Chromatic Horizon: Horizon Zero Dawn's People of Color

Aloy:

She was thrilled to see it go down, and appreciative of my liberal use of explosives. Again, it was clear that Boomer wanted little else but to make machines explode. Delah seemed happy watching her, but bemused, maybe a little sad. I spoke to her privately; if today taught her anything, she said, it was that she would never truly be able to understand the way Boomer saw the world. Unlike Delah, she took no issue with moving from place to place, the precarity and hardship, so long as she had a new destructive weapon to work on. That wasn't going to change; she had to accept that, and keep Boomer safe in spite of it. Maybe even channel her obsession toward something less likely to cause collateral damage.

They'd be alright getting back to Hidden Ember from here. I parted ways with Delah and Boomer, now discussing the prototype weapon together, heading west myself as the afternoon turned late and golden.

I found a Bristleback herd nearby, overriding one to get me back to camp. I passed through one of the rebel outposts I'd cleared out last time I was here, thankfully still empty.

I reached Hidden Ember by sundown, eager to get down to Dunehollow to fulfill my promises to Morlund and Stemmer. After a rest, of course. It'd been a busy day.

I had to gloat a little when I came across Abadund. Who knows what would've happened to Boomer if she'd tried to take on the Vanishing Dread alone—he deserved it. He was glad to hear the sisters were on their way back safe and sound, though I picked up on his trepidation. He wasn't all that eager to facilitate Boomer's explosive habits either. Surely he could find a way to use her incredible skills to his advantage, I suggested. That got his gears turning: profit, but how to extract it...Between aiding Morlund's flashy shows and defending the camp from the predators of the desert, I was confident he'd think of something.

I hung around on the top level for a drink and a meal as the sun went down, speaking to one of the local hunters.

As the night began, I descended into Dunehollow by the elevator. A far quicker and more leisurely descent than my first swim down, worried my diving mask wouldn't withstand the pressure. The lights below were just as spectacular as the first time.

I spotted the metal statue I recalled, just like the one Morlund described, only this one had no burner in its mouth. There must be another somewhere else in the building.

I decided to tackle Stemmer's mystery first, since it was on the other side of the hollow. I headed for the building beneath the base of the huge tower, using my newly-repaired Spikesnout override to distract the Snapmaws and other Spikesnouts in a scrap.

Inside the ruin, I quickly found the Ember Stemmer had described. Upright, white hooks glowed above it, red-striped. The door was locked with a six-digit code, but in my experience the Old Ones made them pretty easy to guess, usually leaving clues in data points stored on their ancient devices.

It took a bit of doing to get to them. I found one half of the code quite quickly, but to find the rest I had to Pullcast my way through vents, walls and fenced-off storage areas.

I had to build myself a crate tower to get up to the highest point, into a second vent shaft, and into the upper level of the building to procure the second half of the code. Finally, I punched it in and claimed my prize, but with how long all that had taken me, I was exhausted. Wouldn't have time to go find Morlund's burner as well.

I spotted a radio tower on the way out and was delighted to find another corrupted projection from Miriam Technologies' Vista Point tour. Another mission for tomorrow; maybe Elisabet helped build this place too, keeping it alive to delight the people she helped create.

A quick zip grapple to the upper floors next, and another smooth elevator ride to the surface.

Back outside, I saw that Delah and Boomer had made it back to camp. They were already designing improvements to Boomer's Shredder Gauntlet, drawing up schematics at their work bench. Boomer was joyful as ever explaining her new ideas, and Delah just looked relieved. I'm glad Boomer has her sister to look out for her—help her tailor her talents and her blistering focus into a form the world will tolerate, even benefit from.

Next, I climbed up top to deliver the Ember to Stemmer. He'd spent the day repairing the machine he'd mentioned the night before, the one with the marking matching the other Embers. With my Focus, I could tell it was some controller unit for the projectors, wirelessly hooking into the network of lights across the city. When Stemmer slotted the Ember into the socket, a new set of patterns blazed to life across the sky.

Based on the data on the device, the Embers were part of a light show the Old Ones used to time to particular seasonal holidays. Times of celebration, each with their own symbols.

This one was called 'Christmas'. I'm sure I've heard the term in data points before. Out in the skies I saw the striped hooks, huge snowflakes, and bright green animals. Stemmer was right in his observation: they looked like Fanghorns. Some relation to the Moose, maybe, the projection I'd seen back in Yellowstone with Enjuk.

