Part 73: Day 33 - Gameplay

Day 33: Gameplay

Music: neutral 3


Now that we've cleared her first missions, let's take a look at Gebura's upgrade options.

Execution Bullets: These bullets instantly delete targets that they hit, but only Agents or Clerks. This is actually more useful than it sounds because no Clerk's Rights Abnormalities notice deaths by Execution Bullet. They also do not leave bodies behind, which some Abnormalities can use to do additional nasty things to us-the only one of these we've seen so far is Sweepers, who can use dead bodies to heal themselves. If someone in our facility has to die (and Clerks frequently do), this is the preferred method of removal.

Qliphoth Intervention Field: Lowers the target's Move Speed by 50%. It doesn't effect things like attack speeds or cooldown timers or anything else, just the specific Move Speed stat. Most of the time this bullet is completely useless, but it's good for slowing an Abnormality down so that our Agents can hit it with melee weapons while it's trying to run away, and for making it so that a Wander-type panic Agent can be hit despite their speed buff. Just remember that this won't stop something from just murdering our Agents, it only makes them move slower.

The Rabbit Team: Calls in a group of mercenaries that really will need their own mechanics talk post to fully go over. The short version is that they lock down an entire department, wiping out anything that's still alive in there before hopping off to other fields. Calling them costs 25% of our current energy per department that you call them into-to a maximum of 4 departments. Central counts as 2 departments towards this. They're a 1/day desperation tactic that can deal with almost any Abnormality in the game, but we shouldn't need them in most situations.



We really want the Execution bullets. They're why I usually recommend new players go Disciplinary first, the research simplifies handling a number of Abnormalities.




The plan is to take out WAW abnormalities five times today.

Yes, X.

And I intend to start with Firebird, which I've done plenty of times-three times in one day.

Yes, X.

Then why… do I keep having problems now?

Retry count: 9. This day required two restarts. One is boring, and everyone died because I couldn't engage Firebird as I wanted to and it charged over my entire team and killed them. The other…


I'm telling you, it's because your mind's somewhere else. You can leave the suppression to me, manager.

Or he could always not release the monsters just to pick a pointless fight with them.

No, this is… it's my job. Let's do this. One more time.





Time to-

Make the best of today as always~

Don't you have some swill to be chugging?

Okay, cool it you two. We've got work to do.



Let's all do our best today!

Okay team, you're going to be headed over to Safety to work on your Fortitude and Justice. There's going to be a lot of fighting going on on the lower levels, so make sure you stay out of anything below Information.

Yes, boss!



First things first, our new Abnormality is a classy lady sitting at a piano. Clicking on her to perform a work gives us our first unique feature about this Abnormality.



Some Abnormalities get special yellow work types instead of the normal ones-in this case her Insight work has been replaced with Performance work. As it is not Insight work, it does not train an agent's Prudence. It's generally a good idea to hold off on doing yellow work types until it's known approximately what effect they will have. To be safe, we'll be having Mizu do Attachment work.



Yesterday I get to talk to a cutie, and now today I get to talk to a cutie that wants me to sit next to her? My cup runneth over.

Manager, this weirdo's really got no place on this team. Please consider moving her.

If I did that, she might destroy half the facility on her way to be the first to work new Abnormalities. Just bear with it 'til there's somewhere else to put her.

Fine.



Thanks to Yesod's bonus, that one work is enough to grab her initial data. Meet El Llanto de la Luna, or La Luna for short. She's a White damage Abnormality which cannot train Prudence due to her special work command. She does have some special abilities, but if she breaches she doesn't count as a true breach-this means she's effectively useless for our purposes today. We'll talk more about her some other time, when we don't have multiple WAW suppressions on the docket. Just assume we're having Mizu talk with her about pianos in the background.



Bird provoking duty, huh? I can do that.

Our first WAW is going to be Firebird. Our strategy is the same as it was back when we first got it. Tenebrais does the heavy lifting of working with it until its QC hits 1.



At that point, we gather everyone like we did back when it first showed up, and do the dance back and forth in Central until it breaks out.

Now Tenebrais just has to attack it and…



I suddenly wonder what that tree is up to.

You're kidding me.

Parasite Tree chooses this breach to interfere (at a 30% chance), and to hit Tenebrais instead of literally any of the clerks inside of Disciplinary who would have been closer.



Dammit… Bird got away, I couldn't engage it. It's coming your way, team.

Alright. I'll handle the lower corridor.

I'll keep an eye on the upper.



It's upper!

Everyone, be careful.

Make it bleed!

Like usual, everyone charges.



Those poor clerks…

It's about to chaarge..!

Fall back, everyone!

Like usual, it attempts to charge and everyone runs away.



GAH!! That… BURNS.

As usual, Chinely gets hit and tanks the-wait what?

