Tails, You Lose

Required items: 1   Broken Kickumbob
1   Tarnished Thingamajig
1   Rusty Whatsit
1   Damaged Pod
Experience: 0
Gil: 1,455
Previous quest: An Academic Dispute
Next quest: Carnivals and Confrontations
Patch: 5.1

“

Anogg would dive headfirst into the great unknown.

— In-game description

Rewards

Anogg asks sharply whether you will support her in following the instructions 2P gave, and continue to cooperate with the android should the so-called “key” you seek restore her to functionality. Though the point is largely moot until such a time arrives, you agree to follow her lead, and you set off to search the ruins without further ado.

You catch up to Anogg, who is considering using the pods to press further into the factory. Reluctant as one might be to place their life in the hands of a contraption described as “Not too murderous, comparatively speaking,” seeing as no alternative has presented itself since your foray with 2P, you have no choice but to cling to one of the pods for dear life and allow it to whisk you away.

Deeper inside the ruins, Anogg helpfully points out that as you are able to use the mysterious tetrahedral devices positioned throughout to teleport to the entrance at any time, there is no need to feel overly trepidatious whilst exploring this new territory. She expects you to take this as a cue to forge ahead heedlessly, it seems, but will likely not object to whatever approach you take so long as you find something of interest.

A cursory search of the factory yields a hunk of metal that you deem worthy of note. It would be best to get a second opinion from Anogg, however, lest you find yourself lugging around a hundred ponzes of useless garbage.

Fortunately, Anogg, too, believes that what you found may be a piece of the all-important key. If you locate the others, she may be able to reassemble it.

Further inspection of the area yields not only what you believe to be two more pieces of the key, but also a pod─albeit one that has seen better days. Anogg will be delighted.

Seeing the array of parts you have collected, Anogg declares them sufficient to bring back for inspection and possible reconstruction. She also takes an interest in the pod, though its sudden return to functionality puts something of a damper on her plans to fiddle with its innards, and a clever device of her own design soon reveals a third exciting discovery─the motionless form of 9S, who, like 2P, must have lost the ability to function after your pitched battle. Though Anogg is willing to cooperate with 2P, that willingness evidently does not extend to outright trust, as she opts to keep 9S both intact and secret from the other android without hesitation.

Now with plenty of new toys to play with, Anogg and Konogg withdraw to the tunnels to examine your finds in greater detail. You may join them whensoever you are convinced that there are no more secrets worth finding in this area of the factory.

In the excavation tunnels, you speak with Anogg, who has been working to piece together the components you gathered. Unfortunately, there is no means of knowing whether her efforts have met with success until the pod has completed its analysis. Stymied, she reluctantly decides to set to work studying the other data collected within the ruins instead, and asks that you ensure that the dig site chief will not interfere with the twins' research.

You speak with the dig site chief, who is shockingly amenable to the idea of letting Anogg and Konogg continue their investigation─perhaps in part because the alternative is getting involved in the messy business himself. Still, he vouches for their technical competence, so you may have confidence that the secrets of the ruins will be revealed in due course.