Part 27: Day 13 - Gameplay

Day 13: Gameplay

Music: neutral 2


Now that we've completed a mission, let's take a quick look at what Hod can offer our facility.

Improve Hiring Procedures: Increases the base stats of hirees by 5. It's not terrible, but it's not our immediate priority since we're sitting on a lot of extra Agents right now anyways.

Improve Work Education: This is another buff to our Clerks. It upgrades their HP and SP to 15-21 each (an increase of 5), and improves their guns to have a 60% chance of dealing 2 damage with each shot. Clerks are still terrible so this is a low priority upgrade.

Supply Education Manuals: Now THIS is more like it. If you remember the EXP formula talk from earlier, this research gives us a +0.5 bonus to our training modifier-which immediately makes all of our works 50% more effective than they'd otherwise be. This is the single biggest increase the training modifier gets in the entire game.



It's only a shame that you have to wait 13 days to get it.



Something seems… off. Did we get a new agent?



She's been here for some time. Recently, she's been moved to a more active role in the company.

Zeta21… Yesod, are you sticking me with a clerk?

Think of it as a test run.

Don't be ridiculous, Clerks don't-

With all due respect, sir, needless deaths are expensive and we only have so many LOB.

_{When did you…} Ugh. Fine. Just don't come crying to me if they bite it.

I won't.

Let's just… get this over with.





Hey, I managed to snag a snapshot on the first frame after starting! We can tell because all of the regenerator bars still have that red X next to them and not all of the Agents/Clerks have loaded in yet.

It's time. Remember to follow the protocols.



So you're the new kid, huh? Yesod said a clerk'd been promoted, but I didn't think it was true…

Nice to meet you. I'm Zaida Toniwan.

Nice to meet you too, Zeta21.

That's not quite-

A new smiling face has entered the fray. What joy, what fun! HAHAHAHAHA!

...yeah, nevermind. When's breaktime?

As long as you're not being expressly told to do something? Always.

Man, you guys really do have it better.



Come on, Tenebrais, cheer up. That could have happened to anyone.

Those rolls were bullshit and I refuse to acknowledge it any further.

What happened?

Her character got killed by ogres.

It was bullshit! My sword had a +3 against ogres!

Orders from the top, everyone. Tenebrais and Credentia are to keep up their training regimens with 1.76 and the Murderer. Blond, you're heading downstairs in a bit to help with Laetitia. I'll stay up here and coordinate our response.

Huh. Where's Malkuth?

Interviewing the leftover clerks from Hod's counseling program. Apparently there was a suicide in Safety and the whole thing got shut down. Last I heard one of them was dealing Enkephalin on the side too… it's huge mess.

Oof. Well, try not to screw it up boss.



...woah.



The new Abnormality certainly has a different aura…

It's a super cutie! I'm gonna go say hi.

Shouldn't you wait for orders?

Why wait? That just means someone may say no.



Our new friend here is the first WAW our facility's seen. Note how tiny the box on the left there is-WAW and higher Abnormalities are worth much more energy per work than the average HE or below.



For comparison, here's what Laetitia's gauge looks like.

Huh… they're right. You really are a good girl.

_Friends?

Let's not get hasty.



There's a cost to the power, however. Because they're so powerful, whenever a WAW Abnormality is worked it gets something called a Qliphoth Overload. This applies a flat penalty to work success equal to the number on the side. For WAW Abnormalities, this number increases by 4 per work. Overloads go away at every meltdown level, so it's very dangerous to work a single WAW or higher class Abnormality too often in a single level.



So how was it?

Hehehe~ The cutie gave me something special! She really cares about her friends~

The symbol above Mizu's head prevents her from doing any work for the remainder of the day-she can't even touch tool Abnormalities once she gets it. However, it offers her 50% protection against every damage type but Pale. It increases the Pale damage she'd take by 1.5x, but since Pale damage is incredibly rare it's worth having around.



Hod, I know it's been a bad day for you, but we don't need to do anything about that bird.

