SURVIVAL DIFFICULTY:
Class 3
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Level 480 is a set of expansive convenience shops located in a set of long dirty corridors, and is currently the only known place in the Backrooms where one can encounter Xeroxes.
One of the stall halls of Level 480. It is unknown where the sky near the top of the ceiling comes from.
Description:
Level 480 is a large system of rooms which consists of several different storefronts and doorways, which all resemble the entrances to convenience, food, tool and appliance stores. They each lead to different stores which vary greatly in size, some being as small as a gas station convenience store, whilst others are large, with some being reported to be as large as an aircraft hangar.
Most store layouts are neat and orderly. Each store contains rows of aligned store shelves which extend for great distances on end, and in some of the larger shops, occasional clearings with goods and materials neatly stacked on pallets can be found scattered throughout each store. Both of these have varying heights corresponding to the overall size of the room. They are restocked periodically when products are taken out of their shelves. The method by which this takes place is presently unknown.
At first glance, these stores seem clean and well-kept: The floors are scrubbed clean, the shelves are stocked and sorted neatly, and several air-conditioners blast cool air across the stores. However, upon further exploration, Wanderers will discover that some of the stores are in worse conditions than some of the other ones which can be found inside this Level. Lights in some areas have been found broken or damaged, and the freezers in many frozen food aisles have malfunctioned, not working properly. Some aisles may also be found in total chaos, their products scattered across the ground in total disarray. The cause of these damages is currently unknown, but they are suspected to be the work of the entities which reside in Level 480. Even so, the consistency in the scale and type of damage found may also suggest that the destruction originates mainly from a yet undocumented entity that the M.E.G has yet to encounter.
Traversing the Level is not a simple task. The Level contains dirty, lengthy corridors of storefronts, which are often packed tightly together. These stores may be much larger than their entrances would suggest. Upon entry into a store, one may find that the interior space of a store may overlap with regions which from the outside appear to be occupied by adjacent stores. Duplicate entrances into the same store entrance can also be found close to each other, despite the fact that in the interior itself they are spaced far apart, and Wanderers may leave a store through the same entrance they entered it from, only to find that it now leads to a different segment of the Level. Because of this, the geometry of Level 480 has been deemed Non-Euclidean, and is impossible to traverse logically and securely due to its nature.
Off-brand Products and Booby-traps
The products on the shelves and displays appear to be off-brand1 varieties of products found in convenience and grocery stores. These include canned and boxed food, bottled drinks, cosmetics, and household appliances. Contrary to what their off-brand appearance may suggest, these products are actually of higher quality than their regular counterparts. Food and drinks have been described as tasting better, and in some cases have even accelerated the healing of minor wounds and injuries. Similarly, the available household tools and appliances are often more efficient, durable, and powerful than their ordinary counterparts.
An example of an off-brand product found in Level 480.
Despite this, Wanderers are advised not to take any of the products found in Level 480 as there is a high risk that they will be booby-trapped. There is never any indication a product may be booby-trapped until it is picked up. When it is, it will proceed to spring one of the varying traps listed below, and on some occasions, it will produce a soft, child-like giggle which only the victim can hear.
Some of the booby-traps observed are as follows:
- The product becoming extremely hot or cold when contact is made.
- The product detonating with the force of a firecracker (Roughly 600J) and causing a moderately loud noise, which could attract any entities potentially nearby.
- The product becoming stuck to whatever surface makes contact with it for a short amount of time (10-15 minutes), temporarily incapacitating those who touch it.
- The product lifting off from the hands of the victim and ramming into them at high speeds of up to 40km/h. This can prove particularly deadly if the product happens to be something such as a shovel or a bowling ball.
- The product levitating above the victim's head and playing a disruptive noise2.
In more serious cases, booby-trapped products have also been reported to:
- Cause an unseen force to apply a significant amount of pressure to one of the victim's bones, breaking and crushing them, which often times results in permanent damage.
- Cause a temporary or permanent loss of sensory abilities (Blindness, deafness, and rarely, a total loss of the sense of touch)
- Skin sections of their victim's epidermis.
- Cause all the hair on the victim to spontaneously fall off.
- In one reported case, transport the victim to another, more dangerous Level.
Entities
The Level contains a moderately high population of hostile entities, including Skin-stealers, Smilers (During blackout periods), and Tiletraps
Apart from booby-trapped products, another threat lies in the store aisles: The entities known as Xeroxes. These shape-shifting creatures spend their days sleeping in between products in store aisles, and as suggested by their name, they can shapeshift into the form of different products to fool their prey into thinking they are harmless.
The primary cause for concern when dealing with Xeroxes is their ear-splitting screech. When they are picked out, they pull themselves away from the person/entity that may have disrupted their dormancy and let out a loud noise3, which serves as both a distraction to the prey, and a lure for nearby entities. After the Xerox lets out its screech, it will observe the surrounding area and wait for entities to investigate the scene and finish off the prey. Should none arrive to do so, the Xerox will take matters into its own hands and attack the victim itself, extending a set of razor-sharp fangs, and lunging or flying at the victim's chest cavity. The fangs themselves are extremely sharp, and are powerful enough to easily rip and tear through human flesh. However, they lack mobility, and one can easily evade a Xerox by simply sprinting away.
