Lobotomy Corporation Part #89 - Day 40

Part 89: Day 40 - Gameplay

Day 40: Gameplay

Music: neutral 3

This is… what am I looking at here?

By equipping our agents with a canister set to fire off a massive burst of nanites and Enkephalin when an agent is on the verge of a crisis, I've determined it's possible to save them. The process is expensive, and only works around 25% of the time...

So it was originally canned due to budget concerns?

Bingo~

Implement them immediately.

Already done.

While we never want to rely on this ability, it's a very handy thing to have on hand for when things go south. Note that it does not work on instant kill abilities like Big Bird's, only on HP or SP damage.

A gift, in honor of your recent success.

Oh yeah, that was a thing. Thanks, Binah.

Do not mention it. A trick is deserving of a reward. Such is the way of the world, yes?

Just doubling our E.G.O gift odds, since there's some good stuff in our facility that I wouldn't mind getting on more Agents.

That seems… ominous. No information about what's happening, just an announcement.

As a reminder, the Red Mist is Gebura's former self, the one who was in the memories you saw before.

...Ah. So that's who's coming back. That woman who it took an entire facility of Abnormalities to take… down...

That sounds like an idea you're having right now! How can we help?

Take everyone off of active duty. I have an idea for how to beat her.

Not happening. She's my boss, I'm taking care of her.

...Wait, what are you doing not in my office?

Nobody ever told me how to get there. No problem, I prefer field work.

What's all this about agents being allowed in your office, A?

Nothing. You must have misheard, being so old and all.

...I'm not fond of it when secrets about this place are kept from me, A. Still, it is your judgment. I shall assume you have the best intentions in mind.

Anyways, have everyone-except Tenebrais-on standby for the day. I've got something she can do anyways.

Everyone, sir? We need at least one agent per department to run things.

...oh. That's… that's not good.

:v:

Perhaps we can help, sir!

...Who the heck are you?

We're with Miss Tenebrais's fan club, sir. We heard that she may be having to help suppress the core of her department Sephirah, so we broke into the agent E.G.O storage and took some of the basic suits and clubs for just such an occasion.

:j:

We're fully prepared to staff the departments ourselves, in order to help out the great Miss Tenebrais!

You realize that every single one of you is definitely going to die a horrible death, right?

:v:

We're Clerks, sir. We know how things work around here. Miss Tenebrais is our savior, our light in this dark underground hellhole!

:j:

My greatest regret is that I have but one life to give to help Miss Tenebrais!

...Problem solved. Any objections? Yesod?

I don't like meaningless deaths, but I can't fix recklessness like this.

Um… give it your all, sir!

That's the plan.

Why am I in Welfare?

Can't put you in Disciplinary, so I put you there. That's all.

Whatever. Let's get this started.

Music: Second Trumpet

As the day begins, the screen moves itself directly over to upper Disciplinary, where Gebura slowly walks back and forth. She won't leave this room, giving us plenty of time to figure out how to engage.

Are you prepared to face me, manager?

Something like that. I'm pretty sure I've got this figured out.

Then come at me with all you have.

Our new Abnormality is a pleasant-looking lad with a plague doctor mask and big black wings. We won't be working with him today.

Anyways, we start how we always do, by clearing out the Clerks.

All of them. Since this is the first time that a department losing all their Agents is a vital part of my strategy, we can see the two effects it has.

Firstly, all Clerks in the department immediately panic as the lights go out. They'll run around and eventually shoot themselves.

:v:

FOR THE GLORY OF MISS TENEBRAAAAIS!!

They're fiiine.

This in turn frees Mountain of Smiling Bodies and sets us to Second Trumpet. We can also see the other effect: All Abnormalities in that department get a flat -50% penalty to any work done with them. Since we aren't going to be doing any work today, this doesn't matter.

I'm being ignored.

Nah, I'm just getting everything set up for you.

What do you mean, setting up?

Oh, you'll see.

Manager, this is a stupid plan.

Stupid? Or brilliant.

As for Tenebrais, she'll be spending the entire day in the Shelter, perfectly safe from everything that's about to happen. :unsmigghh:

Stupid. I'm really supposed to just sit here all day and wait for things to happen?

Well, yeah. An entire facility full of Abnormalities took her down before _{give or take}, I'm sure they can do it again.

And the reason I'm not wearing the good suit?

Let's just say I wanted to invite an old friend.

