Dark Ruins
The Dark Ruins are the first original location in Undertale Yellow. Clover enters the Dark Ruins after falling through a hole in the Ruins from original Undertale.
Features[edit | edit source]
- Flowey's introduction to the game.
- Decibat as a mid-area miniboss, later found hanging around the halls if spared.
- Completely abandoned rooms with no NPCs (except for Dust Bunny), unless on a Pacifist Route and the final boss is spared.
- Various consumable items, such as Candy Corn, Lemonade and the Corn Dog.
- The Feather accessory can be found in a dark cave and Pebble Ammo in a blocked-off corner of a room.
- Four pillars with various drawings depending on the Fun Value.
- Dalv as the area's final boss, with his house available for exploration after the battle. Sponge Cake can be found there.
- Various cracks that when interacted with in ascending order open a way to Micro Froggit, a secret boss. As a reward for finding the secret, the first of the four golden items, the Golden Pear, can be found.
Map[edit | edit source]
Main Story[edit | edit source]
The Dark Ruins are a layer below the Ruins. They are in a state of disrepair, and appear to have been abandoned for a long time. Clover reaches the Dark Ruins by pulling the unlabelled lever in the Ruins switch puzzle room. This cracks a hole below them, which they fall down and lose the Missing Poster in the process.
Once they wake up, they can wait in the room for Toriel, or they can proceed to the rest of the Dark Ruins. If they wait 5 minutes, Toriel throws down a rope. When Clover tries to climb the rope, the game restarts, and for a single frame a tiny Flowey appears on the screen, indicating that he initiated the reset.
If they continue further, they meet Flowey, who introduces them to how battles and SAVEs work. He places a SAVE point of his into the room, and autosaves the game for Clover.
Throughout the Dark Ruins, Clover encounters Dalv several times: first time at a long hallway after the initial puzzles, then watching him over a chasm in the pillar room, and finally in front of his house. On his first two encounters, he appears to be talking to someone who disappeared a long time ago, turns around, and gets surprised by Clover's appearance. On his last two encounters, he tells Clover to go away.
The miniboss of Dark Ruins is Decibat. He appears in a darkly lit room, and asks Clover for silence. If spared by silence, he later appears hanging from a pole after exiting the dark cave. Depending on the method of sparing Decibat, Dalv's dialogue during his battle changes.
Dalv can be fought in front of his house. He appears to have mistaken Clover for somebody else (presumably the Integrity human), and offers to spare them once he realizes his mistake. Dalv then invites Clover to his house, showing them around as Clover interacts with various items.
Pacifist Route[edit | edit source]
After defeating Dalv, all monsters from the Dark Ruins can be interacted with as NPCs at various locations throughout the Dark Ruins. Once Clover wants to leave, Dalv follows Clover to the exit, and breaks the planks blocking it. He says how he wants to exit the Dark Ruins, and when reaching the Sunnyside Farm he sends Clover a mail telling them how he moved to Snowdin.
However if the secret boss Micro Froggit is killed after sparing Dalv, all monster NPCs in the Pacifist Route disappear as this causes the route to be aborted to a Neutral Route.
Neutral Route[edit | edit source]
If Dalv is killed, House Guest does not play in his house, and Clover can visit his room. In his room, Clover can play Organ Demo on his gramophone and read his diary. In his diary, he talks about a friend that Flier and Penilla suspect is imaginary, who has reached out to him and helped him cope with the past. This friend is most likely the mysterious friend who left corn on his doorstep, until they disappeared and Dalv blocked himself off in the Dark Ruins. The unused track Dalv's Diary was once supposed to play here.
If Dalv is spared, he still shows Clover around his house, but as Clover is about to leave he stays in Dark Ruins.
Genocide Route[edit | edit source]
If Decibat is spared during a Genocide Route, this does not affect the current route until they battle Dalv, after which is unconditionally reverts them to a Neutral Route. If Dalv is spared, the Genocide Route aborts, but he does not show Clover around his house like in a regular Neutral Route, instead retreating to his room. If Dalv is killed, items in his house become crueler in description.
Geography[edit | edit source]
Entrance to Atrium[edit | edit source]
In the first room of the Dark Ruins, Clover falls down on an identical flower pile as they fell on in the Ruins. The room is darkly lit, visibly in ruins, and with a sign obscured by leaves suggesting that Clover can use the Cancel key (usually X) to run. If auto-sprint is turned on in the Game Config screen, the sign says they can use the Cancel key to walk. The next room is additionally enveloped in a fog, with wind sounds from Undertale playing.
Further rooms are not as darkly lit as the first two, but still contain visible signs of ruin, as well as leaves on walls and cobwebs. The next room is octogonal in shape, with a SAVE point present after Flowey's introduction to the game. It continues with a hall of ruined pillars, and a "5" shaped crack in the north wall.
The first puzzle consists of spikes that prevent Clover from proceeding, and three switches that need to be pressed in order: right, left, middle. In the same room, there is a scripted encounter with Flier and a sign that reads "EXPOSITION."
The next puzzle is a glowing boxes puzzle, with five boxes in a row and first and fourth unlit. Upon interacting with a box, its lightness flips (from light to dark, or dark to light), as well as the lightness of the neighboring boxes. To successfully complete the puzzle, Clover has to turn all boxes on, as indicated by a sign at the right side of the room. They can also use a switch at the left side of the room to reset the puzzle back to its initial state. The optimal solution to this puzzle is to press the middle box first, and then the box to the left of it next.
This leads into a long hallway with pools of water at its edges. The hallway has a sign that states "Private property. No tresspassing." in the middle, and further on Clover meets Dalv for the first time. On the wall to the north where Dalv stands, a crack in the shape of "4" can be found.
