Page 14 of 20

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

Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2020 10:48 am
by TeeQueue
Day 40: Story

Music: Smokey Lounge Jazz Combo
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Image People here don’t drink coffee in the morning?! There’s no better way to get energized than drinking a fresh cup of coffee before you start the day man~! What’s with the look on your faces?

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Image Aww, isn’t this a shame~ I wasn’t expecting some massive welcome party, but I didn’t think you guys would be so heartless. Well, of course I understand. You’re all probably wondering why a talented man such as myself applied to join such a shabby company, huh? It’s totally suspicious and nonsensical, I get ya. Well, everyone has their own agenda…

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Given that every other time we see "..........." in this sort of context it's A saying something he doesn't remember, I'm moderately certain this is an error and A should be speaking here.

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This line is also a hint, of course. :v:

Image I think I heard about you from Carmen.

Image …Speaking of which, it was Carmen’s speech that really brought me here. Where is she right now?


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Image Miss… It’s Daniel…

Image You can sit down here. The person that sits next to you will explain the details of your work.

Image What, so you knew I was coming?


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Image Geez, I thought you were being sarcastic. May I request one thing before I join you officially? Could we get a coffee machine here? I want everyone to know how good true freshly brewed coffee is.

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Image I vaguely remembered Carmen had told me about him a few days prior. That one of the elites would stop by to apply to our company. “He’s a bit pompous, so don’t believe everything he says,” she said to me. I asked how she was able to recruit such an elite. Carmen answered nonchalantly, as if I had asked about something trivial.

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Image “Don’t you know that by now?”

Music: Strange Dream
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Image I’ve waited a long time for a savior. Someone who could free me from my inertia and wake me up inside. Why did I never come to the realization that I myself could be my own savior? Would you be so kind as to remember my mistake? It’s very valuable to me.

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Image Do you still not understand the reason why I didn’t stop you? I’m referring to the real reason why I watched you without immediately putting you through the replacement process like Tiphereth.

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Image I know the word “death” means nothing to you now, but to them, it held meaning.

Image That’s weird, Lady Angela.


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Image That’s rich, coming from the one who would gladly force a Containment Unit open just to garner a little more energy, isn’t it? Yet here I was, clumsily going with your flow as I assisted you… However, don’t go thinking that this was entirely my loss. I know now that you don’t really care about our condition. I know now that you weren’t the one I should have been obeying.

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Image You clearly know what I mean. I’m not going to let you do whatever you want now.

Image You’re such a loser. In the past and even now.


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Image However, although you may want to believe that nothing has changed… It is in fact that many things are changing.

Image It rests on you now to resolve the mess you made, Chesed. Let’s, as they say, bury the hatchet with any hard feelings between us. There is one thing I want you to know, though.


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Music: Smokey Lounge Jazz Combo
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Image I’m still unsure if I can truly fight back against the fear I may face in the future. But I’ve decided not to run away, at the very least.

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In summary: Chesed tells Angela off, and says he's figured out who he should listen to now. Angela maintains that she knew this the entire time and only let him do it so he could learn the lesson on his own because she is a perfect AI who makes no errors, before calling back to something Carmen said to Daniel long ago. Chesed asks us for his marching orders, and with Those who are Faithful and Trustworthy acquired, the Seed has made it to 60%.

Music: Arachnitopia Theme Piano
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Image Oh, I was recalling the sound of your footsteps. While there were clichés, you sometimes made the results more exciting by acting in unexpected ways. Still, the endings were all the same, no matter how the process went. Do you want me to share some memories through a hologram? It’s simply too good for me to watch alone.

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Image I didn’t know that a human’s mental capacity could be so weak back then. You did alright the first couple of times, but then, one day…

Image Well, at that time, it was a little funny. I’m sorry. You made it so far, but you weren’t able to escape from that absolutely useless sense of guilt and hung yourself. Well, you were stopped immediately though.

Image Then, at this time, you were not fully prepared. That’s when I started to realize that it didn’t matter if you were mentally whole or not. What mattered was that you needed to find “realization” about something to stop this endless cycle.


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>I'll continue watching.
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Image I would love to see more, but let’s stop here for today. You might see something that you’re not supposed to witness yet if we continued.

---

>Can you stop the holograms, please?
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Image Please understand, you should know that I don’t have much entertainment that I can enjoy. Really, you should have left me something to pass the time with.

---

Routes Merge Here

In summary: Angela shows us her home videos of our past, failed selves. Apparently the cognition filter wasn't always a thing and this led to… problems. She also mentions that she's realized that even if it breaks us, the only way out of this cycle is some kind of realization.

Image If I didn't know better, I'd think you were showing me that because you were mad I didn't leave you anything to do.

Image That would be absurd, A. I am a perfect AI. While I can point out flaws in plans, I am not the sort to be unable to handle such a trifle as countless loops of boredom.

Image If you say so. :rolleyes:

Music: Sea Wind
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Image On the contrary to what people say, it appears that aging does not necessarily bring greater wisdom. Just look at this old man. Going through what feels like an endless cycle of intermittent greed; the obsession over things that have passed; pointless regret. Now trapped in a routine of staring at the iron hands of time without reason.

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Image I noticed you wear a sad expression on your face each time one of your employees died. Just as I have become an old man, no human being is free from the cycle of life and death. As our research was to cure the disease, not to live forever.

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Image Do you remember that one employee? The one who was nice and upfront with you? He passed away recently. When he received the letter that he was accepted into Lobotomy Corporation, he never would have expected to meet such a futile demise. If I wanted, I could have brought him back to you.

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Image Lives are trivial here. The tenuous hold on life can be severed so easily, and yet may come back as if nothing happened. We reached a point in which we don't even need to mourn their deaths. An employee who died just yesterday may come back from my simple call, yet another employee may never open their eyes again from a single wave of my hand. That is what death means here, A.

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Image So please, don’t punish yourself too much. I do not wish to see you suffer from such a personal and insignificant thing. For the future will bring you much more pain to bear.

In summary: Not only do clerks not count, it turns out that absolutely nobody's deaths matter at all because Hokma can apparently just bring them back or kill them off at will. Therefore, there's no reason at all to feel bad any time we let someone die-our sadness is completely pointless. :lobcorp:

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Image Speaking of which, I believe you mentioned that there was an agent who punched you in the face? I was wondering… who were they?

Image Yeah, you're gonna' have to keep wondering. I'm pretty sure you'd just kill them, and I like having them around.

Image I've already told you, there is no need to feel guilty over retiring an employee who is doing the wrong things. Death is insignificant.

Image Oh boy, I think I'm starting to get what this one's going to be about…

Image Hm?

Image Talking to myself. Anyways, I figure I probably deserved it so it's not an issue.

Image That's absurd!

Image That's my decision. And it's final. Drop it, Hokma.

Image ...Very well, A. Have a pleasant day.

Image ……… :sigh:

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Image Ah, you wish to delve deeper into the secrets of the Well?

Image Not really.

Image Perhaps that is for the best. You have already seen their effects on normal minds.

Image Yeah. Look. I wanted to ask you about Gebura. You fought before, didn't you?

Image Did we? She was a good rival before we were both encased in cold metal, but in this current body can I be said to be the same person as when we met in a delightful symphony?

Image Yes, yes, whatever. I was wondering if you had any insight on how to deal with her.

Image I would assume you would deal with her the same way as you do all of your problems. Simply hide in a room and yell furiously into the winds until someone else solves it for you, before profiting from the solution.

Image ...yeah this was a waste of time. Bye, Binah.

Image Farewell.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: We do exactly that.








:v: Have you heard? Has anyone told you?

:j: The Rumor of Gebura's Breakdown!

:v: They say that she broke down during the fracas the other night, and hasn't been working since. Her whole system's on the fritz!

:j: Miss Tenebrais has been having to pick up all that slack by herself! So sad~ So unfair~

:v: I heard the manager's going to try and fix her, but there's no way he could stand against the Red Mist! She's too powerful to defeat!

:j: A paper-pusher against a legendary champion with legendary prowess, learned in the Backstreets and honed in the Outskirts!

:v: All of the clerks are saying the manager doesn't have a chance!

:j: What to do, what to dooo~?

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

Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2020 1:09 pm
by Snacks
I love and respect coffee robot

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

Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2020 3:50 pm
by yamiaainferno
Chesed's head looks like vaguely like a floppy disk.

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

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2020 1:31 pm
by TeeQueue
Day 40: Gameplay

Music: neutral 3
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Image This is… what am I looking at here?

Image By equipping our agents with a canister set to fire off a massive burst of nanites and enkephalin when an agent is on the verge of a crisis, I've determined it's possible to save them. The process is expensive, and only works around 25% of the time...

Image So it was originally canned due to budget concerns?

Image Bingo~

Image Implement them immediately.

Image Already done.

While we never want to rely on this ability, it's a very handy thing to have on hand for when things go south. Note that it does not work on instant kill abilities like Big Bird's, only on HP or SP damage.

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Image A gift, in honor of your recent success.

Image Oh yeah, that was a thing. Thanks, Binah.

Image Do not mention it. A trick is deserving of a reward. Such is the way of the world, yes?

Just doubling our E.G.O gift odds, since there's some good stuff in our facility that I wouldn't mind getting on more agents.

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Image That seems… ominous. No information about what's happening, just an announcement.

Image As a reminder, the Red Mist is Gebura's former self, the one who was in the memories you saw before.

Image ...Ah. So that's who's coming back. That woman who it took an entire facility of Abnormalities to take… down...

Image That sounds like an idea you're having right now! How can we help?

Image Take everyone off of active duty. I have an idea for how to beat her.

Image Not happening. She's my boss, I'm taking care of her.

Image ...Wait, what are you doing not in my office?

Image Nobody ever told me how to get there. No problem, I prefer field work.

Image What's all this about agents being allowed in your office, A?

Image Nothing. You must have misheard, being so old and all.

Image ...I'm not fond of it when secrets about this place are kept from me, A. Still, it is your judgment. I shall assume you have the best intentions in mind.

Image Anyways, have everyone-except Tenebrais-on standby for the day. I've got something she can do anyways.

Image Everyone, sir? We need at least one agent per department to run things.

Image ...oh. That's… that's not good.

:v: Perhaps we can help, sir!

Image ...Who the heck are you?

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:v: We're with Miss Tenebrais's fan club, sir. We heard that she may be having to help suppress the core of her department Sephirah, so we broke into the agent E.G.O storage and took some of the basic suits and clubs for just such an occasion.

:j: We're fully prepared to staff the departments ourselves, in order to help out the great Miss Tenebrais!

Image You realize that every single one of you is definitely going to die a horrible death, right?

:v: We're Clerks, sir. We know how things work around here. Miss Tenebrais is our savior, our light in this dark underground hellhole!

:j: My greatest regret is that I have but one life to give to help Miss Tenebrais!

Image ...Problem solved. Any objections? Yesod?

Image I don't like meaningless deaths, but I can't fix recklessness like this.

Image Um… give it your all, sir!

Image That's the plan.

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Image Why am I in Welfare?

Image Can't put you in Disciplinary, so I put you there. That's all.

Image Whatever. Let's get this started.

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Music: Second Trumpet
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As the day begins, the screen moves itself directly over to upper Disciplinary, where Gebura slowly walks back and forth. She won't leave this room, giving us plenty of time to figure out how to engage.

Image Are you prepared to face me, manager?

Image Something like that. I'm pretty sure I've got this figured out.

Image Then come at me with all you have.

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Our new Abnormality is a pleasant-looking lad with a plague doctor mask and big black wings. We won't be working with him today.

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Anyways, we start how we always do, by clearing out the clerks.

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All of them. Since this is the first time that a department losing all their agents is a vital part of my strategy, we can see the two effects it has.

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Firstly, all clerks in the department immediately panic as the lights go out. They'll run around and eventually shoot themselves.

:v: FOR THE GLORY OF MISS TENEBRAAAAIS!!

They're fiiine.

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This in turn frees Mountain of Smiling Bodies and sets us to Second Trumpet. We can also see the other effect: All Abnormalities in that department get a flat -50% penalty to any work done with them. Since we aren't going to be doing any work today, this doesn't matter.

Image I'm being ignored.

Image Nah, I'm just getting everything set up for you.

Image What do you mean, setting up?

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Image Oh, you'll see.

Image Manager, this is a stupid plan.

Image Stupid? Or brilliant.

As for Tenebrais, she'll be spending the entire day in the Shelter, perfectly safe from everything that's about to happen. :unsmigghh:

Image Stupid. I'm really supposed to just sit here all day and wait for things to happen?

Image Well, yeah. An entire facility full of Abnormalities took her down before give or take, I'm sure they can do it again.

Image And the reason I'm not wearing the good armor?

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Image Let's just say I wanted to invite an old friend.

Image ...whatever.

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As I'm following Mountain of Smiling Bodies to get footage of its stage 2 form (as it eats corpses it grows more lumps and becomes more powerful), I notice a popup. Something managed to affect Tenebrais inside of the Shelter? :ohdear:

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Image What the hell's calling me?

Image It is I, who offers thee my aid.

Image ...Uh-huh.

Oh, it's just you. This pink haze indicates that our new friend -45 is using his ability. When this activates, he calls one of our Agents to meet with him in the containment cell. This works no matter where they are, including the Shelter.

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We also can't click them out of it like we could with Parasite Tree-but we haven't actually lost. We just need to wait and we'll get control of her back eventually.

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Image What is this?! Manager!!

Image They're called Abnormalities. Maybe you've heard of-

Image Cut the crap, manager. Why are you letting these things out?

Image So that you can fight 'til you're satisfied. You want an outlet for your rage, and here you go.

Image You think my rage can be stopped by this? I'll crush them all.

Gebura begins mixing it up with our Abnormalities in the meanwhile.

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Image I see thou hast come.

Image Yeah. Let's hear it, and if you're wasting my time you're going facefirst through that wall.

Image Thou art injured, thy body covered in scars. Hast thou no desire to see thyself whole?

Image I go from one fight to another. What's the point wasting my time on things if I'll just get banged up again?

Image I shall save thee from the rigors of this world. Accept my gift, and I shall cure every disease and injury you possess.

Image ...You had me at "Free Gift."

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Once the agent reaches his containment cell, the Abnormality gives them a blessing. The wing obscures what this entails from view, but a screenshot of a bugged activation from the wiki shows it's likely a smooch.

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Image Woah… I think I just broke at least two company policies.

Image May my blessing protect thee.

Image Yeah. I feel pretty awesome.

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Afterwards, a giant clock shows up on our monitor.

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And ticks to 1, with Tenebrais's name. The lower part should also use her name, but it can get a little wonky-either the game doesn't like her name or a mod is making it hiccup.

Image It's Tenebrais, but whatever-close enough. This place is hell, and nothing gets past me.

Image Hence we shall go together 'ere the time of reunion.

Image Yeah, okay. Later.

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Tenebrais gets a new E.G.O Gift, giving her +6 in all stats in a unique E.G.O slot that nothing else can be placed in. More importantly, we can shove her back in the Shelter where she won't die horribly.

Image ...Well, that seemed unusual.

Image GRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

Image Right, right, not the time.

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Image Because now, it's party time.

Image What the hell did you do?

Image Oh, triggered the Apocalypse. Nothing too serious.

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Apocalypse Bird really isn't that great against Gebura and the forced 1x speed with no pause makes getting shots really difficult for the next while, but there was no way I was about to miss the chance to call it down on her. :colbert:

Image So, we've got just you against the combined forces of a one-bird Apocalypse…

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Image A goop monster that can infect and kill hundreds…

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Image The ultimate form of a weird death-tumor that eats bodies to power up.

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Image Leg day…

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Image Some freaky humanoid thing I'm being told is Nothing There…

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Image And a good boy fresh from the gym. I like my odds.

Image Don't… Screw with me!!

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Image I just wish I hadn't turned off the lights. I wanna see this.

Mountain's ultimate ability in its complete form is a sort of black vomit that deals massive Black damage to anyone in range, taking a sizeable chunk even out of Gebura. In return she attacks with the two E.G.O we saw her with earlier-Red Eyes (which we haven't seen yet) and Penitence, from One Sin. Most of the Abnormalities will wander around randomly, but Blue Star's facilitywide attack will ensure that we have a constant flow of damage on her as the fight goes on.

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Image I'm telling you this plan won't work, manager.

Image Why not? It's perfect. She just wants to fight, so I'll fight her like this 'til she's tired and call it a win.

Image You're missing something pretty obvious.

Image ...Ah, yeah, you're right!

Image Great, then let me out there and I can-

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Image I never mentioned my freaking dragon!

