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EXE3-1: 1-2
EXE3-2: 3-5
EXE3-3: 6-9
EXE3-4: Plectum, 1, 10

EXE3-5: 11-irl
EXE3-6: 7, 12, 4
EXE3-7: 4, 7, 10
EXE3-8: 10, 7, 1
EXE3-9: 1
EXE3-10: 1, -4
EXE3-11: 12-irl

EXE3-12: 11
EXE3-13: Plectum, 12
EXE3-14: 13, 4, 10, 14

EXE3-15: Inv, Gul
EXE3-16: Lux, Ava, Ace, Ira, Sup
EXE3-17: Tex, Follower, Oscar
EXE3-18: Mike, Sarah, Eli, Pristum

EXE3-19: TCM (Zeebra, Calcium)
EXE3-20: Plectum

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1. Tump Voice Note Vol3 around Tump.exe 1 https://youtu.be/JL468512pv0 He's happy to see us progressing so well, although from here on it will get more dangerous. He says the reason we're losing control over the system might be because of 'her'. He's wrangled some of his old access codes back which he can hopefully use to aid us somewhat.

2. mysterious message from (yan?) Tump https://youtu.be/NhpZw8iqIJI 

> 3. Crazy Tump 🌸

• he introduces himself as Tump von Valdicth and asks if we've seen his bees

⊕ he hands us each a small yellow rock

• his penguin butler brings us 'drinks'
• he takes Red to see a dagger, leaving Caen in a room full of odd skeletons hanging from the ceiling
• he shows Red into a room full of weapons of his own creation, most notable the Rose's Bane, which immobilizes enemies via burning rose vines
• the skeletons begin to move towards Caen, who starts petting them
• he tells Red about a rude man in a white suit who came by, and a women with long hair, just like the white lady who fittingly appears in the room
• she is hard to make out, but has blue eyes, and once again extends her arms at Red, her mouth opening as though to say something
• Crazy Tump and Red start running, picking up Caen along the way
• the woman corrupts a door to step through it. Crazy Tump tries to, but cannot touch her, instead phasing through

⊕ as they're fleeing he gives Red a blue and a red knife &  Caen an unidentifiable, slightly cracked bird skull (Van) which he hints might offer some protection 

✎﹏ it is implied corrupting a Tump takes their entire file with them

✎﹏ the purification completing shifts the amulet's colour slightly towards blue 

> Menu

• we receive a highly corrupted message which reads 'Return to me. _____ is _______ death ______ you ______ mine.'
• the image of the woman in white flashes behind the message text and BaT informs us she's here, but he's trying to reroute her like before
• many glitchy duplicates of hers appear, reaching for us with clawed hands and red eyes
• as the system throws up errors, we hear from the 'Echoes': 'Mine.. Freedom.. Flesh.. Lost.. Come.. Free.. Me..'
• as she rushes towards us BaT finally manages to turn her to ashes, which revert to code and vanish
• he says it's getting stronger
• if we make it to 7 purifications or sacrifices, we can unlock his file 

> 5. Butler Tump 🌸

• he file is a human castle in Aztral, before the empire's fall. He introduces himself as the grey butler, half-Herlot servant to the human prince
• he offers us his own tea blend as it is revealed via a glance of physical injuries he is horribly mistreated here
• he seems confused over whether he really is Tump or Reyleth

⊕ he gives us an amulet dedicated to Lariam; a small tree above crashing waves

• when Tump.exe informs us of the woman approaching, we purify him
• Tump.exe freezes the file temporarily, making us unable to enter but not harming Reyleth

✎﹏ if unpurified/corrupted Tumps are frozen, they may be damaged

◐ 3 purifications

1. Tump Voice Recording Vol 5 https://youtu.be/fBK-Nsix7G0 He's worried about how Red will handle things, but he will try to tamper with this version's code to help.

2. BaT Voice Log 2 https://youtu.be/yEU8y_jfmw0 He says he's scared of the white lady, because he isn't technically a Tump so he doesn't know what encountering her would do to him, but he's sure we can get him out. And that it might be our only chance of escaping.

3. News Report from 2008 https://youtu.be/Ow_rl9lAl-Q The company's news broadcast informs us they have recently changed their name to Tump Inc and are working on a new virtual reality interface: Tump.exe. There has been a series of disappearances of children aged 7-13. Small text in thr corner says '.....|..---'

4. Odd Message from inside the system https://youtu.be/0afFRHPJKtQ a glitchy female voice says 'don-', 'tru-', '-atum', and finally 'danger'. The description says 'It doesn't have to be perfect. None of it does. It is our night after all and we do with it as we fit. Here. Take my hand. Let me have this dance.'

❖ Loli Tump has gone from stable to half stable 

> 6. Chuuni Tump

• he introduces himself as Theodore la Lilian vi Lightborn aka Black Light, struggling in brooding exile to contain his power so as to not hurt us
• we immediately start calling him Theo
• he demonstrates little magic tricks for us, while we argue on whether to corrupt him or not

⊕ he gives Red a seashell necklace & Caen an earring carved from a reindeer antler with vague positive norse runes

• he shows us a music box with the same melody he heard in a dream involving the woman in white
• as she is once again approaching, we quickly exit to the menu. As we leave, we witness the amulet settle on green while the woman kneels to Theo's height, ignoring us

❖ file 6. Chuuni Tump is miraculously stable

• access to all further files is cut off as Tump.exe offers us a tear by file 8 that we can traverse with our amulet
• said tear is a blue slit in the wall big enough to walk through. It is said we think we see 'familiar figures' trying but unable to reach us in our protective bubble

> 8. ... Tump?..

• the file contains (a) Tump, slumped by a computer, which is breathing. He's badly scratched up and clearly barely alive, not healing like we do
• he advises us weakly to run
• we attempt to carry him out of the file, but multiple spikes shoot up from the ground and pierce his body before we can make it out
• the system stops responding to us, the amulet is glowing red
• as Tump bleeds out, a man in a white suit steps out of the darkness, mocking us

> Plectum's Garden 🌸

• he states that killing the real Tump would be 'bad for his health'
• we attempt to punch him, but he is completely unfazed. He attempts to have the system freeze us, but the amulet prevents it
• he opts to simply pin us in place with floor spikes instead
• he changes the scenery to the side of a mountain lake and his suit to a purple one, revealing he is Plectum, not Pristum
• he drops some lore, saying Tump would have never entered the system had he known it was him he was dealing with instead of Pristum. They are fundamentally different from the Tumps
• both of their names contain 'Tump' in some way, and the rest is 'part of the name that was taken from them'
• after Caen asks him whether he is a person he says 'Pristum.. Plectum.. The mind.. She.. And more... People we are no longer'
• his former name starts with an A
• when Red asks if they're the stolen children he divulges that some of them are
• he reveals that dying in the system will leave you effectively brain dead, which is why he intends to use our bodies to escape it after disposing of us
• 'it was Tump Inc who originally helped you get in here... for it was Tump... who broke into this world first'
• further, Tump Inc wants us here because they want to get their hands on Tump again
• the whole brain chip disaster was orchestrated by his 'mistress' and happened while we were already in the system, so now 'they' control most of the company even irl
• he is inconvenienced by some of the code Tump has inserted, keeping him stuck
• 'I will deliver soon. What she wants to her. Maybe then she will... Never mind'
• he carves 'give up' into Red's hand and shoves a box of mints into a hole in Caen's throat left behind by a spike
• he gives us one 'bonus' purification and tells us not making decisions will have consequences from now on
• Caen manages to bite him while he isn't expecting it and it seems to hurt, then he shoves us both back through a portal
• Caen insists they corrupt Chuuni Tump now, mentioning she is doubtful a protection oriented amulet will be strong enough 

> 7. Yiff Tump 💀

• we are immediately hugged without our consent
• while Red is being uncharacteristically hateful Caen tries to extract information, and he tells them about the woman in white passing through occasionally, though he doesn't seem scared of her at all
• when stabbed by Red, he bleeds pink
• we chose to eliminate him
• the woman appears, but Plectum prevents us leaving the file
• amulet in hand, Caen successfully walks through the wall into the corridor, but has to search for a moment to get back to retrieve Red
• as she yanks them out of the file, the woman in white seems like she was trying to say something

> 9. Roleplay Tump 💀

• the file consists of a forest with a campsite at which an adventurer sits
• he tells us this is the Asyr forest, where there has been a ghost wandering around
• he leaves to go investigate or take care of a noise
• jovial music starts up as the atmosphere darkens around us, corrupting until a twitching figure appears
• the Follower speaks in an echoey voice composed of many Tumps, being a corrupted fusion of Yandere Tump and Tex, and having inherited their opposing desires
• it walks slowly and occasionally warps after us as we run into the forest
• we are pulled aside and hidden against a tree by the adventurer. He asks us specifically to take his hands as he leads us out of the forest
• he is revealed to just be an animated corpse which holds us while the Follower approaches
• the woman in white appears as well, breaking its hold over the adventurer to free us
• she appears in between the Follower and us as we flee. When Caen thanks her for this her song gets a little less corrupted
• we manage to escape with one bonus corruption

1. Echoes of the Collective Mind https://youtu.be/DnkRrD4zxN0 An echoey disembodies voice has an identity crisis over being (or not being) Tump. (I think he might be Plectum?)

2. Tump Recordings Vo l2 https://youtu.be/9_Ddjojho8E He talks wistfully about who his friend (A-) used to be before he became what he is now, which Tump describes as 'almost like Tex, his creation'.

3. Mysterious Message https://youtu.be/xDb1htlBoNk The system has detected external code but its counter measures are interrupted. Messages float across the screen from someone begging to be found, then it flickers to red. A female voice says 'Tump. You there? I feel you. Please return to me'.

◐ 4 purifications, 2 corruptions

1. Echoes of the Collective Mind

2. Tump Recordings Vol 4 from around Tump.exe 2 https://youtu.be/fSR_VRADHUo Tump is horrified, sure that the elimination mechanic cannot be what Tump Inc intended. He says someone has tampered with the code, but he can at least use this to make the amulet.

3. Tump Recordings Vol2

4. BaT Voice File 3 https://youtu.be/8q9Zj4aXm6Y Sounding increasingly untrustworthy, he begs us to get him out. He says there are keys/passwords in the system, one of which can be obtained by 'destroying' Loli Tump.

✎﹏ canonically Lily & Mess stayed behind in Tump.exe 2, where Lily encountered a bug that threw her back out into reality after which Mess decided to come looking for us

❖ Loli Tump is now highly unstable

• we receive a summons from Plectum that automatically takes precedence over the other messages. He says he has news and an offer, if we come to him (urgently)
• walking through the corridor there we encounter a swarm of familiar blue butterflies, a reference to 04 decaying into them in Tump.exe 2. They are corporeal and able to pass through the protective bubble
• we emerge into the garden, which is devoid of life save for a music box melody playing from somewhere
• the source of it is a medallion with a picture on in, which Plectum shuts on our arrival at his picnic spot
• he changes the scenery to a hill by the ocean at night. There are animals now
• he halfheartedly apologizes, saying he was 'quite tense as some things had not gone as planned'
• he claims he lied about needing our bodies to escape, since with some 'recent changes' he's acquired hosts, apparently utilizing the brain chips. However, he cannot leave without his mistress
• he offers to let us leave as long as we leave Tump behind. We yell at him
• he says that unlike us, Tump belongs here, and soon he will be 'unreachable' anyway
• as we leave he calls after us a warning about 'the one who observes'
• BaT asks us to please free him, but we elect not to

> 1. Loli Tump 💀

• the file is severely deteriorated, and Loli Tump is huddled in a corner mumbling about a dark man coming for her
• she says it took part of her, and it 'smiles, watches, follows', coming back again and again, twisted but always the same

⊕ we corrupt her, and it spits out a code which Caen notes down on a piece of bamboo paper, presumably used to unlock file 4 (it is 44, 65, 75, 73 | 61, 64, 65, 73, 74)

> 10. Tump.exe

• the file contains a bar somewhere high up in a city, and is full of Tump.exe's
• the bar is called Rest.exe, and here we can converse with all the Tumps we've purified (and Chuuni Tump)
• with the aid of Crazy Tump, we throw one of the exe clones through the floor to ceiling windows, Crazy Tump surfing down on him
• the session ends on a cliffhanger, as as we're leaving the lights flicker and the Tumps disappear. Accompanied by her theme song, the white lady walks in through the window and beckons us again
• she tells us 'come'
• she is mentioned to have black hair, blue eyes, and to be wearing a robe 

✎﹏ it is implied the saved Tumps have wildly varying levels of awareness of their situation, Reyleth not understanding at all and Tea Tump directly talking about his purification. He also knows about Brexit

❖ we have unlocked file 11. Rin.tmp

◐ 4 purifications, 3 corruptions

1. Plectum Mysterious Conversation from Tump.exe 2 https://youtu.be/jYpT0k4_G70 We hear only his end of the conversation, which takes place before the death of Tex. He is promising to bring 'him' to whoever he is talking to.