Atrium[edit | edit source]
In the next part of the Dark Ruins, a scripted encounter with Penilla occurs. There is a SAVE point in this room. To the east, there is an abandoned lemonade stand. Clover can choose to take the lemonade, and either leave a tip of 1G or a tip of 5G.
Corn Field[edit | edit source]
North of the SAVE point, there is a large corn field with three branching paths, two of them blocked off by spikes, and one of them leading into a maze. Sweet Corn's scripted encounter is right at the entrance to the maze.
A piece of Candy Corn lies east of the entrance to the maze. To exit the maze, Clover has to walk west, north, then east. At the exit of the maze, a switch that deactivates the spikes can be flipped, allowing Clover to visit the northwest corner of the room. Over there is a passage leading into a new room with Pebble Ammo. A sign at the exit from the room, which appears to be placed by Dalv, talks about how he planted the corn in the field for a friend to brighten their day.
Pillar Room[edit | edit source]
In the next room, a row of spikes prevents Clover from going further until they hit a switch at the east side of the room. Before being able to do so, another cutscene with Dalv triggers, with Dalv located over a large chasm. A sign at the north wall, which also appears to be placed by Dalv, talks about not fearing the unknown.
On the south part of the room there are four pillars, a scripted encounter with Rorrim, a SAVE point and a crack in the shape of "3" in the northeast corner. The four pillars have different drawings on them depending on the Fun Value, but on most Fun Values only the third pillar has a drawing of a cat on it, with narration calling it a "caterpillar." All other drawings on pillars tell the story of Axis killing the Integrity human, presumably drawn by Dalv.
Decibat to Dark Cave[edit | edit source]
The next area looks similar to the second room of Dark Ruins, with fog and wind. As Clover goes south the room becomes darker, until finally two eyes appear from the darkness and Decibat attacks Clover.
The next room contains a SAVE point, a scripted encounter with Crispy Scroll, and a second glowing boxes puzzle. The puzzle is similar to the first, but with two rows of 5 boxes instead. The image indicates the order in which the boxes should be flipped, namely:
- Second box in the bottom row
- Third box in the bottom row
- Fourth box in the top row
To the north of the room is a locked gate that can only be opened from the other side. To the east are spikes that are unlocked once the puzzle is complete. Further east there is a dead end, and a sheet that mimics a wall that can be removed to enter a dark cave. This is the only room where a triple Flier encounter can be found.
Dark Cave[edit | edit source]
In the dark cave, only a circle of light is visible around Clover. Three signs on the walls of the cave, presumably written by Dalv, tell how he has forgotten what he once saw so often. Going right on the first branching path leads to the stray Feather.
The exit from the cave is in the northwest corner of the cave. In the northeast corner, there is a pathway blocked by rocks that leads to the secret room and can be unlocked by pressing the wall cracks in order. On the north wall, there is a crack in the shape of "2".
Hall to Dalv's House[edit | edit source]
Exiting from the dark cave leads to a foggy bridge lit by torches that Decibat can be found sleeping on if spared by silence. Further on leads to the entrance to his house, where Clover meets him for the third time. In front of his house, there is a large pool of water, and a sign signifying his property. There is also a cob of corn in a cobweb, and a SAVE point.
The road to the east leads to the corn storage room, and the road to the south leads to the locked gate previously seen at the second glowing boxes puzzle. To unlock the gate, Clover has to press a switch on the left side of the room. On the right side of the room, a crack in the wall in the shape of "1" can be found.
Corn Storage[edit | edit source]
This room contains several crates with corn, a flower bed, and a sign saying not to step on the flowers which can be only read after doing so. One of the crates is labeled "special corn" and contains several blue corn cobs, as well as the Corn Dog item.
To the east of this room, Clover can enter the area where they previously spotted Dalv in, at the other side of the chasm in the pillar room.
Dalv's House[edit | edit source]
There is a hallway to the entrance to Dalv's house, a foggy area surrounded by two large pools with pieces of wood floating on them. Dalv waits for Clover here, then uncloaks himself and initiates a battle. Once the battle is over, Clover can explore Dalv's house.
Dalv's house is overall dark blue-themed, with dark blue walls and a dark blue carpet in the middle of his living room. It has a wooden floor and candles hanging from the walls. A fridge in his living room contains the Sponge Cake, a leftover from Dalv's birthday, which can only be obtained if he is present in the room. A wardrobe containing Pops can be interacted with, and Clover sucks the helium out of Pops on the Genocide Route. A flower pot full of dirt seems to be Dalv's recent gardening failure, and his table seems to be covered in various drawings, which Dalv calls his projects.
In Dalv's eastern hallway a large painting of a corn cob drawn by Penilla can be seen hanging from the wall, and at the end of it Clover can find the Broom. If Dalv is with Clover, he prevents them from entering his room.
Dalv's room consists of a large organ, a bed with Dalv's diary on it, a table with a book where Dalv appears to be writing a description of himself, an oak chest lined with high quality satin, and a gramophone which plays Organ Demo.
To the north of his house is the exit from the Dark Ruins. A door blocked by planks leads to the exit, which either Dalv or Flowey breaks.
Secret Room[edit | edit source]
A secret room in the Dark Ruins can be unlocked by interacting with aforementioned cracks in ascending order, meaning that Clover has to backtrack for it. Each successful interaction produces a croak sound. After the last crack is interacted with, the rocks in the dark cave break, and Clover can enter the secret room.
Location of the first crack.
Location of the second crack.
Location of the third crack.
Location of the fourth crack.
Location of the fifth crack.
In this room, Micro Froggit attacks Clover. After ending the battle, Clover can take the Golden Pear and interact with the Dust Bunny NPC (unless on a Genocide Route).