Part 92: Day 41 - Gameplay

Day 41: Gameplay

Music: neutral 2


Hey manager. That fight yesterday banged through the facility, and it wound up causing some damage in the E.G.O gear storage area.

...how much stuff did we lose?

Nothing. That's the weird thing-just knocked down a wall into an empty room to give us some extra storage space. Figured we could use it to expand the arsenal.

That's… lucky.

Yeah, I ain't thinking about it too hard.

This is huge, increasing our total maximum gear count for any weapon or suit by 1, with the exception of suits/weapons won in combat like Twilight or Firebird's weapon. What does this mean?




It means that our ALEPH gear totals have nearly doubled in one day.

This is why I wanted the extra energy on Melting Love, by the by-we don't actually need to work her anymore unless we let someone in her suit die.



We also hit our latest Memory Repository.

Manager, why are you rubbing your chin?

Er-no reason. Let's just move on.

I must ask again-

Drop it, Hokma.





Hey… is it me or did some things move around?

Judgment Bird? Why is that in my department!

Because that winged thing moved to mine overnight!

Oh… so that's why I have Firebird and that Mirror now…

Speaking of, Dimensional Refraction Variant's moved to my department.

And Binah has Dreaming Current…

That's correct. It seems this one is as interesting as I thought.

Hm?

Oh, you needn't concern yourself with the few pastimes of a burned-out husk.

Our winged friend has the ability to swap itself with any other Abnormality in the facility. It does this every time we hit this screen, and while there is a mod to turn this off we will not be using it.

Basically all this means is that our Abnormalities will get shuffled around on occasion and there's nothing we can really do about it.

Right. Setting that aside, let's get the day underway. Anything pressing going on?

No unusual information has presented itself so far, Manager.

I think everything's finally back to normal!

Well… as normal as things are here, anyways.

Good. Let's get things started.





I wonder how you'll react today? Don't disappoint me.



Let's all do our best today!

I'm really glad to be out of that old outfit.

It's because of all your own hard work. Feel proud that you've made it!

Heck yeah!

So that means nobody needs any training here anymore, right?

That's correct!

Great, then let's just take the day off.

Wait, is that why you came over here?!

It's not a problem, is it? We've worked hard-we should have a vacation.

Can we… do that?

Well… nobody actually has any training to do. I don't see why not! Let's relax as much as we can today!

Sweet.



Work. Sleep. Work. The cycle continues, unbroken.

So, we working with the new Abnormality yet?

Not until Mizu arrives to greet it.

Aww, we have to wait? I hate that.

Trust me, it's better than the alternative.



She's a bit… finicky.

How would you know that? She just arrived today.

Eh, we've met before.

Our new Abnormality is a girl floating inside of an elaborate golden egg. We'll come back to her in a minute, though-Mizu's got someone else she needs to meet.



Oh well, might as well burn some time.

In the meanwhile, I throw Morgan at The Naked Nest-it was the only Abnormality I didn't already have enough PE boxes on hand for to buy out all the new gear.



Chinely's also in the Knight of Despair's gear, so we'll be throwing him at Judgment Bird today in hopes of getting something cool.



...thou art shattered, maiden. Is that why thou hidest behind thine mask?

Ooh, that's a funny question. 'Specially from a cutie in a mask like you. Are yooou shattered?

Worry not, I am whole. Still, while it is not the disease I have sought, your mind is plagued as well.

Oh, that's perfectly normal. Mizu 'Just Mizu' Mizu is gonna score a perfect 79 on every contam exam thingy.

Perhaps it can be treated. I shall bestow upon thee a blessing.

Ooh, free stuff!



Had to capture this animation in full-the blessing does weird things with certain E.G.O gifts.

Oh my gosh…

May my blessing complete thee.

Best. Day. Ever!



The clock also seems to have forgotten Tenebrais's name. This is just a graphical glitch-our new friend still remembers.

Thanks bunches, you big cutie~

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

Ooh, that sounds super romantic~ but I have other cuties to meet. I can smell it.

...how did… they were both wearing masks, weren't they?

How should I know?! I don't look at that kind of stuff!