2. Tump Recording Vol3 (see session  2)

> Menu 🌸

• we are reminded by the system that we haven't yet decided the fate of file 6, Chuuni Tump
• we are told the option to chose from outside the file remains as long as the file is not fully corrupt
• Caen breaks character, agreeing too easily to purify Chuuni Tump

> 11. Rin.tmp

• the file opens a portal shot through with blue glowing/pulsing 'veins'
• the amulet glows green
• the corridors behind are murky dark and cold, only lit by the veins
• our destination is similar; a dark room where all the veins unite in one point, right where the woman in white stands
• she is clearly no Tump, and as we approach, she again holds out a hand to us and smiles slightly
• we clasp hands before Red takes hers
• she smiles, nods, and closes her eyes, and then we hear her music start back up again, even clearer than before
• duplicates of her step out of the walls and floor to form a circle around us, one of which takes Caen's hand. As they lead us to the opposite wall where another portal opens, the rest of them bow and part
• this time the darkness is blinding, but we are led through it
• in the new room the veins are replaced by clear chains through which the blue light flows. At the end of the room they wrap around the same woman, less picture perfect and suspended in mid air. It is implied the chains are sapping her energy
• she speaks in a glitchy combination voice of Tump.exe and, presumably, herself
• the amulet glows blue
• she warns us BaT is actually Pristum, imprisoned by Plectum
• she introduces herself as Rin, who knew Pristum (and presumably Plectum) and nearly slips up calling them 'Cr-' and 'Al-' respectively
• she knew Tump well
• it was Pristum who trapped her here
• to help her she says we need to go through another portal, although she isn't sure where it leads
• on the other side there is supposed to be a console and a friend to help us find it, while she, at full power, will be able to take care of Pristum
• she implies staying in the system for too long caused them to lose their humanity
• she says Pristum has essentially gone mad with power, and also was the one to slowly corrupt Loli Tump
• Plectum 'deceived Pristum first with the worker chips', then again with the 4 scientists, then once more to trap him
• to convince us to hurry, she says Pristum is working on freeing The Follower from the frozen file
• stepping through the portal feels like the opposite of the previous ones 

> Caen POV irl

• Caen awakes alone in a hospital bed, connected up to numerous wires
• they fall out of the bed and shed the wires, and flipping a switch reveals the room as well as a mirror which shows them what has happened
• a small device beeps with two messages, first 'you need to move. Rose is just a few rooms from here -S', and then 'welcome to Tump Inc'

[◐ 5 purifications, 3 corruptions]

> Caen POV

• Caen discovers a file about herself which contains the following information: Caen is referred to as Subject 404, acquired after the VR device was tracked and her parents lied to, all for the purpose of luring Tump.
• the phone displays 'We need to move, before they realise you are here. We need to find your friend, hurry! -S'

⊕ they receive the floor plan, including some labelled rooms and an indicator of their current location

• out in the hallway, the second door to the left has thumping sounds coming from it. To investigate Caen enters a small room in between and pushes aside a panel in the door to peer inside
• inside a person is sitting in a corner, pounding on the walls
• the phone displays 'Do not go in! That is one of them. I was able to trap this one. An old researcher... Now only a toy for Plectum.'
• a red light blinks in the person's neck, and the walls are covered in bloody scratch marks. They turn to the door, and Caen can see their pupils are white
• 'An old worker here.. Plectum actually did it. He and.. She managed to take control of the chips. Now they only need him to do their horrors. -S'
• they urge Caen on because they can't say 'how long it will take for the rest to arrive' at which point things would get more dangerous
• in the room by the elevator there is another one of 'them', though unresponsive, so they take the way around to Red's room
• some of the rooms smell of rot and one contains someone hooked up the same way they were, a teenage boy
• ✎﹏ Silicia can see us through the security cameras and hear us through the phone

> Tump Inc. Floor 7

• 'Hello, Rose. Now that we have gotten you back as well, allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Silicia, the upper manager and second hand to the CEO of Tump Inc. Do not be alarmed by this. I switched sides a long time ago. I work now with Rin and Tump to get you to safety and to rid the world of these horrors.'
• Red asks her to prove she isn't evil and she claims: 'Tump said this to me before I helped him enter the system: It is likely that my friends will follow. Please make sure that they are okay. I cherish them deeply and wish no harm for them. Also, Red is really chaotic, so have fun with that.'
• she also says she 'cannot keep the sole control over the cameras over her and Plectum for long.'
• she gives us 4 goals:

1. Reach the 4th floor and find the code in Pristum's room.
2. Enter the 7th floor and input the code in the top research room.
3. Disable and remove the chips in the players' necks in the medbay on the first floor.
4. Open the main pod door via control room 1 & 2.

⊕ we receive the relevant floor plans

• this is how we realise there are chips in our necks, too; to remove these we allegedly need to 'free' Rin to allow us access to the medical machinery
• the adjacent rooms in the hallway contain about 10 bodies, either hooked up to machines or in hospital beds, and more of 'them'. When Red unplugs them, they do not wake up. All of them seem to be between the ages of 15 and 18
• some of the machines in these rooms show red error/failure messages

⊕ in top research, we pick up a key card labelled 'Tump'

• the room labelled '???' contains shoddy lighting and a singular chair, upon which sits The Boi, surrounded by many other furbies

⊕ we collect The Boi and another furby

❖ the room is now labelled 'Tump Inc. furby research'

• Caen convinces Red to not enter the other labelled room by telling them about the person she saw before they reuinited
• the elevator buttons are as follows:

12. CEO & Top Research
11. C I E C E Research
10. Higher database & modules
9. Tump.exe main lab
8. Physical & mental examination
7. Top subject research lab
6. Classes
5. Classes
4. Top subject Rooming & cantine
3. Low database & modules
2. Disposal unit
1. Lobby and low research
0. Car park
-1. Staff room
-2. Additional subjects
-3. Unique testing & research
-4. Central mind cortex

> Tump Inc. Floor 12

• the place is fancy and full of luxuries, yet empty except for more of 'them'. They surround the door to the CEO's office, and there are scratch marks on it
• the control rooms are closed and with the chips we cannot enter anywhere yet
• Silicia informs us we can only proceed here once we have the chips removed or we find a way into the CEO's office

> Tump Inc. Floor 4

• the floor is carpeted and empty of people, with many student rooms, all with plaques except for Tump and Lia's rooms, where they have corroded away or been removed intentionally
• an old announcement plays: 'remember students of The study! Wake up is at 8am sharp! Head to the cantine and to classes at 9!'
• 'This place.. it brings back memories indeed. I remember the kids.. back when I thought we did things right... It's.. 4pm.'

⊕ the guards in their stations are knocked out or dead. We loot the bodies to obtain a stunner pistol for Caen, a baton for Red, a close range stunner for Caen and ball bearings

• the observatory is a surveilance room with footage of the student rooms. [Tump says he's missing a pre-written file for this room]
• in the cafeteria one of the tvs can be turned on to reveal a game left off right in the middle, but we are urged to turn it off quickly

⊕ Red collects a knife from the kitchen

• we move onto Tump's room, opening it with the key card
• in the room there is a picture with 6 children on it, one of which is Tump. The others are: a shy looking boy with blond hair, a smiling, more confident black haired boy with glasses, a boy with brown hair who is holding young Rin's hand and, leaning on Tump, a girl with white hair

⊕ behind a lose wall panel we find his diary and a usb stick

> Tump's Diary

• the diary covers his 10th to 374th day there
• when he was 13, he and a group of others (Lia, Alec, Cris, Rin, Erik) came to Tump Inc. for some sort of educational program
• Rin is described as 'similar' to him
• Erik is swedish, and 'odd but passionate'. Around day 50 he starts 'acting weird' and starts getting into trouble until he disappears ~a month later
• Lia is the one he spends the most time with early on, around day 73 she seemingly gets together with Rin
• at day 74 he's very extatic that something Alec encouraged him to do has worked
• Alec finds out about the cameras in their rooms, but they work out there's a corner that's invisible; where he's stashed the diary
• after Erik and then others disappear they start snooping around, finding something horribly gruesome on floor -4
• they manage to make 4 copies of some access codes, one of which he hides with the diary
• after this they split into teams, Tump and Alec & Rin and Cris, to attempt an escape

✎﹏ we have pockets big enough to fit the stun gun but not a furby

✎﹏ about the same time Tump entered the system, Red, Mess, Cin and Caen were sent headsets by a 3rd party, through which we entered Tump.exe 1. Only Red and Caen were then tracked down and brought in by Tump Inc. because Tump was able to hide the others

✎﹏ Plectum gained control of the chips somewhere around Tump.exe 2 or 3

> Tump Inc. Floor 4

• as we leave Tump's room, another announcement plays: 'Welcome to the Frinet schooling systems! I am Peppy and I will guide you through your studies! Don't be afraid to ask!'

❖ in the elevator, the buttons for floors 10 and -4 are now lit up, but do not work yet

✎﹏ Tump implies Frinet was Tump Inc.'s name before their rebrand in 2008

> Tump Inc. Floor 7

• occasional banging and gurgling sounds can be heard on this floor
• the door to the Tump.exe test chamber seems to have long fallen out of use. The room contains nothing but an outdated looking console in the middle and multiple closed metal panels in the walls
• The console runs an alternate version of Tump.exe 1, with the 6 (7) modes cool kid speech pattern, furry, philosophical Tump, professional Tump, child friendly mode, epic gamer and, newly, mini-Tumps
• we select the bonus mode mini-Tumps, and the panels in the walls open to reveal small chibi versions of Tump modes we have encountered
• They are metal, but with synthetic 'anime like' skin and green eyes, and outfitted with the appropriate clothing
• we meet chibi tsundere Tump, cool Tump, yan Tump, and 04

⊕ Caen brutally destroys chibi yan Tump, presumably breaking her toe in the process and revealing that puzzlingly it too has a chip, while Red receives a blue plastic flower from 04

• when they hug it, it whispers 'See, I told you.. We would meet again, my friends'
• the Tumps return into the walls and we shove chibi yan Tump's remains back into the hole, which only halfway works, before we leave

✎﹏ it's likely the console could detect who was using it or at least the system could see and recognize us to deliver us the right Tumps. There also thus must be remnants of 04 and yan Tump in the main system

❖ all the noise drew 'them' closer, making it harder to return to this floor in the future

> Tump Inc. Floor 4

• Caen tries to open the door to Lia's room using the key card, but snaps it, so Red goes at it with the baton, and when Caen tries again with the now sharper card bits, the lock finally gives
• the room is noticably dusty, with another group photo and one of just Lia and Tump on the desk. It is the only room with a window
• ouside the window we see the ocean, with an oak tree by the shore and blue jays, indicating we are somehow in North America
• in the bookshelf there is a photo of Tump with unknown writing on it: 'You took me in, when noone else would. You helped me, when I couldn't help myself. You smiled to me and told everything would be fine, when everything was dark. I hope that one day, put of here, we can be free, together.'
• the room also has plushies, notably a bear and a snake, as well as an album labelled 'memories' in which we find two relevant  codes:

lower entry no: 6355
CEO's office: 4982

• the back of the group photo says: 'Cris, Alec, Rin, Tump, L--, and Erik. Taken in 2013, spring. We got to go outside! The guys were so stupid with all their plays.. Next time, we will do this outside of this place!'
• the photo in Tump's room says nearly the same thing, only 'Lia' isn't scratched out

✎﹏ Tump says it could not have been Tump himself trying to hide the names if it was done for our benefit, as by the time he knew us he was already being hunted

• Despite Silicia's warning that Erik's room contains 'only bad memories' we proceed, and find the room completely trashed, with 'I need to get out' written in blood on a wall. It's dusty except for where multiple objects have been recently removed; there's restraints on the bed and blood spatter all over the broken glass that is strewn about the place
• Silicia says that she 'did not see it back then', but does now
• there is also a crude drawing in blood of a figure strapped into a machine
• Rin's room is not worth mentioning beyond a photo of her and Cris

⊕ searching the other rooms, we find clothing including shoes, cat ears, a backpack and a shank

• the backpack can just about hold 2 furbies, and Red uses it to have The Boi peeking out watching their back
• we change
• Cris' room is also dusty, but has a cross on the wall and a note in a book which reads 'I wish I never need to use this, but if the day comes, I will be prepared. Do know, I do it not to hurt you nor to be vicious. I just know now. My place is here, and that is why, your plan will never work. I told. For we will remain here, as here, I will become God.'
• the back reads 'My dear.. I love you. Now, and always. Remember that. This is for your own.. No, for our own good.' accompanied by a bit of code which just reads 'I love you'
• Silicia provides us the key for it

✎﹏ Pristum is a damn snitch

• Alec's room is the largest, and holds a casette + player

1. Alec talk: https://youtu.be/Cahj4Z2lE38 he's been there for a year and is very, very angry that he's having to 'play the friend' while the girl he likes likes someone else. He says if waiting to swoop in doesn't work out, he'll just 'break him'.

• we find a photo of Lia in his bed
• hidden under a broken floor panel there the locket which Plectum wears in the system, which plays a tune when opened. In it is another picture of Lia, and under it something scrathed out, potentially Tump
• we remember to reset the room
• when the elevator doors close our communicator screen goes dark, and the thing moves on its own

> Tump Inc. Floor 10

• the floor is dimly lit in cyan, and we are greeted to the sight of multiple fluid filled tubes with people hooked up to machinery in them
• to one side, there is a closed off room labelled C I E C E, the first C in a different colour. It also says 'Lia' (?)
• the ones mentioned are labelled Subject 354, Rin, Erik, and finally, Plectum
• Silicia helpfully tells us to 'Run! RUN! You need to leave this floor! You need to run!', then, ominously, 'He's here.'
• Plectum's eyes open
• through the intercom we hear 'I see you'

✎﹏ Tump calls this the server room. Fun!

