Right Under My Nose

Waking of Friday, April 14, 2017 ~ 2

Right Under My Nose

I reset my Sheikah Slate’s sensor to look for shrines again, and heard the beeping.

Oh yes, I thought—I’d forgotten. There was a shrine very near here that I’d been too preoccupied to go after before.

Well, if I couldn’t get Tye and Sorelia to look at my flowers, maybe I’d just go claim whatever shrine that was while I was here; it didn’t sound too far off.

Behind Tye and Sorelia’s camp there was a rolling hill studded with trees and peppered with chest-high grassy hillocks or raised mounds of earth like miniature plateaus. Strange geology, and with tempting little herbs and mushrooms springing out of the ground between them, leading a neat little path into the unknown shade of the woods....

I’d always thought it stank of ambush, and so had never ventured into it.

Then again, the biggest dangers in the area already seemed to gravitate to Tye and Sorelia’s place, so.... perhaps I was worrying over nothing.

Besides, the shrine was that way.

I went in.

The scariest thing I saw was an encirclement of br—oh wow, really? I didn’t think “encirclement” was a real word. That’s cool. Thanks, Word.

The scariest thing I saw.... was an encirclement of briars surrounding a large, flat stone covered with moss. With another rock on top of it.

I could guess what was hiding under there....

I climbed a tree to drop into the middle of the briars, overturned the rock, and out popped a Korok.

They are.... spritely little fellows. Such a childlike exuberance and playful spirit. Like the whole world is a game.

He gave a little cheer like they do, said, “You found me!” and gave me a Korok seed.

That’s another to trade to Mr. Hestu if I find him again.

I pressed on through the woods. The environment was tight, to be sure, but nothing jumped out at me. Actually I thought I could hear something.... something pleasant....

Like music....

With.... a flute? Playing Mi-Fa-La-So—

WHAT.

And an underlying guitar—THIS WAS THE STABLE MUSIC—?

I stepped out of the trees, down from the hill, and there it was. High horse-head canopy, little fence posts, people walking around—

And Kass was there. Kass the bird-man, gently swaying as he played a sweet counterpoint on his accordion.

What was....?

Was this for real?

Had this been here the entire time?

Where the heck was I?

Probably looking for Mei.

The Silent Treatment

Waking of Friday, April 14, 2017

The Silent Treatment

It was time for a new plan.

I had seen Sheikah Towers in close range of two of the places I could comfortably haunt. One was up on a hill behind the Woodland Stable, above the river that bent toward the castle. The other was northward beyond the hills of Upland Zorana, in what had to be Akkala.

I would first climb and activate the tower behind the stable, and thereby attain a map of the area. And if, from whatever the map could tell me, the river steered clear enough away from the castle, then I would follow it, for Mei. But it if ran too close to Calamity Ganon, then I would head to Akkala, and Mei would have to wait.

Because I wouldn’t be able to help anybody if I got myself killed along the way.

I needed this Robbie, I needed more shrines....

I needed to get stronger.

Why was I so set on finding the missing Mei?

Maybe it was just that a missing person seemed so much more desperate than getting rid of a Hinox, or harvesting luminous stones.... Maybe it was just poor Fronk. And poor Fronk’s children, Tumbo and Keye.

Where was their wife and mother?

I had to make one last effort for now, but first I would take a couple of pit stops along the way to the Woodland Stable....

Was I visiting with the Prince again when I left? Whom did I give a heart attack to when I teleported away from Zora’s Domain....?

My first stop was Cotera’s Forest, above Kakariko Village. There were living Silent Princess flowers in there, and perhaps Tye and Sorelia—that was her name—would react better to a pictograph of one of them.

I found the flower, snapped its image, and was on my way.

The fairies had still not returned to those woods.

Did I destroy their population when I caught so many there before....?

I wonder....

My next stop was the shrine near where I first met Ledo, in the river by the wetlands. I could reach Tye and Sorelia’s camp easily enough from there.

I had it out with some stray lizalfos, swam to the shore, killed a mounted bokoblin, briefly mounted his black appaloosa—but, not wanting to get attached to it, I got off again pretty quick—and jogged to Tye and Sorelia’s camp.

Those two, I swear, I can’t leave them alone for one minute.

Tye was trading sword strokes with one black—er, blue.... blue bokoblin, while the other blue bokoblin was chasing Sorelia around the field. Blasted base animals....

I gave the Hylians a hand in finishing off the monsters, and then the three of us reconvened at their little shelter.

This was it, surely. I would show them the pictograph of the flower, and then they would want to know where it was, and I would tell them somehow, so they could go make their vows.... but not before I took a pictograph of them to take back to Kapson in Zora’s Domain, and he could marry them!

But I could not show them my pictograph.

There was no option. I couldn’t tell them about it.

I tried tuning my Sheikah Slate’s sensor to detect Silent Princess flowers. Maybe they would hear and remark on the beeping....

They didn’t.

What did I need to do to draw their attention to it?

