MUSHIN-RON: LEVEL OBSERVED WITHIN THE BACKROOMS, HENCEFORTH REFERENCED TO AS LEVEL 23 N. THE PRESENT ROTWATCHER HAS BEEN OBSERVED IN THIS SPACE FOLLOWING ENTRANCE INTO A HUT LOCATED IN PREVIOUS LEVEL.
LEVEL STRUCTURE RESEMBLED THAT OF AN INFINITELY-GENERATING JAPANESE DECEASED-ARRANGEMENT FACILITY. VARIOUS TYPES OF CHAMBERS EXIST WITHIN THIS SPACE, THOUGH OUT-OF-PLACE CHAMBERS SUCH AS FEASTING HALLS OR CORPSE-FURNACE CHAMBERS HAVE ALSO BEEN DOCUMENTED. TEMPORAL DEVICES IN THIS LEVEL, INCLUDING THOSE BROUGHT BY WANDERERS, IS FIXED INDEFINITELY AT THREE-TWENTY SEVEN, FORCING WANDERERS TO RELY ON THEIR OWN TEMPORAL INSTINCTS WHILE EXPLORING. LEVEL ENVIRONMENT IS OVERALL FREE OF DETERIORATION AND MAINTAINS COMFORTABLE CONDITIONS, WITH RESOURCES EASY TO OBTAIN. PRESENCE OF CHARTS DISPLAYING LEVEL LAYOUT HAVE ALSO BEEN OBSERVED, SEEMINGLY PROVIDING WANDERERS EASY DIRECTION.
HOWEVER, LEVEL STRUCTURE IS STABLE ENOUGH THAT POINTS OF LOCATIONAL EXCHANGE ARE DIFFICULT TO OBSERVE, WITH THE NO-CLIP METHOD BEING IMPOSSIBLE TO PERFORM. COMBINED WITH PRESENCE OF ENTITIES WITH HARMFUL PROPERTIES, LEVEL 23 N IS OVERALL UNSAFE TO RESIDE IN, AND IT IS RECOMMENDED WANDERERS AVOID ENTERING THIS LEVEL IN THE FIRST PLACE.
SPACE VARIETY NOTED THROUGHOUT THE LEVEL INCLUDE MOURNING CHAMBERS, FEASTING HALLS, CORPSE-FURNACE CHAMBERS. DETAILED INFORMATION ON SIGNIFICANT TYPES ARE LISTED BELOW.
MOURNING CHAMBERS: MOST COMMON INSTANCE OBSERVED WITHIN LEVEL 23 N. DESIGNED TO MOURN THOSE WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED THEIR FINAL DEATH, SHARING CHARACTERISTICS FROM TRADITIONAL JAPANESE MOURNING CENTERS IN THE BRIGHT WORLD SUCH AS ALTARS AND CHANTING SUTRAS. HOWEVER, THE LATTER IS PERFORMED DESPITE ABSENCE OF A MONK, WITH THE CHANTING SOURCE REMAINING UNKNOWN. SOUNDS OF PREACHING AND THE RHYMIC BEAT OF WOODEN PERCUSSION ACCOMPANY THIS CHANTING FOSTERING AN EERIE ENVIRONMENT WITHIN THIS SPACE. THIS IS FURTHER STRENGTHENED BY THE ABSENCE OF A DECEASED'S PORTRAIT ON THE ALTAR OR CONTAINERS WHERE THE DECEASED COULD BE LOCATED.
SCALING OF MOURNING CENTERS VARIES SIGNIFICANTLY, RANGING FROM PRIVATE ROOMS FOR SMALL FAMILIES TO ENORMOUS CHAMBERS THAT CAN ACCOMMODATE THOUSANDS. HOWEVER, SIZE OF THESE CHAMBERS CANNOT BE DETERMINED UNLESS ENTERED, AS ALL MOURNING CENTERS SHARE THE SAME ENTRANCE APPEARANCE, THAT BEING A DOOR WITH A FUNERAL SIGN POSTED NEXT TO IT.
PRESENCE OF ENTITIES WITHIN SOME INSTANCES OF MOURNING CHAMBERS, HENCEFORTH REFERENCED TO AS ATTENDEES, HAS BEEN OBSERVED. APPEARANCE RESEMBLES THAT OF BRIGHT COUSINS DRESSED IN FORMAL CLOTHING WORN DURING MOURNING. AGE AND GENDER VARY BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL ATTENDEES, ALONG WITH BEHAVIOR: MALE INSTANCES ARE OBSERVED TO POSSESS A SERIOUS EXPRESSION ON THEIR FACIAL FEATURES, AND FEMALE INSTANCES ARE OBSERVED TO SHED TEARS. GENERAL BEHAVIOR OF ATTENDEES REGARDLESS OF SEXUAL CHARACTERISTICS IS TO REMAIN SEATED MOTIONLESS WITHIN MOURNING CHAMBERS. THOUGH ATTENDEE BEHAVIOR IS CHARACTERISTIC OF BRIGHT COUSIN MOURNING, IT IS UNKNOWN WHAT THEY ARE MOURNING FOR, DUE SIGNS OF A DEPARTED REMAINING ABSENT.
