The agents of this thread are pretty fucking too: Let's Play Lobotomy Corporation

[TeeQueue]

Also: the fanart page has been updated again, and hopefully this time I didn't accidentally duplicate the entire thing.

edit: update on previous page. whoops.

[BeachedSpider]

Oh no! We already have an agent named Sephiroth, but someone else got the one-winged treament.

[Gespenst]

well we don't know that it *wasn't* Sephiroth, all that Mizu noticed/cared was that their insides were outside, and existence distorting agony would probably be enough to knock the melodrama out of that wierdo.

[yamiaainferno]

[Angel]

this is a black day indeed

[Summoning Config]

Hey somewhat recently found this. dropped a application in the right place, but forgot to note that I am a guy with long hair in application to be dorfed, also made an account specifically for this because your additions to the story add so much more character to both the manager and the employees even the ones that don't count.

[TeeQueue]

Hey everyone!

This isn't an update!

This is me telling you that Lobotomy Corporation is currently 50% off on Steam until October 1st!

The update will probably come tomorrow, it turns out having so many story beats to go through takes up a lot of time.

Edit: Also, Library of Ruina is apparently on sale for 20% off right now as well-and if I remember right they'll be raising the price in November so this could be your last chance to get it for $19.99 for a good while. Just remember, that game is spoilers. Please use the Megathread if you wanna talk about it.

Also obligatory

[TeeQueue]

Day 28: Story

Music: 13 sins


Nobody is perfect. If we realized that in forgiving others, your enemy didn’t deserve forgiveness but rather that you needed peace, would things be better?



Michelle, let me cut to the chase; we are performing experiments that go directly against the Head’s ideals. If your beloved parents, or your precious friends try to coax you, are you confident that you’d be able to refuse them?



She wasn’t able to say anything to my browbeating. Carmen broke the silence instead.



Just like everyone else, Michelle liked Carmen. That was not trickery or a show. She wasn’t the manipulative sort of person who’d keep up such a facade, either. I should’ve made her give the answer she avoided speaking no matter what.



I don’t know. Did she accomplish her purpose by trampling on us, and Carmen? I’ll never know.



The answer was “no”. I was no different from her. To be honest, I never wanted you to die in misery, like that nasty tabloid article gossiped.

Music: Strange Dream


When I awoke to find myself here, I thought this could be my second chance. I thought I could redeem myself and liberate myself from my mistakes. What I did can never be undone. A sunken pebble can never float to the surface again. I wanted to be a kind person. I wanted to show everyone that I might be okay here, somehow.



I was a hypocrite, all those “nice” acts were for myself. I’ll keep trying to be a better person, even now.



*static*









In summary: It turns out Michelle was a kid when she joined the company! There's mention of a woman named Carmen who Michelle seemed to adore, and A mentions that she's not the sort who can deceive people so the entire situation was probably more complicated than we knew about. Regardless, Hod acknowledges that she was being a hypocrite about the whole helping people thing-but decides not to stop trying to help people because as long as she might be able to save someone, it's worth it. The perception filter over Hod stops, letting us see her true form from now on. And so, with the Hope to be a Better Person acquired, the Seed grows to 20%.

But wait. Who's Carmen?

Music: Romantic


“Hey, are you listening to me?”



“….......?”

“No, becoming a Wing is not my goal.”

“….......”

“Well, everyone says that. But let me put it this way: What use are Wings if you can’t fly?”



“….......”

“What I mean is, if we grow the stalk straight up like a tree, we could reach the sky for sure. Even if it would be a slow climb.”





When we select the option, the screen fades to black and waits for a moment.

In summary: Based on the silhouette, that was probably Carmen. Either way, X remembers a conversation between A and her, but he can't remember what A said, exactly. She talks about finding a way to the sky without Wings.



-ger… Um… Manager? Are you there?

Oh, sorry. Just… had a moment. Memory Sync stuff. You know how it is.

I do not, sir. Anyways, one more thing? Um… and if we can, keep it private?

Yeah, sure. What's up?

I had been considering continuing the counseling program without Angela's knowledge… But it's okay, I'll put a stop to it.

Right. Then the enkephalin?

I'd requisitioned a very large amount, but Netzach offered to help dispose of it so I let him take care of it.

…

...Um… I just realized why that was a bad idea.

I'm… going to go check on him.

Yes. P-please do.

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

Music: Beyond the Waves


Aren’t you sick and tired of this? You’ll do something great tomorrow yet again, though it won’t be anything all that “great”, and Miss Angela and the other Sephirot will shower you with compliments. We’ll have another accident in my department, a couple will fall down and die, some will go nuts, and a pile of ‘em will get injuries they’ll never recover from.



Nobody will say to my face that it’s my fault, but it’ll be clear as day that I’m responsible for all of it, surely. My day always repeats like that. Starts with death. Ends with death.



It helps them become desensitized to everything. Just think about it. If your good ol’ lunchmate is found dead, torn into thousands of pieces, who in the world would be able to clean up his dead body without a single drop of emotion?



Everyone’s just trying to escape from this reality in their own ways. They might look and pretend to be okay, but nobody really is.



I know, it’s like a metaphor. Death for us is a hypothetical concept. I heard injecting substances like Enkephalin into machines will slowly but surely rust them. Then, maybe I could chug a whole bottle into my body. Give myself irreversible damage.



Yet my mind is clearer than ever. Hell, I feel completely lucid right now. If I were to open my eyes again, maybe it’ll be somewhere without you, those other Sephirot, or that Angela.





I tried to persuade people. I told them we have to proceed with the experiment in order to save Carmen and the others. Everyone fell silent when I asked for volunteers. Then, one man quietly raised his hand. It was Giovanni, who had kept to himself for most of his time here. Giovanni was one of the patients from Carmen’s company. I heard they had known each other since childhood.



My statement that this experiment could bring back Carmen must have been the strongest motivation that drove him to volunteer. An experiment to find the proper dosage of a drug is not something that can be done in just a trial or two. I never talked with him much. We had nothing in common, other than our acquaintance with Carmen.

Cogito emaciates the boundary of a human.



Music: Boss Warning


In Summary: Netzach is tired of dealing with this place, and tries to overdose himself on Enkephalin rather than face another day, causing him to suffer a meltdown. We remember Netzach's past self, Giovanni, one of the first people to volunteer for Cogito dosage experiments. Also, Carmen is apparently dead.

Angela!

I shall prepare for what is to come immediately. In the meanwhile, Chesed is on the line.

Right now? Well, alright.

Hi~

We've got to stop meeting like this.

Aww. I'm getting back to you on that task I asked you to do.

Town - VIP Lounge


Try not to overdo it though, ok?



What you’ve already gotten through will have lengthened the lives of our employees by at least some degree. So… you should hopefully be satisfied now.



You came to Lobotomy Corporation, and you probably want to put forth your best effort to mould this place into something better. But this place is just like a cup of coffee gone cold ages ago.