❖ we are now actively being hunted :)

> Tump Inc. Floor 10

• Plectum's CNS seems to be directly connected up via cable, his heart is replaced with a blue thumping core, and he wears what is presumably an oxygen mask. He is also, sadly, beyond reach behind a glass wall
• 'You will not leave. You will not interfere. Here you will die. I gave you a chance.'
• the elevator begins to move behind us, down to floor 1, and then back up
• 'Do not worry. I will make sure to have good use of your remains. You will join the others.'
• the elevator arrives, but before the doors open he says 'I give you one more chance. Leave, never gome back. You can return to your lives, you can be free. Just say the word and you.. Will be free. Tump belongs with us.'
• about 8 of 'them' are inside the elevator, and they spill into the room minds mindlessly set on uncoordinated destruction
• Plectum laughs at us and tells them to keep our heads intact, he 'needs his toys to be able to dance'
• Red breaks one of the former employees' jaws and then bashes in their head for good measure, which draws the others' attention towards them. Unnoticed, Caen stuns one of them
• we tase and swing until one of them grabs Red's arm with the intention to bite, and Caen hits them with the stun gun in the nick of time, somehow causing its chip to explode. This staggers the remaining 4
• Red is starting to enjoy this, though Caen hates it
• after all of them are down, Red dispatches the ones who are just stunned with the baton
• 'How amusing. But do not worry, I have plenty more toys to work with. And besides..'
• he engages our chips, immobilizing us with nausea and a terrible headache that temporarily makes our vision black out. The chips grow warmer and their light pulses quicker
• 'It will not take long.. Til you are mine.. One way.. Or another. Play your game. In here, you cannot hide. You cannot run away. In here, I am your fate.'
• a steel blind hides Plectum from view, and it seems Silicia can contact us once more
• there are now claw marks in the elevator, yet the jazz music still plays

> Tump Inc. Floor 7

• 2 monitors in Top Research take input; one recently activated awaits 'actively', the other will take a staff login consisting of username and password
• When asked about her login, Silicia says hers were terminated 'ages ago' and suggests we search the facility
• we put in the decoded 'I love you' from Pristum's/Cris' room, which works and according to Silicia 'sets Rin free'. We are now to head down to get our chips removed

> Tump Inc. Floor 1

• the main lobby has fancy marble flooring, and mutiple rooms are open. The gift shop is filled with 'them'
• gift shop items: 'ya like jazz?' shirts, 'leave it to Tump(s)' shirts, Tump plushies, logo posters, 'I don't like water' coffee/tea sets, Live Laugh Tump coffee/tea sets
• our headaches get worse as we approach the medbay making it harder to think, unpleasant feelings that aren't ours flowing into our heads. A disembodied voice begins to urge us to join them instead. It seems they have clear intent to kill
• 'Please enter the medbay ASAP. Plectum is trying his hardest to influence you. Whilst this is tiring to him as he does not hold full control of you as of right now, it can also be very damaging to your brains. Performing the surgery as soon as possible would be ideal.'
• Silicia tells us she used to be a medstudent but failed. Her grasp on the medical knowledge required seems a little bit shaky
• the medbay has massage type tables with robotic arms installed above them. There is no anaesthetic, but there are restraints
• while telling Red that removing the chip on their own has a 0.5% success rate, Silicia casually drops she also will be disabling the chips with the proper software
• Caen gets their chip dug/cut out first, then Red, both receiving stitches, a bandage, painkillers, and a popsicle after. Before Red's turn, Caen places The Boi under the table where he will not be bled on so they'll have something to focus on. The incision as a whole is about 3 inches.

⊕ in the smaller lobby adjacent to the main one, we find a briefcase which Red cracks open with the baton. It contains mostly papers, but also a red device with a button

• upon pressing it, our heads hurt a bit. The accompanying documents make it out to be a temporary chip disabler, equipped with 10 uses before it needs to be charged. It displays an 8, presumably the number of uses left
• it is a precaution against Pristum, covering about 20 feet around the device for 2 minutes
• we also find the complete staff login of Oscar Cooper; Oscar_headchief IAmEternal1234

> Tump Inc. Floor 7

• we enter our login and find mostly mundane files except for a locked one on Subject 603. Silica unlocks it for us and it is an audio recording:

> Subject 603 (Erik .......)

• the person on the tape is Doctor Fird, recording when Erik is 16 (~2015, before we met Tump)
• Erik ... ...., born 1999, 12 at time of arrival to the facility, sold for research by his guardians
• early on Erik showed great capacity for emotion but this ability faded, leading them to manipulate and drug him, though that only succeeded in making him unstable
• this put him in a near constant dopamine rush and amplified mostly love and hatred
• this disqualified him from the C I E C E protocol
• he was one of the first modules inserted fully into Tump.exe. They forced AI Erik into a file to test what an 'FAI' like him could do
• Tex began immediately to eat him, but after 45 minutes the FAI began laughing, hugging Tex to itself. This disturbed them enough to stop testing just 5min later
• they kept him, though not for commercial use, and called him YanTump

[maybe we should remember to collect our extracted chips if possible]

◐ confirmed kills: Caen - 1, Red - 11

> Tump Inc. Floor 1

• we arrive down from the 7th floor and the elevator doors take a suspicious amount of time to open
• the door to the outside is made of glass and locked, letting us look out over a fenced off property with fields, play areas and a hedge maze, some of it recognizable from the photos we've found

> Gift Shop

• to enter the gift shop safely, Caen stays outside with the chip disabler while Red goes to retrieve some items
• Caen asks for a 'Live Laugh Tump' mug and Tump plushie, one of which Red is also after
• while 'they're' down, Red smashes three of their skulls in, bringing their confirmed kills up to 14

⊕ Red retrieves 2 plushies, a mug, and a Tump mustache hat. Tump narrates us also getting a 'keep calm and Tump on' poster and a Tump.exe jazz vinyl

• we close the door behind us

> Guard Stations

• we peer into the guard stations to see they are ridiculously armed, yet abandoned
• both doors can theoretically be opened with a pass code, but one of the devices is broken, requiring a physical master key
• instead of glass windows there are metal bars, so Red reaches the baton through
• they drop it on the table, but Caen is able to reach in and retrieve it, also magically getting the door open in the process
• inside there are pistols, a rifle, 5 flashbangs, 3 smoke grenades, another stun gun, a riot shield, 2 bullet proof vests and 2 hand held radios with a 1km max distance. It looks like there was a fight

⊕ we take the bullet proof vests, flashbangs and smoke grenades, which Red stores in their backpack. The rifle is busted, but Caen does find and take a pebble

• we fail to open the second door, missing out on 'experimental' stuff
• we cut our hair with one of Red's kitchen knives

⊕ reorganising our inventory, we discard the plushies to make room. Tump points out we would have a hard time running like this

> Shop/Cafeteria

• we have some stale candy bars and feel a bit better
• the cafeteria smells strongly of rotting food, and in light of the other options we go back into the shop for flat sodas

✎﹏ the newest newspapers in the shop are dated to the 5th of September 2021

> Lower Research

• the room contains what seems to be prototypes of the pods in operation on the 10th floor, as well as research notes.
• some fragments that aren't redacted are: 'Subject 344 code name Loli Tump', 'Claire', '2005', 'added to system 2011', and 'not C I E C E compatible'
• another document reveals the first C in C I E C E to stand for Creativity
• these old pods look like their use would have been a much more painful and invasive procedure, even having a line that would fully connect up to the spinal cord. This seems to be how FAI are or were created
• some of the procedures that blueprints here hint at seem to suggest a full amputation of the lower body; some talk about further more genuinely medical research concerning the interfacing of the body with technology
• there is a mostly redacted note about Alec: 'Subject 002, Alec, item or C I E C E, - Intelligence - - -'
• 'Alec shows great intelligence. Their control over the matters of the mind seems to be like that of no other. 001 was almost replaced by 002, but their capabilities in the end were not as prominent as subject L--'s were'
• a last note reads 'Subject 004, Tump, C I E C E, Creativity. MIA, recovery high priority for the complete success of C I E C E'

✎﹏ after the session has ended Tump points out how odd it is Silicia didn't contact us at all

✎﹏ the company has existed since the ~1850s, and wasn't always called Frinet either

✎﹏ Tump 'escaped' around age 15/16

✎﹏ Tump hints that Plectum might have opened a backdoor for Pristum to be able to do what he did

◐ confirmed kills: Caen - 1, Red - 11

> Tump Inc. Floor 1

• the door to Documentation seems to have been busted open once already; the room contains heavily redacted subject files, although 001 through 006 are missing
• there are no files on Subjects used in C I E C E or 'special modules', but experimental ones and ones destined for the collective mind
• we learn about another Erik (007), this one born in 2002, having ended up as the Cool Kid Speech Pattern from Tump.exe 1
• we learn about Subject 008 whose name was Sahsa [Sasha?], whose depression Sad Tump from Tump.exe 2 is based on
• the file on subjects 667 & 665 reveals both some choice inhumane torture and that a FAI created from a brain dead subject will be in terrible agony and nonfunctional
• we are in the filing system under 2 numbers each; subject number and code. Caen's file (1001/404) notes she might make a good addition to a future system, while Red's (1002/101) says the company used data gathered from them to create Crazy Tump, but would like to turn them into a model wholesale as well
• Subjects 001 through 048 belonged to the same 'class year'
• under C I E C E there are also 3 other projects, only D A S J being named so far
• we find a stray recording of Oscar Cooper and Sarah Norman discussing Pristum pre-incident

1. https://youtu.be/ci5KuVlfP_c Oscar expresses how much he resents having to work with Pristum, when other Subjects would be much better. He draws a clear line between Cris, who was smart and full of potential, and Pristum, who is consumed with his own hatred to the point of uselessnes.

• the classification system has 4 steps; from green to yellow, purple, and finally blue
• we find a blue file talking about alternate uses of their technology, namely warfare and the company gaining immense power through their chips becoming wildly utilized (by 2023). It notes that the mainframe would retain control over all of them, and L___ will be constantly observing activities to foil hackers' interfering
• as we attempt to leave to search the next room, we become aware we've been surrounded by 'them'. Plectum chimes in broadcasting from every device in the area: 'come out.... Do come out.. I only want to play.'
• Silicia tells us to run, though he seems to be interfering with her signal
• as we leave the room & Red starts swinging, we hear a not at all ominous 'there you are..'
• suddenly there's about 60 of them blocking our way to the elevator, and we have to use the jammer to get through. Because Tump gave us too many uses when we got the thing, this prolonged use illogically cuts our remaining uses down to 3
• we dispatch 5 of them in the elevator, one of whose head explodes, and press the button for the 12th floor, but Plectum instead takes us to level -4

> Chekhov's Cabinet of Horrors (-4)

• the floor is tinged blue with light from further down, and filled with jail cells and brutal medical machinery of all kinds. All of it seems frozen in time like the rest of the building; pools of blood, some people still in the machinery and screens showing error messages
• Plectum encourages us towards the door the light is seeping out from, which is ajar. Inside, the collective mind. The entire room is packed with people or parts of them in tubes similar to those of the 10th floor, but here, all of them are audibly in constant agony. The door we step through leads onto a catwalk, because both floor and ceiling hold portions of the total 550 people here. Some of them, mysteriously, are crudely impaled in their tubes
• all of them are afraid, screaming for help, and, when the roving surges of electricty reach them, screaming in pain
• There is a console, offering three options: to ask the system anything (1), create a module (2) or to meet the 'true collective mind' (3)
• option 2 will knock the system out for 2h while it processes
• pressing option one quiets the whole horror show, stopping the electrical surges and bringing forth a yellow tint instead of the blue. The many bodies of the collective mind go limp, looking to us for input
• 'We are of 550 strong, individuals made into hive mind, the collective mind. We are here to create modules, help with research, to be researched upon and progress, assist and accomplish Frinet's, aka Tump Inc's goals.'
• Red asks what C I E C E is: it consists of 5 modules chosen specifically for the project. It's purpose is to manage the chips, and it is described as the 'supreme version of the collective mind, and the end goal'
• Caen asks whether the UN know about this: only higher clearance individuals know, and think the 'research' necessary
• Caen asks how connected they are to the C I E C E system: they are separate systems, the CM being made up of those not elligible for C I E C E, which, when completed, could be a hive mind computer operating world wide, while the CM is regionally restricted
• Red asks where Tump is: 'Subject 004, escaped at age of 15. Not recovered. Previous sightings indicate he has entered back into the system though.'
• Caen asks what would happen if the power cut: help would be dispatched immediately, and the emergency power would kick in, which could sustain the system for an estimated 2 years
• C I E C E: Creativity, Intelegence, Ego, Control, Emotion
• Caen asks about Silicia: she is a formerly high ranking employee who lost their position in the early 2010s due to conflict with the head council. No longer agreeing with the path the company was taking, she removed her own chip and vanished. There is speculation she may have rejoined the company under the name 'Sarah'
• Caen asks who the head council member is: 'Mira, a head council member, owns 49% of the tump. Inc share. She looked over the whole process of the company and is in paper, the CEO of Tump Inc.'
• Red asks what Plectum is doing: 'Watching. His vision currently reaches state wide, with his skills of hacking. He is not far from nation wide.'
• Caen asks after the exe system: 'Tump.exe 1 runs on internal systems. The modules after that have their backups all over. Almost all of the systems of Tump Inc use FAI modules. Your data, however has been collected since Tump.exe 1. C I E C E is connected to everything.'
• Caen asks how the Collective Mind can be shut down: '.... Tump may know.'
• before it can answer Red's question about D (Di...) A S J, the question time runs out, leaving option one on a 1h cooldown timer
• option 3 turns the light cyan, and opens a hatch from which a robotic body emerges. At its appearance, all of the collective mind seize before focussing a dead eyed stare down upon it
• as it struggles to walk, they speak in unison: 'I am Collective, I am one. I am to serve, I am to contain. I am to move'
• foolishly, Caen asks if they can help: 'I am.. but you are not. You, you should be. Join.'
• as two pods come into view, Plectum once again makes an auditory appearance: 'Now, you see. This, this is your new home. You're welcome.'
• our phone pings and Silicia tells us that she's wrangled control back, so we should run to the elevator
• Collective grabs Red by the hand with a literal iron grip and starts dragging them to one of the pods while Caen sprints for the console
• Red breaks their baton trying to get it to let them go, and they hit their leg so it starts bleeding in their struggle. They throw a flashbang, which goes off just as Caen finally manages to press number 2
• we are mildly electrocuted, but it doesn't really harm us so it's probably fine
• after this, the room shuts down, as the system constructs a new model. Jazz music starts up
• Plectum gets angry enough to temporarily turn the bot back on, but it is significantly weakened. Red wrenches free, though they scrape themselves, and after Caen trashes Collective a bit, together we shove it into the pod
• the pod closes automatically, and begins to horrifically maim its victim
• the two survivors hug
• Plectum resolves: '... Fine. You are stronger than I thought. I will just end you... In my own playing ground.'

