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In the social hierarchy of the island, there are the dogs, the rats, and just below them, the prisoners.
The lucky prisoners had a window in their cells... They ended up choking on the ashes from the Ossuary.
The prison is directly connected to the outer yard. The prisoners can choose between the rats and the crows.

The Prisoners' Quarters is the only level one biome in the game. It is the starting point of every run.

A run-down stone dungeon with mossy bricks and prison cells visible in the background — most with broken bars. Torches line the walls. Decay is a reality for this prison, as any authority has long met their doom or fled. Some cells still house what prisoners were (un)lucky enough to have survived this long.

Starting Area

A glass chute drips water and muck from the ceiling. Beheaded prisoners are found underneath, either dropped from the chute or executed on the nearby chopping block. The Giant's skeleton rests in the back.

In the next room over, large glass flasks for unlocked items hang from chains. The Scribe is nearby, guarding the door to the Daily Run. Below the bottles is a large glass tube for adjusting the difficulty with Boss Stem Cells. Below the tube is the door to the Tailor's room. The door to the right leads to the starting weapons.

General information

Access and exit

The Prisoner's Quarters is the starting area of the run. After a completed or failed run the player will start back here. The entrance to the Daily Run is also located here. It's possible to exit the Daily Run back into the Prisoners' Quarters.

There are three exits, the Promenade of the Condemned, the Toxic Sewers which requires the Vine Rune IconVine Rune and the Dilapidated Arboretum (from The Bad Seed DLC) which requires the Teleportation Rune IconTeleportation Rune.

Specialist's Showroom

The Specialist's Showroom is a special shop that always appears in the Prisoners' Quarters once unlocked from the Collector for 150 cells. Access is locked by a button in front of the door, and a teleporter is always found at its end.

The Specialist's Showroom holds items locked behind golden doors, which must be opened either by paying Gold or breaking them, suffering 50 curses.

  • The Hunter's Grenade IconHunter's Grenade, which can be thrown to transform an enemy into an Elite and extract its blueprints.
  • The Forgotten Map IconForgotten Map, which can be used once to reveal the layout of a biome.
  • The blueprint for the Golden Outfit (if not yet turned in to the Collector).

Level characteristics

Scrolls

The Prisoners' Quarters contain 2 Scrolls of Power, neither of which can spawn in the route behind the vine leading to the Toxic Sewers.

Enemy tier and gear level scaling

Difficulty Normal Hard Very Hard Expert Nightmare/Hell
Gear level I I I II IV
Enemy lvl tier 1 - 3 2 - 5 2 - 5 3 - 7 4 - 8
Enemy Health tier Base 2 - 4 4 - 7 5 - 9 6 - 12

Shops

There is always either one weapon or skill shop, which cannot spawn behind the vine passage.

Chests and loot

Exclusive blueprints

Secret areas

  • The blueprint for the Quick Bow IconQuick Bow can be found up on the ledges behind the giant skeleton. This secret does not generate on the first two runs of a save file, and it is only accessible through rolling.
  • The blueprint for the Disengagement Mutation IconDisengagement mutation can be found above the hanging bottles. It can be obtained after killing the Hand of the King for the first time, as it requires the Homunculus Rune IconHomunculus Rune, but having the Spider Rune IconSpider Rune is also recommended.

Specialist's Showroom

The blueprint for the Golden Outfit can be found in the Specialist's Showroom. The player must either pay 10,000 gold for it, or break the door and receive a 50-kill curse.

Special lore

Enemies

The Prisoners' Quarters has no unique enemies; all of them can be found in other biomes.

In the table below, you will find which enemies are present in the Prisoners' Quarters depending on difficulty level. For each enemy, any common, uncommon, rare or legendary blueprints they carry are indicated. When applicable, the minimum difficulty level for blueprint acquisition is specified in brackets.

Enemy Normal Hard Very Hard Expert Nightmare/Hell
Zombie Blood Sword, Double Crossb-o-matic, Bobby Outfit (1+ BSC)
Shieldbearer Rampart, Bloodthirsty Shield, Ice Shield, Desert Dweller Outfit (4+ BSC)
Grenadier Fire Grenade, Magnetic Grenade
Undead Archer Bow and Endless Quiver, Infantry Bow, Ice Bow
Knife Thrower Great Owl of War, Legendary Warrior's Outfit (3+ BSC)
Rancid Rat Porcupack
Oven Knight Kill Rhythm, Oven Axe
Inquisitor Lightning Bolt, Vampirism, Mage Outfit
Demolisher Acrobatipack, Arbalester's Outfit
Rampager Adrenaline
Failed Experiment Berserker

Lore

Malaise

Main article: Malaise
  • A prisoner managed to escape from their cell and left a messy message. The legible parts of the writing read: "Don't want... contaminated... out of here... see you again. I hope. The 'Malaise'. ...not infected. won't die"[1]
  • An unfinished message on the wall of an empty cell reads: "Why... filling the prison with innoc".[2]

Hanged prisoner

This prisoner can be found hanged inside their cell in the Prisoners' Quarters[3], the Promenade of the Condemned, or the Ramparts.

Other rooms

  • A prisoner locked in a cell can be encountered here or in the Promenade of the Condemned. The prisoner first calls out to the Beheaded, only to realize who they are speaking to. They jest about the fact that they are on "the right side of the door for once", before speaking to himself about how "they" didn't mess around. Kicking the door afterwards yields no response.[4]
  • A prisoner locked in a flooded cell can be found here or the Ramparts. They get the Beheaded's attention and complain about the water. He then exclaims that he felt something touch his leg, and then calls for help. Sounds of their murder by some creature are heard, before they are rendered unresponsive.[5]
  • Tom the Mushroomologist, a drug dealer, dealt psychotropic mushrooms to the other prisoners. He was able to turn a pretty good profit, but no signs of his current whereabouts exist.[6]
  • A scientist with a Headcrab on his head can be found as a Half-Life Reference. Behind it is a secret room with the Blueprint of the HEV Outfit and the Crowbar IconCrowbar. After these two are turned in to the collector, this room stops spawning.
  • A lore room requiring the Teleportation Rune IconTeleportation Rune to access contains the corpse of the Royal Gardener with a Letter from Castaing (The Concierge) to him prior to the events of the game. It contains numerous wall spikes and a Dilapidated Arboretum KeyDilapidated Arboretum Key found on the body of the Gardener.

References

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