LEVEL 181
THREAT INDEX
CLASS 1
Exit: 0/5
Guaranteed Exit
Environment: 4/5
Extreme Environmental Risk
Entities: 0/5
No Hostile Entities
Description[]
The Analytical Laboratory, or Level 181, is a chemical lab designed with the intent of identification of chemicals and compounds, while also being capable of extracting and breaking chemicals into smaller compounds. The lab is divided into two sections, the administrative area, which is designated for storing documents, procedures, and chemical recipes, as well as the analytical lab which is designed for performing the aforementioned procedures and recipes. Though Level 181 is entity-free, it is not considered to be a safe level due to the environmental conditions that can suddenly occur. It is recommended to be vigilant while operating in Level 181 as these environmental occurrences happen instantaneous and wanderers are alone, forced into isolation due to a level effect.
Due to the ease of exiting Level 181 as well as the stable condition of the admin area of the level as well as the presence of food and water, many wanderers consider Level 181 a safe place to rest. The temperature is maintained around 20C, and the presence of functional outlets allow for wanderers to charge devices. The food, however, is not unlimited, though it seems to be similarly restocked each time a wanderer enters Level 181.
The Admin Area:[]
To this day, wanderers have only ever entered this level via the administration area through a door that opens to a small lobby and a desk. Wanderers often immediately notice the cleanliness of the admin area as a whole. The desk has a computer with internet and immediately adjacent to this desk is a large conference room. This room has large tables and a projector screen with an attached computer. The main hallway is lined with offices; these offices each have several computers, and a few have cubicles. One of the offices has a shelf that holds Safety Data Sheets for all the chemicals in the lab as well as a shelf for some standard Lab Operating Procedures.
Further down the hall is a computer lab, bathrooms, lockers, and a break room. The bathrooms are fully functional and are perfectly clean. The break room is stocked with some food such as snacks, coffee, with a few frozen meals found in the freezer. There is also a functioning coffee pot and microwave. The lockers outside the breakroom are all locked except one, which contains safety goggles and a white lab coat.
Adjacent to the break room and computer lab is a small hallway with a door that leads into the main laboratory. The door has 2 signs. One sign shows a US standard chemical placard noting a "3" for health hazards, "4" for flame hazards and "3" for instability hazards. The other sign reads "PPE required beyond this point". Attempting to enter this door without wearing a lab coat and safety glasses will lead the wanderer to level 0.
'The Laboratory:'[]
As previously mentioned, wanderers that attempt to enter the laboratory section of Level 181 must do so while wearing safety goggles and a lab coat. Wanderers that fail to follow these guidelines result in being removed from the lab and will be transported to Level 0 (this is 100% certain as observed so far). The entrance to the laboratory section is a long hallway with different lab rooms on each side. At the end of the hall on either side, there is a door with an EXIT sign, this door will lead you to Level 0 in the level's current state.
The level's current state is considered "pristine" which means that all equipment in all labs is working as intended while all surfaces, fume hoods, instruments and floors are clean with everything fully stocked including glassware, PPE (such as gloves, spill kits etc.), chemicals of every common type (caustics, acids, solvents etc.), and office supplies (notebooks, pens, binders, sticky notes, etc.). Wanderers using the laboratory in its "pristine shape" are considered safe and secure. Note that all chemicals and lab equipment still have standard safety hazards and must be used with care.
Each room in the laboratory serves a different purpose. The Stockroom holds all supplies mentioned above (though other labs also contain some basic chemicals such as isopropyl alcohol, benzene, acidic acid, sodium hydroxide, bleach, acetone). This room will also have a wheeled cart as well as spill containment boxes to use. The Cylinder room is stocked with different gasses such as nitrogen, hydrogen, air, acetylene, helium and argon. These gasses are piped all throughout the lab. The Utility room houses the HVAC, water boilers and carbon filter beds for the different fume hoods.
The following are the different types of laboratories found in Level 181:
An instrument lab for different types of gas chromatography (FPD, MSD) as well as high performance liquid dipole chromatographs. These instruments are designed to utilize mobile phases to separate compounds into smaller compounds that will pass through a detector. This detector will produce a graph that can be read to identify different compounds in a chemical. This lab is equipped a fume hood and buckets designated for decontamination purposes and temporary waste containment.
