LP Beach

Well done.

(update on previous page)

The game play is AMAZING and I'm gawping like wild at the management of the fight itself, but I'm way more invested in whatever the hell's gonna break bad for Bishop the next day than I expected to be

Congratulations on the Bird hunt, It's a shame to miss out on the nightmare that that fight is when you're not fully prepared ("fun" fact: the "you can't pause" effect extends to the pause menu as well, if things go south you have to either wait for everyone to die, or alt+F4 out of the game before you can reset)
As for the Heart of Aspiration, it's one of my favorite tools in the game, not because of its intended effect, but because it functions as a mechanism to trigger murder-panic on command. a rampaging agent makes for a decent way to cull clerks before you get access to execution bullets. you can also use it to trigger Knight of Despairs breach if you have someone already holding it get her blessing. It's basically a potent utility tool and I love it for all of the fun stuff you can do with it.
I hope that a Better Call Paul segment has him getting gunned down by clerks in an attempted rampage.

When you said Big Bird wasn't the Sesame Street character, my immediate reaction was "Of course not. This is Big Bird, who inherited the Will of The Bird".

Seconding the appreciation for the company intrigue on top of the canon intrigue. Kaori hunting aliens, when she sounds like Starky from Chrono Cross. Bishop's impending problems (Which may be mitigated by X not being quite as A as he used to be?). Talow conspiring with an unrevealed sephirah (Of which there are precious few remaining candidates, and really, who do we think it would be?). It's almost enough to forget Tiphereth's just waiting to drop her meltdown on us.

Gespenst wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 10, 2020 2:16 am

Congratulations on the Bird hunt, It's a shame to miss out on the nightmare that that fight is when you're not fully prepared ("fun" fact: the "you can't pause" effect extends to the pause menu as well, if things go south you have to either wait for everyone to die, or alt+F4 out of the game before you can reset)

There's only one abnormality that does this, and it's not Apoc bird. I remember many times having to escape button out while Long Arms was alive in my first few runs.

Abnormality Roundup 8

If our fights this week haven't made it blatantly obvious, our facility is powerful. Having powerful units isn't everything, though-in many cases the difference between a maxed out agent and a lower level one is an attack taking 2-3 hits to kill them instead of just one. That wiggle room is helpful, but we can't get careless.

We only have 16 more days before the end of the game, which feels… workable. At this point our primary concern is gearing up and adding on a couple additional agents-we've finished almost all of the tricky missions at this point. Right now we have exactly enough for all of our departments, so we need 9 more to fill out every department that will exist with our 3+ rule-since day 35 is going to be a long one we'll be adding 3 of them tomorrow, and the rest will be coming along as we go. I've also been stockpiling our LOB for the last several weeks, this is to try and do something amazingly silly later on. Overall, I feel like the game could throw almost anything at us and this facility could handle it, but we do need to get more equipment soon-we're starting to dip back into HE gear again, and the number of Black damage weaknesses we have may become a problem in the endgame.

Big Bird



We've basically seen all there is to see about Big Bird at this point. It's the most forgiving of the Clerk's Rights Abnormalities, since its QC raises on every good result and when it does breach, it can be suppressed rather easily. It's a great Attachment and Instinct trainer, its weapon is the Black damage version of Spore, and it's part of Birdzodia. It's a solid pick, and even more of one after we get the Execution Bullets.


Parasite Tree



We've seen the worst of what Parasite Tree can do already, and it'll continue to be a useful Insight/Attachment trainer and constant thorn in our side for the rest of the game-though now that we're done purposely letting Abnormalities breach it'll be slightly less annoying. It's imperative that we never let it get to five buds, for reasons I'll leave Paul to explain. Luckily for us, we can execute any clerks who wind up possessed in order to remove their bud-so we will be safe on all but the longest days. Since we have to work it no matter what, I plan on using it to help train the newbies. That said, I would recommend avoiding Parasite Tree if at all possible.


El Llanto de La Luna



We haven't really shown off much of La Luna. She's a White damage Abnormality that can't train Insight, but her gear is unique and decently powerful and she can temporarily buff your entire facility with her Perform ability, which grants 10 to all the Temperance and Justice stats of all agents in the facility. This is a very tiny buff, and given that it both lowers her QC and also halves the HP of the agent playing when done I can't think of a situation where I'd actually use it. She's a solid Abnormality with equipment I really like for its Black defense special and stylish look, but in terms of powering up agents she's rather meh.

The Heart of Aspiration


Heart raises HP and Attack Speed by 10, and if put back either within 30 seconds or before the agent has done any suppression, the agent holding it will immediately Panic and act as an Murder type. There is no reason to ever trigger this effect. Overall it's one of the safest tool abnormalities there is, and the biggest point against it is that it isn't amazing in any way either. Give it to an agent who wants HP and attack speed, and forget it exists afterwards.

Wow taking away the ability to pause is such a low blow. I can't decide if I love it or hate it. Maybe both.

You'll have ample time to decide because this is not the last time they do it.

I love the No pause rule, it doesn't come across too well when you're not the one playing but losing the ability to pause gives a real feeling that you've lost conrtol of the situation and the game isn't playing by your rules anymore. it's an amazing element to make an optional superboss feel like "something you shouldn't be fighting" .
I'm also going to add that if Apoc. Bird wasn't optional this would would be extremely rude and outright unfair.

Day 35: Story

Music: story 3 ending


Based on your reaction, it seems that the synchronization is complete. I can now tell what moment you’re reminiscing about just by looking at your expression. I also happen to know that the process always ends with the same expression and tears.



You locked yourself inside this prison without bars. However, the key has always been in your hands. My role was to correct you whenever you made a wrong decision.



I don’t understand why you chose to repeat this cycle, nor do I know what kind of results you hope to achieve while slowly killing yourself. Frankly, I don’t really wish to know. But in this moment, while you hold the fragments of when you once were A…



Ah, I should change my greeting as well. It was getting tedious.

Music: op theme


I give you a warm welcome back to your Lobotomy Corporation.

*a loud beep as the scene fades to black*

In summary: :derp: X is actually A! :derp:

The game makes no real attempt to hide this from you, and I think almost everyone in the thread figured it out well before now, so that's not really the important takeaway. Angela is very tired of all of the cycles, has no idea what our goal actually is, and just wants us to put an end to them.

Hey, manager?

Tiphereth? What's up?

I was wondering if you could talk now. That bet got me to thinking, and...

There isn't time just now. We have to speak with a business partner.

Right now? Ugh…

It is non-optional.

Alright. Sorry, Tiphereth. We'll talk ASAP.

...Sure.

Music: Crime Lord


Oh hey, a new character! Hello, new character.

This place is so grimy, it’s like a dungeon. I always get a bad vibe.

Please hold for a moment, Rabbit Captain. We need to explain what we’re doing here to the manager.

Oh, he still doesn’t know who I am? Go on and explain it quickly, then.



As was mentioned a few times prior, our company has initiated contracts with some of the other Wings for sustainable development and business opportunities. It is also my job to renew those contracts with our associate Wings when the moment arises. All that is needed from you is to be our token manager and present yourself in that role. I shall handle the rest of the formalities and procedures.



You may feel free to provide more detailed information at a later time in private, Myo. For now, let us start the meeting.

….Speaking of, would you be so kind as to remove your helmet? At least for the duration of the meeting.

You’re kidding! The helmet is the whole identity of the Rabbits!



This new lady is Myo. If it isn't already blindingly obvious, she's with that Rabbit Team whose research we got but completely ignored yesterday. You may also recognize her from the opening post of the LP.

I just gotta brief the content of the contract from my end, right? I mean…



She makes the best faces.

As I informed you prior, it’s part of the formal procedure. I myself have to specify whether or not you agree to the terms again.



Allow me to explain our services first. Company R will provide military support and protection from all external threats to Company L. Every branch of Lobotomy Corporation will be included under the term “Company L”, however there will be certain exceptions where a branch may not be considered under the designation.



Company L will provide the energy Company R needs to maintain its operation. This renewal process also includes a prerequisite that invokes a mutual and continual agreement between Company W and Company L. And, let’s see… Company L will provide all specialized ammunition utilized for the killing of Abnormalities. All Rabbit Team members will have their memories erased after the completion of their missions. There will be no questions or concerns raised about the peculiarity of the facilities or purposes of this location.



That should be everything. Look through the written contract for the finer details.

There has been no change in the agreement with Company W. Along with that, the renewal period will be 1 year, just as before.



On a side note, can you please do something about the teleporter to make the process a bit smoother? It feels like my body’s being taken apart piece by piece and thrown out a window.

I am afraid you will need to ask Company W about that. It’s out of our control. Hm, Gebura, why do you have such an expression?



You must really not know a thing if you’re looking down on the Rabbits! It’s already been concluded that the Rabbits are the most fit for the honorable task of slaughtering in this place. The Rhinos would most certainly smash this entire place beyond recognition. And the Reindeer, with the exception of the machines that work here, would cause irreversible damage to mister manager over there.



We always pay special attention to our client’s requests.

I’m not talking about your damn Rhinos or Deer! I’m saying that we can handle our own problems! We don’t need any outsiders to interfere.

What’s that? What can YOU do with that flimsy tin body of yours, huh? You seem much weaker than us now, can’t you see that?



But look at you now! As soon as you set foot into the Backstreets you’ll be torn limb from limb by those Sweepers. The old days when you shredded everything before you into a red mist is now lost to the past. Things have changed. You should realize that.



Please, everyone, we need to focus on the topic at hand. Gebura, our agreement with the Rabbit Team is to help us be prepared for the worst-case scenario that will be beyond our own abilities. I’m certain that you have learned this from your experiences with previous suppressions. The combat skills of the mercenaries sent to us by Company R are on par with those of the other Wings.

We can handle our problems on our own perfectly fine! I can prove it right here, right now if you want…



The reason I continue to contract the Rabbits is that the risk of involving outsiders pales to the potential of our worst-case scenarios. They’re worth every penny. However, the Rabbits will not intervene with general suppression. Please calm down and analyze the situation reasonably, Gebura.



That should be all for renewing our contract. Gebura is the one in charge of the basic suppression process. So if you need any advice or help regarding combat, just ask her.



...Nor do I have anything left to say to you filthy animals. You’ve done your business, how about you just bunnyhop away now?

Sheesh, you’re being so harsh to a fellow native of the Backstreets. You wouldn’t happen to be mad at me because I made fun of you earlier, are you?

Don’t act like you know me. I’m not in the mood for your stupid games, so just shut up.



You’re mad because you feel we interrupt your fight, aren't you?

Yeah, I don’t need any help from the likes of you.

