Bird-Man Returns

Waking of Saturday, August 12, 2017

Bird-Man Returns

One of the folks at Tabantha Bridge Stable had heard tell of some kind of platform out on a place called Washa’s Bluff. I could see the spot plain enough on my map. So I gave it a visit.

It was near those scablands with the mushroomy treethings. The platform turned out to be another one of those orange pedestals I’d seen here and there. And nearby, atop the largest treething in the vicinity, there came that dulcet waltzing accordion....

“Kass!” I said.

I tried to climb up to him.

The treethings (I really don’t know what else to call them) stood in a fairly dense little cluster just there, and it looked like I might be able to climb from one to another to get to him....

But those things flare out wide as you go up. The trunks bell outward like a trumpet. The surface was soon so inverted that I lost my grip, and fell.

Rather missed my paraglider that time. Ouch.

How could I get up to where Kass was?

I cast my eyes about my surroundings, and they fell on Satori Mountain.

It seemed.... tall.... I supposed....

I looked again at Kass’s treething, and at Satori Mountain.

Maybe....

Yes, it seemed like an angle similar to the one I’d exploited to paraglide from that other mountain to that Sheikah Tower so easily.

Which by the way had been David’s least favorite tower. Those Wizzrobes, he said, he couldn’t handle the Wizzrobes.

I did not draw any happy faces from him when I told him how quickly and easily I’d done it.

My turn to be smug for once!

But the height of Satori Mountain seemed like it might just be enough to get me up onto Kass’s treething by paraglider.

I warped to the shrine near Satori’s peak, and gave it a shot.

I clambered up to the very highest point I could get to, one of those three tall jutting stones at the crest, and got my bearings, reorienting myself to this new angle. There was Washa’s Bluff waaaay down below me, with its little cluster of treethings. It was the very same; I made sure on my map. That was the bunch where Kass stood and played his accordion.

I stood tall and regarded my intended destination. Hm. Looked like it might be close. I’d definitely need a good start....

I jumped, deployed my paraglider at the highest.... and started to sail.

It was a long way.

You know, sometimes you can tell, as you near a target, whether you’re going to make it or not. But as I drew nearer and nearer to Kass’s treething....parallax did not draw the choice landing-zone up or down my range of sight. It stayed fixed directly in front of my waist as I flew down through the air. Course corrections became costly and precious. I was on a razor’s edge.

I really wasn’t sure I was going to make it! It was a close thing.... But at last I came to the end of my long, long paraglide PRECISELY on the very outer lip of the big mushroomy top of Kass’s giant treething.

I’d made it!

And with a song, Kass told me the platform had something to do with the Blood Moon. I guessed if I stood there during the next one I’d find out more.

But there was more atop this treething than just Kass—there was a little hut of some kind, pleasantly open to the air and with a few simple furnishings and a bed.... and with Kass’s journal in it.

I read it; it contained the lyrics to all the songs his late teacher had taught him. Some I recognized, some I didn’t. Seemed there were many shrines yet to scare up.

Ah, I do love crossing paths with Kass. ^_^

The Worst of Bad Ideas

Waking of Friday, August 11, 2017 ~ 5

The Worst of Bad Ideas

I warped to Robbie’s place, and spoke with Cherry.

But I was still a few gears short—she wouldn’t be crafting me the Ancient Cuirass today.

Rats.

I went back outside. Full of the restlessness of the thwarted, I again regarded the large, cubic maze standing in the sea. The last (and only) time I’d tried to paraglide to it, I’d run out of stamina just before I got there.

I had more stamina now.

....

In a raging fit of stupid, I leapt for it again.

The wind was not on my side.

One, two, three, and four Guardian Flyers once again came into view as I neared, sweeping over the corridors like vultures. Did Guardian Stalkers roam the paths beneath?

There was the entrance, that solitary gap in the strange, monumental edifice.

I touched down near the lip with both altitude and stamina to spare.

Lomei Labyrinth Island it was called.

A Guardian Stalker crouched at the far end of the large, central court.

It wasn’t moving.

I consulted my map.

Only one pathway seemed to lead to the shrine at the back, the first pathway on the right off the central court.

I took a step—

And the monk of the Sheikah Shrine addressed me. His name was Tu Ka’Loh.

His treasure would be mine if I could find the end of the labyrinth.

And as his words ended, I realized the boundary of his foreboding welcome must also have been the boundary of that Guardian Stalker’s ken—for it lit up and started moving toward me, preceded by its needling laser....

I booked it to the right, found the hole, dashed in quick, turned around a corner, and hid, my heart’s blood in my eyes and my lungs running silent—where were those Flyers?

The Piano drew in close to me, plinking its unobtrusive G minor again.

I gazed at the blue crack of sky above me, waiting for one of them to pass, desperate to learn its pattern, and so evade it....

But if I sat here too long, would something else find me?

I looked at my map again. I could see the way to go. Maybe if I just made a run for it....

But as I turned corners, pressed myself into walls, wedged into alcoves and dead ends, my eyes combing the strips of sky above for deadly threats.... I found that the maze seemed to be emptier than I had thought.

Almost.

A few stray Keese and Flame Chuchus wandered here and there. But they posed little threat.

I had thought that, as my map seemed to indicate, some of the passages were only an intricate series of dead ends. But I soon discovered that they were more thoroughly interconnected than I could have imagined. Ladders led up to hidden chambers inside the walls, huge Magnesable blocks revealed further sprawling junctions.... I soon became quite lost, my only gauges of proximity to the shrine my Sheikah Slate and HUD.

Wandering in the northern reaches of the tangle, I soon turned off my shrine locator; the beeping combined with the towering entrapment of the maze was enough to make one mad. And the deceptive boundaries shown on my map eroded my resolve to follow the map at all. I began to chase down every avenue I could, running, turning, delving, trying, hitting dead ends, spilling into endless branches of corridors....

Actually I reminded myself something awful of Fleur Delacour in the fourth Harry Potter movie.

But I hadn’t quite lost my mind yet....

Eventually I did come to that topmost corridor on the map—the one that surely would lead me to the shrine—

It didn’t.

It was just a long hallway.

I could hear the Islander Hawks crying. But when I looked up, I only saw a Guardian Flyer sweeping over the top of the maze, the red light of its eye swiveling....