...whatever.

As I'm following Mountain of Smiling Bodies to get footage of its stage 2 form (as it eats corpses it grows more lumps and becomes more powerful), I notice a popup. Something managed to affect Tenebrais inside of the Shelter? :ohdear:

What the hell's calling me?

It is I, who offers thee my aid.

...Uh-huh.

Oh, it's just you. This pink haze indicates that our new friend -45 is using his ability. When this activates, he calls one of our Agents to meet with him in the containment cell. This works no matter where they are, including the Shelter.

We also can't click them out of it like we could with Parasite Tree-but we haven't actually lost. We just need to wait and we'll get control of her back eventually.

What is this?! Manager!!

They're called Abnormalities. Maybe you've heard of-

Cut the crap, manager. Why are you letting these things out?

So that you can fight 'til you're satisfied. You want an outlet for your rage, and here you go.

You think my rage can be stopped by this? I'll crush them all.

Gebura begins mixing it up with our Abnormalities in the meanwhile.

I see thou hast come.

Yeah. Let's hear it, and if you're wasting my time you're going facefirst through that wall.

Thou art injured, thy body covered in scars. Hast thou no desire to see thyself whole?

I go from one fight to another. What's the point wasting my time on things if I'll just get banged up again?

I shall save thee from the rigors of this world. Accept my gift, and I shall cure every disease and injury you possess.

...You had me at "Free Gift."

Once the Agent reaches his containment cell, the Abnormality gives them a blessing. The wing obscures what this entails from view, but a screenshot of a bugged activation from the wiki shows it's likely a smooch.

Woah… I think I just broke at least two company policies.

May my blessing protect thee.

Yeah. I feel pretty awesome.

Afterwards, a giant clock shows up on our monitor.

And ticks to 1, with Tenebrais's name. The lower part should also use her name, but it can get a little wonky-either the game doesn't like her name or a mod is making it hiccup.

It's Tenebrais, but whatever-close enough. This place is hell, and nothing gets past me.

Hence we shall go together 'ere the time of reunion.

Yeah, okay. Later.

Tenebrais gets a new E.G.O gift, giving her +6 to all stats in a unique E.G.O slot that nothing else can be placed in. More importantly, we can shove her back in the Shelter where she won't die horribly.

...Well, that seemed unusual.

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

Right, right, not the time.

Because now, it's party time.

What the hell did you do?

Oh, triggered the Apocalypse. Nothing too serious.

Apocalypse Bird really isn't that great against Gebura and the forced 1x speed with no pause makes getting shots really difficult for the next while, but there was no way I was about to miss the chance to call it down on her. :colbert:

So, we've got just you against the combined forces of a one-bird Apocalypse…

A goop monster that can infect and kill hundreds…

The ultimate form of a weird death-tumor that eats bodies to power up.

Leg day…

Some freaky humanoid thing I'm being told is Nothing There…

And a good boy fresh from the gym. I like my odds.

Don't… Screw with me!!

I just wish I hadn't turned off the lights. I wanna see this.

Mountain's ultimate ability in its complete form is a sort of black vomit that deals massive Black damage to anyone in range, taking a sizeable chunk even out of Gebura. In return she attacks with the two E.G.O we saw her with earlier-Red Eyes (which we haven't seen yet) and Penitence, from One Sin. Most of the Abnormalities will wander around randomly, but Blue Star's facilitywide attack will ensure that we have a constant flow of damage on her as the fight goes on.

I'm telling you this plan won't work, manager.

Why not? It's perfect. She just wants to fight, so I'll fight her like this 'til she's tired and call it a win.

You're missing something pretty obvious.

...Ah, yeah, you're right!

Great, then let me out there and I can-

I never mentioned my freaking dragon!

This plan was amazing, I should thank Binah for the hint.

She put you up to this? I should have known! It doesn't matter!

Oh, right, my drugshark too! Though it only attacks corridors, but it's here in spirit.

And Melting Love!

You said her already!

Yeah, but now she's in a containment cell. That's really weird.

This happens sometimes and I have no idea why. :psyduck:

Anyways, I've got a badass army! What do you have to say about that, Gebura?

Open, the Road of Gold.

Huh?

Every time Gebura loses a third of her health in this phase, she opens golden portals all over the facility. Afterwards, she charges through them while using a new E.G.O weapon from another Abnormality we haven't met.