It’d be better off for all of us in the end if I were to at least feign our noble and benevolent posture, now wouldn’t it? The same goes for you, manager.



This is another one where the selection doesn't matter.



I will say that I’m curious how long that fire in your heart will last. I’ll get going now, I’m actually quite busy, even though I seem relaxed.

Music: Dungeon - Psych Ward




Just look who’s talking.

In summary: Chesed makes it abundantly clear that he's easygoing because he doesn't feel like this place is worth caring about. Apparently this wasn't always the case, though.



Same requirement as last time, shorter time limit. The target number for tomorrow is 9 minutes.

You know, Chesed, it'd be really nice if you could just give me a freebie on this research stuff. I'm trying to help your colleagues.

You know I can't do that, boss. You do something for me, I get you some cool toys. That's the little give-and-take Lady Angela's asked for.

Really..?

The company requires that you show your prowess in order to gain access to additional resources. It hasn't been any trouble thus far, for a manager of your caliber.

Doesn't mean I like trying to handle these Suppression things on a timer.

Just do your best. The trial will always be there another day should you need more time.

Nah, let's just do it now. I might tear my hair out, but what's it done for me lately anyways?

Presumably it keeps your head warm, X.

...Yes, thank you Angela. I would have had no idea.

It is no trouble.



Hod, I'm here to pass the notes from yesterday's-oh, what're you up to?

I wanted to make things up to everyone for the trouble yesterday, so I'm busy video editing right now. Do you think I could get your help?

Sure! I don't have a clue how to use any of that fancy software, but I'll do what I can!

I was hoping you could share some of your best practices-those things you make your agents do to make sure they can produce energy without causing complications.

Really?!

Really. While you're a bit overbearing sometimes, I think you have great ideas sometimes too.

...I won't let you down! Let's brainstorm all night if we have to!

That shouldn't be-



...Alright. Let's make something really great, okay?

O-kay!

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Netzach tries to kill Netzach because he's an AI and this is a video game.

...wait.

Bonus

Michelle sprite


Hod robot sprite








...so that's the story.

Wow. Okay, so. How's Hod?

She's doing fine. We got lucky.

Thank goodness… But, An Arbiter? One of the Head's enforcers came here..? _{That's a bit overkill…}

I thought you might have an idea-you've been here longer than anyone.

No, clue. It was even before my time.

Oh! There you two are! Ahh, splendid, splendid! Keep smiling! We've got a situation to deal with!

Mr.Black? Oh no, don't tell me-

That's right! It's my turn! I can't wait to make a measure of the man behind the can! HAHAHAHA!

...you think they'll be okay together?

Probably not. Ugh… I'm going to get back to work and try and forget about all of… this.

Yeah, it's not like you to get this angry about anything.

...Hod's a good person, Talow. She didn't deserve to be dressed down like that.

I did tell you he was a jackass.

Yeah, well… I guess I believe it now. I just want this week to end already.

Well, nothing we can do but push through it. Everything has to end eventually, right?

Mm. See you around.

Don't die.

[Quackles]

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Netzach tries to kill Netzach because he's an AI and this is a video game.

...wait.

[Talow]

Well... at least he's not trying to kill us.

[Seniorswitchback]

I was wondering what they were expecting hiring Michelle despite being a child for whatever Lobcorp was doing in the past, but then again Tiphereth and Tiphereth are there and seem to be good workers. Lobcorp may have just had a really crazy day care program back in the day.

[mersenne]

Carmen has a distinctly familiar silhouette. I like her red hair clip.

[yamiaainferno]

I was wondering what they were expecting hiring Michelle despite being a child for whatever Lobcorp was doing in the past, but then again Tiphereth and Tiphereth are there and seem to be good workers. Lobcorp may have just had a really crazy day care program back in the day.

I'm going out on a limb and theorizing that whomever the Tiphereth used to be, they were a single person.

[Talisriel]

Well, I've been reading up on the proper Sephiroth since this LP started. Netzach is Eternity, which is more or less his problem. Also endurance, which I'm sure will come out more once we're through what's coming.

I have no idea if the following is plot relevant, or just how they set up the game. Spoilered in case it is:
Where the hell is Yetzirah(The World of Formation, of lesser Angels)? We go straight from Assiah/Asiyah(You Are Here) to Briah(World of the Archangels, of Creation). Did they just want a 3-way division of the Sephira instead of 4? If so, the focus on the Sephira would lead me to think they'd skip Briah, with its lack of sephiroth associations (Binah. That's it. Not even Chokhmah on the other side!), while Yetzirah officially associates with the sephiroth from Yesod to Gevurah and Chesed.

[Tanegashima]

I was wondering what they were expecting hiring Michelle despite being a child for whatever Lobcorp was doing in the past, but then again Tiphereth and Tiphereth are there and seem to be good workers. Lobcorp may have just had a really crazy day care program back in the day.

I'm guessing Hod was basically a teen genius and graduated from whatever equivalent of college there is in this world early and with flying colors.

[TeeQueue]

Day 28: Gameplay

Music: neutral 3


Manager! Hod and I have some news.

You're going to love this-we put our heads together and revamped the entire agent training course.

We've already taken the liberty of trying it with a new recruit, and the results can't be overstated. This is a total game-changer!

...holy crap. Good work, you two.

Hod's suppression is incredibly important for bringing new agents up to speed quickly. Before just now, starting an agent off at level 3 in all stats would cost 1+3+3+3+9 for a total of 19 LOB points. Now, it costs 1. Additionally, starting at level 3 in everything means our agents are level 4 overall, this lets them deal with anything WAW or below without a fear penalty. We immediately put this new bonus to work to create a new agent to handle work with Woodsman when it comes up.



While we can start agents at level 3 in everything, we don't have to-we can drop their stats at no cost. Evil Kit here is a remorseless and unfeeling soul who should have no problems with the Woodsman.



Not to be outdone, Chesed has some research for us now as well.

HP-N Bullets: Using the power of nanomachines, son, we can shoot agents to heal them for 25 HP. Like shield bullets, this can hit multiple people at once if they're stacked up together. Since shield bullets block 50 damage and this only heals 25, however, it's worse than a shield in almost every situation. The best use for it would be if we need to restore someone's HP quickly as they're bouncing from one work to another-something which rarely happens.

SP-E Bullets: Using the power of refined Enkephalin (which is apparently non-addictive), we heal agents for 25 SP. These are literally the HP bullets, but for SP, so the same rules apply. In general we want to shield instead of using these, but sometimes there's just no substitute for an immediate, on-demand heal.

HP & SP Bullet Refining: This is supposed to raise the healing power of the HP/SP bullets from 25 to 40, making them both notably better, but still slightly worse than the shield bullets. Unfortunately, it is completely useless. Due to a bug, this research does nothing in the standard game. There is a mod to fix this, and we will be using it.



For… reasons our pick today doesn't matter all that much, so we go with HP.




With us having a department closed we don't need any other new agents just yet, so we keep it to just Evil Kit for the moment.



Alright, let's review the situation.