I tried again dropping an actual specimen of Silent Princess at their feet, on the ground before their eyes, but they said nothing.

WHAT MORE DID THEY WANT?

It was a chore picking that thing back up, let me tell you, trying to maneuver to a place where the A button would let me collect an item rather than speak to a person.

Tye.... you’re killin’ me, man, you gotta work with me here, come on....

I snapped their pictograph where they sat anyway. For Kapson. I don’t know why.

It was a good pictograph.

Full Circle

Waking of Thursday, April 6, 2017 ~ 6

Full Circle

Well I’d hiked to the dam and across to the north side once already. I could do it again. So I did.

But blast and confusticate that creeping PIANO always following me around! Jumping up from the bare stone whenever I least expect it.... Snaking out of the windswept grass to whisper dreadful nothings up my spine—WHY!

Uhuhuhh.... it gives me the jibblies, man.... .__.;

The world is wild.

The world is wild.

<3

I eventually hiked back toward a part of the winding road I had once traversed—the long road to Zora’s Domain. From there I deviated away from the track and made my way to a high precipice where I could see the last few bridges to the Domain proper laid out below me.

I paraglided in, landing partway along the last bridge—on top of one of its arches, actually. Not by design.... but I enjoyed the view and then hopped down to go the last stretch on foot.

Rivan and Dunma still guarded the outermost gate; I said hello.... and then set about looking for Fronk.

He wasn’t in the square, and he wasn’t back around the sleeping quarters; maybe he was on one of the stairways....

I came back to the deck above the square and descended one of the grand staircases. It was quite empty, but in passing I noticed a Hylian on the adjacent rampway—a separate little footpath that wound in a sinuous course around the staircase.

It was rare to see Hylians here even now, but I had already seen at least one. Maybe more and more would come to visit again.

But I did a double take.

That Hylian was talking to the short, orange Zora. He was talking to Finley.

Why, that must’ve been Sasan!

He made it! 8D

I ran right back up the staircase and vaulted over the railing. It was something like a hundred-foot drop between them, but the staircase and the rampway platform were really quite close enough together that I could make the jump easily.

They were both so happy to see me again. They’d really hit it off it seemed! Well good for them. ^_^ Heh, and Finley was advising Sasan to do lots of swimming and lifting and other exercises—to get those big muscles he’d promised her!

And they told me they’d thought it over, and really wanted to thank me for helping to bring them together—and they gave me a gold rupee.

Ooh-la-la, that was worth three hundred.

Maybe I’d still have some pocket change left over if and when I bought my house after all!

In visiting the other denizens of Zora’s Domain yet again I learned a few more things.

In Dento’s workshop, wondering if he could perhaps just repair the Lightscale Trident I had been given, I found out that in order for him to make a new trident, he would need me to bring him some materials—including diamonds. Two diamonds for the Ceremonial Trident.... probably more for the Lightscale Trident....

So that’s what the diamonds were for. Good to keep in mind....

I also sauntered up to Torfeau for the first time since I’d slain the Ralis Pond Hinox, fully expecting an attaboy and maybe some kind of reward.

But all she said was, “So, ready to give it a try?”

:c

I ran out to Ralis Pond and discovered, much to my dismay, that even great fat minibosses like the Hinoxes must come back to life at Blood Moon.

It was there again.

Ah, poop.

But.... armed with my new know-how, I was able to get rid of it once again using far fewer arrows. And when I went to see Torfeau again—(“That stench,” she said, and knew I had done the deed!)—she gave me a silver rupee. One hundred. Excellent.

And BY THE WAY, guess what the Hinox had dropped....

A Korok Leaf! Ah-HAA!! Oh I finally had a Korok Leaf in my inventory!

I was going to GO places with THIS....! C8

At length among my wanderings, I did find Fronk, away in some unobtrusive corner and hard about his work.

He told me that he wanted to help me in any way he possibly could, and I let him know I would certainly welcome that.

“Where could she be?” I asked, for I really had looked everywhere.

“If Ledo’s group didn’t find her....” Fronk began, and I wondered if that was what Ledo had been doing when I’d first met him, searching for Mei.... (and a strong Hylian for the Prince, of course).

Fronk hypothesized a possibility or two about where she could have ended up along the Zora River before admitting, “Worst-case scenario, she might have washed all the way to Lake Hylia.”

Lake Hylia?

Where in Hyrule was that?

And the Zora River.... That seemed to be what it was called above the wetlands.... Was that what it was called downstream by the Woodland Stable as well? I couldn’t tell because my map didn’t extend that far, blast it....

Maybe she really had washed further down that river....

....

And maybe I should’ve spoken with Fronk in the first place—

It was in the past.

And my wanderings had not been fruitless.

But....

But.... in following the river.... in following that road along the river, I had come closer, and closer, and closer to Hyrule Castle.

I had seen the signpost right beside the stable: “Hyrule Castle ➔”. Straight up the road. Not even the mystery-hungry Zorona ever went that way.... he always stopped his horse within breathing distance of the stable, if he was heading that way.