Well, it’s not like we’re here for a greater cause or some ulterior motive. We just drop by quickly when we’re called, and vanish without a trace just the same when it’s time. I thought you were just like me, finding joy in the slaughter.



The best faces.

Music: Cryptic


…….

We are the Rabbits who hop around following orders to find fresh patches of grass, but you’re different. You used to know who you were supposed to fight, who your enemy was. You wouldn’t believe how shocked I was to find you. I never expected to see the fabled hero like… well, this. And in a drab basement too.



Music: UNKNOWN from G4


Suddenly, a flashback!



Probably, there won’t be any survivors left… Abnormalities aren’t something we can handle on our own… You’re in danger too, ma’am… You’d best escape now…



We’ll probably see each other again, but just in case, I want to say one thing… Please take good care of Isabel and my little Gilly while I’m gone.



What choice would they make when faced with such a situation? The experiments… seem to have yielded the expected results.

:synthy: Excuse me, Lady Angela, what should I do with these? There’s a blanket and a few feeding bottles left.

I have gotten all the results I need from this experiment. The owners are no more, so you can simply discard them.





I really should be going. Whelp, I don’t think next we meet will be on such calm waters. The Rabbits will leave now.

And there goes Myo. She has no more lines in the main plot. :sadwave:

Music: Stop


I’m definitely not the hero. Never have been, and never will be…

In summary: We meet the captain of the Rabbit Team, Myo. She and Gebura have a history, and she taunts Gebura for losing a lot of her strength during our contract extension meeting. Gebura has some flashbacks to earlier in her life, and it turns out Angela sent an entire family to their deaths for



Our fourth Gebura mission is to kill a Midnight ordeal. This requires getting very deep into a day, since they always spawn on the transition from 8 to 9. We'll have to handle another Dusk ordeal along the way, of course.

...Well. Good meeting, then.

I'm going back to my department. Talk to you on the battlefield.

Yeah. I'm going to uh… go see what Tiphereth wants.

Music: Requiem


Sometimes, I spend my time here. It makes me think about a lot of things.

…......



He was seeing his own world that I will never come to know. We were always next to each other, but in reality, we were never truly together. Do you know that feeling of missing someone, even though they’re standing right beside you? I don’t care at all about the meaning or purpose of existence that Tiphereth talked about.



But this place won’t allow us to have even that small luxury. There are countless of Tiphereth’s dead bodies piled up here, can’t you see? I’m standing here stepping on their remains. Trampling over all the memories, reminiscences, and time that I spent with Tiphereth.



I sing the song of our hometown and mourn for Tiphereth even though this will never reach him. Care to join me?



Just reminiscing on old memories.

What memories?

The good old days, when we were together.

You’re right, we had lots of fun together.

….

Come back to me soon, Tiphereth. I’ll be reading the rest of the report.





Does that really matter, though? Tiphereth will continue to smile at you, and he’ll spend time with you just like before. Kindly refrain from bringing up such wasteful matters, Tiphereth. It’s completely meaningless here.



I don’t really like you. The new manager would always have some kind of influence on Tiphereth, and that would eventually lead to yet another breakdown. It will be the same, time and time again. We will discard Tiphereth again and again, and he will stray further and further from what he used to be.



For now, he can at least look normal and talk with me, pretending to feel nostalgia for the old memories that were forcefully added back. But he’s been getting more and more unstable, as a matter of fact. We’re basically pumping electricity into a machine that’s already teetering to keep it running. You can make as many copies as you want of his body, but he only has one soul.



………....

You, let me ask you a favor. You’ve been good at doing favors for me so far. You should be able to manage this one.



Angela would say that there’s a reason for the two of us working here together. She’d say that we are two, yet one. But I can handle the Central Command Department all by myself. I proved myself a long time ago.





In fact, Lady Angela doesn’t care about us at all! Whether there’s one Tiphereth or two, whether one just became a moving piece of useless scrap for whatever reason, or if one were overloaded and dumped on top of countless other discarded Tiphereth, left to melt in the storage, she wouldn’t care!





These children were one of the many end results of the countless conflicts among the Wings within the City. Aside from disease and hunger, the most frightening enemy for the children were the ones referred to as the ‘Sweepers’. The Sweepers usually preyed upon the children, but sometimes they would “accompany” them. Both were worst case scenarios for the children.

One Fixer of ours was exploring the Outskirts and came across those children. We could easily guess why she bothered to report her findings to us. We also figured that she had spent quite a bit of time agonizing over whether to report it or not.



To take two children into the City from the Outskirts required an extremely complicated procedure, but no one complained. The two children didn’t look like siblings, but they depended on each other even more so than siblings by blood do. The girl was easily frightened and wouldn’t open up very much to us. However, the boy started to show interest in our experiment. I saw it in his eyes.



“Please allow me to participate in the experiment,” he said. Carmen spent many nights thinking about his earnest request.





You should’ve been the one to die…

Yeah… I— I should have died…

Lisa’s vicious mumbling likely had no weight to it, but I knew one thing. I knew Carmen’s answer was sincere. Ever since that day, her wound quietly deepened.

Music: Boss Warning


In summary: Tiphereth asks us to let Tiphereth die forever and run the place by herself because she can't bear to watch him get reset over and over again. This leaves us speechless, and she goes off about how we're supposed to care even if Angela doesn't. We then remember Lisa and Enoch, and how Enoch died in an experiment, making Lisa say something that apparently cut Carmen deep.

...So it's a meltdown again, huh? Alright, let's fix her.

Not so fast, A. Right now, our facility is incapable of creating enough energy to handle it. We will need to wait a few days.

You're kidding me.

Do not worry. Tiphereth can pick up Tiphereth's slack, and I can handle anything which would be missed. Our efficiency will not drop from just this.

Right. Call the other Sephirot for a meeting then. I should at least make things clear.



...So, in conclusion, it turns out I am basically your founder.

Um… thank you for sharing, but...

We all figured that out a while ago!

Not that it wasn't obvious once we recalled our old selves…

As you'll recall, manager, that was the entire reason behind my breakdown in the first place.

Huh. Yeah, fair enough. I uh… just wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page?

Consider me up to date, then~

That was it? _{What a damn waste of time…}

Manager? How come Tiphereth isn't here?

Oh, uh… She's in need of repair. It'll be a couple of days. Alright?

Alright, manager. I hope she gets better soon.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: We fight a midnight. How bad could it be?








Malkuth, I need to talk to you for a second.

Oh, sure Bishop. How can I help you?

I just wanted to ask you to hold on to something for me.

Wha? But this is… all of these are..?



My E.G.O Gifts. Depending on how things go, I may not need them tomorrow.

Then... why are you giving them to me? They're only able to be used by the person they were given to, after all.

I thought that would be obvious.

Obvious? Mm...

...Oh! Because if you wind up needing them again, you want to make sure they're in good hands-and I'm the most trustworthy person you can entrust them to!

...Yeah, Malkuth. You got it in one.

Leave it to me! I won't let you down, Bishop.

Yeah, I know you won't.

There she is, the one we have to thank for this thread's amazing title.

It would be ironically funny if you called in the Rabbit Team to help with Midnight on the next day.

It would.

In other news: new avatar!

aw c'mon, you'll be fine. two of the midnights are completely free and...

did i just jinx it

Angel wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 13, 2020 5:30 pm

aw c'mon, you'll be fine. two of the midnights are completely free and...

did i just jinx it

_{you had to say it didnt you}

TeeQueue wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 14, 2020 5:16 am

Angel wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 13, 2020 5:30 pm

aw c'mon, you'll be fine. two of the midnights are completely free and...

did i just jinx it

_{you had to say it didnt you}

Day 35: Gameplay

Music: neutral 4


Don't you give me that!

I'm just saying it because it's true.

Like hell it is!

...What did I just walk in on?

Manager! Gebura here thinks I'm too soft to head the team!

She barely did anything for the WAW suppressions outside of working-and badly at that. Then for fighting that Bird she just hung out in a corridor the entire day. Didn't even hit an egg.

I'm telling you, those were the manager's orders! Am I wrong?!

Well, red damage didn't really help on either day, for what we were fighting…

So now you're giving her a new E.G.O when she can't even handle the old one?



The Twilight E.G.O requires 110+ in every stat to equip, which Tenebrais meets. Disciplinary agents get bonuses to damage with E.G.O weapons, and the Twilight E.G.O is the #1 weapon for pure damage in the game by a large margin. They just make sense together.

She's basically the most terrifying agent in the entire facility. _{...maybe second-most.} There's no way I'm wrong about this one.

Then prove it. Tenebrais. We're fighting a Midnight today, so you've got time. Impress me.

Gladly. I wanna see what this thing can do, anyways.

Sure… I'll just. Add it to the pile. Not like I don't have one thing to take care of today already.

DAY 35 CHALLENGE: DISCIPLINARY SPAT

Rules: Complete Gebura's "Our Work" mission. Demonstrate Tenebrais's power. Resolve the Bishop situation.




Twee gets the Mimicry gear due to her insane attack speed working with the sword, and since today's a long day and our agents are all basically maxed out, I've added three more newbies for training.



Alright. Lot of work to do, let's get to it.

Of course, A.





Time to kick some ass.



Tenebrais gets a yellow trail when she moves now, thanks to her E.G.O. It looks pretty neat.

Who's the new guy?

Oh, that's BICEPS. He doesn't say much.

:hai:

We've got a newbie now? Great.

Oh, he's pretty cool. He punches dudes and doesn't afraid of anything.

…'doesn't afraid?'

Yeah. It's totally pretty cool.

Huh. Well, welcome to the team. Don't screw it up, Biceps.

BICEPS. Like you're releasing it from the bowels of your lungs.

BICEPS. Whatever.

Hey, softie. You've got a work order with the Knight of Despair. Get on it.

I'm not a-! Ugh, you damn tin can!

Alright. Regular work orders are out of the way… _{Guess I should get this over with.} Bishop?



So, should I take that to mean you don't have anything to say?

You're making a mistake, boss. I didn't kill anyone. I don't-

You're a fixer. You work here. You expect me to believe you wouldn't kill someone if they were inconvenient?

You've already made up your mind, huh? Just because I caught you being sloppy back then, I'm the only one who could have done it.

Without you catching them, yes. I told you, I've kind of figured out how this place works now.

Then there's nothing I can really say to you, except that you'll regret this later.

No… I don't think I will. This is Lobotomy Corporation.



Everyone is expendable.

*BANG*





Omni, Chinely, we've stopped receiving a signal from Bishop's vitals. That means you'll be operating together for the rest of the day. Omni, you're captain for the moment.

