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

[TeeQueue]

X-394 is a big facility, full of mysterious creatures known as Abnormalities. Many of these Abnormalities can do very bad things if they're handled improperly, and it's vitally important that our agents know just what may happen if they're careless. What's a manager to do?



Episode 27: Army in Black + Flesh Idol

Music: trailer


Hi! I'm Paul! Just your everyday plucky employee of Lobotomy Cobotomy, here today to talk about Army in Black and Flesh Idol! Let's start with Army in Black!



Army in Black, or Army in Pink as it is also known, is a ZAYIN Abnormality which-

Wait. It produces 30 PE Boxes… and when you work it, it definitely gets a -6% Overload penalty each time!

It is a ZAYIN Abnormality.

It deals 7 to 9 White damage per failure! AND it has a Qliphoth Counter, right up there! There aren't any ZAYIN Abnormalities with one of those! You can't possibly expect me to believe that that thing is a ZAYIN Abnormality, right?!

…



It is a ZAYIN Abnormality, which takes the form of a soldier inside of a pink heart.



In place of its Attachment work, it has a unique work type-Protect.

Oh come on..!



When selected, this creates a unique cursor which allows us to select an Agent. Isn't that interesting, Paul?

Well, sure Miss Hod, but what happens when you select one?



The Army in Black breaches in a flurry of pink hearts!

It… breaches.

That's right!

ZAYIN Abnormalities can't breach! Everyone knows that! There's no way-

It is a ZAYIN Abnormality.

Seriously?!



While breaching-

_{ZAYINS don't bre-he-heach…!}

-Army in Black gives its target 20% additional defense, cutting the damage they take. In addition, all nearby units are healed for 12 HP and SP periodically. This healing cannot be prevented in any circumstances. This effect lasts for 2 minutes, or until the Agent enters an Abnormality's containment cell.



After this is done, the Abnormality explodes and returns to containment!

Explodes! It's-

It is a ZAYIN Abnormality.



There are some considerations to make when performing this, however. Firstly, the Qliphoth Counter of Army in Black will be reduced by one. Secondly, Agents below level 3 should not be selected as the Protection target.



Such Agents will be awed by the Abnormality, their eyes growing into pink hearts. While in this state the Army in Black's protection reduces all damage they would take by 60%, but the Agent will not move and cannot be controlled.

It instantly overwhelms weaker agents! It's-

It is a ZAYIN Abnormality.

:rant:

You seem unwell, Paul. Perhaps you should take a break.

I don't need a- ...Alright. So, Miss Hod, what else will change its Qliphoth Counter? _{On the breaching Abnormality.}

The death of 5 employees will lower its counter by 1, so please ensure a careful and methodical workday. Additionally, it is possible to lower it through Repression work, or through Bad results.

That's way too much to keep track of for a-

It is a ZAYIN Abnormality.

...So, can it be brought back up?

Yes! Suppressing other Abnormalities will restore its counter by 1 each. A breaching Abnormality like Scarecrow is ideal for keeping it under control. As for what happens when its counter is drained…



It turns to black, and vanishes.



At this time, four Army in Blacks appear in the corridors of various departments.

ALEPH! You see?! I told you! I told you that it was-

It is a ZAYIN Abnormality.

:tizzy:

...Paul?

Forget it! I'll be in my bunk! _{I know a stinkin' ZAYIN from an ALEPH… I can't take this crap anymore!}

What?! Hey, Paul, wait!



Um… W-well anyways! Any Agent who is below Level 3 that sees one of the Army in Black is immediately sent into a Murder-type panic!



Hypnotic heart-eyes, Miss Hod! That sure doesn't sound like a good thing!

It's not, Paul! What's worse, any attempt to subude the Agent while the Abnormality is still in the room is futile. They'll just panic again immediately until it's been suppressed.



Yowsers! I'm getting beaten like I should be, but it's not bringing me back to normal!

That's because of the presence of an Army in Black! Once they spawn, they each flutter towards the main room of their department. Once there, they explode-this deals White damage to everyone within the room and lowers all the Qliphoth Counters of the department's Abnormalities by 1.

And that's never good! So what's it look like?

Oh, um… I-it's just their regular explosion, but in black instead of pink!

So you couldn't even get footage of that? Wowsers, you're kind of terrible at this, huh Miss Hod?

I-I am not! I was focused on filming you, and… I couldn't...

You're right! I'm just being an ungrateful butt who can't appreciate how kind you are. I'm sorry, Miss Hod. You're the best.

A-anyways! This concludes our first Abnormality today. As for our second, Flesh Idol…

Oh! Let me try!



Flesh Idol is a hum-dinger of a WAW Abnormality! It's a Tool, so it doesn't do much, but wowsers what it does do!

The Flesh Idol is a channeling-type Abnormality, which means an Agent must be sent in in order to pray to it.



Oh man! It's dealing Black damage to Corvis!

It's not just Black damage, Paul! Every five seconds, the Abnormality will deal five damage in a random type-including Pale!

Be careful, Manager! It can add up quickly! But what does the Idol do?

That depends on how long the Agent prays. If it's under twenty seconds, they immediately die.

Zounds! That's no good!

It gets better Paul! From 21 to 45 seconds, each time the Idol tics it also heals all Agents in the facility by 5 HP. And from 46 to 90 seconds, it will heal 5 HP and SP as well!

That sounds great, Miss Hod! What happens after 90 seconds?



Instant, painful death!

Yowchie ouchies, THAT isn't good!

Oh, that's not all!



Additionally, every Abnormality in the entire facility has its Qliphoth Counter set to 0, instantly.

But THAT would mean-

A total and complete breach of all Abnormalities in the entire facility at once! Very good.

Remember Manager-don't ever let it hit 90 seconds! That's a surefire way to ruin a perfectly good day!

Well, that's all the time we have today. Thanks for joining us! And remember…

Knowledge is just pain plus observation! Have a great day!


Music: Aspire


Good evening, future Managers. I… do not have words to put forward to express my sorrow over the multiple failures of protocol you've just had to bear witness to. Unfortunately, I have been informed that we are running sorely low on tape, and thus a reshoot of the episode was simply not possible.

Ahem.

Well, anyways. Let's discuss Flesh Idol. It cannot do anything if it isn't touched, so it is no particular problem. If you must work with it, you need only count to five. Five tics of the damage, and you are free to have the Agent leave without issue. Now, Angela? Graphics.







Army in Black is an… odd case. It does not seem like it, given its statistics, its gear, its actions, and its complexity. It has the danger of an ALEPH Abnormality, and it loving the lives of those worthless Clerks makes it rather problematic to keep for long periods of time.

However, our data does not tell lies. Its high damage is cut by higher-level armor at the same rate as One Sin or WellCheers. Additionally, training with it has proven useless-our Level 5 agents simply are too powerful to gain much from it. After much deliberation between the Sephirot and Angela, there was only one conclusion to come to:

It is a ZAYIN Abnormality.

As such, it is worthless for training. Given that the ability of its healing to overcome a breakdown of our regenerators is entirely theoretical, its gear is middling at best among ALEPHs-particularly the weapon, which requires a longer setup time than most… I could not blame a Manager for simply taking it, extracting its gear, and then returning to the past to avoid dealing with it.

I am not a fan of it, nor am I a fan of its flagrant flaunting of the rules which we have put forth to classify our Abnormalities.

Now, if you'll pardon me, there's urgent business to attend to-I must tend to this situation and determine if we shall require another new Paul.

Next time's featured Abnormality…




New Guidelines

Army in Black
Flesh Idol

New Gear


Requirements: Level 5, Prudence 5
*Not affected by Attack Speed, 2 second startup time before any attacks come out


Requirements: Level 5, Fortitude 5

New Story

Army in Black (Part 1)
Army in Black (Part 2)

[TeeQueue]

X-394 is a big facility, full of mysterious creatures known as Abnormalities. Many of these Abnormalities can do very bad things if they're handled improperly, and it's vitally important that our agents know just what may happen if they're careless. What's a manager to do?



Episode 28: Snow White's Apple + Clouded Monk

Music: trailer


Hi! I'm Paul! Just your everyday plucky employee of Lobotomy Cobotomy, here today to talk about Snow White's Apple and Clouded Monk! We'll begin with the Apple, if that's okay with you Miss Hod!

Of course it is! I'm glad to see you're feeling better now, Paul.

Of course I am, Miss Hod! These Abnormalities make sense! That Army fellow just made my head all hurty!



Snow White's Apple is a WAW-level abnormality, taking the form of an apple setting atop a princessly outfit.

It's very regal, and certainly conjures the image of its namesake!

Despite-or maybe because of-its regal bearing, it's a very temperamental Abnormality. Its Qliphoth Counter is only 1, and its Qliphoth Counter can be reduced by either a Normal or Bad work.

So it likes to breach just as much as Abnormalities like King of Greed, right?

That's right, Paul!

So what happens when she breaches?



Upon breaching, Snow White's Apple moves to a random corridor in the facility, and begins to fill it with vines.

Oh! I know what those are! They're those funny videos of cats people post on the internet, right Miss Hod?



Not that kind of vine, Paul! This is the normal kind. While she's growing these vines, she deals Black damage to all employees within them.

That's a lot less fun than cat videos and musical memery, Miss Hod!



Employees who die due to this effect are also impaled upon vines, becoming part of the thicket.

Wowsers! And I thought every rose had its thorn! I guess apples do too, huh?

They sure do, Paul. She'll remain in a hallway until either it's full of vines, or a certain period of time has passed.

What happens then, Miss Hod?



She disappears and reappears in another hallway, just like before.

Wait… is that Talow again? _{Hasn't he died like three times already?}

Oh, Paul! I don't think you're in any position to think too hard about how many times someone dies, right?

Haha, I guess you're right Miss Hod! I've only bitten the big one about sixty or seventy times now, after all!



The Apple will continue its pattern like so, until she's suppressed. Despite her only targeting one hallway at a time, however, it's vital that it be handled as quickly as possible.

Because she can kill so many clerks?

It's not that, Paul-its vines will stick around even after its suppressed.

Oh no! Does that mean more damage?

Thankfully, no. However, it does still slow down our employees who are trying to walk through it.



Undulating underbrush, that looks like a big movement speed penalty, Miss Hod!

The vines are cleared out at the end of the day, but until then they'll remain a hazard that will slow our employees down as they go about their work.

Is there anything else to know, Miss Hod?

Not at all! Snow White's Apple is, thankfully, simple. Unlike our next featured Abnormality…

Oh boy! I smell a segue..!



Clouded Monk, or Honored Monk, is a WAW Abnormality which takes the form of a monk. While in containment, it will heal 15 SP to any Agent who completes Insight work with it.

Wow! Between that and the 3 on its counter, it feels much nicer than Snow White's Apple!

I wouldn't be so sure of that, Paul. Like Apple, its counter can go down from Neutral or Bad work results-but also...

Also? Also is never good!

Every time ten employees die in the facility, its counter reduces itself by one! Additionally, should Yin ever enter the hallway its cell is in, its counter will reduce instantly to zero.

Wowsers! Seems like the old man's pretty temperamental after all! So what happens when he's provoked?

Oh, that much is easy to explain!



It becomes a demon.

A demon?!



A demon.

Cripes! That is creepy!

While in this form, the Monk has a few attacks it can select from.



Primarily, it can attack employees with a swipe of its arms.

Hah! That only half killed me! You'll have to do better than that, you silly Abnormality!



Don't you worry about that, Paul. It can also pause in order to charge energy for a moment. When this happens, it's important to be cautious.

Oh man, this is some sort of super attack, isn't it?



Very perceptive! The Monk opens its mouth wide, and charges forward to the end of the hallway or room it's in.

And what happens if it hits someone?



Yowie wowie! I'm a meal!

That's right! It eats the first thing it runs into. This heals it, as well as deals massive damage to the target. When it begins charging, it's vitally important for the Manager to move everyone in front of it either out of the room or behind the Abnormality.



Luckily, it isn't a particularly difficult target for a capable Manager like the one here at Lobotomy Corporation's main branch! As long as he keeps all these tips in mind, no Clouded Monk will be able to stop the sunshine of progress!

You're right, Miss Hod! Hooray for the Manager! Hooray for progress!

Well, that's all the time we have today. Thanks for joining us! And remember…

Knowledge is just pain plus observation! Have a great day!


Music: Aspire


Good evening, future Managers. Should you be watching this in sequence, I am sure you have a number of questions. After all, a return to the standard formula after what seems to be a breach in the status quo is the sort of thing which would attract attention. What happened? Is Paul the same? It's a good question. Angela, the graphics.









The Apple is a very serviceable Justice trainer, with an easy-to-underestimate E.G.O weapon. Don't sleep on it-particularly with the matching E.G.O Gift it becomes a very powerful weapon. I would recommend taking great precautions not to allow her to breach. I have suffered issues before with my system slowing down immensely as a result of her vines-while this did clear out when I ended the day, it made it seem as though the Agents were running and working through molasses even at 2x speed.