Ah… Tiphereth, are you embarassed?

...Manager, I've changed my mind again! Please retire this malfunctioning Tiphereth after all!

Yeah… That's not happening.

I'm glad it's lively around here again.



Mizu's work gives us the PE boxes we need to get a name-this Abnormality is called Plague Doctor. He is a ZAYIN, as promised.



I've never seen that gift before. Where'd you get it?

From that nice Plague Doctor guy, with the beaky-mask?

...the what, now?

Plague Doctor. Can I go? I smell a cutie down that hallway~

Oh, yeah, sure sure.


_{...Was there a Plague Doctor one?}



Oooo, hel-lo there, super cutie! Let's talk a while and see if I can get past that hard shell of yours.

The new Abnormality down here, meanwhile, is a WAW who prefers Attachment and Instinct work, and deals Red damage.



Like Knight of Despair, this Magical Girl is also going to only be known as Magical Girl until we get to know her better. We'll revisit this soon enough.



It's Talow's job to handle her today-he needs to farm Attachment and we need a LOT of boxes from her. One of the downsides of Gebura's research is that we now have one extra copy of every piece of gear to buy before calling it a day-and for WAW and ALEPH Abnormalities that can be pricey.



Meanwhile, I toss Dimi at Plague Doctor since she could use some Insight training.

There you go, cleaned up your room and hung up a hundred pictures of me. It's the perfect collage, wouldn't you say?

…

Hah, you don't talk much, huh? Thaat's fine, I'm sure you don't have much very important to say anyways.

…



She gets a Normal result, which means she is not blessed. So I send her in again.



Hmm. So the pictures alone weren't enough, clearly, meaning I should do something else in here. How about some music? Surely you like music, right?

…

Ah, and I'll go ahead and change the temperature. It's too chilly in here for me-feels just like some kinda' doctor's office? I know your name's Plague Doctor, but it's not like you're a real doctor anyways, right? It's okay to warm up~

…



It's another Normal work, which gives me enough PE boxes to unlock almost all of its information. We just need to get its Escape Information and we're all set.



Shouldn't take too long. We send Dimi back again.



Okay, I think I got it this time. The music was okay, the pictures were okay, how about I give you this console? It's got a game on it that I've been playing through. I'm sure someone like you could beat it without any problems.

…

Oh, you're too good for video games. That's fine, I can totally get that~



I think I am done throwing Dimi at Plague Doctor.



So how's the new Abnormality, ma'am?

Doesn't say a thing! And even after I went out of my way to be so kind as to put everything as it should be, all it does is Normal result, Normal result.

Huh. Sounds like you may be doing something wrong, ma'am.

What? Well… I… I mean, it's possible that some of my attempts may have been completely lost on the likes of that Doctor fellow. It's not like anyone else could do better-only Mizu's seen it, and she's...

Mizu is an enigma, ma'am.

Well, you'll get a chance to see Gaia. You're up.

Yes ma'am!



What is all this stuff…? I'll just clear it away.

Gaia. I have seen within thy heart. Thou harborest doubts of thine own skill.

Um… sir? I was told you weren't going to talk.

I speak only to they who need mine blessing. Come, open thine heart.

Uh...



I have seen thy pain-thy guilt over being hired to fulfill a purpose, and to fail in that purpose. I shall take this malady from thee.



Huh… thanks. I do feel better.

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



Manager, Tiphereth's crowing about one of her agents getting a blessing from that Plague Doctor thing… what are you doing?

Pruning. I saw the clock, I don't think it's anything we need to worry about. Just monitor the agents. Including Tenebrais.

Tenebrais?

It happened while you were out, but she's one of them.



Not to interrupt, A, but it seems that Talow has finished gathering enough information to gain our new Abnormality's true name. She's known as the King of Greed.

Ah… so she's related to the other magical girl after all.

Very perceptive, sir. Just like I remember.

It wasn't all that hard to figure out…

FISH INCOMING!

...what? What's Talow talking about?



So, King of Greed. She's very escape prone, since she has 1 QC and it can decrease on a Normal or Bad result. Here, Talow missed the threshold of Good by 1 box.