Image :doh:

Image This plan was amazing, I should thank Binah for the hint.

Image She put you up to this? I should have known! It doesn't matter!

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Image Oh, right, my drugshark too! Though it only attacks corridors, but it's here in spirit.

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Image And Melting Love!

Image You said her already!

Image Yeah, but now she's in a containment cell. That's really weird.

This happens sometimes and I have no idea why. :psyduck:

Image Anyways, I've got a badass army! What do you have to say about that, Gebura?

Image Open, the Road of Gold.

Image Huh?

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Every time Gebura loses a third of her health in this phase, she opens golden portals all over the facility. Afterwards, she charges through them while using a new E.G.O weapon from another Abnormality we haven't met.

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This charge deals Red damage to anything in her way, and she stops with an explosion in her target room-which I missed this time due to no pausing.

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Luckily, that egg was hit by our dragon friend so it shouldn't be a problem much longer. While Gebura and Apocalypse Bird are both immune to its effects, it can quickly free more Abnormalities to join the party, and either almost-kill inconveniences or mostly-heal nearly defeated fighters.

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Finally! Let's find Gebura.

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Image She's taking care of the lights?

Image Any Abnormality I see will be crushed.

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Apocalypse Bird hops right in, to test that resolve.

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And I finally get a shot of its laser attack!

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The Apocalypse Bird runs first, but Gebura's second Road of Gold is triggered right before the egg dies. We'll have to wait for Blue Star's natural damage to wipe it out.

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Gebura heads for Central 3, and here's a better look at the Road's explosion attack. She has to rest for a couple seconds after each use.

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Meanwhile, Nothing There and Mountain of Smiling Bodies fight above. Nothing There's final form is a source of insane Red damage, and it has here knocked off one of the Mountain's bits by hurting it enough-it'll probably be running to eat more bodies soon.

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And Blue Star has respawned in Safety this time.

Image Manager… I'm bored.

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Image Well, the lights are back on. Do you wanna go out there right now?

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Image Looks a bit like certain death. I'm good.

Image Smart girl. You couldn't handle this. Nobody but the Red Mist could.

Image ...Changed my mind. Wanna kick her ass now.

Image You're staying put!

Image :argh:

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In the end, our old friend Firebird is what drains Gebura's HP bar.

Music: Distorted Night
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Image You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?

Image You know… for a second there… Yeah. I kind of did.

Phase 2 begins with another Road of Gold.

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And she stands up with one of her three attacks-a Spear E.G.O weapon from an Abnormality we haven't seen yet.

Image Shame. I'm a bit tougher than you thought. Now I'll start trying.

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In phase 2, she has Mimicry from Nothing There and another weapon from an ALEPH we're yet to see in addition to her spear. She starts dealing much more damage here than in phase 1, though with our undying army of Abnormalities it remains just a matter of time. Honestly, doing the fight this way is just a lot of waiting.

Highlights of Phase 2 include…

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Yin showing off its attack-a laser which explodes shortly after. The laser is harmless. The explosion is not.

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Gebura taking enough damage to trigger her first room move fairly quickly (thanks Apocalypse Bird!). To do this she throws her second weapon, which flies through the facility (and deals White damage to anyone it hits).

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She then readies Mimicry, and a red line moves along the path between rooms as she teleports directly to the weapon. Anyone standing in that room when the red line arrives takes a large amount of Red damage-it's supposed to be her traveling but they had to code things this way so that the move would function right.

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Image Oh… you? Alright. I'll enjoy this!

There's a lot of speculation that Nothing There is the Abnormality which Christopher became before killing his family. This hasn't been confirmed either way, but since it's the source of her signature weapon, Mimicry, which has existed since before Christopher died, it's hard to really say-the sequel expands on the circumstances around that weapon but we still don't know anything for sure. At any rate, its scythe can deal immense damage even to Gebura, and it's immune to her Red damage attacks. But you know what this fight is missing?

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More abnormalities!

Image Huh. Good on Forsaken Murderer, making it that far down.

Image Hff… Hff… This is nothing.

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The damage from the two of them sends Gebura up to Safety, and her landing takes out Blue Star.

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It decides to relocate to Central shortly thereafter, joining the other 4 Abnormalities having a party there.

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Unfortunately, this dragon also flew through Central, taking out most of them in one fell swoop.

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Nothing There pops out shortly thereafter in his base mode. How it works is it initially runs around and attacks while looking like this, but after a while it goes through an egg mode and becomes that final form. I tried catching the egg this time, but it wound up changing inside of a room transition. I did not know that could happen, so hey, learning! :eng101:

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Blue Star revives in Safety and fights with Gebura again…

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And this happens. Melting Love absorbs Red damage, which is all that Nothing There can do. Meanwhile, Melting Love deals Black damage-she literally cannot lose this fight. Oddly, Nothing There doesn't actually have a defeat animation.

Also: Scarecrow. :allears:

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Anyways, eventually Blue Star and the others wear Gebura down.

Image No… not… yet…

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Image I will not fall!

Image Geez, she's persistent.

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Phase 3 comes with two new E.G.O weapons, Smile from Mountain, and Justita from Judgment Bird. She can still use the spear as well, and makes short work of Blue Star once more.

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Image You're not helping. You know that, right?

Image She's venting! That's all she wants. It'll end eventually.

Image Yeah. When she brings down the whole facility on top of us. 'Til then, not likely.

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Image Well, if she keeps picking fights with invincible enemies, I don't think we'll have a problem.

Image Invincible? No, it's not invincible. I just have to outlast it.

Image And it can't die.

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Image It can't. So I'm keeping it away from the eggs. In these halls... Something'll take the last one out. Blue Star, in the worst case.

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Image There were no creatures, no sun and moon, and no beast. All that was left was just a red mist over the black forest.

This actually counts as an Apocalypse Bird suppression for the purpose of gaining its E.G.O gear, by the by. If we didn't already have it, we would now.

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Shortly thereafter, Blue Star breaches again and pushes her over her next damage threshold-White attacks work well against this phase, making it burn her down faster than the first two. She moves to Training using the Road of Gold from phase 1 again. There she runs into Scarecrow.

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It wisely chooses to keep walking.

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Image Look, manager. Not to be a wet blanket again, but I really do think this is just gonna' piss her off more.

Image There's no way. She has rage, she has no aim for it, so I'm giving her an outlet til the rage is all gone. I figured out Chesed, I got this too.

Image Chesed was a posh loser like you, of course you understood him. You still don't get a single thing about the Backstreets, though.

Image Tenebrais? You're still alive, eh? I thought a softie like you would have died long ago.

Image She's on bunker duty. You can't touch her.

Image Bunker duty?

Image Not by choice! I took on Punishing Bird, I can handle anything!

Image Ah, right. You're still the sort of weakling who has to fear that tiny thing.

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Image That's real power, Tenebrais. The power to crush these Abnormalities underfoot.

Image ...Manager, I am being provoked.

Image You're not going anywhere.

Image :argh:

We're basically just waiting around for her health to drain again, and unfortunately no cool fights happen this time.

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She does move into Welfare, and hangs out there as I watch her health bar slowly decrease for another 2 or 3 minutes.

Music: Insignia Decay
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Image She's still not going down?!

She destroys her Smile E.G.O when transitioning from phase 3 to phase 4, but she's behind the foreground so I can't get a good shot of it. Trust me when I say that it's destroyed.

Image Fine… I'll give this my everything. My all of me! Behold, the Road of the King!

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This time, Gebura throws the E.G.O weapon she's been using to open the portals, and takes off running behind it.

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We can't see her because of the static from 1.76 MHz, but whatever her new weapon is, she dealt Pale damage while running past Big Bird with it. The portals take her to Central 1, where she finishes her attack.

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Image That's-

Image She's using Twilight?!

Image That stupid Bird didn't need it anymore, so I took the spare.

Some of you are probably confused: that attack at the end of the Road of King is designed to obliterate everything in a room, so how did a TETH survive? That's because of coding. That particular attack adds the name of every employee in the room onto a little table, and then it goes through and rolls 10 separate instances of incredibly high damage of a random color for each person on that table. This means it effectively obliterates any employee in the room-but since it doesn't add Abnormalities they're immune! :eng101:

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Image Ugh… stupid… robotic… body…

After her attacks in this phase, Gebura can't move for a while-giving Ppodae a chance to attack.

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Or Nothing There. Nothing There's good too. In this phase she's also weak to all forms of damage, so a few good hits should send her packing.

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Image Not… yet!

Image Uh… Gebura, you're not even throwing it in the right direction anymore.

Visual bugs! :lobcorp:

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Gebura shuts down in Training this time, which is what I was waiting for.

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Enemies who are weak against everything are ideal targets for the Rabbit Team.

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Myo even has custom lines for facing off with her!

Image Glad you could make it.

Image For a chance like this? Wouldn't miss it for the world. Slaughter 'em, men!

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Image You called THEM..?

Image Sure did. It's over, Gebura.

Image No… NO!!!

Image Feel better now? No need to thank me.

Image

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Between Blue Star, the damage she'd already taken from Nothing There, and now the Rabbits… even the mighty Red Mist herself will eventually crumble.

Image

It only took an hour.

This is what is known as 'Shelter cheese' and for players who are less sure of their skills it's a great way to defeat Gebura, only costing a day's worth of resources and a few throwaway agents. It still works without Blue Star's facilitywide attacks, but it takes even longer. It's also the one and only good use for Shelter from the 27th of March, so it's officially pointless now. :v:

So, we've all seen what the Red Mist is capable of and how terrifyingly powerful she is-every single Abnormality that was released was suppressed at least once over the course of the day, and most of them 3+ times. I could move to the next day now…

Image

Image I won't… I won't… I won't..!

Image Manager, it appears that whatever your attempted solution was, it did not work.

Image What? But the day ended!

Image It did. However, her rage appears not to have subsided-all that you have successfully done is broken her. We will have to rewind and try again.

Image That's-that can't be!

Image Toldja so.

Image ...Fine. We'll try this your way. See you in a couple hours ago.

Image Wait what's that supposed to mean-

Image

But we're not done yet. :getin:

Image

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

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

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2020 2:10 pm
by Grumpy Turtle
That was wonderful!

When I shelter-cheesed Gebura, she unfortunately didn't take the eggs out completely. Nothing There and Melting Love definitely had fun duking it out the entire time.

And hey, the new Zayin gave Tenebrais a nice buff! Very useful! Let's hope it'll hand it out to more agents. With the boosted EGO gift rate, this shouldn't be a problem.

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

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2020 2:58 pm
by BeachedSpider
I hope that Tenebrais remembers everything despite the rewind, thanks to the blessing from that new abnormality.

Also this was maybe the most fun update yet. Just a big party of monsters.

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

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2020 2:58 pm
by Snacks
:allears:

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

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2020 6:55 pm
by clearcardinal
Red Mist Gebura is kind of cool

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

Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 2:14 am
by yamiaainferno
Gebura needs to stop making me want to marry her. It's very unfair.

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

Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 3:31 am
by DKII
TeeQueue wrote:
Mon Dec 21, 2020 1:31 pm
the sequel
They made a sequel to this madness?

So Gebura is a straight-up combat trial? Seems like an interesting skill/level gate, thanks for showing off how to completely cheat it.

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

Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 4:13 am
by TeeQueue
yamiaainferno wrote:
Tue Dec 22, 2020 2:14 am
Gebura needs to stop making me want to marry her. It's very unfair.
That is a very normal reaction to Gebura, she is incredibly badass.
DKII wrote:
Tue Dec 22, 2020 3:31 am
TeeQueue wrote:
Mon Dec 21, 2020 1:31 pm
the sequel
They made a sequel to this madness?

So Gebura is a straight-up combat trial? Seems like an interesting skill/level gate, thanks for showing off how to completely cheat it.
The sequel, Library of Ruina, is a card game! We'll get to it eventually.

She is indeed a combat trial, I'll expand on it a little more in the next update but the cheese is too good to not show off. :allears:

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

Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 2:41 pm
by TeeQueue
Thread update thingy time!

I've gone through and done screenshotting for the next episode, and wound up with close to 300 separate images. I won't be using all of them, but it'll be a bit to go through.

On top of writing, and my weekend being here, I don't think the next update will be until sometime after Christmas.

While I'm sure things will still look nice enough, I also would just like to curse my past self for playing in tryhard mode all day-the camera was moving constantly, there's a mouse on the screen this time, and I'm keeping more zoomed out than I do on most footage days, and it was hard to take good screenshots because I only stayed on things for a frame or two at a time! Damn you, past me! :argh:

Anyways, in the meanwhile here's a preview image of my pain:

Image

haha smile go brrrr :shepface:

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

Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 5:42 am
by yamiaainferno
TeeQueue wrote:
Tue Dec 22, 2020 4:13 am
That is a very normal reaction to Gebura, she is incredibly badass.
And I'm incredibly gay! Gebura is a callout to all lesbians who play/watch someone else play this game, I swear to god.

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

Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2020 12:49 pm
by Gespenst
You just can't not respect that directness. all of the other Sephirah so far have been messing with the mechanics or interface, Gebura just goes on a rampage and massacres everything in her way. why try to get someone killed by messing with the work types when you can just put a sword in them.

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

Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 5:14 am
by Robindaybird
While it is pure cheese, I do think it is one of the intended solutions, as other exploits have been patched out.

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

Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 10:23 am
by TeeQueue
Day 40: Gameplay Again

Music: neutral 3
Image Manager?

Image The day hasn't changed… Back to sleep I guess.

Image Hey, we don't know that for sure.

Image What are you guys talking about?

Image Nothing important. We're handling Gebura, and before I went with my idea I wanted to hear if you had any suggestions.

Image Me? Since when do you listen to agents?

Image When indeed..?

Image Eh, I just figured you knew her better than me.

Image Mostly I just want to beat some sense into her. I owe her for before.

Image Huh… Well, why not? Can't be a worse idea than mine.

Image Which idea was that?

Image Freeing all the abnormalities and letting them handle her.

Image Oh… oh no, that's a terrible idea. Letting me handle it's much better.

Image What about the others?

Image What about them? They'll just slow me down.

Image Fine, we'll try it your way. Take everyone off of active duty.

Image But manager, how are we going to staff the-

:v: Perhaps we can help, sir!

Image

Image Huh, right on time. Okay, you're in.

:v: For Miss Tenebrais!!

Image
Image
Image

Image

This time we move Tenebrais down to Extraction, for the +3% attack and defense. Every little bit helps!

Image

We also put her back in her murderin' suit. :getin:

:siren: DAY 40 CHALLENGE: DISCIPLINARY SPAT 2: REVENGE OF THE BIRDSLAYER

Rules: Suppress The Red Mist. Tenebrais is the only Agent on duty today.

Image

Music: Second Trumpet
Image

Say hello to the mouse cursor, everyone. This particular challenge is one I'm not doing twice, so my footage has the mouse cursor in it. If it shows up in a shot, just pretend it's not there. :tipshat:

Image Are you prepared to face me, manager?

Image I won't be. Er, not directly. I'm leaving the flow of combat to someone else today.

Image Oh? Who?

Image

Image Hey boss. Let's fight.

Image Ah… you're here to face me, are you?

Image Damn right. And you'd best look out, because I don't miss.

Image So you think you can stop me? Hah… Alright. Time to kick some ass.

Image
All Phases wrote:
Image I’ll destroy a shoddy place like this with my own hands.

Image What’s left for me, the one who failed to protect them?

Image Do you really think feeble cowards like you can stop me?

Image Let me show you how to actually wield E.G.O.
Phase 1 wrote:
Image I’m back; the Red Mist has walked out from a sea of pain.

Image I’m no longer weak like I used to be; I can replace any body part even if it gets cut off, and I can be repaired even if I’m broken.
Image

So, Phase 1. At this point Gebura is basically a warmup, and is introducing us to the mechanics that will last the entire day. While Tiphereth was a test of endurance over a long period and being able to react to (if not necessarily defeat) a midnight and Chesed was a test of dealing with and managing high damage numbers, Gebura is a very straightforward test: one of how good we are at suppressing threats. Every phase of Gebura has 3000 HP, meaning we have 12,000 HP to slice through and only Tenebrais to do it with. Speaking of her, that Blessing was pretty nice. Let's see if we can get it again.

Image

Image ...huh?

Image Thou'st forgotten, but I have not. My blessing hast been given, and ne'er shall it be required hence. The specifics of 'when' matter not to me.

Image :catstare:

So -45 here has a second quirk: anyone whose name is on the clock cannot work with him ever again, even if we retry. He remembers.