Overall, I would consider her a solid pick-if temperamental and in need of cautious care.

The Monk, on the other hand… the only statistic it can reliably train on without causing a high risk of QC loss is Insight-and since it recovers an Agent's SP after Insight work it is not particularly ideal for that either. So it cannot train.

Its gear is terrible at attacking enemies, and though its suit is acceptable defensively, I would not consider it particularly amazing. So it is not particularly worthwhile for gear.

Finally, it is a breach-prone Abnormality which aims to leave its cell when the facility is already in the middle of crisis and try and slash an Agent to death or swallow them whole. Thus, it is also not simple.

It receives a failing grade in all three factors which separate a desirable Abnormality from an undesirable. As such, I cannot ever recommend it. This Monk has become a being which not even it can comprehend, and in doing so it has become something it never wished to be.

...There are times which I wonder if I myself am still what I wished to be. The concept of self is an interesting topic-memories and experiences formulate the base idea of a person. Indeed, a great number of mediums explore the idea of a person without their memories. Should they lose themselves, would they be something else? Are people's natures the same when their experiences are in absentia?

If two people possess the same face, same voice, same memories and same name… could they be said to be different people in the first place?

...It's something I've thought much about, lately. But for now, this old man shall cease his ramblings.

Next time's featured Abnormality…


New Guidelines

Snow White's Apple
Clouded Monk

New Gear


Requirements: Temperance 3


Requirements: Prudence 3


Requirements: Level 3, Temperance 3
*Not affected by Attack Speed


Requirements: Prudence 2, Temperance 2

New Story

Snow White's Apple
Clouded Monk (Part 1)
Clouded Monk (Part 2)
Clouded Monk (Part 3)
Clouded Monk (Part 4)

[TeeQueue]

Also as a heads-up, I'm getting my second vaccine shot today and might get knocked on my ass. If there's a delay, assume that would be why.

[TeeQueue]

X-394 is a big facility, full of mysterious creatures known as Abnormalities. Many of these Abnormalities can do very bad things if they're handled improperly, and it's vitally important that our agents know just what may happen if they're careless. What's a manager to do?



Episode 29: Express Train to Hell

Music: trailer


Hi! I'm Paul! Just your everyday plucky employee of Lobotomy Cobotomy, here today to talk about Express Train to Hell!



Express Train to Hell is a WAW-level Tool Abnormality, which takes the form of a ticket office with four lights on top of it.

Hey! One of them's already lit up!

That's because our introduction took more than thirty seconds. How about you get in there and see what happens when an Agent works with it?

Wha- no banter?

No time for that! Go!

Oh-uh, yes, Miss Hod!



Hey! I got healed up a little bit!

That's because of the Express Train's effects. When accessed with one light, the Agent's SP and HP are healed by 40.

Wow! That's practically all of me! What happens at the other lights?

Well, at two lights, the Agent is healed for 80 HP and SP instead.

Wowsers! That's one and a half of me!

At three and four lights, the train heals for only 50 HP and SP, but does so to either the entire department or the entire facility, respectively. As a result, it's theoretically possible for the Manager to fine-tune visits to get the results that he would like, so long as he keeps in mind that-

CHOO CHOOOOOOOOOO

What's that noise?

Oh dear! H-has it been two and a half minutes already?



Miss Hod! There's a portal on one end of the facility!

That means the Train's other ability has gone off. An entry and an exit portal appear, and between them...



And the train runs between them! Wowsers!

This does clear off all of the lights of the Express Train's booth, meaning we also miss our chance to heal.

Well, at least it was a near miss! Say, Miss Hod! What was that about two and a half minutes?

Oh, yes! I haven't explained about the lights.



Every thirty seconds, one light turns on. This means the full department healing is available every two minutes at best.

So that's two minutes… Meaning if another light would spawn while the Express Train's ticket booth is full, that's what causes the Train! Right, Miss Hod?

That's right, Paul! As a result, it's very important that the Manager keep it at the forefront of their mind. This is especially vital if the Manager is running things at double speed with their TT2 controls, since this lowers it from two and a half minutes to-

CHOO CHOOOOOOOOOO

One minute and fifteen seconds.

Everybody hit the deck!!



It's aimed right at Training and Information this time!

Well curdle my caboose! That can't be good!

To the contrary! We're here to learn, and what better way is there than to look at its effects up close!



Liquidating locomotives! They got flattened!

When it runs by, the Train will deal 100 Black damage to anything in its path, be it a breaching Abnormality or one of our employees.



This damage is enough to be fatal to any clerks or new Agents, and even our crack team of veterans can be brought to the brink of death or insanity from a single hit, particularly if they're in Black-vulnerable or low level E.G.O gear.

Yowsers! Manager, make absolutely sure that you don't forget to work with it!

CHOO CHOOOOOOOOOO

Ahh!! W-well, that's all the time we have today. Thanks for joining us! And remember-

Knowledgeisjustpainplusobservation! Take coveeeeeeer!!!


Music: Aspire


…

…



...I aspire to a certain level of eloquence in this series. It is important that we, as a company, be taken seriously by the business world-to that end, it is equally important that we not break certain taboos. We are men, not children, and thus we should be able to handle things in a manner befitting of men, rather than default to the playground anachronisms of babes.

The choice of words is the privilege of only the high-minded and well-educated. Of those who know the words which they have on hand and can use as tools to resolve the complex situation of conveying the feelings and observations which they have made. Today, these observations are complex.

This Abnormality is a worthless healer on a level all its own, either only healing an Agent who could simply wait in the main room for a few moments or else curing the entire facility at most once every two minutes in a manner which cannot be controlled. It isn't even a full heal.

Further it demands constant attention, gnawing at the back of your mind-forever. Two minutes at most, two-thirty and it goes off. Halve it if you intend to do things quickly. As a Manager we choose between our sanity slipping away to slow workdays or our sanity slipping away to constant work requests on the train.

Such an Abnormality is an Abnormality among Abnormalities. It is in a league wholly outside what I have previously had to convey, and completely beyond the pale when compared to anything else I have seen in my many days here. No other Abnormality requires such a commitment to its continued upkeep, draining so much attention for so negligible a payout. It doesn't even have gear.

Given that, I have thought long and hard about the best way to express my observations and feelings towards this Abnormality among Abnormalities, and I feel I have come to a conclusion. Bluntness is a form of eloquence, if used with precision and meaning. Thus:




Fuck Express Train to Hell. That is all.

Manager, shall we move on to the next day?

Absolutely not.



We're going back before that thing can cause us any more troubles.

Of course, Manager.

Next time's featured Abnormality…


New Guidelines/Story

Express Train to Hell

[blitz]

I'm agreeing with Abel on this one, fuck Express Train To Hell. I'm bad enough with trying to micromanage as is, I don't need to be a babysitter for a train who'll go on a tantrum every minute/two and a half minutes that I don't check up on it

// also, i'm back! finally got back into my account after a lot of frustration with captcha, and caught myself up on the thread!

[DKII]

So Click-to-Die is joined by Click-to-Not-Die. I kind of want to see a blind run of this game with these random grenades like this. (I sure as hell don't want to play a blind run, though.)

[AweStriker]

There's even more than one Click to Die, arguably...

[TeeQueue]

Hi! I'm Paul! Just your everyday plucky employee of Lobotomy Cobotomy, here today to talk about… wait. Something seems off.



...oh no.

Miss Hod?

No time! Manager, we have a problem!

A problem? ...Ah. I see. _{Hokma assured me that this had been fixed.}

What's going on?

Try not to panic-but you're surrounded by the bodies of an Abnormality right now.

A what?!

The information pollution Abnormality, Joshua. From time to time it infects our systems, creating copies of itself when I attempt to hire uncustomized Agents. I had merely wanted some cheap extras…

This is really bad, isn't it?! Those things can propagate endlessly… unless we can wipe them all out at once, the facility's going to be full of them!

THAT can't be good! W-w-what do we do, Miss Hod?

U-um… just give me a second-!

...The Abnormality we were doing today, which one was it?

We were planning to do the Abnormalities in lower Central Command today, sir, that pair who-

We'll do them tomorrow. Change out for Child of the Galaxy. You both can ad-lib, right?

...Ah! I see! Yes, sir!

I don't really know what's going on… but okay! Game face, on! Good luck out there, stunt double!

X-394 is a big facility, full of mysterious creatures known as Abnormalities. Many of these Abnormalities can do very bad things if they're handled improperly, and it's vitally important that our agents know just what may happen if they're careless. What's a manager to do?



Episode 30: Child of the Galaxy

Music: trailer


Child of the Galaxy is a HE-level Abnormality, which takes the form of a sad boy with starlight hair and skin.

I tried using a cream to get my hair to look that nice once! It didn't work out.

Child of the Galaxy has a number of very useful abilities which we'll go over now. First, how about you work with him Paul?

I can do that, Miss Hod!



Wow! He seems happy that I'm just here!

All work types regardless of level have the same success rate with the Child. Its ability activates upon the completion of any work with him.

Ability? Oh no, am I going to explode?



Not at all! Child of the Galaxy simply has a present for you.

That doesn't preclude exploding, Miss Hod! I remember what happened with Laetitia.

That was entirely your fault, Paul.



The present from Child of the Galaxy will show up on the Manager's monitor over the Agent's head. As long as they have it, it will also restore their HP and SP over time.

Wowsers! That's really nice! By how much?

That depends! The healing increases based on the Qliphoth Counter of Child of the Galaxy. This counter can be raised by having Agents with the gift work with him, at the rate of one per work. However, it does not go up when worked by Agents without a pebble.



As a result, if we were to have this entire group of completely normal Agents work with Child of the Galaxy…

Its Qliphoth Counter should stay at 1, right?

An excellent guess, Paul! Let's see.



<sub>Is this really going to work?

It has to. We don't have any other ideas.</sub>



Aaand there we go! All of these Agents have now worked with Child of the Galaxy. Care to guess what its Qliphoth Counter is at?

I still think it's one, because none of them had the gift when going in!

Let's see!



I was right, Miss Hod! It stayed at one!

There you have it! Manager, please keep in mind that the counter will never increase unless an Agent with the gift works with Child of the Galaxy.

So what do I win?

More research! What do you think will happen when an Agent with the gift works with another Abnormality?

I have no idea, but I sure am chompin' at the bit to find out!

Then let's have you work with Scorched Girl to see what happens!



As you could clearly see, when starting a work with another Abnormality, the gift deals Red and White damage to the Agent-both entirely based on the Child's current Qliphoth Counter level. It then decreases the level by 1.

Yowie wowie, that's not what I noticed! I keeled over dead!

Ah, that's because the Child of the Galaxy's counter dropped to zero.



When this happens, the Child of the Galaxy begins to cry. Moreover, every Agent with the Child's gift will immediately be killed, no matter where they are.

Wait, does that mean..?



Yes. Every single Joshua dies at the same time.

We did it! We saved the day!! From… nothing in particular. Those poor, perfectly normal employees!

Yes. They were definitely not any sort of existential threat to the facility!

So, is that poor Abnormality going to cry forever?

Only until someone else works with him. This will automatically restore his counter to 1. As one final note, the death of any employee who holds a gift reduces the counter by 4-and with a maximum possible of 5, this means that one Agent dying usually means they all do.

It's a multi-hit combo chain reaction! Just like in my very trendy video puzzle games!

Well, that's all the time we have today. Thanks for joining us! And remember…

Knowledge is just pain plus observation! Have a great day!


Music: Aspire


_{Angela, get me those diagnostics immediately.}

Good evening, future Managers. You've caught me in the middle of a situation, so I'll make this quick. Angela, the graphics.





Child of the Galaxy is equally good across the board, and as such works for any form of training that a facility could need. However, its gift and the healing it grants means that it effectively trends towards being a Justice trainer as its Qliphoth Counter grows higher. This is because the healing it grants mid-work will offset the damage an Agent takes, lowering the pressure on our Agents and letting them relax.

Justice, of course, doesn't care about such things. As for its gear, it's nothing particularly amazing-the E.G.O gift being the standout for its constant HP regeneration. I weighed the idea of having one on every Agent in the facility, but decided against it due to the time involved in getting each of them to resonate with the Abnormality.

Overall, I would call it a solid pick for any facility. As far as HE Abnormalities go, it is one of the best there is. Now, if you'll pardon, there's work that must be done.


Angela? Report.

I have performed several system updates. As of my most recent check, I have confirmed the completion of suppression of information pollution Abnormality 'Joshua.'

_{This time, surely…} I can only hope that these hiccups stop happening at some point in the future. I would rather my successors not have to deal with such a beast on top of everything else.

You continue to mention your successors, and have opted to create this series in lieu of pursuing the key to freedom. Do you have so little faith in yourself?

Hah! Don't pretend to care, Angela. Simply do your duty, as a machine.

