> 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'
