Underwanderer
The offices never end. And they move.
A shared world of yellow corridors, damp carpet and fluorescent light that changes place when no one is looking. Go down, tear a patch of stable floor out of the maze and last long enough to tell the tale.
A maze that won't hold still
Underwanderer is survival in a persistent, shared world. Four things worth knowing before you go down.
The floor changes place
Every stretch of the maze has its time. When it runs out, it goes somewhere else with everything that was inside. Nothing tells you when.
Open entryYour head wears down
Being alone, whatever prowls nearby and unsecured floor hollow you out. By the end, what you see can't be trusted.
Open entryWhat you anchor is yours
With scrap, cable and patience you can take from the place a piece that doesn't move. That's where a shelter goes up.
Open entryYou are not alone
There are other survivors, and there are things that aren't. Some only watch, some imitate people you know, and one of them smiles in the dark.
Open entryWhat's waiting below
All entitiesNo two behave alike, and telling them apart in time spares you more than one scare.
E-020Level 0Smiler
ModerateA figure of smoke with two eyes and a smile, at the far end of the corridor. It only advances when nobody is looking, and nobody has seen how.
3 sub-entriesSkinstealer
Very highIt imitates a survivor: a believable name, a pose, an object in hand. It lives alongside you as one of your own, it is avoided by looking at it, and it never speaks.
2 sub-entriesChildren
HighSmall silhouettes that move in a pack. Still if you look at them, fast if you turn your back, and their touch stuns.
2 sub-entriesAdult Faceling
HighThe adult faceling, an office worker standing motionless at their post, watching. Its only trace is a floor note.
1 sub-entryProwler, Grille and Stalker
HighThree stalking creatures that make no noise. One charges, one hangs from the ceiling, and the third has barely been seen.
3 sub-entriesHow Creatures Sound
HighAlmost no creature in Level 0 makes a noise, so silence is the warning, and what makes no sound is usually what is closest.
There is always another floor
All levelsLevel 0 is only the way in. Every descent changes the rules.
Level 0: yellow offices
Endless offices of damp carpet and humming fluorescents. Every wanderer wakes here, and nobody leaves by the way they came in.
Level 1: habitable warehouse
Fourteen-meter concrete bays, shelves and pallets under a sparse amber light. Everything that falls down the pits ends up here.
Level 2: service tunnels
Narrow corridors of wet concrete, pipes and machine rooms under a flickering light. The dripping never stops.
Level 4
A fourth level that everyone talks about and nobody describes the same way twice. They say you can only enter through doors and that its rooms change on their own.
Six things you learn too late
How you surviveThey were written down one at a time, nearly always after something went wrong.
Don't trust a corridor you already know
Every chunk has its time. When it runs out it changes place, and the way back stops existing.
What you leave on unstable floor doesn't come back
If the chunk displaces, it takes everything inside with it. Backpack included.
Don't go down alone
Being alone wears sanity down as fast as sharing a room with an entity.
Save the Almond Water
It's the only known thing that gives sanity back. You don't drink it for thirst.
Set down a bed before you wander off
It's where you wake up. Without a bed, you wake up wherever the place decides.
Stabilize before you build
A stabilized chunk holds almost every time. An anchored one never moves.
What could be photographed
Open the galleryShots brought back by those who went down. Not all of them have an explanation.
Everything on record
Five sections, one entry for each thing somebody saw and lived to describe.
Levels
Every floor is a different place with its own rules. Going down is easy. Getting back up is the rare part.
26Sublevels
Layers inside a single level: corners, faults in the architecture and places that only turn up sometimes.
26Entities
What walks the corridors. Some ignore you. Others saw you long before you saw them.
24Objects
What you find, carry and use up. Everything here has weight and almost nothing is spare.
28Phenomena
The rules of the place: Displacement, sanity, sound and the Pulse that sets the pace for all of it.
If you're reading this, you've already gone down further than most.