Seemed they couldn’t see all the way to the bottom where I was, though.

The mighty labyrinth walls were climbable, as it turned out.

The Flyers were only there to keep me from cheating.

For all the hidden passages there seemed to be, I could find no way to get to the western half of the labyrinth. I had dashed into that hole on the east, and east was where I had been. But was the way to the shrine in the western half of the island after all?

The only way I could see to get to the western side was to cross the central court. There was only one problem—and when I’d crossed into the maze, that problem had started patrolling around. The Guardian Stalker was still too big to enter the tight labyrinth passages. But it made the central space a very dangerous place to enter, or even to look in on. I’d passed by those doorways a few times, and every time the Guardian saw me, it would gleam hot red and the Piano would make a fuss before I got the heck outta there!

But I couldn’t be afraid forever.

And I needed to get to the western side of the labyrinth....

And—rare gifts I’d received, but never used—I did have four Ancient Arrows on me.

And I’d heard some hearsay lately.... One man I spoke to said he’d heard that an Ancient Arrow could take down a Guardian in one shot.

One shot?

I’d heard they were strong against Guardians, but.... Really?

Could it be true?

I could do it.

I just had to keep my cool.

Such a nervous thrill of dread as I stood around the corner of an entrance to the court, hearing the approaching tunk-tunk-tunk of its feet, watching its life-meter (1500) float across the screen—thanks, Champion’s Tunic.

I let it complete its pattern once more.... and then stepped out where it would see me on its next pass.... and waited.

It had wandered off northward, toward where the Shrine was. It would come back south along the west side before turning in my direction.... and it did.

A hot red glow. A rush from the Piano. The laser found my shirt. I zipped behind the corner again. But that didn’t quiet its intent approach.

I took another peek. So did the Guardian, with its laser. It was still coming my way as I again ducked behind the stone. It was quite a mossy old thing, now I took the time to look.

It came right up to the wall, right up to the entrance—dared I step where I could see its eye and try a few practice shots with normal—ITS LEG CAME THROUGH THE HOLE AND STARTED STEPPING AROUND NOPE—NOPE BACK UP—YUP—’KAY—THAT WAS A GOOD PRACTICE RUN—GONNA LET IT RESUME ITS PATTERN NOW.

I pulled back.

Good GRAVY I pulled back for a moment.

Okay.

Okay I just had to take care of business before it got that close again.

I could do this.

Hoooo....

It wandered back into its patrol, and I again stepped out from behind the corner. And again it turned to see me right on that parallel, dead ahead across the court. And again the Piano threw up the cry and the Guardian and I played a deadly game of peek-a-boo chicken with each other, I lingering so long on one look that it actually fired a blast into the hole where I was—I evaded the fireball.

And when it was close—but not too close—I stepped out for the last time and took aim with my bow and a plain, wooden arrow.

The Guardian glowed so bright magenta and angry, white-hot power whirring up in its casing as its laser found me.

It was close enough. I could hit that.

I let fly.

Khing!

That SOUND—that WINNING SOUND that lets you know you’ve struck somewhere tender!

And the Guardian lurched backward—its head swiveled as if to clear itself—found me again—glowed that angry red—

I let fly again.

Khing!

Another arrow to the eye! Another lurch, another stumble, another shaking and regaining itself—A shot to the eye could forestall the laser.

The Guardian locked onto me again.

And I let fly again.

Khing!

And that was enough practice.

The Guardian recovered, began to glow—

I nocked one of my four precious Ancient Arrows....

....and let fly.

And for some reason the spectacle I remember most vividly was not the smashing, the glowing, the shattering, the breaking, the crumbling down, the hot glowing to explode—

It was the instantaneous, complete and utter darkening.... erasing.... EMPTYING of the life-meter.

I, with one Ancient Arrow, had slain a Guardian Stalker.

I cheered as I ran out to collect the spoils it had left behind—including three Ancient Gears! Still left me one short for the Cuirass, but what progress this was! I would have to come back here after the next Blood Moon!

The central court was now mine to cross freely, and I plunged into the west side of the maze. This side likewise had hidden passages and alcoves, all in a deucedly confusing tangle. But after a very long while, I came to a series of staircases that took me up, up, up to the chamber where the Shrine was. Tu Ka’Loh you dastardly....

There was no challenge inside the shrine. Of course it was a Blessing Shrine.

I came up to the requisite chest, wondering if I’d have room in my inventory for whatever weapon this might be.

But it wasn’t a weapon this time.

It was a Barbarian Helm.

A menacing, bleach-bone skull over the crown; long, cruel, curving horns on either side; and a wicked mane of wily red hair down the back.

I might have accidentally glimpsed something like this on the internet once....

But seeing it now, taking my time to take it all in from every angle....

It was AWESOME.  >u<

Well, new clothes meant only one thing: time to see a Fairy.

I went first to Mija, then to Kaysa, and each of them enhanced my new Barbarian Helm by one level. But after that I needed more materials.... materials I didn’t have time to collect at that moment because of how very late it was and how very tired I was getting.

But content that I had conquered the most daunting shrine on my map, and acquired a WICKED new hat.... I warped back to the shrine by the Tabantha Bridge Stable.... saved.... and quit.

At Tabantha Bridge

Waking of Friday, August 11, 2017 ~ 4

At Tabantha Bridge

After visiting with Branli I continued down the long road that wound around the Seres Scablands—the place I’d seen north of Satori Mountain, the place with those strange mushroom-like treethings sprouting up out of the earth.

I’d seen a Mount Rhoam nearby on my map, and I wanted to see if that little body of water on it was a Fairy Fountain....

Before I got there however, I came to a crossroads beside which a signpost stood in the grass. It warned me to beware of suspicious characters I might see on the road, of bandits in the area who might attack me.

A woman stood OH SO CONVENIENTLY nearby.

....

Well I wouldn’t be the Hero if I weren’t a proper Fool.

I spoke to her.

Her name was Traveler.

“Dang it!” I shouted.

She threatened to kill me and we had it out. She gave me quite a bit of trouble, this one, but I struck her as I was able. She kept dancing just out of reach....

“Nimble little minx, ain’t she?” said Dad, who was in the room, and I laughed. XD

In the end I took her down and stole her bananas and hurried on up the road to a new stable—the Tabantha Bridge Stable. And a shrine. Which I had trouble accessing at the first by dint of it being up over a small ledge which I was obliged to scale in the rain. But I did get to it, and locked down the warpable.