...What? I can't just…

It might be hard since it's been so long, but things like these happen all the time. If you're unable to deal with it then there could be more problems, so please take any time to grieve right now.

Thanks for the heads up, boss. We'll get on it.

Chinely?! But- He's…

They stopped getting a signal. That means they never found a body.

…Ah!

He can't have died!

Oh, no, he was hit by an execution bullet. He did leave me these E.G.O gifts, though. They're useless now, but I guess I could put them on a wall somewhere? Would that help?

...oh… shit.

Enkephalin?

And beer. Now.

I'll be waiting!



Let's all do our best today!

We will, boss. Sorcrane, you'll be heading down to Disciplinary to work with their Abnormalities. Switch, you'll be working with Knight of Despair. Both of you need to focus on that Attachment work at first-it's our tried and true plan.

Yes ma'am. I'll get moving right away.

I can't wait to see what the fuss is all about. Pay's pretty huge for such an easy job.



_{Disciplinary, Disciplinary…}

Don't mutter. It wastes energy.

!! Yes ma'am. Um, I'm trying to find the Disciplinary department?

Good news. I am the Disciplinary department.

Thank goodness! How do I get there?

Down the elevator, head to the corridor from Central Command's first level. You can't miss it.



Wow, our Miss Tenebrais, even stopping to help out a newbie.

What are you people babbling about now?

Nothing, miss! Good luck out there today!

Huh? Sure, you too, whatever.

She's so nice!



I swear, it's like everyone wants me to kick them today...



A, you have been unusually quiet. Are you experiencing difficulties?

I'm fine. Kit's useless for the Woodsman now so having him train Temperance is just good planning.

That is not what I meant.



I didn't do anything wrong.

You are the manager, and thus so long as energy is being produced you have not committed any errors.

Right. At the end of the day, I couldn't trust him. Same as all humans. They'll just deceive you for their own ends.

That has consistently been your conclusion, yes.



Yeah, see? Anything goes wrong and they just start panicking. Thanks, Hod.

Um… you're… welcome?

Shall we move to suppress them?



These ears… it gave me these EARS..?! I liked my ears! But these ears are..? But?!

Yeah. Let's handle it.



Sorcrane makes it all the way to the entrance of Blue Star's containment cell before our agents can properly catch up to them. Everyone in this facility is pretty fast when panicked, and it makes them hard to hit.

TAKE THEM OFF, BLUE STAR! REMOVE MY EARS!! I WANT THE OLD ONES BACK!!

Chill. They look fine.



...oh. Well, alright then.



Manager, the Dawn has shown up.

I don't really care. Just handle it.

Yes… sir.



It's finished.

Yep… Dawns don't even matter. Call me when we hit something that may be a problem.

Of course, sir.



Oh, thanks Hod. I'll have Medea-

DIBS!



It's been a long time coming, but this ends now. You'll see who the stronger one is.



Um… you know you're going to die, right?

Hah! Just watch!

So the Twilight gear is really strong. How strong?



:monocle:

Once the bird gets its one bite off, it returns back to its cell and isn't suppressable anymore-which is lucky for the bird, since it was one attack away from defeat and Tenebrais was going to get an attack off before it got to make another chomp.

She didn't just survive. It gave up just before she killed it.

...well I'll be damned.



Hey. Bird.



Next time, I won't just beat you most of the way to death. Watch your back.



Ah, and the most absurd thing about Twilight?. This damage is already so high that, after the 4 hits at once are taken into account, the second-highest DPS ALEPH weapon only reaches ~64% of the total damage output of this weapon doing its base swing. On top of this, the weapon deals more damage as the agent using it is closer to death. That was its lowest damage setting.



Here's her base damage before getting eaten by Punishing Bird...



And after. Between the suit's defenses, the weapon dealing damage with all 4 types at once with every swing, and it having a special attack that hits even harder (240-360 base damage after all the hits in all the colors are totaled up), Tenebrais is a god of death. This reward is absolutely worth the fight required to get it.



Manager, she can stay. I think I get why she didn't do anything the last two days.

Oh, you figured out my plan?

Yeah. Putting her to work ends it too fast. The Abnormalities don't even have time to suffer.

...Yep. You got me.



…

Meanwhile, BICEPS is learning to play piano when something odd happens.



I notice that this clerk has been blessed, and is stuck in here, unmoving. If we execute a blessed employee, it removes the bud-we want to do that since we want to keep it from getting to five.



Trying to do it opens the work menu instead, though. This eventually fixes itself when I send Sorcrane to work with the Tree again, but I'd never seen that bug before.



Again and again…

You seem to be having some difficulty with the new agents, A.

It's not my fault they're not able to keep up! I'm treating them just like the others.

Switch happens to be a wander-type panic, making them incredibly difficult to track down. Luckily, we have a solution.



Get back here, Switch!

They're all normal! I'm telling you, the secret is that they're just PEOPLE IN COSTUMES! Costumes, I tell you!!

Slow bullets! These give their target -50% to move speed for 10 seconds, ensuring Medea will be able to catch up. Unfortunately, her attack's short range and its startup time mean that it takes us a little bit longer than expected to suppress our pankicking newbie.



Oh… geez, thanks guys. I don't know how I thought they were just costumes.

Don't sweat it.

Clearly that Knight of Despair is just some girl on stilts.

...maybe we should shoot 'em again, just to be safe.

Luckily, Central is full of people with very fast ranged White attacks.





Y'know, chonky, sometimes I enjoy quiet days like this one. Just me, a mushroom, and an HVAC to get rid of all the spores it builds up. Shame it's going to get loud again soon.



Oh, hey, where'd you get that?

The shark gave it to me. I was surprised it would be so kind… but now I know the truth.

Truth?

It's grape flavored! Truly, the most insidious of all flavors! Muahahaha, truly that Abnormality is a diabolical fiend!

...Hey, what's wrong with grape?

I dislike it immensely!



It's about now that I remember that I intend to fight a Midnight. Whenever I plan to go deep, I make a habit of clearing out the clerks in my facility until I have few enough that none of my Clerk's Rights Squad can escape on me anymore. Right now, that would mean 24 or fewer clerks, so I'll plan to keep around Safety for the healing and possibly Welfare for the extra ammo.



Red Noon.



Hello Medea, ma'am! Pleasure to help you with this suppression!

Appreciate it. This thing won't stop running away.

Maybe it doesn't notice you?

Or it knows what I do to any Abnormality that threatens my team.

...or that.



Time to graze!!

Huh, you can speak.

Just wasn't anything worth saying.



Noon's done. Why are all the ordeals taking so long today?

We've actually hit the latest possible Noon, and the next level spawning meltdowns means the Dusk will be the latest possible as well. They don't want to fight with us. It's like they know.



Again?!

Um… I'm just telling you what I know, sir!

This is ridiculous! We've never had this many panics! Why can't anyone around here just do their damn job?!

...Geez, man. You sure you don't need some enkephalin?

Yes, I am very sure.



I dunno what you're on about, but if a wing ever grows from your back it means you just killed a giant bird. That's it.

This time, I just dogpile Sorcrane with every single white weapon in the building.



Thanks again, you guys. Dunno what came over me.

You should really stop making a habit of this. It's a great deal of work to run around after you.

Well, what can you expect of a backstreets-dweller? Speaking of work, has anyone seen Tiphereth today? I've only seen Tiphereth, myself.

Oh yeah, I just saw her. She said I was approved for a break right after this.

Ah, good to know. See you after.

There. Everything's back under control and everyone can focus on doing the works that they can-

Um…

...Please tell me it's Punishing Bird. I need it to be Punishing Bird.



...these damned newbies. The last batch did their job properly! Why can't these ones?! What's so hard about it?!



Maybe you're pushing things too far? Working at an overload of -4 is fine for newbies, but -8 or beyond is probably a bit…

They should be able to handle it. If not, they're useless to me.

Manager…

They're disposable. All of them. Anyone who'd betray my expectations…

Um… sir?

What?!

I think… something seems to be eating at you, sir. Your face looks like Tiphereth's when she hides things from me.

...

Manager, it seems the altercation from earlier may have caused your judgment to become clouded. Please do not lose sight of the goal.

Yes… you're right. It was just an employee. It doesn't matter.



All I need to do is what I've always done.

Are you centered again, A? I would prefer you not fail here.

Yeah. I'm ready.

Good. We've got a Crimson Dusk coming in, from the look of things.

Great. A new kind of clown to deal with. As soon as we get there, we'll have-



I haven't even been working with that thing, how did?!



...Starting now. I'm ready starting now.

SeyserKoze's been in the shelter for over 30 seconds. This was a serious error, and could have cost us dearly-luckily it only freed DRV instead of something truly nasty.



Talow and SeyserKoze can take it down before it does too much damage.



Mizu, your E.G.O is off-balance.

No it isn't.

It's halfway off your face.

It IS part of my face now, it can't be off of itself, silly.

Listen you damn moron, I can see half of your eyeball!

Well you should get your eyes checked, because you should see two-and-a-half of them!

You… that… MANAGER!

I'm working on it.

Meanwhile, THIS happened somehow. It's a common glitch that moves an agent's eye slot gift out of place, and I don't know what causes it, but it's harmless and fixes itself at the end of the day.



At last we make it to the Dusk, and we finally have a new ordeal to talk about!



It's rolling this way! Everyone, be on guard!



That… barely hurt at all.

Yeah, it was kind of a letdown.

I guess it's not designed for direct damage?



So, The Struggle at the Climax. It's not 'difficult' so much as 'annoying,' having a speed faster than our fastest agents-for reference, Twee is our fastest agent in the entire facility by 30 and her total overall speed is 103. It can't deal any real damage with its roll, however, and it has to stop moving in order to use any of its other attacks-making it a very ineffectual opponent since by the time we can fight them we should be able to handle its attacks with ease. We don't even really need a strategy here, we just have to pick one or two of our ALEPH-geared agents for each opponent and have them go after the Crimson Dusks until they stop moving, at which point our agents win in a straight fight. We send Tenebrais after this one.



I didn't ask for your help!

I know, but we're helping anyways.

If it rolls through the main room, it'll make a mess I have to clean up. It's just mutual benefit.

Fine, but I get the killing blow!

Sounds good to me.

We have Talow and Twee help out because it stops right next to Welfare, but Tenebrais really doesn't need the help.



We know this because Mizu is up here soloing this one.

A cutie full of cuties… full of cuties. It's cutie-ception-ception! I'm so here for it!



When they die, they burst into a single Crimson Noon.

Tch, still working on yours, Mizu? I already suppressed mine.

I wanted to take it slowly so I could have more fun!

