Prowler

Testimony

“It passes through the junction at the far end, disappears, and forty steps later, again. Same stretch of corridor, same figure, never changes.”

The Prowler is the simplest of the three patrol creatures of Level 0, a silhouette that walks between two and four points of the same stretch of corridor. It doesn’t follow you across the map or leave its zone. It lives in its patch of office the way others live in a house, and walks it over and over.

How to recognize it

A figure crosses a corridor junction at the far end and disappears. After a while it passes the same spot again. It makes no noise, no footsteps, no breathing, no rustle of cloth, so you see it before you hear it, or you don’t see it at all.

Whoever stops to watch counts the steps between one junction and the next and ends up working out the patrol. Whoever doesn’t runs into it head-on.

Behavior

Patrol. It walks from one point to the next and returns. The points are in the same stretch and it never leaves it.
Charge. If it sees you while patrolling, it lunges at you at one and a half times its walking speed. The charge causes no damage.
Silence. It neither growls nor warns. The only thing that announces it is the figure at the far end.

How to survive

With this creature you have to wait. Running does nothing, so watch a couple of laps and cross when the stretch is clear.

Stop before entering a long stretch and count how long it takes to pass again.
Cross just as it moves away, not as it approaches.
If it sees you, don’t flee in a straight line down an open corridor. Go back to the nearest corner and break the line of sight.

That rhythm of waiting fits with the Pulse, and in the calm phases the patrol is only a threat seen in the distance.

What sets it apart

From the Watcher: the Watcher never leaves its chair and the Prowler never stands still.
From the Grille: that one hangs and waits, while the Prowler walks without stopping.
From the Smiler: it neither screams nor smokes, and the only thing that matters is whether it reaches you.

What people say

Someone has noticed that, on returning to a stretch already covered, the patrol has shifted a few meters.

Mentioned in

P-007 · PhenomenaThe PulseThe place seems to keep its own rhythm of calm, stalking, peak and lull. Wanderers call it the Pulse.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-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-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-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.P-005 · PhenomenaThe Phases of the PulseThe cycle of the Pulse (calm, stalking, peak and rest), with its measured times and how it hardens the longer you have been down there.