Part 21: Day 10 - Gameplay

Day 10: Gameplay

Music: neutral 2
Huh? What're these notices…

"Report to the meeting room for cleanup duty." Maybe something escaped?

If I had to guess, we're going to be cleaning up the bodies Malkuth left there after her little tantrum.

Uugh, you mean she can get worse?

We'll tell you all about it during cleanup duty.

Nothing to it but to smile and get the job done, then!

---



Manager, I've rolled out some training manuals to the clerks that should give them an idea how to handle the threats they're likely to face here. That may help pick up some of the slack.

It won't, but thanks.

Have you selected the best agents from those available?

I hope so. Newbies are pretty much all the same without going through some kind of training program.

In that case, who am I working with today?




Medea is suited up to avoid dying despite her 15 HP, and Mr.Blond has a rarity: a beginner title that doesn't reduce a stat to 15. Our greatest issue today is going to be a lack of suits, Credentia and SeyserKoze will have to do without. This is fine for them, since their department deals in easy Abnormalities and we really only need 3 people to perform works.

I assume I have a new team as well. Bear in mind that we have two HE-level Abnormalities.




My plans in Information have to be a little more creative, since anyone walking into one of the HE chambers will be instantly taking 60% of their SP in damage. To deal with Laetitia I have Twee-after a lot of calculations earlier, I figured out that an agent with her stat spread should be able to consistently survive if we beat the average results spread, and only panic if we miss it. Sephiroth's job is to walk up to Father Christmas in case of a meltdown and babble incoherently about his mom until he goes crazy. Both of them are Prudence-highest agents, so they'll stand still if they fail their works.

Boksi, Ishmael, and Tenebrais are there to beat the shit out of them when they panic so that nobody snaps their own neck. That's all they will be doing unless Shy Look has a meltdown. With a total of 10 Agents in the building, we can afford to lose one without any penalty to our LOB gains.

Manager, it should take five full meltdown periods to finish the cleanup.

So I'm stuck until we hit VI, huh? Alright. Let's do this.

DAY 10 CHALLENGE: OOPS! ALL NEWBIES

Rules: Reach level VI with a facility of only level 1 agents.





It's time. Remember to follow the protocols.



Call me Ishmael. Some days ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me in the city, I thought I would find a job and see the wings of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation.

...I can't believe I have to hang out with you today.

I just think it's about time they went ahead and hired someone really talented like myself.

Oh… were you a SOLDIER as well?

No idea what that means. Was in an organization once, though.



Alright ladies, gentlemen and dumbasses. We've got a job to do, and the sooner it's done the better.

Right! Leave it to me!

We're all super screwed, I can feel it in my hair.

I just can't wait to learn more about these Abnormalities!

Orders from the top, everyone! Credentia, Mr.Blond, Medea, go ahead and give working a try.

S'all good, boss!



The plan at the start is to have the agents in Control work with the upper three. After some faffing about, I settle in on having Medea work with One Sin on Insight, Mr.Blond working with 1.76 on Repression, and Chinley on Forsaken Murderer. This is one of the downsides of having 5 members who need training in one department, it's impossible to properly cycle training around since two people are going to be idle at all times.



Our first work on the 3 Control Abnormalities shoves us to 29 energy. Gathering the energy won't be a problem, what really matters is the meltdowns avoiding Rudolta.



Hey… like, did you know your hair sort of hovers over your head?

Yes, I got that done in the Nest, actually. It alerts me to danger and it's a hell of a fashion statement.

Woah… You really can buy anything there.



It's such a shame that they let the riffraff in… but I suppose it's more bodies to put in front of the truly great people.

All mortal greatness is but disease.

...Hmph! I suppose that means you're one of them. Try not to get the stench on me.



The first meltdown level hits 1.76 MHz. Since Dawns don't cause meltdowns, that means we only need to get lucky one more time of the two remaining meltdown rolls and Rudolta won't break out. And with a Green Dawn coming on top of it, we're having a pretty lucky day so far.

Since it seems like Control's gotten into the swing of things, it's time we do some work. Twee, you're assigned to talk to Laetitia.

Awesome! But uh… If I can ask, sir…



Why am I being escorted?

If you go crazy, they're under orders to beat you sane again.

Oh, cool!

This is the plan I mentioned above in action. If Twee panics, the three of them will beat her back to sanity. I realize later that I only really need to assign one person to this hallway to prevent a suicide, but overkill is still the best kind of kill.



She's… too good for this world! Too pure..!

Losing 60% of a low SP gauge right off is a bit painful, but it at least ensures Twee can't die doing this work. However,



Gee golly, you sure know a lot about magic! I can't wait to talk with you again!

Laetitia is a good girl who has done nothing wrong in her life so it's fine.



With one work until the next meltdown, I stack everyone in the facility into the Control main room. Since any of our level 1 Agents would lose in a 1v1 against the Dawn, my plan is to just dogpile on them and take them out quickly. SeyserKoze is sent to work One Sin, and this sets us underway.

Good luck everyone!

Do I finally get to hit something, now?



Manager, the clerks have engaged the Green Dawns.

I don't like how that one on the right maimed the corpse. We'll hold back until they've been cleared out.

So you're just going to leave my employees to die?!

Don't be ridiculous. Clerks don't count.