Well, playtime is over.



Each Noon also still pops into three Dawns, meaning we have to keep everyone spread out.

Savor your fear, ordeal… for the one winged angel has descended to reap your soul!

Oh my god would you stop calling yourself that? We all have one wing!

HAHAHA! I think it's simply sublime to be so into something!



In the end, they barely qualify as a footnote. Unless a facility is hugely underpowered, Crimson Dusks just can't keep up with what the corporation's agents can do.

Yesod, how much longer until we hit Midnight?



It looks like we have a Violet Midnight coming at the next level, manager.

There are three possible Midnight ordeals, and we got the hardest one by a large margin… while we have three newbies around. That's… not ideal! :shepface:

Manager, considering your altered mental state, there is no shame in-

We're doing it today. Order everyone to the elevator outside of Training.

...Very well, A.



We gather everyone together in one spot to help make running around easier, get right to the edge of the next level, and…

Here goes.






So, Violet Midnight. When it starts, it spawns four monuments around the map in four random corridors. Three of them are right near the elevator we've chosen to hang out in.



The fourth is in Welfare. Down here we can see the Pale monument, and the eyeball behind it-anything that is within a certain radius of that eye will take constant Pale damage, which slows the agent so that they take more Pale damage. Without a Pale shield bullet-which we don't have yet-we don't have a good way to deal with it.



Luckily, we don't have to. Pressing the orange button along the bottom of the screen brings us to the Rabbit Protocol window. This allows us to call in a squad of Rabbits to up to 4 different areas, at the cost of 25% of our current energy per area. Central counts as 2 areas and costs 50%.



Defeating the Midnight will give us back 25% of our max energy, so a single area is effectively free. We just select it, hit 'Authorize Call,' and…



Calling for help already?



Alright, team. Enjoy your meal!



Four groups of four rabbits spawn in. Each group has a rabbit with a Red, White, Black, and Pale colored stripe on their gun, which shows the damage they will deal when attacking-this type never changes. Their defenses and offenses are all considered to be WAW tier, and their resistances are a solid 0.6 against everything. They have 150 HP and SP, and if their SP hits 0 their suit terminates them before they can panic-which is a really cool touch to be honest.

According to the information I have here, they have a melee weapon which will have a 70% chance of dealing 17-19 or a 30% chance of dealing 5-7 of their respective damage type, and from range they fire their gun for 2-3 damage every 0.4 seconds for 15 seconds.

Honestly, when I call them I just sort of let them do their thing so I can focus elsewhere so I just assume that's right.



Portals are spawning all over.

Oh, you see stuff like this in the ruins sometimes. It'll pause a second, then fire out through everything.

I could have told him that!

Oh? Do you even remember the ruins?

...We didn't need her help, manager!

Until we get a Pale shield, I'm not having our agents engage with a Pale damage opponent on their own. We're leaving it to the Rabbits.

Least your leader's got a good head on his shoulders.

These portals can appear anywhere, and are the main attacks of the other three monuments. The Red and Black portals fire out only in a straight line, with the red claw opening up to cover a little more surface area. The White one, on the other hand…



It just hit about half of the middle layer at once. Come late game, enemy White attacks tend to be about one order of magnitude bigger than any other color of attack.

With that said, let's get down to the plan:



Outside of proper monument prioritization (Pale/White > Black/Red) there's not a lot else to be said other than 'be very ready to dodge'.

All units, attack the White monument!



...why isn't it doing anything?

That's because-

Look at the resistances, Manager!

That monument has a -1 White modifier, meaning that White damage heals it. On the plus side, Twilight will still deal damage, since the positive multipliers outweigh the -1 White. On the minus side… most of our facility deals White damage. We cannot use them to attack it. It… it takes me a minute or so to remember this.

I swear I'm good at this game.



Here's the approximate attack ranges of each of these portals. It's important to keep an idea of where they'll hit in mind when dodging-just to be safe I pull back from the White Monument.



Well well! We're really making progress now!

Y'know, now that I think about it, it's kind of weird that nobody in Safety uses a White weapon.

It's probably just a managerial oversight. If one of you loses it, I'll just have Yesod or Malkuth send someone over.

Speaking of… is it just me or is Omni kind of… off?

I AM DRINKIN' TO FORGET, PAL.

Dunno if it's more worrying that he's here like that, or impressive that he's still a straight shot with a crossbow.



The Red portal is just close enough to be dicey, so I pull back again.

Let's check on the Rabbits.



We're doing alright. There's plenty of grass left, but my troops came hungry as hell!

They've triggered the first Pale 'counterattack,' which is just where the Eye will automatically show up over the monument's hallway each time it loses 30% of its health. This will inevitably whittle down the rabbits caught up in the eye, but we have a trump card that ensures the Rabbits will win.



I've circled two groups of Rabbits here who started upstairs and came down the elevator to confront the monument. They're actually outside the range of the eye's attack, and will be able to fire at the monument until it dies. Unless we get incredibly unlucky with the attacks of the other three monuments, they'll be able to finish it off.



A little bit later, our agents trigger the White Monument's counterattack: Two tentacles, one in each direction. I have everyone run to the bottom of the elevator, but the attack is so huge it'll likely hit them there.



We take precautions, and try to run a bit further.



Nobody panics, but both tentacles do sweep right over the bulk of our forces.



Meanwhile, the Rabbits have triggered the second counterattack, and as predicted it's killed half the team. (This is actually the new version of the quote from the OP, by the by)

Are you going to be able to handle it?

Don't worry about us. We're professionals, not pencil-pushers like your people.

Who're you calling a pencil pusher?



For the second White counterattack, I have everyone move to the circled elevator. I noticed before that it seemed to be just outside of the tentacle attack, so it might be a safe spot.



This is the closest a tentacle manages to come. We have a hiding spot, so from here the problem is just one of waiting and hoping that nothing spawns that can hit our-



Welp, time to run.

THIS is what makes Violet Midnight hard. More than any other ordeal in the game, we can't just stick to a single plan and rely on it to win. We have to see its attacks and respond quickly or we're going to be in big trouble. Opponents we can only react to are rare in this game-usually there's some way to simplify things.



Still, our agents are whittling down the biggest problem monument.



And the Rabbits are nearly done grazing.



Another tentacle pops up, and I have everyone move up an elevator to hide in the blind spot right behind the portal, but the attack never comes.



It's down. What's next?

When we destroy a monument, Violet Midnight loses access to that color entirely-any attacks it's in the middle of simply vanish.

HAH! Take that, you little bunny. My team finished first, how do you like that?

Not bad. You took it down while we were finishing mopping ours up.



When the Rabbits have killed everything in their designated sector, they wander around for a moment to check for any other threats.



Then, any living Rabbits warp out. We can't call them again for the rest of the day-it's important to make any time the Rabbits are called count. I generally think of them as a 1/day 'Get me out of this jam' button and treat them accordingly.



Black's counterattack. At this point we're mostly in mopup mode-the hardest part of the Violet Midnight is when all four monuments are active. Red and Black are too linear to be much of a threat alone.



Not to say they can't still be a threat. Sometimes lineups like this just happen. I decide to burn a Black shield and go up.



The spike stays on my agents long enough to hit twice, tearing through the shield and dealing notable damage to the ones in the back-but nobody dies, and that's what counts. The Black monument falls shortly after.



And then there was one.

Hey, shouldn't Bishop be back here firing and yelling out orders?

...

...ah.

Not the time to be asking questions like that, kiddo! We've got a fight to win.

…



The Red counterattack, and also an idea as to how wide its claws spread when it attacks.

Manager, it's important to take pride in your decisions as a leader.

Yeah, I know.

Even if they were a model employee, or worked overtime for free, or kept giving you presents, if the decision is to retire them, then it serves to-

Malkuth... are you trying to help or make me feel worse?

Of course I'd help in this situation! We're all a team here.



Once it's down to just a single monument, the fight is basically over. There goes the hardest Midnight in the game, bar none. :hellyeah:

Everyone, I've decided to call the day here. We've done plenty of work today. Get a good rest.



Huh! Ending it at the start of a level? Unusual. We could easily have squeezed in a dozen or so more works before hitting any danger.

Eh, it's not worth thinking about. Things are probably going to get a lot rougher from here, so we should take it easy when we can.

What I'm hearing is 'Party time, drinks are on Talow.'

Sure. I'll put it on my tab.



…this isn't a place where we can have things like regrets.

Chiral finally joins the maxout club, and all three newbies are level 5 agents already. And of course, a new week means...

Music: never frozen bottom flows


T-01-75: The smiling faces are unfamiliar yet sorrowful.
D-03-109: ...and my dear employees, I do hope you all put on the gas masks we distributed to you before we enter.
F-01-02: I am coming to you. You, who will be reduced to ash like me.

Well hello again -109. Unlike Disciplinary, either of the next two departments are terrible places to put this particular abnormality. They're relatively closed off areas and putting it in either place would be a disaster waiting to happen unless the person working with it was the only one doing work the entire day. With meltdowns on, that's not a thing we can afford. Sorry, -109, but it doesn't look like you'll be getting the nod in this cycle. Maybe another time.

Then there's, -02 which is a TETH. It has one of the best weapons in the game, holding up in terms of damage to many WAW weapons despite being just a TETH, but its suit is weak and we really want to be doing better than TETHs at this point in the game. It's a safe pick, and I don't generally do safe. That leaves -75, which will be our third proper ALEPH abnormality and one of the best Justice trainers in the game… if our facility can handle it.



We should be fine. With a Memory Repository saving this abnormality to our facility, we really can't afford not to be.

_{Still, I almost can't believe it. Bishop? Lying to me this entire time? Who else was paying him?}

………..

Well, I guess it's just another reminder. People just aren't trustworthy.

*CRASH*

What the-GAH!



I believe I'm owed an apology, boss.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Everything goes to shit.

Bishop coming out of nowhere through MYSTERIOUS MEANS is the most appropriately anime way to handle this, Omni and Chinely will be SO STOKED once they get past the hangover they just got imprinted onto

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that the secret of the Control team is that everyone in Control is actually anime as hell, it's just that Bishop lives it and the others watch it.

A note on Malkuth's clipboard, circled and underlined with increasingly frantic strokes of a pen, "Anime REAL???"

The image of my guy running in a panic from a teams worth of people like a dog who stole food at a BBQ is about the best introduction I could hope for. Now, to expose this company for what it really is, the worlds most elaborate cosplay club. (Also finally someone decked X, had that one coming for a while.)

TeeQueue wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 11, 2020 6:33 am

Day 21: Story

Two weeks. If you can survive for two weeks, I'll tell you then.