✎﹏ Tump Inc., formerly Frinet, was called Aurmotor before that

◐ confirmed kills: Caen - 2, Red - 11

> Tump Inc. Floor -4

• we run to the elevator to select floor 12, and thanks to Silicia it obeys our command after briefly slowing down at floor 1

> Tump Inc. Floor 12

• 'they' are still gathered around the door to the CEO's office, the code to which (8735) we attain through a more thorough look at the contents of the briefcase
• on the wall between the doors to the control rooms there is a relief of a phoenix, its eyes inset blue gem stones
• the control rooms are fancily furbished with wood panelling, red carpet, chandeliers and old paintings
• control room 1 contains carvings/buttons of 11 dragons, a troll, an elf and a nine tailed fox spirit and an inscription which reads 'First, there were only the elves, and peace remained. Then came the trolls, wreaking destruction upon their way. Deaths of many, but still it was not the end, as the dragons of many flew in, the three dragons of the north, killing and pillaging. When the end seemed near, the fox of nine tails came, and with it came the blessing and peace, that saved the land once more.'
• control room 2 contains a fountain and carvings as well as an inscription which reads: 'Men of the west came and pilleged. Plundered destroying, for they were the first. Orcs of South, brute and strong, held no back, for the brute of men was many more. Dwarves of East mined and tinkered, yet no device would conquer the wrath of mankind. Mankind will still learn its lesson, that's is for sure, for no matter how much one will conquer, fall will come. And it is by the hand of a hero, who comes, when the lady of the lake returns'

⊕ Caen searches the fountain and retrieves about $5 and a silver dollar

• the carvings of all the creatures can be pushed into the wall and when interacted with in the correct order give the telltale clicks of a lock
• elf, troll, three dragons, fox ×9/human west, orc south, dwarf east, fountain north
• inputting the correct sequence in each room reveals two levers, which we pull. The wall with the phoenix parts to grant us access into the irl arc's final room
• it is locked with a scanner device which Silicia can open. Plectum has no way to access this final room, according to her
• we decide to explore the rest of the floor first
• we take out the horde of 'them' by the door with a combination of the ball bearings and a stun grenade, then dispatching the remaining ones personally
• Red takes out about four with the shank and/or kitchen knife before ramming it directly into the heart of a fifth, the last of the group
• we put in the code and enter the CEO's office. The inside is as fancy as the rest of the floor, and there is a smell of decay. Its source is the body of (former) Tump Inc. CEO Mira in her office chair behind the desk
• Mira is a woman in her mid 40s, with dark hair and a prominent self inflicted bullet wound in her head. The gun is still on the ground where it slipped her grasp, but while the scene is nigh perfectly preserved, her body is definitely not
• Silicia chimes in to identify her and say they 'were close.. Once'
• there is a still plugged in, running laptop with a video open

1. https://youtu.be/LiB8ei-eHZk: the video recaps a conversation between Mira and Silicia, as well as likely Mira's final moments in this room. They have a disagreement and Mira touts her power over 'the higher ups', before going into a slightly manic monologue about how untouchable she is. She despairs over losing it all because Lia [?] betrayed her.

• there is a record player still spinning the disk we just heard and a cracked grandfather clock as can be heard in the background in the video, near it the picture whose impact with it may have broken it
• the photo shows Silicia and Mira, in school uniforms and looking to be around 18-20a old. Silicia, blonde and throwing up a peace sign, has her arm around Mira, black haired and blushing
• picking it up, Red lodges a tiny splinter of glass in their thumb. Meanwhile, the communicator in our pocket warms as though to express Silicia's emotional reaction to this scene
• she asks that we move on, and we do
• the trophy room is decorated as is usual and contains fountains and many framed newspaper clippings, photos and the like dating back to the company's founding before 1900
• 'The Frinet Corp has done it again! Frinet Corp's newest development into computed devices show us to Betty, the computer who sang daisy to the world as well as calculated complicated mathematics. Whilst tother computers would take the size of a whole room, Betty is the size of a car at most. Whilst still big, the CEO says frinet's tech is far ahead and developing fastly, even saying someday our computers may be as small as hand held devices!'
• 'Frinet in the war: whose side are they on? Today, in 1944, a crisis has happened in the Frinet, lowering the stock rate by 12%. A terrible sign that the company has been selling tech for both sides, not only assisting the allies, but being responsible for thousands of deaths! Luckily, the president of the company came forth on this, informing that one rouge worker had been working with the Axis. They are to be trialed in the during month'
• underneath this second article is a plaque declaring it 'the best thing we got away with'
• there is a brain in a jar labelled Jenny, the first experiment, age 6 and brain chips labelled '000', '552', and the apparently abandoned archangel protocol
• there is a plaque for Erik, but it seems he was removed to be put back into the system
• 'The end of the age of Frinet is here, with the creation of Tump Inc. The name comes from a talented individual of the foundation, of its newest schooling project. With this the hopes are to increase the education and learning process, evolving humanity to its next step!'
• the relaxation room contains a pool, tvs, games, and a bar, of which we make use. Red considers taking a shot while Caen pours high percentage vodka over their injuries and works the glass splinter out of their thumb
• the final room is white and clean, and filled with medical equipment. In the centre, there is one large and two smaller side pods used for entering the system. In the middle lies Tump himself, plugged in
• Silicia tells us that we are safe here, and she will reopen the room when we return. She thanks us, saying we were as pleasant as Tump had said
• 'When Tump originally escaped.. I.. I erased his mind. I believed he should live as a normal child for once, but when I realised I needed him.. And there was no other way, I returned what I took.'
• she and someone else built this safe space long before the company collapsed, hiding Tump right under everyone's noses here in late 2019. She uses 'we' here
• she claims while she opposed it, this was his choice, and that he has bought us time by setting traps for Plectum in his way to get to Lia
• 'Tump does have a chip of his own, that was added afterwards, as the first was removed. It was meant to hide him and make him able to navigate the system safely. When he did give himself in to Plectum though.. He managed to take control.'
• Tump is holding a picture both of his former friends in class here and of us all in a discord call
• as Silicia assures us Rin will be waiting for us, we get into the pods, each taking one of Tump's hands, and as we fade out we would swear he grasps our hands back.
• 'Good luck.'

❖ end of irl arc

◐ confirmed kills: Caen - 2, Red - 16

> 11. Rin.tmp

• we are greeted by a slowly crumbling tree, which previously held Rin, now restored and free from it. She levitates down but stumbles, unused to walking
• she bows to us, stating her intent to be of use to us '.. and to Tump'
• she apologizes for essentially tricking us, but repeats that fixing her up was necessary to 'our' continued survival (hers included, and maybe some others too)
• apparently Silicia reported back to her about our progress during the irl arc
• Rin aknowledges that she can't really prove her motive's moral purity to us, and promptly suggests we go free Pristum/Cris
• she says he's kept her imprisoned here a long time, only able to watch, implying it was because she resisted losing herself the way Alec and Cris did. Thus she was to wait here until the completion of C I E C E
• ultimately, she wants to 'release' Plectum and Lia too (not just 'her Cris'), meaning getting them out of the system somehow
• allegedly, Tump agrees with this plan. She claims to have met him before 'losing sight of him'
• at Caen's scepticism she reveals that they do all still have their bodies, kept alive by machinery, though inhabiting them again would drive them crazy with pain and confine them to said machines
• according to her, this is why Pristum & Plectum were looking for new vessels. Then, Tump's presence in the system distracted the company enough that Plectum & Lia could find a way control the chips & take over
• she doesn't know if this means they now actually could use a vessel, but is certain they won't do it without taking Tump with, and that ultimately, it will neither make them happy nor be very good for the rest of the world
• 'so, that is why Tump and I decided to give them what they really want. Their true freedom': This is what she wants our help with
• Rin suggests we let Pristum think himself free again, while she protects us if he comes after us. 'After all his.. "angels" have been defeated, we can finally put him to rest'
• we ask for a demonstration of the power she will defend us with, and she gives us a little light show, making us float and 'feel energised'. Caen checks the amulet, which is glowing blue
• Red suggests she punch them for demonstration, or block their knife attack. She is quite resigned to our recalcitrance at this point
• she catches Red's knife with two fingers, shatters it, and reforms it for them. This wins over Caen, but Red insist on being punched
• they are flung through the file's interior wall, through the in-between corridors, and into the wall of the menu. They survive relatively unscathed due to a layer of white and blue code around their body she conjured, and seem to have enjoyed the experience greatly
• she says she only wields about a quarter of the power Plectum does, but her plan to get Pristum relies mostly on the element of surprise anyway
• her plan for defeating Plectum seems much less set in stone. He will able to sense her in the system when she leaves the file, while she can hide her presence from Pristum especially while he's still imprisoned. This means we will have to fight on our own before she can join for the final blows
• Rin asks us to go tell Plectum not to talk to Pristum about her, and offers to send one of the clones of her from before with us, though they cannot talk
• what she did to protect Red earlier is not as repeatable as it seemed; apparently she can conjure us a shield exactly once without harming the system?
• she advises we act like we fell for Pristum's plan when we let him out to lure him into a sense of security
• she gives us one free pruification and sends us on our way

✎﹏ she never refers to Lia by name, assuming we don't know her name (which logically we probably shouldn't)

◐ 6 purifications, 3 corruptions

❖ Tump.exe informs us that while we were outside the system, 'a new admin personnel' has entered it using old code

❖ the follower has escaped its temporary containment

> Menu

• Tump.exe complains that us travelling between files using the amulet is unpleasant, and charges us another 300€ for reentry and damages
• as they weren't of age when we originally entered, no fees are put on Red's account. Removing the parental lock would cost an additional 200€
• as we banter a blue crack grows in one of the walls, leading, conveniently, to Plectum
• Tump.exe explains that our amulet somehow reacts with entryways to files like this one, and that repairing these tears in the system is time consuming (thus, they remain & can be reopened)
• Caen paces the room, discovering multiple other cracks, and that the amulet now remotely displays both the corresponding file number and its danger level
• file 1 and 7 ooze 'dark broken code' and makes the amulet cycle through its colours endlessly
• 2 and 6 produce a regular blue
• file 8 makes the amulet glow a bright red
• in the corridor to file 8 we see the follower from a distance, watching, being creepy

❖ the amulet can nearly generate a shield and has gained some functionality

> 8. Plectum

• we find ourselves back at Plectum's beach, he is waiting on his lone hill listening to the melody from his medallion
• we announce our presence and intention, and he invites us to sit down for tea. Its flavour is up to us, and there are snacks
• Caen explains our situation, emphasising us being mad about the BaT situation, and Plectum concedes that he would benefit from having us take care of the guy who wants to kill him dead for shutting him away alone in a file for 4 years
• nonetheless he is conflicted about letting us potentially kill his former friend, but in the end decides that it will be a win win situation for him, no matter who loses
• he offhandedly mentions Pristum might make us into his 'flesh puppets'
• just before we leave, Caen simply can't help herself and drops Plectum's real name into the conversation. To her perverse delight, this makes him incredibly angry
• he nothing-personal-kid-teleports to stand behind her with his hands on her shoulders, low key threatens us, and then throws Caen down the stairs to his little picknick spot
• she stops Red retaliating and after wishing us a painful death, Plectum flings us out the file
• the scrapes Caen sustained falling down the stairs are healing more slowly than usual

✎﹏ Plectum has pretty far reaching access to the system's core mechanics if he can make injuries intentionally heal slow

> 12. Le... The... M.. [Le Tymp The Musical]

• the file drops us into a dark theater. A voice loudly announces that we are sitting in the audience for 'the one time only show'
• the lights turn on and the curtains part, revealing Le Tymp the Coffee Mug himself, dressed in a fancy tux and a top hat & carrying a cane. We can now also see that the rest of the audience is made up entirely of coffee mugs. We applaud enthusiastically
• 'Worry not little mugs in the audience, for even in the middle of heroics, I always prevail!'
• 4 mugs enter the stage, clearly dressed up to portray Red, Caen, Mess and Lily. Chapter one: The Awakening of the Villain begins
• the mugs clumsily fumble their way through a reenactment of Tump.exe 1, but just before their boss fight against Le Tymp can begin, the Red and the Caen mug stumble into each other and crack
• a spotlight turns on above us as he asks us to replace the injured actors, which we are of course all too happy to do
• the musical resumes with us in a circular arena on stage, evading Le Tymp's fists with not too great difficulty
• Red kindly takes the time to advise him on his choreography, and gets punched in the stomach with a very large amount of force for their troubles. We decide to get a bit more serious, then
• we spot a few candles installed in the scaffolding above the stage, and make the connection that the curtains would be quite flammable
• while he monologuea and Red runs a distraction, Caen climbs up the curtains
• they manage to detatch the curtain at the top, and Red gets it fully over him below by passing it off as a cool villain cape for him to wear
• using one of Red's knives, Caen can reach a lit candle and drops it down to set Le Tymp's new cape alight
• he stumbles around, crushing the Mess mug and setting the other curtains on fire as well, one of which falls and crushes the Lily mug
• Red turns to the audience, shortly before they all flee in the chaos of the now cracking theater stage: 'I hope the little mugs in the audience are alright with violence!'
• he finally manages to free himself, and we bring him outside, where a large amount of mugs are still gathered. Red adresses the impromptu audience and has them applaud Le Tymp's great performance, which seems to cheer him up a little
• he bows and grabs us to present us to the mugs, calling us worthy arch-enemies
• he announces a show in Tump.exe 4 where we will take down Tex together
• Le Tymp takes us to the Hall of Mugs, where all the furniture is coffee coloured, and touchingly admits to wanting to work on his choreography as Red advised
• he announces that he would usually crush us now, but doesn't feel like it - and besides, he isn't allowed. He hands us a recording to explain. We may only watch it once we've left however, for the content is embarrassing to him
• we intend to purify him, but can't as he already has been
• Le Tymp was made by Tump himself, and thus already comes pre-purified

1. Tumps talk v2 ttps://youtu.be/812s8HWU0l8 the recording is of a meeting between Tump, what is left of 04, BaT, Exe and Le Tymp, taking place around the time of Tump.exe 2. Tump anticipates that soon we will finish the game and he will have to give himself over, so he asks the gathered to assist us when the time comes. Specifically, he asks Le Tymp to lose to us the next time we meet.