Image

Image Actually, come to think of it, does he look a little different?

Image

Image Manager! Fighting! Head in the game!

Image Ah, right-I'm sure it's nothing.

Image

Anyways, we start by murdering every other agent in the building.

Image

This frees Mountain of Smiling Bodies, of course.

Image I was looking for a warmup. You'll do.

Image

Because it stops to chomp on the Clerks in this department, Tenebrais is able to shut it down without issues-her damage output is nothing to sneeze at.

Image

Image I was promised a fight. Did you run?

Image Hold on! I've got a bird on the loose and I'm not letting that get in the way of things!

Big Bird also needs to be suppressed.

Image

We can easily run Tenebrais up to Disciplinary and back whenever it waves its lamp, so it's no trouble at all.

Image

Of course, since our Clerks are running around and shooting themselves at random both of the Abnormalities just breach again, and I have to wait for Tenebrais to get blessed as Parasite tree activates. :what:

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The Mountain manages to grab enough bodies to hit stage 2 as well, and gain its scream attack.

Image

Image Ah, finally, you're ready to fight!

Image What? Where are you? I can't see anything.

Image ...I'm standing right here.

Image Agh, these damn lights. Hold on, I'll take care of that Bird again and we'll get right back to it.

Image The Bird is loose?

Image And that Mountain.

Image We'll both warm up, then.

Image

One of Gebura's very useful tells is that she says something each time she's going to attack. We'll cover all of it in a bonus update, but knowing which line precedes which attack lets us know what to prepare for. She deals a bit of damage to Mountain as it runs past, though it screams at her in return for some chip damage too.

Image

Image Let it get by you, huh boss?

Image I will not leave this room unless you force me to. I don't think you have it in you.

Image Ooh, big talk from a toaster!

Tenebrais does a fair bit more damage…

Image

Cutting it back to stage 1 before it runs off in search of more bodies.

Image

By the time we catch up with it, it's already back up to stage 3, and since a single stage 3 vomit attack does around a third of Tenebrais's health I opt to back off.

Image All warmed up?

Image Yeah. Can't wait to show you my plan.

Image

Image A plan? I didn't expect one from you, Tenebrais.

Image Yeah, well, I didn't have everyone evac for no reason.

Image Evacuation? It must be nice to have the luxury. I had to watch everyone I cared about slip through my fingers as I couldn't protect one of them.

Image Huh. Sounds like a typical day in the Backstreets.

Image Not for a Color. Now, how are you going to stand before my overwhelming strength.

Image Easy, I'll borrow a trick from a coworker.

Image

Image When you attack me… I just need to not be there.

Image ...this is a terrible plan.

Gebura's main problem is that her moves are telegraphed and just about any agent can get away before she swings. This allows us to deal a lot of damage without taking much in return-and this fight is basically just using the clunky micro controls of Lobotomy Corporation to kite like this was League of Legends or Starcraft or something. Because the controls are clunky, this takes a lot of pausing.

Image

With Tenebrais's damage output, it doesn't take too long to knock Gebura to her first Road of Gold. This has a windup too, so we're able to get out of the way easily.

Image Working so far!

Image We're not even close to done.

Image

When tracking Gebura as she dashes through the facility, all we need to do is check in main rooms until we see one without an exit portal-that's her destination. We start sending Tenebrais over towards it.

Image

Image Here, too… No one survives in this place. You couldn't protect any of them. Why are you still fighting?

Image For the people who are still around!

Image

:v: Miss Tenebrais!

Image Where is she?

:v: She's up ahead! I believe in you! We all do!

Image Awesome. I'll make sure to take care of things.

Image

:v: I… I've managed to be of some use to the great Miss Tenebrais! My life is complete… Now, to add my soul to the collective of Clerkdom which empowers her grand strength!

Image ...sorry what was that?

Image Iunno, clerks are friggin' weird.

Since Gebura isn't yet at the point where she can really injure us, I get a bit sloppy during part 2 of phase 1, letting Tenebrais go back and forth with Gebura in a straight fight.

Image

This one foreground object and its ability to murder cool shots is becoming my least favorite Abnormality in the entire facility, but the healthbars and numbers tell the story here just fine. Every time Tenebrais uses the Twilight sword's special attack, a whole chunk of Gebura's HP bar just vanishes.

Image It doesn't matter. Eventually you'll find a greater power, and people will die regardless.

Image That's when you find someone you can rely on! Disciplinary is a department! An entire crew of agents dedicated to kicking ass!

Image Then where are they?

Image Err…

Image Your blade isn't as weak as I thought, but your words fall short. You're still just another agent, letting the E.G.O move for you.

Image

Image Disappear from my sight.

Image Okay, that didn't work. I can beat the crap out of her body, but I can't do anything about her stupid head.

Image Hm. Just keep her talking for now. I had assumed all she had was rage, but it seems like there's a healthy load of regret there too.

Image Right. Let me know if you get any ideas.

Image

She moves to Central 3. Big Bird is one floor above her in Central 2, but it can't cause any problems for Central 3 unless it moves there. Upper and lower Central are basically considered to be two different departments.

Image

Image You sense it, right?

Image Feel it, too. Right above us.

Image And yet, here we are.

Image Because there's no one left to protect in their path, I can deal with them later.

Image They're all dead because you're a failure. All that's left is the rage. The fight. The Bird is unimportant. You just want to destroy. Like me.

Image You take that back!

Image

Image I live for the fight-moments like this are when I feel alive! I always have! But the difference between now and the Backstreets is night and day!

Image That's because of the E.G.O. Nothing else.

Image Hardly. I fight better because I have people to stand behind me now!

Image I had that once. Now all that's left is hatred. Hatred and memories and pain, that never leaves no matter what.

Music: Distorted Night
Image
Phase 2 wrote:
Image Some things simply couldn’t be forgotten, no matter how much time has passed.

Image Hatred is a poison that eviscerates me, and yet it makes me open my eyes once more.
Image I am your future, kid.

Image You're also aiming the wrong way.

Image That's called mercy. Don't try and stop me again, I'm through playing.

Image

In this form, Gebura's attacks deal significantly more damage, and one of them (Da Capo) comes out instantly-we can only dodge hits 2 and 3 of that combo no matter how good our reflexes are.

Image

Image Got eyes on her. Training.

Image Right. Did you figure anything out?

Image ...Maybe? Not really though, I need time to think.

Image Right, well…

Image

Image I'll give you a minute. I've just had a new problem show up.

Image

So long as we dodge out of the way of the vomit attack (not too hard since it has such a long startup time), it's difficult for Mountain to deal any considerable damage to Tenebrais.

Image

She cuts it back down to size before it runs away. I could possibly stop it with Slow bullets, but I want to conserve ammo for later.

Image

When it gets back up to size 3 in the span of running through Central, I call the attack off again and decide to get back to fighting Gebura.

Image Hey, Tenebrais-Big Bird's wandering around Training too. Be care-

Image Already got it.

Image

Image Huh. Good job.

Image It's a Bird. They're like a favorite food, but for slicing.

Image ...I see.

Image

Image You came back.

Image And I'll keep coming back. You have to be stopped.

Image I can't be stopped by your blade. Mine is much sharper.

Image Fights aren't just about strength!

Kiting back and forth is much more important now than before since her damage has increased so much-it keeps things from moving as fast as we have to stop attacks midway through to retreat. Tenebrais's suit will deal passive damage over time, but that's slow… so after a bit I try something else.

Image

Image They're about speed, too! And tactics!

I run past her until she starts an attack, then have Tenebrais attack her from behind! This proves to work out a bit better.

Image It all falls in the face of overwhelming strength. Like that of the Head. Or this company. Or the Abnnormalities…

Image

Image Or me. Soon, you won't be able to forget watching everything crumble even if you want to. If you even survive.

This spear is in a bad spot, it'll definitely hit even if we try to run past-so I opt to let Tenebrais finish her attack and then withdraw.

Image

Image Leaving so soon?

Image Recouping. Back in a bit, boss.

Image

I send Tenebrais to a main room whenever she needs to heal since it's twice as fast as the corridors. She needs to heal frequently, since the options here are either 'take forever' or 'take damage' and I am impatient.

Image So. Had time to think?

Image I think so. It's not that she's got to burn out her rage, it's that she's holding on to it… she knows it's bad, but she can't get away from it.

Image Ah, I thought it may be something like that. Good thing you didn't do anything stupid like try and throw Abnormalities at her 'til she gets tired.

Image Hahaha… yes. Good thing I didn't do anything stupid like that.

Image Alright. I'll go in and hit her a bunch, and you focus on stabbing her in the heart while I do that.

Image Wait, but I don't-

Image With words, boss. Let's do this.

Image

Image Back for round two!

Image Why do you keep protecting this company? It's the source of everything-the place Abnormalities come from!

Image Er, not really?

Image What?

Image They originated back in that lab in the Outskirts, didn't they? And… even if you bring this place down, it's not like they'll die. You'd just bury them for a while. I think your rage is blinding you to good sense.

Image That rage is all I have.

Image Then how about some facts to go with it? Yesod's probably got data to show that the Abnormalities won't die even if you dropped the whole company on them.

Image ...Then I will go there. Legato.

Image Hey wait-!

Image

Bad luck makes Tenebrais take a scythe to the face for a little under half her SP bar, but we get her out of the way before Gebura can follow up with Mimicry.

Image

She winds up near the door, which is perfect for us-we can have Tenebrais dip in, attack, and dip out when a counterattack comes without worrying about range. Out of her normal attacks, only Gebura's spear can hit someone on the other side of a door transition.

Image I'm here. Read everything about durability tests.

Image Oh yeah, I was in a lot of those.

Image And?

Image They're… indestructible. Completely. I can crush them forever and they wouldn't die.

Image Right. So burning this company to the ground wouldn't fix anything. You'd be making their release into the world inevitable-and killing a bunch of good people to do it.

Image Sounds like a losing plan to me.

Image This isn't about plans. This is about hurting them! Like they-

Image Hurt you?

Image Don't you talk like you know anything!

Image

We still take chip damage from Da Capo's opener, though, so we have to heal.

Image I'm not sure if this is working.

Image At the very least, it's making her sword hand shaky-I can take advantage of that.

Image I'm really not sure how the hell you're dealing with all this so well.

Image I've wanted to test my strength against her for a while now. If I just focus on that, then I can stay sharp.

Image Huh. Well, if it works. Back into it.

Before sending Tenebrais back in, I check on the position of Mountain of Smiling Bodies.

Image

Somehow, its AI broke and now it's stuck on a random clerk body in the middle of a Training hallway. It's not moving. :lobcorp:

Image

Image Ah, back again?

Image Sure am. We're not done 'til you stop all this.

Image Indestructible or not, the ones responsible for harnessing them like this should be struck from this world.

Image You're mad because you lost people, but that doesn't mean everything has to be destroyed.

Image If I couldn't protect them, then no one can. It's best to wipe the slate clean.

Image Woah, narcissist much? I may not have your raw strength…

Image

Image But I can still hit like a truck!

Image Gh..!

Image They're good-you know that. Your problem back then was that you tried to do everything by yourself.

Image You don't know anything at all!

Image

This time she moves to Records. This is ideal-her final attack in this phase means we want to be able to quickly escape either up or down from her current position, and the elevator will let us do that. She also charged and reached the department before the scythe arrived, which I had never seen happen before. Good to know!

Anyways, we're just whittling her down like before here-lots of running back to Welfare and then in to fight and so on. Once we've established a basic pattern that works it's all about execution.

Image

Image Hey boss, I'm afraid I've been thinking.

Image A dangerous pastime.

Image I know. Anyways, I thought about how I'd feel if I fought my hardest and Credentia and the others died because of the Abnormalities. I don't think I'd want to do anything but destroy either. Not for a while. Telling her she did her best… well, it'd just piss me off, at least.

Image Then what do we do?

Image Maybe what we're looking for is a level of strength that goes beyond the rage?

Image Ugh, this is impossible. Just take her down, I'll see what happens when she busts out Smile and Justita.

Image When she what?

Image Oh, uh… My… manager tools showed me she has more E.G.O. Stay alert.

Image ...yeah, okay.

Image

The problem comes in once Red Mist gets down to a sliver of health. She doesn't want to come close to the elevator door, so I opt to have Tenebrais enter and exit the room without engaging, slowly grinding Gebura down via the passive damage ability of the Twilight suit. It's slow, but I want nothing to do with that final attack.

Image What's the matter? Why won't you approach?

Image Because I'm playing a strategy.

Image You're just like her. Stacking the deck in your favor, instead of coming in with a fair fight. Killing everyone by taking advantage of those damned Abnormalities…

Image Lot to accuse someone of for just not wanting to get into sword range.

Image Oh, you're in sword range.

Image

Image Anything is sword range, if you try hard enough.
Phase 3 wrote:
Image Some things just wouldn’t cool down, no matter how long they were left in the cold.

Image Those monsters always kill people, there is no end to this sin; I have descended to bring about their reckoning.
Before we get into the meat of the phase, we have to deal with Phase 2's death throes attack.

Image

Or death throws, as it were. This attack is the leading cause of death in Phase 2, so much so that I've seen players recommend calling rabbits on her just to avoid the attack. Tenebrais is out of the path, though, so it doesn't matter too much.

Image

Gebura's Phase 3 is when her attacks start hitting a wide range, rather than just in front of her. This makes our life a little more difficult, as she'll do things like this:

Image

Image You're facing the wrong way!

Image Am I?

Image

Image Or am I luring you in to a false sense of security?

Image GAH!

Image Fall back!

The Smile weapon has a hurtbox that extends a good distance behind her, leaving us vulnerable to it whenever we attack with Twilight now. As for how much damage it deals…

Image

It's a lot! We have to play safer than before, and can only really attack when she's using Justita.

Image

Image Yeesh, she's not playing fair anymore.

Image I'm sure it'll get worse before it gets better. I did think of one thing, though.

Image About how to fix her?

Image Yeah. Every one of the others has had something that they needed to overcome and grow, a hangup they had to get past. Gebura's is...

Image Her unending hatred of Abnormalities?

Image Pretty much. Because of it, she's lost sight of everything but hurting them. Then there's you, who's… frankly kind of battle-crazy. No offense.

Image Eh. I know what I bring to the table.

Image But while you like fighting the Abnormalities, you do better when there's someone who needs your help. You think she needs to get back to protecting people?

Image ...Hell, maybe.

Image Alright, good enough to try it. You slice her, and I'll stab her. With words.

Image

Image You've returned. Haven't learned your lesson?

Image Even if I take a hit, run, and come back a thousand times, I can heal and you can't. This fight's already won.

Image But that's not important. What matters is you. Gebura… you need to stop.

Image No I don't.

Image No, you do. Because you're running.

Image I'm not running!

Image You are. By losing yourself to this rage, you can run away from the really hard thing: moving on. I… finally get it. Gebura. You're stuck focusing on what you've lost. You can't look at what you've kept.

Image I kept nothing! I lost everything that day, because of the damn Abnormalities!

Image

Image Boss!

Image On it!

With the Red Bullet, this attack winds up dealing 0 damage to Tenebrais. Road of Gold is kind of a breather, compared to Pale damage or Smile's tendency to just melt agents.

Image

Image If you lost everything that day, then tell me: Why are we talking? I was there! I should be dead!

Image Shut up! I'll kill you, wherever you are!

Image Hah! She's not even looking at her opponent anymore. Nice one, boss.

Gebura winds up hugging the door by the time we catch up with her. It's even better for dealing with her than it was in Phase 2, since her ranged attacks can't go through door transitions-we can attack and retreat much more safely now. Just have to check on the Mountain…

Image

Yeah, we're good.

Image

The entire facility to play with, and this small area right here is where the entire fight happens.

Image You clearly haven't lost everything. Losing people, that does hurt. Nobody can deny that, but your sword isn't for crushing the weak!

Image There's no other choice!

Image There is! Find something else to protect!

Image I can't… I can't anymore. All I have is this rage. When I fight, it consumes me.

Image

Image Then leave it to the ones who are around! You're the Red freaking Mist! You think you can't show us how to kick ass?

Image

Image I'm not falling for flattery!

Image She's embarrassed?

Image She's totally embarrassed.

Image Thought so. Must be weird to get complimented when you feel like a failure.

The bullet this time was useless, she left that room before Gebura got there.

Image

Image Not… embarrassed…

Image Well, you do kick ass. I've seen you fight an entire facility full of Abnormalities and pretty much objectively win. Twice.

Image So what, you want me to take on an advisory role?