Ah, I see. That's what he meant. She's breaching.

But why fish..?



When King of Greed breaches, a magical circle forms in her cell and she transforms into a monster before sliding through another magical portal and teleporting to the end of a random hallway in the facility.



...Ah. I see.

An anglerfish.

How'd he know that?

His intuition is sharp-it's why I requested him specifically, sir.

I see. Maybe there's two Mizus after all.

I'd rather you didn't compare my favorite employee with such a dull one.

Okay, Zeta2. You can do this. You're just one digit away from Zeta21… you can DO THIS. Just… believe!

King of Greed travels slowly down the hallway much like the Amber Dusks do, and when it runs into anything…





I'm… sorry…

Man down!

Okay, whose bright idea was it to go fishing?!

I'll admit, it wasn't my best plan.

That was 586 Red damage after the 1.5x WAW vs ZAYIN multiplier, which means ~391 base damage. We want to avoid it.



King of Greed does have some upsides, though-anything she passes over is destroyed. This includes existing corpses, so it'd be possible to use her to clean up the facility if we had Mountain of Smiling Bodies but either didn't have or weren't aware of the Smile suit's ability. Anyways, when she reaches the end of a hallway another magic circle opens and she passes through it.

Wait… that's…

You recognized that portal, huh?

Yeah, from when you were running rampant in the facility.

Oh yeah. Well, it's her E.G.O, after all.



Manager, she's in upper Welfare.

Already have my team on her. It took less time than scrambling Welfare, and we've got better damage types.

It's still super weird to not be listening to one of the Sephirot.

Eh, I wouldn't worry about it too much. It works for us, so it's fine.



Portal's open, time to head home.

Ah, already?

We've got work to do anyways. Let's head back.

The most important thing to remember when suppressing her is to have any team attacking her go back to their main room when she teleports. Due to how the AI works, if she leaves they'll go to her new location-this could result in our Agents entering from the wrong side and…



Orders from the top, everyone! It's in our corridors-we've got to handle it.

Problem: My weapon deals Red damage, and it seems to be immune to that.

I'm stuck with Red as well.

Hm… That is a problem.

Don't worry guys.



I've got this covered.

Why are you wearing a blindfold?!

To engage my sixth sense!

I get it-that's brilliant!

Is it, now?



I can see your form, Abnormality! By the air currents, I know where everything is... There's nowhere to hide! Take this! My ultimate strike! Tears Falling Like Rain!



When defeated, King of Greed collapses and then returns to its containment cell.

Told you I had it!

As expected of you, comrade!

_{It's official, I have the weirdest team in the facility.}



It's nice that we got everything back under control quickly. Let's see if we can do without any more incidents.

Manager, as long as that thing is being worked it'll have a high chance of escape.

Eh, even if it does it's not that dangerous. We'll figure it out.

This meltdown is exactly where we want to see it-on the Abnormality we need to work. Since she's temperamental, getting an extra work without penalty will go a long way.





...Starting to get the feeling that "birdwatching" was actually Medea for "I'm still mad about the fishing trip earlier."





Yep, just like I remembered. You really like talking about what makes you happy, huh? Yesod, I'll have a report for you in ten.

Roger. I'll be waiting.

Meanwhile, Talow knocks it out of the park with the new magical girl, to let us unlock the rest of her information.



Oh… that IS the fist you used before.

Funny, huh? How she can create an ALEPH weapon despite being a WAW?

Eh, I've had Judgment Bird around for a while, nothing really surprises me anymore.

It's wisdom itself to avoid taking anything for granted.

Hey, everyone. Did one of you call SeyserKoze to Central?

...Angela?

I have no records of any such call being made.

Huh. What's going on?



Thou hast heeded mine call.

Huh. This is the first time since I've been here that the hair hasn't been going off…

That is because I mean you no harm. I merely wish to protect you-one so fearful that your body transformed into a means of alarm.

Hey, it was a simple bionic procedure. Cost a bit, though...

It has set thee on edge, forever aware of thine own mortality. Come, let me heal you of your injuries that your days may continue in peace.

...This won't short anything out, will it?

Thou hast my word.



Well… 'kay then.