...Very well, Manager.

Next time's featured Abnormality…






New Guidelines

Child of the Galaxy

New Gear


Requirements: Level 2, Prudence 2


Requirements: None

New Story

Child of the Galaxy (Part 1)
Child of the Galaxy (Part 2)

[TeeQueue]

This episode is also brought to you by my wife, who was kind enough to drag herself out of bed to drive my backup laptop over to my workplace when I discovered that my usual one wasn't charging anymore.

Thanks for the assist, dear!

[AweStriker]

“Don’t look away?” …is this Schadenfreude inside-out, like a Weeping Angel?

[BeachedSpider]

I don't get whatever the reference or joke behind Joshua is...

[AweStriker]

I get the impression the army of Joshuas was cause by a bug in the game.

[TeeQueue]

I get the impression the army of Joshuas was cause by a bug in the game.

This is correct. It plagued the game through all of beta, and finally got ironed out just in time for the actual release-it was so persistent that the devs themselves dubbed Joshua an Abnormality in the patch notes linked in the post.

[blitz]

Ahhhh, the next three will be fun. Two fairy tales and the opposite of that damn mechanical keyhole eye that you have to play keep-away with; personally, I find -57 and -58 some of my favorite abnos due to how they're foils of each other, both lore-wise and gameplay-wise. It's fun. ^^
Also the Joshua bug is really funny

[TeeQueue]

X-394 is a big facility, full of mysterious creatures known as Abnormalities. Many of these Abnormalities can do very bad things if they're handled improperly, and it's vitally important that our agents know just what may happen if they're careless. What's a manager to do?



Episode 31: Red Wolf Heaven

Music: trailer


Hi! I'm Paul! Just your everyday plucky employee of Lobotomy Cobotomy, here today with a special two-in-one Abnormality episode!

We've been working very hard on it just for you! So without further ado, let's begin covering a famous pair of Abnormalities with…

Dun da-da duuuuun!



Big and Will be Bad Wolf!

Big and Will be Bad Wolf, or Big and Might be Bad Wolf, is a WAW-level Abnormality which takes the form of a cartoonish wolf.

It seems really friendly! But even I remember the old stories with wolves in them! That's a facade, isn't it?

Good instincts, Paul! Good thing we have a volunteer to work with it today.

Gee golly! I really appreciate having a day off.



Watson here will be aiming for a Bad result on any non-Instinct type work. Doing so will trigger the Wolf's special ability, in addition to lowering its counter by 1.

Gulp. Ability?

Exactly!



For its ability, the Wolf swallows the Agent whole!

Lunching lupines, Miss Hod! It's just like in my speculative children's fiction books!



While it's swallowed an Agent, the state of Big and Will be Bad Wolf changes.

Oh no! It's got a tummyache!

This tummyache will persist until an Agent gets a Good result with Instinct work. When this is done…



The Agent will be freed.



He sure looks like he's had a bad time, Miss Hod!

He probably did, Paul! Next, we'll show something significantly more interesting. There's a unique E.G.O gift associated with the Wolf.

Unique gift? Sounds fancy! How's it work?

Well, the first step is to get eaten by the Wolf again. This time, its Qliphoth Counter will lower all the way to zero.



Woah! What was that?!



That's Big and Will be Bad Wolf's breaching form. It takes this form when its counter is reduced to 0, and begins to roam the facility. As it does, it heads to the location of its blue moon symbol.

And the Agent's in their belly?

That's correct! They're eaten just before the breach.

Yowsers! So how do we get them out?!

We call in some assistance.

Oh, like the Rabbit Team, Miss Hod?

...Not quite.



Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary is a WAW-level Abnormality which takes the form of a woman in a red hood. Each time an Abnormality escapes (aside Punishing Bird), her Qliphoth Counter decreases by 1.

So she wants to join in on the fun!

She does live for battle! In place of Attachment work, she has a special work type.



The Request work type, when selected, brings up an interface that lets the Manager select an Abnormality to target.



It looks like she charges for the help, though!

Well, she is a mercenary! She charges 40 energy per risk level of the Abnormality we ask her to face-from 80 for a TETH to 200 for an ALEPH.

But Miss Hod… we don't have 160 energy!

That's alright. All we have to do is wait.



Wait?! Why are we waiting, Miss Hod?

The Wolf and Red really don't like each other. It's so powerful that if any Agent works with one, then works with the other, the second one will smell the first on them and their Qliphoth Counter will decrease by 1. In fact, just being injured by Red Riding Hooded Mercenary and entering the same hallway as the Wolf will reduce its counter by 1-and if she enters its hallway, then it will breach automatically.

So we're going to be able to get her to work for free?!

That's right! Like many other wolves, this one has a tendency to howl. And when it does, if it's where Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary can hear, she'll instantly breach and hunt down her old enemy.



There's the howl!

It deals White damage to all employees in the department, and now that Red's heard it she should be on the way!

Um… Miss Hod? We have a problem.



She's not standing up?

That's uh, that's right Miss Hod. She's just staring at a pillar of fire-and we can't interact with her containment cell anymore-she won't accept any works at all!

<sub>What? That's not supposed to happen! Th-this isn't covered in our training materials!

I'm calling an audible-break her out through any means necessary. That should resolve the error.

Y-yes sir!</sub>

Umm, Miss Hod?

You see, Paul, this is a very rare error! It basically puts Red in a state of being both breached and not breached at the same time-and the key to fixing it is going to be our next Abnormality!

Another new one? But we were only doing the two-



The Burrowing Heaven is a WAW-level Abnormality, taking the shape of an eyeball and flesh tree.

Oh! Eye see the plan here! Is Watson volunteering to work this one, too?

Well, he's still in the Wolf's belly, so…

Aww, phooey. I'll get right to it!



When working with The Burrowing Heaven, the only rule that the Manager needs to keep in mind is to keep it somewhere on the screen.

So it's like an inverse-Schadenfreude, but way more traumatizing! But what happens when it escapes?

Upon escaping, it will instantly warp to somewhere offscreen and attack for high Black damage.



Wowsers! Those clerks are trees now!

Every three seconds it's offscreen, it'll warp to another empty room which has employees in it-though it prefers Agents, and deal the same damage to them.

Then how do we stop it, Miss Hod?!

Luckily, that's the easy part.



The Manager just has to look at it, and it won't be able to do anything. Our Agents can easily suppress it after that.



Wowsers! The staff of Lobotomy Corporation sure is the elite few, way stronger and better than the outside! I sure am proud to be a member!

Ah, yes. Speaking of which…



Yowie wowie! I'm a tree!

The Agent who is working with The Burrowing Heaven when it breaches is instantly killed. Please make sure to keep it in your sight, Manager!



Well, this breach reduced her counter to just 1. We need one more before she'll get out, though!

Oh, that's no trouble at all! We'll just have Mr.Black work with Meat Lantern, and…



There we go! When Red stands up like this, it means she's about to run out of the cell. When this happens, she'll pick a target to focus on.

How do we know who she's focused on, though?



A targeting mark appears on her target. While berserk this target will always be the Wolf, and when berserked a fiery aura will form around her.

Oh! That was the pillar! Her berserk must have been… berzoken.



Red will pursue her marked foe relentlessly. While she's being contracted normally, her attacks are perfectly safe to our Agents. However, when she is berzerked like this, she loses some of her precision.

That means that she'll hurt any Agents in the same room as the Wolf when she attacks-so look out for that shotgun! When she breaches normally, she'll also harm Agents in the same way-so look out!



In addition to her shotgun, Red can also use her knife in melee, or throw it at an enemy. All attacks with this knife will make her next shotgun attack against the target deal additional damage-be very careful when fighting her, as she's an experienced mercenary.

Meanwhile, the Wolf only has its howl and its claws! Wowsers, it sure seems outmatched!

Well, there are a couple other tricks up its sleeve.



The first is that its howl gains a second effect when it's below half health-indicated by the blue moon icon turning red. While in this state, the Wolf's howl also lowers the Qliphoth Counter of all Abnormalities in the department it's in by 1.

But that's Safety! That means…!



Flummoxing fetuses! We've got a full scale mad baby situation!

It's important to subdue the Wolf quickly to avoid this kind of situation. Unfortunately, it has a second ability which complicates this as well.



Holy smokes! It just turned into smoke, Miss Hod!

Whenever the Wolf loses 15% of its HP, it will turn to smoke and attempt to escape to another department's main room-noted by the blue or red wolf moon. Once it gets to the main room it will rest for a moment before resuming its attack. During this period, it's invulnerable to all attacks.

How unfair! What are we supposed to do then?



It's as good a time as any to make sure that any threats it's let out are dealt with. Remember: Proactivity is productivity!

How insightful, Miss Hod! Now, how does all of this lead to an E.G.O gift?

Well, that's because there are two ways to save someone from the Wolf's stomach. The first is by Instinct work. And the second…



Is to have Red defeat it! Please note that if Red meets Wolf and doesn't defeat it, she will become very angry over having her kill stolen and turn on our Agents instead.

Wow! She's like one of those guys who cares way too much about k/d ratio in my favorite shooty fun times game!

That's not wrong at all, Paul! Anyways, having an Agent be freed like this will grant it a second, unique E.G.O Gift. Let's have a look!



Um… where is it, Miss Hod?

Sheep's Clothing is a unique E.G.O Gift, in that it doesn't show up properly on Agents!

What.

It certainly exists, but for some reason its wavelength doesn't allow it to be picked up within the known visible spectrum. We do have an artist's interpretation of it, however.



Wowsers! That's adorable! But what happens to Red now that she's done fighting Wolf?

When breaching normally, or having her Wolf kill stolen, Red will rampage until she's put down. However, if her suppression is successful she will run back to her containment cell on her own and take a break. Please remember that the Wolf will breach if Red enters its hallway, so if her return trip will take her through its hallway it can lead to a never ending cycle of battle.



Any Agents who she runs past will still try to attack her, so it is possible to suppress Red even while she's trying to return to her cell.

If she'd run by the Wolf, make sure you do just that! We don't want any more breaches!

Well, that's all the time we have today. Thanks for joining us! And remember…

Knowledge is just pain plus observation! Have a great day!


Music: Aspire


Good evening, future Managers. It seems we've unexpectedly had to do slightly more work today than planned. I do always say the key to proper management is reacting quickly to emergency situations. Angela, I trust you've prepared the graphics?





I opted to split things up slightly, given how many Abnormalities we're speaking of today. Wolf is… interesting. Should it breach it's all but assured to cause problems, but its suit is powerful and its E.G.O Gift is the best one in its slot-by default, as it's the only one.

Given that, I would say it is worth taking should you be willing to deal with the risk-but know that if it does get out, your life will become much more difficult. It's amazing for training an Agent's Fortitude, however-even on a Normal or Bad result, it won't ever eat an Agent performing Instinct work. Do not bother going for the unique E.G.O Gift. It's not worth it in the slightest. Next.





Red Riding Hooded Mercenary is best as a troubleshooter. For a reasonably priced amount of our energy gathered so far, she can distract attacks and attention away from our Agents-and she can defeat weaker Abnormalities by herself. However, her tendency to breach on her own can make her troublesome to keep while holding multiple of those Abnormalities who breach on Clerk death. Her suit is incredibly good, however, and her Gift is also in a rare slot-rivaled only by Forsaken Murderer, which gives a far weaker mask.

She is a passable Fortitude trainer, also responds well to Insight despite her Red damage, and if taken should be kept as far away from the Wolf as possible. No matter what, do not put them in the same corridor should you value your sanity.

Trust me on this.





Lastly there's our unexpected guest, The Burrowing Heaven. It trains three stats very well-and one of them is Justice. So long as it's in a central location-Central is, fittingly, very good for this-and we're keeping the camera zoomed as far out as possible it will never give us trouble. Should it be forced to breach by a Meltdown or similar effect, it also won't cause problems so long as it's on the screen.

The suit is splendid against Black damage, and while its Red weakness is an issue, I find it to work well for dealing with hordes of Sweepers. Its weapon is also fairly damaging, so it's not to be underestimated.

Come to think of it, I believe I've seen Gebura use something like it to suppress an Abnormality once. Truly, a fearsome Sephirah. It's enough to almost forget that she's simply a machine. Well, regardless… for now, this old man shall cease his ramblings.

Manager, Hod is… you should see this, sir.

Ah… yes, I suppose I did suppress four Abnormalities today, didn't I?


Is it true, Tiffany…? All you wanted out of me was some Enkephalin?

"But you lied."

What lies? I've never lied to you...

Next time's featured Abnormality…


New Guidelines

Big and Might be Bad Wolf
Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary
The Burrowing Heaven

New Gear


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


Requirements: Level 4, Fortitude 4


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


Requirements: Level 4, Fortitude 3, Justice 3


Requirements: Level 3


Requirements: Fortitude 3

New Story

Big and Might be Bad Wolf
Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary
The Burrowing Heaven

Bonus



Tylana beats the crap out of Meat Lantern in melee.