Since the Doubt's on-kill attack deals a lot of very quick hits of White damage, they're at their most dangerous when they've just killed something weak, like a Clerk. Remember that prior to today our Clerks would panic and run away from these things, who couldn't swing fast enough to hit them? Yeah, they've actually gotten more dangerous due to the upgrade we got this morning-so we wait for the coast to be clear rather than risk panicking the entire facility.



That should be all of the ones in the immediate area.

While the Dawns were busy, I ordered the Agents into the elevator directly above them. Putting Agents into elevators is a double-edged sword, since all of them pile on top of each other. When an enemy walks in, all of the DPS of every Agent in there is directly on them, but it leaves Agents vulnerable to attacks that can hit multiple targets.



No quarter! No mercy! No hesitation!

No doubt!

It dies just after this, and everyone is moved back to the main room to heal HP/SP back to full.



So uh… this thorn crown thing. It's good, right?

Based on my initial observations, yes. It should be fine.

Compared to the battles in Wutai, these foes are nothing…

Stop babbling nonsense while there're still asses to kick.

Heh. I like this guy's style.



While I reposition the team again, the other Doubt picks a fight with Zeta5.



It does not end well for Zeta5.



To be fair, it also does not end well for the Doubt. That's the second hurdle overcome. As long as Rudolta doesn't come up in both of the next two meltdowns, we're clear for the day.



She gave me a hat!

Getting back to work, Laetitia gives Twee a hat and has another perfectly fine work result. Medea and Mr.Blond also go back to work upstairs, alongside Chinley working with Forsaken Murderer.



The third meltdown here is 1.76. That means that we've missed Rudolta again, so we don't have to worry about it escaping today!

Boksi, get on Shy Look, it's got a good face right now.



For someone of my caliber to be nervous… How interesting!



How's the cleanup going over there?

It is progressing smoothly, X. We should be finished in two more meltdown cycles.

Good. Great! Keep it up, I'll make sure nothing happens until then.

Yes, Manager.



I dunno, I think Instinct work is better. It's easier to understand, just feed them.

Saaame.

Well… I guess I can't expect everyone to get it. Still, I'm going to understand everything about them so I can properly care for any Abnormality we see here!

That sounds perfectly perfect to me!



Rudolta finally gets hit by a meltdown, so it's time for Sephiroth to do what he's here for.



He does Insight work on Rudolta, while Tenebris waits just outside.

*incoherent sputtering*

Presents? I have no need of such things. Pour your hatred out, and let darkness consume your heart!



And what is this music? We should change from bells to gongs, and carolers to choirs. Mother would wish it so.





Predictably, Sephiroth screws up-Rudolta is just too much damage for a level 1 Agent to work with. This gives us a bad result, which both lowers its QC to 1, and fails Yesod's mission for the day. Oh well, we can get it another time.



_{Veni, veni, venias, Ne me mori facias, Veni, veni, venias, Ne me mori facias..!}

Oh, I've been waiting all day for this.



This is after one hit. A second one is enough to finish fixing him.



You have earned my gratitude. Once I have become a god, I shall lead you to the promised land.

Don't make me club you again.

Using a sacrifice like this is an ideal strategy for when we don't have a better way to deal with an Abnormality that's too strong for us. Ideally, we'll always be able to work our Abnormalities-but it's important to keep nonstandard plans like this one in our back pocket for just in case something happens that sets our Agents back several pegs.



With this last obstacle cleared, there's nothing else preventing us from coasting to the finish line, and we do this by having Twee work with Laetitia one more time.

Manager, the cleanup is complete. No agents are showing mental corruption levels above 79%.

Great, let's call it before things can get any worse. We got lucky today.

You think so? I'd say it is more evidence of your skill as a manager.



You all did the best you could. Get some sleep.

Mr.Blond and Twee get boosted straight to rank 2, and notably Sephiroth is not on the list at all-Agents only get EXP for works they finish.

Music: never frozen bottom flows


F-01-87: The city still remained a beautiful place where the emerald roads sparkled bright as ever.
O-02-98: Now it's time for my head to burst. Good day.
T-05-51: Many hands float in the bath. They are the hands of the people I once loved.

I was hoping for a HE-level Justice trainer, but it seems that the game is punishing me for getting through today unscathed instead.

Several Abnormalities have stat requirements, where agents either need to be higher or lower than a certain level in a stat in order to work the Abnormality safely. The ones which require a stat minimum aren't so bad, but the ones which have a stat maximum are among the most annoying to manage Abnormalities in the game, since we have to purposely limit ourselves to be able to work them. These three all have various stat requirements. We'll start with -51: a basic TETH with a low requirement for Fort/Temperance to work. Its gear is meh, it doesn't breach, and while it's easy to work we'd rather get something a bit better for us right now.

The next one, -98, requires a Temperance of 4 to work. With Laetitia in the facility this isn't a problem, and it's actually quite a powerful Instinct trainer. However, it's troublesome to deal with when it breaches and most importantly its suit is weak against Red damage. Weakness to Red damage is a huge liability at this point in the game, so this isn't a great pick either.

Finally, there's -87. Nobody likes -87. It's a breach-prone jerk of an Abnormality with a prohibitively low maximum Prudence requirement to work safely, and when it breaks out it can and will lay out a large number of employees if it's not fought carefully. However, it also comes with access to a pair of 0.6x Red suits and some very powerful weapons to go with them. Since none of these three are worth anything to our training plans, it's all about prioritizing gear vs risk.



I don't think this is a surprise at this point.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: A conspicuous lack of Angela.