Testimony
“None of them kills you in one hit, that I’ve seen. What keeps me up is wondering what they’d do if they felt like it.”
Wanderers who have survived more than a week in Level 0 end up carrying a mental list of creatures. This field guide puts it in writing: how to recognize each one, what it does if it reaches you, and what to do. The full entries are linked.
How to recognize them
| Creature | How to recognize it | If it reaches you | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skinstealer | Looks like another survivor, with a name and an object in hand. Doesn’t speak or write. Stays still if you look at it. | In Level 0 it scares and flees, no damage. | Have your group answer to their names. Don’t run. |
| Children | A pack of up to eight small figures. They freeze when you look at them and advance at 4.2 m/s when you don’t. | They stun for seven seconds and steal items if your hands are empty. | Walk backward toward a wall. Have someone keep watch. |
| Watcher | An adult sitting in an office chair, back turned. Turns its head to follow you. Immortal. | It doesn’t attack. It only looks. | Walk past without hurry and without turning your back on it. |
| Smiler | Smoke with two eyes and a smile, at the end of a corridor. Advances only when no one is looking at it. | At 1.3 m, a scream with no damage. | Always keep someone looking at it. |
| Prowler | Patrols between two and four points. | Charges with one and a half times the force of its stride and doesn’t injure. | Step away from its patrol before it sees you. |
| Grille | Hangs from a stringer. Comes down the stairs if you are eight meters away or less and not looking at it. | No known damage. | Look at it. Don’t pass under it with your back turned. |
| Stalker | Only unconfirmed sightings. | Unknown. | If you think you see it, don’t approach. |
| Adult Faceling | No one has seen it in Level 0. There is only a note’s warning: “don’t look at them too much.” | Unknown. | Heed the note. |
What they have in common
- None has killed, as far as is confirmed. The Skinstealer and the Smiler have crueler versions in the stories, but the archive has not verified them.
- They are all in the same place for everyone. If you see a creature in a corridor, whoever comes after will see it where you saw it.
- The gaze is a tool. The Watcher follows you with its head, the Children and the Smiler freeze or advance depending on whether you look at them, and the Skinstealer stays still.
- Almost none make a sound. The scare comes in through sight and rhythm. See How Creatures Sound.
Who sets the rhythm
Appearances aren’t entirely random. Wanderers believe the place follows a rhythm of calm, tension, peak and lull, and they call it the Pulse. Environmental events accompany it: Environmental Events.
Legacy records
The Lurker, the Crawler and the Shadow appear in earlier records and are now considered unconfirmed sightings. It is also said that the Vestibule Receptionist may be a variant of the Watcher.
What is said
The stories contradict each other on these subjects:
- The Children, whom some consider common and others a legend.
- The Smiler, of which some say it is always there and others that it is sometimes missing.
- The Prowler and the Grille, which some number differently in their notebooks.
- The Skinstealer’s speed when it stalks you: some say 5.5 m/s, others 4.6.
Mentioned in
E-026 · EntitiesWatcherAn adult sitting in an office chair, back turned, who slowly turns their head to follow you. It does nothing else.E-016 · EntitiesSkinstealerIt 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.E-020 · EntitiesSmilerA 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.E-010 · EntitiesChildrenSmall silhouettes that move in a pack. Still if you look at them, fast if you turn your back, and their touch stuns.E-015 · EntitiesGrilleA bundle hanging from the ceiling bars or a service staircase. Still while you look at it, and a step lower when you look away.E-011 · EntitiesChildren: Stalking Along RoutesHow the pack of children hems you in. One takes your back, the others look for other ways to wait for you, and they only run if you can’t see them.E-002 · EntitiesHow Creatures SoundAlmost no creature in Level 0 makes a noise, so silence is the warning, and what makes no sound is usually what is closest.E-017 · EntitiesSkinstealer: Behavior, Measurements and VoiceThe Skinstealer’s thirteen phases of behavior, from wandering to the grab, with its field measurements and the ten voices it has been heard to make.E-001 · EntitiesStalkerThe third patrol creature, silent, with no fixed habitat and no reliable witnesses. The archive records it so the gap doesn’t look like an oversight.E-018 · EntitiesSkinstealer in Level 0: Movement and ScareHow the Skinstealer moves through the corridors of Level 0. It appears far off, stalks you, reveals itself and runs at you, stopping at a meter and a half.E-023 · EntitiesSmiler: The GazeThe Smiler behavior that has actually been observed: it stalks at the edge of sight and moves only when no survivor is looking at it.E-025 · EntitiesTraces and Visible SignsFootprints and dust. What each creature lets you see before it arrives, and what an attentive wanderer learns to read in the carpet.