Leastways every time I saw him.

What if the river wound too close to the castle? What if it ran right through it?

What if it passed right through the den of the beast?

Higher Than Thou

Waking of Thursday, April 6, 2017 ~ 5

Higher Than Thou

I don’t know why I didn’t just warp directly back to Zora’s Domain. I was practically there anyway. Maybe I just wanted to be thorough.

I climbed the dam.

Actually the ground mounded at its base was quite manageable up to a considerable height, and after that.... Well the dam wall itself was a bit sheer and slow-going, but the cliff face to my right seemed.... maybe.... like it was.... doable.... perhaps....?

I was still wearing my Climber’s Bandana. Even so I had to drink two stamina elixirs on the way up, but I made it. And only a little more scrambling got me on top of the dam itself. I was back in the Reservoir. I was on one of the distant docks I had seen when I’d stood on the other shore with Prince Sidon.

My but this world was large.

I headed north along the top of the dam, toward the Domain. I wanted to find Fronk. But as I scrambled over the rockfalls and high meadows of those mountains, something else caught my eye: back across the river, on the south cliffs, down a bit from the top, something glowed....

There was a little shelf of grass there. Was it another historical tablet?

I regarded where I was and where I had come from. It had been a long climb.

But that shelf across the river wasn’t so low that I’d have to drink more elixirs to return to where I was now.

It was so far distant though; the canyon was wide....

Still.... I had to investigate.

Out came the paraglider and I watched my shadow as I floated between the mountains....

I touched down on the far shelf and started running up toward where I had seen the glow. There was an overhang there, it had to be just beneath those rocks, nestled into the mountain, surely—

It wasn’t.

It was just the glassy indigo stone that juts up so often around Zora’s Domain, shimmering in the dimness.

There was nothing here.

Oh, nothing but a treasure chest....

It was stuck in the ground and I had to dislodge it using Magnesis—a bit startling when it came free so suddenly and shot into the air—I almost lost it into the river.

But I magnetized it up into the little alcove where I’d seen the glow, and opened it there.

I don’t even remember what it contained.

But the area was looted, and it was time to climb back.

As my path was slightly different this time before I reached the top of the dam again, I passed a bit more closely to an area I hadn’t been—and heard a Hinox snoring there.

I crept closer inland and saw its huge black form.

You know, I’ve been saying black, but my Compendium informs me they’re actually blue. As are the “black” moblins and bokoblins I’ve been seeing.

I suppose they do have a bluish tint.

Heh, like blue tigers....

Anyway, I saw where the Hinox was lying, and I saw that there was a handy clifftop nearby to the left, the dam-ward direction. It could be an easy kill.... I decided to go for it.

I headed for the high ground, but when I finally came to the crest of that shelf.... I heard a troop of lizalfos croaking and rumbling to each other! I crept closer and saw through the grass: the lizalfos had the high ground.

However.... to the left again, the dam-ward direction once more, the mountain shelves just kept on mounting. And so I backed off and away for one more scramble to the higher ground. And when I came to THAT shelf.... it was empty.

Oh-ho-ho-ho it was empty.

I walked on over to the edge and peered down into the lizalfos camp. No fewer than five of them sat chirruping around their fire. And I saw a powder keg, how excellent.

I produced a single bomb and chucked it over the edge with a little Hup!

I didn’t give them time to notice or to contemplate their predicament, but detonated just before impact, and the whole lot of them went up in a searing fiery ball that rocked the mountains.

All except for one, and just a few more bombs took care of him.

I floated down on my paraglider and collected all the spoils I could find before walking over to the next precipice, and there below me was the Hinox.

I had plenty of arrows, and so got to work. The big brute got to his feet, the fatshnazzy brass band started up with its drums, and it was on.

And it was here that I accidentally discovered something supremely useful:

An arrow to the eye of a Hinox was substantially more damaging than an arrow anywhere else.

I suppose I should have known.

Every time I hit him in the eye, he winced and clutched his face and shook horribly! I almost felt bad for him. Almost, but not quite. My aim was getting quite good now, and with only a few more arrows, I brought him down.

And it was another paragliding float down, another mess of spoils to collect. Ah, felt good; I do love raining terror from above!

I’ve not yet cooked anything with Hinox Toenails in it.

Hard to believe those actually qualify as elixir ingredients. Ughuhuh.... 9__9

Bad Blood

Waking of Thursday, April 6, 2017 ~ 4

Bad Blood

I came upon three of them camping on a south beach near a little dock with a boat. Favoring stealth, I threw bombs at them from an overhang until I became impatient, whereupon I dashed in and just brought it all to fisticuffs. When they’d been dealt with I searched all over their campsite but there was still no Korok Leaf to go with the boat!

Where in Hyrule was I going to find one??

Just a couple of hills more brought me to a small, weathered ruin with a few more lizalfos, alert and patrolling this time. I was grateful for the din of the rain; it made it easier to stalk the nearest one and cut him down in one stroke as he lay camouflaged in the blustered grass. The one by the little inlet was trickier as the land was so folded—and his Eightfold Longblade slipped into the water with him before I could grab it, drats!

