“Calm, stalking, peak, rest, and start again, a little tenser each time. I thought I knew the beat, and then they go and change it.”
People with many expeditions behind them note down the times of the Pulse the way others write down the tide tables. They are field figures, not exact, but they repeat enough to be relied on.
The four phases
- Calm, 60 to 150 seconds. The place is still. No mobile creature approaches.
- Stalking, 45 to 120 seconds. Something moves out of sight. A chair changes place, a hum cuts out.
- Peak, 8 to 40 seconds. The short, violent part. A creature appears and comes for you.
- Rest, 90 to 240 seconds. The lull. The creatures withdraw and the rooms fall silent.
If the stalking ends without anyone appearing, it is a false alarm. The peak is skipped and the rhythm is used up all the same. There are never two peaks in a row.
The deeper, the closer
The Pulse hardens with time. The longer you have been on a level, the more mobile creatures can chase you at once:
| Time on the level | Creatures at once |
|---|---|
| Up to 10 minutes | 1 |
| 10 to 30 minutes | 2 |
| 30 to 60 minutes | 3 |
| More than 60 minutes | 4 |
The Skinstealer does not appear before the half hour. Past the hour, the rests shrink to almost a third less than their length and the peaks grow longer. Changing level resets the cycle to calm, but leaves the creature ceiling one step higher.
In a group
- A peak blocks that of another survivor within 60 meters. If you travel together, the danger takes turns instead of doubling.
- The same creature that starred in the previous peak does not appear again during the first half of the next.
- The Watcher only lets itself be seen in a peak, never in calm or rest.
- Each survivor has their own rhythm. Your companion may be in a peak while you are in rest, and you will notice only what their creatures do near you.
How to survive
Count. On the first peak, note how long the calm lasts, because the next will be similar. If the stalking doesn’t end in a peak, don’t lower your guard, since the false alarm uses up rhythm without canceling it. If you have been on the same level for more than an hour, go up or down, because staying lets the Pulse raise the ceiling.
What people say
- Anyone who has creatures nearby already knows what phase they are in without needing to count, though they can’t explain how.
- The times change with the level of sanity, so it is said.
See also Prowler, Grille and Chairs That Fill Themselves.