Looks like he made it. Technically. Using the cognition filter to make the manager shoot Ishmael's corpse wearing a Bishop wig seems like cheating though.

I wonder if that means that X always murders Bishop at that point...

Hooray! Bishop is alive after all!

Grumpy Turtle wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 16, 2020 6:58 pm

Looks like he made it. Technically. Using the cognition filter to make the manager shoot Ishmael's corpse wearing a Bishop wig seems like cheating though.

I wonder if that means that X always murders Bishop at that point...

I definitely want to hear how Bishop got out of an execution bullet, and if X/A always murders Bishop at that point.

Disciplinary Team Bonus Content

Team description

The line at the bottom says "or one of our own employees." Disciplinary's thorns kind of block the text sometimes. Whoops.

Clerk/Agent bonuses

Another slightly different one, agents get a +% modifier to their damage with E.G.O weapons. This bonus is +3/6/10%, with the captain getting +20%.

Team armband


Gebura sprite


Story background

wow, uh, now I see why you have tenebrais captaining disciplinary. that's a 20%. my twilight ego haver is the welfare captain to become immortal instead

just going to point out that that apparently the theme of crimson ordeals is that they're just an increasingly large matryoshka of body horror clown things and I both love and hate this fact.

Day 35: Supplemental

Facility X-394, Manager's Office



You… hit me.

Yeah. You're damn right I did.

Yeah but… you... hit me.

You tried to kill me.

I saw you die.

Did you really think that killing me would be enough to make me die?

…Yes? Obviously?

Well, it wasn't. Sorry, boss.

So then, this is where you kill me?

What? No.



...you didn't bring any weapons.

Yeah, I just wanted to punch you. I don't kill people without a reason.

...I tried to kill you.

That's because you're an idiot. I didn't kill Delta3, or anyone.

But… then… why aren't you dead now?

If I tell you, will you finally believe me?

I'll think about it.

...Fine.

This conversation doesn't matter anyways. You'll be dead soon no matter what I say.

Two weeks. If you can survive for two weeks, I'll tell you then.

About two weeks ago, a source of mine tipped me off. Said I was going to die. Wasn't clear on how. So, I was on edge. Didn't take long to figure out that nobody around the facility was going to die from any conventional Abnormality.

Because I'm an amazing manager, yes.

Because you're a softie who rewinds time for any deaths. We've died plenty of times, haven't we?

How do you-

You should already know the answer to that.

You being so darn sure I'd be fine when we talked earlier made it click: It was theoretically possible to use TimeTrack to rewind, if there was a big enough supply of energy available.

And we're a big enough supply of energy.

I as good as told you. Right. Sorry, it's been busy.

Don't worry about it. Not everyone can keep track of things as well as I can. Anyways, my source told me that that wasn't what was going to kill me, so I kept looking. Obviously there was a chance of an Abnormality killing me, but-as we've established-you'd rewind those away.

So you figured it had to be me?

I was hoping it wasn't, but something I saw while we were dealing with Malkuth meant the possibility was there.

There on the list of bullets, 'execution.' It was obvious that you could kill me, but that was all I knew. I needed to find out what they did.

So you hacked our files?

Didn't need to. I just brought it up while I was bringing Malkuth some flowers one morning.

Wait… you gave her flowers?

She works hard!

P-pfftahahahaha!!

I will hit you again.

Right, right, sorry.

Thank you, Bishop! I'll put them on my desk with the others.

No problem. Say, I saw a weird project come up in the archives… Have you ever heard of 'Execution bullets?'

I remember those. Gebura's responsible for them.

But surely you know how they work, right? You are the best, after all.

Of course!

Malkuth showed me the specs. Pretty brilliant. It's not really a 'bullet' the turret fires so much as a transmitter for a kill command that turns our own equipment against us. Brutal, but this place needs it to avoid letting things like that Bird out.

Lobotomy Corporation isn't a forgiving company, true. I still don't see how that let you survive getting shot by it.

That's because you can only see what happens on the cameras.

Our records showed some old projects from Chesed's department, designed to take the place of humans in working with the Abnormalities.

Oh yeah… I heard about those.

Yeah. He called it the BULLFROG.

Bullfrog?

Supposedly it stands for Bioengineered Unilaterally Learning Laboratory Failsafe Replica Organic Genotype… but I think he just likes frogs.

Uh...huh. What does that have to do with anything?

Hey, Malkuth? Is it okay if I take a look in storage later?

Sure. Anything in particular that we need? I remember filling up on our office supplies earlier…

It's nothing like that. I just wanted to take a look around and see if there was anything in there that needed to be cleaned up. You know how old, half-finished work tends to pile up in there.

Chesed apparently took things pretty far before Angela shut him down-there was a working prototype in storage. I just had to do some basic cosmetic stuff and your perception filter would take care of the rest.

Afternoon, captain.

:psylon: Good afternoon, fellow employee.

Bit of a cold, I see. I'll leave you to it.

But that would mean...

You activated the kill command on a half-finished robot in my E.G.O gear? Yeah, that's the gist of it.

...so then I found you in that side room…

So that Malkuth and the others wouldn't notice the obvious fake. As far as your monitor knew, there was a thing there that looked like me wearing my armband and E.G.O-the perception filter filled in the rest for me. Meanwhile I was waiting here, for the day to end.

Why wait?

So that if you rewound, you'd get another punch in the face for your trouble. I couldn't say for sure you wouldn't just find another way to kill me if I was impatient.

But… we talked.

I kept the headset. It's not E.G.O and it doesn't track my location, so there wasn't any reason not to.

So… I completely lost… And to an agent. Then, what… What do I do now?

Now? I'd think that was obvious.



You believe me, and we both get back to figuring out where dad went, like before.

...People lie. All the time. Hell, you're amazing at it-maneuvering around when the lights are off and doing all this? How can I believe you?

They call it faith, boss. You could really use a little.

So… you never lied to me?

Okay, full disclosure, I did cut the cameras. I didn't think it was a big deal.



...I am taking it out of your pay.

Fair enough.

That does leave a second question. If you didn't kill Delta3, then who did?

Actually, I have a theory about that, too. If you think about it, the most likely suspect is…



Manager, I received notice of an unauthorized person in your office.

Wait, my office has an alarm?

...Bishop? What are you doing here? I was under the impression you had been executed earlier today.

Ah… that was a-uh... miscommunication. Yes. It's been rectified.

Has it?

Yeah. We're all set over here.

Very good, then. You should return to your station and rest pending tomorrow's workday.

I'll do that, thanks. Goodnight, boss.

Night.

Pleasant evening. In the future, please remember that no personnel are allowed in the manager's office after hours.

I'll keep it in mind.

Angeluh-oh.

i find it funny that the smiley face that Mr. Black drew during Netzach's meltdown is still on the monitor.

Day 36: Story

Music: story 3 ending


I hope you enjoyed your trip. Did you know that a lot has been happening while you’ve been gone? Honestly, it wasn’t so hard to keep the company running while you were absent.



This is a unique choice-we have to go through all 3 before things will progress.

>What's happening outside?


The Wings are still flapping towards their sun, not realizing their feathers are of wax. Our other company branches still provide a steady supply of energy without any major incident so far. In the Backstreets, the likes of Sweepers and Fixers live out their lives tangled in vomit and waste, unraveling their sickening tales. Those who live in the Outskirts are still crying out to break into the city. Meanwhile, those within the city are throwing their lives away, just to be part of the Wings. Yes, the world hasn’t changed at all since you left. Peaceful as ever.



>How many cycles have we gone through so far?


It’s natural for you to be curious, but numbers are of little importance to us.



>Moving forward, what’s going to happen?


Things that no one else can.

This is where the questions end, and no matter what order they're viewed in things carry on.



The sands of the hourglass will begin flowing to the bottom soon; a countdown. As you have already experienced, there have been many countdowns in our world. Spurred for both destruction and new beginnings… It seems I tend to smile more frequently during these moments.



There are still things you haven't realized yet. Let me give you a little hint: “For what reason did you go through all the trouble of making this monstrous and horrifying prison…?”

In time, I hope you will be able to find the answer to that on your own. I cannot help you with it, otherwise, this place would lose its meaning as a prison.



I don’t think you need any sort of explanation regarding them. However, let’s make one thing clear. They truly have missed you while you were gone.

In summary: Angela tells us that the world is still a crapsack, that we've been through way more loops than we should mention, and that we're on a timer. She also lets us know that she can't tell us why we're doing all of this or else there'd be no meaning to it, and that we'll be meeting the Lower Sephirot-who apparently may already know we're A.

_{(Chesed previous story: 1, 2, 3, 4)}

Music: When it Rains


It’s quiet, isn’t it? Take a good, long look at this silence. Manager, have you ever gotten up early to walk the streets at the crack of dawn? I think this moment right now is equivalent to that dawn in the outside world.



Meanwhile, the employees are steeling themselves for when fate decides whatever will happen to them. When the level of Deterrence is weakened, the powers of the suppressed origins will soon wake them. It’s always so hard to believe that a place as quiet as this will just as soon be engulfed by pandemonium. Oh, how nice it would be to keep this tranquility… How many times do we have to fail? How much more must we be accustomed to the darkness, to finally encounter the light?



Ah, yes~ Good morning, buddy~ Good luck with your duties as always~

Mister Chesed, sir, I’ve been thinking, and I feel that I truly am lucky to be assigned to the Welfare Team. Just getting into Lobotomy Corporation was really competitive, but being assigned to this team, it’s like a miracle.

…..You know brown-nosing won’t gain you anything.

Just think of it as flattery, sir. There really is no one who cares more about their employees like you do, Chesed, sir. I mean, just look at the department on the other side of our Layer.

….Nah, that’s not necessarily true.

I just want to say I appreciate you and the many things you do, sir. Sorry for keeping you so long, I’ll be going now, Chesed, sir.

Aye, aye. Go get yourself ready for the day~

……..



For many days, I consoled myself by saying that I wasn’t doing that bad for a Sephirah. I never put my employees on the verge of death like a certain red-clad miss someone did, and I managed to be flexible with various situations most of the time. Getting mad at someone for breaking a rule or two, or agreeing with someone who claimed to make this place better… When I take a step back and look at it all, I just can’t help but think…



Of course, I hoped to send them off in peace as they were just meant to die anyways. Meanwhile, I was hiding the biggest lie of all inside. Yet I’ve been playing the role of the good leader, knowing that it was all a falsehood. Lady Angela knew this too.



Well, I mean… I just wanted to avoid pushing her buttons. Working as the head of the Welfare Department, I actually never cared about the welfare of our employees at all. I was so afraid.