◐ 6 purifications, 3 corruptions

> 13. Bunny Tump Senpai

• file 13 contains a classic anime student council office, Bunny Tump Senpai sitting with his back to us in the head chair so we can see the bunny ears over the top of it
• he is waiting for us to fill out the documents to join the student council
• he does that decisive anime thing where a character steps onto a table, declaring his intention to lead the school well and eventually take it over (as well as eventually the rest of the world)
• he jumps down, pacing, and offers Red the official assistant position - which temptingly comes with a golden pin and a special uniform
• the uniform options for council members are incredibly varied
• this is the Frinet school for gifted youth!
• Red requests a pastel yellow sweater over a button shirt with a pink skirt and a darker pink ribbon for their collar (plus white tights and black mary janes)
• it is at this point we notice the documents require swearing absolure loyalty to the president, which is problematic for us considering we went into the file already planning to corrupt him

⊕ Red decides to not sign, while Caen signs as Lily and requests the exact outfit Red described, which curiously does not make Bunny Tump Senpai suspicious

• having gotten what we wanted, we elect to corrupt him
• the school grounds erupt into flames, and Bunny Tump Senpai runs to the window, which burns him. He sinks to the ground, his ears flopping, crying blood and dropping a final anime reference before crumbling to dust

> Menu

• Caen uses the amulet on their file options: file 14 and 4 are both green, Pristum is able to partially hide himself
• Red dons the uniform

> 4. 'Build a Tump - 2000s Tump', Pristum

• we input the code we got from corrupting Loli Tump and load up the file, which seems to slow the system down
• the inside of file 4 is completely dark, and conspicuously empty of Tumps
• Caen panics almost immediately and insists we leave, but just as we're about to, we hear a sound from farther inside the file
• by the glow of the amulet, we can see one of the walls shimmer in a way the others don't, 'as if this file should have had something else in it from the beginning'
• behind said wall, the real BaT sits curled in fetal position, exhausted and his wings scuffed up. A few of his tea cups are around, attempting to cheer him up
• he barely recognizes us at first, but recounts in bits and pieces that he came here after the Tex fight and was imprisoned along with, or rather by, Pristum even while he impersonated him to us
• he says Pristum kept hurting him [or maybe was hurt himself] and called himself 'a chained god'. He mentions specifically Pristum's purple suit
• as if for demonstration, BaT shows us his tattered wings
• he asks to leave and so we take him out with us

1. the figure https://youtu.be/BOsMogeL7sU Pristum apologizes half heartedly for tricking us, explaining Alec deceived him so he will now have to destroy him. He says even 'she', who tried to warn us about him, cannot stop him. He hints that he created illusions of her to make us distrust Rin. Lastly, he waxes poetic about intending to use our bodies, saying that he will be merciful and give us a place with no suffering. He wants us to come willingly; he won't hurt us... unless he has to.
[Mans is a bit misogynistic.]

• > ?Menu?
• a man in a purple suit approaches us with a smile. 'Come now.. my children. Your long journey is at its end.'
• when we protest he quickly changes his mind, saying that we shall rest after completing his test
• he opens a portal to let the follower into wherever we are and fucks off to do something else
• Caen takes BaT and Red's hands and walks them back through the wall into the corridors. We watch as the follower walks up to the wall. At first appearing unable to get through, he scratches at it, babbling
• finally, his hand tears through the wall, and we leg it, Red and Caen unanimously deciding to head to file 10
• Caen decides they will try to enter the file from the otherside of the street to the actual lounge, hoping to lose their pursuer to the street below. Since BaT can't fly, they will have to jump for it

> 10. Tump.exe

• we proceed with the plan, but in mid air see that the once broken window front has been fixed
• at the last second BaT turns the glass into cotton candy - we tumble through
• Red opens their mouth as we're falling through (it's canonically good)
• unfortunately for us, the Follower also jumps. Fortunately for us, BaT once again reacts quickly enough and this time turns the cotton candy window into a 20 inch steel door that he slams open into the Follower's face
• Red hugs him
• exe charges Caen 200€ for damages as she's busy frantically leaning out the window to look
• BaT intends to stay and hold him up, saying 'I reckon I can keep them stuck here for a while' while below the Follower is being harrassed by tea cups and comically slipping on banana peels
• BaT suspects we are not powerful enough to kill him without help
• he boots us out of the file, saying we need to beat Pristum in file 14
• in our heads, Rin tells we'll have to 'defeat his goons' before she'll step in

> 14. ???

• we find ourselves in the same garden from the end of game 2 where we first met 'Pristum'
• he is pruning his roses, seemingly paying no attention. Red creeps up to attempt to stab him, but we are frozen before they can
• he calls himself our lord, and actually seems legitimately proud to see we survived
• thus he decides we shall indeed be his vessels to enable him to spread his gospel
• still smiling beatifically he seizes Red by the throat, declaring they will be first
• 'do not be afraid, for your life will be put to a greater use. And even if you break.. Remember to have faith. For with faith, comes sacrifice.'
• suddenly the garden floods with blood, the tide carrying bits of code and dead bodies. He sets Red down, the smile never faltering
• Pristum tells us to talk to his 'guardians and angels' to prepare ourselves before returning to him, like a fucked up little ritual
• 'Meet me at my altar.. And you shall be reborn'
• he raises his hands up to either side of his head before rising up himself, silver and white wings with golden pumping veins spreading behind him. He says he will await our arrival at his Grand Church and vanishes
• Tump.exe 3 crashes and reboots

❖ instead of Tump.exe, we are greeted with the menu of Pristum.exe

The Grand Heaven of Pristum

Welcome to Pristum.exe, your Lord and saviour. May you praise him eternally above.

The guardians of AGLISIA

1. Invida
2. Gula
3. Luxuria
4. Avarita
5. Acedia
6. Ira
7. Suberbia

Angels
X - Tex
X - The Follower

The Arch-Angels
I. Oscar
II. Mike
III. Sarah
IV. Eli

God: Pristum

◐ 6 purifications, 4 corruptions

> Pristum.exe Menu

• Pristum.exe won't talk to us, but he will play slow organ jazz for us
• we are standing on a cloud in a blue sky
• Caen scoops up some cloud, revealing swirling golden threads underneath. The cloud itself hovers away out of their hand, turning into a bird and flying to join another cloud
• Red makes a hole through all the cloud layers
• Caen grabs their hand to stop them, but is pulled down as well as they jump through
• the golden lines move to let us through
• under us is ocean, and many more clouds. They support different buildings (churches, temples, gardens) and there are marble pillars reaching out of the ocean, in their centre a golden throne. On it sits Pristum, surrounded by golden and silver veins and sporting wings a good 2m in length each
• we are stopped mid fall as golden lines surround us. Clouds form wings on our backs that carry us back up, out of our control
• when we arrive back on the menu cloud the wings dissipate, and Pristum tells us not to hurt ourselves, his voice seemingly coming from everywhere all at once

❖ a mustache carving has been added to the amulet as a result of corrupting Bunny Tump Senpai

> 1. Invidia

• the selected file name glows green and the menu tablets sink below to make room for a door, at first made of gathering clouds then then solidy into a fancy victorian double door with lionhead doorknobs
• we knock, and the door opens
• we are blinded by light, aware of a high pitched beeping
• we begin to head a thunderstorm outside, then the ticking of a grandfather clock, and finally we find ourselves in a room
• the room is similarly victorian looking, containing a bookshelf, a globe, a grand armchair, and a fireplace towards which it is facing. There is light coming from other connected rooms
• a man stands in front of the window, about 25, wearing a green and black suit. His dark hair is combed back and he is reading something
• he closes the book. 'is he free then?'
• he is reading Utopia by Thomas More
• Caen affirms this. He says this explains both our and his presence. Normally this space would be his, but currently, it is 'his masters'
• where he is annoyed by having to serve Pristum, apparently others will be more enthusiastic
• he finally turns. He has tired blue eyes with dark rings under them and a cynical old looking face; his back is bent like that of someone who spends most of their time bent over books
• CON'T
• he has no time for us as he is currently occupied with his own facility's intruder, a man looking for his daughter. According to him most AGLISIA members shouldn't fight us
• they cannot refuse Pristum's call, but they are all still in control enough to refuse his task of giving us the little philosophical questions he laid out for them to ask us
• after they took over [their own facility?] themselves, their servitude to him seems tedious
• he introduces himself as Invidia - Leon, 085. He is envious of us still having bodies. All AGLISIA members were carefully selected, but Tump Inc apparently created the circumstances that made them embody the deadly sins
• he describes 'his head being filled with information on us', maybe in much the same way he gives us a little vision of what's left of his body - a mechanical shell in a tank
• he advises we attack Pristum head on, calling us 'rabid animals' who shouldn't have trouble doing that
• he throws us one last smile over his shoulder as the doors suck us back out

> 2. Gula

• we tumble out the other end of a disorientating void and crash into a few tables, landing on top of each other
• we find ourselves in the black and white americana dream, a white picket fence and a party going on in the house. There are a lot of people facing away from us, some with balloons, one guy nearer to us
• Red approaches to try and get his attention while Caen snoops around. Trying to walk past the tables she is met with an invisible wall, while Red now sees that the man has no face, and like the other blurry party goers does not notice them
• a young girl's voice asks if we're here for her party, which we confirm. She is 13 or 14, with long brown hair and green eyes, wearing a polka dot dress and holding a balloon
• she reveals that the people here ignore her too, so she's been essentially alone for a long time and is happy to see us there
• she refers to Invidia; big brother Leon
• she also has 'imaginary friends', currently out trying to befriend the guy in their facility, but are struggling to catch him. The amulet is flickering between red and green
• she introduces herself as Gula - Anna, 074
• she seems to be chasing the other protagonist with her toys, which he is 'hurting', so she will give him a lecture 'when he gets here'. The scene is underscored with a vision of a man in his 40s backed into a corner by a horde of heavily armed toys
• she gives us one of her plushies, here it looks completely harmless
• she invites us to stay and tells us about another girl her age she once knew, who really liked tea parties. When Red produces Loli Tump's teaset, she recognizes it as hers, confirming she knew Claire (or rather, Loli Tump) at some point
• she asks after her, who was her first friend, and gives Red a cup to give to her; ornately decorated with intertwining red and blue roses
• Caen pulls out the yorkshire tea we got from Tea Tump to distract her from the guilt clearly written on Red's face
• they ask when the party is over, and it's clear Anna expects us to stay forever. The longer the topic is open the more upset she gets. The plushies begin to circle us
• out in the yard, the door to the next file opens
• Caen takes out the amulet to check for portals to escape through, but instead it makes a path for us through the plushies, halving two of them
• we start running, Anna wailing behind us and the toys in pursuit
• 'no no no don't leave me, please I'll be a good girl please don't go! I'll behave just please! I can't be alone again!'
• we throw ourselves through the door, and its closing tears off the paw of one particularly quick rabbit plushie, which drifts in the nothing between files with us

❖ although Tump forgot to mention it, the teddy we also received from Loli Tump stays behind with Anna

✎﹏ the amulet has gained some power!

> 3. Luxuria

• we're dropped into an endless field under a blue sky. A man not older than 21 sits up to introduce himself as Luxuria - Eliott, 088

◐ 6 purifications, 4 corruptions

> 3. Luxuria

• he serenely turns his face into the wind and settles on the grass. He is glad to have visitors, as he never gets those
• we ask what he does all day and he casually implies he runs himself ragged trying to escape until he's bad enough to get 'reset'
• 'Say, you wouldn't like to stay here for oh... I don't know forever?'
• he doesn't immediately react aggressively to our denials since he's in a 'good mood', with Pristum being back
• he calls him Cris at first, then reminds himself it should be Pristum and settles on 'my dear Pris'
• according to him Pristum has had other 'flings' but will return to him in the end, though it's of course been about 3a since he saw him (which has felt like a decade in here)
• we decide to gtfo, and attempt to leave the file using Esc. This activates the amulet, and a door does indeed open on a hill a bit further away
• now Luxuria gets serious, telling us he is our host and so if he says we will stay we will. The grass we're sitting on holds us down
• Red quickly cuts themselves free with a dagger and goes to free Caen as well
• they manage to cut her free, but this doesn't last long as the ground itself seems to get involved, and Luxuria lunges at Caen, screaming
• 'LET'S KEEP TALKING! LET'S HAVE FUN LET'S WAIT FOR OUR DARLING TOGETHER'
• her arms relatively free, Caen slaps him. He reels back but doubles down, pinning her and staring into her eyes 'like a rabid beast'
• she knees him in the crotch to practically no reaction whatsoever, and, even more alarmingly he does not respond to Red full on stabbing him
• the amulet begins to glow again, engulfing Red's weapon and transforming it into a sword (indestinct at first, gaining shape as the amulet grows stronger)
• while he is still distracted staring at Caen they pull the sword out to lob off his arm. Drastic measures succeed; a blue light consumes the separated arm and starts eating into him as well, spreading from the wound
• he falls back, screaming, seemingly trying to pat out the light like one would flames
• with his focus diverted, the ground settles and releases us fully
• Caen can't resist telling him that he's definitely never seeing Pristum again before we fucking leg it to the door
• we look back one last time. He is standing, his arm replaced with a green one made from the grass, his left eye sparking with the blue light still, and he's glaring at us before he throws us a final twisted smile and the door closes
• Caen jokes that the evil eye might be real in Pristum.exe

✎﹏ time moves slower in this system so as to not fry the modules' brains

✎﹏ the travel time between files seems to be smaller now

> 4. Avarita

• despite attempting to leave for the menu, we find ourselves in the next file, which takes place in a tidier copy of Mira's office, with photos of Avarita and Pristum instead of Mira and Silicia
• the floor is marble, the grand doors are unlocked and so we enter
• in the office sits a woman who is not Mira. Her hair is described as 'similar to hers.. yet grey', though she looks to be in her early 20s
• she was expecting us, though she isn't thrilled about it and asks us outside so we won't ruin her carpets
• she introces herself as Avarita, 071: Lea (and Caen makes a fae joke about owning her name now)
• Avarita shows us a little vision of the other protagonist, walking their facility clutching a gun. He starts running as a giant robot of sorts gives chase, agile and equipped with sharp claws, and within it a pod containing a girl implied to be Lea. 071 is etched into it
• she seems to know what just happened in Luxuria's file, and feels the need to tell us that Greed will always beat out Lust and so Pristum is hers, really
• the metal monster in the facility was built by her as sort of an exosuit, since she can't control her actual body>
• although she doesn't seem very interested, she does want Pristum to succeed, and essentially tells us to go die if not in so many words
• she clearly wants us out, calling us a waste of her air. So we both take obnoxiously deep breaths and leave. She doesn't watch us go, instead looking at a photo of 'Cris'