Did that shrine have Guardians in it?

Where did I get.... more gears....?

Three men stood in a conspicuous huddle outside the stable, just begging to be eavesdropped upon. I approached them and they told me about the Leviathans that used to roam the land, and the giant bones they had left behind.

Ah.

So perhaps those weren’t Dodongos after all.

They asked if I would scout out the three Leviathan skeletons that were known in the land, and then come back and report or show them pictures or something....

At least I knew where one of them was....

Well I checked out Mount Rhoam, but there weren’t any Fairy Fountains on it. Conveniently enough, however, there was another man at the stable, name of Toren, who gave me a clue about a Great Fairy nearby! And he asked, if I were going to go looking for her, would I please make an offering to the Great Fairy for him?

I agreed and he gave me five hundred rupees.

He said something about the Sheikah Tower across Tabantha Bridge—some time in the afternoon, its shadow would point to where the Great Fairy lived....

Hmmm but I wasn’t sure I wanted to get that tower just yet, and so was hesitant to go near it and be tempted....

Do you find it ridiculous?

Why do I play the way I play?

What.

I’m savoring.

I’m breadcrumbing.

I’m exploring.

WHAT.

Instead of chasing after the tower’s shadow, I went back to my map, and studied the Gerudo Tower. I remembered standing near that one all day waiting for its shadow to crawl to where I was. Studying my map and recalling where that shadow had passed, I concluded that any afternoon shadow would be cast first southward, and then sweep counterclockwise to the east as the sun sank lower.

By sight, I placed a marker on the tower across Tabantha Bridge. On the empty blue map in my Sheikah Slate, I added two more markers at healthy distances south and east from the first marker. This pie-slice would be my search area....

And I plunged across the bridge....

A Guardian Flyer seemed to patrol near the road that wound off toward the left. And so as was my wont I took to the hills. I thoroughly searched my little grid around what seemed like it would be the midway point of the shadow’s afternoon course, but to no avail. At length I stood frustrated on top of a high rock, scanning all around me for those bright orange toadstools, that big green cocoon.... but saw nothing.

Disappointed, I moved to the rock’s edge to float down.... and saw the cocoon directly below me.

There was no water nearby.

I floated down, and spoke to the fairy inside.

A thousand rupees she asked for. But that was easy enough, especially with Toren’s help! I handed it over.

The cocoon burst open into a beautiful golden bloom. This fairy’s name was Kaysa. She had slightly darker skin, and sported a gaudy collection of pink-accented jewelry, the bangles on her necklace stark and triangular.

And then there was her hair. It was light pink just the same to match. But if Mija’s pompadour had been the pleasantly proportioned fluff of a strutting prairie-grouse.... Kaysa’s streaming fountain of bangs was more like a long-necked flamingo.

I had her work her magic on some of my clothes, and rather than blow magic at me or bop me with a kissed finger.... SHE LEANED RIGHT DOWN AND KISSED MY FACE.

Link covered his face in a fright before that cinematic was over. XD And it left him gasping and panting like he does when he runs out of stamina! XD XD XD

When I’d had all the clothes enhanced that I could, I went back to Toren and he gave me his thanks.... and I thought of some other clothes I rather wanted to acquire....

I’d recently collected a few more Ancient Gears.

It was time to pay Robbie a visit, and see if Cherry could forge anything for me....

Bird-Man

Waking of Friday, August 11, 2017 ~ 3

Bird-Man

On top of the cliff west of Serenne Stable I heard another shrine, but just like the one in the Forgotten Temple, for the life of me I could not pin it down!

It took a couple of flying leaps from the cliff top for me to notice—and get to—an explodable bit of rock halfway down the sheer rock face.

A Blessing Shrine was inside.

I was feeling just dandy by this point! ^_^

I kept climbing the mountain until I got just about to its crest, from which I had a clear and open view of a Sheikah Tower somewhere between south and east.

I knew this tower. It stood in the center of a body of water atop a roundish, bald plateau. From a distance it had always looked easy enough to reach, though I was certain there had to be some trick or riddle to it. For I had passed this tower many times in my wanderings, but never yet attempted to climb it.

It was time to try it now. I considered my altitude.... and took more direct approach: via PARAGLIDER! 8D

As I sailed toward it I wondered whether I’d come up short and land in the water. I hoped not; there could be baddies in there, maybe creeping evil things I hadn’t even encountered before. Deep water does things to your mind—you don’t know what could be lurking in the depths....

But as I drew near, I could tell that my course would keep me from getting wet. Only just! But that was good enough. And it was a good thing, too, because I saw what the resident obstacle was: the water teemed with awful things that would surely wish to do me harm at first sight. Electric Lizalfos churned through the surface, wielding strange Thunder-weapons I’d never seen before; more Lizalfos patrolled the shore; and a handful of Lightning Wizzrobes skipped gleefully around the lower airs.

Hm, wish I’d been able to come in a little higher.

I wondered if this were the tower David said was his least favorite....

I landed on the lowest platform, and waited only long enough to regain my stamina. Lucky for me Wizzrobes like to skip around invisible for a while after they spot you. If these had been flying wolves.... I’d’ve had problems. But I climbed as quick as I could, resting only as long as I needed, and the shots from their Lightning Rods were easy to dodge.

Still.... I couldn’t help but recall my experience at the Lake Tower. Would they cook up some kind of super lightning storm if they couldn’t catch me after a while?

Plink! Plink! Plink! They continued to stalk me invisibly, ascending as I did up the tower...

I might’ve taken just one hit, but it wasn’t bad, and there was a platform just beneath me. Otherwise I made it to the top in a trice without a hitch.

There was a man up there.

His name was Branli, and he seemed to have been stranded a la Gruve as the Sheikah Tower burst out of the ground.

Dear me I take too much time wandering; this Branli could have starved to death—

Branli was very into studying the Bird-men. In fact, he asked me if I were one of them, as he wasn’t sure how else I could have gotten onto the tower. We got to the topic of how to get down, and he was shocked at my claim to be able to simply fly down. He asked me to demonstrate—I put him off for only a moment, so I could activate the tower—

Hey, it was an easy way down, but there was no telling whether the game would bring me back up to the top!

