Shades

''""I'm... I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have thought this up."''

Shades is the eighth NPC of Ruby Caverns to be encountered and freed. He introduces Challenge Mode, to make the game harder, and unlock... something else.

In Dungeon

He is unlocked the same way as Usk: after reaching the Good Ending, in Hell, find a Wand of Sacrifice and use it three times. Using it once takes health and experience away, so watch out! After three uses the forcefield breaks.

In Main Area

He mentions he can "set some things ablaze" to make the game more challenging. After the initial conversation, he gives 7 options that are all always available, for free. [Nope.] [Pharmaphobia] [Faith Armored] [Poored Land] [Swarm Trackers] [Forbidden Runes] [Darkest Dungeon] [Nope.] disables any current active challenge.

[Pharmaphobia] will make the dungeon generation rarely contain any Blue Boxes. The only exceptions are Lecterns with Knowledge of Brew, or random Blue Boxes in normal endrooms, placed because there is a lack of boxes on the floor. This will minimize your potion options, and Tears will not be useful.

[Faith Armored] will make the dungeon generation rarely contain any White Boxes. The same exceptions from Pharmaphobia apply. Leather, Iron, Diamond and Flint can only be used for crafting recipes, with Leather requiring a Red Box to be traded into Iron and be useful.

[Poored Land] disables most Yellow Boxes. Exceptions are Lecterns with Sense of Fortune, random Red Boxes being replaced by Yellow Boxes, and their respective Rebuild properties. This will make gold almost useless for treasure (unless you want to gamble that there's one coming anyway), and you'll need to rely on trade and crafting.

[Swarm Trackers] gives all enemies a high followrange. You may get swarmed extremely quickly. However, all enemies are still susceptible to effects like invisibility, blindness or Time. Having crowd control attacks is recommended.

[Forbidden Runes] removes all Scroll and Wand Chests, and all Scroll Players. Spells/Scrolls/Wands can only be obtained via boss rewards, buying them from Klum or Morro, or buying them in shops.

[Darkest Dungeon] makes the game impossible to win. No, I'm not kidding. There are no strings attached either. Nothing is as it seems. Remember. It's all a dream, a very bad dream... a nightmare, even.