> 5. Acedia

• we enter another old study. A man lounges in an armchair, listlessly swirling a glass of whiskey around. He is wearing a silver suit and sighs upon seeing us
• he proclaims to not be too happy about Pristum's return, nor his whole 'religion thing'
• he slumps down further in the chair, introducing himself half heartedly as Acedia, 077, Mikael
• we rag on him until he compains it isn't his fault 'they took part of his brain', which shuts us up
• he goes on to explain it's really not that bad not having to dwell on his horrible memories of being technologically mutilated and isolated completely. Now he can just Sit here
• according to him they all were 'created' to serve Pristum by Tump Inc, or at least in a way that fits him well
• his vision shows us a course of slow but extremely deadly traps which the other protagonist is struggling to navigate
• Caen suggest they look around, and maybe find her a paper weight as a weapon. The study is fairly empty with only the fireplace in front of which he sits, and several bookshelves. They contain alcohol, the books are strewn around the floor all with dozens of bookmarks within the first few pages. They're mostly children's books and similarly light reading, namely 'thinking for dummies' and albert and tumpy*
• Red tries one of the bottles lying around, as they seem pretty fancy and it's good, but intoxication doesn't seem to be a thing in the system

⊕ Red grabs an empty bottle

• he has lost interest in us, so we quietly open a door and leave

> 6. Ira

• the next room is red all over, full of corpses. The bodies of employees and Tumps alike are piled high and on top of them sits a woman, blood stained
• she is Ira, 081: Ellie. She is too busy to muster any anger towards us, as she is very committed to trying to off the other protagonist, who is her husband
• without needing much prompting, she tells us her backstory:
  • she started at Tump Inc at around 28 already having a husband and 2 children to support. She claims relative ignorance of the goings on until she was selected for a program herself. She agreed because of the higher pay, and realized fairly quickly that she couldn't leave anymore
  • trying to get her to embody wrath they essentially Tump-brand tortured her daily trying to crack her, but didn't start seeing success until they kidnapped her 14a old son. She made it through multiple cycles of them simulating his gruesome death until he actually died (of a seizure)
  • her 12a old daughter they didn't torture, but locked her in an isolated room in the facility so she would have no way of getting to her. This after 2 years, finally, worked
  • when AGLISIA 'broke free' and slaughtered everyone in a nice parallel to Tump.exe's take over, she still couldn't get into that room
  • she blames her husband - the other protagonist - for this, because he only came looking when her daughter disappeared, so now her goal is to kill him and retrieve her kid (she cares little for Pristum also)
• her vision shows an array of heavily armed machines wildly swinging for him
• we ask her daughter's name and she has to think about it. Her name is Lily, which we find mildly alarming but chalk up to a coincidence since Ira says she should be about 14 now
• she flicks a sword she apparently has and the door opens for us
• we both like her, so we wish her luck and depart. She smiles at us one last time

> 7. Superbia

• the file is completely dark until a man in a blinding golden suit steps forward
• he introduces himself as Superbia, 070, Sebastian
• he very vaguely claims time is running out, plus he needs to keep watching the others for as long as either Pristum lives or the other protagonist is on the loose
• there are screens behind him showing AGLISIA's other files, now visible to us
• he says he can literally only watch, and he knows all their tasks though none of them know his
• he tells us, in order, Leon is reading and occasionally burning his unfeeling hands, Anna has been crying since we left and begging party goers to acknowledge her, Lea is 'hopping in and out of reality holding a picture of him close', Ellie is crying looking at a photo of a girl. Eliott he will not disclose to us
• he remarks that Ellie rarely ever cries, usually translating it into violence. This includes self harm, as apparently all of them have tried to die many times before
• Caen asks how they could be killed, and he is of course unhelpful saying that we cannot harm him, but in general destroying them would simply involve destroying their body and digital existence
• allegedly there have been rumors of a program which would be able to kill them humanely
• when asked about the local rumor mill he reveals Silicia's involvement
• he appeals to us to please kill Pristum, though personally he would of course prefer a body over death
• he summons the door and bids us farewell

> X. Tex

• we find ourselves in a familiar room; white and covered in red and black glitching code tentacles. The ceiling is a mess of glitches and code and a red carpet leads up to the equally white throne atop which Tex himself sits
• 'I've been [expecting] you. Welcome back, my friends.'

◐ 6 purifications, 4 corruptions

> X. Tex

• he comes to loom over us, expressing how much he would love to end us right there and 'bring his true end'. Just as he goes to snap their neck, Red tries to spear him with the sword, but they pass right through each other
• he tells us he is now part of 'that filthy being'
• Tex remembers the boss fight in EXE2 up until YanTump tore him apart (and thinks that was cheating), but says making a new vessel for his saved memories proved tricky, somewhat implying he is a program without its proper emulator
• as he is wont to do, Tex brings up 04, deliberately making us want to kill him even more though we are unable
• he keeps on taunting us, though he starts running out of good material fairly quickly. We conclude we can't kill him now and attempt to move on, but he blocks us opening the door to the next file
• Caen experimentally touches the amulet against him and it repells him. This shifts the mood and power dynamic immediately [>:)]
• Red has the idea to wrap the amulet around their sword, and starts swinging it at Tex, making him retreat
• he is being very brave about being able to be harmed, but our blood lust has awakened. Red manages to slash his cheek and he hisses, crawling up the wall to get away
• he skitters up to a corner of the room, about 90m up. [Mysterious voice amplification!]
• Tex' taunts are replaced with bargaining babble; he says since we cannot reach him and he cannot hurt us, he will graciously let us pass unharmed, but we aren't having any of it
• Red climbs atop Caen's shoulders trying to get at him, and though we obviously cannot reach him, he is clearly getting quite nervous, if nothing else about how deligted we are with this development. Red even tries throwing the sword
• Caen takes note of the sword sticking a bit into the ground when Red retrieves it from where it fell
• regaining confidence, he tells us about how badly we'll fair against The Follower (technically an incarnation of him), and how he's begrudgingly looking forward to using us as vessels once Pristum gets us
• while he's monologuing, Caen asks for the sword to swing it full force at the wall under him, which begins to crumble. This doesn't seem to leave a spot on the blade
• Tex finishes his little speech and opens the portal, but the window of time where asking us to leave would have worked has passed
• behind the wall we see lines of red code and dark vines. Tex begins to climb higher as Caen keeps hacking away
• upon Red's request they aim for the revealed code, and the room starts falling apart in earnest
• finally enough of the room is demolished, and Tex crashes to the floor where we set upon him immediately
• Caen throws the sword back to Red and they stab him straight through the chest before he can crawl away. It seems he is weakened enough to be unable to warp himself to safety
• his eyes light up blinding white and cracks form over his body from which bursts red, blue and black code like growing vines
• his hands find the sword, then clench around Red's neck trying to strangle them
• they twist the sword as code pours from his mouth and he digs his nails in
• he gets out a little post-defeat villain monologue about how in over our heads we are
• his other hand wraps around their neck as his body starts fading from the bottom up
• Tex grits out 'You... Will.. Be... consumed.' before he shrivels up ('black and twisted as we first saw him') and disintegrates, his hands fading last, of course
• Red coughs miserably, before we notice the blackened scars left on either side of their neck
• they freak out about them not healing while Caen is disconcertingly chill about it, saying they match now
• they pry the sword from Red's fingers and walk over to Tex' throne to hack that to bits as well. It shatters easily

✎﹏ Tex knows about BaT being there, and about Reyleth in general

✎﹏ he clearly dislikes yantump and calls him an 'overloved being', delightfully

> X. The Follower

• we enter a new dark void, this one filled with the visceral sounds of chewing
• The Follower sprawls on the floor, absorbed in gnawing at what remains of BaT. The floor is strewn with his teacups, broken
• he is holding a disembodied hand, and we can see a torn wing on the ground
• 'Must.. Love.. Consume.. Love to.. BaT... ......Delicious'
• Caen flips almost immediately from scared confusion to resignation, recognizing this as the same thing that happened to 04, while Red goes through the full stages of grief right there
• he turns to smile at us and tells us in severely broken english (language in general, really) to wait for him to finish his meal
• 'Left... Fight.. Won. Ripped. Massacre. Now, here. Summoned.. Half child. Wait, enjoying.. Food.' implying he overwhelmed BaT and brought him when Pristum summoned him, instead of being automatically included in Pristum.exe [the 'half child' is him]
• Caen opens the door to move on without difficulty and Red says thay have a bad feeling about fighting it
• just then, The Follower opens his own portal and drags BaT out of it, though now missing his right arm and left wing, giving us war flashbacks
• he screams as The Follower starts breaking his fingers ('finger food'!!!)
• Red immediately abandons all reservations and brandishes their sword; Caen suggests they kill BaT and dip
• they hit his back, making black code gush out of him, and he turns in a fury to reiterate that he would like to finish eating first
• when The Follower grabs the blade on their next swing, Caen backs up quietly to the very opposite of the room. His empty eyes stare into Red's as he concludes that now he will have to eat them/us, too
• BaT rouses, sending a ball of lightning at The Followers turned head which doesn't faze him beyond making him angrily kick an again passed out BaT
• [Tump subtly encourages us to gtfo Now]
• suddenly, Caen starts encouraging Red to stab him in his exposed back
• as they go to stab him again, he twists, but not fast enough to avoid the attack and so they hit his eyes. He screams and thrashes, directionless for a second
• BaT kindly encourages us to run now, but Caen is already screaming 'no??? kill it!!!'
• when Red hesitates, unsure if that's possible they yell 'TRY', and, buoyed by their recent kill, Red aims for his head
• their aim is true, but the sword shatters just before it cuts him. Caen frantically tells them to will a new one
• in a mirror of Tex' mannerisms, The Follower brings up a claw like hand to put it right through Red where they stand frozen
• Caen finally detaches from the wall, but isn't fast enough
• before The Follower can tear Red to shreds, BaT throws himself between the two of them, taking the damage, his blood spraying onto Red's front
• BaT tells us that we can't actually defeat The Follower now, so we need to gtfo. BaT smiles, coughing up code
• in the distraction Caen pulls the amulet off the shattered sword (Rosie) to shove it against his throat
• this burns him (leaving scars) and emits a lot of light, but ultimately just succeeds in repelling us back in the direction of the still open door
• The Follower attempts to lunge after us, but BaT holds onto him to keep his hand inside of him /p
• he turns to us, smiling again, 'Find me. The real one. He has been through enough. Through him.. Me.. 04.. we all will keep living. This... is not good bye'
• he clings to The Follower, his teacups gathering around them, and they are enveloped by a light yellow light as he channels his remaining power
• it seems to expand in preparation to explode, pushing us through the door
• in the void between files, we hear Pristum, who spares us a bit of drivel about being worthy champions and anticipating our arrival

> I. Oscar [Famine]

• we enter a huge fancy library, lit by the light of a sunset falling in through one grand window. There are towers of books and some that are floating
• Oscar is sitting on an armchair when we enter but rises to greet us. That is, he grabs a spear from his right and floats down to us
• he has white wings, but looks withered, his bones visible through sickly skin. It says 'I. Oscar' on his neck and his eyes are blank
• his opener is to ask us 'who is like God', a question we do not answer to his satisfaction. He calls himself 'the guradian', a 'protector', and a 'warrior of heaven', and us 'the lambs of God' and 'prophets meant to walk the land', a rather muddled assortment of broadly christian ideas
• he offers us the spear, 'the gift of the warrior' which we are meant to defend 'heaven' with, however it can not be used against Pristum himself
• Caen takes the spear, which is cold to the touch, and drops it immediately when them holding it makes 'small shackles' creep over its surface towards their hands
• even though he offers to answer our questions in the manner an automated help line might, nothing that he says is of any use to us
• he puts his hands on each of our heads, and we feel a strange energy pass through us for the duration of the contact. Then he says we are ready to meet the next angel and opens the next portal
• 'Go now, sheep of God. Go to your shepard'
• we opt to examine the environment in more detail before moving on
• the books don't contain text, but Oscar's memories. When we view these our vision blanks out for a moment to,, view them
• using Rosie Red cuts through one of the many bibles floating around
• the first memory we see is Pristum's voice creeping into his mind as he's dying (seeing exe2 files on the 4 scientists) calling him his 'Michael', who he intends to make his servant despite all he's done to Pristum: 'betrayed, shackled and humiliated him'
• another memory is of him calling Erik pathetic, telling someone to turn the voltage up on the electro-shocks. We're told he was the project leader on YanTump

◐ 6 purifications, 4 corruptions, 1 kill

> I. Oscar [Famine]

• Oscar is still staring right through us, the spear is crawling towards us on black tendrils. The books (memories) on the shelves get more interesting as you go up
• Red grabs onto one of the flying books and lets it carry them up. From their elevated vantage point they narrate to Caen what they see
• the memories are as follows: administrative data, Oscar dancing with a cat, then him dragging a blond kid (Erik) out of his room by his neck as the aro flag is being torn from his wall behind him
• in another one he is berating the boy while he's being plugged in, telling him how useless he is, how upset Oscar is at having to handle him at all because it's hurting his career, how weak he is for not being suited to C I E C E, and so on. He intends to perform some unauthorized 'fun tests' on him as punishment for these perceived failings. There's also some choice arophobia in there
• 'If I can't take on the position of Mira that shitty fool... I'll at least have you my little rat. In the end of this you'd hope you were just an AI. But don't you worry.. I do "love" you in my way. Not that YOU know what that is.. But with time.. I'll teach you.'
• no other book offers anything so Red attempts to climb down but falls and has to lie there for a good minute to recover
• Caen sweeps the room one more time and finds nothing. After Red described that memory, Oscar seems to be slightly smiling, though his eyes still track us hollow as ever
• waiting for Red to recover Caen idly tears up a nearby book, which turns out to be titled '50 shades of Oscar'. The man 'himself' bows and gestures to a door
• Caen borrows the sword and buries it into Oscar's back. He falls to the ground as she pulls it back out, twitching and slowly bleeding out but still wordless. The wound glows yellow, as though healing slowly yet painfully
• we're happy with these results. Caen goes to cut off his wings and Red suggests we Osiris him for maximum time spent healing
• significantly cheered, we move on