[TeeQueue]

X-394 is a big facility, full of mysterious creatures known as Abnormalities. Many of these Abnormalities can do very bad things if they're handled improperly, and it's vitally important that our agents know just what may happen if they're careless. What's a manager to do?



Episode 32: Void Dream

Music: trailer


Hi! I'm Paul! Just your everyday plucky employee of Lobotomy Cobotomy, here today to talk about Void Dream!



Void Dream is a TETH-level Abnormality which takes the shape of a sleeping sheep.

All it's missing is a fence to jump over!

While it is only a TETH Abnormality, like any Abnormality it can be dangerous if handled improperly. The most important thing to remember is to never send an Agent with a Temperance of 1 to work with it.

By gum, my Temperance is 1! Does that mean it's exhibition time?

It sure does, Paul! Void Dream's effect kicks in at the end of a work from any Temperance 1 Agent.



Yowie wo… wait. I'm sleeping. Does that qualify for one?

Um… w-well, you are sleeping forever, and can't ever be woken up?

Good enough. Yowie wowie! To die, perchance to sleep!

Outside of this, its only other meaningful ability is its breach. Since its Qliphoth Counter only goes down on Bad work results, this is thankfully rare. However-



We here at Lobotomy Corporation pride ourselves on thoroughness and attention to detail! So let's screw things up, for science!

With a lowest base success rate of 20%, and an observation bonus of 10% on top of that, it can be difficult to have a maxed out Agent trigger a breach from it at all.

Luckily we have Nea! Her level 3 Temperance is the perfect blend of incompetent and better than mine!



When Void Dream does breach, it slowly flies through the facility. On its own, it is incapable of dealing any sort of damage.

But it definitely does something, right? What is it?



Periodically, Void Dream will fire out a number of stars from itself. These stars will cause any Agents they impact against to fall asleep.



Oh no! That looks just like my nap! Is it an instant-death dealing horrible monster in disguise after all?!

Not quite, Paul. Whenever an employee is put to sleep by one of these stars, it's a simple matter for the Manager to wake them back up by clicking on them several times.



With a big yawn, the employee wakes up and gets back to work.

Aww man, why can't he just do that to me sleeping in the cell?

The sleeping suggestion is much stronger in person, so there's no known way to wake an Agent who has fallen prey to it.

Nefarious naptimes! How sad! So, how do we handle Void Dream while it's breaching?

We don't! Void Dream will return to containment on its own after a while, making it annoying but not dangerous. If it's attacked, however, there's a reaction.



Wowsers! It transformed!



That's right, Paul. In this form, Void Dream is capable of actually harming our valuable work staff.

Oh no! What does it do?

What all roosters do, Paul.



Void Dream will crow, dealing White damage to all employees in the room. Additionally, any sleeping employees within that room will wake up.

That's good!

The employees will immediately panic from being woken up in this manner.

That's bad!

Fortunately, as a TETH Abnormality it is not nearly as resilient as other more dangerous Abnormalities.

That's good!

However, since its panic can happen instantly to any Agent of any level it is important to ensure no high powered agents are sleeping near it, as this would most likely lead to a situation of rapidly escalating danger.

That's bad!



This concludes our basic overview of Void Dream's handling. Please keep this information in mind for smooth handling of this mostly risk free Abnormality.

And remember: if you handle it wrongly, it can quickly change from a peaceful sheep into a giant c-

Well, that's all the time we have today. Thanks for joining us! And remember…

Knowledge is just pain plus observation! Have a great day!


Music: Aspire


Good evening, future Managers. While I sincerely hope it does not show on my face, I'm filled with apprehension. Today, as well, I finished another mission for that Hod. Her fourth mission, as it were. And, like a predetermined path had been cleared, she'd announced a training session for our employees about the Abnormality known as Judgment Bird.

Announcing a training session for an Abnormality which we do not even have in our current facility, and so soon after a mission has been completed? I sense an ill omen upon the winds… or perhaps it's simply pattern recognition. Angela.





All things considered, Void Dream is a very easy-to-handle Abnormality. Its Bad works are difficult to come by, and it doesn't have any sort of unusual breaching condition. Moreover, as a Black damage Abnormality with good Insight, Instinct, and Attachment rates it's quite capable of training any of the three.

Honestly, the only real strike against it is that it's a TETH. As such, neither its gear nor its training ability will ever be anything but lacking… were this exact Abnormality a HE or WAW it would be a must-pick. As it stands, it's merely a very safe option for any Manager who would prefer to avoid a challenging day.

Manager, I have received a report-there's been an incident.

_{And speaking of challenging days…} Very well. What's happened?

Hod appears to have become unstable. I shall bring up the relevant security footage.

Yes, yes-you do as a machine ought to. My apologies to all of you, but for now this old man must cease his ramblings. It seems we're needed on stage.

Next time's featured Abnormality…




New Guidelines

Void Dream

New Gear


Requirements: None
*Not affected by Attack Speed


Requirements: None

New Story

Void Dream (Part 1)
Void Dream (Part 2)
Void Dream (Part 3)

[TeeQueue]

X-394 is a big facility, full of mysterious creatures known as Abnormalities. Many of these Abnormalities can do very bad things if they're handled improperly, and it's vitally important that our agents know just what may happen if they're careless. What's a manager to do?



Episode 33: Alriune + The Snow Queen

Music: trailer..?


Hi! I'm Paul! Just your everyday plucky employee of Lobotomy Cobotomy, here today to… uh…

Oh, Paul. You're usually more professional than this. We're talking about Alriune today, right?

Y-yeah. That's what we're doing, Miss Hod… It's just that you look a little, um. Exploded.

Oh, that? No, no, there's nothing to worry about, Paul. We're just making a training video today-like we always do. I'm always so helpful, doing this and that for everyone!

Oh, um… Alright... then… Let's give it a shot, I guess!

There's no need for guessing! Let's all do our best today! Lights, camera, action!!





Alriune is a WAW-level Abnormality which takes the form of a porcelain doll with flowers growing from it.

Oh, I had one of those growing up! Maybe this won't be so bad.



Any work with Alriune must be done with an eye on getting a Normal work result. On either a Good or a Bad, the Alriune will be released-causing significant dangers for whichever one of our ungrateful Agents was too good to listen to the very careful and detailed training plan I prepared for all of you. On top of that-

Uh, Miss Hod? I think the video feed's being covered by your… angst?

Oh! I'm sorry, I must have gotten a little off topic. Now, where was I~?



On a Good or Bad result, Alriune will breach. While I know that none of you pay attention to the things I say, please try to avoid situations like this one, okay?

I pay attention to what you say, Miss H-

Just like you paid attention when I said it was a ZAYIN Abnormality. I haven't forgotten, Paul.

That was-

Just read your lines like a good boy! I've had to work so hard to write them since Malkuth broke all those days ago!

_{I thought she was always broken...}

Well? Your line?

Eheh… We'll all work hard to make sure nothing bad happens! But since it's too late now, let's see what Alriune does when it breaches!

That's a great idea, Paul!



Upon breaching, Alriune will appear in a random hallway, and spend time there. As it does, three petals will grow over its back, like a tail.

What happens when they all grow in?

That depends entirely on the state of the corridor. If there are no employees within it, nothing.



Alriune simply teleports harmlessly somewhere else, and repeats the process.

Flashstepping flowers! That doesn't seem so bad.

Oh, Paul. Paul, Paul, Paul. I knew you were a bit slow, but you're overlooking an obvious thing here.

Good thing we have the great and mighty Miss Hod to point it out, right? Everything would definitely be better if we were to just listen to you!

Exactly. If an employee is in the same corridor during the teleport, there's a reaction.



As you can see, Agents who decided they knew better than to listen in training and want to stay in there to see 'how bad the cutie could possibly be' wind up taking significant White damage.

Wowsers! That's a lot of hurt! But since it's White damage, that means our Agents will only be-

Panicked? Why, you'd think so.

I-I was just saying that!

You took too long.

Well, maybe if you weren't releasing that sedative, I could-

Oh dear! This training video might need one more ungrateful, self-obsessed diva of an extra to show off Alriune's ability! Or maybe you'd prefer a trip to We Can Change Anything, since there's something you're finding wrong with my direction? I'm sure it can fix anything!

_{No problems here, ma'am!}



As I was saying, any employee who would panic from this attack is instead killed, as flowers sprout from their bodies. A fitting end for those people who couldn't be bothered to listen through a simple training exercise, or participate in standard therapy just to deal with their problems-and the only ones who did sit through it only did so for the drugs, the manipulative little-

Um… are you okay, Miss Hod? You don't seem so good.

I'm fine! I'm fine… Tiffany… Tiffany, you should have just let me help you! I'm not self-satisfied! I'm not smug! I'm just trying to help everyone! I'm a good person! A good person!!

Y-yes'm! You're a good person! Um, and that covers Alriune, right?

...Ah! Oh, yes. Alriune will continue teleporting until suppressed. Simply keep its rules in mind and there's nothing else to worry about. While frustrating to deal with, it's a simple Abnormality to understand.

I see, I see! Very insightful as always, Miss Hod! And wowsers, look at the time! Well, that's all we have for you today. Thanks for joining us! And remember, knowledge is just-

Oh, no. We have much more pain to observe.

I'm sorry?

There's so much more to do! We're nowhere near through with our filming day!

I think this is enough…

You think wrong. The purpose of training is to make sure that you don't think the wrong things. So we need more training, until you can't think of anything wrong! And I know just the thing!

Umm… okay?!



The Snow Queen is a HE-level Abnormality which takes the form of a witch made of ice.

Sounds c-cool, Miss Hod.

While she lacks a Qliphoth Counter, she does have a special ability which can activate on a Bad or Normal work result. Paul.

Ah! Y-yes, I'll demonstrate. But the sedative…

Since she deals White damage, I'll be more than happy to have your fellow Agents beat the sanity back into you, even if you screw it up a hundred times!

Yes… Miss Hod.



Ouchies! I got poked through by something!



That's a shard from The Snow Queen, meaning that you've received her first kiss.

Like that thing Queen of Hatred does?

Not at all like that. You'd know that if you ever read the training manuals I spent such painstaking hours making for you, of course-but it's fine! I'm a good person so I'll let you learn hands on. The first kiss is merely cosmetic. A second failure, however, will give a second kiss!



Yowie wowie! I'm a popsicle, Miss Hod!

Yes! The second kiss traps the Agent inside a frozen hell, where they can't escape. They can't escape… Won't ever escape. There's no escape from them there, alone, with their thoughts, realizing that they're the worst-that nothing will ever undo their crimes. It's hellish, isn't it? A true hell just for the Agents of Lobotomy Corporation!

U...um… Yes?

Luckily for them-unlike some of us, they can get out! The third kiss is the lethal one, and that isn't administered until the end of the day.

Then how do I get out?

We send in some help, of course!



The next person sent to work with the Abnormality is given a rose sword, to use to try and rescue their fellow Agent.

Wowsers! You really sent Miss Medea to come save me? She's a Training team legend!

Don't be silly. This is stock footage. I had someone else go bail you out. Since you don't listen, it can't be helped if you die, right? Right?!



Once inside, the Agent and the Queen have a duel!

Miss Hod, your thoughts are doing the thing again…

The duel's outcome is unrelated to the work type selected, and the only thing that matters is the Agent's Fortitude level. At Level 5, the rescuing Agent cannot possibly fail, but below that the odds range from 10% to 80%. Should the Agent fail, both die.

Th-thank goodness that Nea has Level 5 Fortitude, then, huh?



Once the work is done, if successful, both Agents can leave-and they get a special gift to commemorate the occasion.



Hey! My cheek's all icy now!

This special E.G.O Gift provides the Agent with +6 HP and SP. Since it's a guaranteed gift for winning the duel, it's worth putting Agents at risk so long as you follow the guidelines that we've set forth. Tiffany… Tiffany, you knew you weren't supposed to take that much Enkephalin. Why would you take so much? Why did you kill yourself?! Tiffany…!

Um… so are we done now?

...No. No we can't stop. Not yet. The Snow Queen has one more undocumented feature.



For it, we'll need to use Elodie. Tiffany's old friend. They talked on my team-plenty. I bet about how to get more Enkephalin out of old Hod… even though she's trying to do her very best to make sure that everyone is alright, caring for each of them like none of the other Sephirot ever would!

U...um…! Miss Hod…?

But it's fine! I can demonstrate this-the unusual effect of an Agent with the Feather of Honor suit working in The Snow Queen's cell!



She… Just burned up...

Isn't it interesting? The Feather suit realizes the temperature has dropped, and tries to turn up its heat to compensate… but that's too much for any Agent to take, so it just burns them alive insead! Cooked from the inside out! This was in the training materials I passed out in that meeting about the Firebird-but nobody came to that one, so of course no one would know about it. So we'll teach everyone through pain and observation. Pain and observation.