There was just one more across the ruin and against a hill that I had it out with before I could properly inspect the shrine. It seemed to be surrounded by a hedge of briars—much as that other shrine on the Floret Sandbar had been surrounded by flowers.

But something told me a careful footing would be much more crucial here—those briars looked sharp.

At one point there was a lull in the rain, and so I attempted to burn the hedge out of the way—I’d wondered if the weather would prevent that, but luck was on my side it seemed.

But I broke two flints trying for a spark, and so instead went back and set off the powder-keg I’d seen in the ruin, and then used a torch to carry the flame over to the hedge.

For a time this worked quite well, but then the rain came back and quenched the flames I had started.

This was going to be tricky.

I didn’t know the half of it—

That sound.

That tone with the soft crescendo and a dead stop. The eerie echoes of whole-tone flutes. Ash and embers rose from the ground.

Oh no....

She’d always told me to please be careful....

But I’d never been in the middle of a hostile camp when the hour of Blood Moon struck.

I ran for it as the deep piano strings began to roar and rumble, up the hill slick with wet grass, just hoping for a clear patch of ground to claim, hoping there were no more lizalfos up here.... Oh I could kill them. But I preferred to do it from a controlled approach, and one at a time if I could manage it. I didn’t want to be thrust into the middle of a fresh gang of them....

The Blood Moon glowed ripping hot and the world turned crimson—

And all my work was for naught.

The dell crawled with lizalfos again. Alive. Armed. Healthy.

Just.... back.

How frustrating.

But there was nothing for it.

I moved in again, I killed them again, and I finally made it through a path in the briars to the shrine.

Five Flames.

That was the challenge offered by the monk.

A tricky one. Most invigorating.

But when I came back out, when I climbed a small pillar to paraglide out of the briars, when I dispatched the last mean lizalfos and scanned the final end of the water beneath the towering Reservoir wall....

There was no Mei.

She wasn’t here.

The Last River

Waking of Thursday, April 6, 2017 ~ 3

The Last River

You know those Stables really are amazing. I’d registered Thrice and boarded him there at the Woodland Stable, but when I went to take him out again, the man said, “Okay, so you want us to take Brown into our care?”

o__o They could do that?

Well.... I answered in the affirmative, and he said, “All right, wait just a moment,” the screen went black, and then I had Thrice and I guess.... they had Brown.

(Though how they fetched him all the way from Kakariko, I dunno. Are they packin’ their own Sheikah Slates....?)

I spoke to the man again, and asked to take out Brown this time.

And a similar scene ensued, and then Thrice was gone and Brown was there.

He looked at me like he knew something.... like I’d been out riding other horses....

“Oh, buddy....” I soothed him. He’s my boy; I still loved him.

But I boarded him again. Kakariko’s a nice place, but maybe it’d be nice in a proper stable too. Besides, the way I was headed, there was definitely no room for horsing around.

I warped back to the Lanayru Tower. There was just one more river to sweep—the long river that curved back east toward the Reservoir.

I clambered over the mountains along the north bank for a time, but the river was so far below me I couldn’t see it. The air seemed too fogged by distance and moisture.

Across the canyon, on the south bank, the mountains seemed almost as high—you know, maybe I shouldn’t even call it a bank; the river was flanked on both sides by sheer cliff walls in a deep ravine.

At any rate the southern cliffs seemed high, but it looked like there was a little grassy shelf a bit closer to the water that I might reach by paraglider. Maybe I’d be able to see more from there. I made sure to get plenty of altitude before I made the attempt to cross. If I came up short and ended up in the drink, I doubted I’d be able to do much besides warp back to the tower and start all over again.

But I made the crossing without a hitch and with a good two feet of landing-zone to spare. Steadying myself on the new surface, I turned around and peered back down into the ravine.

I was still quite high up.

But the river seemed to be empty.

There was nowhere to go but on toward the Reservoir. If Mei wasn’t here.... I scrambled up the cliff face, startling a few herons, and it started to rain. It was a slick run to get to the top but I made it all right—and immediately wondered if I had come up on the clifftop near some kind of settlement, for I heard music. An accordion. Was there some kind of carnival going on? I looked around wildly for some sign—

And I saw, some distance away, near a great jutting crag over the water, a figure standing on a little hump of grass, swaying gently, his arms full of something. That seemed to be the source of the music.

He wasn’t a bokoblin or any other kind of monster. I approached.

But as I came near, I saw through the haze of rain and gasped—there were feathers—blue feathers—cresting from this person’s head; the arms, the forearms were too broad, because they were wings, also blue—and a great grey parrot’s beak so prominent on the front of the face—

(“Rito?” I whispered.)

I approached him slowly—it was a him, right?—and only stood beside him for a moment as he played on. I watched his colorfully striped feather-fingers as they pressed the keys.... This was so weird....