Of course, X. I am already preparing to replace Netzach in the event his current form should fail.

Alright. If things go completely south we may have to do that. Still, he obviously had issues. I put a lot of effort into trying to give him some time…

And it was useless. I could have told you that beforehand, but it is imperative that I allow the manager to function in the manner of his choosing in relation to the Sephirot.

Yeesh. Brutal as always.

Manager, I've had my team run preliminary diagnostics. It looks like he's having some kind of effect on the facility like the others. We probably won't be reachable once the day starts, so be careful.

Don't worry. I've got this. Probably.

That's not reassu-

Can't hear you starting the day byeeeee~



Music: Second Trumpet


It's not just you-everything is about one shade greener than normal today. That's Netzach.

Netzach, you're still with us-right? Netzach? Oh-wait, that lump in Safety...



That's him, alright! He's certainly put on a pound or twelve! HAHAHA!

Great. You're here. That's what I definitely wanted.

Hm, but you're not smiling!

Not a lot to smile about.

I disagree. Why, simply being alive is reason enough!

Then I'd like to stop smiling, now.

Now, we can't let that happen! Not to my favorite tin can on legs!

Netzach, things haven't gone quite as expected. We need to get you back to normal ASAP.

You're still trying to force me back into that hell, huh? It doesn't matter… Just do whatever.

No one is actually safe here. You know that the Safety Team is just for show, right?

Why do you want to continue prolonging these undesired lives? What’d you expect to see at the end of all this?

Why must I wake up and do all the garbage I hate every single day?

The moment I woke up again here, I met you. You, whom I never wanted to see ever again.

Oh my! That's definitely not good.

What's going on?

It seems the regenerators are having a bit of an oopsie! HAHAHAHA! _{...they're broken.}

I'm sorry WHAT.

Nothing here is safe. What's the point of prolonging the inevitable? Just let them fall.

Netzach's suppression disables all forms of healing. From the main room regenerators to bullets, even to special E.G.O weapons or gifts-healing is ALL deactivated today. While Malkuth tested our observational skills and Hod tested our ability to work with agents who are weaker than the abnormalities, Netzach is all about pacing-how well can we control how much damage our agents take?



If you can't see the new abnormality, don't worry about it-that's its thing. Like the shark from yesterday, we'll not focus too hard on this one just yet. We'll cover them all when there's no core suppressions to deal with.

Aaand sent.

Did you just give Mizu an order to work the new guy?

If I didn't, she would have done it anyways. It's best to move along with how things will move already.

...don't touch the keyboard.

You should be smiling more! Come on, there's nothing to worry about!

Could you two keep it down? I'm tired, and I don't want to see your face anymore, manager.

Hey, what's wrong with my face?!

You were the last person I wanted to see. But here I am… and here you are.



With only 9 minutes to play with this time, our strategy here is similar to what it was with Hod. We start off by queuing up as many works as we can, in order to rush through the meltdown levels.

You're always in such a rush. Don't you know you're going to have an accident?

That's always possible. Even if we don't, we'll have an ordeal show up and it'll probably kill some of the clerks.

Right? So what's even the point of trying?

Music: Abandoned


When we hit a new meltdown level, there's a sudden pulse over Netzach. Since we hit it so quickly, we don't actually get to see what that does yet-but it's the other trick of this particular Suppression. We'll get to it in a moment.

You weren’t the person I put my trust in.

This place will never be safe, you know.

Just let me rest...

That pulse… the Enkephalin's being subsumed. Hear that, Netzach? I can save you after all.

How nice for you. You've never cared about what I wanted. Feeling's mutual, I guess.

Netzach you are seriously trying my patience.

Now now, smiles everyone!

Why bother putting a smile on if everyone's just going to die anyways?

Because a smile is the perfect medicine to overcome any problem! You should always be wearing one, like me!



This is one of the most dangerous meltdowns we could possibly see-holding Yang for 30 seconds will lower Yin's QC by one, and forgetting you had to deal with its meltdown is a perfect recipe for a surprise breach.



Fat Sam grabs it and immediately returns it to its containment room.



You know, I've wanted a face like hers for a while now-it seems quite fun! But that Shy one just never wants to smile for me when I arrive. It's a shame, a shame! HAHA!

Oh, even now you're working with the new Abnormalities. How diligent… unlike me.

Don't give me that, I've seen you do work, and when you're in the mood to be you're remarkably on point.

Faster the work's done, faster I can go back to slacking. Not that it matters anyway. Not anymore… Just let me drift...

Don't even think about it. The agents need you.

It would be quite inconvenient if you were to die! Why, did you know you've taken down our regenerators?



Now that we've been at it for a bit, we can see that SeyserKoze here has done a couple of works and taken a bit of a beating for his efforts.

Oh… they're down, are they? Good. That way I can't be rebuilt.

You're still talking like that after all I did for you?

The things you've done for him, you say?

If you really cared about me, you'd fire me like I asked for.

...Oh, I see what you're saying. Y'know what, you're kinda right.



You're agreeing with me? How strange...

This came up yesterday. I'm not blind enough to miss when I'm doing the same thing.

So you admit you never cared?

That's… complicated. Even if I did it so I wouldn't feel guilty about your suffering, though, I'm not going to quit acting as long as it can help keep you alive.

Abandon your sense of guilt, everyone. They couldn’t be saved anyways.

‘Cause this place is always horrible, the only thing I can hope for is a blissful end.

Doubt is a non-issue, not able to deal meaningful damage to any of our agents. If we ignore it they'll eventually wander into main rooms and die on their own. So we do that.



Seyser's been healed back up. Was it that pulse..?

This is the other rule of Netzach's suppression: every meltdown, all of our agents are fully healed. While the safest strategy for dealing with Netzach is to carefully do things work by work with agents who will take very little damage from whatever they're dealing with, this wrinkle opens up a second strategy: If we throw people at abnormalities fast enough that nobody's ever doing a second work in any given meltdown level, then we don't ever need to slow down since a single work shouldn't kill any of our agents. We do need to remember to use shield bullets if our agents engage with a Noon, but our Noon today will be Crimson-one that's very easy to avoid entirely.

So basically, we're going to deal with having our healing turned off by getting through the day faster than attrition can pile on to our agents.

I suppose the Enkephalin being subsumed is forcing the regenerators to heal everyone! How convenient.

Convenient? All we're doing is lengthening their suffering.



Look at them. While Mizu's found a Doubt, it still killed one of Welfare's clerks. Three more have gone insane from the brutality-this is everyday here. And you put me in charge of their safety. To put me in charge of keeping them safe… What else am I supposed to do?

Keep… going?

With a smile?

No thanks.



Get out of here!

Don't worry, I'm shielded right now-I'll back you up.

You're right about one thing. It's hard to keep most of the employees safe.

Oh?

The agents are no trouble, but clerks are the majority of our employees, and they're basically lemmings. Their guns are useless, they're made of tissue paper, and not even shield bullets can consistently keep them safe.

Doing nothing's nothing to be guilty over, Manager. You could just relax and sink, like me.