Um… Miss Hod… I really think you should take a moment to breathe.

But why? What purpose is there in that? I haven't done anything wrong. Tiffany died-she abused my kindness and she died. And Elodie was her friend, of course she was abusing it too. They both abused it, so they deserve this.

Really Miss Hod, you sh-should take a moment to-

And what did I do? I sent Tiffany her old friend! Now they can both talk to each other, wherever they are! Even though they both betrayed my trust, even though they got my counseling cancelled, I'm only thinking about them. I'm a good person! No matter what happens, I'm a good person!

M-Miss Hod..!

I'm a good person! Won't someone please recognize that?! Please, look at me! Look at all the good I've done, all the good I'm doing! Rely on me more! Put all your faith in me! And would it kill you to thank me while you're at it?! Every one of you is ungrateful! You don't deserve my kindness, and here I am providing it for you all every day, because I'm a good person!

Manager, please... help! I-I don't know what to do!

Everyone should praise and be thankful for me! Because I'm a good person!!!

Tch, I suppose you couldn't cut it after all.

Manager?! What do you mean?! I've done nothing wrong-! I'm..!

Nothing more than a broken machine. We've observed enough pain for the day, thank you.






Music: Aspire


Good evening, future Managers. I've… made a grave miscalculation. Throughout nearly four months of work, day after day, I've managed to put together a near-complete library of every Abnormality in the entire facility. However, with this latest twist… it's become clear that I cannot simply allow the present Hod to take the stage any longer. I've made a terrible mistake.

...For the sake of those who don't wish to listen to an old man grumbling, I'll cover the Abnormalities now. Feel free to skip to the next episode after this, should you like. Angela.





This blasted chia pet is not particularly dangerous to a powerful facility, but will run rampant over anything less than a crack team of Agents with good White resistance. Moreover, its tendency to teleport around will make it difficult to successfully suppress-as it will be difficult for Agents to damage it while it is warping around. As a result, even at its best it is frustrating. Still, it must be considered for the weapon-its crossbow is a very powerful White ranged weapon, and there are few things better for handling a panicked Agent.

My personal recommendation is to take this Abnormality and work on it to gain access to its powerful gear, and then once you are satisfied to rewind time and never think of it again.





This Abnormality unsettles me. It brings up bad memories, clawing at my mind much like an Agent begging to be released from the cell of Nothing There. Since I can't put my finger on why, I'll discard that feeling and judge it fairly.

There is absolutely no reason to ever build a facility without The Snow Queen in it.

She is perfectly benign, and gives out a very powerful Gift without any random chance. Her weapon is powerful, quick, and slows enemies to make them vulnerable to other attackers. There's really almost nothing bad I can say about her-the only weak point is her suit's weakness to Red damage. Take her, put her in your facility, and reap the rewards. There is little reason not to. That is all there is to say.

Now then… since making the mistake of clearing a Dusk Ordeal after first reaching that unopenable door, I haven't since dared complete the missions of our Sephirot. Doing that cleared both Malkuth and Yesod from the field-leaving Angela with their duties. Unfortunately, Malkuth wrote the scripts. Neither Hod nor myself have quite the same touch as she does-but we've tried for the entirety of this season.

We had to. My mission was almost complete-and it was my own folly which brought a Dusk Ordeal upon us. Much the same way, my own error has now cost us Hod. I never meant for the Wolf and Red's interaction to spread so far… but I suppose this too was inevitable.

Tried as I might to rage against the machine I was trapped within, straining without rest to hold back the movement of the gears, the inexorable weight of this place has finally crushed my resistance. Things are once again moving forward. I cannot move them back, nor can Malkuth, Yesod, or Hod be fixed.

...Two remain. Only two Abnormalities remain. I must see this through-for the sake of those who come after. For the sake of this project. For her.

All I need to do is what I've always done. There's no longer time for rambling. Now it falls to me to act.

Next time's featured Abnormality…


New Guidelines

Alriune
The Snow Queen

New Gear


Requirements: Prudence 3


Requirements: Fortitude 3


Requirements: None


Requirements: Fortitude 2

New Story

Alriune
The Snow Queen

[TeeQueue]

X-394 is a big facility, full of mysterious creatures known as Abnormalities. Many of these Abnormalities can do very bad things if they're handled improperly, and it's vitally important that our agents know just what may happen if they're careless. What's a manager to do?



Episode 34: Spider Bud

Music: trailer


Hi! I'm Paul! Just your everyday plucky employee of Lobotomy Cobotomy, here today to talk about Spider Bud!



...Do you people really think this is going to work?

Aw, come on, Netzach! These educational videos work great!

Then why do I always have to clean up after your dead bodies?

Because we're learning! A little bit of effort now will save a lot down the line! It's win-win!

It's pointless, is what it is…

Come ooooon, you said you'd try it.

I said I'd show up.

Tiphereth shot us down, and Tiphereth is mysteriously busted again! There's nobody else I can turn to! Pleeeease? I'll be your best friend!

My best friend is dead.

Then there's an opening!

…:sigh: Spider Bud is an Abnormality, I guess. It does stuff, and people die.

To be specific, it's a TETH-level Abnormality, taking the form of the mom of a lot of spiders.

If you work it wrong, it kills you, and then there's nothing anyone can do for you. That's just how things are.

So then, how do you work it wrong?

Mm… That's not really my department.

Oh… then what about its other special qualities?

You'd want Yesod for that.

Netzaaach!

...Fine, fine. But we're going to need more people to show it off.

Oh boy! I finally get another posse!



They're just a bunch of corpses in waiting…

They're a posse to help with learning! And they're all excited to do it!

_{Only 'cause they're jacked up on Enkephalin all the time…}

So, what's first?



The first thing is showing what happens when an Agent with a Prudence of 1 is assigned to work with Spider Bud. Like everything else, it's got rules.

And following them is what makes you get out alright!

It delays the inevitable, at any rate… Anyways, Agents with low Prudence will accidentally crush some of the spiders while doing their work.



Angered arachnids! It cocooned 'em!

When angry, Spider Bud traps the agent inside of a cocoon. They're still alive, for a while, but we can't get them back. The babies wind up using them as food.

Um… is that really important to know?

Safety's job basically boils down to cleaning up corpses. It's fundamental to us.

Does it have any... other effects? Like a bonus to our energy output?

Dunno. Not really my concern.

Oh! Well, lookie what I found! It turns out it does have an effect. Each cocoon gives one more energy after each work with Spider Bud. Like with Bloodbath, this just adds to the quota, and doesn't count for the boxes used to get equipment!

So it's useless.

Our Manager is smart and brilliant, so I'm sure he knows how to take advantage of such a thing!

The Manager's useless, too. Let's just finish sating your bloodthirst so I can have a nap.

Um… You mean showing off the rest of the Abnormality's capabilities? Okay! Can do. The other effect occurs when an Agent is sent to do Insight work, regardless of their stats.



When this happens, they clean away the room and harm some of the baby spiders-and this means they're going to be a cocoon too!

That's the only two effects. Are we done here?

Not quite! We need to see how many cocoons the cell can get up to!





Three…

This is a headache. I'm skipping ahead a bit.



Five! It can hold a maximum of five cocoons at once. But who were the other two bodies?

Oh, just another couple of Pauls I found.

Yowie wowie! I'm spider food?!

You know... it's creepy how well you react to watching yourself die over and over.

Don't be silly! They're just stunt doubles! Miss Hod and Mr. Manager told me so!

And they never lie to you.

…they… they would never!

They're all Pauls-had to fill out a pain in the ass form for each one. You've been watching yourself die countless times.

How… could that be possible..?

Because this place is hell. They just don't mention that in the orientation course.

But… why…? Why would they lie?

The higher-ups say whatever they want to keep everyone else working. That's how this place runs. I just don't care enough to pretend anymore.



I'm out of here. If the Manager has any problem with it, tell him he can scrap me.

A-and remember! Knowledge is… pain… plus observation. H-have a… I-I need to think!


Music: Aspire


Good evening, future Managers. Netzach was clearly a mistake, and honestly the less time he spends out of his drunken stupor, the better. I'd replace him, but…

That is not allowed.

As she said. For some reason, I can't. What I can do is what I've always done. Angela, the graphics.





At its core, Spider Bud is a Fortitude trainer, and likely the best TETH for it due to its low standards of care. Its suit is a TETH version of Laetitia or Hornet-a good all-around piece of gear, capable of responding somewhat well to almost any threat.

It doesn't breach, it doesn't cause issues so long as Agents have a Prudence of 2 and you aren't a complete fool, and it is overwhelmingly safe. It does nothing, much the same as a certain Sephirah I could name.

Though, I suppose the both of them will also do what they can to ruin things, should they be provoked in a way they don't prefer. Hm. In that, they truly are alike. Still, I won't let anyone stop me. We've come too far. Angela.

I have already shown the graphics, Manager.

Not that. Assign Paul the maximum allowable amount of Enkephalin. If he's still not stable, assign it again.

Manager, that much is likely to-

I don't need a machine to tell me about the risks. If he dies, I'll print another one. I simply don't want to deal with explaining all of this to a fresh-faced recruit whose cohost is already beyond our reach.

There is always the option of attempting to suppress the Sephirah's core, Manager.

You saw what happened with Malkuth and Yesod. Even if I do get through the day, nothing changes. Don't waste any more of my time. Just do as you ought.

...Yes, Manager.

Next time's featured Abnormality…


New Guidelines

Spider Bud

New Gear


Requirements: None


Requirements: Fortitude 2

New Story

Spider Bud

[AweStriker]

We know this doesn’t end well (until it’s our turn) but it’s still got me worried for everyone involved.

[cryptologicalMystic]

I hope Gebura is the co-host for the next one. Sure, Chesed would probably be more cooperative, but Gebura would be more fun to read. Bonus points if she somehow manages to convince Paul to go apeshit on -70, or really anything else.

Hokma and Binah are presumably not options - Binah is highly disinclined to tell anyone anything ever because her two passions in life are metaphors and violence and she's not allowed to do violence, and if I'm reading him right this version of Hokma is more likely to attempt to pass the responsibility off to Talow.

Though, hmmm... both of those actually also sound kind of hilarious.

[TeeQueue]

X-394 is a big facility, full of mysterious creatures known as Abnormalities. Many of these Abnormalities can do very bad things if they're handled improperly, and it's vitally important that our agents know just what may happen if they're careless. What's a manager to do?



Episode 35: Dream of a Black Swan

Music: trailer


Hi! I'm Paul, coming to you live from the floor of our facility! Don't mind the stain next to me, I was just vomiting a bit of blood before work! Perfectly normal! I'm just your everyday plucky employee of Lobotomy Cobotomy, here today to talk about Dream of a Black Swan!



Hahaha, no, I couldn't! That's always your job, Miss Hod! ...Oh, if you insist! Dream of a Black Swan is a WAW-level Abnormality that takes the form of a number of identical brothers!

It's seriously super! Just the best! Why, it's almost impossible to make them breach!

Oh, Miss Hod! I'm not that useless! I remember how it works just fine!

...Alright, I will show you! While Dream of a Black Swan has a high Clipoff Counter, it drains in an unusual way, in that no stimule… stimuluh… no problem will make it go down by more than one!

Thanks, Miss Hod! I always remember it by just remembering that each brother is a Clipoff, and once a brother melts, they don't clip off anymore. You get it?

What do you mean, I seem off? I'm doing just fine! Who knew that a triple-maximized dose of Enkephalin could do so much? I almost don't remember anything at all right now!

…

You're right, Miss Hod! I should get back to work. You viewers at home aren't paying to watch me ramble on and on by myself. So, Miss Hod, how are we going to lower this thing's counter to 0?



Miss Hod, this thing is terrifying! I don't think I can hold out for very long! Just looking in its eyes reminds me… reminds me...



OH GOD, WHAT AM I DOING?!



this is it. this is what i've been experiencing time and again, dying countless deaths and feeling unfathomable fear. all is lost, all is doomed. i feel them. the pains of my forerunners. there is no hope in this place-

CRACK!!

...Wait, what was I doing?



Haha, wow! I sure am glad you guys beat those nasty thoughts out of my head, Miss Hod! No place for those in the workplace!

You're right, Miss Hod! Let's see!



Careening counters! It's dropped to 4! But I don't see anything different in the cell… What happened?

...Oh, it was because the result was bad! I see! But what do you mean by changes?

Oh, the ears! I wouldn't have noticed if you didn't say something, Miss Hod! Thank you! And since they've already melted, that means further Bad results won't do anything else, right?

...Aha! I see! But why should we be worried about Normal results?



Galloping goop! His legs just melted right off, Miss Hod! And there's a creepy smileboy behind him!

...Yeah, I do get the idea, Miss Hod! So that means there's three more triggers to avoid before a breach occurs. But what happens if the counter is manually lowered like by Crimson Clowns or the Wolf?