✎﹏ would usually note the flag-defacing as indicating they're removing personal items from the room bc he's never returning, but that contradicts the irl arc

> II. Mike [Pestilence]

• the file looks to be an endless living room. There are a broken glass coffee tables, chairs spattered with old blood stains, and a broken tv near us. Mike descends from above
• he has 4 wings, wears green and his neck is visibly broken though his head has stayed attached at an odd angle. A long line of stitches spans his stomach and it seems there are flies in the room

⊕ Caen searches around and pockets a sharp piece of glass

• through a damaged windpipe the archangel gurgles out 'God is my strength'. Flies gather around his hand as he extends it to present us with a lantern
• disappointed at us not taking his god and offering seriously, he shakes his head sadly and repeats his phrase, blood starting to dribble out from his mouth with the effort of it
• Red takes the lantern and is enthralled by it. Suddenly they're focussed only on the light, and the flies aren't that bothersome anymore
• when the metal turns hot and flames start to crawl up Red's arm, Caen, previously distracted searching the room, knocks it out of their hand. They realize half their arm is scorched, but even as the pain fades with time, the wound and a vague sensation of burning remain
• Caen uses their distraction to take the amulet off the sword and check it (green with occasion flashes of red) before pressing it to Red's wrist
• for a second they feel like they're burning again all over, but then it recedes and the wound goes with it
• in the meantime we notice that more and more flies are gathering, emerging from the infinite room and beginning to darken it and drown out all other sounds but the buzzing of their wings
• Red starts swinging the sword around wildly taking flies out of the air while Caen asks the amulet nicely to do something about this. It forms a protective blue bubble around us
• Mike seems to smile slightly before the flies start throwing themselves against our shield, soon enclosing us completely, and we lose sight of him
• since he's our ticket out, we link arms and start walking slow circles outward, which gives us time to banter a bit before we find him, and isn't that nice!
• eventually a hand comes into view, outstretched as though for us to take, and burning faintly where it enters our bubble
• we walk around to bring his face into view and Red flips him off. He says 'God, this way. Strength.... Follow.'
• we agree and he (maybe) nods, and then we're walking again, trying not to lose him
• 'I wonder why Pristum fixed his stomach but not his head. Maybe it's a warning or a punishment'
• we reach a free standing door which looks like the front door of a regular house and knock three times, for the third angel, and it opens. The flies don't seem to touch the light inside, and Mike waves goodbye

> III. Sarah [War]

• this file is a steaming spring or bath, where we can see it the floor is plain white tiles and strewn with loose razor blades. Its angel is 4 winged and clothed in red garb, and emerges from a pool of red liquid with their forearms full of deep straight scars
• we are disappointed this angel has 4 wings like the last, instead of 6 in keeping with the pattern
• her phrase is 'God is my light' and she presents us with a sword perpetually dripping red liquid
• when Red takes the sword the blood on it starts to flow towards their hand. It cuts them when it makes contact but the spell is broken as soon as they drop the sword which falls below the surface
• a white door emerges, blood and water flowing off it

> IV. Eli [Death]

• the final file drops us into an endless rural road in the middle of the night. It's neatly paved and lined with lamp posts, but completely deserted save for us and the angel
• Eli has 6 wings and wears black clothes and a crown of thorns and they are bleeding as they smile (though from where is not specified). They hold a jar out to us
• their phrase is 'God heals' and we joke that he's not very good at it
• using Rosie we knock the jar out of their hands and it doesn't shatter, just rolls until it's out of sight
• they visible struggle with it but manage to get out 'Ple... ase... Free... Us. End... This... Suffering.', which we ignore. Having said their piece their smile falls and they repeat their little pre-programmed phrase again
• they wave to an appearing door and say 'go', before the fog starts creeping over the road towards us. It feels like something is watching from within it although we can't see any ominous eyes in the dark. It's implied to be The Follower
• we fucking dip

> GOD (Pristum)

• we find ourselves in the main aisle of a massive church, plastered with depictions of Pristum and his angels and on the wall right across from us, a mural of Pristum.exe to the left and Tex to the right of Pristum himself. The pews are full of Tumps, employees and other people we don't recognize, bent over praying and shackled in their spots by chains around their necks and hands. Up front by the altar stands Pristum himself
• behind us at the exit there are a donation box and a bowl of water. We recognize Bone Tump, TsunTump and Saint Tump in the crowd, as well as every other character sacrificed to Tex in EXE2. There are even BaT and a small bird cage containing a few of 04's blue butterflies
• organ music plays, and Pristum's voice echoes as he welcomes us
• 'Welcome! Welcome to your redemption! To your heaven! To the future! Come, my prophets, my vessels of earth!'
• we sass him, but this place is his so our protests change nothing as he manouvers us to a table made of fine varied metals. Two pillows sit in front of it for us to kneel on, and the ingredients for his own little eucharist are laid out on it
• as the amulet glows bright red he places his hands on our heads to push us down in front of the table. There are small glimpses of blue in amid the red, hinting at Rin's presence
• Caen tries to bite him and he backhands them before taking up the bread with a smile to make us eat it ('First, the body, for with this, you are of me as I am of you')
• Red attempts to stab him, but instead their hands move of their own accord to something like a prayer position
• he tips the wine down our throats and turns to retrieve his next prop ('Next.. The blood. With this.. I forgive you')
• he picks up a blade of some sort: 'Finally... With the hand of god, with my forgiving blade.. I shall grant you rebirth.'
• completely out of options Caen attempts to distract him by trying to wound him emotionally, which at first doesn't work. Unlike Plectum he isn't sensitive to his name
• they push and keep him talking, casting around until they hit on something that rankles: how little actual power he will have once he actually escapes his confines. He proclaims to not need her criticisms, to which Caen says 'don't you? What is a god without a devil? I think you need us to talk, actually.'
• he is visibly disturbed by this turn in the conversation and insists he isn't scared and does not need us thank you very much, then actually goes in for the first stab
• Caen keeps taunting him as he pushes his way through the amulet's barrier, though the blue seems to grow stronger. Meanwhile Red realizes that the spell is released and they can move again
• now in their hand without the amulet around it, the sword turns crimson red and lapis lazuli blue
• something is trying to come in via the door and Red sprints to open it while Caen springs to their feet & backs up, all the while talking, telling a now very agitated Pristum that he is no less mortal than we are
• 'Look at you, Cris! Do you think she'll love you LIKE THIS?' Caen says & at the mention of Rin his formerly green eyes turn red and he finally breaks the amulet's barrier
• Red throws open the door which splinters to pieces, and Rin's voice stops Pristum in his tracks
• she stands at the end of the aisle, and he drops his blade to stumble towards her (missing Caen's sadistic grin)

⊕ Caen takes the blade, which is quite heavy

• Rin tells him that she still loves him and thus she has to do this, and he falls to his knees in front of her, disbelieving
• as he gets up, he's crying and the normally golden veins in his white wings pulse red
• as the organ music picks up we hear lightning strike outside, rain suddenly pelting the church's roof
• with the attention off us, Caen wants to see what will happen if we try to free the praying Tumps and smashes Bone Tump's chains with her new weapon. Bewildered, he looks up at us and fades away
• Pristum hears it break and whips around. Knocking Red aside he picks up Caen by her neck: '..... It was all you. You did all this. You. You freed her. You caused this. You. You are not the prophet. You are the devil.'
• she stabs at him and he bleeds, then pushes the amulet at him but it does tragically little. As Rin rushes over, he wraps his wings around Caen as though to crush her even as she tries to stab out his eyes with the glass shard
• simply saying 'Die', he puts his arm clean through her stomach, then carelessly tosses her aside. He's bleeding profusely, but Caen isn't; the amulet seems to be keeping them alive/together
• both Red and Rin start attacking him again, staining his feathers red with blood as the veins that span his wings blacken
• Caen, miraculously not dead, experiences a brief moment of delusion in which BaT puts a hand on her shoulder urging her forward. The blade turns green in her hand
• the roof caves in, stained glass crumbling as the storm forces its way in. We form a plan of attack
• though we're all 3 slashing at him his eyes never leave Rin's, even as Red gets him in the wing again and Caen nicks his neck. Debris whips about in the storm
• Red suggests powering up their sword with the amulet again, though of course that isn't feasible as it seems to be what's keeping Caen upright
• while Rin plays defense we go for his ankles and Caen manages to sever a major blood vessel there. Pristum catches Red's arm and breaks it, but can't do more than cut their stomach before he has to drop Rosie because it's burning his hand
• as Pristum starts monologuing Caen huddles closer to Red in hopes that the amulet's healing power has an area effect


• Pristum takes to the sky to smite us, commanding the lightning storm and growing another pair of wings for good measure
• we complain that we really expected Rin to be more helpful in this as she grabs the amulet to activate a strong enough shield to stop us being fried (implying her wielding it makes it more powerful)
• this would escalate into a full on fight if we weren't literally being attacked, but things being as they are Rin tells us she'll join him up there and that once she gets him down we are to 'make sure he doesn't get back up'
• before she goes she roughly realigns Red's arm, which hurts like hell but at least it works again
• 'apologies, but right now, if you didn't notice, my ex is a flying fucking winged reaper smiting us with his fucking thermo nukes so yeah I will be a bit harsh! Look, I did not know how much he had gained power meanwhile.'
• she floats up there somehow and he hesitates for just a second before they're fighting with offbrand light sabres, one blue and one red. They clash multiple times before the force of it throws them back and they both grab the other's wrist and start shouting over the storm
• Pristum does not seem to understand why she is fighting him
• 'Cris, you shouldn't be here! We shouldn't! You know this isn't you! It never was. This is not how the story went.. this is not who we are.'
• as we watch in interest, she punches him in the stomach and tells him that he needs to wake up. Next she puts a hand on his cheek and kisses him, and then while he's distracted runs her blade through his wings
• Pristum falls, reaching for Rin desperately, as his wings seem to break off until there is only one pair left. This one withers and bleeds still
• we hear his bones crack as he lands, and while we banter a bit he does manage to collect himself enough to charge at us, but we easily kick him back to the ground. He looks a mess, bleeding and panting, his suit torn and dirtied
• he tries to get up one more time but his body fails him and he screams in frustration
• Caen sets the blade down on his shoulder and gleefully pushes on it with all her weight to separate his arm from his torso as he regards us with hatred in his eyes
• Rin lands and watches as Caen steps on his chest to set the blade against his neck and, using the power of the amulet and her foot, slowly decapitates him
• Red cheers and Caen says she really hopes Tump didn't see all that as she steps off the corpse [lol]
• Rin is the only one to see the code Pristum is made of is not done fighting yet and jumps into action. Pristum lifts up by itself, his upper body a mass of dark code which can still speak
• '.... N..... O. Re.... Dem... Pti.. On. You... Will.. See.... my final.'
• she intervenes somehow, engulfing him in white light and suddenly we are in a garden again

> Cris

• at first glance we think it's the one we know, but it isn't. It's a park. There are people, children laughing, flying kites
• Rin leads us all (but mostly Pristum) to a large oak tree and together they tell us about how the two of them met here even before Tump Inc
• a young boy in a grey hoodie sits under the tree alone, reading, only occasionally looking up until a young girl with black hair walks up to invite him to play
• 'This is where we met. It wasn't in the lab.. It was here.. We.. We knew before.. We were...'
• after the scene plays out cracks of yellow light form around Pristum, finally revealing Cris underneath
• 'We were always together, weren't we?'
• nodding, Rin takes his hands and kisses his cheek. She tells him he'll have to go now but she'll follow eventually, and he turns to us to casually heal our injuries with a wave of his hand
• finally, he asks us to tell Tump that he's sorry, and help Alec come to his senses too (to which we joke that we do intend to kill him as well, yes)
• 'So for now.. All I can say.. Is thank you'
• with a last smile at Rin his code breaks apart into yellow sparrows, which scatter and fly away
• Rin holds the last one in her hands and whispers something to it before it, too, takes off

◐ 7 purifications, 4 corruptions, 2 kills

✎﹏ Le Tymp and Cris (files 12 & 14) counted as a purifications

> Tump.exe menu

• the weapon stolen from Pristum has deteriorated, and we've otherwise been more or less returned to a state of normalcy. Caen pays 50€ for her digital tshirt to be repaired
• Red opts not have their one missing sleeve fixed. The mark left by Tex remains, phantom pains included
• we still have the bottle we collected from Acedia's file in Pristum.exe
• despite being weakened from the Pristum fight, Rin tells us to go check out The Collective Mind in file 15 while she goes on ahead to Plectums file
• she's never been in close contact with it but reckons it can't be as deadly as it was in the irl arc
• Rin gets annoyed at us for dawdling and commands the system to open the next file before Caen can pick a fight

> 15. TCM

• the file holds a pastel pink room, in which two figures stand arguing. One of them is Calcium [f!Caen], the older and (inaccurately) taller of the two, wearing glasses. The other one is Zeebra [f!Red], full of energy and wielding a sword. They are facsimiles of us
• C is trying to convince Z that stabbing first and asking questions second is not a viable strategy
• a note on the wall informs us these are the module(s) we created when we pressed the button on floor -4, based on us and completed by inhouse AI
• we decide to engage in conversation before the inevitable combat. We've already made up our minds to kill them
• Calcium regards us aloofly, telling us they're here looking for their friend Tamp, and have only just entered this room themselves
• they take us for modules and cannot be convinced otherwise
• Zeebra's pronouns are they/them, Calcium's are she/her
• Calcium also has an amulet, which glows pink. Caen asks her what it does, and when she doesn't really answer simply blasts her into the wall to demonstrate ours' power. This opens the hostilities
• she activates a [pink?] shield with it and says 'time to yee your haw, fuckers'. We correct her but it seems this is the correct phrase in their reality
• as Z and Red gleefully engage in a sword fight, C uses her shield as sort of a battering ram against Caen's
• she turns the shield off and, in a move Tump didn't read Caen suggest earlier, phases into the ground to pop up in front of Caen & punch her in the face
• Zeebra turns out to be a reckless sword fighter with no regard for their own health, which makes them a tricky opponent. They get their sword a little bit stuck in Red's collar bone [?]
• Caen yanks C's leg out from under her, throwing her off balance and landing a hard hit on the soft back of her skull
• Red meanwhile headbutts Z and then drives the sword home right into their heart
• both facsimiles go down, but not before exchanging a dramatic look and apologizing to Tamp and 03 for failing them
• our hands bloody, the room crumbles away around us and we're returned to the menu