I downloaded the map, was delighted to finally have an image of Satori Mountain and a setting for all my stamps and shrine-icons, glanced over the features of the land with all their interesting names—and shuddered as I FINALLY discovered the name of that great toothy CRACK in the earth just north of Jeddo Bridge....

The Breach of Demise.

Uhhhuhuhuhuhhh....

I thought of the proximity of the Forgotten Temple.... and that giant Goddess statue.... and wondered....

But at length I came back to myself, and this Branli, and agreed to demonstrate flying on my paraglider for him. He told me to go for distance, and so I flew directly into the lower lands of the Breach, touching down, as it happened, just about in the middle of that nest of Bokoblins with their two skull-dens....

But fortunately, the game did zip me right back up to the tower, and Branli’s report: I had flown over six hundred meters! He was quite impressed, and invited me to come and give it another go whenever I had the chance.

Heh, funny man. ^_^

The Trouble with Boomers

Waking of Friday, August 11, 2017 ~ 2

The Trouble with Boomers

I still stood over the head of the Forgotten Temple Valley and—confusticate and beBOTHER the sirens of this game—I was hungry to keep exploring!

Well there was that shrine and stable I could see far to the west across the green fields.

Onward! ^_^

Oh it was a long and rainy jog to get there.

David had seen me playing at one point, or actually I think I had described to him where I was. And I’d told him I wanted to go grab that very accessible looking shrine and stable.

David scoffed and said I’d freeze before I got there.

ò.Ó

I’d said it didn’t look that cold.

But David assured me the environment would be far too cold.

Hm! I’d see about that! u_u

The road went on and on and on, and the rain did not abate. I found at least one Korok up on top of an old ruined hut, and I met.... probably Chabi again. We sheltered beneath the splintered half-roof to chat for just a bit.

There were an awful lot of arrows stuck into the ruined buildings around here. I collected them where I could, but.... it made me wonder how it had gotten like that. What rivaling powers had clashed here?

At length I came to the Serenne Stable.

And it was NOT too cold for me.

HA, David! >8D

I skipped up the adjacent hill and completed the local shrine, and then.... decided to keep following the road. North of the path, before a great mountain cliff, there was a tall tower with a lookout platform on top. It stood beside a camp of Bokoblins.

I ran in and started to climb before they could stop me, and—ah, delight of delights—found a red-barrel boomer on top. ^_^

I peered over the edge; all the Bokoblins were gathered near the base of the tower. I picked up the boomer, and just dropped it over the edge.

And then something happened I had not expected.

Evidently the very tower I stood upon was not immune to the blast. The platform fell out from beneath my feet and I found myself falling through a mess of splintered wood!

Oops.

I remembered my paraglider before I met the ground, but meet the ground I did—along with a squad of angry, burning Bokoblins.

A terrific fire-fight ensued. Grass alight. Blazing clubs swinging. Hot times down on the ground I tell you wot!

After I dispatched them I made a note to never drop any more powder kegs close to the structures I was standing on, and proceeded to climb the mountain.

To See What I Could See

Waking of Friday, August 11, 2017

To See What I Could See

You know, lately I try not to play too far ahead before I’ve written up my adventures so far. I really do. But man....

I don’t know what came over me on this day. It’s a Zelda game. It’s a siren. It’s Blow it all I just wanna play the game and be the Hero. Escape to Hyrule. Divert my mind. Fly me away and tell me stories....

I was still in the deepest recesses of the Forgotten Temple.

David said he’d just warped out of that one. But.... There were no convenient shrines to warp to outside. I think the closest one was Ketoh Wawai, and that one was all in the dark with a Hinox next to it.

I didn’t want to have to traverse any huge distances again. How was I going to get out of here?

....

Well, I decided to just try the same way I’d gotten in—on the air currents. I climbed up the giant Goddess statue for some altitude (pardon me, Lady) and wouldn’t you know.... I made it out unscathed this time! ^_^

After that I climbed back up to where the shrine-detector had vexed me, near where I’d met Yammo and seen my first Tabantha Moose.

My blue marker was right there on that red mountain.

What had I seen on top of that mountain?

I needed to go get it—NOW.

It had always been my wont to keep so many things in reserve until NEVER, because what if I had more urgent need of them down the road?

But I chucked that notion out the window as I perused my very old stock of Spicy Omelets. Surely they should have molded over by now.... but! My hammerspace pockets seemed also to act as the perfect preservation larder.

I ate an omelet, and charged up the road, not stopping for anything! I scrambled over the rough red rocks, straight up the mountainside! My blue marker drew nearer in my HUD map....! And UP over a little crest and it would be in sight!

I had a little difficulty focusing on it however as I seemed to have disturbed a little camp of cold-blooded baddies. Bokoblins, Ice Keese, White Chuchus.

I swiveled my scope madly—there it was! My blue marker!

It was a tree.

I had placed it on the naked trunk of a frozen tree.

....

I ran toward it! Straight through the baddie-camp and further up the hill! Passed the tree, the marker disappeared, and I kept running! I didn’t care to engage any of those things just now!

But higher up on the crest of the mountain was something that made me pull up a short. o_o I snapped its pictograph just as it turned its massive head and noticed me.

A Great-Horned Rhinoceros.

It was big, and woolly! With a blue-grey coat, and an enormous mean-lookin’ horn on its nose!

It charged and I jumped out of the way! Turned and pinked it with my sword. It bellowed and ran away. I ran but couldn’t catch it.... fired one arrow—it groared again—landed a second arrow....!

And it was down!

That was a great lotta meat to harvest! I scooped it all up quick and skipped up to the very tip of the mountain.

The warming effect from my spicy omelet would run out soon.... I decided I would paraglide back to the warmer climes!

And I did—it was a very long flight and I started freezing before I escaped the frigid air. But I managed to touch down on a warmer hill just above where I had started, near that bend in the path that curves around the head of the Forgotten Temple Valley.

GOT the blue marker!

Where to next? :D

Even More Bad Things

Waking of Saturday, July 29, 2017 ~ 2

Even More Bad Things

The deep valley ruins were expansive.... but blessedly devoid of monster life.

I climbed all OVER looking for that shrine, my locator beeping feebly at me at every triangulation. The house was still full and the table had filled up a bit. The chatter drilling into my temples....

