- "Have no fear, I wouldn't dream of it. We Fotherington-Smythes are a tenacious lot, once we set our minds to something."
- — Archibald Fotherington-Smythe
Sir Archibald Fotherington-Smythe is a character featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies mode.
Biography[]
Sir Archibald is a world-renowned archeologist, who was personally acquainted with treasure hunter Alistair Rhodes. In 1908, Archibald was invited by Alistair to his home, where the latter requested Archibald to conduct an expedition into a burial mound of Roman origin in the Principality of Avalon, in order to find a relic known as the Sentinel Artifact. At first, Archibald refused due to Alistair's request that the former do not publish his findings publicly, but Alistair proposed that he would help Archibald resolve a personal conflict with the Egyptian Government, allowing him to continue his activities there. Archibald agreed after negotiating for several cases of 1870s Claret wine that Alistair possessed. Archibald was also given a special monocle that Alistair had in his possession to help with his expedition.
Later that same year, Archibald and his expedition crew arrived at the mound, where they began excavating to find a way in. Archibald also made several recordings of his progress, addressed to his wife Marjorie. After three days of digging, Archibald's crew managed to open the Door to Nowhere, which led them into a Dark Aether Nexus. Noticing the Sentinel Artifact floating in a distance, Archibald urged his men to find a way to cross the gap. They managed to uncover the ancient Staff of Ice, and used it to fend off waves of zombies attacking them in the Nexus and around the dig site. Archibald's men also suffered great losses due to Archibald's own incompetence, evidenced by an incident in which he triggered an arrow trap that killed several of them.
As work on the dig site continued, Archibald's crew shrank in size, after losing more men to ancient trials that were required to open the path to the Sentinel Artifact. Eventually, Archibald was the last man standing, with the path to the Artifact fully opened. As he made his way toward it, he noticed a decanter on the ground. Assuming it to be left behind by his then-dead valet Bernard Potts, he attempted to pick it up, only for the decanter to reveal itself as a Mimic in disguise. Archibald uttered one last word "Mother." before succumbing to his death. Alistair's monocle was also swallowed by the Mimic.
Legacy[]
In February 1991, members of Requiem led by Grigori Weaver arrived at the dig site in search of the Sentinel Artifact. The Obscurus Altilium, an amulet in their possession, channeled echoes from the past, allowing them to hear Archibald's voice from 1908, detailing his expedition up to his final moment for the crew. Requiem later encountered the same Mimic that killed Archibald, and killed it, retrieving the monocle in the process.
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