I can't do that. I said it before-even if it's for myself, if my actions can save someone… I should take them. Hod taught me that one.

How troublesome…

It is, isn't it? That's why I'm going to save you.

I never asked you to.

You didn't. Still, I'm pretty sure your staff wants you around.

Why yes, we do!



With the Doubt cleared out and our cooldowns reset, it's time to set up another massive round of works, enough to go clear into the Noon.

Music: Blue Dots

I never wanted to be in this position anyways. I never asked for this. Not once.

In the end, the hope that anyone will live on thanks to me is gone.

I never asked for this. For any of this.

But someone must do it, and I say why not you?

Why does it have to be me, though? An impossible task...

Bah! Why, look at all we've accomplished thus far. Clerks aside, we've had not one problem with our agents since the current manager took over. Why, I've been off my Enkephalin for weeks and it hasn't been an issue.

You… what?

What if one of your comrades were to die?

I'm no stranger to it. People died every day in the Backstreets-I even knew some of them, HAHA!

How do you get beyond something like that?

Practice! _{The third or fourth time you gut someone, you don't feel anything at all anymore!}

That's disturbing and I'm absolutely going to have to follow up on that later, but we've got work to do.

Oh, I wouldn't worry about it. I got out of that business! _{This pays much better.}

Ahh… must be nice to not have to care.



The Noon spawned into Control, so we have Omni and Chinely run into the hallways in front of One Sin and 1.76 respectively to let it do whatever it wants. Energy isn't a problem at this point, so we can just let it wander around.

I wouldn't say I don't care. Quite the opposite, it's important to me that this place blossom. If everyone dies, why, I wouldn't get paid!

Doing that without falling into despair is impossible...

So long as you can keep smiling, you can move forward. That's the secret.

Must be nice. I lost my smile a long time ago.

When you became a robot, yes. That doesn't mean you can't still do it.

Mr.Black what the hell are you-



Voila! A smile!

Just leave me alone, it’s what you’re best at…

All I want is to close my eyes and enjoy a good nap, just once.

...I'm not strong enough to do that.

Aren't you a machine?

You have to know by now there's more to it than that, manager.

Regardless! Strength doesn't matter at all! Perseverance is what counts-and that's what I have in spades.

I'm all out of it…

Then just remember: We're the Safety team. We can't decide who lives and who dies every time, but we can certainly do something most of the time!

I'm tired of failure, Mr.Black.

Then just don't fail. We can't expect the sky, but we should at least be able to grasp the ground. We're surrounded by it, after all! HAHAHA!

Such a pain in the ass…

It is what it is. We're going to save you, Netzach. Then, you're going to get some rest. Then, we're all going back to work.



Get out of my way, Crimson Noon! I'm here to work with the cyootie-yootie patootiepie!

We queue up our last several works, this mission is basically over at this point.

I don't like it, manager. I wanted to rest.

Yeah, well… too bad. Welcome to Lobotomy Corporation, you're here forever.

HAHAHAHA! Yes, you're stuck with us boss!

Fine.



I stopped breathing, but if life calls out to me yet again…



And so, we beat the suppression in 4:14. Not having to go back to the main room and wait to heal wound up being a major timesaver.

...The Enkephalin reaction's cleared. I guess we did it?

So it seems! Splendiferous.

Great. Now we just have to finish cleaning up here.

You should put him in a giant bag of rice for about 12 hours. It always works for me.

There's a lot more to you than a cackling madman, isn't there?

HAHAHAHA!! Who can truly say what deliciousness lies at the core of any man?

Uh… huh.

I shall take my leave now. Remember to keep smiling!

Mm. ...In the end, we managed to fix him. I guess that's what matters.


Music: never frozen bottom flows
Manager, you have returned to me once more. Congratulations.

It wasn't that big of a deal, really. I feel like I barely did anything.

At the very least, you succeeded in making another step towards the end.

That you know all that... I can't be the first one to have done this, can I?

You are the first to have progressed so quickly, Manager. Take great pride in this.

The ability to undo any real mistakes I make has been a big help towards that, to be fair. Let's get on with it, shall we?



T-09-86: When the time comes, the train will chug down the tracks and sound its mighty horn.
T-09-85: Now everything will be just fine.
T-09-82: It literally makes itself into "the safest place on Earth."

We've talked about -85 and -82 before, and since I specifically asked -82 to show up again it's the obvious pick today, but… -86.

We must have words about -86 for a moment. I said in the thread that I'd mention when my least favorite abnormality in the game showed up, and here it is. This abnormality is one which applies a hard timer on your day as another plate which cannot ever be ignored unless you enjoy the idea of a train running ripshod through your entire facility and killing scores of agents and clerks each time. The timeframe you're working under is a fairly strict one-2 minutes and 30 seconds per check, resetting with each successful one-and there's never any actual downtime. In addition, the benefits that it provides in exchange for having to futz with it every ~2 minutes or so for the rest of eternity? Moderately decent healing. How decent it is is based on when agents enter in relation to the timer, but overall it's just. Bad. Really, really bad. We will be taking it only to show off when the time comes to get the abnormality codex to 100%, and once it's been shown off I will be rewinding and never looking at it again. I can deal with taking and managing pretty much any Abnormality in the entire game-except this incredibly rude tool.



Anyways, we pick up -82 so that I can use it later to do something incredibly silly.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: We check in on how Netzach is feeling after the battle.

Bonus
VIDEO: Netzach Core Suppression

[BeachedSpider]

The doodled smile makes Netzach's super eldritch form look like a gorilla and now I can't see it as anything else.

[Grumpy Turtle]

-86 is absolutely hilarious and I love it. I'm also never picking it again. Fortunately then one time I rolled it, I was already preparing for a rewind and just trying to get some more abnormalities to full observation level, which is definitely the best time to pick this one. I love the special effect it does though. I can't be mad at that guy.

Netzach is by far the easiest suppression of the upper layer. That and Yesod are the ones I got on my first try, and I only got Yesod because his gimmick just happens to be completely neutered by the way I play. (Technically speaking I got Tiph on my first attempt as well, but I lost four agents.)

[TeeQueue]

Day 28: Supplemental

Facility X-394 Meeting Room, Upper Sephirot Meeting



How's Netzach doing, Hod?

He's still in the middle of detox. It'll be about another five or six hours.

Thank goodness the manager was able to render so much of the Enkephalin inert… I was worried.

It's never good to lose one of our own. I feel so horrible for Tiphereth each time…

Well, it's almost time for the meeting. Where's Yesod?

The last I heard, he had a couple more tasks to do prior to arriving. He should be here on time. Um…

Do you have a question?

When you… needed repair… did you remember anything?

Why, did you?

Oh, um… Yes. I remembered several things. I'm carrying them with me even now.

I remembered dying. That was actually part of the problem.

Oh my. So then… There's no easy way to put this, but… Did you realize what I realized?

You mean the thing where our manager's definitely one of the founders?