Image Protect the ones who pay attention by giving them the means to protect themselves, yeah. You'd be fighting less, but… I feel like you're better suited to passing on knowledge now. Let the others carry your will.

It's about now that I try poking Mountain to see if its AI will unbreak.

Image

It unbreaks, and ends poorly for Tenebrais.

Image More corpse vomit. Greeat. :what:

Image

Luckily for us, in the meanwhile Gebura moves back to a doorway! This means about half of this room's fight looks much like it did in Welfare, with us dipping in and out.

Image Tenebrais. At this point you've proven yourself a worthy opponent.

Image Don't go getting all soft on me now.

Image Oh, no, I'm not going soft. I'm just going to let you know that if you push me much further, I'll give it my all. This body has limiters. I'll remove them.

Image Threaten me with a good time, why don't you?

It takes a lot more dodging and weaving, but eventually…

Image

Image Hey, manager. I think... it's too late for me to leave the path I'm on.

Image That can't be true. There's got to be some way out, or else what would be the point?

Image Then I'll come at you with all I have. Stop me, if you can.

Image ...Ready, Tenebrais?

Image Born ready!

Music: Insignia Decay
Image

Image Good. RUN.

I didn't get a good shot of it again, but you can see Gebura slamming Smile into the ground in the photo. It sort of grinds away and deals damage when she transitions into her final form.
Phase 4 wrote:
Image The right path is too far away, and I have too far to go. My heart is pulsing with anger, and I must keep pushing.
Image

Phase 4 is likely to just obliterate new players their first time seeing it, because it does only two things and both of them will ruin our day. The first is the portal-slash combo we saw all day yesterday. This is the attack we'd prefer seeing since it's less dangerous for us-by this point in the fight we should be good at getting away from the portals.

The second attack is more problematic. It slaps a marker over an agent's head. I couldn't get a good shot of it, so I grabbed it from the wiki:

Image

She beelines towards whoever has this marker at a total of 200 speed (a little more than twice as fast as Tenebrais), and when she reaches them they're probably going to die. I have Tenebrais run for Welfare so that I can take advantage of something very specific down there.
Shelter from the 27th of March wrote:"If a subject enters Shelter from the 27th of March while being pursued by a hostile entity, the subject will become undetectable to the pursuer."
The plan is simple: if she gets marked, I'll wait for Gebura to get close, hide her, and then get out to finish her off.

Image

She starts with the portal. Were I thinking I'd have had Tenebrais back off to lower information, since the final portal puts her in Central 1 right next to the elevator and I could deal some serious damage. Instead I keep running-I didn't think of it at the time.

Image

Image Did you free that thing just to finish me off?

Image Honestly, we've been trying to suppress it all day between dealing with you. It's just really resilient, and there's a lot of dead bodies...

Image A veritable mountain, I'm sure.

Image ...should you be making jokes right now?

Image Has it ever stopped you?

Image ...ah. Fair point.

Image

Luckily for us, she does it again-it seems to be completely random what attack she picks, so this is great for us. Better: she's ending in Training.

Image

Image I'm going to give this path my all to the end. You'd better do the same, Tenebrais!

Image I always do! And when I kick your butt, you're teaching me how to make portals!

Image

Image Don't get ahead of yourself. I'm the only one who can use E.G.O like this-that's why I'm the Red Mist.

Image Fine. Then let me show you my best trick.

Image Oh? What's that?

Image

Image Remembering that I don't have to do everything myself!

Image Cheeky little-

I don't like using Rabbits on Phase 2 because I prefer burning them in this phase. She has 1.5x weaknesses to everything, meaning they can graze through a lot of her HP.

Image

Image Hey, manager. Heard you needed some help.

Image Hey, I didn't authorize this!

Image I did. Had BICEPS call ahead and arrange everything with a contact of his.

Image He mentioned since everyone else was off-duty, Tenebrais was second in command during the suppression. Since you or your direct replacement are both able to make the call…

Image That was supposed to mean Angela, I assume.

Image Well, that AI's not here right now-so let's graze, boys!

Image

The Rabbits chew through her health, and with their barriers blocking the doors, nothing can escape from Training right now.

Image Hey… Myo. You called the Red Mist your hero, didn't you?

Image ...yeah. What about it?

Image Would your hero... fall to this?

Image Heh. If this was the old Red Mist, she'd cleave through everything and force her way out. She was a survivor.

Image Ah, yes… that's right. I was. I am. And that means…

Image

Image I am strong!

Since she's running, that means Gebura's started up her hunt for Tenebrais. The Rabbit's zone lockdown doesn't actually work on her for reasons that I'm not entirely sure about-either she runs too fast and skips the trigger or she's just not coded to teleport to another point in the department, one of the two.

Image

Image Huh. Guess she's still got some fire to her after all. Well, Training department's clear so we're out. Later!

Image What?! You didn't finish the job!

Image Should have read the contract, manager. Let's go people, report back for memory erasure!

Something to be careful of with the Rabbit team: if their target can teleport out of the area, they'll just leave without finishing it off. No biggie, since Gebura's at a sliver I just have to put Tenebrais in the Shelter for about ten seconds and leave to finish the job.

Image

Uh-oh. It turns out that there's a previously undocumented effect of Gebura's hunter mark: whoever has it can't go into the shelter. My plan has officially gone south, and it's time to improvise.

Image

This means taking advantage of our Slow bullets. These halve her speed from 200 to 100, and since the 20 second timer works the same either way this halves her effective murder range. I then have Tenebrais move down and prepare to run away through Central 4.

Turns out I don't have to, as Gebura's AI kind of… breaks.

Image

She starts running in the opposite direction of what she just was and slows down to a crawl, moving at her normal speed without the 4x speed boost that she normally gets when a target is marked. I have no idea why this happened. :lobcorp:

Image Uh… Gebura?

Image Breaking past an R Corp barrier threw something off… my legs aren't working how I want them to.

Image Did you just hear 'attack me?' I just heard attack me.

Image ...I don't trust it. Stay alert.

Image

Not entirely sure what's going on, I have Tenebrais tail her as she slowly moves her way up to Training. She walks into the elevator, stands for one frame, and then…

Image

Image Gotcha.

Image Huh?!

She turns around and starts dashing right towards Tenebrais at full speed, clearing half the corridor before I could react and hit pause. At this point, we're in serious trouble-I've heard that it's possible to dodge her big attack by being in the same room as her and then leaving as she enters, but I've never been able to get the timing right.

Image

So we Slow bullet her and scramble.

Image Tenebrais! Get to Control, now!

Image On it!

Image This won't stop me…

Image

Slow bullets only last ten seconds, so I reapply early to make sure she can't rush after us suddenly. We don't have a lot of wiggle room here. :ohdear:

Image Manager do you have a plan she is right on my tail!

Image ...sort of! We're going to be riding a fine line here, hope you're ready.

My plan here is one born of pure desperation. Let me explain:

Image

This part of Control is special. The agent enters a between-room transition whenever they go between any two of them, and it's possible to quickly alternate between them all in order to avoid ever reaching an actual room. Agents cannot take damage while they're in a between-room state, meaning that Gebura won't be able to harm Tenebrais as long as I can keep juggling her between all three rooms. This would be doable on the other side of Control as well, but I focused on this one even though it was further away because…

Well, because I was in a blind "OH SHIT" moment and my thinking wasn't 100% clear.

Image This is a stupid plan, manager!

Image It's all we've got!

Image

As Gebura approaches I put the plan to work. In this picture I've circled the mark, it actually moves with the agent so it's possible to track when we need to trigger the next move command to keep them hidden. I prepare to put the plan into action…

Image

And then she says this right in front of the door. This is one of her breakdown quotes, signaling she's open for attack. With her HP that low and Tenebrais right there, we're home free. Phew. :sweatdrop:

Image

Image You went easy on me just now.

Image Leg hydraulics... just gave out... from the running I had to do. Bad luck... That's all.

Image You know I don't believe you for a second.

Image Don't you have a job to do, Captain Tenebrais?

Image ...Yeah.

Image

Image I sure do.

Image

Image Ah… I'm breaking… I won't drop my sword, even if I turn to dust…

Image

Overall, Gebura is a good test of a manager's suppression skills-and while she's a difficult opponent she's a very fair one as long as nothing in her scripting breaks. I don't think I'll be soloing her again anytime soon, though. :sweatdrop:

Image Angela, how're we doing?

Image This time, the reaction was a complete success. Gebura should be ready to go before long.

Image And the seed?

Image There are no issues.

Image Good. I'm going to take the rest of the day off-I'm exhausted.

Image And the next Abnormality, manager?

Image ...ahhh, dammit. I have to, don't I? Fine. Then I go to sleep.

Music: never frozen bottom flows
Image

O-01-64: "...Sadness says: ‘Begone, pass away!’ But greed seeks eternity—seeks deep, deep eternity."
O-01-04: In the name of Love and Justice~ Here comes Magical Girl!
O-03-89: If a flaw in the system disables the censors covering the Abnormality, we will once again have to sincerely consider how to dispose of the manager.

We've seen all three of these before, so I'll spare you the explanation beyond this:

Image

Knight of Despair is lonely. We should bring her friends to the party. :buddy:

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: A DOOM reference.

Bonus

VIDEO: Gebura Core Suppression

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

Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 12:47 pm
by BeachedSpider
Holy ****. Watching the video, mainly for the final phase, was so tense and dramatic even after reading what happened in the thread itself. I could -feel- your panic when you tried clicking on shelter and it didn't work, or when Gebura suddenly turned around and started running at sonic speed. And then the music stops at the exact same time as she does, so that everything goes quiet as the finishing blow is dealt? You can't plan that kind of perfection.

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

Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 1:20 pm
by TeeQueue
It was a finish I couldn't have planned better if I tried, and the shelter was an absolute "It was at that moment he knew... he fucked up" moment for sure.

I'm just thankful I knew enough about the mechanics of the fight and quirks of the game system to have a plan even after everything went straight to pot, even if I wound up not actually having to use it.

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

Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 9:41 pm
by Kacie
I missed why it's necessary to only have one agent, mechanically - is it because trying to micro-manage 1 agent per every department would be too much?

Story-wise - that was badass. Hats off to Tenebrais!

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

Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2020 12:10 am
by TeeQueue
Kacie wrote:
Sun Dec 27, 2020 9:41 pm
I missed why it's necessary to only have one agent, mechanically - is it because trying to micro-manage 1 agent per every department would be too much?

Story-wise - that was badass. Hats off to Tenebrais!
I only used one agent because it was day 40, and on days divisible by 5 I generally try to do some silly challenge-soloing her was the one I went for this time. Normally I’d recommend using more than one person, this was not easy.

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

Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2020 7:07 am
by TeeQueue
Briah Roundup

This is a little post to cover a couple things I forgot throughout the Briah suppressions.

First off, Gebura's attack dialogue. She has a lot of lines for her attacks, so let's go through them.
Phase 1 wrote: When using Red Eyes:
Image Red Eyes

When using Penitence:
Image Penitence

When using both at once:
Image Get blown to pieces

When using Road of Gold:
Image The Road of Gold opens
Phase 2 wrote: When using Mimicry:
Image Nothing will remain

Image I’ll mow you down

When using Da Capo:
Image From the Overture

Image Adagio e Tranquillo

When using Heaven:
Image The Burrowing Heaven

When traveling between departments,
Throwing Da Capo:
Image Legato

Dashing:
Image Let’s do this, partner

Arrival:
Image Only bloody mist remains

Throwing weapons on phase change:
Image This isn’t enough
Phase 3 wrote: Summoning Smile:
Image I wasn’t slacking off all this time

When using Smile:
Image Black Laughter

Image Be eaten

When using Justita:
Image Justitia

Image Judgement

Heaven/Road of Gold quotes are the same

Destroying Smile on phase change:
Image Let’s put an end to this
Phase 4 wrote: Drawing Twilight on phase change:
Image The apocalypse is here…

When running past an employee:
Image Beat it, coward

Image Don’t try and stop me

Image You’re weak

When using Red Mist:
Image Be torn apart before my eyes

When using Road of King:
Image The hunt begins

Image The Road of the King opens

When staggered:
Image I’m just not as capable as I used to be...

Image I’ll break it down…

Image I’ll kill all of you…

Image I can’t stop…

Image It just isn’t enough…

She also has a second defeat line, this one shows up over her sprite instead of big on screen like the usual one:
Image Even after all this, I can’t do a single thing with this power…
Second, the rest of the custom quotes from Myo when the Rabbits are called during Gebura's suppression:
Rabbit Team wrote: 50% of Rabbit Team eliminated
Image Got half of the Rabbits eliminated. Still have some skills left in you, huh?

80% of Rabbit Team eliminated
Image 80% dead by her hand. She puts up a tough fight, what a monster. Though she’s still not nearly as good as she used to be.

Rabbit Team wiped out
Image The Red Mist… Oh, I’ll tear you a new one with my own hands someday…
Lastly, there's the sprites for Tiphereth, Chesed, and Gebura's pasts. I forgot them before, so I'll put them here:

Lisa sprite


Enoch sprite


Tiphereth robot sprite


Tiphereth robot sprite


Daniel sprite


Chesed robot sprite


Kali sprite


Gebura robot sprite


Myo sprite

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

Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2020 7:35 am
by Gespenst
Robindaybird wrote:
Sun Dec 27, 2020 5:14 am
While it is pure cheese, I do think it is one of the intended solutions, as other exploits have been patched out.
Judging by the "takes double damage from abnormalities" thing not only is it intended but the devs took steps to make it easier and less time consuming.

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

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:27 pm
by TeeQueue
Day 41: Story

Music: Morning Dreams
Image

Image I honestly didn’t expect to see you here. Or, well, to be exact, I knew you would come here eventually, but I didn’t expect it would be this soon. You had such a sour expression when we talked, but you actually liked me, didn’t you?

Image

Image You know, I don’t have any true contact with the lives of the people from the Backstreets, nor the pain they go through. Perhaps I have been living a more affluent, yet cowardly life compared to them. From that I’ve always felt so ashamed of everything, even to be graced by a small ray of sunshine.

Image …….It wasn’t always all that rough.


Image

Image Sooner or later, we will have to deal with unexpected hardships here. There are just too many problems to try and solve in peaceful ways. The real reason I chose to speak to you out of all the other Organizations or Fixers that day was actually because of something rather trivial.

Image

Image If we’re being honest…

Image Honest…?

Image I thought I could barter with you for cheaper prices…


Image

Image Please, hear me out. I saw you pay for the funeral expenses of an old lady whom you didn’t even know. I truly admired your kindness, and I even looked forward to seeing it myself.

Image Corpses can cause an entire alleyway to be infested with vermin if they aren’t buried properly. Besides, I just wanted to repay her for treating me to meals a couple of times. Understand? I’ve never been close to being a kind person my entire life.

Image …..…..


Image

Image Just happy to be great at discerning the best of the best.

Image

Image The tale of how she built her reputation could fill a chronicle of history books and then some. The only problem was that Carmen was too wrapped up with taking care of others. She never had a moment to take good care of herself. We were on such a delightful upturn back then, it’s almost cruel to bring those memories back up. We were flying towards a limitless world that never seemed to end.

Image

Image Oh, that’s A. He just always has a serious look on his face.

Image …….

Image I beg of you, please protect the people here. I know I can trust you with this.


Music: Strange Dream
Image

Image Despite my reputation, there were too many things that I just couldn’t save. When I think about it, my entire life was far from one of justice.

Image

Image Those streets were a place where there was no need for justice, morality, or any other pedestals like those. If you have never been there before, you won’t understand. How agonizing and miserable the stories of people who live there are. How they are robbed of the chance to live a legitimate life. How unfair and unjust life is there. All I learned there was how to survive this miserable existence.

Image

Image She also told us that the weak who had willing spirits could someday possess enough power to cut off the Head. It was such an absurd and ridiculous thing to say. Why couldn’t I just keep on with how my life was before?

Image ........

Image I’m not smart enough for all those complicated calculations. I can’t even write a logical or coherent report.


Image

Image All my life I only used my skills for my own survival. But that day… I had never felt more proud to be able to protect others. However, I wasn’t able to protect anybody in the end. That cut me deeply.

Image

Both options are the same here.

Image

Image You and that other person survived thanks to me… I thought I had lost Carmen’s will forever. But after all’s said and done, I had to have carried that will all the way here somehow, right? I feel like I can catch a bit of breath now.

Image

Image Stupidly, I woke up with only rage left in my heart for the Abnormalities. You miss her, right?

Image

Image I don’t think she’ll ever come back. We’ll never get to see her shameless smile ever again. The one that made even people like me follow her.