I shall heal thy every wound, granting you my aid.



Huh… I feel… relaxed, now.

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

Manager, the fourth person has been added to the clock.

I see that. Just wish it'd stop getting their names wrong.



Violet Dawn.



I have arrived to assist, fellow humans!

You're laate..!

We're almost finished here. Shouldn't be a minute.

Already?

Yeaah... This new EE.G.OO equipment is reeally handy…

Our arsenal has grown dramatically overnight! And anyone can use it by simply holding them?

That's the size of it.



Violet Done.



_{This… L-corp holds weapons which can psionically manipulate the wielder in order to allow them to use it regardless of skill. That means that any one of them could simply become as powerful as the finest warrior, by picking up a sword. The Elders will not like this-the invasion may wind up failing before it can even...}

Hmm? What're you muttering aboout..?

Human things! Like my hatred of the rain!

Ooo… Yeah, the rain really biites…



What're our odds of finishing our gear acquisition before the end of the day?

It will be close, manager.

We may have to do a little overtime, then. Everyone, updates on the "blessed" employees?

We can't see your airquotes, manager.

Just go with it.



Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee…

You're… literally glowing.

I had a cute meet with a cutie, and I think I can smell color now.

Really?

Yep! Sniff sniff… It turns out purple doesn't actually smell like grape, it's actually more like royalty. Which smells citrus-y.

Mizu remains a shattered shell of a person. The pieces have perhaps fallen into a different alignment, so the meeting may have shaken her.



Hah! Any other E.G.O for maintenance, Twee?

Nope, you got it all. You're working more smoothly than normal.

That's because my hair isn't going off like crazy anymore.

Really? I thought that only happened when I short circuited it while you were looking elsewhere.

I'm in such a good mood right now that I'll even overlook that.

Woah, that's awesome! You must have leveled up or something, huh?

Pretty much! I'm the new, improved SeyserKoze!

As you can see, Seyser's become more productive so far… I hesitate to call an Abnormality 'beneficial,' but…

Then don't. I don't trust its big stupid beak-face.

You sound just like Tenebrais.



Listen here, bird. I'm supposed to talk to you-so I'm gonna tell you about the two times I kicked your sorry keester yesterday, and you're going to enjoy it and give me a Good result, or I'm going to come back in here and actually do it again.

Speaking of her, I haven't seen any changes so far.



How'd it go?

Oh, you know-nobody manages to get work with that Helper robot done quite like me. I'm incredibly skilled, after all.

That's great for you, ma'am.

Yeah. It's wonderful that you have me around to handle the hard jobs!

Like the woodsman?

Exactly! Whenever it finally decides to cause problems, I'll be there to save the day.

Just keep growing like you are. That's all we really need.

No problems with Gaia…

Though it can be hard to tell, since Dimi's good at monopolizing the conversation.

Hmm. Alright, thanks.



Melting Love is hit by a meltdown this time, and that means we have to work with her. Luckily, there's a simple solution.



Nope. You don't get hugs today. Not even goopy ones!

Melting Love won't give her heart to anyone doing Repression work on her. This work type has a 0% base success rate, but with Mizu's suit she can miss every box and still come out fine. Because of this she's not a huge problem so long as we make sure to only work her properly on days where we've planned to keep her handler isolated.



We have to keep in mind that she'll escape every 3 works, but Melting Love by herself isn't very hard to suppress.



It feels like we're sort of spinning our wheels, huh?

You seem to have everything well in hand right now, A. If only you could rid yourself of a few issues...

Issues?

It's related to our earlier discussions. I'll prepare a demonstration.



It seems quite likely that you shall succeed at the mission, after all.

Yeah, that's kinda' my thing. The being awesome, I mean.

Indeed it is, A.

...Are you quite finished?

Something up?



While you were talking, we saw a strong Enkephalin reaction from Parasite Tree. The Tree's gained its third fruit. Only Tenebrais remains unblessed from the agents there. This is why we can't waste time singing others' praises-even for the Manager, Hokma. Mistakes happen when egoes become inflated.

I'll take that statement under advisement.

You know he isn't going to listen at all, right?

It still needed to be said.