!! Yes! Absolutely! I didn't know if I should say, but… the resemblance is just uncanny isn't it?

For sure. If he's not the guy himself, he's definitely a relative.

That'd explain why he seems to be so competent at working with abnormalities, too, wouldn't it?

And why he doesn't bother worrying about half the employees.

The clerk half.

Thank goodness. I was worried it was just me. Do you think Netzach..?

I'm sure he's probably remembered something too. That just leaves Yesod out.

Leaves me out of what, exactly?

Oh, Yesod! When did you get here?

A couple of minutes ago. You were having such an interesting conversation I didn't want to interrupt…

Oh! You… you think so?

Yes. Please, go on. I'm very interested in what you have to say about this manager of ours. The meeting can wait a little bit, right?



You… you got it..! Yesod..!

[Quackles]

Spoiler: they're hair clips

[Nanimani]

Oh no.

[Hurrock]

I like the MS paint Mr Black drawing in the screen because it could imply that the manager is seeing an even more heavily censored version of reality than we the viewers are.

[TeeQueue]

Day 29: Story

Music: Romantic


I mean, we’ve never really talked to each other. After all, I was here because I trusted Carmen, not you.





Music: Ricardo's Revenge


I couldn’t answer his last words because I didn’t want to desolate the only hope he had left. That was my selfishness, believing that he would be at least happy in a fleeting dream he could not wake from, lying in restless sleep.

Music: Strange Dream


I’ll have to check out another way next time.



I heard treatment is needed for a while because my parts were full of Enkephalin. It’ll probably be tough. Bit painful, too.



But somewhere deep in my flickering consciousness, someone called out to me. That familiar, yet unfamiliar voice said this: “No, you cannot. Here, you must ask my permission for anything. Even for death.” And then you saved me. Opened my eyes once again to here where we stand, sadly.



It’s impossible, even if everyone tries. Well, there is something to get out of all this. It’s to try and live. Even though life is full of pain, if I have to find and hold onto even the tiniest speck of possibility, if that’s what you and the voice wished for… I can’t help but give a shot at living up to your hopes, now can I?



But for the first time, I think that maybe it was me who called you.

*static*




We were both caught up in the karma of the past. I’m not the one who has changed. It’s you, manager. You’re the one who’s finally starting to see clearly.



In summary: A admits to letting Giovanni believe a lie in order to give him a peaceful rest, since he was probably going to die from the Cogito dosage experiments. In the present, Netzach's going to be needing some additional maintenance, but he'll be fine. He tells X that they're both caught up in the karma of the past, but that X is finally starting to see clearly. With the Fearlessness to keep on Living acquired, the seed grows to a full 30%.

Glad you're doing better. Does this mean you'll be putting in work now?

Yeah, I guess so. I wouldn't mind if you want to let me sleep through another day, though…

Yeah… Not happening.

Music: Dear Lorenne


After all this? Even if you turn back the clock… Do you really think your regrets can be so easily washed away as if nothing happened?

In summary: Angela asks us if going back in time will be able to remove our regrets.

This scene is actually special, since it's related to the number of core suppressions we've completed-showing up after hitting 30% regardless of who we used to get there or what order we do them in.

Music: Emotional


One thing I didn't mention last time is that the memory scenes that play out involving this person all have old-timey camera effects going on on them, so there's little flickers of black lines and stuff like we're watching an old movie. It's a neat effect.

"…. ……."

Don’t be so humble. You could have gone to any Wing you wanted. But you still chose to come here; is it because of your trust in me? Just you wait, I’ll make sure you won’t regret your decision.



Everyone is forcibly locking away their own light and potential… And here, this is the treatment I’ve told you about. The treatment for the soul. Trust me, we’ve made a worthy first step. People will gather around us soon enough.



In summary: We remember joining some kind of organization with the mysterious shadowy lady who is definitely Carmen. She mentions that everyone's subconscious leads to death, as people forcibly lock away their own potential… and that she's got some kind of treatment for this.

Music: Forgotten Entrance of Memories


Lady Angela must have showered you with praise for your work, right?





…Such glorious, yet boring platitudes. I myself had a burning passion in the past. Being responsible for a whole department, how charming is that? I hadn’t even acquired a taste for coffee back then. Should I say I developed that taste after learning the bitterness of life?



One time, I even insisted on managing the Abnormalities myself. I thought that only allowing employees on the field was plain ridiculous. Seems pretty absurd to look back on it now. You must be asking yourself, why have I become like this?



Music: Romantic Memories


Chesed, what did you write up this time? I told you that this will change nothing.

But please, just look it over. This does have a statistically proven impact, and it even costs less. This will be beneficial for everyone.

Listen, Chesed. No matter how strongly you insist, using machines in place of human employees will never happen.



It’s clear that it will benefit everyone. The casualties caused by Abnormalities will be lowered, too.

How many times do I have to repeat myself? No the first time, and no yet again. Return to your post and finish your work.

I’ll never give up on this. I swear to you that you will like the plan in the end. I’ll keep developing and furthering it, and I’ll continue to show you again and again, no matter how many times I may have to.

Music: Forgotten Entrance of Memories


A few of our employees have made the suggestion to temporarily close down that part of the corridor. There are body parts that still have yet to be disposed of.

Alright. I’ll order it to be blocked, and have them take detours.



Like yesterday, this answer doesn't change anything.



Surely that Abnormality had knocked them out before disintegrating them… I’m— Yeah, I’m sure it was a painless death.

In summary: Chesed used to give a damn, trying to get Angela's approval for a program where robots would work with abnormalities. She turned it down, however. Even now, he still seems to care about our employees somewhere deep, deep down.



Same thing, less time. We're down to 8 minutes to play with.

Yesterday was rough for all of us, without the regenerators.

Don't worry too much about it. It was… only clerks. After all. And they don't count in the first place, right?

Pretty much, yeah.

Well, I do still have to clean them up afterwards. Try to be conservative, manager.



Finally, a nice quiet day without any distractions… feels like it's been forever.

Manager! There's a problem!

_{...Just had to say something, didn't I?} Okay, Malkuth. What's up?

It's Yesod. He's… Um… There was something off about him at today's meeting. I don't know if it's a problem or not, but I think you should speak with him.

I guess so… Let's find out what this is all about, I suppose.

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

Music: Through the Mist










I’d give you a compliment if I didn’t have so much work to do. The Information Team has a task they must do periodically.



Among the tremendous amount of information we gather, there are some that should remain off limits to the employees for security reasons. The names of the employees are one such thing.



There is no way for me to know what the criteria for stripping the records are. They are set by another department, not us. We only manipulate the information we receive, per orders. Isn’t it funny?



Whenever I introduce myself as the Sephirah of the Information Team… I sometimes feel something bubbling up inside of me.



You will get the list of employees soon as well. Please do not forget to review it after you have finished expunging the documents.

Ms. Angela, what do you think it means to remember someone’s name?

This is a work you regularly do. Why are you so emotional about it today?

