn't full yet. Then he approached a corpse that had been diced into small pieces by an ax. Chunks of bone and intestine festered in pools of blood like stew. And there in the stew tiny, awful things squirmed. Lucian plucked another maggot and plopped it onto his tongue.

Bold, yet fruity. Chewy. A sweet maggot with delicate hints of citrus.

The demon smiled at the coward and said his time was up.

Lucian shook his head and said his belly wasn't full yet. Then he approached a corpse that had been trampled by horses and marching soldiers. Pieces of skull and brain fermented in bile and blood like a delicious dipping sauce for veggies. And there in the dipping sauce tiny, awful things squirmed. Lucian plucked another maggot and plopped it onto his tongue.

Herbal. Intense. Mushy. A full-bodied maggot rich in flavour.

The demon smiled at the coward and said his time was up… and as you can imagine the story goes on and on cause the demon enjoyed watching this coward grovel like a maggot for his life. And since it goes on and on, I would appreciate some help telling it… at least until we run out of tiny, awful things.

Please pass this bowl of putrid guts and gore around the Moonstone. I invite you to reach inside and choose a tiny, awful thing to savour.

Please feel free to describe its flavours and let's not spare any gory, juicy, mushy details.

Okay, okay. I confess... They aren't real maggots, but slimy, sugary things soaking in warm brandy and pumpkin guts… but let's stick our hands in anyway and have a little fun to help us get into the spirit of Halloween.

The Bell from Hell[]

Stories from the Witch Café. The Bell from Hell.

Welcome one, welcome all, to the only place in town to get a story and a coffee. I can tell you where the coffee comes from, but please don't ask me where the stories and characters come from cause I basically have no clue. Some say it's the aroma of freshly brewed coffee that inspires me. Others say I'm able to tap into the endless memory streams pouring out of the infinite kettle that is the multiverse. I think it's a little bit of both. This one comes from the grains I observed at the bottom of my espresso cup a few days ago. It kind of resembled a bell… and so I'm calling this one… The Bell from Hell.

Toby and his sister Tina were always up to no good, and this time they snuck into the old, overgrown junkyard that many claimed was haunted. Despite the rumours, the teens played in the rusty wrecks, honking horns, kicking windshields, and, of course, scaring each other to hell.

"It's fun here!" Toby said.

"It is!" Tina agreed.

As the night wore on Toby hid in the trunk of an old sedan with the intention of scaring his sister. But Tina followed a trail he unwittingly left and—

RRRAAH!

Scared him instead!

Toby cursed, and Tina ran off promising she would get him, again. She quickly rushed to the old compactor and hid in a half-squashed station wagon filled with a strange, black fog. That's odd, she thought, and didn't think any more of it.

But she probably should have thought a little more of it since strange, black fog isn't exactly an omen as you know from my previous stories. Anyhow, Tina waited patiently in the backseat. When an hour passed, she began to worry. Slowly, she craned her head to peak out the window when—

RRRAAH!

Toby slammed the station!

Tina nearly jumped out of her skin, hitting her head against the ceiling of the half-crumpled car. Toby couldn't help but laugh, and as he laughed, he looked down into the churning, black fog and saw—

A bell.

A strange-looking, iron bell unlike any bell he had ever seen before.

"Will you look at this," he said, holding up the bell, examining the craftsmanship. Then he grabbed a stick from the ground and clanged the bell stupidly.

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

The ominous ring echoed through the abandoned junkyard as the black fog thickened and swirled around them. But before they could say anything about the strange fog—

The compactor came to life!

WHIRRRRRR!

Tina felt her heart fall into the pit of her stomach, and she screamed in horror!

Toby dropped the bell, grabbed her hands and yanked her out just in time. Breathlessly, they watched the station wagon as it creaked and groaned and shattered into scrap.

There was a long, tense silence as they wondered what had given sudden power to the otherwise rusted and broken compactor. Just then, the bell rang, again. This time behind them. Tina exchanged a look with Toby and swallowed a growing thickness in her throat. They turned slowly to face—

Nothing.

Absolutely, nothing.

Nothing but the swirling fog.

It was probably just their imaginations.

Or was it...