I left Hidden Ember in the late morning. Across the ceiling of the dome, I found Morlund at a makeshift workshop beside his new flying machine prototype. He called it the 'Elevated Sphere', inspired by Banuk beacons. I guess even Nora lanterns use the same basic principle: hot air rises. There was, of course, just one last thing Morlund needed to complete his latest invention.

He'd found it down in Dunehollow: a burner in the mouth of an ancient statue. I knew what he meant—the metal serpent-looking creatures hung throughout the lower levels of the Tower Of Tears. Morlund had set up a delving site of his own down there trying to get to it, but a bunch of Burrowers soon took up residence, driving him out. He wanted me to get it. Since I'd already told Stemmer I'd go fetch his Ember, I could easily help both showmen at once. Getting well and truly distracted from my purpose here to root out Regalla's rebellion, but oh well. This war won't truly end until Gaia has Hephaestus on side, and for that I'll need to rely on Beta.

I couldn't say no to Morlund's grinning enthusiasm, but Boomer's situation was certainly more dire. I said I'd come back with the burner when I could, then continued out to the east, bringing my Charger with me.

I made the short ride out to the metal arches to meet Delah.

She'd found a discarded scrap pile near the arches—machine parts freshly dismantled—Boomer's work. I picked up her tracks with my Focus, leading further out into the desert. Delah was really worried about her. As we followed Boomer's tracks, she explained that the previous night she and Boomer had an argument. Turns out their coming to Hidden Ember wasn't exactly voluntary—they'd been kicked out of Chainscrape after one of Boomer's experiments went wrong and set fire to the marketplace, could have taken out the whole town. It'd been the same back in the Claim, Boomer leaving explosions in their wake, Delah chasing after her, protecting her from the wrath she attracted quite by accident. They hitched a ride out west with a trading caravan and heard about this place out in the desert, keen to ply their trade here, get in early on a burgeoning centre of enterprise.

Here in Hidden Ember, things weren't shaking out so differently, with Boomer already working on dangerous new prototypes. Delah didn't know how to make her sister understand the stakes they faced. It wasn't just her that these experiments could harm. Delah had lashed out at Boomer, letting out her anger over all the chaos Boomer had caused in both their lives. Boomer didn't even seem to care; just ignored Delah, staring off, and Delah couldn't tell whether she was angry or just refusing to listen again. Now Delah felt awful, thinking she'd pushed Boomer away into danger.

Eventually Delah and I reached some ruins inhabited by Burrowers and a couple Clawstriders. The only source of scrap for miles, this had to be Boomer's stop. I overrode one of the Clawstriders, taking down the Burrowers quickly while the two Clawstriders battled. When only my docile machine remained, I searched the ruins. Boomer had rigged the place with explosive traps to ward off the machines, making it a hazardous exercise, but I soon found a small camp set out on the highest point of the structure.

A bedroll, a warm fire pit; tools, scrap, and other work gear. Boomer had lugged a ton of stuff out here in the dark of morning. Impressive, but worrying for us to find no sign of her. Boots left behind, and her favourite hammer. Delah held it with growing panic, knowing her sister would never leave it behind. I couldn't think about finding Boomer dead, tried to stop Delah from thinking it too. No point in entertaining despair when there was still hope.

I picked up another set of tracks moving away from the camp. Walking, not running, as if Boomer had left all her stuff behind voluntarily. They led to a short cliff wall, which Delah and I scaled. The rocky path continued up the mountain as the regularly scheduled afternoon sandstorm kicked into gear, spreading a haze across the lights of Las Vegas. I'd walked this trail before, last time I was in the region.

Further up, we reached the desert Tenakth shelter I'd once rested in on a day much like this, in a far fiercer storm. Inside the shell of the old plane, Delah and I found more signs of Boomer's journey; freshly stripped components and a low-burning fire. She was just here. We were getting close.

Down the other side of the incline, we found more ruins, the rest of the plane. More lanterns, gear, and discarded scrap left by Boomer. We'd barely begun examining the scene when Boomer herself came running up behind us, panicking, barely registering our presence as she fiddled with the weapon in her arms.

Boomer remained focused on the weapon as Delah tried to talk to her, in disbelief about her running off. Any continuation of their argument was disrupted by approaching machines. It became obvious why Boomer was in such a hurry to repair her prototype, which resembled a Shredder Gauntlet. Two Longlegs and a Bellowback came bounding out of the ruins straight for us.

We were backed up against the cliff, the machines drawing close—too close for me to safely set off their components, but it was the only way to stop them from attacking Delah and Boomer. I targeted one of the Longleg's sparkers with my Lightning bow, then fired off a braced shot at the other's echo sacs, setting off a shockwave that nearly knocked me down.