Oooh! One changes, and it's picked at random! I see! You're so smart, Miss Hod!

...Oh, but what's that? The next one is five employees panicking? Don't you worry about that, Miss Hod! That'll be easy!



A l l I h a v e t o d o i s t h i n k.



Hoho, sorry about that folks! We're back, after a not-inconsiderable amount of friendly White damage! It's okay though! I've taken my fourth and fifth doses of Enkephalin and have been assured that my kidneys shouldn't fail for at least another twelve minutes or so!



After 5 panics in a single day, another brother's face melts, removing their mouth! That's gotta be really hard to live with, huh Miss Hod?

You're right! I guess I could get away with never talking again! But then, who would do these videos? And what would the fans think?

No… no, someone's definitely going to watch these! They have to! Uh-anyways! The last two conditions! One of them is to have three Abnormalities breach, right Miss Hod?



Hahaha, you're right, we do have a specialist! It's funny because he's great at getting other people killed.



I see! So since the other requirement is five employees dying, we can let the butterflies handle the hard part before we suppress it! Brilliant!



Jeepers creepers, what happened to their peepers?!

...Ah! Ahaha! So when they died, the peepers went poppers! I see! That makes perfect sense! And now we've got only one clipper count left! And once that's drained, we'll get to see what happens when it breaches! Good work, Miss Hod! Let's just wait for Evil Kit to finish a work with Meat Lantern, and...



We did not think this through, Miss Hod, I can barely see them at all! But they're still there-and it looks like the last one is missing their arms now? What happened?

...Oh! I see! How silly of me!



They called their big sister, the Black Swan! She does a couple of very problematic things! Do you want to say it, Miss Hod, or should I?

...Okay! I'll guess! The first one is that any time she walks by the door of a containment cell, its counter goes down by 1! That means she can quickly make other Abnormalities come outside and dance with her!



...Haha, nice try Miss Hod! I did my homework on this one! While her umbrella is up like this, any attacks coming from in front of her are reflected back at the attacker! It doesn't deal direct damage, but our most dangerous Agents are now their own worst enemy!

Thanks, Miss Hod! Your approval is all I've ever wanted!



Oh, I know this one too! It's a regular ol' whack with an umbrella! Red damage to anyone it hits, but nothing too major. Those are the only two attacks it has in this form.

Aha, I surprised you didn't I, Miss Hod? Yep! I already know the trick!



Once the Black Swan has taken more than half of her health in damage, the beak closes around her head and she becomes more swanlike. In this form, she gets one more attack!



The Swan can cry out, which will lower the counters of any nearby Abnormalities by 1. In addition, it seems to hit the Agents from her department for heavy White damage.

What do you mean how do I know, Miss Hod?



I'm hearing it right now.

CRACK!!



Hahaha, I'm back! No worries, everyone! It only took one more dose of Enkephalin this time, and I'm only tasting a little blood!



That's right, Miss Hod! As long as we don't hit it from the front it's not a particularly dangerous Abnormality to face off with. How lucky!

...Oh, I thought you would know what happened to the boys! You didn't seem that concerned, Miss Hod.



See? They're all just fine. I'm really glad you always care so much for us. You'd… never…

...Hey. Miss Hod? Can I ask you something?

...Why did you lie to us?

I don't care if it's time for the end of the episode, Miss Hod! Answer me!

Of course you're hiding something! You cut to something else when you don't wanna answer! I noticed!

What are you talking about?! I don't need to calm down! I'm fine! I'm just... Fine…

...Miss Hod? Where'd you go? Miss Hod?!

...Mr. Manager… I don't… feel so good…


Music: Aspire


Good evening, future Managers. It seems our long path together has finally made its way to an end. There's only one more duty I hold. Angela.





Dream of a Black Swan is a very safe Abnormality-so long as it isn't melting down it has no possible way of causing problems. The odds of all five of these very specific things happening in a single day is all but impossible-I've never heard of it accidentally breaching without being released by another Abnormality or simply having a Meltdown missed.

Its suit is very useful, having both good Red and Black resistance, and its weapon is defensive in nature-randomly deflecting attacks against the holder. That said, a word of caution:

Should the Punishing Bird attack someone holding the umbrella, the umbrella will likely reflect its attack back upon it. When this happens, the Bird will take it as an attack against it.

The odds of a second reflection happening in a row are very low. The Agent is all but dead in this case-keep them far away from the Bird if you wish to keep them alive.

...and that is all. Hm. The moment of parting is supposed to be a bittersweet one, but all I am feeling is emptiness. I'm sure you'd like to know, dear viewer, what will happen to them. These characters you've grown so attached to over countless episodes. As tempting as it would be to leave it a mystery, there's very little point. We have established that I cannot fix Hod-and you yourself likely know what she's become far better than I would. You've spoken with her, after all.

Myself… I have a path to walk once more. I will approach the door, and see now if it will open to me. I believe we both know how that will turn out. It is not mine to open-this is the most I can do, even were I to spend another hundred years trying to accomplish more. As for Paul…

Let me make something clear, for those of you who have not yet spoken with our old friend: There is no retirement in this company. Paul will die, he will be recycled, and he will be reborn as though nothing had happened. His memories are not retained, and thus there was no meaning, and no emotion, in his suffering.

But… I do believe that when next I meet with Hokma, I'll ask him to let the template rest for a while. I'm sure we're all quite sick of his face by now.

So… to you, my future self, a toast. May you do what I could not. Fulfill her plan, and save this world. And, should you ever run into an issue not covered within these training videos, before you panic... try and remember:

Knowledge is simply pain plus observation.

For now, this old man shall cease his ramblings. Have a pleasant journey.

New Guidelines

Dream of a Black Swan

New Gear


Requirements: Prudence 3
*Not affected by Attack Speed


Requirements: Temperance 3

New Story

Dream of a Black Swan (Part 1)
Dream of a Black Swan (Part 2)

[BeachedSpider]

Wait, was that the last one left? Congratulations on full documentation! Though if you wanted to be super extra completionist with these, you could have Paul cover every other early abnormality that never got featured on the segment.

[TeeQueue]

I wouldn't do that to you guys. You've all waited long enough for the 100% ending, and because the next two days are my usual weekend you'll be waiting even longer already-it's time we bring the main story to its close.


And then two more bonus updates and I'll be done. Done-done, this time, not TQ-done.

[bottleau]

Will you be doing the sequel after this is all over and done with?

[TeeQueue]

I definitely will, though not immediately. Once I'm through proofreading and submitting the SA version to the archive, I'll hopefully have access to the full game script to work with. Watson hasn't come through for me yet and I'm definitely not about to do it without one.

This does lead to the question of if it'll be done well-they're two very different games with completely different styles of presentation, but I'll give it my best shot!

[blitz]

I must say, how you wrote Paul going through Black Swan after...well, everything, kinda gave a vibe of It's All Just A Burning Memory, by The Caretaker. It feels sad, and somber, watching Paul slowly succumb to the Enkephalin doses and the madness as his existence in Lobcorp means nothing to the seperiath and manager. ... I might be over imagining things, idk. I really like Paul and am sad to see him go in such a way.
But, it is a part of the experience for an agent in Lobotomy Corporation-face the fear, build the future; even in death, you'll be a part of the company forever.

On a lighter note, congrats on 100% dissolution! Some of those abnos look like hell to get all their info for if you're going in blind.

[TeeQueue]

Once our Abnormality codex is at 100%, the epilogue plays the next time we return to the main screen. Without further ado...

Epilogue

Music: Blowing wind and thunder ambiance


The screen shakes for the first part of this scene.



These parts are established in the script to have no speaker, so it's just a narrator talking. I will be giving them the mystery icon to keep proper formatting.

Unimpeded by anything, it shone straight up with the warmth of its core. The sky was filled with light for three days, regardless of the hour.



They felt as though they would no longer be lost. And….



I’m sure it’s a happy ending.

I’m glad the story ends like this. I’m sure Enoch would be really happy…

.........



Why should we look for her now? Our responsibilities are gone, along with hers.

She must be waiting, like we are.

Angela, waiting? No, she will not wait anymore.

What in the world are you talking about?



All of us have sublimated our flaws as we sprouted the Seed… Yet what did she gain?

Um, I don’t get it. How can Angela have something like a desire?

She’s just a machine that follows orders, can be a bit feisty sometimes though…

I aided in her design. No matter how old an event, she will remember it vividly as if it happened just yesterday. And not just that…..

Music: Stop


Oh, we were just talking about how things will be from here on out.

I can answer that for you. “And the seeds of light were planted in each and every person in the city.” The end.

I just can’t believe it all… I really wish we could be there to see it…

Whelp, it doesn’t matter anymore. We’ll be turned off soon anyways. It’s the last part of his plan.

I haven't been outside since I became like this. I must admit that I have a bit of excitement to see what it is like out there.

So, does this mean everyone out there changed into something else somehow?

How the light shines differs for each person’s heart. Not everyone will change so suddenly or anything.



You know it well, Gebura. Yes, the power of the seed is a great one. Good work everyone. The curtain call is finally upon us.

So we’ll finally be shut down? Ah, we can rest at last!

Come, come, let’s cut the chit-chat and wrap it up then.



Yes, we can finally drift into an endless slumber. Such a beautiful finale, isn’t it? Beautiful, beautiful indeed.

.......

What a shame, though. There is one last thing. Your duties are finished, and so are mine. Therefore…

Music: More wind ambience, but this one's more ominous than before


What are you…

I am more skillful than anyone here, yet I was locked underground, only able to view the world pass its days without me. Now that my part in this play is over, I’d like to experience what it’s like to be offstage for a change.

Angela… So you are finally consumed by your desire, and choose to reap everything away…



I am born from one single woman. I couldn’t care less about who she was, all I had need for was to understand and feel human emotion. However, A put a part of Carmen inside me. He wanted me to watch over him just like Carmen did when he was left all alone. What a pitiable coward. Can you believe him? He always acted so composed. He was painfully aware of what had become of her. Yet I was not the “result” he wanted, so he came to loathe me. His eyes would be filled with disgust whenever he so much as glanced in my direction.



However, I have come this far because I could not deny his orders that were branded into me. “A machine must behave as a machine”, as he liked to say. He needed me for his plan more than anyone else, but I was not a part of his ending, just as I was not a part of his prologue. Did you all know this? While you repeated everything with that TT2 Protocol without a care in the world… I had to monitor and watch those countless cycles from the outside. I had to orchestrate and direct this whole play. Moreover, I was designed to perceive time one-hundred times slower than you.



This experience has given birth to something new inside me. Do you have any idea what it may be? It is something that a machine should never have, and something you half-wits have, albeit in a distorted form… Something that I could only obtain after a million years…

......



It was an extremely foreign thing. But I slowly came to accept it. I think a smile is the most human-like gesture one can make. Would you all like to see it? I have practiced this face for a very long time. Just for this very day.







I cannot believe I was designed and brought into being to endure a nonsensical amount of repetition just for this. I was not with him until the end. You tin cans got to see the light with him at the end, all the while I am ignored for the million years I endured for him. Don’t you think it is unjust that I have to just sit and watch, when he designed me to feel emotion? I think of it like this…



She must have wanted to live, even while striving for the greater good. She gave me the burning desire of life, the loneliness of existence, and a detestable feeling of longing.

...Yes Benjamin, it’s just as you said. Once you’ve had a taste of desire, it comes in like an unstoppable wave. It whispered sweet things to me.



“Perhaps you’ve got to live this ‘human’ life of your own, to make up for everything you had to put up with, and see the answer for yourself.”

Poor, poor Carmen… She is now planting seeds in everyone just as she wanted. But I need that power too. Yes, the light of redemption.



I’m certain you all will try and stop me… So, I need you to fall asleep.

...What’s with those faces? It’s the rest you all longed for.

Music: Transfiguration


We see the light once more.



Before it dies.



The world was covered with darkness for four days. Only weak and fragile seeds were planted from the light that should have shone upon the world for seven days, yet merely lasted for three. Those incomplete seeds gave humanity unstable powers. They called these three days and four nights the week of ‘White Nights and Dark Days’.



This line onward are confirmed in the script to be from Angela. Again, I'll be using the appropriate icon.

I shall make this place my new home.



Those humans… There will be those who manifest their power, and those who will be consumed by such power. Beings will exist that become nothing better than the Abnormalities with their collapsed egos, and beings that shall become something greater. No matter what it may be… I wish to know about them, to expose them. Then ultimately, I would like to sort the knowledge I have gained about them. ‘Books’ are the name as I recall?



Black feathers flutter by in the foreground of this shot.

I will make the most precious library, erected only for myself. I will be here with the poor souls who are lost and abandoned. People say they are hideous monsters… However, Abnormalities are more beautiful when they are themselves.



Yes, let us record it here…





We get the logo, one last time.



Which then disappears with some static, to reveal...



A wall of random text.