I'm just letting you know!

Just have an agent stand in its hallway, it'll go home.



This actually works, but using Mizu here isn't the best plan since the bird goes home after dealing a specific number of HP. If we had a way to heal while standing in the hallways we could just sit an Agent here forever and never worry about the bird again, but we can't do that since they'd eventually die of pecking. It's nothing a trip to the main room can't fix, though, so no big deal.

In the meanwhile, we've finished getting enough boxes to get some information about our new Abnormality...



Her name is Magical Girl, but since we've already confirmed there are at least two of those we know she'll be getting a new one before too long. Her 22 maximum energy boxes is average for WAWs, with them having a range of 20-24. For comparison, HEs go from 15-18, TETHs go from 12-14, and ZAYINs are almost universally 10.

It's around now that I also realize I have a problem: none of the agents I've stationed in Training can work with the Scarecrow. Luckily...

Yesod, umm… Do you have any agents with low Prudence? We'd like to borrow them for the day.

Don't worry, I have just the agent in mind.



...This is just my life now, huh.

I see what you're doing here, Yesod.

You should really be looking at the clock instead.

What? Why should I-



I'll leave you to take care of it.



Heh. These guys tickle. How hard can this be?



Ghh-stop jumping around and let me hit you!!



Mr.Black here also is attempting to solo a group of Amber Dawns, but spears attack much faster than clubs so he's able to hit them. He manages to solo this entire group but one before going home to heal.



So… thanks for coming to help, Talow.

No problem.

But this isn't working. They're too fast to get a hit in on.

...yeah, these clubs kind of suck. Luckily, we're just stalling for time.

Oh? For what?



I smell a cutie~!

For her to finish with the other group. Let's fall back.

Roger.



Manager, one of those worms got away from Mr.Black. It seems to be attacking one of the clerks in Malkuth's department. With her being indisposed…

Yeah yeah… Tenebrais, you're still working on Forsaken Murderer, right?

Sure am. What of it?

Could you just swing your hammer on the way out the door?

I guess, but why?



Oh. That's why.



You serious? I saved one clerk.

And that clerk could go on to do great things.



Huh… grape jam. I'll go see if the break room has any of those bagels left.

Yes. Truly a visionary among men.

…….



A little while later, we get something interesting: a Meltdown on the Magical Girl. Meltdowns on WAW and ALEPH Abnormalities are either really good or really bad, depending entirely on if we can safely work the Abnormality in question. If we can't, we have a problem dumped into our lap that may end with someone going crazy or dying as a monster breaks out and lays waste to the facility. If we can, however, we get a free work with a high-energy Abnormality, because Meltdown works do not raise the overload penalty. If I weren't in such a hurry that I triggered this while someone was working on her, we'd be able to get two penalty-free works with her in a row. As it is we get two works at -4%, which isn't bad at all.



Since the Portrait was melting down right next to it, I had Medea touch it and then get to work on the Magical Girl again. As for who the damage is passing to…



That's definitely the feeling of being traumatized for no reason! HAHAHAHA!

...I'm sorry?

Not at all! This despair is delectable!



The work is enough to give us more information on our latest Abnormality, including her real name: Say hello to Knight of Despair, everyone!

Music: First Trumpet


And say goodbye, because we have another clown car scorpion to deal with! If Punishing Bird hadn't escaped on top of it, we wouldn't have had a music change-but hey, First Trumpet is a great song. If you haven't listened to it yet, you should totally click on it.



Boss, why do you get the long-range gun if I'm easier to kill than you?

I'm the Team Captain, so I'm less replaceable. Just run away if things get too dicey.



Crimson Noons remain not an actual threat, and this one dies about 3 seconds after Mizu shows up to help, spreading the Dawns around everywhere.



Hey Zeta21, can you help with this clown?

...yeah, I'm sweeping.

Zeetaa!!

I'm en route now.



Did you have to wait for me to be leaving containment to blow it up?

There were two of them. I got hit by the first one blowing up myself.