I asked them if they could chat in the living room instead, and they were very kind to oblige. But Dad stayed and sat by me, keen to solve the puzzle.

“Why don’t you try bombing that platform?”

I knew it wouldn’t work, but I did it anyway, and planted a bomb on one of the great stone octagons jutting from the floor. “Cool guys don’t look at explosions!” I sang as I leapt off the platform and detonated.

But the stone remained solid.

And when the sun had gone down— “Wait a minute wait a minute—what’s that up there?”

“Those are Luminous Stone deposits. They’re not a shrine.”

The beeping seemed to be coming from.... one of three large stones, between which I’d scared up a Korok. But.... there were no weak spots to bomb, no cracks to enter. Nothing I could do would upset such a huge piece of rock.

I finally said, “I’m going to go to the end of this.... construct.... and see if I can get underneath.”

Dad gave a single surprised laugh. “I wouldn’t have thought of that!”

It was a long jog. I hopped on one of the stone ribs in the architecture, making it my pathway as I ran toward the little horizon that indicated that the valley became deeper further on. I jumped over more stone octagons and ran and ran until I came to an edge.

The place was called.... the Forgotten Temple.

The valley indeed became much deeper here.

A wide patio-shelf of more stonework lay below me. I paraglided down to this second level, and had a look at the wall that held up the top.

There seemed to be a gigantic archway.... but it was blocked and filled with earth and giant standstony boulders.

But near the base was a bit that looked explodable!

Surely this would be my way inside!

I blew it up—!

A Korok hid behind it.

“Yahaha!” he giggled, “You found me!”

>_<

I walked to the edge of the second level, and saw a similar patio-shelf even further down. I paraglided down toward this third level, and was hungrily relieved to see that the archway in the wall between levels two and three.... was unobstructed.

I angled the camera as I touched down on the stone, so that I had a good look through the archway.

I registered only one thing: a number of dark mounded shapes.... like upside-down cereal bowls....

Those were Guardians in there.

I paused to flip the sensor in my Sheikah Slate to look for Decayed Guardians.

Unpaused.

Brreep-brreep! Even as I saw the nearest mounds light up red. Brreep-brreep! Their heads began to swivel. Brreep-brreep! Found me. Lasers locked on.

I RAN. Straight away. Straight toward the edge. Not bothering with any other controls. I just ran.

The camera remained directed at the open archway behind me, the horde of black shapes like spiders congregated in an overturned box, three hot red lasers boring into the back of my shirt—one of them blinking—it was going to fire, it was firing—

And BARELY I jumped off the edge in time—

The air began to rush and I caught myself with my paraglider before I hit the ground—the final rocky dirt bottom of this canyon.

“HAAAUUGH!” Dad and I looked at each other.

That was close.

“Only one thing left to do when you hit rock bottom,” I said.

“Dig,” said Dad.

“Start digging,” I concurred with a nod. u_u

I found a way to climb back up, which brought me back to the Korok level. I could paraglide down for another quick entrance this time.... Because there was something else I had noticed through that archway.... something absolutely ridiculous....

Air currents. Blasting up out of the floor. Meant to be sailed upon.

Heh, my brothers and I used to really enjoy playing a demo of a great little side-scrolling game where you controlled a paper airplane. The floor vents were your friend.

Seemed like the same story here....

Go nuts! Ben had told me at the lake.

I sailed in. The Guardians glowed red and began to swivel. I hit the ground for a few paces to regain the sliver of stamina I had spent. Jumped off the inner edge—there were so many of them in here—lasers tagged onto my shirt—the air current lifted me up—

One of the Guardians blew me out of the air and I fell in a flaming rush—too fast!—But I recovered before I hit the ground—the flames went out—oh my gosh so many lasers....

Up the updraft again, across the huge room—so many Guardians.

I neared a tall, thick barrier wall which seemed to bisect the length of the Temple—there was a hole in the middle of it. I headed straight for it, dropping a bit to get down to its altitude and inside it more quickly....!

I touched down on the last dregs of my stamina and ran to duck behind the mounded earth and rubble in this little alcove.

My gosh that was the LAST dregs of my stamina! Lucky I’d enhanced it as far as I had....

From my hidden perch I could see what that giant dark grey thing was at the far end of the Temple: an enormous statue of the Goddess.

My gosh it was like.... Skyloft....

What was this place?

There was still the other half of the room to cross.... and I crossed it, sailing through another net of pin-cushioning lasers and deadly blue bolts whizzing behind my back—how do you weave when the lasers come from so many angles?—but somehow none of them hit me—too low to make the hole in the last wall—had to drop to the floor, run through that opening down at floor level—lasers chasing me in—UHH!

I made it....

I made it.

And I found the shrine that had so MADDENINGLY eluded me up above.

And it was a Blessing Shrine.

You know, the Blessing Shrines seem to have the same muted music as a shrine you enter after it’s been beaten. Soft. Echoey. Like a memory or a ghost.

I received the Spirit Orb, the eighth I now carried with me, stepped outside, and prayed before the Goddess statue.

One Heart Container.

One Stamina Vessel.

One save.

And one quit.

My battery was out, and it was time for bed anyway.

Procrastination

Waking of Saturday, July 29, 2017

Procrastination

I came out of the Tah Muhl Shrine and headed northeast to another shrine I had marked: the Sah Dahaj Shrine. This one lay in a deep hole beside a mad treehouse full of nasties. I cleaned them all out—after I completed the shrine.

Was it just me? Or did all these Eldin shrines contain fire-based trials? ¬.¬

I’d been picking up Koroks here and there, but THAT CIRCLE—that circle of stones behind the treehouse—for the life of me I could not find a spare stone ANYWHERE that would complete that circle and tease out the Korok!

I climbed all over the mountain above, and found nothing but more Fireproof Lizards—dandy for making more fireproof elixirs and made me wanna have another go at Bayge & Co.’s endurance challenge in the Gerudo Highlands but that wasn’t what I was looking for just now.

I even backtracked to another Korok I’d found hiding under a rock.... but that rock had long since vanished. Dang it.

I knew where there were more rocks.... somewhat nearby....

They were down in the shallow lake, near another Korok puzzle I’d solved: throw the rock in the water-goal.

Rocks for those kinds of Korok puzzles never run out.