And then I engaged his attention and he startled slightly, blustering something about having thought he was all alone up here—

And then, as so many seem to have done all along my road, he sputtered out, “Wait.... that thing there on you waist!”

My Sheikah Slate.

“No, but it couldn’t be....” And then he caught himself and apologized, “I’m sorry, it’s nothing, I don’t mean to pry.”

It was my turn to say something.

And I wanted so badly to ask him, Are you a... bird?

But....

He had been kind enough to stop himself, to calm down, to try and be polite. I thought.... I would give him the same courtesy.

I only smiled and said, “No worries.”

He introduced himself as Kass—just Kass—and told me about the song he had been playing.

Oh but I sort of wished I’d asked him about his race....

But I did listen to his song. It was a lovely tune, really. Plaintive, melancholy chords; it was just really wonderful. But the lyrics were somewhat cryptic. It spoke of a beast with a crown of bone, running through the lush green, and if you mounted it on its throne, then the shrine could be seen.

The actual rhyme was smoother than that, but that’s something how it went.

Hm, I wondered what kind of “beast” could be roaming around these parts—for it was very green here. Kass and I both wondered, really. And what kind of shrine could be revealed by one mounting a beast on its throne? It all reminded me of Doctor Calip’s research, actually.... hidden shrines....

But perhaps it was a mystery for another day, for I was very near the end of combing through every single waterway of Zora’s Domain.

I bade Kass goodbye, and he played on as I trekked ahead through the rain. The southern cliff-bank gradually began to roll lower and lower toward the water level, until the land became quite flattened out in a little sunken dell and I saw something I’d completely forgotten about: a shrine I had marked!

There was a shrine, just outside the Eastern Reservoir.

There it was, at the water’s end.

And it was surrounded by lizalfos.

Free Enterprise

Waking of Thursday, April 6, 2017 ~ 2

Free Enterprise

I hung around the stable a bit longer, visited with the people again, loved on the dog some more—it started following me around a bit....

And then I went inside, and found Beedle snoozing away on the floor in the back. I remembered I wanted to check on the price of ten Luminous Stones versus the price of one Diamond, and so nudged him gently awake.

I did not expect his reaction then.

I don’t even remember how or why it happened; I didn’t feel like we really knew each other that well, but he just seemed so excited to see me....

He gave me an Ancient Arrow.

8O

I recognized it.

I recognized it from the teaser I’d seen ages and ages and ages ago! The one with Aonuma’s introduction—the one where Link was running from that terrible Guardian, riding away on a horse until he was cornered, whereupon he vaulted from his horse’s back, nocked the baffling arrow to his bowstring—it whirred and moved and glowed—and let fly.

Oh my gosh, Beedle just gave me one of those.

He told me he got it from a man named Robbie, at the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab.

!

Oh my—Robbie....? Purah had recommended I visit one called Robbie.... I’d forgotten all about him.... And I’d heard the name Akkala said here and there, but I wasn’t quite sure where it was.

But Beedle clued me in—he said Akkala was waaaay north of Zora’s Domain, and he told me that this Robbie was completely obsessed with ancient technology, always studying and experimenting and constructing things like this arrow....

North of Zora’s Domain? Those shrines I had seen from the clifftops of Upland Zorana.... And that Sheikah Tower patrolled by the hovering, red-lighted terror....

Were those Akkalan lands?

o__o

I certainly had a lot to think about.

But.... to the business at hand....

I looked at his wares and he looked at mine, and the going price for a Luminous Stone was seventy rupees, but a Diamond’s worth was five hundred.

So the Luminous Stones were more valuable by the tens.

Huh, perhaps I wouldn’t trade them all away to Ledo after all.... but I didn’t want to sell them to Beedle either.

I don’t know, I felt like I might want to keep them for something, their elemental values.... I felt like they must be used for something else, later....

Then again I know it is a bad habit of mine to hold in reserve, hold in reserve, hold in reserve for the WORST emergencies, until I simply find myself with unused hoards of stuff.

But I decided to lighten my pockets at least a little. I could spare a few Ambers, and I was not short at all on monster-bits. Bokoblin fangs and lizalfos horns might go for cheap, but when you’re carrying several score of each.... it adds up pretty quick.

And then suddenly I had over three thousand rupees.

I could buy that house in Hateno.

And instantly my mind began to make war on itself—Did I really want the house? Did I like the flavor of Hateno? Were there other places in Hyrule for me to live? Better places?

Because for some reason Hateno had always left a weird taste in my mouth. Maybe it was that I was so exhausted when I first got there. Maybe it was the sense of unease I’d had at the time. Maybe it was the proximity of the Yiga encounters, or the dread close hills haunted by that dratblasted Piano....

Maybe it was that encounter with SATAN.

But.... there were nice folks there, too, like that man who’d been so happy to show me around town. Or.... or.... um.... Karson and his fellows; they’d seemed pretty decent. And I guess that little kid who’d shown me the horned statue was pretty cute, albeit seemingly misguided in his sculptural preferences.