I then triggered one of the sparkers on the second Longleg, sending both down for close spear strikes. Only the Bellowback remained, slowly lumbering out of the ruins.

On my Charger again, I rode south into the thick of the Stillsands as the sun began to set. As I rode by a Burrower site, a Shellsnapper suddenly spun up from the sand, launching mines at my Charger's back. Thankfully a sandy incline blocked further projectiles. We passed an abandoned rebel outpost further down the desert road, now populated by wild machines. A Ravager, for one, which had finally broken free of its prison in the central shelter.

As the sun went down, the city lights came into view down in the dust bowl. Detecting data points and salvage, I stopped to climb one of the tallest and best-maintained towers in the area.

I wasn't disappointed; lots of data for the archive, and a huge slab of Greenshine at the very top.

Gliding down, I got an incredible view of the light show, now a permanent fixture thanks to Morlund and co. I was worried the power would fizzle out down there, but I guess Stanley Chen designed the place to last, leeching off centuries' old solar reverses.

I reached the Tower of Tears late in the night—in fact it had just turned morning. Erend was right, the place was bustling with activity. Wooden platforms had been constructed at both levels to extend the existing floor, ramping down to the sands, every inch teeming with tents and tarps, tables strewn with tools and tankards.

My energy was spent by my arrival, though the Oseram in residence showed no signs of slowing down, drinking (there was a brewery installed right there at the entrance), trading, and even playing Strike.

I found Stemmer on the third level of the tower, gazing out at the mesmerizing lights. He greeted me, as usual, with a poetic refrain, then launched into a tale of his own about a 'gizmo' he'd spotted down in Dunehollow. He'd been unable to get to it on his own, spotting it in a locked room in a ruin guarded by Spikesnouts and Snapmaws, but knew I'd have no trouble. He was, in his verbose way, asking me for help. How could I refuse?

I turned over the Embers I'd brought along with me from the base, hoping Morlund might find a use for them. Apparently, the inventor was off chasing a new dream already, attempting to conquer the skies in some flying machine. First the waters, now the air. I should make sure he doesn't get himself into too much trouble. He's probably the only person I've met with less regard for personal safety than myself.

Stemmer recognised the markings on the Embers I brought him, different from those Morlund had already uncovered below. They matched with another device he'd found. He was keen to investigate this connection in the morning.

I had to brave the snow for a short trek down the mountain, and in the rain as well, but I was soon safely in the warmth of Desert Clan territory.

At the base of the mountain road, I overrode a Charger from a herd, racing away before the rest could attack.

As I wound around to the southern road, I passed a metal flower. Now equipped with my vine-cutter module, I couldn't resist destroying the vines to get at the ancient salvage it had been protecting all this time.

I guess the Adamantine Wreaths were only deployed in the immediate region—test trials for global deployments that never came. This one held a nasty surprise alongside its salvage: an Apex Ravager.

I tied it down first, tearing off its cannon and striking deep with my spear. Then I set off one of its blaze canisters, the ensuing explosion stunning it down long enough for me to get a few more strikes in.

I picked up the torn cannon and used it myself, exhausting its ammo to down the Ravager for a third time, finally landing the final blow with my spear.

Inside the cave, I claimed the salvage, along with a nice chunk of Greenshine. The narrow gap in the stony ceiling showed the Ravager's accidental entrance route. It could have been trapped in there for months.

Riding onward, I stopped at the ruins just north of Arrowhand, remembering the metal flower that had blocked my path on my last visit. Now I'd be able to get at the Ember inside and take it with me to Hidden Ember.

Dissolving the vines with my new module, using a crate stuck behind, I was able to reach the controls on the upper walkway, opening the huge vault door sealing off the rest of the ruin.

Most of the tunnel was lost to a collapse, but I was able to free a cart with my Pullcaster, using it to prop open the door once I'd climbed back around to the entrance. With that I was able to climb up and reach the opposite walkway, claiming the Ember. Jagged orange shapes floated up from the holographic projector. Couldn't really figure what they were meant to be.

Speeding on south now, I passed the spot of the first Gauntlet Run I'd come across. Attah and her ex-rebels had long ago moved on to The Long Coast, but one rider and his Charger remained there with some equipment, keeping the track warm. I stopped to greet a fellow machine-rider before continuing on.

Passing Arrowhand, I rode on across the Shining Wastes. A squad of soldiers from the settlement hunted a herd of Fanghorns from up on their cordon. They were picking the machines off without issue, and I actually managed to keep on riding without trying to get in on the fun. It was good to see that the soldiers had driven the rebels out of the region, at least for the time being.