Yeah, I made a minor mistake here. Chinely has a melee weapon and a suit with 1.2x Red resist. Because of this he's weak against Red damage, so whenever Firebird's damage goes off, his speed is temporarily reduced to 0.1x what it would normally be. Because of this, he wasn't able to run away with the others. This error then makes me burn my last bullet this meltdown on healing Chinely's SP-in hindsight this was another error since there was basically no way he'd survive a second hit regardless. I swear I'm good at this game.



Anyways, after the charge our deathball is able to dogpile on the bird again and deliver an onslaught of furious numbers too dense to make anything out. That's how late game combat usually looks in Lobotomy Corporation!



That's one.

Third try's the charm.

Seventh, technically!

...thank you, Malkuth, that will be all.

Anytime, manager!



Hey, I've been wondering. Does anyone know what a 'Mizu' actually is?

Never heard of one.

Oh, there was a Mizu down in Disciplinary. She's… interesting.

Interesting good or interesting bad?

Interesting vaguely terrifying.

...I think I want a new title.

Hey! You three are supposed to be in Safety! Get over there, now.

Now that I've beaten the first five minutes of the day I can go ahead with the rest of the plan. These three will be working with Blue Star and Queen Bee to power up their two remaining stats.



Easy peasy.



...Why do I find this cute? This isn't cute. It's the opposite of cute, and I want to pet it. I hate this.

They'll be fine. In the meanwhile, we need a good plan to get WAWs 2-5. Ideally we'd have an Abnormality with a very easy breach condition we can abuse, which isn't too hard to handle.



That first suppression got pretty heated, huh guys?

It could have gone a lot worse.

My hair nearly overheated a couple of times there. I really preferred the quiet days before this.

You mean the ones where the upper layers were dealing with all the problems?

Yeah. At least we were safe down here.

Don't count on it staying that way for long. We've got new orders. Someone from that hothead's department is coming to work on the Refraction Variant.

Why? We can do it without any problem, even after the Firebird's penalty.



I think that's why they called her in.

DRV's QC lowers whenever it's worked for more than 40 seconds. After Firebird's penalty, Tenebrais takes exactly 41 seconds, making her ideal for letting it out of its box.



Gotta say, I think we're through the hard part.

We spent the entire first meltdown on one breakout.

We'll speed up from here. Trust me.

Just make sure to keep an eye on the clerks, manager. A number of them are already dead thanks to the Firebird.

Pah. If it makes them suffer, it's worth it.



Hate to interrupt, but that Disciplinary captain finished provoking the Variant.



...where is it?

When Dimensional Refraction Variant breaches, it moves to a random location inside of its current department. Given that it is a blur, it is very hard to see. With most Abnormalities, if we don't know where it is we could simply click on its cell and dispatch people to suppress it that way-however, this does not work with DRV. We have to find it. Luckily the breach gave us a big hint this time. Can you find DRV?



The damage number at the beginning of the corridor was a huge giveaway, as DRV automatically deals decent Red damage to anything it passes over. Anything that dies due to this is left floating in a cloud of interference, so tracing the dead Clerks to the end is a decent plan to find it.



Kind of like this. Anyways, now that we've found it we can select Agents and have them attack the Abnormality directly. It's only a threat to things in front of it and I've never seen it turn around, so attacking it from behind is the best way to approach it.

Twee, get Welfare in there and take it out.



On it, boss!

Didn't that Discipline lady do this in the first place? Why aren't they sending her?

I'm sure there's a plenty good reason for it.

DRV is actually immune to Red damage, so Tenebrais-and any other Red damage source-would be useless against it.



Hey guys, what're you doing?

Suppressing the Dimensional Refraction Variant!

Huh. I don't see anything.

Yeah, it's not easy.

My hair can feel it out, so I think I have an advantage.

I just visualize it in my mind's eye!

Thaaat's definitely not a thing. Well, whatever. Have fun fighting something that isn't here.

Since its HP is low, it's suppressed by the end of the main room. Two down, three to go.

Send Tenebrais back to work on it, and then-

Manager, we've got a situation.

Don't tell me…



Newbies touched the Queen, and now there are bees.

I said not to tell me.

Thankfully, a Red shield is enough to make sure nobody else dies while I have everyone in Safety dogpile on the bee. At this point a Queen Bee breach barely qualifies as a threat anymore-our Agents have come a long way since day 17.





Can you find DRV in this picture? It's at the end of the hallway near the elevator again.

Get in there, you three.

On it!



The fight goes without any complication, which puts us at 3.

Manager, we've lost a number of clerks. If this keeps up, then Big Bird may breach.

That's what I'm hoping for.

...Manager?

It's a WAW, we need two more after this. The ones who died were probably going to die anyways, and at least DRV does it fast.

But…

I'm not going to say they don't count-each one is contributing to our research this time. Besides, I've made sure your guys are safe, right?