ATTENDEES ALSO SEEMINGLY POSSESS AN ANOMALOUS ABILITY THAT IS ACTIVATED WHEN INTERACTION IS ATTEMPTED BY A WANDERER. WHEN CONDITIONS ARE MET, THE WANDERER WILL FALL SILENT AND CONVERT INTO ANOTHER INSTANCE THROUGH AN UNKNOWN MECHANISM, SITTING THEMSELF ALONG WITH THE ATTENDEE GROUP. IT IS THEORIZED THIS TRANSFORMATION IS PERMANENT; THEREFORE, IT IS RECOMMENDED TO AVOID INTERACTION WITH ATTENDEES.
FEASTING HALL: DESIGNATED BY A SIGN FOR FEASTING, CHAMBER POSSESSES JAPANESE ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS SUCH AS SHOJI SCREENS AND TATAMI FLOORING. FURNITURE IS NEATLY ARRANGED, SUGGESTING PRESENCE OF A POST-MOURNING FEAST. SCALING VARIES IN A SIMILAR MANNER TO MOURNING CENTERS. NO FRESH DISHES ARE PROVIDED WITHIN THESE ROOMS, THOUGH LARGE AMOUNTS OF COLD LEFTOVER MEALS AND LIQUIDS HAVE BEEN OBSERVED. THESE MEALS HAVE BEEN DIRECTLY OBSERVED BY THE ROTWATCHER TO POSSESS HEAVY OILY FLAVORS.
FLOORING OF FEASTING HALL HAS BEEN OCCASIONALLY OBSERVED TO POSSESS AN STAIN OF REDDISH-BROWN COLOR, RESEMBLING BODY FLUIDS OF MOST BRIGHT FAUNA. THIS STAIN LEAKS INTO PASSAGEWAYS ADJACENT TO FEASTING HALL, GIVING AN IMPRESSION OF THE STAIN'S SOURCE BEING DRAGGED. THE ROTWATCHER THEORIZES FOLLOWING THE STAIN FUNCTIONS AS AN ENTRYWAY TO ANOTHER LEVEL; HOWEVER, THE ROTWATCHER IS OBSERVED TO ABSTAIN FROM UTILIZING THIS POTENTIAL ENTRYWAY DUE TO UNEXPLAINED APPREHENSION.
CORPSE-FURNACE CHAMBERS: SPACE DESIGNED TO HOUSE MULTIPLE CORPSE-FURNACES, APPROACHED THROUGH DOWNWARDS TRAVEL TO THE BASEMENT USING ELEVATOR LIFTS. NOTABLY ONE OF FEW SPACE TYPES TO BE OBSCURED ON LAYOUT CHARTS, REQUIRING EITHER EXTENSIVE EXPLORATION OR PREMATURE KNOWLEDGE ON LEVEL'S LAYOUT TO ACCESS THE CHAMBER.
MOST CORPSE-FURNACES ARE CURRENTLY IN OPERATION AND ARE THEREFORE LOCKED. OCCASIONALLY, UNLOCKED FURNACES HAVE BEEN OBSERVED, THOUGH ANY CORPSE-BOXES WITHIN THESE FURNACES ARE DEVOID OF CONTENT. AMONGST THE BURNING NOISES CREATED BY OPERATING FURNACES, SOUNDS OF BANGING HAVE ALSO BEEN REPORTED, SUGGESTING AN ENTITY BEING TRAPPED INSIDE. HOWEVER, AS NO OTHER VOCALIZATIONS HAVE BEEN NOTED, SUCH AS CRIES FOR HELP OR PAINED SCREAMS, NO CONCLUSION OF ANY CONFIDENCE MAY BE MADE AT THIS TIME.
OPEN CORPSE-FURNACES FUNCTION AS A POSSIBLE ENTRYWAY, IN WHICH A WANDERER ENTERS A BOX LAID WITHIN THE FURNACE AND CLOSE THE LIDS OF BOTH, WHICH THEN INDUCES LOCATIONAL EXCHANGE TO ANOTHER LEVEL. HOWEVER, THIS METHOD IS RECOMMENDED ONLY AS A LAST RESORT, AS IT IS POSSIBLE CREMATION WILL OCCUR ONCE THE FURNACE IS SHUT.
AN UNUSUAL PHENOMENON WAS OBSERVED IN LEVEL 23 N BY THE PRESENT ROTWATCHER, IN WHICH A MOURNING CHAMBER'S ENTRANCE WAS BLOCKED BY A LOCKED DOOR. ATTEMPTS TO BYPASS THIS DOOR WAS MET WITH FAILURE, FORCING THE SUBJECTED ROTWATCHER TO LISTEN IN POSITION OF THE DOOR'S FRONT. CHARACTERISTIC MOURNING VOCALIZATIONS WITHIN CHAMBER WERE PRESENT, BUT THE PRESENCE OF ANGERED ONES WERE ALSO REPORTED. NOTABLY, VOICES HEARD WITHIN CHAMBER MATCH THOSE IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE LOST PROGENITOR.
FOLLOWING OBSERVATION OF THIS PHENOMENON, THE ROTWATCHER HAD ENTERED A SPACE RESEMBLING A TYPICAL WAITING AREA. THE ROTWATCHER THEN EXPERIENCED AN IMPULSE TO REST, OF WHICH IT IS OBSERVED TO COMPLY WITH THIS IMPULSE, AS ITS LOCATION IS RELATIVELY FREE OF DANGER. THE CURRENT ROTWATCHER PLANS TO ENTER TEMPORARY STASIS WITHIN THIS WAITING AREA.