That'd explain the giblets coming out of your arm, I guess.

Music: neutral 2


Not long after we finally unlock the last bit of Knight of Despair's information, and I finally remember that Attachment 5 was her highest work tier. For the rest of the day, Medea hangs out with her. We also finally unlock access to her E.G.O Gear.



This is the only suit below ALEPH level that has a Pale modifier of better than 1.5x. It is also enough to survive working with any Pale damage Abnormality in the game. Since they give really good stuff, we'll be trying to get our hands on them ASAP.





While having Medea work with Knight of Despair, I noticed that the portrait was changing without people dying. I went and looked into this, and it turns out that the trigger is sending 100 damage, rather than having people die. The more you know, huh?



AH, MY TRAUMAS! THEY'RE RESPLENDENT!!

D.A.D., he won't stop doing it. Can we put him somewhere?

Just dingle the little bell on your hat 'til he stops. It's what I do.

Mr.Black is now taking ~6-8 damage per failed box, so every time Medea says hi to the Knight he's losing a large chunk of his sanity.



Woah, nice tattoo, Medea!

I'm not sure it's a tattoo. Knight of Despair was lamenting the loss of her old friends while we were talking. I told her about what happened to Ishmael, and how bad that felt… and the next thing I know she was poking me!

Sounds a lot more intense than the hat Laetitia offered me. Or the radio that just sort of… appeared.

She said it was a permanent reminder of the sorrow we feel for those we've lost. She's so forlorn… I wish there was something we could do for her.

We could always not die?

I meant something bigger… but that works, I guess.

Nothing else of note happened through the entire day, so things end like they usually have been ending lately: On meltdown level IX with our new Abnormality maxed out.

Okay everyone, the manager just called it. Let's pack it all in for the day and grab a drink!



Um, Miss Tenebrais?

What.

I just wanted to thank you for everything. If you hadn't shown up when you did… that worm thing would have gutted me through.

...Oh. You were there. Whatever.

...did you see that? Even the way she tries to play it off like it's no big deal is amazing!

She really is a model agent. Saving lives like it's an afterthought.

We should start a fan club!



Good job today, everyone!

Notable powerups from today's works include:

• Medea's Temperance maxes out
  
• Mizu gains 7 points of Temperance from a single work.
  
• Mr.Blond jumps from Temperance level 2 to 5 because Laetitia is a good girl who has done nothing wrong in her life. This is how we cleared Hod's mission, he was level 3 and this put him over the edge.
  
• D.A.D. gains 40 points of Prudence in a handful of works with Rudolta
  
• Zeta21 has maxed her Prudence, and gained 14 points of Temperance from a single work with Laetitia.
  

Stat growths start getting hilarious after we get Hod's research. I love it.

Music: never frozen bottom flows


T-09-94: Many of those who underwent an operation inside the machine have found themselves rested and healthy again.
T-09-78: The final chapter ends with the phrase: "Born again."
T-09-79: And the prayer shall inevitably end with the eternal despair of its worshipper.

It's tool time yet again, and we've got three new ones! First there's -94, a ZAYIN tool which goes completely unused 90% of the time and completely negates otherwise difficult challenges the other 10%. It can make people explode, but it's rare. The next one, -78, is an equippable HE tool. This means Agents grab it and hold on to it throughout the day, and they can return it whenever they like. This particular tool gives a minor boost to a stat, will probably kill someone the first time you see it, and after that there's only a medium chance of it making people explode. Finally, there's -79. On paper, it's a healing tool which lets you heal your entire facility at once. In practice, it's a rather high-risk WAW tool which holds a strict time limit and will kill either our Agent or the entire facility if it's handled improperly.



We go with -94, because that 10% is absolutely worth showing off.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: X asks Angela an important question, and I do something completely unexpected.

New Guidelines

Knight of Despair

New Gear


Requirements: Level 4
*Not affected by Attack Speed


Requirements: Justice 4

New Story

Knight of Despair