Description
Level 2 is a significant step down in safety from Level 1. The aesthetic shifts sharply — gone are the high warehouse ceilings and relatively open spaces. Level 2 consists almost entirely of long, dim maintenance corridors with cracking concrete walls and ceilings covered in a dense network of pipes of varying sizes. Steam occasionally vents from joints in the pipework. The lighting is sparse — scattered bulbs rather than continuous fluorescent strips — and fails regularly.
The corridors are narrow. Narrow enough that two people passing each other must turn sideways in many sections. This is not incidental — it makes the level significantly more dangerous. Clumps, which move through corridors without navigation, are harder to avoid in tight spaces. Wranglers, which attack from overhead, are more effective where there is less room to dodge. The entity population of Level 2 is substantially higher than Level 1, and the infrastructure supporting human survival — supplies, outposts, reliable lighting — is substantially worse.
The pipes produce sound. This is one of the most disorienting aspects of Level 2 — a constant background of clanking, hissing, rushing, and occasionally something that resembles movement. Whether the sounds in the pipes are purely mechanical or partly biological has not been resolved to the archive's satisfaction. Do not put your ear to the pipes.
Doors exist in Level 2, though they are infrequent. They typically open into small rooms lined with metal shelving — occasionally containing supplies — or into ventilation duct access points. The ducts in Level 2 are functional as navigation routes, though they are unlit and their destinations are not always predictable.
Entities
Level 2 has a significantly elevated entity presence compared to Level 1. The narrow corridors and poor lighting make most entity types more dangerous here than in more open levels. Entity avoidance in Level 2 requires constant awareness of overhead spaces as well as the corridor ahead and behind.
- Clumps — common in the narrower corridors; give way or find a branch to avoid
- Wranglers — active in sections with overhead pipe access or ceiling openings
- Dullers — present throughout; poor lighting makes their hallucination effect harder to detect early
- Hounds — documented in wider corridor sections
- Facelings — occasionally encountered; child variants have been seen in duct systems
- Smilers — present in any area of complete darkness
How to Enter & Exit
↓ Entrances
- Walking far enough in any direction in Level 1 — the standard transition
- Unlocked doors encountered in Level 1
- Ventilation duct systems from Level 1
↑ Exits
- Continued forward travel gradually transitions into Level 3
- Noclipping may lead back to Level 1 or forward to Level 3
- Ventilation ducts may connect to adjacent levels — destinations vary