There was only one problem: that lake was about a hundred feet lower than where the treehouse Korok Circle was—separated from it by terrain that was steep and ill-suited for walking. And walking.... was the only way to carry a rock for a Korok Circle. You couldn’t climb with those things.

....But those were the only rocks anywhere....

....

Yeah, I used one of those.

Yes, it was a chore.

No, the Octo Balloons weren’t that helpful—and I injured myself more than once.

Turned out I didn’t need them anyway.

NO I’M NOT TELLING.

ANYWAY!

I climbed a little more around the mountain—and found just one more Korok in a very frightening location, in a pool right next to a Guardian that patrolled back and forth along a section of road that passed beneath a delicate arch of stone.

Well, when the Guardian’s back was turned, I paraglided in and ran for it! I got to the little hot spring and ducked behind a large rock just in time.

It was tricky picking up that Korok—it was another rock-in-the-water-goal puzzle. I missed with the first rock I picked up—my nerves were on edge with that Guardian so close! But I got the second rock right where it should be.

I know when the Korok is interacting with you, the world of the game is frozen. But.... man, you still feel a pressure to hurry up when you’re on such dangerous ground!

I collected the Korok seed, started for the cover of the rock, and the Guardian saw me. It turned glowing hot red. “Oh man that thing’s agitated,” I muttered.

But it did not enter the spring to look for me.

Maybe they can’t walk on water.

I climbed a little more, started going up a pathway haunted by too many Fire Keese.... but, deciding I didn’t want to burst into flame anymore in the volcano’s heat, I hopped over the mountain’s arm and climbed into Akkala.

I came down almost right on top of the South Akkala Stable! I played some bug games with the stablehands there; they were cute. ^_^ After that I took the road north through a place I’d been curious about for a long time: Shadow Pass. I wondered what was in there....

Turned out it was just a lot of game. And of course all the beautiful Akkala plant life. <3

I also ran into a bear.

It growled at me, its eyes shining green in the moonlight....

I quickly jumped onto a big rock and climbed right to the top in a trice!

But the bear was already running out of sight.

Maybe we scared each other.

I continued north, looking for I don’t even know what....

I saw Karsh again. “Sav’saaba!”

I saw Chabi again. She’d heard Kilton was on the move now.

I basically just made a big circle, coming back toward the South Akkala Stable via the road that ran through the wetlands.

Those wetlands were another fine Valley of Terror, let me tell you. I set my detector once again to Decayed Guardians. And it chirped a foreboding beat....

I scavenged all the dead Guardians I dared, only backing off when I saw that I was nearing the live ones—I mean the ones that move. There are two of them down there. I’d seen them when I paraglided out of the Akkala Tower.

It was a fairly good haul anyway. Made me want to go visit Robbie again, and see what Cherry could make for me.

Back at the South Akkala Stable I met a guy whose dark skin was at odds with his platinum-blonde hair, and his name was Rex.

Rex said he was looking for that Legendary Sword. I chatted with him about it. He said he reckoned the sword was somewhere near the volcano.... but not on this side. He said it was probably closer to the Woodland Stable.

Huh.

You know.... I’d had a feeling about the Lost Woods for a long, long time.

When I chatted with Rex about it again, he became defensive, aggressive, saying he was going to be the one to find it! And I’d better just stay out of his way....

Huh.

....

Well now that my on-screen avatar had received a proper clue about it....

....

Well.... I do like chasing the scripted breadcrumbs.

Eh.

I took Memory from the South Akkala Stable, and rode him all the way to the Woodland Stable.

That.... was a pleasant ride.

And the Piano came out to accompany us, splashing in the wake of Memory’s hooves in its sunlit-raindrop song, and swaying and dipping its lovely Violin dance partner as they told us some of Koji Kondo’s best stories....

Zelda’s Lullaby.

The Legend of Zelda.

Beautiful themes.

I kept a sharp eye as we clipped along the riverside leading out of Lanayru.... and there she was, flailing away from a Bokoblin.

“Leekah.... Memory stay here,” I said as I dismounted....

When I’d escorted the disaster-prone girl back to the Woodland Stable, I checked up on Memory’s stats.... and saw that the last seven percent had finally filled up to max out our bond to each other.

He is willful, and wild.

And he is mine.

Somewhere around the stable I saw Laroba, another Gerudo. “Sav’aaq,” she hailed me, and then said something about where to find all the strapping voe.

Voe....?

....

I wondered if it was some concise term for boyfriend material.

I’d momentarily forgotten that the Gerudo couldn’t possibly find mates among themselves, as they are all women.

Hmm.

I wondered how they’d receive me once I ventured into their lands.

Well I ran up the hill to the Lost Woods and, more confident against wolves, even ventured inside a bit.

The mist was weird, curling in unnatural scud all across my view. The Piano came to heel again, tapping out once more those repetitive descending notes in a watchful key of G. It sounded more.... assertive this time, as though it knew there was something to be sought after hard in here.... though that may only have been my imagination.

I followed a few lit torches into the green misty gloom....

But....

I considered my surroundings. I mean my surroundings. In my house.

There were too many people around. The buzzkill risk was too high. And this seemed too important.

I didn’t want to do it right now.

I backed out.

But on my way I thought I saw something faintly glowing in the distance, something.... orange or pink....

I tried to climb a rock to get a better view and—

EVERYTHING WENT WHITE—and I swear I heard some.... someone.... laughing....

And I wound up back at the entrance.

....

Unlike Ketoh Wawai’s shrouded island.... it seemed the path in here.... could not be strayed from.

I came out and decided to climb north around the volcano.... looking for more shrines maybe. I found that epic treehouse I’d seen before [or rather what I thought was that epic treehouse I’d seen before—there’s a couple of them on Death Mountain’s western slopes], got up behind it, and cleared it out with an equally epic game of Bomb-Golf.

You know.... I really.... really love having infinite bombs in this game. =3

After I killed the treehouse.... well the volcano was just so massive....

What was I doing, anyway?

I changed course, and started to go after my blue marker instead. As far away as it was, it was probably closer than any north part of the volcano I thought about exploring—Death Mountain was huge.

I hiked west around the north side of the Lost Woods, getting quite close to the edge of my visible map. I could see the way to where I’d put my Blue Marker. It was so close!