I guess I hadn’t really taken a lot of time to get to know the people there, either.

Except for Purah.

And she was weird.

But, with three thousand rupees in my pocket, the option was now open to me.

And that was more for me to think about.

With a Fine-Toothed Comb

Waking of Thursday, April 6, 2017

With a Fine-Toothed Comb

I spent a little time at the Woodland Stable. This one wasn’t crawling with sets of twins like the other one, and the man behind the counter seemed.... a bit more easy-going as well. There was a friendly dog shepherding over some goats in a pen—we became good buddies <3—er, the dog and I, not the goats and I—and I found a really lovely new labrys to swing around.

I saw a man come riding a grey horse along the road in the direction I’d been going; his name was Zorona and his heart was set on the mysteries of the world! Whether solving them or just reveling in their existence I wasn’t quite sure.

There was another man, with white-blonde hair dangling in his eyes, who hung around the stable. He introduced himself as Molo and it was his ambition to go and loot Hyrule Castle. I did not encourage him in this endeavor as we conversed.

He admitted that every person he’d ever known who had ventured there had never come back.... but he guessed it was because they were all too busy being rich! I don’t doubt there must have been great treasures left behind there.... but so many people I’d met had warned of how dangerous it was.... and I’d seen a few Guardians. Uhuhuh.

Molo, don’t say YOLO, just stay where you are.

One other older gentleman whose name I can’t remember informed me about the surrounding areas near the stable—this was the Eldin region. This was the home of the volcano. To the north was the great forest, but he warned me against straying too deeply into it, something about the Lost Woods at its heart.... And Hyrule Field was.... in another direction near here, south or east I think he said. And there was a third feature he directed me to, I’m sure of it.... maybe it was the volcano itself.

Well, it’s hard to memorize the whole map, as I discovered when I warped back to the Lanayru Tower. That other river I’d thought ran back toward the east off the wetlands was actually the other runoff from the East Reservoir Lake. I suppose it flowed into the wetlands. Or it would have, if not for the big dam wall in the way.

But it was, in essence, what I’d thought it to be: another extensive dead-ended waterway for me to search.

Starting from the tower I began a broad, clockwise trek around the entire delta proper, scouring the islets as I went, but saw no sign of Mei.

I did, however, near the southeastern reaches of my circuit, spy a GUARDIAN “STALKER” AS MY COMPENDIUM CALLED IT, LOOSE AND MOVING THROUGH THE MARSH OH GOSH NO PLEASE NO WHY JUST—

It had six legs, and it was very much alive—oh my gosh was this the one I’d seen loose on the Sahasra Slope, made its way down to the marshes now?

Oh gads....

Off came the Zora Helm, on went the Climber’s Bandana, and I climbed up into the mountains to give it a very wide berth as I continued my circuit of the wetlands. I did stop on a little grassy shelf with a single large tree to see if I could shoot it with arrows and chuck bombs at it, but.... well, I did give it a very wide berth. I couldn’t come close to hitting it with anything. I’m not sure whether this disappointed me or not.

If only I’d had a Korok Leaf.... I could do that bomb-golfing thing I’d seen David do....

I kept to the hills until I came to another little deep-water spot tendriling off the marshes in the southwest. It was near a sad little abandoned homestead ruin, with trees, and a well, and a single Korok spriting around in the grass. There were some rusted weapons here and there.... maybe it had belonged to a soldier. Maybe he’d had a family.

It started to rain.

There was a little raft-boat with a sail down near where the little waterway broke off.

But I didn’t have a Korok Leaf!

I’d never really made room for one in my inventory, but seeing David play.... hhhh I kept seeing more and more reasons to pick one up now. I’ve never yet bothered with the boats I’ve seen but I want to now....!

I felled a tree near the old homestead but got nothing but wood. Go figure.

Well, I couldn’t see anything down the short little waterway, and so moved on. The mountains crumbled away, the land leveled out, and became a smooth sweep off the wetlands.

I think this was where I ran into those mounted bokoblins.

I felt a little bad for their horses.... because you see, in my long searching trek through all the islets and the ruins therein, I’d run into a few more of those skipping lightning-ghost things. They could be tricky customers but I’d taken care of them, and stolen their Lightning Rod weapons. And it was one of these weapons I used to stop the charging bokoblin riders.

The peachy, skewbald steed I hit first seized up, neighing high and loud, and the bokoblin fell off and we had it out on the ground. I brought down the one on the brown horse in roughly the same manner. And then....

Well I got on the peachy one, and he bucked for a bit before calming down, but.... mm, the brown was closer to being a one-color horse, and so I got on that one instead.

He bucked too, but I soothed him and saw—this one had three speed-bursts at a gallop.

Brown only had two.

Well that could be useful....

I let this new horse carry me for a bit. His body was all brown, mane and tail black, with four black socks and a white muzzle. I don’t suppose he was anything fancy, but he was just dandy fine for moving across this flatter part of the land.

