Part 33: Day 16 - Gameplay

Day 16: Gameplay

Music: neutral 3


New department, new research options. Let's take a look.

Regenerator Mk2: Boosts HP healing at every healing tic. The base amount of healing is doubled from 6 to 12. Netzach's Clerk bonus is unaffected by this research-it boosts healing by the same amount regardless.

Mental Corruption Neutralizing Gas: As Regenerator Mk2, but for SP instead of HP.

Regenerator Distinguisher Modification: The main room's regenerator now continues working even when an enemy is inside the room, albeit at half speed.

All of them are useful, so it's basically a choice between 'number go up' and a slight tactical advantage we'll hopefully only rarely need. The gas is a bit lower priority since Red damage is still everywhere this early, but all three are solid improvements.



I just like to go for tactical advantages, no matter how small.



Also our Clerks are better! ...yay?



With our Agents having grown past what Scarecrow can do, some reshuffles are necessary. Mizu kicks it over to Safety, and Tenebrais/Credentia head to Training for some advanced leveling. Sephiroth, SeyserKoze, and Boksi all come back off the bench, with Boksi being placed on Scarecrow duty.





It doesn't matter… just do whatever.



I've seen some messed up shit in this place, and this still takes the cake.



Aww, it's a cutie!

You wanna work it, then?

Duh. I was about to head right over!

Can I take notes? I'm interested in your methods when looking at new Abnormalities.



Go ahead! I'm just going to get acquainted with this new cutie.

So our new Abnormality is some sort of freaky beehive… thing.



Our first two works give us a name-Queen Bee-and tell us that it's an unescaping entity with a QC of 1. That means if we annoy it, it'll do… Something.



...hey, where'd everybody go?

They were loud. Pawned 'em off on Yesod.

...well okay then!



Manager!

I can't fire him, Yesod.

Angela!

Ask the manager.

Mrgrgr..!

Cheer up, Yesod! You'll barely notice that we're here! HAHAHAHA!

He's like a boomerang. No matter where we toss him, he winds up back here.

Yeah, he's amazing like that.

Amazing isn't the word I would use.



A couple of works later, Mizu gets a neutral result and the QC drops to 0. Uh-oh.



The Queen emits some sort of gas…



And fires it out across the department.



...anyone feel any different?

Nah, we're good.

Huh. How boring.



MY SKIN IS LITERALLY ON FIRE.

Astounding, isn't it?! Why, this may be the most pain I've ever felt!

...Yeah, I'm going on break.



When the Queen fires off her pollen, a number of Agents/Clerks from her department are infected by it, no matter where they're at. This pollen deals 8 Red damage every 2 seconds for the next 20 seconds, and also completely blocks healing by our regenerator.

Mr.Black is still just fine since he has 100 fortitude, but Mr.Blond there is chopped down to a tiny sliver of health before the effect turns off.



These two have lower Fortitude, so it comes down to math. Mr.Blond has 67 HP and HE armor with a Red resist of 0.8. Each hit will deal him 6.4 damage, at 10 hits that's 64 damage-he lives, by a sliver. Twee has 69 HP _(nice), her TETH armor takes 1.2x damage from Queen Bee's pollen, and she has a Red resist of 0.7. This works out to 6.72 damage, at 10 hits that's 67.2 damage. She also lives-also barely. If an Agent cannot tank 80 Red damage, they have absolutely no business being in Queen Bee's department.

Meanwhile…


Orders from the top, everyone!

Let's see… SeyserKoze, you're on 1.76 MHz duty. Sephiroth, you'll be handling Forsaken Murderer today. And I'm… with Laetitia?

I told Yesod you could hang out in his department while you were down there. He didn't say no!

Alright. Can I trust you two not to screw up?

I'll take care of the radio.

There is nothing to fear. I shall show this Forsaken one the way to the promised land.

...That's probably a yes.

_{Why is my department the popular one..?}



Let's all do our best today!

Where's Talow?

He took one look at the photo of that weird Queen Bee Abnormality and took off to get the Knight of Despair's protection. He said he'd need it...

Heh. Chicken. It's not a fight unless you can really feel the bones snapping.

Wouldn't you not want that to include your bones..?

Enough talk. What task could be so complex as to require taking me off of administrative duty?