Image

Image But her will and promise will always remain the same, even after an eternity has passed. It will be a place where she can live on, even after death.

Image

Image

Image Tell me the gift she left behind for us.

Image

In summary: We remember Kali joining the company-it turns out Carmen pegged her as a good person and thought she could use that to get a discount. In the present, Gebura confesses that swords are all she's good at and gains hope for the future as she remembers she didn't completely fail. With The Courage to Protect obtained, the Seed is now 70% complete.

Music: Until Dawn
Image

Image Everything from here on out is a mystery. I know I’m not in a position to dare predict the outcome of your endeavors, but… Your task is not an impossible one.

Image

Image Us machines say that when something will never happen after taking every possibility into consideration, it has a zero-percent possibility. Thus, my vision of you succeeding through every tribulation in the future is not impossible, but rather has a zero-percent possibility. However, I won’t be disappointed if you fail. I am a machine after all. Even if the sandcastle you’ve built up crumbles yet again, I’ll be able to put up with it as if nothing happened.

In summary: "We've never been this far before, and I'm not saying success is impossible, I'm just saying I've considered every possibility and your chance of success is 0%. It's cool tho, I'll still be here when you fail."

Image Gee… Thanks, Angela.

Image You are most welcome, A.

Image So have we never been this far before for real, or is that just past-me telling you to say that with the script?

Image

Image Won't tell me?

Image ...

Image ...Can't?

Image

Image Past-me is really starting to get on my nerves.

Image May I continue?

Image Oh, there's more? Sure, sure. Knock yourself out.

Music: Ominous
Image

Image That it was a world where everyone had to fool themselves into thinking that fitting into a structured mould was happiness. Nobody sought history or religion anymore. No one needed those pillars. Under the guise of new innovations that were needed in the world, companies emerged using technologies known as Singularities.

Image

Image Similar to the food chain, small companies began to disappear, or were eaten by the larger companies… At some point, they were called the Wings of the World, and soon a Head rose to control those wings. People started to derive their purpose for existence from belonging to the Wings.

Image

Image They may appear to be encouraging the development of the world for the better, but their nature is no different from ours. There’s always a price to pay; any sane person would know that the deeds the Wings commit in the name of the betterment of society are in fact the most humiliating aspect of these corporations. They are the disgrace of the world and its people.

Image

Image In every man, the two instincts, the primal essence of life and death coexist. The Wings only guided our instinct of life. However, if one instinct were to dominate too much, the other would begin to make its move, slowly and unbeknownst to us, from the depths. Soon, a world where everyone wants to return to nothing will arrive. Into the stillness of silence before the birth of mankind.

Image

Image When the hand that only wanted to embrace humanity with warmth was ruthlessly severed, you clutched the void, and saw the crack between the boundaries that were never shown to others. Left alone, you decided to instill possibility and potential into all mankind. Hope and despair are intertwined in that possibility, making it impossible for anyone to know the answer.

Image

Image In those days, you looked absolutely terrible. Many coworkers—friends—were worried about you and tried to comfort you, but you didn’t care. You wouldn’t listen to anything. I guess you still needed them at some point. Seeing as you were the one who locked them away in here, barely holding on to the husks of their dead bodies…

In summary: Apparently a technological singularity turned the world into a cyberpunk hellhole, and that is what we're trying to fix before all of humanity winds up destroying itself. The other Wings are just as bad as L-Corp, and oh right-nobody knows if our plan is going to fix everything or make it worse.

A may be a colossal idiot.

Music: Into the Deep
Image

Image You’ve seen this innumerable times, no? With enough time, Abnormalities come back to life. No matter how many fragments they’re broken into. It’s one of the facts that drove Gebura mad. She took far too much time to understand that the Abnormalities have to be exploited, not ended. Or maybe she simply couldn’t free herself from the indignation of her past. Well, that doesn’t concern me. The only thing I know is that I will never ever see what she was before.

Image

>E.G.O’s potential?
Image

---

>What’s the reason you’re so astonished?
Image

---

Routes Merge Here
Image

Image Artifacts from the Outskirts and from the Ruins, the singularities of the Wings or rudimentary inventions made in the Backstreets. If used correctly, they would be weapons that could fare against Abnormalities somehow. But giving those weapons to employees that never even learned to fight outside of basic training is as useless as teaching a hatchling to hunt.

Image

Image As opposed to our employees who cannot even wield weapons efficiently. That’s seeing as combat ability isn’t a requirement to be hired here. But our employees don’t even have to learn to use E.G.O. The power of the E.G.O grows in conjunction with the heart of the wielder. One knows how to use it the moment they wield it.

Image

Image I haven’t seen anyone that can draw out the true potential, apart from the Red Mist. To wield E.G.O is to dress oneself in the shell of the ego of another person. The wielder is merely imitating the borrowed ego, unable to completely make the power their own.

Image

Image If I could, the circumstances may have changed dramatically. Now I’m confined here, issuing orders to extract E.G.O, forbidden from touching them myself. You must have been scared still, even though my hatred and bloodthirst are locked up inside this rusted metal cage.


Image

Image But you never know. The yearning for blood could wax once again, for it is simply sealed, not uprooted.

In summary: Binah gives us actual information about E.G.O gear! Apparently Gebura was the only one who could properly use it to its fullest, as all most people can do is imitate the will behind the weapon they have. However, because anyone can pick one up and immediately use it properly it's an incredibly powerful tool. Also we get our mandatory reminder that she's crazy and may try and murder us at any moment. Y'know, typical Binah.

Image

Image Are you sure none of them are..?

Image Yes. Completely certain.

Image We just had someone who-

Image No one is using the full potential of these E.G.O.

Image That's… kind of a terrifying thought in itself. I'll... be going now.

Image

Image Ah, A. Good day to you. I note that the mission appears unfinished?

Image Yeah, wasn't much point doing it before today since I wouldn't see you 'til tomorrow for the next one anyways.

Image I see. Impeccable planning as always, sir.

Image If you say so. Let's just make this one a nice quiet day-I need a break after yesterday.

Image I hope so as well. There's no need to rush, you've all the time in the world now.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: A familiar E.G.O reappears.







Image Oh, that one's a serial killer-the skins are part of a ritual they do with their victims.

Image That's nuts. Okay, so what's Queen Bee?

Image It's actually the nest-they say that jungles have large elaborate constructions for ants and the like…

Image Then what are the bees that pop out of people?

Image I'm not entirely sure those aren't just a rumor-never seen it happen.

Image So it's people being paranoid? You're nuts, that's nuts!

Image

Image That one's just a really strict piano teacher.

Image You think so? But the piano itself plays for you.

Image The keys aren't attached, and it's a player piano. The sanity loss comes from keys not matching what you're playing, obviously.

Image

Image Yes, way! It's really simple when you think about it.

Image I dunno, I'm with BICEPS on this one. This all just sounds like rationalization.

Image Aww, come on. I'm serious..!

Image Then explain Yin and Yang.

Image ...they're just pendants. What's to explain?

Image

Image Okay, that is probably a psychosomatic hallucination brought on by some trace materials on the two pendants that's getting inhaled by the agents, and when they get too close together the two different materials have an adverse reaction that causes further chaos.

Image Oh jeez, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard in my life!

Image Well, compared to things like freaky fish-pendants that turn into a dragon, mine's much more believable!

Image

Image Hey you guys, get to the meeting room-we need to start figuring out staffing for tomorrow!

Image Ah, yes ma'am!

Image We'll be right there!

Image …!

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

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2020 3:28 pm
by Seniorswitchback
Fun fact about our favorite murderbot. The name Kali come from a Hindu god of the same name, in mythology said god was a protector god with a focus on the “kill the attacker” portion of protection. Their origin myth even involves them dealing with an opponent who self replicates when hurt making an endless army, she wins but is in a rage and turns on her allies and has to be calmed down. Fits well with Gebura here, congrats to Tenebrais who has now 1v1’d a death god.

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

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2020 9:06 pm
by yamiaainferno
I love that robo-Gebura still has her cigarette. :allears:

Also, Binah and Hokma are just...deeply unsettling, in different ways. Binah is dead inside and Hokma seems to have some kind of Stockholm-syndrome-esque obsession with A.

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

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2020 9:13 pm
by Carpator Diei
TeeQueue wrote:
Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:27 pm
Whoever did the character art for this game, we certainly know their type.

It will be interesting to see what exactly prompted A to join Carmen's project in the first place; he seems to be very different from her in a variety of ways, despite his apparent obsession with carrying on her will.

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

Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:36 am
by mersenne
So does Gebrua have a day to day robobody and a battle body? Was she just so dangerous as a cubebot that the cognition filter turned her into a humanoid menace because it didn't know what else to do? (I kinda prefer to believe the latter.)

Also, LobCorp is currently $10 on the steam sale right now, down from $25.

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

Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2020 3:33 am
by TeeQueue
Image

If you check here you can see both halves of her robot body in the background-it's been confirmed by the devs that they're not actually THAT large, but they did it to show that she came from inside it.

Anyways, basically what happened with Red Mist is that she had a meltdown like the others-but instead of becoming a weird goop monster it all congealed into this form so that she could murder people personally. As for what this form is referencing and all that, [please wait for the sequel] is all I could really say for the moment. :v:

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

Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2020 8:42 am
by LPFinale
Tenebrais's fan club are some very determined folks

Image

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

Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2020 3:36 am
by mersenne
TeeQueue wrote:
Wed Dec 30, 2020 3:33 am
Image

If you check here you can see both halves of her robot body in the background-it's been confirmed by the devs that they're not actually THAT large, but they did it to show that she came from inside it.

Anyways, basically what happened with Red Mist is that she had a meltdown like the others-but instead of becoming a weird goop monster it all congealed into this form so that she could murder people personally. As for what this form is referencing and all that, [please wait for the sequel] is all I could really say for the moment. :v:
Thanks for the explanation and the photo!

Her body there is so coherent compared to most of the other meltdowns that the goop explanation didn't even cross my mind.

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

Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2021 12:15 pm
by TeeQueue
Day 41: Gameplay

Music: neutral 2
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Image Hey manager. That fight yesterday banged through the facility, and it wound up causing some damage in the E.G.O gear storage area.

Image ...how much stuff did we lose?

Image Nothing. That's the weird thing-just knocked down a wall into an empty room to give us some extra storage space. Figured we could use it to expand the arsenal.

Image That's… lucky.

Image Yeah, I ain't thinking about it too hard.

This is huge, increasing our total maximum gear count for any weapon or suit by 1, with the exception of suits/weapons won in combat like Twilight or Firebird's weapon. What does this mean?

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It means that our ALEPH gear totals have nearly doubled in one day. :getin:

This is why I wanted the extra energy on Melting Love, by the by-we don't actually need to work her anymore unless we let someone in her suit die.

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We also hit our latest memory repository.

Image Manager, why are you rubbing your chin?

Image Er-no reason. Let's just move on.

Image I must ask again-

Image Drop it, Hokma.

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Image Hey… is it me or did some things move around?

Image Judgment Bird? Why is that in my department!

Image Because that winged thing moved to mine overnight!

Image Oh… so that's why I have Firebird and that Mirror now…

Image Speaking of, Dimensional Refraction Variant's moved to my department.

Image And Binah has Dreaming Current…

Image That's correct. It seems this one is as interesting as I thought.

Image Hm?

Image Oh, you needn't concern yourself with the few pastimes of a burned-out husk.

Our winged friend has the ability to swap itself with any other Abnormality in the facility. It does this every time we hit this screen, and while there is a mod to turn this off we will not be using it.

Basically all this means is that our abnormalities will get shuffled around on occasion and there's nothing we can really do about it.

Image Right. Setting that aside, let's get the day underway. Anything pressing going on?

Image No unusual information has presented itself so far, Manager.

Image I think everything's finally back to normal!

Image Well… as normal as things are here, anyways.

Image Good. Let's get things started.

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

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Image Let's all do our best today!

Image I'm really glad to be out of that old outfit.

Image It's because of all your own hard work. Feel proud that you've made it!

Image Heck yeah!

Image So that means nobody needs any training here anymore, right?

Image That's correct!

Image Great, then let's just take the day off.

Image Wait, is that why you came over here?!

Image It's not a problem, is it? We've worked hard-we should have a vacation.

Image Can we… do that?

Image Well… nobody actually has any training to do. I don't see why not! Let's relax as much as we can today!

Image Sweet.

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Image Work. Sleep. Work. The cycle continues, unbroken.

Image So, we working with the new abnormality yet?

Image Not until Mizu arrives to greet it.

Image Aww, we have to wait? I hate that.

Image Trust me, it's better than the alternative.

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Image She's a bit… finicky.

Image How would you know that? She just arrived today.

Image Eh, we've met before.

Our new abnormality is a girl floating inside of an elaborate golden egg. We'll come back to her in a minute, though-Mizu's got someone else she needs to meet.

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Image Oh well, might as well burn some time.

In the meanwhile, I throw Morgan at The Naked Nest-it was the only Abnormality I didn't already have enough PE boxes on hand for to buy out all the new gear.

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Chinely's also in the Knight of Despair's gear, so we'll be throwing him at Judgment Bird today in hopes of getting something cool.

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Image ...thou art shattered, maiden. Is that why thou hidest behind thine mask?

Image Ooh, that's a funny question. 'Specially from a cutie in a mask like you. Are yooou shattered?

Image Worry not, I am whole. Still, while it is not the disease I have sought, your mind is plagued as well.

Image Oh, that's perfectly normal. Mizu 'Just Mizu' Mizu is gonna score a perfect 79 on every contam exam thingy.

Image Perhaps it can be treated. I shall bestow upon thee a blessing.

Image Ooh, free stuff!

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Had to capture this animation in full-the blessing does weird things with certain E.G.O gifts. :allears:

Image Oh my gosh…

Image May my blessing complete thee.

Image Best. Day. Ever!

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The clock also seems to have forgotten Tenebrais's name. This is just a graphical glitch-our new friend still remembers. :ssh:

Image Thanks bunches, you big cutie~

Image Hence we shall go together 'ere the time of reunion.

Image Ooh, that sounds super romantic~ but I have other cuties to meet. I can smell it.

Image ...how did… they were both wearing masks, weren't they?

Image How should I know?! I don't look at that kind of stuff!

Image Ah… Tiphereth, are you embarassed?

Image ...Manager, I've changed my mind again! Please retire this malfunctioning Tiphereth after all!

Image Yeah… That's not happening.

Image I'm glad it's lively around here again.

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Mizu's work gives us the PE boxes we need to get a name-this Abnormality is called Plague Doctor. He is a ZAYIN, as promised.

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Image I've never seen that gift before. Where'd you get it?

Image From that nice Plague Doctor guy, with the beaky-mask?

Image ...the what, now?

Image Plague Doctor. Can I go? I smell a cutie down that hallway~

Image Oh, yeah, sure sure.


Image ...Was there a Plague Doctor one?

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Image Oooo, hel-lo there, super cutie! Let's talk a while and see if I can get past that hard shell of yours.

The new Abnormality down here, meanwhile, is a WAW who prefers Attachment and Instinct work, and deals Red damage.

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Like Knight of Despair, this Magical Girl is also going to only be known as Magical Girl until we get to know her better. We'll revisit this soon enough.

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It's Talow's job to handle her today-he needs to farm Attachment and we need a LOT of boxes from her. One of the downsides of Gebura's research is that we now have one extra copy of every piece of gear to buy before calling it a day-and for WAW and ALEPH Abnormalities that can be pricey.

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Meanwhile, I toss Dimi at Plague Doctor since she could use some Insight training.

Image There you go, cleaned up your room and hung up a hundred pictures of me. It's the perfect collage, wouldn't you say?

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Image Hah, you don't talk much, huh? Thaat's fine, I'm sure you don't have much very important to say anyways.

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She gets a Normal result, which means she is not blessed. So I send her in again.

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Image Hmm. So the pictures alone weren't enough, clearly, meaning I should do something else in here. How about some music? Surely you like music, right?

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Image Ah, and I'll go ahead and change the temperature. It's too chilly in here for me-feels just like some kinda' doctor's office? I know your name's Plague Doctor, but it's not like you're a real doctor anyways, right? It's okay to warm up~

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It's another Normal work, which gives me enough PE boxes to unlock almost all of its information. We just need to get its Escape Information and we're all set.

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Shouldn't take too long. We send Dimi back again.

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Image Okay, I think I got it this time. The music was okay, the pictures were okay, how about I give you this console? It's got a game on it that I've been playing through. I'm sure someone like you could beat it without any problems.

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Image Oh, you're too good for video games. That's fine, I can totally get that~

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I think I am done throwing Dimi at Plague Doctor.