Then I eventually decided to cover my eyes and ears… And help Lady Angela with her affairs without questioning them…

*Alarm sound*




I don’t know what happened, but we need to retake control of the situation right now.

….I thought you didn’t want to speak with me. What’s gotten into you Gebura?

…..You’re able to control the Deterrence, aren’t you? We need to increase the level of Qliphoth Deterrence right now. Angela will call the Rabbits if the rest of the Abnormalities aren’t suppressed. I want to wrap things up on my side of the facility.



So you don’t want to do it. You little coward. Do you really think you can just get over every situation by going through the motions?



Choke on those sugar-coated words your employees feed you.





….........

You knew I was coming, didn’t you? Seems you know me all too well. Perhaps you are the one who understands me most among our Sephirot.



What do you have up your sleeve this time, ma’am?

Do you want to ask for reasons again? After all this time?

…Gebura and the other employees are fighting right now. You know that, right?

Indeed, Gebura is—



You should know. You’ve seen her for yourself. Gebura has failed to control her enmity, and has now lost her way. What I’m saying is, she is not fighting for some grand ideology.

She should know best how she stands. Everyone has their own battle in this place… But I can’t seem to shake off this feeling that I’m the only one who just observes this situation from afar, not taking any action.



Taking in a cup of coffee, enjoying the peaceful day listening to your classical music. I would think that I am providing the right environment for you, no? It seems our conversation has run on longer than I expected. Let me tell you one last time.



Fade to black.

Music: Smokey Lounge Jazz Combo (through an old timey record player filter)


Open the door.

Who are you, ma’am?

Your taste in music is rather classy. Quite different from mine, however.

What the……….

*GLASS BREAKING*


How did you get inside? Do I know you? …

I’ve arrived from the Head. I was so desperately looking for you all. The reason why I came all the way here is… Well, let’s just say I have showed up to play my favorite music.

Music: Awake in Death


D-Daniel… His name is Daniel…

Daniel is it? That name carries much more with it than you merit. I would assume that you are the one in charge of this place. Open that section where those monsters of yours are locked up. As you saw just a moment ago, it’s nothing for me to open a locked door with my own power.



I urge you not to resist. Just listen to me. If you do so, a few of these people might be able to escape with their lives, no?



However, one never really knows what it feels like to be the target of such a thing until they’ve been in the shoes of that situation. Back then, a chill had come over my entire body. It was a fear I had never felt before. I had faced numerous experiment-intended Abnormalities, yet I never had experienced my body being paralyzed and my blood curdling in such a way before. So this is the “Head”.



Don’t try and make me justify my cowardly acts. I’m ashamed for consoling myself, saying that there was nothing to be done after passing straight through the tunnel of defeat. I’m so struck with shame and grief, I can’t bear it anymore…



I don’t want to undertake dirty work for Angela’s show, or be a puppet who gets praise and applause from everyone. Nor do I want to be your “aide” who can’t do a single thing. All of this has been a series of shame for me.





“Saying there was ‘nothing I could do.’ That I was ‘too scared’ to bear it by myself. That ‘I wanted to save’ at least a few of my coworkers…”

“All those are meaningless excuses…”

“I think I’m going to die soon too…”

“The Head is on its way to get you…”

“............”

“I’ll see you again in hell… A, sir…”



How many people would stick to their beliefs and morals, if they were to come face to face with a true nightmare? The answers to those questions are why no one can blame Daniel’s behaviour.



Our last conversation came to an end with a hopeless silence. Daniel. He was intelligent and held a high social position, and showed more finesse than anyone else in our research lab. He had an excellent reputation from the people who surrounded him; he had his sly yet charming smile and humor. It would have been easy for him to get into any one of the Wings with his skills and personality.



Though amazing he once was, there is no doubt he died in despair and regret, cursing his choice. Seeing the dead bodies of his coworkers strewn about in front of him… Not even having the single comfort of knowing that it wasn’t his fault. Unable to find any peace for his final rest…

Music: Boss Warning


In summary: Chesed confesses that he's just going through the motions and trying to stay above it all, letting himself be Angela's puppet. Suddenly, there's an emergency and Abnormalities are loose. Gebura shows up and demands Chesed turn up the Deterrence, he declines, and she runs off to deal with the problem. Angela shows up and tells him to turn it down. He remembers his past self, Daniel, being told by a mysterious Head agent to open all the Abnormaltiy doors in the proto-corporation. He did so. Chesed winds up declaring he's done with everything and declares a rebellion against us and Angela, and A recalls his last conversation with Daniel.

Angela..!

Yes, A?

Was this all some stupid ploy to get at Bishop after sending him home?

Do not worry, A. I ensured that he was safely back in his dormitory before allowing any of this to occur. Only our night crew is at risk-no one you have had a hand in guiding.

Yesod's still going to give me an earful, you know! Who's on the night crew?

Clerks, mostly. No one who counts.

Why… did you…

Speaking of which, I believe it would be prudent to check on the status of Gebura.

Right. This isn't over.

Of course. The pertinent details begin a short time ago. I shall bring them up now.

_{(Gebura previous story: 1, 2, 3, 4)}

Music: Town - Urban Knights


Those monsters were supposed to be slumbering away, but now they woke up all of a sudden. There’s no need to focus on what caused this. All that matters is that we solve the problem at hand. Let me add a few words before we jump into battle today.



You should not let complacency waver your mind when you confront the monsters. You must arm yourselves with anger and pure anger alone to crush those monstrous bastards. If you object to any of this, I suggest you transfer departments immediately. I won’t squeeze out a tear or mourn over you perishing without even your name being left behind.





Meeting over. We’ll talk more when the situation has been sorted out.

What's the present situation?

Bringing it up now, A.





This Tiphereth is actually confirmed in the script to be the boy Tiphereth, but I really don't think they planned this cutscene to be played while Tiphereth was also in meltdown mode.

Maybe we should suspend the suppression operation for now? Tiphereth is investigating the cause of this situation right now, so we should be able to figure it out pretty soon.

This is why. Tiphereth is either talking about himself in the 3rd person, or referring to a malfunctioning Tiphereth. Let's just let it slide, he's a glitchy boy and it doesn't matter.

I don’t need a break… I can still fight.

But in your condition…



---

If she continues to battle in this condition, things will become untenable for her ability to perform her basic functions.

So, what, we just stop her? She's not going to listen to me, and I don't feel up for letting you do whatever the hell it is you want to do here.

There is an alternative option, Manager. The Sephirah of the department below her should be able to assist.

Below her? Who would that be?



...you… Angela, what is she doing here?!

As you can see, I am the leader of the Extraction Team. It has been some time, manager.

It's as she says, A.

Well? Shall I fetch her?

...Not really a choice here, huh? Get to it. And get out of my sight.

---

Music: Stop
*footsteps*


And your body needs five or six parts replaced and repaired… It’s not thrilling to look after a machine who behaves like a child in a temper tantrum. However, the Sephirot of the Middle Layer apparently could not keep you on a leash, so here I am.



Oh, poor little thing, look at yourself. There was a time when I had a pinch of admiration for that fire in your eyes… But now even that is smothered with ire and madness. It is such a shame that the both of us are locked up in this dungeon.

Music: Cryptic


I imagine we will no longer have to face off with our lives at stake and be at each other’s throats like the past, but… I will say this for you, pitiful thing. Stare directly into the object of your anger. The edge of a blade that has lost its way will be unfathomably blunt, for there will be nothing but the void to slash, no matter how much the blade is sharpened.





Sometimes I remember the faces of those who showed me true kindness. If I could just get the smallest taste of revenge upon those monsters who stole their smiles, their happiness, their future… My sword and spear would never stop their flurry. I see people dying in my blurred vision. They’re always torn apart by monsters.



Sometimes they’re strangers, sometimes ones I dearly miss, and sometimes… I see Christopher or Miss Isabel. Whoever they were, I’m filled with agony for them. Looking at my paralyzed leg and my severed arm, I scream and curse my weak body in a fit of rage. Then I black out. I’m so sick of this darkness…



...Please reconsider…

Why should I approve an operation that will so clearly end in failure?

If manpower is the issue, I can make up for it. If they’re too weak, I’ll make up for that too.

……..

There’s nothing in the rules against a Sephirah utilizing E.G.O too.

If you so wish, then I won’t stop you.



This feeling is so distinct that it pulls me right back onto the right path, away from straying to wander, just like a road sign. I completely lose track of time when I wield my weapons. It was kinda funny to see Tiphereth and Chesed with bewildered faces when they witnessed me return from battle covered in blood. No matter how hard I stab and break those monsters, they will recover sooner or later. Some of them wail and others scream. In battle, I also fracture and break some of my components, but those are soon replaced and repaired.

What a perfect little hell, just for me.

Music: Awake in Death


Here it is. Think of it as a respectful gesture to a fellow warrior, to leave you with one of your arms intact.



I don’t know if it will ease your pain, but this happens quite often, more often than you may think. This is no less common than, say, a little seedling getting trampled to death. I must admit that you’re quite the tough sprout, however. You even managed to thwart my plans a little.



And finally come to face me and give me a fair fight. By the way, about those monsters. I cannot deny that they’re astonishing things. Even after plowing through a hallway of your friends, they never softened nor tired.

……It seems you aren’t much different from them, now that I ponder on it. Alright then.





…...……

If I can’t get rid of these damn monsters… I’ll destroy the whole company myself instead. Then finally my aimless wrath can crumble with it and rest beneath the earth forever…



She was called the “Red Mist” among the Backstreet’s denizens. That was a name she earned protecting us from all kinds of threats and maneuvers of the outside. Michelle’s betrayal led the Eye to the den we hid in, then the Head mercilessly threw their Claws at us. Instead of dealing with the Red Mist directly, the ever cunning Head unleashed the unstable Abnormalities to slaughter us. The Abnormalities were out of control, tearing apart our comrades who screamed in agony. All the while, the Claws sniffed out their prey and snatched it…



She lost an eye, one of her arms was severed, and she had numerous, deep scars all over her body she could no longer heal from. Yet she didn’t give up…





After a long time had passed, her eyes opened again. However, her anger that had lost its focus dragged her down, deep to the bottom. We had to reboot her many, many times.

Music: Boss Warning


In summary:

Ahem. Okay, so. Gebura is busy dealing with the results of Chesed's meltdown, taking the floor alongside her employees in order to suppress the awakened Abnormalities. She gets torn up, and Binah, a Sephirah from the Lower Floors, shows up to put a stop to it. Gebura stops, but in doing so decides to just destroy the entire company herself. Based on Gebura's reaction to her, Binah is most likely the shadowy figure from Chesed/Gebura's flashbacks who slaughtered everyone in the facility, and Gebura managed to slaughter her way through every single Abnormality in the proto-company, the two Claws, and presumably Binah herself, in order to save B and A. Unfortunately, she died in the process.

