Let's Play Mewgenics: The Bad Care Run

[Shifter55]

Now, we take several days to get Chernobyl to pass on Insomnia, but it doesn't seem to be happening. However, someone else showed up at our door with an important Ability: Forbidden Fart. With the disorder consequence of Forbidden abilities, Piaf here will be the start of a crucial way to introducing disorders into our teams.

Another day passes, and finally we get our first hygiene disorder! Gage contracts Necrosis from all of the poop in the ground floor on the house. Sernik also ends up our first casualty of the fights this poop buildup causes, and he goes to upgrade our zombie friend.


But it's time to build up some disorders with Piaf! She gets the Cleric collar, while Chirya, Simon, and Isabelle get the Mage, Tank, and Thief collars respectively.

After our first fight in the Alley, Piaf levels up, and we take Cleanse as the friendly fire from Forbidden Fart was dealing a surprising amount of poison to our cats. But more importantly we get two disorders on Piaf: Anemia and Necrosis. This isn't really a good combination, due to Necrosis dealing CON debuffs when damage is taken, and the low chance of Anemia causing bleed status when hit, so we'll try to reroll next battle with the Ability.


After the battle Chirya also comes across a devil, given the high risk of being killed by one option, we choose to lose the 10HP and heal it back next fight. And interestingly, we get an item that will help us do just that! My Shadow!

Next fight we task the cats on mustering as much healing as possible, and with Simon using Bodyguard, the party is unlikely to get knocked down by any of the foes present here, even the Tom Tom is staying in it's patch of grass.

After the battle, Simon levels up and we choose Steam Roller, as his many thorns will make that even more painful for foes. Piaf rerolls with Fart and gets Depression, which still isn't quite what we want, especially on a cat that spends most of her time next to allies. We are also joined by a Kitten, who seems quite relieved to not wear a clown nose any more...

The miniboss is Fenrir this time, and the effects of the difficulty increase are very apparent now, he's crackling with electricity! Unfortunately that does not save him from the mostly ranged party we have. An egg Simon was carrying also hatches, giving us a tame fetus to also fight the boss with. The poison from Forbidden Fart easily dispatches Fenrir, dealing damage every turn taken.

Chirya levels up this time, and we choose... Wall of Fire, as we are going to the Caves, where a wide AOE of a little burn will be useful. Piaf's disorder reroll this time gives us Kamikaze, a result we very explicitly banned from allowing this Letsplay, so we need to make sure to remove that!

Choosing the hard path, our next battle is against a group of large rats hiding in trash. With their high HP and ability to damage surrounding units, this is the biggest threat we have found so far. We take our time dispatching them, though they kill our fetus. The rest of or team goes for the coins dropped in the area, as Piaf keeps farting to reroll her disorders.


Isabelle levels up after this, and we choose Sneak Up to go with her passive ability, granting her an easy way to backstab twice in a row. We also manage to loot a Car Battery, Infamous Mask, and Barbed Paw. The latter two go on Isabelle and Simon respectively, improving their defense. This time Piaf has rolled Borrowed Time and Depression, another poor result as they work against each other.

The 2nd hard path battle gives us this utterly soupy Water Kitten playing with flies in a swamp, and... an approaching group of regular kittens, but something's off about the largest one. We don't get to find out as the cats finish the battle quickly to avoid Dooming Piaf.

Isabelle levels up this time, and we choose Shakedown to increase the money and healing we get from fights. The Dove was wearing a Tie Dye Bandana, which Piaf chooses to wear as a trophy. At the shop we buy a Brain- and Rare Candy, and Chirya levels up, we choose Splash Damage in hopes their current ability will also boost that damage.

Approaching the boss we find them... covered in oil. And Piaf is still Doomed, so we are going to have to finish fast if we can't clear that disorder. Chirya heals Isabelle and we confirm that Splash Damage is boosted by Resonance, but somehow the oil spreads to  Chirya! Luckily our Korbee ally makes short work of the rat bombs, avoiding getting Tarred in the process.



The vacuum fetus continues to keep the field bomb-free while Isabelle and Simon finish off the rat, Steamroll doing enormous damage with all the thorns Simon has. Naturally, he also levels up and we choose Thunder Thighs for even more contact damage opportunities. After the battle, we find a Glowing Coin, which we give to Chirya, and see Piaf has rerolled into PTSD and Anemia, which is a satisfying combo to stop on.

Now in the Sewers, these Gusher Fetuses might pose a problem, as they could set up with that rock in the northwest and cut off ways to approach them. Fortunately they move to the south, allowing us to divide up the group of foes.



