2018-01-15: Persistence and Resistance
- Cutscene: Persistence and Resistance
- Cast: Ambrosius
- Where: Great Krosian Plains - Outside the Mountain Palace
- Date: January 15th, 2018
- Summary: Ambrosius recuperates after the fight outside the Mountain Palace, before going to determine the outcome of his mission...where he finds that there is still hope yet for him to complete it.
This cutscene takes place after 2018-01-14: To Do What One Must.
A machine, a Golem, tall and slender and with movements that almost look organic, moves across the mountains. It is clear just by looking at it that it had been involved in a great battle. Rents, dents, and punctures in armor and mechanisms are evident throughout, ruining its sleek surface. By all rights it should not even be able to move... Indeed, it was only by putting its self-repair systems into overdrive that it was able to regain enough mobility to flee the scene of the battle.
It continues to move until it comes across a cavern, looking as if it was dug into the mountains by a pair of great claws. Its claws, specifically. The Golem trudges into the cavern...but before it can reach the end, and the massive black capsule at the very back, one of its legs gives out. It begins to fall, but orients its body so that it lands on its side rather than on its front.
It lays there for a time, still...until, with some effort, one of its arms begins to move. Damaged as it is, retracting the arms poses some difficulty. A hand hovers over its bucked, caved chestplate, where it had taken the most damage...and then the claws of the Golem begin to separate. Each claw becomes a set of fine tools and manipulators for careful, precise work.
And work they do. The tools very carefully slice into the Golem's own chestplate, shearing and pushing away broken metals that were jamming it shut. Eventually, a hatch opens...and, accompanied by rushing water from his own attack, the limp, unconscious form of a man falls out. The Golem's manipulators catch him before he falls to the stone cavern floor below and set him down gently.
Time passes, machine and man both laying there quietly, until eventually, the latter begins to stir.
He turns over, staring upward. His vision blurs...but gradually begins to refocus, as consciousness slowly returns to him. He stares up at the Golem quiet and shuts his eyes.
"...Niiimue..." Ambrosius states quietly.
The last thing he remembered was the fist of the Mountain Guardian coming down at him, a hammer of ancient wrath that felt to him directed not only at himself, but at his people...
His body still aching Ambrosius rises to his feet, and makes his way over to the black capsule in the back. He interacts with a panel at the capsule's base and it opens. He turns, then, facing Nimue once more.
"You have done...an aaadmirable job...Niiimue... Rest now...reeepair yourself..." He states - orders. With some effort, Nimue heeds this request, climbing into the capsule and sitting within. Arms retract and wrap itself...and eventually, it is sitting in what could be considered a fetal position. Ambrosius stares up at the machine wordlessly for a moment, before pressing one last button that causes the capsule to close and lock. His eyes meet Nimue's as the Golem's head lowers, blue eyes starting to dim before the hatch closes, blocking it completely from view.
And then, he turns and walks away from the capsule. He is still injured from the fight before...but even so, he leaves the cavern, retraces Nimue's steps, and eventually finds himself at the earlier battleground.
It is still wet from his final, desperate attack. Fragments of his drones, broken and destroyed, litter the field, as does spent ammunition and fragments of metal from Nimue. He does not heed any of this. His only goal right now is the tunnel. The tunnel that was so important for him to dig. He gazes upon it somewhat hesitantly...but makes his way inside.
What he sees might shock some, but he looks upon it impassively. A great battle took place here. Perhaps even at the same time as his own. Though it cost them their lives he has to respect, even begrudgingly, the humans that fought against his machines. It was no small feat, to wipe out the entire force that he had put together for this excursion...
To him, however, that was not the most important thing here. No, to Ambrosius, the most important thing was the dais in the center of the room.
There was no Statue present here, but there were clearly signs that something huge had been present before. But it was gone now...
...Which meant that there was a chance, however slim, that the Statue was not yet sealed. Which meant that there was a chance he may yet succeed at his mission.
Ambrosius smiles, and turns away from the empty dais.
Nimue's repair would be aided and accelerated by the capsule, but it would be some time before the Golem was once more in fighting condition. His entire contigent of drones had been eliminated - by those who had fought him, these gang members, or his own final, desperate attack.
He had few resources...and yet, he still believed there was a chance.
This fight was not yet over.