Underworld

Underworld Loot Island, in the Underworld beneath Eyeaduct.

“

Hey, it's me, the Bombinomicon. Guess what, guys? You're in Hell. It's good stuff. You're gonna like it here. Click to listen — The Bombinomicon

”

Underworld (introduced in Eyeaduct of the Very Scary Halloween Special update) refers to the several alternate play spaces in certain Haunted Halloween maps.

Underworlds differ from each other, but common characteristics among them are the presence of Magic spells, a harmful atmosphere, and deadly waters or Infernal Lava.

General features

Underworld locations draw from a number of features:

• Many Underworlds are accessed and exited through portals.
• Entry and exit buffs (overheal, invulnerability, crits) and rare, powerful Magic Spells encourage players to learn to use some Underworld locations for tactical advantages in the main map.
• Underworld locations generally have mechanisms for limiting the time players can remain there, either by automatically killing off or pushing out all players that stay there for too long or by ending the round:
  • Several locations feature portals for returning to the main level, usually with the aforementioned exit buffs, to incentivize players to leave.
  • Many ​Underworld ​locations are surrounded by instantly-lethal hazards, such as Stygian water or lava.
  • Some Underworld locations​ cause Health drain on all players, either persistently (such as in Monster Bash) or after a certain grace period ends (such as Cursed Cove)​.
    • A map with multiple Underworlds (such as Eyeaduct) may have separate health-drain characteristics for each.
• Achievements with achievement items that can only be earned in certain Underworld locations encourage players to try out the location.

List of maps with Underworld locations

Note: Community maps are identified in italics.

Name	Picture	File name	Underworld(s)
Bloodwater		pl_bloodwater	Purgatory, Loot Island
Brimstone		pl_fifthcurve_event	Purgatory, Hell
Carnival of Carnage		sd_doomsday_event	Bumper Cars
Cauldron		koth_bagel_event	Swampy Purgatory
Cursed Cove		pd_cursed_cove_event	Davy Jones' Locker
Eyeaduct		koth_viaduct_event	Purgatory, Loot Island
Ghost Fort		koth_lakeside_event	Skull Island
Gravestone		pl_rumble_event	Island (Underworld), Graveyard (Purgatory), Bumper Cars
Hellstone		pl_millstone_event	Purgatory, Hell
Helltower		plr_hightower_event	Hell
Moldergrove		koth_undergrove_event	Underworld
Monster Bash		pd_monster_bash	Pit and Pendulums
Moonshine Event		koth_moonshine_event	Underworld
Pit of Death		pd_pit_of_death_event	Underworld
Slasher		koth_slasher	Underworld
Laughter		koth_slaughter_event	Funhouse

Underworlds

Bloodwater

Purgatory consists of Lava and poisonous air.

If a player takes one of MONOCULUS' portals, their health is fully restored and they are transported to a small set of small islands with a few Magic Spells scattered around. Leaving through the white portal takes them back to the control point with a series of temporary buffs, including full critical hits. Attacking MONOCULUS with these crits stuns him for a few seconds.

Loot Island is another location in Purgatory. Players can access it by touching the Bombinomicon that appears once MONOCULUS has been defeated; they must then make their way to the giant skull and get the Bombinomicon in there. Once they do, they are taken back to the control point with a series of buffs and a Rare Magic Spell. Similar to Eyeaduct, the air in Loot Island is harmless, the cease-fire would have ended, and players may attack their enemies on this location. Also, staying here for too long causes the island to explode, killing anyone on it.

• 

  Purgatory

• 

  Loot Island

Brimstone

Brimstone has two underworlds: Purgatory and Hell.

Purgatory consists of two small islands surrounded by lava with a harmful atmosphere. Players can access it through the portals opened by MONOCULUS when it teleports in order to obtain Rare Spells and several buffs that last a few seconds if they manage to go through the white portal.

Hell is very similar to Purgatory: it consists of two islands, though one is small and the other is big and has an altar, has lava and a harmful atmosphere, and provides players with Rare Spells and several buffs when exiting. It can be accessed by jumping into the portal opened by defeating MONOCULUS or by going through the white portals in the coffins.

When entering these locations, players receive a brief moment of invincibility to help them survive their malicious atmospheres. When leaving through a portal, they are sent back to the overworld with a series of buffs.

• 

  Purgatory.

• 

  Hell.