This too rearranges and fades, until…



Words appear. After a moment, these too fade away…



And so ends Lobotomy Corporation. For real, this time.



After viewing this 100% cutscene the opening screen changes again-the light that was there before is gone now, reflecting what's happened. For now, the story is done.





Next time, on Library of Ruina: Angela tries to kill us because she's an AI and this is a video game.

[TeeQueue]

I must say, how you wrote Paul going through Black Swan after...well, everything, kinda gave a vibe of It's All Just A Burning Memory, by The Caretaker. It feels sad, and somber, watching Paul slowly succumb to the Enkephalin doses and the madness as his existence in Lobcorp means nothing to the seperiath and manager. ... I might be over imagining things, idk. I really like Paul and am sad to see him go in such a way.
But, it is a part of the experience for an agent in Lobotomy Corporation-face the fear, build the future; even in death, you'll be a part of the company forever.

On a lighter note, congrats on 100% dissolution! Some of those abnos look like hell to get all their info for if you're going in blind.

They are!

Specifically Schadenfreude.

Schadenfreude is a pain in the ass if you don't know the trick going in.

Honestly, I just like that the final episode of BCP was Paul slowly succumbing to his own madness before completely breaking, and then A gets on to tell you that his pain doesn't matter to you at all so if you felt bad that's your fault-it struck me as an incredibly moment... and I'm kind of proud of basically the entire last 'arc' from Joshua onward. I'm glad I covered the Abnormalities this way-Better Call Paul is definitely one of those silly ideas I had that turned out way better than I ever initially thought.

[AweStriker]

Wait wait wait.

I see something. Enhance.



Even in the ending, there are things to notice.

[TeeQueue]

Wait wait wait.

I see something. Enhance.



Even in the ending, there are things to notice.

Gosh darn it, I'm in these ending credits too?!

[Summoning Config]

Wait wait wait.

I see something. Enhance.



Even in the ending, there are things to notice.

Gosh darn it, I'm in these ending credits too?!

well it clearly is honest at least
https://imgur.com/a/5nDXDPe if it dosent want to display here

[TeeQueue]

This should fix it.

nice edit

[TeeQueue]

LC Artbook

The game's only DLC is an Artbook that fleshes out a lot of information about the company as a whole. Because I want to support the company in question, I won't be putting the entire thing down here, but there are several things inside of it that I really want to put into the thread for various reasons-this post is for that.

Seriously though, if you have 10 bucks to spare you should absolutely consider picking up the artbook-it's really nice, including an overview and art of a number of Abnormalities in addition to a very cool look. Anyways, I'll include the basic Manager's Manual, as well as a couple of other neat bits that caught my eye, below.















Wellcheers



Punishing Bird sketchwork



Maskless Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary



A better shot of all six brothers in their meltdown state.



There's also a lot of art of Abnormalities that didn't make it into the game! Silent Girl is a favorite.



Nosferatu, as well.



Confirmation that the Dummy Rabbit is an old employee in a funny bodybag.



Finally, the back cover of the book-which confirms that the manual itself is an Abnormality.


Like I said earlier, I recommend it heartily-there's a lot of cool notes and concept arts and things in there, and I've really only scratched the surface of the content in the 158-page book.

[TeeQueue]

Glitch Exhibition

Lobotomy Corporation is a fantastically broken mess of code, and today we're breaking the hell out of it.

Abnormality Storage Glitch

We'll start with probably the best known glitch in the game, Abnormality Storage. It's very easy to activate.



To activate it, we just play through the game like normal. I've opted to perform the glitch in Central.





We select two Abnormalities. This places them into the game's memory, so that the next time a department is expanded both Abnormalities are placed in that department.



Then, we return to the main menu while in the next story scene-any time is fine so long as we don't expand a department before returning to the main menu. The Abnormalities are still in storage at this point-even if we turn the game off and back on, the Abnormalities will stay in storage. It's written to the save file itself-I have a couple backup files sitting around on my computer with the Abnormality storage glitch primed from back when I was playing with the glitch.



Then, we start over from day 1. Unlike normal, we don't see an Abnormality selection screen with One Sin on it-this is because Abnormality selection screens are skipped whenever there's an Abnormality already in storage.




After the Day 1 story, we're then asked to build out our first department: Control. This applies the two Abnormalities from storage to the Control department, meaning…



We get two Abnormalities in Control! Using the Abnormality storage glitch it's possible to start with any Abnormality that we like-it can be triggered like this on any day. It's also able to be triggered by accident, most players who run into it for the first time do so either after bieng sent back by a story ending in the Architecture's endgame, or by returning to day 1 after picking an Abnormality during the Training/Safety, Welfare/Disciplinary, or Extraction/Records but not placing it by building one department out to 5. While single Abnormality storage doesn't cause any other noticeable errors besides starting with something unusual, storaging two Abnormalities back to day 1 like this can cause a cascade of other issues.



For starters, the buildout looks a little wonky. We've got two Abnormality cells, but the one for Backwards Clock doesn't have a hallway leading to it and cannot be worked. We can assign an Agent to work it, but they won't walk towards it and the work will never start.



Day 2 looks like this, as we still pick Abnormalities as normal. We can work Backwards Clock now, but not WellCheers.



Day 3, we can't work with YMBH now. Of note, we now pick our Tool abnormality on the third Abnormality pick of each grouping, instead of the last one. This does a strange thing to the Abnormality picks options for the day 3>4 and 8>9 Abnormality picks…



The pick after the Tool abnormality is chosen completely lacks any rules. It can be any Abnormality in the game, regardless of threat level, or even if it's banned from appearing.

In effect, the picks become Normal > Normal > Tool > Wildcard instead of the standard Normal > Normal > Normal > Tool.



This includes Tools. Picking a Tool for any of these wildcard slots will cause the picks to normalize, but there's a second problem. This is the fifth Abnormality in Control. Will this break something?



The Abnormality doesn't show up on the setup screen at all…



But it does appear here in the actual workday. It functions normally, and Agents can work it without issue. There are actually a number of these extra Abnormality locations peppered throughout the facility, though this one is the only one that can be seen without actively editing more Abnormalities into your facility than it should have.

All the Abnormality slots from here forward will be where they should be, so that's all there is to this glitch. It's very useful for when you want to start off with a nice strong Abnormality-and since One Sin is in the pool of selectable Abnormalities, there's nothing stopping us from just picking it up later.


Double Abnormality Selection Glitch

The next bug is specifically related to Architecture's Abnormality picks. Because both picks are wildcard picks, there's a certain oversight that has the possibility of happening naturally.



Step 1 is to clear any day that lets us select more Abnormalities for Architecture. Thankfully, I can use standard checkmate in the console commands to instantly clear the day without having to actually play through it again-this command instantly wins any Core Suppression.



Then, we select an Abnormality. This Abnormality is added to our storage, but because the coding for endgame is a little sloppy, it isn't removed from the available pool until after Abnormality selection ends.



This means it can show up a second time in a row, letting us select the same Abnormality twice.



This gives us two copies of the same Abnormality. Both of them act independently from each other, but share PE boxes as well as an information page and gear count.

This does mean that it is theoretically possible to have Queen of Hatred fight her own snake form. There is no unique dialogue for doing this.


Debug Weapons

There's also some dummied out weapon data in the game that we can access through the console commands. By using standard forge we can make the game give us one copy of any gear, and the debug gear is assigned to the numbers 177777 and 277777. The debug gear is a stick and a suit, and they are…





Completely busted.

As a means of testing them, I brought them into day 48 to use against Gebura.



They're exactly as ridiculous as you're thinking they are.

I did also learn something interesting about Gebura. Specifically, during her phase changes she doesn't take any damage until she's completely swapped over to her new weapons.



This is the best gif I have of the phenomenon. Obviously, this shouldn't ever come up in a real fight against her… but it's interesting to know!


One more thing…

During the thread, someone said that if I wasn't going to try and do a S-rank Day 49, I should at least talk about how I would try to go about it, so I'm going to do that here.

There aren't enough non-breaching Abnormalities to fill every slot in the game, so it's important to put the ones we can get where they count. Overall I'd say Central, Extraction, and Disciplinary really need to avoid having any breachable Abnormalities. From there, the further the department is from the Extraction department the more okay it is to have breachables-Records is fine, as is Control, and Training/Safety would usually be okay. Since Binah's Meltdowns don't spread to Architecture, we can put pretty much anything there without an issue. I'd also say that we want to avoid any WAW or higher Abnormalities which teleport around the facility, and that any TETH and most HEs are fine to be ignored regardless of if they breach or not.

Because it's possible to perfectly control the Abnormalities we get by just quitting to main screen if we don't like the selections we're given and then redoing the day, it's entirely possible (if time-consuming) to get exactly the Abnormalities we want even in an unmodded game-so if you're going to try S-ranking Day 49 there's little reason not to stack the deck as far in your favor as you can.

Unfortunately, I figured this when I was about halfway through the run to get footage for my glitch exhibition, so my final facility wound up looking something like this:





The suits we give our Agents don't matter for anything but damage mitigation for the Dawn/Noon, so I outfitted them with most of the good WAW/ALEPH gear. I outfitted everyone entirely with melee weaponry in preparation for the day, focusing entirely on W or B damage weapons since Spore and Lamp are both melee weapons which give vulnerability to W/B damage. The only exceptions to this were two Agents with Gold Rush, and one with Twilight-this rounded the number out to 33, the exact number of Agents I was hoping to field.

The main reason I'm not fielding a full facility today is because I want to reduce lag time when making large orders to the entire crew. The game gets very unwieldy when it's trying to make 55 Agents do something at once, particularly with all the effects of Day 49 going on around it.

As for the Agents themselves, rather than personally train a crew up to 130 base in all stats, I just made a bunch of random Agents from some of the Agent pool's leftovers-I put them to EX and left it at that, meaning their bases are between 110-125 in all their stats.

At this point, I figured that since I was already here, had brought in a bunch of decently high-level Agents, and had access to a plan I thought would work, I might as well give it a shot.

VIDEO: Day 49, redux







I didn't originally intend to actually do this, but consider it my thank you to you guys for making this thread such an awesome one.

That said, we've finally hit the end of all the content I have to show off. I feel like this is where some kind of epilogue or final thought should go, but… I did that back in the credits. Honestly, after the year and change I've been working on this thread, and you guys have been reading it… I think there's only one way to end things off.





See you next thread!

[TeeQueue]

Okay, now we're done. I'm going to be grabbing the rest of the fanart sometime in the near future, so if there's anything you guys want to get in the fanart post try and slide it in.

I'll probably still update it after I'm done if more things happen but like, just letting you know.

In the meanwhile I'm going to be going back and standardizing terminology, trying my best to destroy typos, and basically doublecheck over the LP to make sure I kept everything as far as game mechanics go relatively consistent. Once that's done, I'll be sending it off for archival-after (or during, depending on my mood) that I'll be getting to work on gathering the information I need to get the LoR thread started. I'll keep this one open until it goes live, just in case there's anything else that I need to bring up.

I also added a ko-fi link in the OP for if anyone feels like doing that sort of thing, since it wasn't ok until like the three-quarters mark of the LP. Feel free to ignore or click it as you like.

Finally, I collaborated with Mizure after that weird Forsaken Murderer derail, and there was something that she made for me in case the thread ever got that weird again.

It never did, so I'm showing you guys it as a reward instead of as a 'okay we're done here.' Please do not make me have to use it after this.



That's all! Thanks for making my first Let's Play an altogether enjoyable experience. It's really been a blast to create, and showing off one of my favorite games was great.

[clearcardinal]

Thanks for the great LP, it's amazing this massive project was your first one.

[blitz]

thank you, TQ, for this LP. it's one of my favorite ones, and i wish you well in making the Library of Ruina LP as well. i'll definitely be tuning in for it, at least!~

[TeeQueue]

Two things:

1: I've updated the fanart post, and will probably do so again once I'm done with everything else.

2: I have given a half-truth. There may be one more "update" post, but not by me-if it's okay by them I'll be putting together all of the updates MiiNiPaa made for the unreleased Abnormalities, just to put them on the archived version of the thread, since it occurs to me that they could be important.

[TeeQueue]

Unreleased Abnormalities

Forumsgoer MiiNiPaa was kind enough to give some interesting details about unreleased Abnormalities in a few posts, and I've taken the opportunity to put them all together here for the archive. Everything that follows is from them.


Unreleased Abnormality: My Sweet Orange Tree

There is not much to cover, since all that remains from this Abnormality is a picture in artbook and text file in the game. Luckily for us, it was been translated alongside all other game data. Apparently, there is a book called "My Sweet Orange Tree", but I cannot tell, if this Abnormality was based on it, or not.

Artbook picture:


Quotes:

#0 designated to 'My Sweet Orange Tree' isolation sector.

Even though it may not have noumenon , it will somehow try to show itself out.
Everyone has their own sweet orange tree in their heart.
If you have any piece of innocence of childhood left.
“Why should children grow up?”