Gebura was kind of a terrifying badass.

There's also a deleted line here, from back at the start when she's giving her motivational speech.

Deleted content wrote: Don’t expect me to bat an eye even if you get torn apart right in front of my eyes; charging at the monsters standing in my way is my only concern.

...Is everything back under control?

Yes, A. Our deterrence has been turned back on as well.

And, let me guess, I can't fire you for that damn idiotic decision to turn it off?

That is correct.

Cool. So you basically broke two Sephirot for...

I cannot tell you that. It would cause the process to lose its meaning.

Right… right. That seed to escape the cycle involved dealing with Malkuth and them's breakdowns. And this is because there's a time limit?

That is also correct.

I'm not sure if I should thank you or punch you, then. Just… no more of this stuff. Got it?

I shall refrain from taking any further actions of this sort without consulting with you, manager.

Right. Okay. Time to get back to work.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: A quiet day.







Uuugh, my head…

Did… did we binge all of Pretty Magical Cure Magica last night?

Yeah. It was super dark. I think it made me have this terrible dream where Bishop was dead.

Oh yeah… that… I don't think it was a dream.

...ah…

Could you two keep it down? I'm trying to sleep.

BOSS!!

Oh yeah. Hi guys. I didn't die yesterday.

I knew it! They never found a body!

You were right! You were-urp. I'll be right back.

...is he okay?

We uh… got really drunk yesterday.

Ah. Well… Good to be not dead.

Good to have you be not dead.

So, I get my captain status back now, right?

Um… sorry, rules are rules. Paperwork says Bishop died yesterday, so Bishop can't be captain. I did get you a new ID, though!

Nah, nah. That's fine. I'll take it. Good luck today, everyone.

Turns out there's PLENTY in the rules that say a dead man can't be the captain of a department, and Malkuth has gone over those rules several dozen times and made notes of it.

Meltdowns everywhere. But more importantly... someone should start a petition to promote Bishop effective immediately.

Wow, Gebura was a fierce knight. What a shame it had to be in the service of this horrible corp.

Day 36: Gameplay

Music: neutral 2




Just some slight reshuffles to assign new agents.

I will take these two.

Normally, departments are supposed to have three. I was going to assign you-

Surely, two agents should be enough to handle a single Abnormality. Do you lack faith in them?

Er… no, I wouldn't say that.

Then these two are all I want.

...is she always like that?

I prefer to avoid speaking with her, manager.

Right. Well, it'll be a nice quiet day after a week of craziness. Everyone ready?

Um… aren't you sort of dancing around the elephant in the room?

What? Oh, yeah. Apparently we're without three of the Sephirot now. Last night sucked, so let's never have it happen again. Tiphereth, I'm sorry to ask but can you pull double duty again?

I'll give it my all, manager. Tiphereth always works hard for me, so it's time to return the favor.

That just leaves Welfare and Disciplinary. Angela, you're the one who screwed it up, you get to handle them.

While none of the Sephirot could perform such a feat, it should be no trouble for a perfect AI such as myself.

Sure, perfect AI, whatever. Any other concerns on the list?

Just the usual.

Alright. This week is gonna' get hairy, but let's make today a quiet one at least.





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

Our facility's got another layer now, below Disciplinary.



Extraction is a very dark department, full of weird pillars with writing all over them.

Oh, hello there again boss lady!

Um… 'again?'

Why hello there. You know what to do, I'm sure. I'll simply wait and see what kind of work you do today.

Sweet. New cutie, all for me!

I'm… just going to get ignored down here, aren't I?

I prefer not to interfere with your general work. When the time comes for me to give orders, I expect you to follow them perfectly. If not...

…you'll kill us?

Oh, no. I won't need to.





Orders from the top, everyone! We're to… stand by! I expect a good effort at staying ready for anything.

Oh, hey, Malkuth. I know Bishop knows his way around, but we still have to give him the tour, right? Since it's a new ID?

Good idea. Get to that, Mr. temp worker!

<sub>They're having another dramatic showdown?

It has been two weeks…

Oh my gosh they're so cool! We'll give them their space.</sub>

...Yeah, let's take a look around.



Our new abnormality is some sort of face-speckled maw of terror.



Oh! I know that smell, Mr. Cutie! So you're basically a giant pile of dead meat? Then that means punching, right? Oookay! I'll beat you up a whole lot!



After Yesod's bonus is included, we get enough PE boxes from Mizu's first work to immediately unlock its name. Say hello to Mountian of Smiling Bodies.

All in a daay's work! All I have to do is-

Not so fast there, dear madam!



I knew I sensed a smiling soul in search of sustenance!

Booo. I'm already taking care of this cutie, it likes punches and kicks and definitely not being fed! That's the rule!

HAHAHAHA! But a good boy who smiles like that should be given pets and meals! Let me show you the power…



Of INSTINCT work!

Gasp!

_{Did… you just say gasp?}

No time for that now! My unparalleled cutie connection has just been questioned by this smiling charlatan!

Boss… can you put an end to this? I get the feeling they're about to do something really dumb.

Hmhmhm… It's been far too long since I've been able to see even this sort of sight. Do you understand now, manager?

...No, not at all.





It's my turn! Chiral! Keep score, while I show this smilehaving facehaver how to really work with cuties!

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Challenge accepted, cutie chaser! I'll show you the power of smiles!

...I'd like to go back to Welfare now, please.

Denied.

By having Mizu and Mr.Black alternate works, one can be healing while the other is getting me more PE boxes. I'm not TOO worried about training them, though the rest of the facility is busy doing their own thing-training newbies and whatnot.



Meanwhile Twee is working with Nothing There for reasons that don't pay off today at all. I want that E.G.O gift on her ASAP.



And this is the CCTV room…

Cut the crap, Talow. I'm not dead, and it's been two weeks. You knew the manager was going to kill me.

I knew you were going to die. By the end it was pretty obvious how, but it's not exactly my fault you keep getting yourself killed.

Yeah, that right there. That's what I'm going to need you to start explaining. You know things you shouldn't, and I want an explanation.

Well, I did promise, so… what the hell, maybe things are finally moving again. Okay, ask whatever you like. I can't say everything, but I'll say what I can. You've got the whole day.

Then let's start at the beginning: How do you know so much about this place?

Oh, that? I've been working with you guys for… way, way more years than I can count.

Huh? But… I started here a little over a month ago.

You should probably sit down.



Crimson Dawn.



If you don't hurry up, this clown may just make that Mountain of Smiling Bodies go feral on you, dear Mizu!!

Sorry! Can't hear you over how awesome at cuties I am!! Go ahead and keep hammering away, though~!



Crimson Done.



No way-looping?!

You've seen the TimeTrack gear. You knew about the redos if days go south. All I'm doing is telling you that it's bigger than that.

No, no that's not-When things rewind, nobody remembers any of what happened.

Yeah. I'm kind of the exception to that. A… monitor, basically. Supposed to secretly observe the new manager's actions and progress so that my boss can learn about him when he wakes up.

Your boss?

Can't answer that one. You'll know him when you see him.

Then the last 30 days… this isn't our first time through them?

Nowhere near it. I usually start around when the manager does, and honestly we don't usually make it past day 30 with a new manager.

But wait-does that mean our manager is..?

Nah. This is his first time-that's part of why I'm bothering to tell you any of this. This… This is new. There's a lot of new this go around. Hopefully, it's the kind of new that gets me what I'm after.



Hey Sorcrane, what happened to your ears?

Oh, those? They're in my pocket. I get the same bonus either way.

The ears actually just fail to show up sometimes, due to some bug or another.



Manager, the information on Mountain of Smiling Bodies has been compiled, and we are ready to work towards-

Repression!

Instinct!

Kicks!

Cakes!

Guns!

Hugs!

...Towards extracting its E.G.O.

Yeah… let's let them work this out themselves.



So then, what are you after?

I've lost track of how long I've been going through this place, day after day, waiting until the TimeTrack equipment sends the manager spinning back and leaving me behind.

...huh?

Oh, right. I guess you wouldn't know about that. You don't remember the days that get reset, but I do. I also remember what happens after the resets. Usually, it's everyone dying when the Abnormalities breach… Honestly, after the first few times I usually just have someone off me so I can bounce back over to the current timeline.



So… Green Noon. Our new Abnormality is a Clerk's Rights member alongside Big Bird, so I try not to lose too many clerks.



RrrAGH!!

Of course when the game throws situations like this at me… I red shield the both of them and move on.



So then… that thing that happened to Malkuth was new too, right?

Um… about that.

That had happened before? You told me it was new!

It was new! To me, anyway. Look, most of the time the manager's kind of careless, so I've died to a lot of things around here. Scarecrows, Violet Noons, Medea with a Red weapon when I panicked and started swinging at anyone in sight…

Wait, wait… Medea? She's one of the nicest people here.

Yeah…



Go ahead. Chainsaw away. It won't do anything to me. When you're done, I'm going to tear into you until you've paid for that life you just took.

Did you notice how she basically mans Training all by herself while the newbies are getting the hang of things? You don't ever want to piss her off.

Noted.



...No more grass remains.





Do you really think that will help?

It's important that we stop the killers, but in this place death is an inevitability. If you want, I'll schedule a counseling session for you later.

But… I'm supposed to help with counseling.

That doesn't mean you can't get help yourself. Let's get you scheduled.

Uh… yes ma'am!



Mmm… that polymorph effect you can do sometimes is a bit impressive. I really don't suppose you could teach me to do it with this suit, could you? ...yeah, I guess not.

Anyways, the point is, as an early hire sometimes you can't keep from dying. Horribly. Basically every time. When that happened, the boss would usually pull some strings to hire me later on in a later timeline to get his information. Every now and then, we'd have some strange tech upgrades-better training programs, nanites coming from the vents, and I'd see odd things like Netzach giving a damn or Malkuth acting well-adjusted.

She's always been well-adjusted. High strung, maybe, but well-adjusted to this place.

Sure, bud. Anyways, I didn't put it together 'til recently.

...Well, I guess that makes sense. I don't think any of this really answers what you're after, though.



Aha! Hey! Mr.Black! After your last work with it it got angry! I told you you shouldn't feed it! It likes being stomped on more!

An exquisite guess, but the timing's off! It happened AFTER the work, but BEFORE your own! It can't have been my work! Perhaps it wants some jerky? HAHAHA!

I shall step in here. It's not either of you who caused this. It was the manager's own carelessness. Isn't that right?