But.... as I’d suspected, it did get too cold before I got there. Too cold even for my Warm Doublet. I could even see the boundary where the falling rain turned into falling snow.

I met a nice lady merchant walking along the road there. Yammo was her name. But she and her donkey didn’t have any cold weather clothing I could buy....

The two of them just kept walking toward the freezing air.... and a moose. A Tabantha Moose. I snapped its pictograph as its head was turned in my direction. It had the same green eyes as that bear had had....

When Yammo and her donkey got close to it, it spooked, which spooked them, and they all ran away from each other. XD

Well, the way up the road and toward my marker was too cold, but I could plainly see a shrine and a stable far away in the west, amid a grassier, gentler clime.

But.... I could also hear a shrine beeping much closer than that....

It was in that place I’d seen in the northern reaches of my Woodland Map. Those huge, huge angular structures in that low valley....

I wanted to find it....

Good Friends

Waking of Thursday, July 20, 2017

Good Friends

Good friends really are wonderful. Alison, Jenenne and Jenny came over and took me out for a burger to celebrate my birthday. They couldn’t do it on my actual birthday because.... it’s just been so busy at work.

It’s rough when for your birthday you gotta drive a longer commute, to a less sanitary building, with ventilation systems ill-designed for the desert environment, which don’t really work anyway, to sit in a smaller cubicle, at an earlier hour than usual, to do mandatory overtime.

It’s been some long and hard days. But....

Good friends really are wonderful.

After food they brought me back and we all wondered what to do next. “Games?” someone proposed.

And frankly I probably just panicked. Games like the kind you play at parties? Parties full of people, crowds make me nervous....

I don’t know when the last time I just plain.... played a game was. With other people. I know I used to. Lots of people. But....

When did it become so uncomfortable, so dangerous, in my mind?

That just someone saying the word Games could.... make me want to back out and run away.

And so I brought up something else that I had heard my friends express an interest in: “You guys want to see my Zelda game?”

“Ooh yeah!” said Jenny. I turned on the console.

Alison wanted to start her own game but when we came to the rigamarole of that she would have to create a profile on my WiiU first.... she told me to just go ahead.

Just for kicks I found my own way out of Ketoh Wawai’s shrouded island. Even remembered to turn my HUD back on halfway through, oops.

Our mission, I told them, was to Collect the Blue Marker and Find Mister Kilton.

And so we wandered west, toward my blue marker.... but it was quite far away. And zooming in with my scope, it looked like there might be a danger of my freezing to death before I could reach it.

Well.... not wanting to be all night, we decided to forego the blue marker for the present, and wander back east around the north of the volcano, toward Gut Check Rock, and Skull Lake.

But that was quite a long distance, too.

And so after looking at some wildlife—Alison enjoyed the cranes; she asked me to take a picture but I didn’t.... I should have—after looking at some wildlife I simply warped straight to Gut Check Rock.

From there I paraglided toward Skull Lake, found the highest jump-point I could and then paraglided again toward the shrine on the spire island. My friends were wowed by the vastness of the world! Jenny was right glued to the screen. And Alison was right glued to Jenenne’s snack she had brought: some kinda sticky-sweet puppy chow mix, which I tried to partake of carefully because I didn’t want to gum up my WiiU gamepad!

It was delicious.

“Here, take it away from me,” said Alison, and Jenny and I obliged.

The shrine was named for one Zuna Kai, but I don’t remember whether it was a puzzle shrine or a blessing shrine. Might have been a blessing shrine.... Yeah.

After that it was a slow float down all the shelfy rocks to find Kilton. There were so many crags to explore.... Killed a few baddies....

In the lake at the bottom there was a boat, and I showed my friends how to blow it around with a Korok Leaf! That was pretty cool. B)

I blew it the short distance to Kilton’s island....

And WAITED.

The water in the lake was full of giant flowers, submerged some feet beneath the surface. Made me wonder if there could be a fairy nearby....

Night fell, storms came and went (the foliage-obliterating lightning was quite transfixing!), and Kilton didn’t show.

After 2:00 am and with still no Kilton I jumped off the island and swam away for a distance. And then upon turning back—

BOOM! There’s a huge balloon of some kind parked there?? (Seemed I just had to step away so the game could populate it!) All in dark spooky colors in the patchwork of its envelope and the ramshackle tent beneath it.... at first glance it made me think of some Halloween-themed version of the Wizard of Oz!

I swam back!

After scrambling onto the island, I approached the figure moving behind the tent’s tiny counter.... He seemed.... bird-like in appearance—no it was the torn back of a hood—

I got his attention and he turned around and spooked and HOWLED at my appearance! And then he said, “Oh... just a Hylian.”

What.... was he? His face was huge, and grey-skinned. Actually I was reminded of nothing so much as.... oh let me check the spelling.... Ben Quadinaros. The Star Wars podracer whose power coupling failed at the start line. Quadinaros also had a huge face.

Kilton’s face was large, with pronouncedly curly eyebrows and very wide eyes. He asked me what I thought of monsters.

I told him the truth: “I hate them.”

And, looking very much, well, deflated, he cut off the conversation.

Oh dear. I.... kind of pitied his poor timid manner.

So I spoke to him again, and this time claimed, “I like them.”

He asked me how much I liked them.

There were four possible responses, and I only remember the most intense one: I ADORE THEM!

But I chose the lowest response.

Whereupon Kilton jumped into an overbearing pose and screamed, “I LOVE THEM MORE THAN YOU DO!”

o__o;

Guess he was.... anticipating a little bit of contention there. Guy gets excited! ^_^;;

But he apologized and quieted down and introduced himself properly and then rattled off the names of a few villages (some I’d never heard of!) that he might like to do business in in the future—at night.

And then.... he was on his way. Back in his balloon and off into the sky.

And that was Mister Kilton.

Well that encounter was.... shorter than I’d thought it would be. Seemed it was just an introduction, to get to know him.

Guess I’d see him around.

What even is he....? If not a Hylian.... I wonder....

Well, we’d completed our mission of Finding Mister Kilton, and so set about getting into what tomfoolery was readily available. I wandered....

From Skull Lake I wandered into Rok Woods, and quickly discovered it was not named for a giant bird, as I had wondered. I did however get a Korok for my.... heavily concussive troubles. And then I climbed up on one of the jutting rocks above Tempest Gulch. And after grabbing another Korok there, I considered the Blue Lynel prowling down near the aspens....