This charge deals Red damage to anything in her way, and she stops with an explosion in her target room-which I missed this time due to no pausing.

Luckily, that egg was hit by our dragon friend so it shouldn't be a problem much longer. While Gebura and Apocalypse Bird are both immune to its effects, it can quickly free more Abnormalities to join the party, and either almost-kill inconveniences or mostly-heal nearly defeated fighters.

Finally! Let's find Gebura.

She's taking care of the lights?

Any Abnormality I see will be crushed.

Apocalypse Bird hops right in, to test that resolve.

And I finally get a shot of its laser attack!

The Apocalypse Bird runs first, but Gebura's second Road of Gold is triggered right before the egg dies. We'll have to wait for Blue Star's natural damage to wipe it out.

Gebura heads for Central 3, and here's a better look at the Road's explosion attack. She has to rest for a couple seconds after each use.

Meanwhile, Nothing There and Mountain of Smiling Bodies fight above. Nothing There's final form is a source of insane Red damage, and it has here knocked off one of the Mountain's bits by hurting it enough-it'll probably be running to eat more bodies soon.

And Blue Star has respawned in Safety this time.

Manager… I'm bored.

Well, the lights are back on. Do you wanna go out there right now?

Looks a bit like certain death. I'm good.

Smart girl. You couldn't handle this. Nobody but the Red Mist could.

...Changed my mind. Wanna kick her ass now.

You're staying put!

In the end, our old friend Firebird is what drains Gebura's HP bar.

Music: Distorted Night

You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?

You know… for a second there… Yeah. I kind of did.

Phase 2 begins with another Road of Gold.

And she stands up with one of her three attacks-a spear E.G.O weapon from an Abnormality we haven't seen yet.

Shame. I'm a bit tougher than you thought. Now I'll start trying.

In phase 2, she has Mimicry from Nothing There and another weapon from an ALEPH we're yet to see in addition to her spear. She starts dealing much more damage here than in phase 1, though with our undying army of Abnormalities it remains just a matter of time. Honestly, doing the fight this way is just a lot of waiting.

Highlights of Phase 2 include…

Yin showing off its attack-a laser which explodes shortly after. The laser is harmless. The explosion is not.

Gebura taking enough damage to trigger her first room move fairly quickly (thanks Apocalypse Bird!). To do this she throws her second weapon, which flies through the facility (and deals White damage to anyone it hits).

She then readies Mimicry, and a red line moves along the path between rooms as she teleports directly to the weapon. Anyone standing in that room when the red line arrives takes a large amount of Red damage-it's supposed to be her traveling but they had to code things this way so that the move would function right.

Oh… you? Alright. I'll enjoy this!

There's a lot of speculation that Nothing There is the Abnormality which Christopher became before killing his family. This hasn't been confirmed either way, but since it's the source of her signature weapon, Mimicry, which has existed since before Christopher died, it's hard to really say-the sequel expands on the circumstances around that weapon but we still don't know anything for sure. At any rate, its scythe can deal immense damage even to Gebura, and it's immune to her Red damage attacks. But you know what this fight is missing?

More Abnormalities!

Huh. Good on Forsaken Murderer, making it that far down.

Hff… Hff… This is nothing.

The damage from the two of them sends Gebura up to Safety, and her landing takes out Blue Star.

It decides to relocate to Central shortly thereafter, joining the other 4 Abnormalities having a party there.

Unfortunately, this dragon also flew through Central, taking out most of them in one fell swoop.

Nothing There pops out shortly thereafter in his base mode. How it works is it initially runs around and attacks while looking like this, but after a while it goes through an egg mode and becomes that final form. I tried catching the egg this time, but it wound up changing inside of a room transition. I did not know that could happen, so hey, learning! :eng101:

Blue Star revives in Safety and fights with Gebura again…

And this happens. Melting Love absorbs Red damage, which is all that Nothing There can do. Meanwhile, Melting Love deals Black damage-she literally cannot lose this fight. Oddly, Nothing There doesn't actually have a defeat animation.

Also: Scarecrow. :allears:

Anyways, eventually Blue Star and the others wear Gebura down.

No… not… yet…

I will not fall!

Geez, she's persistent.

Phase 3 comes with two new E.G.O weapons, Smile from Mountain, and Justita from Judgment Bird. She can still use the spear as well, and makes short work of Blue Star once more.