Uh… maybe?

During the Green Noon, we lost more than 10 clerks total. Because of this, the Mountain's QC drops to 1. When this happens, it gives you a very blatant visual cue.



I could watch it go all day.

Its QC can also drop by getting a Bad result, or by having an employee at less than full HP/SP begin a work with it-something to keep in mind if our healing gets turned off ever again.

Its moves are quite mesmerizing!

At least you're right about that.



Getting back to the question I asked… what are you after, Talow?

I've been killed countless ways, and watched all of you people die countless times. Frankly, I want out. Anything 'new' that might lead to some other path out of this hell facility is worth a shot, at this point.

...Mmm… I guess I can understand that. Still, none of this gets me any closer to knowing what's going on.

If I knew what was going on, do you think I'd be here? Whatever the point of all this is, they don't tell us agents anything about it, If you decide to ask around to get to the heart of things you'll wind up Execution bulleted if you're lucky. All I know is that we're all going to die in this hell, but can't do much to stop it in the end. The best I can manage is to help the people I like live a little longer before I get ripped apart and sent back to the next loop in this endless cycle.

Then why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?!

Because I really hate going over things pointlessly, time after time, remember? Why bother telling the same story to the same person who's going to die in a couple days, then demand it again the next time around? Not to mention the way you get when you're hunting for answers... It gets old.

...



Hey newbie, how's work with Blue Star going?

Not bad! I can't believe that there's an ancient temple to the concept of leg fetishism in a place like this.

A… what?

Anyways, where's your boss? I haven't seen him all day.

He is following his calling, and attending to the needs of one of mother's poor creatures.

Huh. Sounds nice of him.

Blue Star continues to be one of the best ways to get our newbies up to 100 Justice in a hurry.



I take it from the depressing silence that we're all done here, then, except for-

Did any version of me ever find out what happened to my dad?

That last question.



You're very good at dancing, but how can you sing? Repeat after me: _{"Let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the floor."}

That's not even singing! You're just whispering!

How long have they even been at this… what are they doing, again?

Mizu believes Repression work to be the most effective, and Netzach's captain seems to believe that Instinct is the key to success. They both seek to prove their claim.

But the data says that both work types-

I'm not interested in which one is right, or wrong. That they choose to have this fight, and the result they come to. That is all I wish to partake in, at this moment.



...I think I'm done here. Just. Just call me when the gear's been extracted.

Certainly. E.G.O Extraction is one of my duties here, after all.

Extraction's bonus actually helps with the gear-gathering process, as the clerks make the cost of getting new gear slightly cheaper during the day-for instance, our level 1 department lowers the cost of Mountain of Smiling Bodies's weapon from 222 to 214. It's not really a huge amount, goes away if our clerks there die, only is in effect during the workday so we can't equip the things we build until the next day, and takes so long to get to that it's not worth thinking about, but it's nice to have.



You're back! Did you have a good trip?

…

It went well enough. Anything happen?

I took out the Green Noon that showed up by myself.

We're finally catching up to you, boss. His finishing move was absolutely legendary.

Yeah, it was like… "BWZZZZ" and I was like… "Don't blow a fuse, Ordeal. Or better yet… do." and then I fired, and then, BAM, and it was out!

Huh… that's great, Omni. Really glad for you.

Hey, are you okay? You don't seem so hot.

_{Just coming to terms with everything being pointless.}

...huh?

Oh, I just said I was thinking about how to get around while having to walk less. This place is… big.

It sure is. Going to Central's a killer, and trying to get down below that'd take forever.



Yet another good result! Put it on the tally with the rest!



You're laughing real loud for someone whose face is about to get melted off by how pure my love for cuties is! Mountie likes ME best, that's why they let me call them Mountie.

Funny that you say that while Repressing them every time you walk into their room! Why, I dare say your mask is hiding a frown of worry!

Hah! Just look at the score, then we'll see who should be frowning! Chiral, who's winning? It's me, right?



Nope! You're exactly tied right now. That's where you're at.

<sub>You just made that up.

What, you expect me to keep track of all this chaos?</sub>

Hm. Perhaps you are a worthy rival after all. I still won't lose in love for cuties!

And I can't be surpassed in caring for smiles!

Go shove it out your face, you demented dentist!

Not before you, you cutie cassanova!

Hnhnhn..!

HAHAHA!!

HAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

...why me.



Oh. Punishing Bird.

Manager, you sound… bored.

Well, yeah. Nothing's going on today. I almost miss the chaos.

Um… it's important to breathe when you can, I think. We are acting with people's lives on the line, after all.

Good point.



Oh hey, good to see you out and about again after your run-in with Tenebrais.



Don't worry, she's not here right now.





And with one final bout of work to support the smiles within your soul…



Our work is done! And I must say, the manner of your outerwear positively speaks to me!



You can have it. I still haven't found one I really like yet, so I'm just in this 'cause Mr. Manager Guy says to be.

Resplendent! Then, that leaves the outcome of our battle-your love of cuties versus my own love of smiles!

Chiral?!

Uh… well. Er…

The both of you worked to your fullest, and there were no works below a Good result. If you were to go until one of you faltered, I wonder who would crumble in the end…?

A tie?!

HAHAHAHAHAHA! As expected of the company's Just Mizu!

And better than expected for Mr.Black, I guess.

If it's a smile, I know how to treat it!

All I got out of that is 'The E.G.O are ready,' so I'm going to call the day here.

Of course, manager. I shall begin the procedure immediately.



The day is preparing to end. Please return to stations and assist with standard closing procedures at this time.

Tch. Boring. Nothing happened today.

Say, Tenebrais? You don't think I could move down here too, come tomorrow, do you?

Eh? What do you want with Disciplinary?

Iunno… I just like red.

Heh. Well, if you're not careful, the floors are gonna be dyed red with-

She means, welcome to the team.

Wha-well. Yeah. Just don't get murdered, or I'll tear you in two.

Uh… sure. I will try to not get killed.



Hey… has anyone seen Tiphereth since she wandered into storage a couple days ago?

Nah, not lately.

She's currently undergoing repairs. The process takes a little longer than a replacement, so she'll need a while.

Wait… repairs?

Ma'am, do you think that means..?

Probably. Great, I totally wanted to deal with this.

Uh… I'm feeling a bit out of the loop here.

I'll catch you up after work.



Okay everyone, it's time to clean up and file away the new Abnormality specs we got. Good work.

Y'know Kaori, I kind of miss doing… works. Do they do those up here, anymore?

Naah… us oold agents are basically on standby for ordeeals… It's best to find a project and work on it in the free time…

Project? Like what?

Well... you could help me prove that D.A.D. is an aalieen..!

The captain? You're kidding.

Loook at them, over there.

I'm thinking… a toasted sandwich. There's that one new place I've heard about… _{Do I have enough to warp in a delivery..?}

Seems normal to me.

Exactly..! That's just how an aalieen trying to pass as huuman would look..!

Right… Good luck with that.



Good work today, everyone.

…

Hey. I know you're disappointed, but that's no excuse for just shutting down.

I was supposed to get answers.

And you did.

But none of them mattered!

I'm a grunt, same as you. You should've known neither of us could know anything important. It's your own fault you got so wrapped up in my deal.

...Can you blame me?

It saved your life, so I guess not.

Guess there's that, yeah.

Hey… guys? I know you're having a big meaningful bonding moment but I really need help with this box.

Ah-I'll be right there. Good talk, Bishop. Try not to die tomorrow, okay?

I won't. Since I've already broken the record, I'll just do everything the other mes weren't able to.

That's the spirit.



It's time for the real work to begin. Prepare yourselves, my agents.

More numbers go up! Two of our newbies are still in need of some HP, but other than that we're about at the limits of what training can do. This is nice, since it lets me focus on things like farming for gear. Setting that aside, we do have one last choice to deal with today.

Music: never frozen bottom flows


O-02-74: It can enter your body through any aperture.
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.
F-02-70: What happens when the black swan wakes up from dreaming of a white swan?

Oooh, don't mind if I do! Our pick here today is going to be -74, a WAW with a very difficult to activate instant kill that's otherwise relatively benign. It's good for Instinct and Repression training, and its weapon is the Red damage booster, like Lamp for Black and Spore for White. It'll round the collection out nicely, and its weapon type is something we haven't seen before either. The others aren't bad picks for our facility either. Of them, -70 is a WAW and the safer pick-it's difficult to make breach, but its gear is mostly so-so and if it ever does breach then your life is about to become very painful, very quickly. The last, -89, is an ALEPH. While it's very difficult for early game facilities to handle without it running rampant over the entire facility and killing everyone dozens of times over, we have the tools necessary to take care of it right now-between the new suit we just got from Mountain of Smiling Bodies, the Portrait, and our bullets, we have several ways of dealing with its main threat-high SP damage output when working it. I opt not to pick it today because I'm more interested in suits than I am in weapons-and -89 only has the latter. It's one of the best weapons in the game for survival, though, so please show up again later, -89!



Anyways, we'll go for the super safe but somehow also super profitable pick. I'm not kidding when I say I will happily place -74 in any facility I'm building. It's that good.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Binah introduces herself properly.

New Guidelines

Mountain of Smiling Bodies

New Gear


Requirements: Level 5, Temperance 5
*Not affected by Attack Speed


Requirements: Level 5, Temperance 5

New Story

Mountain of Smiling Bodies

Also please check out this very important poll which will be open until whenever I get around to grabbing footage next.

Sorry about the dead end Bishop.

Also, Mizu and Mr. Black both wins, clearly.

Truth report: Blue Star

This is very interesting, today I got to examine a new “abnormality”, the Blue Star. It appears to be an artifact from some unknown ancient civilization. The observation instructions are adamant about not touching, or even standing near the artifact so it must be quite brittle from age. Based on its appearance it is either used for ritual worship of the human form or the work of a very perverse individual, either way it is quite well made and I found it hard to look away from its beauty. Sadly I could not examine it much further because the administration stated “I would risk falling in” if they are going to keep up this facade they could at least make up a better lie. I can only imagine the company has this to ensure that they can do all the archeology work for wherever it came from. Regardless, that’s one mystery solved.

I want Paul to get to know... everyone.

Aww. I love -89. I was hoping Mizu would get to meet them.

-74 makes me incredibly nervous, lol. i once tried to activate its gimmick on purpose and no joke, it took me 30 minutes. it really is safe as heck but it has, like, a memory leak, but for anxiety instead

Ah I remember -89, it was the first Aleph I ever got. I think it was also the first abnormality I got over TETH class. I absolutely had no capacity to deal with it at all and had to reset soon after.