Maybe names were marks atypical beings gave each other, to engrave each other upon their memories. Someone might have named you Angela following the same concept.



I knew you would say that.



Referring to employees by name is not recommended here. When employees first enter the company, each one receives their own unique identification number. This is to allow the company to identify them using the minimum amount of personal information. We have their numbers in our data storage devices. Malkuth has never called the employees by their names ever since she started working here.



This is not to say that Malkuth deserves to take all the pain as well. None of us do. What kind of poor taste is that, to lock us inside metal bodies, and throw us into an endless loop of days that feel just the same as yesterday?



I heard you might be one of the architects responsible for our creation. The only thing I could do here is remember the names of a few forgotten employees, and eternally despair… Feeling nauseous from even a single breath of air… Have you had fun watching your guinea pigs run around in circles?

......

Music: Until Dawn




He was unmoved, even after hearing about what happened to Elijah. Some said he lacked empathy. But nobody realized that his emotions were festering on the inside. Maybe he began falling apart from long ago, ever since Carmen left this world. He slowly became expressionless. He wouldn’t allow himself to have even a paltry joy. He also couldn’t stand having even the smallest part of his body exposed.



To not let what Elijah did be in vain, instead of taking the time to grieve, everyone knew they needed to utilize this result to the fullest. He tried to maintain a facade of level-headedness, but his attempts to remain rational slowly morphed into an obsession. He started to wear long sleeved clothing that also covered his neck. Not much later, he started to scratch himself harshly.



Health check-ups were needed to prevent further damage. Persuasion became coercion, and coercion led to the use of physical force. He was tied and bound for the check-up, but he resisted so desperately that it was hard for us to watch him. Eventually, it turned out that he wasn’t infected at all. Was that really fortunate, though?



When I saw him last, he wasn’t lucid or cognizant to any human speech, and his body was completely covered in scratches. No one has seen him since then.

Music: Boss Warning


In summary: Yesod reveals to us that the Information Team periodically purges employee records from its systems, based upon orders from another department. He then goes on to talk about the importance of names, then comes at us directly for being one of the founders of this place. It's about then that he starts breaking down, and we remember Gabriel, who was a former employee who went a bit nuts after Elijah's death.

As a side note, there is a single line that was cut from the script to the game, placed when Angela would leave. I'll put it below, and leave in the line before it for context.

I knew you would say that.

I’m glad you know.

We're not really missing anything, but it reads like originally Angela was supposed to basically try and force herself to have the last word.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Yesod tries to kill us because he's an AI and this is a video game.








Okay kiddos, just heard from management-it looks like our department's the next to get hit.

I was really hoping we'd somehow dodge it. Yesod's always been the level-headed one. He seemed… fine.

Does seem that way, doesn't he?

His problem is he gives a damn. Around here, all that does is cause problems.

There is hardly room for caring in this world. A place devoid of mother… is no place at all.

Case in point, Yesod would be sad if he got buzzsawed in half.

And you wouldn't?

…eh.

Mr. Blond, you haven't spent as much time here as some of us so you may not notice, but… There's a kindness behind that harsh exterior. Feelings that run that deep can bubble up into a whirlpool, and then... Well, there goes my nice, quiet day in Information.

...Hm. I guess I might have misjudged the guy.

It is best to view nothing by its surface appearance. Look within, beyond, and only then can you proceed.

That... was an unusually relevant thought from you, Sephiroth.

Anyways, I'm gonna' go mosey. Try not to tear up the place while I'm gone.

Hey, if you're gone, does that mean-

We all can have a break after this is dealt with. For now, find a team that seems shortstaffed and help 'em out.

Yes, D.A.D.…

See you tomorrow then, I guess.

If we're lucky. No dying on me now, kiddos.

[Quackles]

Sounds like an obsession. Oh dear...

[BeachedSpider]

Is Netzach's advice to everyone who has problems just to take some drugs

[Hurrock]

Wait. Sephiroth is back? And he’s talking to the rest of Information like nothing is different?

[Grumpy Turtle]

I think he only died in one of the abandoned timelines, right?

[BeachedSpider]

Wait. Sephiroth is back? And he’s talking to the rest of Information like nothing is different?

If you're talking about the supplemental that TeeQueue made, that wasn't actually Sephiroth. People just joked that it was because they saw one wing, so 'One Winged Angel'.

[TeeQueue]

It was also a timeline that ended about 8 days prior because Credentia wore the wrong pair of pants so the manager reset to fix it and put everyone in the right gear. But hey, that's definitely a legitimate use of time travel.

[TeeQueue]

Day 29: Gameplay

Music: neutral 2


Hey, manager. Remember those vents Hod used before?

I do, yes.

I hooked the regenerators up to them. We lose some efficiency, but I can pump healing to the entire facility now.

That sounds remarkably useful. Thank you, Netzach.

Don't get too used to it. I'm pretty much out of ideas at this point.

Remarkably useful is an understatement. This upgrade makes it so that our agents will get healing no matter where they are, including in the middle of fights.



New research's done, manager. Enjoy~

We take the SP bullets next. Netzach's new upgrade makes them even less appealing, but it's better to have them than not.




The state of the facility.



Well… this one came out of nowhere, if I'm being honest.

You never were particularly good at reading others, X.

It didn't help that he was always so serious. Ah, well. Let's see what he has in store for us.



Music: Second Trumpet


What the-?



Manager. Your uniform is still disheveled.

Still on about that, huh? Look, if it'll make you feel better, I'll straighten my tie.

This isn't the time for jokes, manager. Your job is to manage the abnormalities. If you would do it properly, I wouldn't need to wipe the record clean so often.

That is so not my fault. The clerks are lemmings, they just-

I've had enough of your excuses. It's time. Remember to follow the protocols… if you ever knew them in the first place, Manager.

What was I really looking at all this time?

This impenetrable darkness is inexplicably lonely.

You will not be able to discern anything properly.

What did we do wrong?

Are we not even allowed to fall into despair?

Oh, hey manager. Nice digs.

D.A.D.? I admit, I was wondering when you'd show up.

Felt like being a little bit fashionably late. So, any idea what the boss is doing?



Oh, I have an inkling.

You could see it in our previous shots as well, but our interface is blurred out all of a sudden. It still works properly, but seeing specifics is impossible today.



This applies to every part of our interface, making it impossible to read agent stats, see their names, or even properly read information about the abnormality work orders. It even blanks out the names on the lifebars above the agents so we can't tell them apart that way. This is a problem enough, but...



Oh… this isn't good.

Oh dear.

The Abnormality Information screen also counts as part of the interface!

The skill that Yesod is testing is pretty obvious: It's a test of how well we know our facility. Managers who remember how their abnormalities work and what their important workers look like in the broadest terms will be better able to handle this Suppression than ones who are constantly referring back to the details pages or don't pay attention to anything other than agent names. This is actually part of why being able to change our agents' appearances is technically a buff-we have some incredibly distinctive characters who will stick out even under this pixelated mess, which gives us an advantage.

Not that we really need it.