A sample preparation lab. This room is stocked with lab glassware and fume hoods. There are instruments for titrations and flashpoints, there are electronic balances, centrifuges, pH strips, thermometers, pipettors, etc. Operators may use this lab to test certain properties of the chemicals they are working with such as pH, boiling point, flash point, etc.
Another instrument lab. This lab has mass spectroscopy and NMR spectroscopy instruments. These instruments are used to measure nuclear motion as well as mass to charge ratios. This lab also has a fume hood for waste.
The waste storage room. Waste is stored and separated by category. Oxidizers, flammables, acids, caustics all segregated and stored in different containment locations. It is designed to contain chemical waste in such a way that is considered safe and nonreactive.
Note that every lab has stocked: gloves, a safety shower, sink with drainpipe, sprinkler system, eyewash station, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, and spill kits. These items are standard for safety purposes and should be utilized if necessary.
Laboratory States[]
Level 181 is considered environmentally unsafe due to the fact that any time a wanderer enters the lab section of this level and then proceeds to exit any of the rooms in the laboratory section (excluding the hallway) the state of the lab changes. For example, a wanderer enters the stockroom in the "Pristine State" and when they exit, the lab will have changed to the "In Use" state. These lab state changes are instantaneous and can escalate quickly if caution is not taken.
The following are the different possible states of the lab:
Level 181 is always in its "Pristine State" when a wanderer enters the level. Since the state of the lab changes instantaneously as one exits a lab room, it is highly recommended that you finish all processes by the "Over Used State" as it is dangerous to continue any further. Note that the state changes are only initiated once a wanderer successfully enters into the Lab section of this level.
Entities[]
There are no entities ever recorded on this level. Wanderers are always alone on this level due to an isolation effect.
Outposts[]
Due to the nature of this level, there are no outposts on this level, however, the M.E.G. and other organizations will send researchers with different samples from the backrooms to try and identify their chemical properties. One researcher, a survivor of the "Catastrophic State" described the following in a debrief:
"I had finally isolated a compound that I had suspected from a sample of liquid pain, and I had a really rough go at it. Yeah, the lab was in shambles, but I really wanted to run this sample through the GC. As soon as I left the wet lab, I heard an explosion. Everything was on fire. I had made a huge mistake, I mean the power was out anyways, how could I even run a GC? It was hot, I was getting burns and the vapors and smoke was burning my lungs. Thankfully I was familiar enough with the layout that I was able to try and run to the admin area. Of course, the door was sealed. I ran to the end of the hallway. The emergency doors had some weird properties that we didn't fully understand but it was a matter of life and death, so I pushed through."
This researcher was debriefed after weeks of therapy, surviving the torments of Level 240.
Entrances[]
- Going into a white door in Level 223 labeled "Analytical Laboratory" has a chance to bring you to Level 181.
- Enter the house in Level 247 without being under the influence of the level's sound phenomenon for too long. Finding the key in this house and entering a "Room 3" will take you to Level 181.
- Breaking into a locked door in Level 28 has a chance to bring you to Level 181.
- Finding and donning cap and gown from any school or university in The Backrooms and entering a chemistry classroom could lead you to Level 181.
- There is a small chance of finding a building labeled "Analytical Lab" in Level 11. Entering this building will bring you Level 181.
- The Hub can spawn a white door that reads "Analytical Lab" that will lead you to Level 181.
Exits[]
- Entering the Laboratory section of this level without wearing a lab coat and safety glasses will lead you to Level 0.
- Using either exit in the Laboratory section of this level in the "Pristine State" will lead you to Level 0.
- Using either exit in the Laboratory section of this level in the "In Use" or "Overused" States will lead you to Level 1.
- Using either exit in the Laboratory section of this level in the "Critical State" will lead you to the laboratory section of Level 43.
- Using either exit in the Laboratory section of this level in the "Danger State" will lead you to Level 22.
- Using either exit in the Laboratory section of this level in the "Catastrophic State" will lead you to Level 240. (There is only one instance of this)
- Exiting through the lobby door in the Admin area during the "Critical State" will lead you to The Hub.
- Exiting through the lobby door in the Admin area during the "Pristine", "In Use", or "Overused" States have equal chances to lead you to Level 0, Level 1, Level 11, or The Hub.
- Exiting through the lobby door in the Admin area during the "Pristine", "In Use", or "Overused" States after combining the helium and hydrogen gasses will lead you to Level 182.
Author:TheDadams
Photos: Free Stock Images or AI generation.