I left him at the shore at times, to go in and scout out more islets, or to kill lizalfos or bokoblins. And when I’d come back to him he’d wander a bit before I got on.... but he was a good, patient horse. Even when the lashing rain came back.

I rode the horse the rest of the way around the marshes and the surrounding areas. I even came across Tye and S.... Ssss—uh, Saaalisa? Salisa? I came across Tye and his sweetheart again. And killed their bokoblin assailants once more. I rode and searched and searched and rode until I came all the way back to the Moor Garrison Ruins, near where I’d first met Ledo.

I’d circled the entire marsh, and not seen one lick of the missing Mei.... I had even cleaned out every bokoblin nest I had come to and searched among all the buildings. I’d combed through the ruins, I’d left no stone unturned, no box unexploded.

I had not gone up the long waterway toward the Eastern Reservoir; I’d thought to save that for last as it was so extensive. But....

There was no sign of Mei.

Maybe she really was further down the river.

And this horse....

This chuffing, wandering horse was starting to grow on me just a little bit.

I decided to take him up to the Woodland Stable and have him registered.

I rode him into the marsh; it was quite shallow. But.... huh, to get him across to the north bank....

I consulted my map. The water was pretty deep on the north side of the big island. I might.... dear me, I might have to ride him through the boardwalks—

But then I remembered! Thims Bridge! Northward along the river! I could cross him over there.

And so I took the new horse along the other bank now with me, still keeping an eye out for the missing Mei. We had a nasty run-in with another bokoblin camp—the horse got stuck over a rock on the ground as they closed in around us—I did the best I could with a sword until they knocked me clean off. The horse made a break for it, but I could only turn my attention to the bokoblins and pray he didn’t run too far....

Turned out he didn’t. Also turned out the camp was full of high explosives, and I felt quite lucky none of them went off or was employed during the scuffle.

I bombed them just to clear the area, scooped up the spoils, and the horse and I moved on.

He moved at a nice clip, and the ever lurking Piano picked up on the change of movement and plinked happily along around us, sounding like raindrops in the sunshine. At such a pace it was only a short time before we came to Thims Bridge. But just before we did.... I heard a sound I hadn’t heard before. I slowed the horse, the Piano shied and flitted away, and I scanned the sunlit slope to my left, but could only see a couple of foxes.

And there it was again. High, soft.... kind of whistling.... it sounded like.... howling....

But no I was sure those were foxes. And as I came nearer, there I could see the red of their coats. And they scampered away at my approach.

Were there....

Are there wolves in Hyrule?

(I ain’t gonna lie; I seen a few fanarts with ‘em.)

Horsey and I crossed the bridge, and from there it was just a short trot back to the stable. I spoke to the man at the window, and registered my new steed.

I called him.... Thrice. Once for his three-fold endurance, and once for what I imagined must have been his third life—a life before bokoblins, a life with bokoblins.... and now hopefully third time’s the charmed life with Link.

I’ll take good care of him.

Besides, the name Mudfoot for his black socks seemed too sloggish and slow.

Madman Joseph

Afternoon of Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Madman Joseph

CONFOUND AND BEBOTHER THIS JOSEPH!

I’ve told him, no spoilers. I know he’s ahead of me, and maybe he does feel the terrible, irrepressible need to express and geek out like I do—but for the love! Does he have to go saying so many things?

Of course.... he did warn me about the green chuchus, and I’ve never let one touch me so far.... But today after he made buggy eyes at me when I told him I hadn’t been able to play in like a week...

“Just one more thing, just one more thing.... ZELDA IS GANON!” he hissed as he began to make his way back to his cubicle.

He knows by this point that I don’t want to be spoiled and so I am sure he was joking but must he make my mind spin? Maybe the male brain is like a toolbox where individual thoughts are kept in separate boxes that do not touch, and only removed one at a time to be worked upon in the central workspace, which otherwise remains blissfully clean and empty.

But the female brain is like a bowl of spaghetti! One spaghetti could be touching like.... twenty other spaghettis!

You tell me things like that and immediately I’m thinking Wait does he possess her? Well it wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened. Am I heading into a trap? What if I can’t trust the first Zelda I see in this game? No but what if I’m getting worked up for no reason? Will I treat that part of the game differently now? If there is a part like that? I’m just guessing here! What if the avatar in my head turns mean against her when he shouldn’t? Ugh I wanted a pure experience for this log.... is this gonna spoil the flavor?

Dang it, Joseph, it’s overtime week and I been up since 3:30 today and yesterday just to get my part out of the way quicker now SCAMPER OFF and let me and my Batman:TAS soundtrack do our data entry.

And if I meet you and your hearsay on the road again, Madman Joseph.... I’m throwin’ up my arms and dashing away in a flail like any other self-respecting Hylian. I will fill my earbuds with my favorite hotel air conditioner white noise and refuse! I say NO, Sir!

HHHH.

In the meantime I think I’d better change tack. The river goes on for a long way; I have no idea where it ends. But the rest of the wetlands.... as mind-bogglingly vast as they are.... are, in fact, finite. I think.