Huh… comms are down, and the CCTV's on the fritz, but that's about it.

Well, it is Yesod.

He's not the sort to do anything particularly terrible, is he?

Look at them, manager. They all simply want to last through the day.



I see now. In this department, I have transformed. I am more. I am greater. I am now… a Safer Sephiroth.

HAHAHA! Splendid! Let's see what you can do today!

What I can do is go on break. Back in a bit.

Countless employees, living their lives in hopes of staying in the safety of a Nest.



Anyone want to hang out after work? I've been working on a campaign for a while and I think I've got it down pat.

Eh, why not?

I call the exploding robot doppelganger! ...No reason why.

They have hopes. Dreams. Plans.



My infiltration yesterday was a resounding success! Now I should be able to accomplish the next phase of my plan: stealing the good stuff from the communal fridge! Muahahaha!!

And what do we offer them in return?



Today seems so normal. If the comms weren't down, I wouldn't be able to tell anything's wrong at all.

I preferred two days agoo… that was muuch more iinteresting.

I'll take 'normal but slightly annoying' over something like that any day.

Just don't let your guards down. The others got worse before they got better, there's no telling what's coming now.

Death. Suffering. And in the end, an oblivion so complete that even their name is wiped from memory.

I've done what I can to keep everyone alive, Yesod. That's why they're able to talk so carefreely, the way they do.

Such an egocentric outlook. Do you think the agents were the only people in this facility? Oh, but that's right. Clerks don't count.

He's got a point there, Manager.

Well… it's not like I can give them orders. They just sort of wander off monster-shaped cliffs.

Did you know we've had four Epsilon11s? The first was murdered by a Green Noon's buzzsaw. The second met their end to Scarecrow. The third burned alive when you decided to face the Firebird. The one in Training today is the fourth. The odds are, they'll also die today. Yet again, I'll be ordered to remove the records of them. They'll exist only in my memory, as Morty, as Aurora, as BongBong, as Joshua. Even then, only for as long as I can remember the name… Do you know how many dead have been forgotten? How much knowledge has come from their deaths, built on the corpses of those who don't exist anymore?

I…

But no. They don't count. They don't count! They don't count! Is it any wonder that I feel despair in a place like this?

Um… Any insight here, D.A.D.?

This is pretty clearly your mess, kiddo. I'm not cleaning it up for you.

Then why are you here?

To make sure you do clean it up. You're grounded until then.

...Fine. I'll try.



Here's our new abnormality, though we'll get a better picture tomorrow. It's basically a bomb shelter of some sort. We won't be poking at it, since we're in a hurry. Netzach's new powerup gives us an interesting way to handle working under our relatively strict time limit: we have our agents position themselves in the hallways in front of the Abnormality they'll be working. This will minimize travel time and let us finish the day quickly, and it also will blunt the worst of Yesod's tricks as we go through the day.



With that done, we can queue up a whole lot of works to push things forward. It's important to set things up now, while things are still relatively visible...

Music: untitled9877645623413123325




...because in a Core Suppression, it can always get worse.There are two Meltdowns on this screen. The one in Welfare is easy enough, but can you find the other one?

To tell you the truth, it’s just that I did not want to witness any more deaths.

We’ve created monsters that should never have been in this world. This sin can never be forgotten.

Can you really look at what we've wrought here and call yourself a good person? We send people to their deaths against monstrous beings, which we created for no reason other than power.

I can't… say that's completely true yet. I think there might be something else we were after.

Even then, is it worth all this? A land where we cannot even remember our dead?

If that's all that it's about, I can-

Don't bother. If you were to try and change this immutable fact of this place, Angela would remove you. It's the same for me, or any of us.

Then you're talking about a problem I can't fix. If I can't fix it, what am I supposed to do with it?

That's why I'm asking you why you did all of this. Are you laughing at everyone? Is this one of your jokes?



It was on Yin. One of the problems of the fidelity going down is that it becomes harder to see things while zoomed out, which effectively lowers our play area. This makes larger micromanagement difficult. Luckily, our hallway strategy from earlier makes this almost entirely a nonissue. Also, if we check the top-right we can see that an ordeal is coming and that it's a Crimson. Based on the timing, we know we're facing a Crimson Dawn today.

You say that, but I don't remember a thing about doing any of this. All I have is… flashes. They seem to predate this company, even.

So you don't even have a reason, anymore.

I'm not even entirely sure it was my reason to have in the first place, Yesod.



Anyways, with our agents set up like this all we have to do to work a specific abnormality is click-drag over the entire hallway. This will select the agent waiting in it no matter where they're at. Once done, we just right-click on the Abnormality we want them to work, and…



Voila. They're the only one to show up in the work order information for that abnormality. This keeps us from having to deal with a lot of the guesswork. The Middle layer has some hallways where we may need 2 people to work the two abnormalities inside of them, so the best way to deal with that is to use contrasting colors (like Tenebrais/Credentia's red and black) or just have both people be able to work with either abnormality (like SeyserKoze and Twee in Welfare, either one can work either Little Prince or the mystery shark). We could also just slowly work with agents who we can verify are our strongest, of course, but I'm on a timer so I can't do that today.

Can't tell me why you've done all of this… can't put a stop to it either. You're useless, manager.

Haha… yeah. Guilty as charged.



Crimson Dawn, right on schedule.

You should know that all the information you just mindlessly skimmed through was from somebody’s dire sacrifice.

I am the head of the Information Team. I take great pride in my department and team for obtaining information and expunging it exactly as ordered.

That isn't funny, manager.

Erk…

It was a little funny.

We're playing with lives here. There's no room for anything but our best work. If you don't know what you're doing, it's bad for everyone.



Well… it's very hard to see anything, and I almost mistook that thing next to the vaguely Talow-shaped blur to be a clown before I realized it was probably Punishing Bird. Could we like, fix the cameras so I can know what I'm doing?

Consider it penance for profiting from the work of the dead even as you make jokes at their expense.

...yeah, ok, so that's a no, then. Great.



Our hallway strategy is actually very effective against Crimson Dawns in particular, as they spawn into hallways with agents waiting to club them to death. This one in Welfare survives the longest since both agents here are currently working, but Twee finishes and takes care of it before long.



Well… we got through that easy enough.

With that done, it's time to queue up more works until



Hmph. We still lost clerks in the explosions.

We always lose clerks. That's why I say-

Music: Faded


I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT, MANAGER.

You are unfit to be the manager if you cannot even remember the simplest rules.

Did you not see my marred, rotting flesh, covered in boils and oozing with pus?

There are 5 meltdowns in this picture. Hint: They're all in Welfare and Central, because everywhere else is immune to them. Answer: Mystery Shark, Little Prince, Judgment Bird, The Firebird, Yang.

Yeesh, I can't see anything.

That does seem to be a recurring issue with you, manager.

...hey. I am still your boss, y'know.

Then you could try acting the part.

Yeah… but I got nothing. There's nothing I can do for him. He's not talking nonsense, it's not like he's fighting me so much as the circumstances, and with things as they are... I just don't know how to approach the guy.