Piaf levels up, and we choose Breath of Life to try to alleviate the risks to our Fetus and in the Caves. We also collect a Slimy Necklace, which, we might swap on to Isabelle during the boss fight, given Boris relies on movement to be a threat. We also find a helpful zombie, selling ailments! Chirya contracts Necrosis, which might be a problem later on...

Our second battle seems to be some kind of checkpoint staffed by Gassies and Piles, smartly the lead foe covers their ass, to avoid getting backstabbed immediately by Isabelle, but it doesn't save the soul-linked ones in the back from taking the fall. As the fight finishes, we notice Chirya heals very little due to the stat decreases of Necrosis.


Piaf levels up, and we choose +2 INT, ideally we will have 10 by the time we finish the Sewers. We also find a a Big Stick and a Hot Coal, zealously kept dry by the Gassies, this may prove useful if we get some offensive fire abilities next run, but not here! Isabelle swaps her Ice Cube for the stick and we move onwards.

The miniboss this time is two Flushmasters, given our fetus escort and low HP party members, this may be a problem...

We do our best to minimise damage from the paired waves, but neither Chirya or the surviving fetuses are looking too good. Thankfully only one fetus succumbs and we are able prevent futher damage.



Simon levels up, and we predictably go with +2 CON, it's not like he needs more STR with all those thorns! We loot a Slimy Hat and Nail Gun, which we will be equipping to Chirya to stud Simon for escalating thorn damage in between heals. The shop does not really have anything interesting for sale, but we take the Rare Candy at least. Chirya levels up and we choose +2 INT for the option to cast her two ranged spells twice a turn, or at least once with a bad coinflip.

Along the hard Sewers route, we encounter a Fetus with a rather unusual trait, drying out and setting fire to water it comes across. While we heal up our Korbees, Isabelle cleans up the water spitters.

She levels up from doing this, and we choose +2 INT again for extra ability casts.


We also find out the Fetuses were protecting some Cat Food in an Old Shoe, and more importantly, a Furniture Box! Being able to improve the comfort of our house should make the long waits for disorders to show up more worthwhile, and importantly, less violent. Noticing the flow in the canals is picking up, and water is leaking from above, is it possible it will flood due to the change in weather?

In either case, the leaking drops gave away this Gassy, given it's elite buff was bouncing the water off it's fur. Not the best idea to stand in front of a spikey rock like that, though, Simon inflicts heavy damage to it, and it finally meets it's end ramming into a seperate spikey rock. Once it is gone the rest are easily cleaned up, with Chirya's healing spell supporting the fetuses against the two leeches on the western side.


Simon levels up afterwards, and we have some amazing choices here... I'm going with Fissure as it will allow for even more Trample offense. Sadly those Rocks don't look tasty enough, and Piaf scoops them up for throwing.

Fortunately, the rain should snuff any fires and burn that Boris sets, but we can't find a place to move Simon without trampling our party... Thankfully, Isabelle moves to contain the beast, exploiting her Slimey necklace.

Using the Glowing Coin, we max out Chirya's mana, before placing her so Simon will swap with the nearby Fetus using Bodyguard, in an attempt to squeeze more damage out of his thorns. Sadly it doesn't work... and she goes down when Boris retaliates!

And she's in a bad spot, these water flows will smash her to paste if we don't get a Korbee to move her. Sadly with the nearest Korbee near death, it's going to be close. Unfortunately that Korbee dies to Boris' lunge, and we have to rely on our last one to get Chirya near Piaf. Unfortunately it spits her body directly into the boss! What a way to go...


Isabelle levels up, and we choose Time Walk, as the extra turn will make up for the cost of the mana spent by increasing how much is generated per Round. We also loot a Roast Chicken and a Mama Leech, but without Chirya, the leech will have to go on Simon, and we've lost our primary way to keep our fetuses healthy and a lot of utility options!


Reflecting on what we did to lose Chirya to Boris, it was keeping her close to the other cats to use her attack, when Simon and Isabelle mostly had it handled. So that's a lesson to choose how you are going to set up your formation before you start a fight, if we had moved Chirya and the Fetuses to the north we could have avoided damage either while still allowing her to rain attack abilities on Boris. Because Piaf has PTSD, we don't have a reliable source of healing any more, and I was hoping to use the Burn from Wall of Fire in the Caves to make up for our lack of ways to handle the Boss' status effects, so this next area is going to be much more difficult than expected.



In our first Caves fight, my plan is to use bodyguard to see how well leech summoning fits into our group, and we are facing spiders and a high mobility enemy that is going to cause a lot of problems for our Fetuses. Unfortunately we don't see the fetus before Simon walks over it, and then we get surprised by a Toadie camoulaged as a rock. Given the location of the scenery, hidden Toadies may be a serious issue as they interrupt movement and scare our cats. Thankfully Simon and Isabelle can handle it, but I'm not liking how much damage Simon takes in the process.