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Image So how's the new Abnormality, ma'am?

Image Doesn't say a thing! And even after I went out of my way to be so kind as to put everything as it should be, all it does is normal result, normal result.

Image Huh. Sounds like you may be doing something wrong, ma'am.

Image What? Well… I… I mean, it's possible that some of my attempts may have been completely lost on the likes of that Doctor fellow. It's not like anyone else could do better-only Mizu's seen it, and she's...

Image Mizu is an enigma, ma'am.

Image Well, you'll get a chance to see Gaia. You're up.

Image Yes ma'am!

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Image What is all this stuff…? I'll just clear it away.

Image Gaia. I have seen within thy heart. Thou harborest doubts of thine own skill.

Image Um… sir? I was told you weren't going to talk.

Image I speak only to they who need mine blessing. Come, open thine heart.

Image Uh...

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Image I have seen thy pain-thy guilt over being hired to fulfill a purpose, and to fail in that purpose. I shall take this malady from thee.

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Image Huh… thanks. I do feel better.

Image Hence we shall go together 'ere the time of reunion.

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Image Manager, Tiphereth's crowing about one of her agents getting a blessing from that Plague Doctor thing… what are you doing?

Image Pruning. I saw the clock, I don't think it's anything we need to worry about. Just monitor the agents. Including Tenebrais.

Image Tenebrais?

Image It happened while you were out, but she's one of them.

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Image Not to interrupt, A, but it seems that Talow has finished gathering enough information to gain our new Abnormality's true name. She's known as the King of Greed.

Image Ah… so she's related to the other magical girl after all.

Image Very perceptive, sir. Just like I remember.

Image It wasn't all that hard to figure out…

Image FISH INCOMING!

Image ...what? What's Talow talking about?

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So, King of Greed. She's very escape prone, since she has 1 QC and it can decrease on a normal or bad result. Here, Talow missed the threshold of Good by 1 box.

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Image Ah, I see. That's what he meant. She's breaching.

Image But why fish..?

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When King of Greed breaches, a magical circle forms in her cell and she transforms into a monster before sliding through another magical portal and teleporting to the end of a random hallway in the facility.

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Image ...Ah. I see.

Image An anglerfish.

Image How'd he know that?

Image His intuition is sharp-it's why I requested him specifically, sir.

Image I see. Maybe there's two Mizus after all.

Image I'd rather you didn't compare my favorite employee with such a dull one.

:v: Okay, Zeta2. You can do this. You're just one digit away from Zeta21… you can DO THIS. Just… believe!

King of Greed travels slowly down the hallway much like the Amber Dusks do, and when it runs into anything…

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:gibs: I'm… sorry…

Image Man down!

Image Okay, whose bright idea was it to go fishing?!

Image I'll admit, it wasn't my best plan.

That was 586 Red damage after the 1.5x WAW vs ZAYIN multiplier, which means ~391 base damage. We want to avoid it.

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King of Greed does have some upsides, though-anything she passes over is destroyed. This includes existing corpses, so it'd be possible to use her to clean up the facility if we had Mountain of Smiling Bodies but either didn't have or weren't aware of the Smile suit's ability. Anyways, when she reaches the end of a hallway another magic circle opens and she passes through it.

Image Wait… that's…

Image You recognized that portal, huh?

Image Yeah, from when you were running rampant in the facility.

Image Oh yeah. Well, it's her E.G.O, after all.

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Image Manager, she's in upper Welfare.

Image Already have my team on her. It took less time than scrambling Welfare, and we've got better damage types.

Image It's still super weird to not be listening to one of the Sephirot.

Image Eh, I wouldn't worry about it too much. It works for us, so it's fine.

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Image Portal's open, time to head home.

Image Ah, already?

Image We've got work to do anyways. Let's head back.

The most important thing to remember when suppressing it is to have any team working on her go back to their main room when she teleports. Due to how the AI works, if she leaves they'll go to her new location-this could result in our agents entering from the wrong side and… :rip:

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Image Orders from the top, everyone! It's in our corridors-we've got to handle it.

Image Problem: My weapon deals Red damage, and it seems to be immune to that.

Image I'm stuck with Red as well.

Image Hm… That is a problem.

Image Don't worry guys.

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Image I've got this covered.

Image Why are you wearing a blindfold?!

Image To engage my sixth sense!

Image I get it-that's brilliant!

Image Is it, now?

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Image I can see your form, Abnormality! By the air currents, I know where everything is... There's nowhere to hide! Take this! My ultimate strike! Tears Falling Like Rain!

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When defeated, King of Greed collapses and then returns to its containment cell.

Image Told you I had it!

Image As expected of you, comrade!

Image It's official, I have the weirdest team in the facility.

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Image It's nice that we got everything back under control quickly. Let's see if we can do without any more incidents.

Image Manager, as long as that thing is being worked it'll have a high chance of escape.

Image Eh, even if it does it's not that dangerous. We'll figure it out.

This meltdown is exactly where we want to see it-on the Abnormality we need to work. Since she's temperamental, getting an extra work without penalty will go a long way.

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Image ...Starting to get the feeling that "birdwatching" was actually Medea for "I'm still mad about the fishing trip earlier."

Image :argh:

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Image Yep, just like I remembered. You really like talking about what makes you happy, huh? Yesod, I'll have a report for you in ten.

Image Roger. I'll be waiting.

Meanwhile, Talow knocks it out of the park with the new magical girl, to let us unlock the rest of her information.

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Image Oh… that IS the fist you used before.

Image Funny, huh? How she can create an ALEPH weapon despite being a WAW?

Image Eh, I've had Judgment Bird around for a while, nothing really surprises me anymore.

Image It's wisdom itself to avoid taking anything for granted.

Image Hey, everyone. Did one of you call SeyserKoze to Central?

Image ...Angela?

Image I have no records of any such call being made.

Image Huh. What's going on?

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Image Thou hast heeded mine call.

Image Huh. This is the first time since I've been here that the hair hasn't been going off…

Image That is because I mean you no harm. I merely wish to protect you-one so fearful that your body transformed into a means of alarm.

Image Hey, it was a simple bionic procedure. Cost a bit, though...

Image It has set thee on edge, forever aware of thine own mortality. Come, let me heal you of your injuries that your days may continue in peace.

Image ...This won't short anything out, will it?

Image Thou hast my word.

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Image Well… 'kay then.

Image I shall heal thy every wound, granting you my aid.

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Image Huh… I feel… relaxed, now.

Image Hence we shall go together 'ere the time of reunion.

Image Manager, the fourth person has been added to the clock.

Image I see that. Just wish it'd stop getting their names wrong.

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Violet Dawn.

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Image I have arrived to assist, fellow humans!

Image You're laate..!

Image We're almost finished here. Shouldn't be a minute.

Image Already?

Image Yeaah... This new EE.G.OO equipment is reeally handy…

Image Our arsenal has grown dramatically overnight! And anyone can use it by simply holding them?

Image That's the size of it.

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Violet Done.

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Image This… L-corp holds weapons which can psionically manipulate the wielder in order to allow them to use it regardless of skill. That means that any one of them could simply become as powerful as the finest warrior, by picking up a sword. The Elders will not like this-the invasion may wind up failing before it can even...

Image Hmm? What're you muttering aboout..?

Image Human things! Like my hatred of the rain!

Image Ooo… Yeah, the rain really biites…

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Image What're our odds of finishing our gear acquisition before the end of the day?

Image It will be close, manager.

Image We may have to do a little overtime, then. Everyone, updates on the "blessed" employees?

Image We can't see your airquotes, manager.

Image Just go with it.

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Image Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee… :allears:

Image You're… literally glowing.

Image I had a cute meet with a cutie, and I think I can smell color now.

Image Really?

Image Yep! Sniff sniff… It turns out purple doesn't actually smell like grape, it's actually more like royalty. Which smells citrus-y.

Image Mizu remains a shattered shell of a person. The pieces have perhaps fallen into a different alignment, so the meeting may have shaken her.

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Image Hah! Any other E.G.O for maintenance, Twee?

Image Nope, you got it all. You're working more smoothly than normal.

Image That's because my hair isn't going off like crazy anymore.

Image Really? I thought that only happened when I short circuited it while you were looking elsewhere.

Image I'm in such a good mood right now that I'll even overlook that.

Image Woah, that's awesome! You must have leveled up or something, huh?

Image Pretty much! I'm the new, improved SeyserKoze!

Image As you can see, Seyser's become more productive so far… I hesitate to call an Abnormality 'beneficial,' but…

Image Then don't. I don't trust its big stupid beak-face.

Image You sound just like Tenebrais.

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Image Listen here, bird. I'm supposed to talk to you-so I'm gonna tell you about the two times I kicked your sorry keester yesterday, and you're going to enjoy it and give me a good result, or I'm going to come back in here and actually do it again.

Image Speaking of her, I haven't seen any changes so far.

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Image How'd it go?

Image Oh, you know-nobody manages to get work with that Helper robot done quite like me. I'm incredibly skilled, after all.

Image That's great for you, ma'am.

Image Yeah. It's wonderful that you have me around to handle the hard jobs!

Image Like the woodsman?

Image Exactly! Whenever it finally decides to cause problems, I'll be there to save the day.

Image Just keep growing like you are. That's all we really need.

Image No problems with Gaia…

Image Though it can be hard to tell, since Dimi's good at monopolizing the conversation.

Image Hmm. Alright, thanks.

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Melting Love is hit by a meltdown this time, and that means we have to work with her. Luckily, there's a simple solution.

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Image Nope. You don't get hugs today. Not even goopy ones!

Melting Love won't give her heart to anyone doing Repression work on her. This work type has a 0% base success rate, but with Mizu's suit she can miss every box and still come out fine. Because of this she's not a huge problem so long as you make sure to only work her properly on days where you've planned to keep her handler isolated.

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We have to keep in mind that she'll escape every 3 works, but Melting Love by herself isn't very hard to suppress.

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Image It feels like we're sort of spinning our wheels, huh?

Image You seem to have everything well in hand right now, A. If only you could rid yourself of a few issues...

Image Issues?

Image It's related to our earlier discussions. I'll prepare a demonstration.

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Image It seems quite likely that you shall succeed at the mission, after all.

Image Yeah, that's kinda' my thing. The being awesome, I mean.

Image Indeed it is, A.

Image ...Are you quite finished?

Image Something up?

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Image While you were talking, we saw a strong Enkephalin reaction from Parasite Tree. The Tree's gained its third fruit. Only Tenebrais remains unblessed from the agents there. This is why we can't waste time singing others' praises-even for the Manager, Hokma. Mistakes happen when egoes become inflated.

Image I'll take that statement under advisement.

Image You know he isn't going to listen at all, right?

Image It still needed to be said.

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Image Manager, we've almost completed the work extracting the King of Greed's E.G.O as well.

Image Perfect. Just a little bit longer and the day will be all done. Have the other departments-

Image FISH INCOMING!

Image Oh for the love of…

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Image All agents, to standby. Gebura, prepare to take point on Abnormality suppression. We need everyone to stay prepared for wherever it goes to.

Image Sir! All agents prepare to intercept and crush this thing.

Image Alright. In 3…2…1...

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Image ...It's staying an egg?

Image King of Greed doesn't breach every time a normal result is achieved. Sometimes she opts to continue her slumber.

Image ...you already knew that.

Image It was on her file, A.

Image Right, right. Well, we're one work away-let's just finish things off now.

Because King of Greed only escapes at the end of her timer's countdown, we can sneak in one more work to get the last bit of energy we need and end the day before she breaches to get away with it consequence-free.

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...Or Talow can go 18/22 at a -12% penalty. That works too!

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We'll still be working her since Hand 1 is a rare E.G.O Gift slot and hers is the best by a mile, but we can take it a bit easier now at least.

Image Manager, the equipment has been extracted.

Image The process went by without issue, as usual.

Image Right, then we're all set for the day.

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Image Okay team, it's about time to pack things up for the day.

Image Roger that, boss!

Image Talow, are you alright? You seem… jumpy.

Image Oh, yeah. I'm just not a big fan of surprises. I don't remember there being anything like this Plague Doctor thing we're archiving those reports on.

Image I figure you wouldn't remember it-the logs say it showed up yesterday. That was when we all had the day off, remember?

Image Yeah, you've got a point. Just a feeling I'm having. Don't worry about it.

Image Well, if you need a counseling session-

Image Training would always have time! Medea's super helpful and nice!

Image Eheh… maybe I'll stop by and say hi if I have time.

Image We all might die any minute around here, but that means we're all in it together. You know how it is.

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Image You did good work today, team. It's time to pack up and get headed out.

Image I'd like to echo it. Good job, everyone.

Image You were the only one who really did any work-with that stuffed roadkill thing with the recording device nobody likes looking at.

Image We did take care of one of those Fruits before, but they're not even a warmup.

Image Still, I've done some thinking and I want to make this a department where everyone feels welcome and appreciated.

Image That sounds nice.

Image Yeah… I'm just going to take care of the final report for the day.

Image Oh, let me help. I'm great at those.

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Image Well, it was just one day but we managed to get almost everything we wanted to done.

Image Didn't really like how I had to go birdwatching. Three times.

Image You're fine, it's just Punishing Bird-it's a total softie.

Image Vacation days are so relaxing. I don't ever want today to end.

Image That's how it goes, I'm afraid. Let's just get the paperwork done and-

Image Already did it. I keep a couple prefilled reports just in case.

Image Should you be doing that? If the Sephirot found out you could get in trouble.

Image Eh, it's not any worse than having a vacation on the clock.

Image She's got a point there.

Image Fine. Let's just take off early then. :rolleyes:

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Image A flawless day. As expected of you, sir.

Image Enough asskissery, we've got Abnormalities to pick.

Image Very well. I have much to prepare as well.

Image That never gets less foreboding. Angela?

Image I am calling the information as we speak, manager.

Music: never frozen bottom flows
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O-01-69: "This magical bullet can truly hit anyone, just like you say."
O-03-89: If a flaw in the system disables the censors covering the Abnormality, we will once again have to sincerely consider how to dispose of the manager.
D-01-110: However, if enough sarira are found from you that everyone looks on in awe, your name will be sung for generations.

Two new ones here! I really would have liked to see -69 much earlier, we're at the point where it's basically useless to us. It's a very nice HE level Justice trainer with a unique E.G.O weapon and a gift I personally like, but alas it's not to be for this playthrough. The other new one, -110, is a very annoying WAW level Clerk's Rights Abnormality which gives nothing worthwhile in return for putting up with it. Its weapon is bad. Its suit is pretty average. It's not good at stat training. It's just not an Abnormality I can recommend for any facility.

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Anyways, we all know why we're here. Let's grab an interesting ALEPH, shall we?

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Hokma reveals one of the secrets of Lobotomy Corporation.

New Guidelines

Plague Doctor
King of Greed

New Gear

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Requirements: Level 5, Fortitude 5

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Requirements: Level 4, Temperance 4

New Story

Plague Doctor
King of Greed

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

Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2021 4:09 pm
by Grumpy Turtle
Yessssss! Mizu is going to love 89 so much!

And yeah, this is why I don't like Plague Doctor. He keeps moving around the facility. It's very annoying. Sure, compared to murderous pink slime it's nothing, but damn it, I've memorized the position of my abnormalities and he just walks around and gets everything mixed up! And of course this means that abnormalities that used to be in a department with no meltdowns suddenly need to be worked again and it's just such a pain. For obvious reasons, this can be troubling if you get him early, he makes Yesod's suppression way harder than it should be.

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

Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2021 10:31 pm
by AweStriker
10 million PE boxes? That’s extremely suspicious.

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

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2021 8:55 am
by BeachedSpider
Plague Doctor shuffling stuff around every other day or so in my first playthrough definitely added to that feeling of 'just another day of surreal monster management". Sighing to myself and having to readjust or just put up with having certain agents walk really far distances was just something I grew used to. I didn't even know that was Plague Doctor doing it at first, and assumed it was just something the game inherently does to keep you on your toes.

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

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 8:36 am
by 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?

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Episode 6: El Llanto de la Luna

Music: trailer
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Image Hi! I'm Paul! Just your everyday plucky employee of Lobotomy Cobotomy, here today to talk about El Llanto de la Luna!

Image El Llanto de la Luna, or La Luna for short, is an Abnormality who has a special means of handling known as 'Performance.' Any attempt to perform Insight work will do this instead. Please note that this work type does not provide any Insight training.

Image So it won't help me grow at all! That's not particularly amazing!

