Smiler

A Smiler is not a body. It is a grin, suspended in darkness, and whatever else is attached to it has never been reliably observed — because observing it is precisely what stops it existing.

How they behave

Smilers obey two rules that appear to be absolute:

1. They cannot exist in light. Direct illumination does not injure them; it removes them. Turn a beam onto a Smiler and the grin is simply no longer there.
2. They do not move while observed. Under sustained attention a Smiler holds perfectly still. It advances only in the gaps — when you blink, when you turn your head, when your torch sweeps elsewhere.

The result is an entity that is trivially neutralised and almost impossible to escape, depending entirely on whether you have working light.

The trap

The danger with Smilers is not the encounter. It is what the encounter makes you do.

Explorers who meet one tend to back away with the light held on it, which is correct — and walk directly into whatever is behind them, which is not. Smilers are frequently reported in groups, and the second one is invariably in the direction you retreated.

Keep your back to a wall before you start backing away from anything.

What actually works

• Sustained light. Not a sweep. Hold it.
• Do not turn around. Sidestep along a wall with the beam fixed.
• Do not run in the dark. Running is how the trap closes.
• Conserve your battery before you need it. A Smiler encounter with a dying torch is the single most-cited fatal scenario in the upper levels.

Are they hostile?

Disputed, and worth understanding properly. Smilers have never been documented initiating an attack. What they do is follow, close distance, and wait — and explorers who encounter them repeatedly report sanity degradation far out of proportion to any physical harm.

The practical reading: a Smiler probably will not kill you. The state it puts you in might.