For just as they released a collective sigh, the bell rang once again, and something suddenly materialised out of the fog. Within moments, they were face to face with a—

Wraith!

The Wraith instantly grabbed Toby by the neck with one arm and lifted him high in the silvery moonlight, his feet dangling, his arms flailing, his lips quivering with fear.

Tina gasped and stumbled back to her haunches. The Wraith smashed Toby against the ground with a powerful thud. He raised a rusted, wheel wrench and proceeded to bludgeon his head to scrap, blood and gore splattering everywhere.

Then the Wraith turned to face Tina with his creepy bell and dead eyes. Covered in her brother's warm blood, Tina screamed until her lungs gave out and waited... for the bell to toll.

Now what the siblings didn't realise was that they had entered a kind of dimensional pocket that had brought them to another world. See, there are these pockets or holes in the world that lead to all kinds of dark places… places that defy reality… dark places that make all our combined depictions of hell seem like a flower garden. But that's another story for another dark and creepy night. Let's just say that for Toby and Tina death was not an escape.

Wrath of the Killer Pumpkins[]

Stories from the Witch Café. Wrath of the Killer Pumpkins.

Welcome one, welcome all, to the Moonstone Café! Tonight, seeing as we just made a batch of Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake to go with our famous Halloween Latte, I thought a story about pumpkins might be fitting. This story was told long ago in a village that once stood very close to where we all stand now, and I call this one, Wrath of the Killer Pumpkins.

The widow's name was Ulla and more than anything she wanted to win the annual pumpkin festival. Not just for the prize money, but to impress her six-year-old daughter, Rebecca, who loved everything about pumpkins. Their texture. Their shape. Their colour. Their smell. Everything.

But Ulla's pumpkins were nothing compared to her neighbour's pumpkins. Her neighbour Mona won the pumpkin festival every year, and she seemed to have a secret for growing perfect pumpkins.

That's not to say, Ulla's pumpkins were bad. They weren't. They just weren't very special. At best, they had been described by the great pumpkin judges as average. Average height. Average width. Average colour. Average smell. Average.

And average didn't win awards.

Well, not wanting to be average anymore, Ulla decided she needed to know Mona's secret. So, one morning she waited until Mona left for the market, and when she knew the coast was clear, she did the unthinkable. She snuck into her house.

To Ulla's amazement the kitchen was filled with glass jars containing pumpkin seeds of every variety. Each jar had a label that included a name, instructions, and some very peculiar symbols.

Reading the labels, Ulla felt a cold shiver run through her body. She couldn't make sense of the names or symbols and for a moment, just a moment, she suspected witchcraft.

Part of her wanted to run, but the other part — the part that hated to lose — wanted a little help, a little boost, a fighting chance to win the festival and make her daughter proud.

Ignoring her better instinct to run, Ulla found a jar labelled: Mortafykuss Cucurruss. She scrutinised the label and read that these seeds would produce the biggest and brightest pumpkins but that they were still quite unstable. The seeds were unstable. Ulla winced, and she had no idea what that meant or how pumpkin seeds could be unstable. She continued to read a warning—

No blood. Especially at night.

She laughed out loud. Who in their right mind would feed a plant blood? Who would heed such a warning? And for a moment she really thought that maybe, just maybe, Mona was a witch, a powerful witch who could defy nature and modify and mutate seeds.

Despite the creepy warnings, Ulla borrowed one seed — just one — from the Mortafykuss Cucurruss jar, convincing herself that she would give Mona back a seed from her winning pumpkin. With that promise, she convinced herself she wasn't stealing, and she quickly returned to her small, humble farm.

No sooner did Ulla return home than she planted the seed in her garden. To her amazement there was a visible pumpkin growing the very next day, and every day after that more pumpkins appeared linked to a thorny, green vine unlike anything she had ever seen before.

Well, to be sure, Rebecca jumped up and down with joy at the sight of the massive pumpkins. She couldn't stop hugging and measuring and sniffing the pumpkins.

When the time came, Ulla told Rebecca to choose a pumpkin for the festival, and as she selected the choicest pumpkin from the patch, she got so excited that she tumbled into the thick, green vines and cut herself against the thorns. The vines and pumpkins trembled momentarily with sudden life.

