UNDERWANDERERField archive
Case file O-001ObjectsAll levels

Almond Water

The only flask that restores sanity. It removes hunger, thirst and wounds, but it only turns up in rooms almost nobody sets foot in.

Testimony

“If you find a flask, don’t drink it until you have to. It’s the only thing that’s put my head back in place.”

Almond Water is the most complete consumable found in the levels and the only sanity restorer. One flask removes thirst, calms hunger, closes wounds a little and, above all, puts your head back where it belongs.

What it does when drunk

HungerThirstHealthSanity
2060835

The thirst it removes (60) exceeds that of a water bottle (45). The sanity it restores (35) is given by no other item. It is the only one that touches all four bars at once.

Why it matters

Sanity drops constantly. It drops slowly at first and much faster when something is watching you, chasing you or cornering you. Without this flask, the only way to recover it is to die and wake up in a bed with your head half restored (50). Those who go down without almond water end up hearing things that don’t exist and obeying them.

Where it is found

It turns up as a rarity in infrequent rooms, not in the usual offices or in first-aid cabinets. A note found in Level 0 says it without explaining:

Almond water is where the carpet dries.

Nobody has confirmed what that means. Those who have tried look for dry carpet in corridors of Level 0 where everything else drips, and sometimes they find it.

How it is used

  • Save it for sanity. For thirst there are bottles and for hunger there are cans.
  • If you go down with your group, split them up: one flask per head, in case you get separated.
  • Each bottle takes up a whole slot on a shelving unit and doesn’t stack.
  • It falls under the same scarcity distribution as the rest of the consumables, so there is little of it and far between.

What is said

  • It is said over and over that, in the shelters, Almond Water circulates as a currency of sanity. Whoever shares it wins over their group and whoever hoards it ends up alone.
  • Some swear the flask smells of bitter almond and that this smell is the first thing to fade when your head clears.

Mentioned in

O-002 · ObjectsAntibioticsThey restore 55 health and nothing else. They hide in wall first-aid cabinets, in corridors others have already searched.P-017 · PhenomenaThe Wanderer’s GlossaryThe words wanderers repeat until they stop explaining them, with the entry where each one is told.O-013 · ObjectsCans, Food and BottlesSix things to eat or drink, with how much hunger and thirst each removes. What is on the shelves, when there is anything.P-003 · PhenomenaSanityIt drains on its own, faster with creatures nearby, when you're alone or in an unstabilized chunk. Only Almond Water restores it.P-002 · PhenomenaA Day Down ThereExplore, loot, stabilize and return: the routine of anyone surviving in a labyrinth that moves. Tear off a piece of it and make it yours.P-011 · PhenomenaThe 63-Meter StaircaseTwenty-one flights of three meters in a zigzag and, at the top, a place you can't reach any other way. Everyone tells the ending differently.O-017 · ObjectsFloor NotesPapers on the carpet, sometimes pinned. A sentence from someone who had time to write before disappearing.O-009 · ObjectsWater DispenserAn office dispenser that seems to promise water. It is dry, and its silhouette beside a pillar is the most human thing in the room.O-003 · ObjectsSafety NoticesStandardized plaques with a pictogram and text, and always one part erased or wrong. They look genuine until the second read.O-010 · ObjectsThe Metal Shelving UnitA tubular wire rack with sixteen fixed slots. What you store is visible on the shelf, and visible to anyone who walks by.O-012 · ObjectsThe Survivor’s InventoryWhat you carry is your body, your clothes and their weight, not an endless list. Every pocket comes from your clothing.S-015 · SublevelsVery Long CorridorsEighty meters in a straight line, a door every three point six, and an exit sign at the far end that never gets closer.