...I guess that's true. Just do what you can.

I will.



All the deaths between Firebird and DRV have lowered Big Bird's counter to 1. When this happens, we can either ignore it and hope we don't have 5 more deaths, do Good works with it to raise its QC back up...



Or have Tenebrais bully it with Repression work so it escapes after a Bad.

Chesed! I'm borrowing your agents!

Manager, please try to have her bring them back in one piece.

Will do.



Oh my gosh, you got elf ears!

Huh, really? They came from the tree. I like them.

They totally suit you.

So… we're over here to suppress that Big Bird, right? Is it going to go like last time, with the door?

Maybe. I hope not, though.

Don't worry about it! It's just a big cutie anyways. When the lamp goes swing, we go WHOOSH and then it's not a problem anymore!



Hey buddy. Let me tell you what's about to happen. You're gonna walk out that door. Then you're gonna try to 'save' people with your stupid bites. And me? I'm going to be right out there, and I'm going to beat you into oblivion. Because your 'justice?' It's just some stupid birdbrain pretending that it knows anything about anything at all.



Yeah, that's what I thought.

You… really shouldn't be so proud of being able to do that. Breaches are normally bad, aren't they?

Eh. They give me something to do.



We discussed this a little bit earlier, but the basic idea with suppressing Big Bird is simple-we wait for it to shake its lamp, escape to another department to ensure nobody gets marked for an instakill, and then charge back in to continue the beatdown.



During one of our attempts to flee, Twee is the one who's marked. This yellow halo protects her, but it enables Big Bird to use its instakill when in melee so it has to go.



I also got a gif of Big Bird instakill chomping a clerk. This proved harder than expected, since the Bird shakes the screen with every step when the camera's zoomed in on it. Still, as long as we keep to our basic battle plan Big Bird by itself is no problem.



Four down. One to go.

That was it? Pfeh. Weak.

It was trying to lure us in to kill us. One slip and we would have lost someone.

Yeah… I think I nearly tripped at one point-would've been bad.

Well, we won-and that's what matters!

Was there ever any doubt?

Not even a little!

Perfect. That should reset the Big Bird's counter, giving us plenty of wiggle room for the rest of the day.

Two Birds, one stone, huh? I like it.

What? No, it's only one bird no matter how big it is.



...oh. Okay, now it's two birds.



And clowns, manager. Two birds, and clowns.

...Yes. Thank you, Malkuth.

Anytime!



Oh, you're back boss. Where'd you get off to?

I was digging around in storage. Work stuff.

Cool! What kind of stuff?

Don't you guys have some rule where if I tell you the plan it won't work?

He's right. Probably shouldn't ask too many questions.

Right. Mum's the word, boss!



Manager, we are currently progressing smoothly. Has your focus returned?

Yeah. Heck, maybe I should go after Judgment Bird and deal with all three in one day?

You dummy! Judgment Bird isn't like the others, it deals in Pale damage and won't escape easily!

...maybe not, then?



While you're figuring that out, I got your information on the new Abnormality.

La Luna doesn't offer a lot of gear, but it's among the most stylish in the game, and she does have an Insight work rate-this can be useful to know in the event that Malkuth should ever shuffle her work rates around-Perform will hide whatever Insight was hiding but act like Perform, while Insight can move to another option and function as it normally would. It's an incredibly niche thing to keep in mind, and pointless now since we've suppressed her.



While working on getting DRV to breach one last time, we hit the next level. Also, Punishing Bird gonna Punishing Bird.



Here we have both Shelter and Yang melting down. When this happens I like to make sure to keep the screen out wide so I can keep an eye on both of them. When the bar goes away, I click on their cells to make sure that they don't backfire on me. It's a good way to handle their meltdowns as efficiently as possible.





Uh… Where is it?

This time, I ran into a little trouble actually finding it-the DRV spawned near the edge of Welfare and moved right on into Central. When having problems locating it, it can be a good idea to pause the game and slowly sweep the mouse over each corridor at the height where it floats. Whenever we go over it, the mouse cursor changes from its normal color to a distinctive red-that's how we know where it is.



...Got it! Central, upper corridor, Welfare side! Tiphereth, clear out Tylana's group! Chesed, move in to suppress!

Got it! Everyone, up one level and await further orders!

If you say so, manager.



Yesod. That clerk's about to die.

...Most likely. The Abnormality deals roughly 60 damage per hit, and even with a shield there's a strong possibility it would hit twice while passing through, sir.

Right. And we definitely don't want Big Bird getting out again, right?

Obviously not. I'm not sure I follow.



I'm just making the rational call, here.