Piaf levels up, and we choose Adoubment for a reliable way to heal Simon as he warps around the field. We also learn that this is a weed cave!

Next battle some Brain Drains and Bats ambush us, and those bats are a serious problem - the confusion status makes it hard to use abilities and due to facing away from the bat Isabelle is at risk of being downed due to the extra backstab damage! Simon dispatches it easily, but there's a chance the Brain Drains will down Isabelle in return. Our cats take out the foe, but not before Isabelle and Piaf lose a fair amount of HP...



Piaf levels up, and this time it's to upgrade an ability, we choose Adoubment again for make it more efficient at healing. We also find a new cat! He offers us a Clover, a Neverstone, and a Vibrating Meteorite, and we kit him out. That meteorite could come in handy if it's clear we are struggling enough to make the boss a loss...



For the midboss we are facing a Big Slime and... it's adsorbent, that's bad. Owen is not likely to survive this fight, as he has no way of spending his mana and will take 5 damage a round. Isabelle and Simon move to engage it, using the nearby Boulder to cut its health by a third.

Unfortunately it charges across the room to try to hit Piaf, but Bodyguard saves her, we encounter another issue, this fetus has more than enough mana to die to the elite buff. Owen freezes the Slime in an attempt to avoid the mana adsorb damage, but it still hits him and breaks hes Rock Hat. Isabelle backstabs the slime twice, neatly dividing it into quarters.

As Piaf's courage fails her, we now have to pull Isabelle out of the battle, and fortunately this one slime here is unable to move, preventing her from dying to it this round. From there cleanup of the other slimes goes quickly. We use Owen's Step to take the food in the water, which heals enough to keep him alive even with the mana damage.

Isabelle does succumb to the elite buff taking her last hitpoint, but after that, the battle is finished.


Owen levels up, and we choose Soul Reap, to get the most out of his trait at the start of a battle. We also get some Rhinestones, which we immediately bedazzle him with. At the shop there isn't much available, but we take the Twine Hat to replace Owen's rock.
Isabelle also levels up, and we choose Stack the Deck+ to force the bloody coin to always give extra attacks.

In our next battle we'll focus on extending the battle to heal our cats up, but first, Simon deals with these Ten Tickles. With the party relatively healthy we move on.


Simon levels up, and we upgrade Bodyguard for the shield benefits (which we didn't take the right screenshot for, damn). We also find another Brain Candy and a Roll of Pennies.


Time for the final battle though! I switch the Neverstone on Owen for the meteorite, which immediately fuses with his fur like a piece of gum, and equip Piaf and Simon with Brain Candy. This should give them enough stats to make it through the battle, though we are going to have to be careful with Isabelle.

For our opening move we cluster the cats around Piaf for healing and to buff Isabelle, as the boss is Sticky we are going to have to clear that often.

Using Bodyguard we are able to keep the cats relatively safe through the fight, even with Spinnerette enraged to stop her from escaping to the roof of the cave, but 5 rounds in and only a quarter of the way through her health means this is going to be a fight of endurance...

Unfortunately she manages to down Piaf after a bad swap, so we'll have to take the the debuffs raw now, and I'm worried she'll do the same for Owen soon, with the tar buildup affecting the turn order. So we use the Ice Cube to set her back a turn.

We lose another cat, and it's Isabelle this time!, sadly there wasn't any way for her to avoid getting eaten with the excessive tar stacks. Normally bodyguard would save her but Simon was webbed! Sadly our ability to move is severely hampered, so we are going to have to let her go to the cieling and run the clock out with the massive bleed she took from Simon...

With our luck, it figures that one of her young biting Simon would have her come down right on top of Piaf, there goes our chance at taking the disorders back home... and we make it just barely, using confusion statuses.

Simon levels up, but that was not a very productive run, we choose to upgrade Thorns. If not for Piaf falling first, we probably could have avoided the long battle here... this is showing the weaknesses of Bodyguard, as it is impeded by immobilising statuses and shuffles cats into positions that might not be good if activated multiple times a round.


Coming across a wall of meat, and low on HP, Owen takes the chance to feast on a live meal before we return to the house, and gains a mutation! It provides a bit of extra CON in return for reducing CHA, a good deal in the early game.

However, we failed our objective of bringing back cats with Disorders. There's two decisions that resulted in this failure: Taking the cats into the Caves when we had a furniture box and useful Disorders, and also bringing a cat with unlimited range into reach of the enemy when they weren't really needed for the fight. The latter cost us our source of burn too, which would have prevented both the webbed and tar statuses from interfering with our tactics. So next time, we're going to want to retreat as soon as our plan develops a gap in it, or when we have secured any Disorders.