Manager, we've almost completed the work extracting the King of Greed's E.G.O as well.

Perfect. Just a little bit longer and the day will be all done. Have the other departments-

FISH INCOMING!

Oh for the love of…



All agents, to standby. Gebura, prepare to take point on Abnormality suppression. We need everyone to stay prepared for wherever it goes to.

Sir! All agents prepare to intercept and crush this thing.

Alright. In 3…2…1...



...It's staying an egg?

King of Greed doesn't breach every time a Normal result is achieved. Sometimes she opts to continue her slumber.

...you already knew that.

It was on her file, A.

Right, right. Well, we're one work away-let's just finish things off now.

Because King of Greed only escapes at the end of her timer's countdown, we can sneak in one more work to get the last bit of energy we need and end the day before she breaches to get away with it consequence-free.



...Or Talow can go 18/22 at a -12% penalty. That works too!



We'll still be working her since Hand 1 is a rare E.G.O gift slot and hers is the best by a mile, but we can take it a bit easier now at least.

Manager, the equipment has been extracted.

The process went by without issue, as usual.

Right, then we're all set for the day.



Okay team, it's about time to pack things up for the day.

Roger that, boss!

Talow, are you alright? You seem… jumpy.

Oh, yeah. I'm just not a big fan of surprises. I don't remember there being anything like this Plague Doctor thing we're archiving those reports on.

I figure you wouldn't remember it-the logs say it showed up yesterday. That was when we all had the day off, remember?

Yeah, you've got a point. Just a feeling I'm having. Don't worry about it.

Well, if you need a counseling session-

Training would always have time! Medea's super helpful and nice!

Eheh… maybe I'll stop by and say hi if I have time.

We all might die any minute around here, but that means we're all in it together. You know how it is.



You did good work today, team. It's time to pack up and get headed out.

I'd like to echo it. Good job, everyone.

You were the only one who really did any work-with that stuffed roadkill thing with the recording device nobody likes looking at.

We did take care of one of those Fruits before, but they're not even a warmup.

Still, I've done some thinking and I want to make this a department where everyone feels welcome and appreciated.

That sounds nice.

Yeah… I'm just going to take care of the final report for the day.

Oh, let me help. I'm great at those.



Well, it was just one day but we managed to get almost everything we wanted to done.

Didn't really like how I had to go birdwatching. Three times.

You're fine, it's just Punishing Bird-it's a total softie.

Vacation days are so relaxing. I don't ever want today to end.

That's how it goes, I'm afraid. Let's just get the paperwork done and-

Already did it. I keep a couple prefilled reports just in case.

Should you be doing that? If the Sephirot found out you could get in trouble.

Eh, it's not any worse than having a vacation on the clock.

She's got a point there.

Fine. Let's just take off early then.



A flawless day. As expected of you, sir.

Enough asskissery, we've got Abnormalities to pick.

Very well. I have much to prepare as well.

That never gets less foreboding. Angela?

I am calling the information as we speak, manager.

Music: never frozen bottom flows


O-01-69: "This magical bullet can truly hit anyone, just like you say."
O-03-89: If a flaw in the system disables the censors covering the Abnormality, we will once again have to sincerely consider how to dispose of the manager.
D-01-110: However, if enough sarira are found from you that everyone looks on in awe, your name will be sung for generations.

Two new ones here! I really would have liked to see -69 much earlier, we're at the point where it's basically useless to us. It's a very nice HE level Justice trainer with a unique E.G.O weapon and a gift I personally like, but alas it's not to be for this playthrough. The other new one, -110, is a very annoying WAW level Clerk's Rights Abnormality which gives nothing worthwhile in return for putting up with it. Its weapon is bad. Its suit is pretty average. It's not good at stat training. It's just not an Abnormality I can recommend for any facility.



Anyways, we all know why we're here. Let's grab an interesting ALEPH, shall we?

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Hokma reveals one of the secrets of Lobotomy Corporation.

New Guidelines

Plague Doctor
King of Greed

New Gear


Requirements: Level 5, Fortitude 5


Requirements: Level 4, Temperance 4

New Story

Plague Doctor
King of Greed