There are two main schools of thought about using Execution bullets. The first is that it's best to immediately clear out as many Clerks as possible, aiming to remove all of them and avoid any problems with Clerks dying the rest of the day. The second is to only use them on Clerks that are about to die in order to avoid triggering the effects of Abnormalities like Big Bird. The exact strategy I use depends on the challenge in question, but for the most part I prefer to only execute Clerks who are about to die anyways.



The clerk's signature has been removed.

What did you do, manager?

Gave a dead man a painless out. Let's move on. I'll take care of any clerks who get too close before they can get themselves killed.

Decisive. Just like a leader should be!

I'm just thankful there's no cleanup.



The main problem, though, is that Clerks have no sense of self preservation so we go through a lot of bullets with this method. For instance...

That's two…

Hey guys what's going on over he-



Three…

Should we be worried about all that?



Four...

Only if you've done something to piss management off.



Five…

Whatever it is, it's not setting the hair off. It should be fine.

Ookay… if your hair says so.



Si-

Manager, that's Evil Kit!

...ah. So it is. Five, then.

Greetings my Welfare bretheren!

Get the hell out of the way!

Ah! Are you perhaps… inconvenienced by my presence?

There's an Abnormality right here, it's invisible and if you don't move it'll-

Hah! You think me a fool! I shan't fall for such paltry tricks!

Yes, we're VERY inconvenienced!

Muahahahaha!! Then my work here is done!



I cannot believe that worked.

I guess sometimes it's best to just work with the crazy.

Got it in one.



Where were you?

Motivating!

...uh… huh.

My presence served as a powerful uniting force to cause just enough additional stress to ensure the suppression of a foe. Precisely according to my machinations! Muahahaha!

That, uh, sounds like an excuse for losing the order to meet up here, sir.

...I can't get orders when I'm working with the Woodsman, you know.

Ah, fair enough. Be careful next time.

Kit would have probably survived contact with DRV, but try not to forget Agents that in works can't receive orders. It can get Agents killed-or worse, mildly inconvenienced!

Setting that aside, the DRV suppression finishes just after this-which means…



Mission complete!

You made them feel some serious pain. Good.

Even if you spent more than half the day on one Abnormality.

We are less than 200 energy away from our quota. Please continue to fulfil your obligations, manager.

Yeah, I got it.



Hey… this is for a Disciplinary mission, right?

Yeah. Why?

Just a thought, but… we were the only ones involved in every fight. Why are we doing their research?

Eh, it's best not to think too hard about it. As long as everyone goes home alive, what's it matter?

Besides, Tenebrais helped! She let out that Bird, and that other Bird, and the Refraction Variant three times, and… huh.

I'm starting to get why they don't let her work with the Abnormalities anymore.



Manager…

Bees, right? Handle it.

Yeah, it's just the one.

It wouldn't be a Fortitude training day if Clerks weren't exploding into bees.



Excellent. Now to get the gear…

We have it already.

What?

El Llanto de la Luna's gear was not overwhelmingly expensive. We have already gotten it. The day can be ended at your option. It is good that you were able to properly throw yourself into your work once more, rather than thinking about unnecessary things.

...ah.

X? Shall we continue?

…

X?

...end the day.

Manager, there is no reason to do so so quickly. Noon has not even-

I said end the day, Angela. The second the adrenaline wore off, I… I need to think, and I need to put together a plan for whatever's on the other end of that door.

Manager, we still have no information on-

Then I'll plan for everything. Or we'll rewind a few dozen times and then I'll make a plan. It doesn't matter. We're done here.



Congratulations on getting through another routine day, newbies!

...routine? Bees are routine now.

Eh, it was kind of fun to snap a thorax in two.

It was… a curiosity, at any rate.

HAHAHAHA! Yes, things here grow curiouser and curiouser by the day!



We survived another day, somehow. Time for a drink.

Angela, get me some coffee and the list of new Abnormality options.

Of course, X.

The newbies are coming along great, they're all just about maxed out now. Not bad at all!

Music: never frozen bottom flows


T-09-80: "The tree simply reaped from what it sowed."
T-09-96: Eventually, intellect loses all meaning as they forget even how to exist.
T-09-77: Excessive aspiration would bring about unwarranted frenzy.

Tool time! We've seen -80 before, it randomly kills Agents instantly in return for some healing, making it strictly worse than bullets (which can either kill or heal reliably at our option). The other two are new, and actually very similar. Both are equip-type tools, both of them can be carried for the entire day without a problem, and both of them buff Justice at least somewhat. The main differences are that -96 lowers Prudence while -77 boosts HP, but not Move Speed. Both are incredibly solid picks, and which one to take is basically a matter of personal preference.



Between the two, I just prefer -77 overall.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Gebura's tragic backstory.

New Guidelines

El Llanto de la Luna

New Gear


Requirements: Level 4, Fortitude 3
*Not affected by Attack Speed


Requirements: Temperance 3

New Story

El Llanto de la Luna