Image It won't, but it's important that we show it off to ensure the manager understands the upsides of sending an agent to play the piano. To do that, we'll need to take a peek at the values of one of our current agents.

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Image Domineering disciplinarians, it's the one and only Captain Tenebrais! Are you sure we can show this?

Image No worries, Paul! This series is for Sephirot and Managers only-there's no chance the Clerks will hear about this.

Image That's reassuring to know, Miss Hod! Gee golly, and her stats are through the roof too!

Image Things may look like that, but just you wait. Paul, it's time-go ahead and get started!

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Image She reminds me of my old piano teacher! She hit me with a stick when I played wrong.

Image Something similar will happen here if you mess up, but she'll hit your mind instead!

Image Wooah! She still deals White damage now?

Image Yep! But don't you worry, Paul. We've given you the Hypocrisy E.G.O, which will constantly restore your SP!

Image That's really thoughtful of you, Miss Hod!

Image It's like I always say, the right E.G.O for the right job!

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Image Gee golly, Miss Hod! I'm playing my heart out, but the music hasn't changed. Why's that?

Image That's because what you're playing right now is the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata, a song that will cause this entire video to be immediately copyright claimed!

Image Holy shamoley! I thought this video was just for the Sephirot and the Manager, though?

Image Be that as it may, I'd rather edit the music out than risk calling the attention of the Head over something like this!

Image Remember: Don't stream La Luna's performance! It's strictly against the law!

Image Now that we've covered that, I'd also like to point out that we do still gain PE boxes from performance work. This means we can do this to progress towards our energy goals, even though agents cannot grow from it.

Image But Miss Hod, that can't be all it's good for!

Image Of course not! For that, let's go back and see Tenebrais's stats right now!

Image

Image Voluminous virtues, Miss Hod! Her Temperance and Justice both went up by 5!

Image That's right, Paul! They increased by-five? Five? It's supposed to be 10, right? Th-this is what I get for basing my information on that agent-run wiki…

Image Wait, this series is crowdsourced?!

Image

Image

Image

Image ...A-a-anyways, as you can see, it raises Temperance and Justice by 5 points for the duration of the song! Once it stops playing, this buff goes away-so put it to good use while you can!

Image That's really short, Miss Hod!

Image I'm sure our Manager can come up with a use for it, even with that.

Image

Image Please remember that every performance work reduces the Qliphoth Counter by 1-it can safely be done twice without a problem, however the third time will cause an issue.

Image Is that the only cost, Miss Hod? That sounds like a deal!

Image Not exactly. In addition to lowering the counter, the agent also suffers excruciatingly painful fatigue from playing.

Image

Image My fingers! They're so sore! It's piano practice all over again!

Image This fatigue cuts their HP directly in half, so be sure not to let any performing agents walk outside into a Green or Amber Ordeal.

Image That's really good advice, Miss Hod! But what happens if the Manager does order a third performance?

Image That's an excellent question! Let's find out. Paul?

Image Oh boy oh boy, I love devoting myself to science!

Image

Image Pernicious pianists! She up and melted away! And I'm playing a different song, too!

Image That means that La Luna has breached. At any time she breaches, the third movement of Moonlight Sonata is played.

Image

Image At least she doesn't look that dangerous!

Image Appearances can be deceiving, Paul. In this mode she has two forms of attack.

Image

Image The first is a hearty smack with her cane, dealing Red damage!

Image She is just like my piano teacher!

Image

Image Her second attack is a stab with her flaming cane, which deals a notable amount of Black damage.

Image

Image As you can see, she's capable of dealing with a large number of employees in a very short period of time.

Image Wowsers! She sounds like a handfull! Good thing I'm safe back here in the containment cell, huh?

Image Oh, I wouldn't say that, Paul… When playing the piano during a breach, every work is an automatic success-the PE boxes will be maxed out for sure. But what happens after that point?

Image ...I get to go home?

Image Not exactly. Let's watch!

Image

Image Every three seconds, the user will take Black damage. This lasts until the 90-second performance is done, or until the employee dies.

Image Jeepies, Miss Hod! Hypocrisy is weak to Black damage! That means..!

Image

Image Yowie wowie! She came back when the piano stopped!

Image When the performance ends, either after 90 seconds or when the agent dies, La Luna returns to containment. She will also return if she's suppressed successfully,

Image That means if an agent gets trapped in there, it’s the Disciplinary team to the rescue!

Image That's right, Paul!

Image But, Miss Hod, why would the manager ever use this ability? It seems almost completely worthless!

Image Don't be silly, Paul. I'm sure it has some sort of use! It's not for us to question the Manager's toolbox.

Image Wow, you're right Miss Hod! I must be a darn fool to question the Manager's ability to profit from Abnormalities!

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

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

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

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 9:24 am
by BeachedSpider
An underrated abnormality if you ask me, and just as if not more stylish than a lot of the popular ones in fanart.

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

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 8:47 pm
by Quackles
Give her a cat-ear headband. Then she can be El Nyanto de la Luna. :v:

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

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 3:53 pm
by TeeQueue
Day 42: Story

Music: Wake Up
Image

Image I should suppose that you have become a bit more familiar with them. Let me ask you this question again: What do you think Abnormalities are?

Image

Image Abnormalities are not the evil monsters that you read about in old fairy tales. They are not some supernatural gods that descended upon us to judge our sins, either. There is an old River that has been flowing at the very bottom of the world for many an age. It is the source of everything, but has been forgotten by mankind.

Image

The screen flickers like a film here like it has before. Hi Birds! :wave:

Image For instance, strange beings would sometimes crawl out of such a gap somewhere in the ‘Black Forest’, located in the Outskirts. Obviously, the amount was simply too insufficient for Lobotomy Corporation’s energy needs. Our Singularity is not that we produce energy from the Abnormalities. Rather, it is the ability to create Abnormalities themselves.

Image

Image However, Abnormalities are part of the Seed. That’s what I meant by “possibility”. The Seed is not something that can be made in just a day, or be created on its own. We realized that if we wanted to fix a broken system, we couldn’t just sit around in a sunny spot, waiting for the clouds to part.

Image

Image We can’t control the entire process, we have to leave them to sprout on their own. Aren’t we allowed that much hope at least?

In summary: Lobotomy Corporation's Singularity is the ability to create Abnormalities. Some can occur naturally in places where they crawl out of a gap, and it's implied the Birds are three of them (and by extension that the Black Forest is a real place). They're also important to the Seed that we're trying to create.

Image Did Binah tell you that metaphors about water and stuff get on my nerves?

Image I have no idea what you're talking about, A. This is all your script.

Image Unless it isn't.

Image :silent:

Image Uuuuuugh.

Music: Sea Wind
Image

Image It is an idea you might think of as true. However, it is in truth you who is unknowing. Pain, agony, regret, and the shadows of the past that would never release their grip on you… They’ve spent quite a number of days with you, but it is nothing compared to our time together. In the end, they never got to know you to the fullest.

Image

Image Such as that one man, he who gradually broke himself whenever he was ordered to “redact information.” The unnecessary leakage of emotion is unfavorable. There is something I need to show you, so you can understand.

Image

Image She eagerly wanted to study, but her family’s financial state wouldn’t allow her. Still, she tried to join one of the Wings. However, she just wasn’t good enough for them. Poor Anya was struggling to figure out what to do next, she even considered ending it all as a last resort. That was until she received a letter from a Wing.

Image

Image “You are qualified to join Lobotomy Corporation.” Awestruck, Anya read through the letter over and over again.

Image

Image For a brief moment, Anya wondered if she even applied to work at Lobotomy Corporation at all. But she soon shook that thought off. That was not important in the slightest. I took the role of the courier. I was the one who delivered the letters to people. I evaluate candidates to determine if they may join here or not, and bring a miracle to those who are qualified. Anya was not selected because she had “excellent skill”.

Image

Image As you know, to become a feather, a part of the Wing, one has to be immensely better than ordinary people. How could Anya, who dropped out of high school, had no special talents, and lived in the Backstreets, manage to get into our company? Would her family finally be able to pursue happiness? All of this happened ten years ago. During those ten years, her sister fell ill and passed away, along with her parents.

Image

Image She is asleep down here. It is wholly under my jurisdiction to handle this, but I’ll grant you access just this once.

Music: Okay real talk, the rest of this scene has 2 music tracks that aren't in the OST. There's a lot of other stuff going on as well, so I'm just going to link a video instead.
Video: Call her up, please.
Image

Image

Image You could, perhaps, choose to pay a small cost to augment her virtues such as Fortitude or Prudence, if you wish.

Image

When we click the button, we hear a scream-check 0:31 in the video to hear it. This is my favorite added touch in the entire game. :allears:

Music: See previous statement.
Image

Image The Anya who was killed by a monster, and that Anya whom you just erased are one and the same. They both evanescently lost their lives. It is such a futile action, to wake them and erase them to slumber, again and again. Both your attachment to the employees, and the Sephirot’s care and devotion poured into them, become meaningless here.

Image

Image They await the next morning with their eyes shut tight every night. Those of the layers above did not know that. They spent themselves emotionally for the deaths with which they were presented. Bearing obscure resentment in their hearts, they put all the blame on those like you, then they crumbled, just like that…

Image

Image I have always wanted to be an important part of your life.

In summary: Hokma makes us wake up and then kill someone to prove a point. All the Employees in Lobotomy Corporation's main branch are in a perpetual state of sleep, called forth to work, and then deleted when inconvenient to be called later. Also, every employee has a certain something in common-and at the very least this one has been stuck here for ten years dying and reanimating as Hokma chooses. Since death doesn't actually matter, so there's no reason to feel bad about it! :eng101:

He also comments on the upper Sephirot and reassures us that he'll never blame us or go crumble.

There's also a removed line right after Hokma tells us Anya is asleep down here.
Cut content wrote: Image This means she can be woken up.
Nothing major, to be honest.

Image

Image ...so if I told you-

Image They would be removed immediately. No one should dare lay a hand on you, A.

Image Even if I deserved it?

Image Such a thing couldn't happen.

Image ...I see. Then, the only reason we can't bring back anyone who dies is-

Image I told you before-I could bring back the agents you miss. However, the gears of this place are immutable. An empty spot shall be filled, and that is that.

Image ...That will be all, Hokma.

Image

Image Records for the second time in a row? Unusual choice, Manager.

Image There's something I need to get to the bottom of ASAP.

Image Of course. Will that be all?

Image ...No. Send Malkuth a message. I need her to make a delivery.

Image I shall loop her into the call immediately.

Image Manager! I heard you needed me to deliver something?

Image Sure do. Can I count on you?

Image Of course! I'll deliver it perfectly!

Image Great. I'll have the memo ready in ten. Just keep who it's from a secret, okay?

Image Of course, sir! You can count on me!

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: CENSORED








Image Oh, Credentia! It's been a while.

Image Yeah. Don't suppose you have a game running anymore?

Image Oh, that one we played before? Hah, nobody's really interested. Evil Kit said he was, but…

Image Image He just sort of ruined everything.

Image Looking back on it I think it was probably more funny than annoying? But you shouldn't make a character who uses a rubber chicken as a weapon.

Image Oh my gosh-I can't even imagine using a chicken as a weapon.

Image Actually, now that I think about it... that might be a pretty good E.G.O. Hit them, the sound does White damage?

Image ...Huh. Yeah, that would make sense.

Image Anyways, something up?

Image Oh… nothing really, Tenebrais has just been busy with her whole captain thing so I've just been kind of… Say, you want to run another game sometime? I bet I can drag Sorcrane into it.

Image Do I?! I've been planning ever since I thought about trying to make a golem out of the shattered bits of monument after that Violet Midnight. It gave me the weirdest idea for a campaign.

Image Then it's a date. I'll see if anyone else wants in.

Image And I'll make sure we have the supplies! See you then!

Image You too!

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

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2021 8:11 am
by BeachedSpider
I like the imagery of Hokma going 'now erase this agent' and X is like 'okay', and as soon as he does it, he's thinking 'I sure hope there was a good reason for me doing that'.

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

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 12:36 pm
by TeeQueue
Day 42: Gameplay

Music: neutral 1
Image

Image Now that you understand the way of this place, I have increased the strength limiters on our agents. They can be more powerful than before.

Image Why didn't you just do that from the start?

Image This place is a clock. The hands proceed as they need to-no sooner and no later.

Image ...Yeesh.

Image

Image If they should happen to fall, then there is also a chance of their E.G.O being salvaged.

Image Huh, really? Alright. We shouldn't need it, but it's good to have.

Image
Image
Image

Image Okay, team. Our only real goal today is to get all the information about that new Abnormality. Business as usual, but let's not get careless.

Image I shall have someone put to work on the task immediately.

Image Excellent. Upper Layer, stay ready. I don't forsee any issues but if anything happens I want everyone ready to roll.

Image Image Image Image Yes, manager!

Image Middle Layer, same thing. Anything goes wrong, it'll probably be you guys dealing with it.

Image Image Image Image Yes sir!

Image Binah, keep an eye on that... thing. I don't trust it.

Image I shall observe all that happens here without fail.

Image Huh. That went… better than I thought. Alright then, Angela?

Image Yes, manager?

Image Let's do this.

Image Of course.

Image

Image

Image Work. Sleep. Work. The cycle continues, unbroken.

Image

Image Records team, you have a mission today. Extract all E.G.O from the new Abnormality, as quickly as possible. That is all.

Image ...Are all his orders like that?

Image Pretty much. It's why I've been running everything around here.

Image So… what're we doing?

Image Waiting for Mizu to show up, so that she doesn't get cranky at us for stealing her thunder.

Image Business as usual. Got it.

Image

Image Oh hey, Omni-new E.G.O?

Image Yeah. I'm using Gold Rush. I thought it'd go great with your Sword Sharpened by Tears.

Image That's perfect. It's like the two magical girls are reuniting in spirit to carry the company forward, right?

Image That's what I was thinking. Poetic, huh?

Image Orders from the top, everyone! I have a message for Bishop, and outside of that we're just staying ready for Ordeals or emergencies.

Image I have a message?

Image Yep! And I've delivered it perfectly!

Image ...huh. No sender. Guys I'll be back in a minute.

Image Sounds exciting. Enjoy your mystery, boss!

Image

Image ...I'm not sure what to make of what I'm seeing.

Image That's the new Abnormality, A. It's actually a CENSORED.

Image That was unsettling.

Image Any information regarding the Abnormality's true nature is automatically filtered so that you cannot see it. There have been... issues in the past.

Image Ah. I'll try not to let it get to me. There's something behind the censor bars, though?

Image Yes. This is a thing so uniquely corroding to the psyche that it cannot even be accurately shown through a cognition filter.

Image Now you've got me worried about how Mizu's going to react to it.

Image

Our new friend here is another one which has a unique work type. Repression is replaced with Sacrifice. When we click on it…

Image

A spinner with the names of our agents shows up. We can click the circle to start spinning, or the X to back out.

Image ...Let's maybe not do this.

We wait for Mizu to arrive for the obligatory first work.

Image

Image I am a grand lover of all things cutie, but this is possibly too much cutie! Where do I even start?! What do I even do?! Would you prefer mood music or a deep room cleaning?

It immediately inflicts the Hopeless fear level on any level 5 agent walking into its room-this immediately deals them 60% of whatever their maximum SP is. On agents level 4 or less it's even worse-it immediately inflicts Overwhelmed, which panics them instantly.

Image

It also deals Black damage-and enough to deal 3 damage despite Mizu's 0.3x resistance. This means that most agents will panic over the course of a work with it, particularly in earlygame when our gear isn't as powerful as it is now.

Image

It also can't get Good results from normal works-the most we'll ever see is a Normal result like this.

Image

Image So how was the new Abnormality?

Image Oh, MAN. It's basically CENSORED, and in order to satisfy it I had to CENSORED while it was CENSORED. If I didn't, it probably would have CENSORED with its CENSORED. And all the while you have to be sure not to look at its CENSORED because I think it's shy about CENSORED??

Image That sounds like a handful and a half. :rolleyes:

Image Yeah, for sure. Oh well, have funsies!

Image ...Ugh… Talow, we heard half of that from over here and I nearly threw up.

Image :barf:

Image Robin was not so lucky.

Image Can one of you clerks get on that?

Image Huh. I have no idea what any of that was about, but it doesn't sound great.

Image It may be necessary to call in a specialist, Manager. That particular Abnormality is quite the handful.

Image A specialist? But it's an Abnormality that instantly drives people mad. Mizu was fine, but we need her to watch Extraction today...

Image I have an idea, boss.

Image ...Go on.