Oh, yes. Um… Boksi, you're training with Scarecrow today. Tenebrais, you'll be with Ppodae. Credentia, please keep the Knight of Despair company. Medea, keep an eye out for any problems.

You got it, boss!



Manager, we have passed the first Meltdown level.

I know. Let's just see which Dawn we're…



Purple? They come in purple?

It's Violet, Manager.

Same thing. Everyone, stay cautious-but keep going.



They're here, Manager.



It's some kind of… glowing, gooey orb. Ew.



Our new guest, The Fruit of Understanding, is our first Violet Ordeal. Violet Dawn is not very threatening as a combatant, dealing only a small amount of damage very slowly. However, the battle against Violet Dawn is a race to the finish-if left alive it will blow itself up and set off every Abnormality in the same department as it. Since it's a DPS race, the best option is to bunch up everyone in a department and throw them at that department's Dawn.



I didn't know you actually did work around here, Zeta.

You have to ration out your vacation to survive here. This just isn't worth using paid time for.



This gun is amazing! It feels like it's firing bolts of energy with each trigger pull.

I find the best weapon is the one that carves a smile into the enemy's flesh!

Oh, is that why you use the Scarecrow's spear?

Precisely, my girl!



At the end of the day, Violet Dawn just isn't a threat to our facility anymore. It's at its worst if we we're completely unprepared for it on day 6 or 7, or if we just let it sit there while we think about how to approach it. At worst, the self-destruct will kill a new player once before they get the hang of it.



We are ready to end the day at any time. But I assume…

We don't have the Queen Bee's gear yet. We don't even have her full information.

We continue.

I am an incredibly advanced AI. At this point, I am quite capable of reading the basic patterns of your form of thinking, and reacting accordingly. I shall continue operational protocols.

And so modest, too.



Not long after, something bad happens. Can you see it? I didn't, because I was focused on assigning Zeta21 some work orders. The pollen hit two Clerks in Safety this time.

Luckily, people dying to this make a pretty distinctive noise, and I was on edge for it the entire day.



This is when I noticed and looked over.

What is that..?



It's a bee.

Yes, I can see-Wait, you're awake?!

Don't like the buzzing.

Right, then what's that other shining spot there?

Was a clerk. Now…



It's another bee.

Bees? My god.

These bees can spiral out of control quickly-anything they kill becomes another bee. However, they're HE-level threats that deal Red damage, and our facility is tuned to wipe out Green Noons. So long as we don't let them eat through more than 1-2 Clerks, we're in no danger.



Mizu, go west and up. Sweep the North corridor. Suppress any Abnormality you see.

Here I come, cuties~

Betas, stay in the main room. Or die. Not like you'll escape it in the end.

Well I'm not going anywhere now.



Yesod, need to borrow some agents.

Which ones?

All of them. Go up and sweep the corridor from the other side as Mizu.

...Hmph. Get to it, everyone.

Move out, team!



Mizu and the bee hit each other for 5 damage a shot, but Mizu fires 2-3 times per one hit from the bee. Mizu has 102 HP, the drone has 120. This does not end well for the bee.



The other bee dies so quickly that I didn't even catch the fight on camera.

There. I can finally go back to sleep. Night, manager.

Goodnight, Netz-hey, wait-!

zzz...

Geez… at least I can count on him for anything loud, I guess.



I got it.



You know-ouch!-I know you're mortal now. I've seen you-ow!-bleed. And the bees didn't overrun everything-geh!-either. Nobody died. I don't-hey!-think I'm as scared of you as I was before.



You can still stop anytime, you know...



Manager, the full information on Queen Bee is now available.

Perfect. That means I'll have all the equipment in… 220 more boxes… Today's going to suck.



Speaking of which, Manager, a Noon Ordeal has appeared! It's a Green Noon! Let's intercept and defeat it perfectly!

I'm going to go get some coffee. The universe can stay on pause for a minute.



Hey, it's been a while since I last went down this corridor in a big group.

Weren't the rest of them going to kick your ass last time?

Only if I went crazy. I didn't, so it's all good!



Obligatory gratuitous chainsaw shot.



And Mizu solos the one in Safety, of course.

Hey, Netzach was right! Those two guys didn't survive in the end after all!