✎﹏ Calcium's hobbies include playing CraftMine, writing fics, drawing and taxidermy

> Tump.exe menu

• we strategize, deciding to go for maximum emotional damage when recounting Pristum's death, trying out the saved Tump summoning mechanic and opting to not go in with all of them on show right from the get go
• we summon Crazy Tump, who reminds Red of the daggers and makes Caen dig Van out of their pocket, a bird skull he gave us the first time we met him
• he taps on the skull three times, and it turns into a sword. Using the vocal command 'up and at it Van', he then turns it into a skeletal sparrow
• tapping its head will activate the sword, while another tap will turn it back into an unidentifiable bird skull
• with this, he disappears back into his file
• it seems file 16 is inaccessible, leaving us with only one option

◐ 7 purifications, 4 corruptions, 4 kills

> Menu

• file 8 is putting out high readings, boasting a whole 3 admin users/programs
• upon request, Tump.exe can only identify Plectum within the file
• we read a 'this is the point of no return' warning and enter

> 8. Plectum

• the amulet flashes between blue and red, then stops, leaving us in darkness. Eventually it resolves into an ocean beach at night, stars above, the distant calls of birds and a cool breeze. Rin is waiting for us, Plectum sits sipping tea on his usual hill
• as Rin tells us that the entire time she's been here, he's just been up there, Caen gets very distracted with the local seashells. They cannot be identified

⊕ Caen pockets one

• Plectum seems to be getting impatient, though he ignores Red when they wave at him
• the table is ornate and clearly old, laden with a fancy tea set and baked goods
• we ascend and he invites us to sit. Red refuses, but Caen takes a seat and asks for the same kind of tea he's having, which is a herbal tea mix that reminds him of his mother
• he's prepared stawberry vanilla tea for Rin. She stares down at him in anger but sits when he invites his 'old friend' to join us specifically
• before Red can change their mind and take that as well, they're served black tea with milk and honey
• he brings up Pristum, getting confirmation of his death and expressing his condolences to Rin
• she reacts badly, jumping up and slamming her hands on the table hard enough to crack it
• he doesn't react to the accusations she hurls at him up until she calls him 'Alec' in her rage
• the tea cup in Plectum's hand shatters, but he doesn't rise to it
• he says 'But do not worry, Rin. We have plenty of time to catch up. Eventually, you will forgive me.', and Rin tosses the table aside to pull him up by the collar
• he never stops smiling at her, and calmly let's her know that he has to talk to us now, so she should go back to sleep and let him and Lia wake her up again later
• Caen takes a sip of tea
• before Rin can reply, she is impaled by 'violet dark tendrils' through the stomach, arms, legs, and finally neck
• Red throws a knife at Plectum's back but it is effortlessly blocked by another tendril
• he puts a hand on her cheek, kisses her forehead, and tells her they'll catch up again, before the tendrils of code drag her down and away
• Plectum resets the table and turns to us
• he lets slip that Cris was 'holding back a bit of his power' and thanks us for doing something he could not have
• apparently he knows of Cris' little mindscape scene after Pristum's death
• he describes the goal he hopes to achieve with Lia as freedom and peace for them all, a world with no more pain and him by her side
• while he is building up to the inevitable confrontation, Caen has begun needling him
• she asks him if he doesn't resent carrying Tump's name, and he gets all silent before confirming that he hates nothing more
• Plectum hints at his intention to frame us for his eventual murder of Tump to make himself look better in front of Lia. Further, he plans to pretend to have been trapped here while we manipulated Rin into helping us kill Cris
• (this is all sounding more like a suicide pact than an escape plan)
• Plectum muses that under other circumstances, we could have been friends, and we vehemently deny it
• the mention of Cris has finally given Caen an in. While she says very cruel things about what a pleasure killing Cris was, Red summons the Tumps
• finally, he screams 'ENOUGH' and breaks the table in two, though we spot a tear rolling down his cheek
• Caen backs away to keep his attention on him as the /summon goes through and the sky lightens in a supernova
• Tea Tump appears, armed with 'Betsy' [likely meant to be Elsie], then Crazy Tump wielding daggers, Reyleth holding onto a serving plate, Chuuni Tump brandishing a gun, and finally Le Tymp in coffee form
• Plectum snaps his fingers and all goes dark, the scene around us disappearing

> Plectum

• we find ourselves in a long hall, a row of pillars to each side of us that rise unfathomably high. Everything, the sparse furniture included, is white marble, save for the red carpet that stretches all the way to the armchair in which Plectum sits at the other end of the hall. Above him we can see a mural of a beautiful white rose
• more and more we notice floating images, framed like paintings. They contain memories of a childhood spent with the other C I E C E members
• the change in scenery seems to have calmed him, and he reminisces about things he might have done differently - how he might have won Lia like a prize if he'd been less selfish
• Caen brings up Tump returning for his friends to shame him, and Plectum clearly knows Tump is the better person. He reveals he thinks it was a mistake on Tump's part, but is thankful because it will ironically be what allows him to be free of his shadow over him
• with a smile, he gets up and summons his tentacles (purple veins), which seem to burst out of every available surface
• with a wave of his hand they turn on us
• 'Thank you for your help, you are now allowed to die.'
• Red struggles to cut through the tendrils, mostly just physically pushing them away
• the amulet does not respond to Caen's request for a shield, forcing her to use Van as a sword
• she suggests they run around the pillars to tangle up the mass of purple veins beyond being dangerous, which works enough for us to be able to focus on our summoned Tumps
• the knotted up veins form a maze that is hard to navigate because touching them is painful and makes us feel like 'they are immediately trying to destroy us within'
• the amulet 'shows a dark grey colour', eminating only a faint blue now
• Tea Tump and Chuuni Tump, both wielding firearms, take aim at Plectum directly, but he is unperturbed, even catching one of Chuuni Tump's bullets and hurling it back at him fast enough to scrape his cheek
• Crazy Tump and Le Tymp opt for close up combat, and Crazy Tump manages to actually get a dagger or two into Plec. He turns to give us a proud wave, noticing too late when veins wrap around his arm where it's stuck in Plectum and break it
• Crazy Tump is flung against a far wall, his daggers going flying, meanwhile Reyleth is trying to patch up Chuuni Tump's cheek. Le Tymp continues to fight Plectum head on, who is blocking every one of his attacks
• Caen sends Van over in sparrow form to distract Plectum, and Le Tymp lands a blow right to his face
• the dust this apparently threw up clears, and Plectum is pushing aside Le Tymp's hand with a smile on his freshly punched face
• at this point Caen has realized that the amulet is powerless because the Tumps aren't in it, as well as that Plectum is trying to kill them to emotionally hurt us
• they borrow a dagger from Red
• Plectum is kind enough to announce his intention to immediately retaliate against Le Tymp, which gives Caen just enough time to  call him back
• Plectum punches him in the chest, then in the jaw, splashing the walls with coffee, then brings the veins up around his hand for the final blow, but Le Tymp disappears at the very last second
• the amulet visibly regains a bit of power
• Caen, knowing it would be easy for Plectum to kill the summoned Tumps now, tries to draw his attention by calling him Alec again, but he just smiles at her before throwing up tentacle barriers and marching towards Chuuni Tump and Reyleth
• Red starts screaming at Caen to call Chuuni Tump back asap, but she ignores them, watching and frantically thinking up a new plan after their standard strategy failed
• she takes the amulet off and winds the necklace around her wrist. It pulses like it's trying to pull Plectum away from the other Tumps, but he resists easily
• Chuuni Tump tries to shoot Plectum as he approaches to no avail
• Red hurries towards them and swings for Plectum with Rosie, but he catches the blade and pushes them away
• he takes hold of Chuuni Tump's gun and twists it out of his grip, setting it against its owner's throat
• 'Not yet. You need to suffer first, as I did.'
• Caen only calls Chuuni Tump back the moment the gun fires
• Red suggests summoning all the Tumps back now, but Caen has formed a plan and urgently relays it: to switch roles to gain the upper hand, giving Red control over the amulet and letting them wield it at full power to face Plectum with something he doesn't anticipate
• Reyleth hits Plectum with the silver serving plate and he smiles again, gripping the Tump by the throat
• he squeezes and lifts him up, but when Caen tries to summon Reyleth back we realize there is a range limit to it
• Caen legs it over to them and calls him back just before Plectum can pierce him with the veins he's gathered around him
• this brings Caen in close enough for the veins to simply turn on them, and seeing this, they intend to throw the amulet to Red but don't get the chance to. The amulet Reyleth entrusted us with in EXE3-2 activates
• a tree springs up out of the ground, bringing with it a protective green shield
• it destroys his veins and repels Plectum, but perhaps because of how close to him it happened, he seems to have realized how the amulet-to-Tumps connection works
• Plectum sprints for Crazy Tump, pinning Caen in place behind him with a vein
• Red tries to intercept him, but when they tackle him he just wiggles free and keeps going
• Caen has Van bring the amulet to Red, who takes off after Plectum, calling Crazy Tump back as they run so it'll work as soon as they're in range
• Caen can see they won't make it and orders Van to stall him
• Van attacks Plectum, who snatches him out of the air, crushes and finally stomps on the little bird, but the distraction works and Crazy Tump is returned to the amulet
• the dagger Red lent her 'pulsing with new power', Caen is able to cut herself free
• Red pivots to recall Tea Tump also, the last one, but Plectum stabs veins through their sides and has more hold them down
• they shout for Caen to take the amulet back, who is appealing to Lariam for another miracle
• Red throws the amulet and sword towards Caen. The amulet lands near enough, but Plectum catches Rosie and angrily shatters it with his bare hands
• he takes a shard of it with him, despite his hand now bleeding where he holds it
• veins sprout to force Tea Tump to his knees
• something like an invisible wave, presumably Lariam's influence, pushes the amulet furthet towards Caen, who snatches it off the ground and starts running, just as Red did before, repeatedly trying to summon Tea Tump back
• Plectum grabs the Tump by his hair to tilt his head back and puts the shard of Rosie up against his neck, slowly cutting
• Caen makes it just in time, but takes the hit as he draws the blade back for a finishing blow, slicing open her already injured arm
• the amulet, back to full power, glows a resplendent blue and pulses, throwing Plectum back against the far wall
• a hole of code opens above us, and Rin's body falls from it
• she slices away the veins restraining Red
• Rin demands we give her the amulet, but Caen hesitates, asking her a question first to verify it really is her
• it really is, and as she holds the amulet something happens that looks like she's using it to purify herself with it like we did the Tumps
• finally, she holds it out to us again, commanding we finish him for the sake of everyone
• Caen hands Red their dagger back to re-summon Rosie, but it doesn't work
• the room darkens as among the rubble Plectum gets up again, regaining control of all his tendrils
• we see some success when we attempt to summon a weapon together. Trying to think of what kind would represent Rin, we make a crossbow
• it burns blue and does hit him in the shoulder which is clearly painful, but Plectum keeps on walking, unaffected and nearing far too quickly
• we receive a system message: 'The amulet! Hold it together. Take the shards of Van and Rosie. Wait till he is close and hold the amulet up! -T'
• we shoot another bolt, then each dive for our broken weapon
• Plectum reaches us, but before he can do more than conjure his veins up around us and angrily say 'Die.', we obey Tump's words and hold the amulet up together
• it lights up, forming the familiar shield, which expands until it's pushing away Plectum and his tentacles
• the blue light envelops the broken pieces of our weapons, reforging the blades with the combined power of all the Tumps and Rin

⊕ the resulting weapons are green and red respectively

• we advance, and Plectum tries to bargain for his life (in vain)
• we decide that Red gets to decapitate him while Caen stabs the blade through his heart
• he struggles, and a small smile creeps onto his face as the room is lit up red and green

> Alec

• we are transported to an endless expanse of water, reflecting the blue sky overhead
• a man stands in the water a ways away, wearing a turtleneck. His hands are crossed and he is facing away from us
• he introduces himself as Alec and talks about his being sort of separate from Plectum
• Caen tells him 'might have been nice to know you otherwise. Less... yeah fucked up' and tentatively, Red agrees
• Alec says he'd probably choose to do it all over, given the chance, just to have met his friends
• he thanks us, tells us to apologize to Tump for him, and starts walking off
• the last thing we see is him waving to us before a chasm opens under our feet

> Tump

• we are dropped into a long room, perfectly white and empty except for a button and a large metal tube of sorts
• Red pushes the button
• the metal covering on the tube retracts, revealing a pod in which floats Tump
• as we put a hand on the glass, his eyes open and he smiles, tapping on it from the inside
• we find a slot on the casing that fits the amulet perfectly, and Caen pushes it in without hesitation
• as the amulet pulses, the glass begins to crack, leaking fluid. It keeps hammering away at the pod until it shatters and Tump rolls out, coughing up fluid
• 'uh so.... Hi guys. It's...been a while.'
• at first we're concerned he'll be upset with us for the things we had to do to get here, but he isn't
• Caen starts babbling, then crying, while Red opens their arms for a tentative hug
• he hugs them both, and now Red is crying too
• we hope against hope he'll allow us to leave with him, but he sets us straight: he needs to get Lia first

1. Tump End Speech exe 3 https://youtu.be/dqOspmfJDzM: he talks about how he misses the past, having all his friends from Tump Inc., and that he struggles with the company's evil doing encroaching on the memories. At first he thought a similar thing would happen to us, but he's realised that he will need us to end it all: will we join him in destroying Tump Inc. once and for all? [he also calls Red Zee]

• even without the persuasion, we've both already decided we're in too deep not to follow him into exe4

❖ in an after credits scene of sorts we see (in our minds' eye) a pan through the boss rooms, which finishes on The Follower sitting by Plectum's throne. He looks up and says '...Delicious.'

✎﹏ a comment under the Tump's Speech video says 'THE 53, 41, 43, 52, 49, 46, 49, 43,45, 44 IS THE KEY'