Image

Image HAHAHAHAHAHA! Good to see you all! My, is that fresh horf I smell?

Image What the fresh hell are you doing here?

Image Oh don't worry, I'm not going to scold you or anything! You see it all the time back in Safety when people get sick! HAHAHA!

Image Not an answer to the question, Mr.Black.

Image Netzach passed along a memo saying you needed someone to help deal with a bad little Abnormality. Something about CENSORED and CENSORED? It's right up my alley, it turns out!

Image You sure you can handle this?

Image Worry not, my dear boy! I've got this, or my name isn't Mr.Black! HAHAHA!

Image Boss, he mentioned it again, can I..?

Image Take a minute, but you're going to have to get used to it eventually.

Image Yeah… thanks.

There are a few ways to deal with the huge amount of SP damage that it pumps out. The first would be to use Portrait of Another World, and use Black shield bullets on the agent who the damage was being passed to to mitigate the damage. The second would be to use a suit like Blue Star in order to recover the SP being lost during the work, to balance things out. The third involves a tool Abnormality we haven't seen yet. We don't need to do any of that in this facility, though.

Image

Image HAHAHAHA, is that all? Alright, let's get you smiling like everyone else!

Image

Mr.Black's work is enough to get us a name. Our new Abnormality is named… CENSORED, appropriately enough. It deals 5-10 Black damage, which after Mr.Black's defenses becomes 1-2 Black Damage. Mr.Black has 127 SP, which after a 60% cut becomes 50.8. On average, he would have to miss 33.67 boxes in order to lose that many SP. CENSORED has only 32 PE Boxes. Our facility as it stands now is able to just power through its gimmick without a care in the world.

In the end, all our agents really need is a Smile. :getin:

Since we don't have to respect it, I have the option to send Mr.Black at it until we get the 550 total PE Boxes I'll need to get all of its information and the two copies of its E.G.O Weapon. So we do that. This is a very boring day gameplaywise, as most of the work is entirely focused on CENSORED. Time for a highlight reel!

Image

Image So how was it?

Image HAHAHAHA! Smiling like a good CENSORED, of course! It brought me back to the old days, outside.

Image Urp… Outside?

Image Yes! Back when I'd do some harvesting work on the side for my job! You'd see things that most people would shy away from-but so long as you can smile? HAHAHA! It's nothing, nothing at all! It's truly the best medicine!

Image Every time he talks, I just get more disturbed.

Image Hey, he can do the job. That's plenty, right?

Image Yeah. I guess I can let it slide, given that.

Image

Image We got a tree case over here, Manager.

Image Hold on, I'll wake them up.

Image I still don't understand why you refuse to simply dispose of them. You know the truth now. They do not matter, A.

Image Yeah, that thing you did? It... Felt… Not great. I'm trying not to delete anyone unless circumstances absolutely require it.

Image ...Very well, A.

Image

Image Hey, Manager? That last result was bad-CENSORED may escape if it happens again. You should clear out the clerks.

Image I just said-

Image If it gets out, it'll be infinitely worse with them here than without. Call it a hunch.

That -30% overload penalty is the lowest we can get on an ALEPH abnormality. If we're willing to continue working with CENSORED we can, but we're risking more middling results like this.

Image

Image Well, your hunches are pretty good... Okay, fine.

I am perfectly willing to risk middling results. Just to be safe, I shuffle the agents around a bit-if CENSORED escapes, we want it to run into high-defense targets like Talow and Mr.Black. Morgan's weak to Black so she'd be a sitting duck.

Image

Image Oh hey guys! Welcome to Welfare.

Image Hokma's pawning you off on us, huh~

Image Nothing like that, there's just a possible Abnormality breach incoming. It's a safety precaution.

Image Huh. Since when were you proactive, manager?

Image It's been over a month. I had to get decent at this job sometime.

Image While you're up here, would you like to give us a hand? We're doing some maintenance on the E.G.O gear in storage.

Image I don't see any reason why not.

Image Great. Your job is to distract Evil Kit. Morgan, grab a brush.

Image Oh come on! I'm not going to spill jam on the tools again! ...On purpose, anyway!

Image :what:

Image

Image There we are! Another perfectly good work session. Remember to smile 'til I get back!

Risky though it is, this work is enough to finish unlocking CENSORED's information. That weapon there is a strong contender for the best defensive E.G.O in the game, and we will want two copies of it. They're currently 205 boxes each with Extraction's discount so we have a long grind ahead of us.

Image

Despite my willingness to shove my hand into fires, working CENSORED at -30% isn't that dangerous. Since our overall success rate never hits 95%, the -30% from the penalty winds up almost entirely negated by the combination of Mr.Black's 119 Work Success (+23%) and the Observation bonus of +6%, giving us a total modifier of -1%. With a base Insight success rate of 50%, this gives us a total success rate of 49%-and since we're set up to intercept a breach we're not particularly worried about Bad results.

While we're here: CENSORED responds better to lower work levels-its level 2 Prudence rate is base 80%, and level 1 is base 90%. Getting a level 5 agent with low Prudence to work CENSORED and get mostly successes is another frequently-used strategy for dealing with it. We'll talk more about the numbers in its Abnormality Roundup, but for now all we need to know is that CENSORED, despite being an ALEPH, is safe for any facility thinking about endgame.

Image

Image ...You know, it's nice to get back to basics like this. Just one Abnormality to mess with, instead of two. Only one Meltdown. Nobody needing Core Suppression. It's a nice, tranquil day.

Image Manager-

Image Punishing Bird? On it.

Image Oh, um… no. QC's holding steady at one, sir. It's about a rumor circulating among the clerks…

Image Huh? What happened?

Image Well, sir, um… they saw Bishop reading a letter...

Image

Image No… no way. This is… on top of everything else, you mean… for all this time? We could have been… but we've been… This can't be right…

:v: Um, sir? Are you alright?

Image What? Oh, uh, it's nothing. I have to go call Talow and set up a meeting.


Image ...And then, apparently he supposedly ran off with his face a vibrant red? It's the hottest topic among clerks right now-some kind of weird love affair between Captains.

Image That's ridiculous! Bishop only has eyes for Malkuth.

Image I heard my name, Manager! How can I help?

Image Er-my mistake. Everything's fine. Sorry.

Image Setting that aside, this seemed like I should bring it to your attention…

Image Who even cares about that stuff?!

Image Um… I just thought that this could cause our employees to lose focus, so…

Image Frankly speaking, all the whispering is getting annoying.

Image

Image Right, well, just flatly deny anything's going on. I know what this is about, and it's not that.

Image Then what is it about, sir?

Image Nonya.

Image I'm not familiar with that section of the company.

Image Yes. Because it's Nonya' Business.

Image ...I don't think you would have made that joke before.

Image

Image It's peaceful around here with Mr.Black out.

Image Does that mean you'll be doing any work today?

Image No orders... I'm going to have a quick nap. Wake me up if anything happens.

Image In that case, I might as well go for a walk. Sephiroth, you've got the Dawn Ordeal, right?

Image I shall show them the true power of the One Winged Angel.

Image Great. Later.

Image

:v: Anyways, I heard that his tear-streaked face glistened in the pale Control room light as he-

Image Oh hey, this one's blessed, let's nip this right in the bud.

Image ...I miss something?

Image Nothing important.

Image

Amber Dawn.

Image

Because I'm saving up PE boxes for weapons, I want to keep the Extraction team's clerks alive-they're reducing the cost from 222 to 205 each, saving me ~2 works overall. For the first time, Clerks do count.

Image

:v: Whoo-ee, thanks man. That was crazy!

Image It wasn't any trouble.

:v: Still, you obliterated them all in seconds! It was amazing.

Image I have seen many worms in this place. I've simply learned the fastest ways to crush them under my heel. Now I shall rest once again.

Image

Amber Done.

Image

Image Oh, already?

Image We're past due, actually-it's been a pretty lucky day so far.

Image Right, well it'll get taken care of.

Image

Image Ow. Ow. Ow!

Image I don't care how much happens, watching this will always make it worthwhile. :allears:

Image Hey, Manager! Credentia went wandering off somewhere. Quit playing around and find her.

Image Oh, sure, give me a sec...

Image

Image Well that's unusual.

Image Thy family recieveth this blessing, and thus thou shouldst be betowed it as well.

Image I don't think that's right? Tenebrais doesn't have that weird halo thing.

Image All the same, she and I are as linked as mother and child. Come accept thy blessing.

Image Do… I get an option to say no?

Image You do not.

Image

Image Huh. That was shorter than I thought it'd be.

Image Hence we shall go together 'ere the time of reunion.

Image

Image It's sparkling.

Image How interesting…

Image Binah, you dredge these things up. What do you think?

Image With few exceptions Abnormalities are drawn from Extraction… however, I have not observed this child before. Only the one who birthed it could truly answer what it wants.

Image Isn't that you?

Image I am simply the steward of the Bucket. They were birthed elsewhere, deep within the Ri-

Image Not this again. I'm just going to assume you don't know anything.

Image A thing you do quite often, Manager.

Image

Image Huh. You got the blessing like those other guys?

Image I guess so. It was the weirdest thing. He told me you were blessed while I was in there.

Image I'd think I could remember that.

Image You could always ask him directly?

Image Nah. Every instinct I have is telling me not to go anywhere near that one.

Image There's nothing to worry about. It's a ZAYIN-and a surprisingly gentle one at that. He healed that chronic pain I was having in a flash.

ImageDefinitely don't trust it.

Image

It's about here that we manage to finish off our first CENSWORD. Some may want to correct me by pointing out that it is shaped like a claw and is more of an unknowable entity than a sword, but to them I present the following counterpoint:

CENSWORD is really fun to say. :colbert:

Image

Image Uh, Mr.Black, we can't see your face…

Image Why not?

Image There's a CENSORED on it.

Image Oh, really? I'd forgotten about it! You all seem fine with it, though.

Image Eh, maybe if it was CENSORED, but since it's just CENSORED I don't really care.

Image I kinda want to scrape some off and see if I can grow it in a petri dish!

Image HAHAHAHAHA!! That would be highly illegal.

2% drop rate~ :woop:

Image

Ah, here we go-this is one of the problems of Plague Doctor being in the facility. When he's in an area that can have meltdowns, sometimes they hit him. When that happens we can either pray for a normal, send someone to advance the clock, or wait for it to run down and let him pick someone at random.

It doesn't really matter, but I remember being very stressed out my first time through the game trying to avoid advancing the clock. I'm much less worried this time around.

Image

Image ...I was just out for a walk…

Image The alarm sounded. A call was made. Thou has answered.

Image No, seriously, how the hell did you do that?

Image Thou thinkest thine companions boors.

Image Have you met them?

Image They are damaged, broken by the world outside. Diseased, by that which I shall cure. I ask for they devotion. Aid me, that I may let this disease pass from this world.

Image Uh-huh, got it. What's in it for me?

Image I shall protect you. Heal you from the wounds you carry, and prevent you from succumbing to this disease.

Image ...eh, I'll bite.

Image

Image Hey, hey, hey. I go by Mr.Blond for a reason.

Image Hence we shall go together 'ere the time of reunion.

It's possible for the changes to Plague Doctor over time to be missed pretty easily up until now, but the one at six is blindingly obvious.

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Image That can't be… Actually, I don't know what that can't be. Angela?

Image It appears to be having an enkephalin reaction based upon the position of the clock.

Image So it's literally a ticking time bomb.

Image There is a possibility that this is the case, Manager.

Image Great. Continue to monitor it, I guess. We're stuck with it anyways.

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Image Speaking of, the task you have entrusted to me is now complete. Both of the CENSORED have been extracted from CENSORED.

Image ...Angela?

Image We are still roughly 250 PE boxes away from our goal. The Noon Ordeal would be the best way to finish gathering energy from here.

Image Nice. Let's cool it on working CENSORED for now, then.

Image As you like.

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Image Cease production. That is all.

Image Yeah... Good talk.

Image I suppose that means my work here is done for the day! HAHAHA! It's been a pleasure!

Image Wait, didn't you have a... thing... on your face? What happened to it?

Image Oh, that? I simply willed it to disappear and the CENSORED happened to CENSORED into my face!

Image Oh… oh god. Nope. NOPE nope nope. I'm out.

Image I've never heard of that before. Any drawbacks?

Image Just one: It was INCONCEIVABLY PAINFUL! HAHAHAHA!

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Image ...Ahh… I feel better now. You… you don't make me want to drill a hole in my head and pour bleach in it to erase any memories. You're just a bunch of corpses which respond to stimuli the same way any other thing around here should. Nothing unusual about that. I've decided I like you, Mountain.

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:j: Hey buddy, have you heard about what went down in Control earlier? I heard-

Image :sicknasty:

:v: ...Huh. Wonder what that was all about.

Image I'd prefer you found a better way to deal with rumors, Manager.

Image Fine, fine, we'll try positive reinforcement.

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Image To whit.

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Image "Nothing happened in Control today, and everyone is blowing it out of proportion. I don't believe in silly rumors."

:gonk: N-n-nothing happened in Control today, and it's blown out of proportion!! I don't believe rumors, sir!!!

Image Eh, close enough. You can have a Red shield.

Image ……

Image Come on, I'm doing my best here!

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Image Have a good walk?

Image Yeah, actually.

Image Good. Your sword-arm has been faltering of late. There's no room for sentiment on the battlefield.

Image Please. Don't go getting cocky just because they let you have the ALEPH E.G.Os to play with, or you're going to wind up needing a save from yours truly.

Image So long as the lifeblood of this planet flows, it shall not be me who needs to be saved.

Image Come to think of it, why do you have that sword, anyways?

Image Medea said she found a weapon which suited her better.

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Image Don't you dare try getting anywhere NEAR my cute little Ppodae!!

Despite coming from a WAW, Gold Rush is a strong contender for second-best damage in the game simply because of how fast its attacks come out.

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Image End the day. We've got no other reason to hang around.

Image Of course. I shall begin preparations immediately.

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Image The end of day bell..? Hey, what was I doing here?

Image Iunno, you looked like you were heading for the cutie cell thingies.

Image Just like Credentia and Mr.Blond earlier. You turned back around once the Deterrence got turned back up.

Image Huh. I don't… Well, it's whatever. See you guys later!

Image Yes… best to leave now. The real work begins soon.

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Image Mr.Black, why are you still here?

Image I so rarely get to come down this deep, and in this place my laughs reverberate so splendiforously! HAHAHAHAHA!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Image The acoustics really are something else.

Image Oh, yell something else next! Like-

Image Everybody out!

Image Talow, you've got a message on hold from Control. Apparently it's been there all day?

Image And I've got a headache. Whatever Bishop's bent out of shape over can wait for the morning. Let's just get out of here ASAP.

Image Yessir!

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Image What the hell is taking so long? He's had all day-he should have replied by now..!

Image Hey, boss. Don't worry about it. It's alright-you've got our full support.

Image I've watched over 300 different romcoms, and I'm sure that either he's lost the memo, been distracted by a rival, or is in the hospital with a chronic illness. I'm sure it'll work out!

Image ...what are you two talking about?

Image The reply to that confession letter you received. What else would we be talking about?

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Image

Image That wasn't a confession letter, was it?

Image Hey Malkuth, Omni and Chinely just offered to do all the cleanup for us today!

Image Really?

Image We did?

Image You said you wanted to support me, right? Then do that and we'll call it even.

Image ...Uh… sure. I guess it couldn't hurt.

Image Great! C'mon, Malkuth. I'll buy the lemonade.

Image You always buy! It's my duty as the boss to treat sometimes.

Image Fine, fine…

Image Omni, don't just let him force the work on us!

Image I panicked!

Image Ugh, it's too late now. Let's get this done and get home, there's a new season of I was Transformed into a Slime but it's Okay because Everything is Tasty coming out.

Image That was today?!

Image

Image Today went perfectly!

Image Doesn't that mean I win the bet?

Image Wait… That… Darn it, why did I say anything?!

Note the time taken. Days where you're farming one ALEPH Abnormality for all of its gear take much longer than normal since each work takes ~a minute or so to complete.

Music: never frozen bottom flows
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T-09-78: The final chapter ends with the phrase: "Born again."
T-09-80: "The tree simply reaped from what it sowed."
T-09-85: Now everything will be just fine.

It's a tool pick, and we get to choose between "Only kills you if you handle it wrong," "Roll the dice to not die," or "Definitely die." :lobcorp:

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Tool Abnormalities, everybody!

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Hokma waxes poetic about desecrating corpses.

New Guidelines

CENSORED

New Gear

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


New Story

CENSORED (Part 1)
CENSORED (Part 2)