Carnival of Carnage

Once one of the teams has successfully delivered the tickets to the Strongmann in Carnival of Carnage, Merasmus takes all players to another realm, where they are forced to play one of three deadly bumper cars mini-games. The winning team receives an advantage over the other as a reward.

Falling Platforms: players must drive on wooden platforms and avoid falling off. Merasmus periodically destroys all but one of the platforms and then brings all but one of them back. Once only one platform remains, he brings them all back and restarts the process.

Bumper Car Soccer: players are forced to play soccer using a giant beach ball. There are three ways to win:

• Score three goals
• Knock all enemy players off the field
• Score a goal during sudden death

Duck Collectors: players are taken to a figure-8 racetrack-like arena and have to collect ducks. Golden bonus ducks dropped by enemies rammed into are worth 2 points each.

Spells can be collected and cast in Bumper Car Soccer and Duck Collectors, most of them being unique to this realm.

Falling off any of the arenas turns the player into a team-colored ghost that can still be controlled by the player. Touching an ally that's still alive resurrects the player; touching an enemy causes the player to bounce up.

• 

  The Falling Platforms.

• 

  The Bumper Car Soccer field.

• 

  The Duck Collectors track.

Cauldron

Cauldron's Underworld consists of a series of islands rising from a toxic swamp engulfed in poisonous air in front of a clock tower. Two floating cauldrons serve as moving platforms.

It can be accessed when the cauldron on the control point erupts and opens up portals as a result, and can be exited by jumping into the glowing cauldron. When entering, players are fully healed; when leaving, they receive a series of buffs.

• 

  Cauldron's underworld.

Cursed Cove

Davy Jones' Locker resembles the bottom of the sea, with algae and corals dotting the landscape. Players must go there in order to deliver the souls they have collected. It can be accessed by touching the Flying Dutchman while it is sailing through the town.

Although the Locker does not feature a harmful atmosphere, a player that stays there too long starts to quickly drown. To leave, they have to either go through the white portal on the sunken ship, or be kicked out by Davy Jones.

• 

  Davy Jones' Locker.

• 

  Davy Jones on his ship.

Eyeaduct

Purgatory is a gloomy swamp of deadly waters and poisonous air.

If a player takes one of MONOCULUS' portals, their health is fully restored and they are transported to a small set of small islands. Leaving through the white portal takes them back to the control point with a series of temporary buffs, including full critical hits. Attacking MONOCULUS with these crits stuns him for a few seconds. All players are transported to this location when Humiliation starts.

Loot Island is another location in Purgatory. Players can access it by touching the Bombinomicon that appears once MONOCULUS has been defeated; they must then make their way to the giant skull and get the Bombinomicon in there. Once they do, they are taken back to the control point with a series of buffs. While the air in Loot Island is harmless, the cease-fire will have ended, and players may attack their enemies on this location. Also, staying here for too long causes the island to explode, killing anyone on it.

Players reaching the Bombinomicon on Loot Island for the first time receive it as a cosmetic item and unlock the Halloween achievement Dive Into A Good Book.

• 

  Loot Island.

Ghost Fort

While Ghost Fort's Skull Island is not an Underworld, it shares a few similarities with them:

• It is reached by touching the Bombinomicon left by Merasmus when defeated.
• Falling into the water is an instantaneous kill.
• Leaving through the exit returns the players to the control point with invulnerability and crits.

Players who touch the Bombinomicon after Merasmus is defeated are taken to the island's pier and have to get the Skull Island Topper inside the giant skull. If players take too long to get the Skull Island Topper, Skull Island explodes and kills all those on it.

Players reaching the Skull Island Topper for the first time receive it as a cosmetic item and unlock the Halloween achievement A Lovely Vacation Spot.

• 

  Skull Island.

Gravestone

Gravestone's Underworld is a gloomy swamp with deadly waters and poisonous air. It can be accessed through white portals in coffins and doorways opened every Witching Hour to collect Rare Spells and receive buffs when leaving through the exit.

Graveyard can be accessed by entering any of the portals MONOCULUS leaves behind. Every time the MONOCULUS tele-portal opens, one Rare Magic Spell spawns in the Graveyard for some player to pick up; however, when a MONOCULUS death-portal opens, there are five Rare Magic Spells to pick up. The Graveyard may be exited through the glowing white portal surrounded by Pitfall. Staying too long drains the player's health. Players that use that exit portal receive a brief Healing.

