Dead End at Digdogg

Waking of Saturday, April 22, 2017 ~ 3

Dead End at Digdogg

“Where are you going, anyway?” David had asked before, “Where the heck are you?”

“I’m looking for someone,” I kept saying in Luke Skywalker’s voice.

“Who?”

“Her—”

“Princess Zelda?”

“Noooo—”

The right fork of the river twined away between massive, towering cliffs. I saw a rickety old bridge spanning between them on a higher ledge.... seemed like a great nest for baddies to hide out....

But per David’s suggestion, following the left fork, which followed the map line, did seem like a sound plan....

Surely the river that led to this Lake Hylia would be important enough to have map-boundaries drawn along it....

And so the left fork it was.

I still didn’t let on much about my plan to David, though.

The water was flowing roughly southward now, and I was still on the outside—the west side now. The dangerous lands of the castle were on the east.

My path took me along a high ledge on a great beige cliff face. It had been raining—maybe that thunderhead from before had finally caught up and swept across my path. But as I skirted over the living stone, the rain began to thin to just a few spitty drops, and the sun began to shine through....

And it became so bright....

The mist left over from the rain was blinding!

“It’s SO—BRIGHT,” I exclaimed to David, who could see this quite clearly.

“WHY IS IT SO BRIGHT?”

“I don’t know,” he said.

I turned this way and that. The cliff face reflected the sun’s light like a solar oven panel, bouncing it into the lingering moisture—

“WHY IS IT SO BRIGHT?” I yammered again.

“I don’t know!” David shouted, laughing.

I was getting low on sleep.

Utterly bewildered, I ran ahead through the impossible brightness....

I did stop briefly to search out another ruin—this one on the castleward side of the river, though it appeared safe enough to have a look....

The ruin was flooded, up to the depth of about my knees. Watergrass and floating leaves parted at my passing.

There were a few things to loot, guarded only by a couple of near-sighted lizalfos. The first one went down like a charm, but the second one gave me a fright when he pulled back on a nocked Shock Arrow.

But my blade cut him down before he could let fly.

And after looting the whole place—I COMMANDEERED A CONVENIENT RAFT AND FINALLY USED MY KOROK LEAF TO GO BOATING DOWN THE RIVER!

I might have accidentally killed some ducks with my boat.

I will eat them later with much gratitude.

I rafted and rafted until I came to a little bokoblin camp, grounded my boat and promptly slaughtered the lot of them.

But the river split again!

This time I took the right fork; it seemed deeper, a heavier flow.... But owing to some obstacles in the way, I had to leave my raft behind.

I passed a Gleeok Bridge.

I hoped there wouldn’t be any nearby. o__o

And then I passed a Manhala Bridge.

My goodness, or any of those either! Spelling notwithstanding.

And after a little waterfall, I finally came to a Digdogg Suspension Bridge!

There was a Hinox sleeping on it.

Well.... on a small landmass in its midst, anyway.

There didn’t seem to be any Gleeoks or Manhandlas or Digdoggs about.... but I was certainly enjoying these lovely bridge names.

My Shrine-detector had been beeping at me—and I saw the culprit structure far below me at the water’s level beneath Digdogg Suspension Bridge.

It was a long way down, but, after considering and finding myself with nothing much left to do on the cliff-face, I leapt off the edge, floated laterally to just about where the shrine was, and—at David’s insistence—HALO jumped down to it.

I completed it, collected a Spirit Orb, came out, and was delighted to find another boat available to use. And I did use it, for a while, all around the expansive sort of little lake beneath where the Hinox slumbered.

But....

BUT....

This waterway....

This waterway had come to an end.

I boated around beneath the suspension bridge, but....

There was nowhere else to go.

This was not Lake Hylia.

The little right fork had been a dead end.