Hm… Ah, I might know. You know, that's a tasty-looking cactus you have there. It looks positively succulent.

...is this really the time for a bad pun?

There's always time for a bad pun. :mmmhmm: But it's a lot like Yesod, if you think about it.

...Prickly on the outside, but full of water?

Something like that. You know, we love the ol' mummy in our department even if he's super strict. It's because he cares. But he never admits to it.

...did you just call me a 'mummy?'

He doesn't, does he?

Think you can handle it from here, manager?

...No idea. Gotta try, though.



Much like Netzach, once we've got the basic idea of the day down there's not any other curveballs that come. Visibility gets worse and there's a couple scroll lines now, but there aren't any other hidden tricks to mess up our day.

Look, Yesod, I'm not exactly a psychologist or anything…

That much is clear.

But, have you considered that those issues you said only you had might be related to your mental state?

...It had occurred to me. What does that have to do with this?

Look… I'm just going to lay it out here: I can't do anything for you. The overwhelming consensus is that this place is hell, and we're all stuck here. Me, too.

Then what was even the point of all of this? What am I supposed to do with all of this despair I feel every time another one of our clerks dies?

You could try saying they don't count?



.......

Yikes, six layers of distortion and I could still feel that glare. Fine, then. It's how I deal, but it's not for everyone. Maybe… Just let yourself feel sad? You don't really let yourself feel things, and that's probably not healthy.

What would you know of health?

Not a lot… but bottling it up can't be good for you.

Now I see; I have been wallowing in despair, for such a long time.

I tried to pretend that everything was fine, but in reality, it never was. I was dying on the inside.

Seven meltdowns this time, but not on anything dangerous. We're in cleanup mode-the next ordeal won't hit before we've finished, and all our main rooms are empty anyways.

Hmph. Now that you mention it… I don't remember the last time I wasn't miserable. I've been containing it for so long...

Yeah, that's not good. It's okay to just openly feel like crap sometimes, I think. So long as it doesn't consume us, like this has you. Sorry I can't be any more useful than that.

I'll take your words under advisement.



You know, I noticed all you did today was mess with me. The agents are untouched, and this kind of interference won't even cause any 'accidents' like Malkuth's did unless I get completely careless. You really are nice, aren't you?

I'm Yesod the Viper. The most ruthless Sephirah in this entire company.

The most ruthless Sephirah to ever create a challenge designed to keep anyone from getting hurt. I don't hate that.

Hmph. It seems you won't listen to anything I say. You can go ahead and finish this farce, manager.

If you insist, Yesod. Just keep an eye out for that Violet Noon.

...wait, what noon?



When we push forward, ordeals and meltdowns will still spawn as normal. This can result in taking deaths in the last few seconds of the day after you lose control-and these deaths do count-so be careful!



So I was the one who couldn’t see a single step ahead…



Oh that's not… that's not ideal. No. That's… this is bad. Is this bad? This feels bad.

He'll be fine. There's nobody in our department who couldn't handle an obelisk or two to the face.

That's a little nuts. So… am I ungrounded?

Mmhmm. You pass. This time.

Cool. Thanks for the thing about the cactus. It got me out of a prickly situation.

So it's bad pun time now, eh? :mmmhmm:

Yeah. Though while we're here… you think you could maybe tell me what D.A.D. stands for?

Oh that? It's pretty simple.




So... what is it?

D.A.D.. Always D.A.D..

............get out of my office.

Just trying to needle you, manager. :mmmhmm:

OUT.


Music: never frozen bottom flows
Once more you have succeeded.

Get repairs down to Yesod. I think he might have taken a Violet Noon to the noggin.

...Perhaps I should revise my assessment?

Any victory we walk away from is a win in my book. Just make sure he gets fixed, I don't want to have to replace him after everything we've done.

Of course, X. Now…

The abnormalities, right? Let's see them.



O-01-64: "...Sadness says: 'Begone, pass away!' But greed seeks eternity-seeks deep, deep eternity."
O-02-40: A month later, we came to this conclusion: There was no such "beast" in the forest.
F-05-52: Somewhere in the distance, you can hear seagulls.

Okay, -52 is still a ZAYIN and is thus worthless at this point, -64 is a WAW that's good at Instinct training and has an ALEPH weapon but escapes a lot, yeah yeah that's cool and all but I do not care about any of that today.



-40 is a Bird. All hands on deck.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Yesod comes to.

Bonus
VIDEO: Yesod Core Suppression

[clearcardinal]

I see now. In this department, I have transformed. I am more. I am greater. I am now… a Safer Sephiroth.

So bad it's good

[blitz]

FINALLY! THE YESOD SUPPRESSION! I've been meaning to see this one, and now that I have seen it? I present one of my favorite memes generated from the suppression:

(image courtesy of ArcAngela's Lobotomeme 2 video on youtube)

quick edit: The video I linked shows abnormalities that haven't been covered in this thread and one other suppression we have yet to get to. Just wanted to quickly add this, as a spoiler-like warning.

[Quackles]

Well. I Birdn't see the last bit coming.

[Blastinus]

Almost makes you wish that all your problems could be solved by dropping a giant obelisk on them.

[Angel]

nooo you turned down -64

tq, just think of the [REDACTED] you're passing up

now i'll have to pick it instead

[TeeQueue]

nooo you turned down -64

tq, just think of the [REDACTED] you're passing up

now i'll have to pick it instead

I know.

But BIRD, though.

[TeeQueue]

Normally this is when we do our Abnormality Roundup for the department, but since we haven't really given any attention to them yet I'm changing things up just a little. Bonus content today, and next time we'll talk about our Abnormalities.

Welfare Team Bonus Content

Team description

mean the lives of our employees.

Clerk/Agent bonuses

This perk works a little differently, so I'll explain it here: Basically, working in Welfare gives an additional multiplier that reduces any damage that the agent takes. At levels 1/2/3 this multiplier is 0.97x/0.94x/0.9x, and the Captain gets a 0.8x multiplier. Since this defensive multiplier stacks with everything else, Welfare team members tend to be incredibly tanky.

Team armband


Chesed sprite


Chesed past sprite


Story background

[Grumpy Turtle]

nooo you turned down -64

tq, just think of the [REDACTED] you're passing up

now i'll have to pick it instead

Me an hour ago: Wait, isn't that the one I picked last time? I wonder what [REDACTED] means.
Me now: OH SHIIIIIIIIIIT

[TeeQueue]

Minor thread update: I just did the screencaps for the next story update. There are 209 of them (I take one for each line, even if they don't all get used), and one scene in particular which won't matter for ~a week goes from screencap number 50 to number 184. That's a little bit ridiculous, so I'm probably going to split that into smaller chunks and spread it out from days 30-35 or so just to keep any one update from getting hilariously long

[BeachedSpider]

I assume it was a combination of Yesod's final scene, Tipereth and Chesed's meltdowns, and another flashback of Carmen.