Once the Payload stage of the map ends, all players are taken to a Mansion in the underworld and forced to participate in a bumper cars race, the winning team receiving a head start. Shortly after the race start, Merasmus and skeletons appear and attack players. The first team to reach the top of the Mansion wins.

• 

  Graveyard.

• 

  The bumper car area.

Hellstone

Like Brimstone, Hellstone has both Purgatory and Hell.

Purgatory is an island surrounded by lava ending in a white portal with a single Rare Spell in front of it. Players entering Purgatory are restored to full health, but quickly suffer from the evil atmosphere's effect. Going through the portal takes the player back to the overworld with a series of buffs.

Hell is much larger than Purgatory, and has more Rare Spells. It can be accessed by touching the Bombinomicon that appears after defeating MONOCULUS and can be exited by reaching him at the other end. It is also filled with lava with an evil atmosphere, and leaving through the portal grants the same bonuses.

• 

  Purgatory.

• 

  Hell.

Helltower

Hell is a set of islands surrounded by lava where all players are taken to once the Payload Race stage of the map is over.

The teams spawn dancing next to an island featuring a copy of the tower seen in the overworld. Both Common and Rare Spells can be found throughout the area, with the Rare Spells being on harder-to-reach places.

Skull Island lies in front of the tower across a wooden bridge over the lava. The first team to get the Fancy Spellbook inside the giant skull wins the round.

Players who die in Hell do not respawn; instead, they turn into team-colored ghosts that can float around and say "boo."

Players reaching Skull Island for the first time receive the Unfilled Fancy Spellbook and unlock the Halloween achievement Hat Out of Hell.

• 

  The tower in Hell. Teams spawn on the islands on the opposite sides.

• 

  Skull Island in the distance. A Rare Spell can be seen on the tower.

Moldergrove

Once a team captures the control point, portals to the Underworld appear, where a 3v3 battle ensues. The Underworld consists of several islands floating over an abyss; three big ones where players spawn in connected to each other and four small, disconnected ones on either side, and a big, central one with two medium health kits on a summoning circle and two small ones with a medium ammo pack each. The big central island is connected to both small central islands and the middle big islands for each team.

Players cannot attack enemies in the Underworld until the 3v3 battle has started.

If not enough players join the 3v3 battle in time, those who joined are sent back to the End of the Line on their respective sides of the map with a speed boost.

• 

  Moldergrove's Underworld.

Moonshine Event

Moonshine Event's Underworld is a gloomy swamp with deadly waters and poisonous air. It can be accessed by taking the yellow portal that opens near the middle of the map sometimes when the control point is captured and all players are transported there if the Wheel of Fate lands on Dance-Off. Players are overhealed on arrival to compensate for the health drain.

Two Rare Spells can be found in the Underworld, and exiting through the portal inside the giant skull takes players back to the control point with invulnerability.

• 

  Moonshine Event's Underworld.

Pit of Death

Every Witching Hour, a portal appears over the bottomless pit in the center of the map, taking players to the gates of a mansion in the Underworld. Players deliver collected souls by going into the mansion's yard.

The Underworld is exited by going through the mansion's white portal, which takes the player back to the overworld with a series of buffs.

• 

  The portal leading to the Underworld.

• 

  Pit of Death's Underworld.

• 

  The mansion's yard.

Slasher

Slasher's Underworld is a series of islands floating above an astral abyss with an evil atmosphere.

It can be accessed at any time through a portal near the map's control point, but also by entering a MONOCULUS portal or the Bombinomicon that spawns after Merasmus is defeated (which spawns the player closer to the exit). Returning to the overworld through the exit grants the player with guaranteed crits for a few seconds.

• 

  The permanent portal.

• 

  Slasher's Underworld.

Laughter

Players enter Laughter's Underworld through doors next to the point and must survive three randomly-selected Funhouse rooms to receive temporary buffs.

• 

  Rings of fire.

• 

  A long hallway.

• 

  Bounce pads.

• 

  A series of hallways.

See also

• Halloween map
• Halloween
• Hell
• Probed (flying saucer environment)

Sources

Names of certain Underworld locations can be obtained from the following:

• Halloween achievements, which name some specific locations, e.g., Loot Island, Skull Island, Hell
• Update histories, which can incidentally reveal or confirm names of locations, e.g., Purgatory, Hell, Underworld
• Decompiled maps: VMF files.
• Comments by Developers.