I think I’ll warp back to the tower where I met Gruve and do a little surveillance; maybe Mei will turn up.

And then....

I am still piqued by that other shrine signal I caught near the Floret Sandbar.... And a strange earthy mound I saw, jutting with giant bones and oozing all over with those pools of malice—as I’ve learnt they are called. The black-and-magenta creepstuff.

Hm, feeling braver am I?

Well, definitely curiouser if nothing else.

No, but Mei first. Mei first.

I wonder if I’ll have to comb it fine right through all the islands.

Including the one with the big red Hinox.

Dear me.

A Familiar Face

Waking of Wednesday, March 29, 2017 ~ 4

A Familiar Face

The girl slowed to a walk.

I doubted another Yiga would venture this close to civilized folk, and I spoke to her.

Her name was Leekah, and she thanked me for my help on the road. She even said she felt less anxious with me around, and I thanked her; that felt good.

Once I had seen her safely into the glow of the Woodland Stable, I turned back to the tall, bobbing figure across the road.

I ran to meet him.

“SHALAKA??” he exclaimed at the sight of me. He was happy to see me, and I to see him. ^_^

What is “shalaka”? Just some snatch of Korok-ese, I imagine. Either that or he just likes to scat. He does sing a bit when he works his magic on my carrying capacity. In fact he sings a very recognizable little tune every time that just makes me grin and tickles me no end....

Before, when he had allowed me to carry two more weapons, he had done a little dance with his special maracas, and it had ended with a little bang like a cheap firecracker and a small shower of scarlet confetti.

It was quite adorable, really. :3

But this time, as I asked him to allow me to carry more bows, he did his dance, but the confetti came out green.

Oh, I thought, perhaps it’s some kind of evolution his character goes through throughout the course of the game. Do his upgrades become more powerful or something?

But then I asked for more shields, and the confetti turned blue!

Why! Those were the Triforce colors! Red for Power, Green for Courage, and Blue for Wisdom.

And I pondered.... Yes, those two weapons.... the weapons in general.... those were definitely a symbol of Power.... employed to inflict your force upon those you deem fit to slay. That was Red.

And the shields.... Protection. Cover and safekeeping. Giving yourself a safe space. You can’t do anything in there, but it buys you time.... time to formulate.... time to think.... A bubble of relative calm and quiet. That could be the Blue of Wisdom perhaps....?

But what about Courage and the bows?

That sounds like a band.... formed by skull kids maybe.... a very juvenile boy band, yes....

*COUGH* What about Courage and the bows?

Well it’s definitely a weaker weapon than the forceful blades you could be using.... Huh but.... archery kind of like sniping.... while hiding....

Well that seems rather cowardly, doesn’t it? :(

But it’s not like I hide every time I use a bow....

Maybe just the thought of it being a weaker weapon.... but still a weapon nonetheless. It can’t rely on great overwhelming force and you can’t use a shield while you hold it, but it can still do something. That’s got to take some of the Green of Courage, hasn’t it?

It was a bow that quieted Vah Ruta.

....

Maybe I did use to be a great archer.

Mister Hestu allowed me a few more trades this time. They got more expensive per carrying-type as they went on, but I had plenty of Korok seeds.

But after a time, he looked up with a jolt, and said he thought he might remember his way back home after all! (He’d been a bit lost, you see.) He also said something about his father or grandfather might be waiting for him.... I do wonder if I’ll ever find his home, or meet his family....

We parted ways, and I turned toward the little pond by the stable.

There was a shrine there, and I had come a long way.

The pounding rain finally let up as I passed a sodden open-air dining area or deck of some kind, and I made my way beneath a high cliff, along a narrow bank toward the shrine.

Two stalizalfos popped out of the ground and I slashed them both to bits, killing one with my blade, and taking the other’s skull-head and punting it into the water, which felt AMAZING.

And in I went, into the shrine of Mirro Shaz.

“I said it was SIMPLE, I never said it was easy!” – The Witch of the Walls, Legend of Zelda cartoon

I think I must always have had some kind of soft spot for Bob Forward....

I broke a few weapons, hounding after the prizes of Mirro Shaz, the tricksy devil.... That very last hidden one was an arduous exercise in math, science, physics and athletic precision. And patience. At one point, wanting to go faster and hitting the wrong button too soon, I caught the wrong end of Ja Baij’s gift point blank and blew myself across the room.

Have I mentioned yet how beautiful the animation is of Link sent flying?

He looks like what a person would look like, as the poor guy rolls to a dazed and dizzied stop.

Very lovely. Very fluid.

Very painful. -__-;

Weapons shattered, numbers mounted in my skull, hearts were lost, but it was worth it, getting that final chest behind the last barred door.

I wonder what Purah would make of a Giant Ancient Core.

It wasn’t until later that I wondered what the stable folk might have thought of me as I jabbered away to the empty rain.... since most people can’t see Koroks it seems. I’d forgotten.