...at least they didn't turn into bees, I guess.



With everything under control, all that's left to do is to collect the rest of the Queen Bee's gear.



Okay cutie, you made a bunch of pollen go everywhere. Let's just clean that up, and get to work on raking in those boxes… _{I wonder what your Enkephalin tastes like..?}

Meanwhile…


Hey, boss. Would I get in trouble if I clonked an agent over the head for being annoying?

Umm… yes? Why?

Hmhmhm. Hmhmhm! HM HM HM!!!

...um… are you laughing?

I suppose you could say that. I've been granted a gift by the scarecrow, befitting my talent and station.

Oh, like the radio Tenebrais and I got from 1.76 MHz?

I suppose, but as a HE Abnormality, the one from the scarecrow is clearly more special. Just more proof of my overwhelming talent.

Hmm…

No reason.

---



...Twee? Where were you?

Mirror meltdown. Had to go take a look.

You look paler.

Yeah… My Fortitude got lowered a little bit, but it's probably no big deal!

So at Meltdown level 7 I screwed up by sending Twee to a melting mirror. Remember how she was spec'd to just barely survive a Queen Bee tantrum?



That's not happening anymore. We're walking a tightrope and I just set the net on fire.

I swear I'm good at this game. To salvage things, I move Mizu from working Instinct to buff her Fortitude to Insight, which is a better success rate.



Angela… Forsaken Murderer is upset.

It appears so. We have been doing Instinct work with him like usual.

Malkuth. Who've we been sending?

It's been Sephiroth all day, sir!



Sephiroth, you utter nitwit… Hey, Talow. Can you take care of this guy again?

Sir, that won't be necessary.

Tenebrais? What are you doing here?



Burning off some frustration. What's it look like?

...Alright, he's all yours. Don't die.



Not a problem, boss.



Miss Tenebrais! Don't worry, I'll support you!

...okay?



No need to thank me, Miss Tenebrais.

Wasn't gonna. Later.



She's so cool! Did you see that?

I saw! And that part at the end…

She doesn't need to thank us, because she sees us as equals-our help's just to be expected! What a visionary!



Anyways, the work continues until we've only got one suit left to get, and only need ~42 more energy to finish it. That's most likely going to be 3 works, so I think we should be-



Hold on.



Ow. Ow. Ow.

-While the bird finishes giving Talow a mild concussion, Mizu finishes off the last works with Queen Bee without incident. We've survived!

Finally done. And it only took until...



Holy crap, nine? That's a long day. Good work, Mizu.

Thanks, Manager!

Shall we press forward?

Nah, we've pushed our luck enough today.



zzz… huh?! Over already? 'Kay.

We still don't have any Agents who are 100 in everything yet. Mizu's very close, as are Mr.Black and Zeta21 at 2 stats maxed out each. That's going to change quickly over the coming days.

Music: never frozen bottom flows


T-02-71: Tell the kid today's treat is going to be grape-flavored candy. It's his favorite.
O-03-93: Let us meet again as stars.
O-05-76: Someone's persistent gaze can be felt from the keyhole inside the machine.

...I get that you're trying, but I'm not sure I forgive you yet, game.

Let me explain! The first Abnormality, -71, is a WAW Abnormality which is incredibly easy to keep in containment and who actually works relatively well as a Justice trainer. If it ever escapes it's a giant pain in the butt to deal with and its gear is only average for a WAW, but it's a solid pick. Then there's -76, which either is the second-best HE-level Justice trainer in the game if we know the trick, or an absolute nightmare if we don't. There is no in-between. Since I know the trick, this would be another very powerful Justice trainer. Unfortunately, they're both outclassed by -93. It's our first ALEPH, and it will either murder the entire facility or serve as a wonderful finisher for our stronger Agents. It requires high Prudence and Temperance to work at all-the two stats our facility is best at cranking out. It has a consistent 40% Repression work rate regardless of level, making it ideal for powering up an Agent's Justice after they have maxed the first two stats. It also has our first ALEPH-tier gear.



It's time to grab an ALEPH.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Netzach asks us for a solid.

New Guidelines

Queen Bee

New Gear


Requirements: Fortitude 3


Requirements: Level 3

New Story

Queen Bee (Part 1)
Queen Bee (Part 2)