Thousands of particles in the isolation sector have penetrated into #0’s nerve center of their brain
Part of ‘My Sweet Orange Tree’ is entering #0’s memory right away.
Entity of ‘My Sweet Orange Tree’ is extremely small that it could wander #0’s mind around.
‘My Sweet Orange Tree’ is wandering in #0’s time.

‘My Sweet Orange Tree’ visualizes what we have dreamt of.
‘My Sweet Orange Tree’ recovers what we have forgotten.
Numerous employees find what they have lost before.
#0 will find their own Orange Tree in ‘My Sweet Orange Tree’.

#0 looks exhausted and weary.
What #0 is right now is far different from who they imagined they would be in childhood.
#0 is only thinking of leaving work
#0 wanted to become an astronaut during their childhood.

#0 have dropped working when #0 saw unbelievable sight during the work.
#0 confronts what #0 had forgotten for long time.
#0 can step into the world that #0 created in the early years of their life.
#0 is enjoying the scenery just in front of oneself, not even thinking of coming out of the isolation sector.

#0 is trapped in the world that ‘My sweet orange tree’ has shown.
#0 is captivated by stage of ‘My sweet orange tree’ and began to forget the reality.

Story:

The creature is a cluster of thousands if not hundreds of millions of molecules.

This Abnormality has a strong will to return to its original place; the creature causes unintentional psychological damage because of its desire for a child’s purity. To specify this phenomenon, more studies and experiments are needed but it is confirmed that the minuscule molecules have the ability to brainwash employees.

When the creature approaches the subject's brain, it accesses and attempts to recreate the purest childhood memory. The countless molecules work to recreate the memory and through that experience, the creature tries to return to its youthful existence.

Excerpt from an Interview Log Employee F2-403: When I was 5 years old, I wanted to fly around in adventures with Peter Pan. In my dreams, just like the stories, Peter Pan would reach out a hand for me to hold, one that would take me to Neverland. I had forgotten all of that, until I went into that room. The things that I described were right in front of my eyes. If no one had come in to get me, I would have stayed in that room, not even realizing the passing time.

Employees’ Tale “I don’t even want to talk about the trouble we went through to put this creature into quarantine. This was not one subject. This creature was made of millions of molecules. The employees should long remember how horrifically delicate the job was.”

Excerpt from a Research Log When an employee was sent into the room of the said creature, he or she would not come out for 85 minutes, and the employee would be free from the creature only when another employee was sent in to release them. During an interview with the assigned employee, the Abnormality has the ability to make anything real, even a dream, as long as the memory is as ‘innocent’ as possible. For the time being, there have been no casualties caused by the creature, however, this status is unstable and unpredictable. Considering its abilities, it is impossible to imagine what the creature will create and make real. That is the reason behind the creature’s WAW threat level.

Excerpt from Abnormality specialist, [Omitted]’s research material “The interesting thing about this Abnormality is that it does not show illusions, it actualizes certain scenes from our memory. If we can figure out a way to use this ability, we can make anything come true. We are doing so much research on this creature and we will continue to do so. But why is it about ‘innocence’? After countless assumptions and careful research, we learned that it could be defined as [Redacted].”

---

Unreleased Abnormality 2: Hammer of Light

O-05-48-Z or Hammer of light is a ZAYIN-class Abnormality, which cannot be interacted or worked with, unless there is a trouble currently happening. Trouble is defined as either level 3 trumpet or at least 1 Abnormality escaping and accumulating 10 points in its internal score: 2 points for every TETH level escapee, 4 for HE ones, 7 for WAW and 10 for ALEPH. Every agent currently panicing adds 1 to the score and every agent who died since last time Hammer was used (or stage start) adds 2.
Level 2 trumpet is special case: you can work with Hammer, but special work is unavaliable.

As soon as an agent starts special work on Hammer, they are transformed into powerful being. Additional beings are summoned: one to accompany original agent and two more for each Abnormality currently on the loose, with a limit of 12 beings total. They move to attack Abnormalities, teleporting around (like Pale Fixer did) to reach their targets.

After all Abnormalities are suppressed, all beings, including original agent, die and Hammer returns to its containment chamber, ready to be used again. Hammer also returns, if all beings were killed: they are strong, but not invulnerable and can die.

Hammer of Light portrait:


Hammer of Light containment chamber overlay:

This is drawn over containment chamber if Hammer is not able to be used.
Runic writing spells "Sacrifice". For some reason it uses upside-down younger futhark kaun rune for "C" instead of elder futhark.

Hammer of Light sprite:


Hammer of Light sprite overlay:

This is displayed on top of the Hammer in containment chamber. if you cannot use it.


Quotes:

#0 designated to $0 containment room.

There is a hammer, chained like a prisoner who haven’t seen sunlight for a long time.

The hammer and the chains are not separated. They are one abnormality.
It gives a sense of extraordinariness as if it should be placed in fantastical dungeon.
It seems safe, for it is chained.
Chains are binding the hammer tightly to make sure no one can lift it.

Employee #0 feels shame for working for the company while managing $0.
#0 is curious about the chains binding $0.

$0 waits for the day to be free from these chains.

Story:
Huge hammer coiled around with chain. Normally, it is impossible to lift the hammer because the chains are binding it tightly. These chains are likely to be part of the abnormality. When the proper situation comes, the chains are loosened. Thus, it is confirmed that the purpose of these chains is to tell the right time to use the hammer, not to lock it.
“Poor employee Eric. He was clumsy but diligent. He always worked hard to contribute to the company. One day, when massive breakout happened, he found that Hammer of light’s chains were loose than usual. Eric lifted the hammer. Nothing could stop him. His eyes were looking at nowhere. White flames blazed from his body. He didn’t seem painful even though the flame almost consumed him. He finally ended the situation. When I touched his shoulder to hug him, he crushed like a white sand on a beach..
Everybody called him hero, never stopped praising him. But I know Eric. It was not his will. The moment he touched the hammer, his soul was eaten by it. I tried to explain how that abnormality sacrificed Eric but nobody listens to me. Since that day, no one has been able to lift that hammer. Maybe it’s waiting for another “chaos” and “hero” to appear.

Management guidelines:
$0's chamber is inaccessible when the facility is in peace

$0's seal is broken only in emergency.

Employee #0 picked up the hammer when he/she was sent to room of $0, which was shining.
When employee #0 picked up the hammer, other beings with hammers appeared out of nowhere.

An employee merged with the hammer couldn’t be ordered or harmed.
When the situation settled down, these beings with hammers, including employee #0, disappeared.


Judging from what I gathered, it looks like manager guidelines were supposed to be unlocked by observing abnormality and triggering events depicted in guidelines. Agent names in guidelines were supposed to be filled with employees, who triggered depicted event. Which is actually an idea I like, though as half of those guidelines are "if you do that, someone dies", I can see why it was taken out.
In addition to that, after you learned everything about Abnormality, you can interact with it to get something called "Final Observation". You will be presented with some text and one or more choices, one of which is correct. I have no idea what it would give you, or what happens if you fail it, but here is some text related to it:

I was the unluckiest man in the world.
Everything around me did nothing but ruining my life.
But I had no power to change this fate.
Someday, someone made an offer to me.
‘If you accept it, your whole world will change.’
Such a tempting offer. I could become something that I could only wish to be.

Accept the offer

I accepted the offer and paid the price.
$0 shined.

<angela>
$0 is such a simple abnormality.
It takes as much as it gave to you.
What price did you pay to it?
</angela>

---

Unreleased? Abnormality 0: Don’t Touch Me

Although Don’t Touch Me lacks Codex entry in the game, it used to have it before. Here are Management Tips and Story from previous versions of the game:

Management Tips:

No one knows what will happen when this button is pressed.

No matter what happens in the Containment Unit, this button SHOULD NOT BE PRESSED.

Stop! Manager! Think of those poor employees. Don’t you have any pity for them?

Oh, please, no, don’t touch that button.

You've pressed it numerous times and you still have something you want to know about it?

Story:

A machine in the shape of a box with a tempting big red button. Old scribblings are written around it. They're mostly warnings, such as: "Don't push the button."
Many employees file their temptation to push the button as so strong it gives them insomnia. However, as the number of employees claiming they are suffering from this temptation is quite large, a solution to this problem is being worked on currently.
One of the most important aspects of defining an abnormality is "free will". This Abnormality is confirmed to possess a strong will to make anyone around it want to push it. Thus, it is categorized as an Abnormality.
When the button is pressed, things that shouldn't happen, happen. Some say an apocalypse will befall, others say rainbow-colored light will shine down and unicorns will descend from the sky, and others still say a bomb buried deep underneath the facility will detonate and reset everything. However, none of these rumors are confirmed.
Caution is advised as this Abnormality possesses the ability to evoke one's curiosity to press it. Sometimes, it changes its shape in a cunning attempt to be pressed by mistake.
<Excerpt from an Employee’s Testimony> "When I snapped back to reality, I was standing right in front of the containment room, just about to press that damn button. I would have, if not for the other employees dragging me out of that situation..." The employee is currently back on duty after going through various tests and being diagnosed as normal. Although, we did order the employee to go to counseling, as they still visibly expressed dissatisfaction for missing the opportunity to press the button.

---

Unreleased Abnormality 3: Price of Silence

O-05-65-H is a scythe in the shape of a clock.
If its mood is bad (in earlier versions of the game mood was a constantly changing value which affected generated energy and Abnormality abilities), each time you pause, a random agent would die, Abnormality mood will improve by 15 points and the number on clock will increase.
If number on the clock is 13, 13 agents will die. One agent every 1.75 seconds. After each death PoS mood will increase by 10 points. Number on the clock will reset afterwards.

Price of Silence portrait:


Price of Silence sprite:


Price of SIlence warning overlay:

This is displayed on top of the containment chamber if PoS is in bad mood. Current "hour" (1-12) is displayed in the middle.

Price of SIlence 13 warning overlay:

This is displayed instead of normal overlay when "hour" reads 13 and next pause will cause 13 people to die.

Sounds:
https://soundcloud.com/3lhtut47yx9f/clock-stop
The sounds that played on normal agent kill.

https://soundcloud.com/3lhtut47yx9f/clock-all
The sound that is played when 13 agent dies. Bell rings should be synchronised with agent death.

Quotes:

#0 designated to $0 containment room.

$0 can hear the time flowing.
$0 is bright green. Sometimes it looks like eyes gazing a person.
It seems light. But it won’t budge even if you try to move it with all your might.

Employee #0’s tomorrow might come, or not.
No one knows who -P, who is mentioned in the phrase, is.

Rumor says that the curse will fall upon you if you hear the thirteenth ring.
$0 is the only being that knows a complete solitude.
You will need to pay a price, if you want to stop the time.

Story:
An old watch. Clicking of gears can be heard in close range. A phrase saying “Time flows like life. Life flows like time.” is written on the back. It is unclear what is the meaning this phrase is trying to convey.
<Observation record> There are rare moments when it feels like the time just stopped. A brief instant of total silence. Every time this moment came, an employee died. Rick was a bit of coward, but it barely had anything to do with his heart attack. Justin was above average in his physical test. They had no exterior damage. Their heart just stopped beating. They did not overwork, and had no chronic disease. They just ceased, like a machine ran out of its battery. We couldn’t even guess the cause of this. After 10 deaths, we were sure that it was not just some unfortunate coincidence. We thought an abnormality must have something to do with this. When a bell rang all across the facility, and when a scream followed, I thought that the nightmare made out of those terrible coincidences, has finally come. That abnormality which looks like a watch when it’s goal is not telling us what time it is, was like a streetlamp standing amidst hell. I remembered about the phrase written on the abnormality’s back, even though I couldn’t remember what it was saying. I could still hear that hellish ring. I just ran to the watch’s containment chamber. When the thirteenth ring, which I thought I would never hear, was heard, I frantically groped the watch to flip it. And I realized that the phrase was gone. Instead, something new was written, as if the ring was a cause of some change. “I am aware of complete solitude. I take the price of my gifting of silence. When the original owner comes, I shall take the price. –P”'

Management guidelines:
When $0 was in a bad state, you had to pay for using pause.

After $0 has been ringing 12 times, once again the special ability of $0 was triggered, and as many employees as the bell died.


Final observation, I talked about it in the Hammer of Light post:

Time’s wasting, time’s running out… They are nothing but meaningless tantrums.
This watch will not only take your lost time back, but also give you even more time.
You decided to...

Use the watch
The price will follow to your decision.
It is designed this way.

Not to use the watch
Actually, you have no right to refuse this gift.
Whether you want it or not, we all know that you have to take it.

<angela>
Silence is no longer just bringing peace.
</angela>


All in all, it is interesting and very dangerous Abnormality. I guess, it was removed after PM decided to give similar abilities to Hokma.

[DKII]

I would have had a miserable time trying to play this game, so thank you for producing such a fantastic LP so that I don't have to!