Ulla dismissed the sudden movement as the wind and proceeded to dress her daughter's wounds. Then she placed the chosen pumpkin on a wheelbarrow and pushed it to the market to face the judges of the great, big pumpkin festival.

It didn't take long to declare Ulla the winner. And Rebecca jumped up and down, and she screamed and celebrated that they had finally won the festival.

Ulla revelled in her daughter's joy and felt a great surge of pride.

But that joy was short-lived when Mona suddenly emerged from the crowd admiring the winning pumpkin and sniffing it as though searching for a signature scent. A tell-tale. Proof that Ulla had stolen one of her seeds. Then she put her ear to the pumpkin and locked eyes with Ulla. For a moment, it seemed as though she wanted to say something. But then, Mona smiled, gave the pumpkin a gentle caress, and walked away.

Ulla watched Mona until she disappeared, and she told herself she would gut her winning pumpkin and return a seed back to Mona just as soon as she returned home.

And so, with exhausted arms, Ulla wheelbarrowed her pumpkin down the dirt road with her daughter singing and skipping behind her in the moonlight. Caught up in the euphoria of winning, Ulla tried to skip with her daughter, but she missed a beat and twisted her foot on a stone.

Ulla stumbled forward, lost control of the wheelbarrow and the great, big pumpkin tumbled out, smashing against a massive stone.

Suddenly, mother and daughter froze in terror!

Thick, orange liquid like blood poured out of the busted pumpkin. Through the cracks they could see something moving... something... breathing...

Ulla approached the pumpkin slowly. She hesitated, then placed her fingers in the pulpy crack and pulled and pulled and—

WHAAAAH!

A pumpkin baby burst out!

And attached itself to her face!

Pulp dripping down her face and back, Ulla ripped the pumpkin baby off her face and smashed it repeatedly against the ground as it wailed and screamed and finally died. Then she dropped the limp, pulpy corpse in the grass and watched it melt into a thick, orange puddle of steaming, pumpkin puss.

Ulla grabbed her daughter by the hand and rushed home. But when they reached home… the whole farm had been overrun by gigantic, bright orange pumpkins and thick vines with thorns like knives.

Wanting to burn the pumpkin patch down, Ulla held her daughter close, and she led her to the shed as the vines trembled, slithered and brushed by their feet. Then, all at once, the vines coiled around their ankles and—

WHAAAAP!

Mother and daughter hit the ground as throbbing vines wrapped around them like hungry snakes.

Ulla stared in horror as massive pumpkins seemed to suddenly hatch like giant orange eggs in the moonlight. From those pumpkins came creatures staggering on two legs with long, clumsy vines for arms.

And as these killer pumpkins closed in on Ulla, she noticed they had orange and green skin and thick thorns for feet, and... the faces… they... resembled... her daughter.

Before she could make sense of what she was seeing, an evil vine coiled around her neck and head and thirsty thorns pierced her skin and gorged on her blood as hundreds of new-born pumpkin monsters wailed at the moon and a cold darkness swept over her.

As for the younglings… they grew and multiplied and went on a murderous rampage throughout the town. But, rest assured, they were finally stopped by a few good witches with some pretty powerful spells. But that's another story for another dark and creepy night. Let's just agree that we shouldn't mess around with pumpkin seeds and that we prefer to eat our pumpkins than be eaten by them.

Challenges[]

Level 1[]

Survivor Challenges[]

The Last Place You Look: Unlock 2 Chests.
Tangled Triumph: Finish repairing 2 Tangled Generators.
Reid's Spree: Escape 1 Trial as Mikaela Reid.
Max Dexterity: Get a Great result on 4 Skill Checks.
Generosity: Heal a total of 2 Health States of other Survivors.

Killer Challenges[]

Bloody Good: Hit a Survivor with your Weapon 13 times.
Terrified: Make the Survivors scream 13 times.
Halloween Hook: Hook 3 Survivors on Tangled Hooks.
Reverent: Sacrifice 4 Survivors to The Entity.
Scrap Yard: Damage 5 Generators.

General Challenges[]

Squash!: Smash 4 Pumpkins.
Bloody Rewards: Earn 50,000 Bloodpoints.