Under a bit of peer pressure from the ladies, I paraglided down and RODE IT! HAHA!

Wasn’t gonna let David one-up me entirely! ^_^

After it bucked me off, I had a fair tussle with it, too! I employed Stasis most effectively, but.... in the end it proved stronger than I was, and so I warped back to the Zuna Kai Shrine on top of the Skull Lake Spire, and then back to Gut Check Rock.

I showed them the cooking pot up near where Bayge sat, and after consulting my ingredients Alison insisted I should make a Speed Elixir. So I did, and they loved the cute little animation of Link cooking, just as they had loved the animation of him eating to up my hearts before I faced the Lynel. ^_^

But the Lynel had taken just as many hearts back off, and then some, and so it was a paraglide down to the hot spring for a nice, healing soak.

We ran around a bit more until we found.... a BLUE HINOX, snoring out there on the hot rocks. I moved in so they could see the creature up close, and got closer, and closer.... until the Hinox woke up, and then it was a comical run for our lives as it chased after us! XD

Ah it were such a delightful time just romping around on the screen. But....

Well, I was the Hero. And I had followed the breadcrumbs as far as I could. Perhaps not in a direct course, but hey, I was trying. Go see Impa. Go see Purah. Go see Robbie. Murmurs about Kilton.

And I’d found Kilton, and then he’d gone and—

There were no more breadcrumbs.

That was the end of the breadcrumbs.

....

But....

I was here at the Volcano.

....

Maybe it was time to see whether I could....

DO THE VOLCANO?

D8

I proposed a new quest to my companions: find, reach, and activate the local Sheikah Tower!

They were all in as I scrambled up the craggy stones and ashfalls, occasionally bursting into flame....

Good friends.... really are wonderful.

Somehow the house became quite the hot spot that night. John and Siara were there, had been there since about the time my friends and I got back from In-N-Out. They gave me a sweet birthday card, too. :3 <3 ^_^ And later Ben and Cami showed up! What kind of party was this?

Spontaneous, I guess.

Alison, Jenenne and Jenny didn’t see me reach the tower; it was getting late and they bowed out before then. I thanked them for the birthday visit, and they departed.

But once I got very close to the structure, I asked Ben if he’d like to see, and he did.

It was nice to find a tower that wasn’t swamped in a bog, covered in briars or surrounded by Guardians. There were just a few Bokoblins in the way on the hill just below, and they were easy enough to dispatch.

The Eldin Region map was.... TREMENDOUSLY INTERESTING. OuO I studied it for quite a long time, noting the places I’d already been, like the Eldin Great Skeleton.

As it turned out, there were a few more GIANT RIBCAGES smattering the sides of the volcano. Perhaps not as complete or grandiose as the Great Skeleton, but.... my gosh, still....

WHAT IS WITH ALL THESE GIANT BONES? o__o;

But then I saw something that truly made my insides shrivel up and die in horror just a little bit....

There was a giant ribcage in a pool of lava.... and just about where the head would have been was.... one of those Bokoblinish skull-dens?

The ones shaped like enormous skulls?? O___O

WAIT, wait.... I mean I’d figured the Bokoblins just liked to carve them that way, but.... then again I’d also seen weird squished mossy ones that looked.... a little more disturbingly organic than that. Or like they fell out of a Studio Ghibli film.

Were they actual skulls?

But I thought of the Eldin Giant Skeleton—THAT one.... that one had not been humanoid, as the skull-dens seemed to be. That one DEFINITELY was probably.... something more like a Dodongo. It had the long tail and everything.

Actually that was the only long tail I’d seen accompanying those ribcages. I mean I’d seen the ribcages everywhere: Lanayru, the desert, distant mountains I’d not yet climbed.... and now here in Eldin.

But maybe the long tails just didn’t survive in any of those other skeletons—and I didn’t see any other bones either, no femurs or pelvises or phalangies how do you spell that—just.... ribcages and vertebrae.

And those skull-dens everywhere.

And a massively boggling thought entered my mind.

Dodongos are native to Eldin; they’re native to the volcanic region. And Dodongos can grow to great size. And judging by the Eldin Great Skeleton, it could have been that giant Dodongos once ranged all over Hyrule.

But....

I remembered one other creature native to Eldin that I had also seen reach enormous sizes—and this creature.... was humanoid—

The Gorons.

The Gorons themselves.

Oh my gosh.

Were those Giant Goron skulls dotting the land all over?

Was there some tempestuous age of Giant Dodongos and Giant Gorons rumbling all over the land in titanic clashes of dominance?

DUDE? D8

Well, Ben and I had fun surveying the landscape from the top of the Eldin Tower. But soon I wanted to move. I tried paragliding down onto where my map said there was a road, but.... a few seconds after leaping off the tower, the wooden club on my back burst into flame with a little woof!

So I warped back onto the tower.

Ben, unfamiliar with the HUD, wanted to see the temperature gauge.

So I jumped off again.

There was something kind of hilarious about sailing quietly and serenely through the air and then woof!—bursting into flame.

I warped back to the tower again.

Ben said even the gauge itself burst into flame!

“Really?” :D I’d never seen that!

So I jumped off again.

Woof! There went the temperature gauge.

I warped back again.

I did this no less than four times, and we laughed every time. XD

Ahhhh.... X-)

Presently I tried jumping the other way—downhill over the face of the volcano—and started making my way toward a shrine I had marked long ago from the heights of Upland Zorana. I’d forgotten all about it. And it was a little tricky to find because my detector was still set to find Decayed Guardians.

Mmm makes me wonder if there are any shrines on the north face of the volcano.... I hadn’t been detecting shrines there either....

I came to the Tah Muhl Shrine, and completed it, and saved.... and went to bed.

Good friends really are wonderful.

And so are good family.

It was a good evening.

Just.... nice.

Nice to sit back and do something simple and fun the night before my doctor would infuse my blood with ketamine. What kind of person would I be after that?

I didn’t know.

Maybe I ought not to panic next time.

I remembered games.

I used to play them all the time, with other people. Lots of other people. And I liked it.

Why hadn’t I even been able to remember Apples to Apples?

It’s a good one.

Maybe next time.... I’ll invite the girls to play Apples to Apples.

And we can make cookies just for good measure.