You're not helping. You know that, right?

She's venting! That's all she wants. It'll end eventually.

Yeah. When she brings down the whole facility on top of us. 'Til then, not likely.

Well, if she keeps picking fights with invincible enemies, I don't think we'll have a problem.

Invincible? No, it's not invincible. I just have to outlast it.

And it can't die.

It can't. So I'm keeping it away from the eggs. In these halls... Something'll take the last one out. Blue Star, in the worst case.

There were no creatures, no sun and moon, and no beast. All that was left was just a red mist over the black forest.

This actually counts as an Apocalypse Bird suppression for the purpose of gaining its E.G.O gear, by the by. If we didn't already have it, we would now.

Shortly thereafter, Blue Star breaches again and pushes her over her next damage threshold-White attacks work well against this phase, making it burn her down faster than the first two. She moves to Training using the Road of Gold from phase 1 again. There she runs into Scarecrow.

It wisely chooses to keep walking.

Look, manager. Not to be a wet blanket again, but I really do think this is just gonna' piss her off more.

There's no way. She has rage, she has no aim for it, so I'm giving her an outlet til the rage is all gone. I figured out Chesed, I got this too.

Chesed was a posh loser like you, of course you understood him. You still don't get a single thing about the Backstreets, though.

Tenebrais? You're still alive, eh? I thought a softie like you would have died long ago.

She's on bunker duty. You can't touch her.

Bunker duty?

Not by choice! I took on Punishing Bird, I can handle anything!

Ah, right. You're still the sort of weakling who has to fear that tiny thing.

That's real power, Tenebrais. The power to crush these Abnormalities underfoot.

...Manager, I am being provoked.

You're not going anywhere.

We're basically just waiting around for her health to drain again, and unfortunately no cool fights happen this time.

She does move into Welfare, and hangs out there as I watch her health bar slowly decrease for another 2 or 3 minutes.

Music: Insignia Decay

She's still not going down?!

She destroys her Smile E.G.O when transitioning from phase 3 to phase 4, but she's behind the foreground so I can't get a good shot of it. Trust me when I say that it's destroyed.

Fine… I'll give this my everything. My all of me! Behold, the Road of the King!

This time, Gebura throws the E.G.O weapon she's been using to open the portals, and takes off running behind it.

We can't see her because of the static from 1.76 MHz, but whatever her new weapon is, she dealt Pale damage while running past Big Bird with it. The portals take her to Central 1, where she finishes her attack.

That's-

She's using Twilight?!

That stupid Bird didn't need it anymore, so I took the spare.

Some of you are probably confused: that attack at the end of the Road of King is designed to obliterate everything in a room, so how did a TETH survive? That's because of coding. That particular attack adds the name of every employee in the room onto a little table, and then it goes through and rolls 10 separate instances of incredibly high damage of a random color for each person on that table. This means it effectively obliterates any employee in the room-but since it doesn't add Abnormalities they're immune! :eng101:

Ugh… stupid… robotic… body…

After her attacks in this phase, Gebura can't move for a while-giving Ppodae a chance to attack.

Or Nothing There. Nothing There's good too. In this phase she's also weak to all forms of damage, so a few good hits should send her packing.

Not… yet!

Uh… Gebura, you're not even throwing it in the right direction anymore.

Visual bugs! :lobcorp:

Gebura shuts down in Training this time, which is what I was waiting for.

Enemies who are weak against everything are ideal targets for the Rabbit Team.

Myo even has custom lines for facing off with her!

Glad you could make it.

For a chance like this? Wouldn't miss it for the world. Slaughter 'em, men!

You called THEM..?

Sure did. It's over, Gebura.

No… NO!!!

Feel better now? No need to thank me.

Between Blue Star, the damage she'd already taken from Nothing There, and now the Rabbits… even the mighty Red Mist herself will eventually crumble.

It only took an hour.

This is what is known as 'Shelter cheese' and for players who are less sure of their skills it's a great way to defeat Gebura, only costing a day's worth of resources and a few throwaway Agents. It still works without Blue Star's facilitywide attacks, but it takes even longer. It's also the one and only good use for Shelter from the 27th of March, so it's officially pointless now. :v:

So, we've all seen what the Red Mist is capable of and how terrifyingly powerful she is-every single Abnormality that was released was suppressed at least once over the course of the day, and most of them 3+ times. I could move to the next day now…