Xeroxes themselves are not difficult to deal with besides their screech. They are made of a very fragile cartilage-like substance which can be smashed on surrounding surfaces very easily, but the threat of other entities and their deadly screech makes them a formidable threat to those traversing through Level 480. Worst of all, unlike booby-traps, Xeroxes have even been known to attack their prey entirely unprovoked. While this phenomenon is not common, Wanderers should still be cautious when travelling through the aisles of Level 480.
Due to the high entity count and the length one may need to travel through a single aisle, visitors are undoubtedly going to encounter hostile entities at some point during their travels through Level. Wanderers are advised to bring adequate equipment and make appropriate preparations to engage entities in combat, run large distances, and climb over aisles to escape if necessary.
Blackout Periods
The most dangerous aspect of Level 480 is what are known as 'Blackout Periods'. During these periods, all lights in Level 480 switch off, and all windows are barred by unknown means. This leaves all Wanderers within the Level stranded in pitch-black darkness, which is highly dangerous, given the aforementioned dangers in the Level. During such periods, it is important to have a source of artificial light to spot entities that may be close by, - preferably a disposable one, such as a glowstick, in case of Smiler attacks. One should maintain silence as best as they can to conceal their location from any entities that may be lurking nearby. Thankfully, Blackout Periods do not tend to last long, usually only lasting approximately five (5) to twenty (20) minutes.
Because of the risk involved in getting the products from Level 480, they have a high trade value in the rest of The Backrooms. Should travellers seek to obtain the enhanced products of Level 480 in spite of said risks, they should prepare themselves adequately for the dangers they are most definitely bound to encounter.
Bases, Outposts and Communities
There are no known bases, outposts, or communities on this Level.
Additional Content
As of 12/5/2024, noticeboards were hung up on walls all around Level 480, each one displaying a set of notes or adverts. The origin of said notes is as of yet unknown.
Below are some samples of the notices which have been found on these noticeboards:
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
Nurinetrigyet K'Hanaquka
April 2024
Position: StockerNominated for:
- Exceptional warding off of shoplifters
- Amazing upkeeping of security
- Super quick re-stocking of goods
THANK YOU FOR YOUR OUTSTANDING SERVICE AND LOYALTY!
Dear shoppers,
We have received several complaints about our anti-shoplifting measures which we would like to address.
As any dedicated patron would know, here at [Unintelligible] we work with an organized shopping system. Shoppers are expected to contact one of our staff members when traversing the store, and all of the things which they take are to be monitored by said staff member which chooses to accompany them.This means that whenever you are shopping unaccompanied by a staff member, our anti-shoplifting measures will be enacted. This ensures no theft occurs in our chain of stores, and that we can keep our premises thief-free.
We hope you understand our motives, and we thank you for reaching out to us about your concerns
With regards,
The Management
Have you been Zumping?
Most people brush off Zumping as part of an easily self-medicated Blorkflork. But Zumping can be a symptom of Derek’s disease.
Left untreated, Derek’s disease can be fatal.
Other symptoms may include:
- Thunkalunk
- Shifting through Euclidian geometry
- Z’lhurk D’hurk Nur and Fugili
- Explosive diarrhea
- H
- [Unintelligible]
- General feelings of
Do these apply to you?
Don't wait. Get help.
- This information has jointly been brought to you by Yalmart and the Anti-Derek Association
To: Maintenance team, or whoever is taking care of the lights really.
From: Dorian, the third one
Subject: The lights
Excuse me for the crummy formatting, I'm not used to these "E-mails" you lot have been using the past few years. I think you all know that by now, since this is probably the hundredth time I've sent one of these around to you all.
That's besides the point though. I know I'm considered a 'lowly stocker' in all of your eyes, but I'd appreciate if my opinion was taken seriously at least once now. How many times have I told you all that the lights are screwed? It's been, thirty four years forty seven years a long time since we've had these things installed, and they've been broken ever since we first got them. I'm pretty sure you've all noticed that by this point, so I've just assumed that you're all ignoring me now.
I ask once again, could you please heed my request for once? It gets really annoying when the lights going out causes me to lose balance whilst stocking, I've had to reassemble several dozens of those tower displays you insist on keeping now, and I'm getting tired of the same thing happening to me every single time.
Please reply soon, I'm tired of these crummy conditions I have to work in…
Yours truly,
Dorian, the third one4.
Entrances And Exits
Entrances
- Some doors in Level 122 lead to Level 480. They are normally dirtier looking compared to the other doors and storefronts in Level 122.
- These same doors appear in Level 423, although they are much rarer there.
Exits
- Some doors and storefronts lead back to Level 122. These are hard to differentiate from the rest of the doors in the Level, but are the most common and reliable method of exiting Level 480.
- The corridors which the stores are connected to sometimes lead to Level 2. This becomes apparent when the doors of Level 480 stop appearing, and are instead replaced by the geometry of Level 2.
