Revisiting the Dragon

Waking of Monday, July 3, 2017

Revisiting the Dragon

Loitering at the Lake Tower. Looking for Farosh.

I was patient this time, and eventually he did appear.

I tried something I hadn’t tried before: when the updrafts came, I leapt off the east turret of the southern bridge tower, paraglided up as Farosh loomed close—he was passing me rather quickly—nocked an arrow, took aim in the slowed time and let fly! Hoping I would hit his horn though it didn’t look like I did!

One of his attendant lightning balls zapped me and I fell in the lake and drowned.

BUT! When I respawned on the bridge, there was a glowing something down on the shore beneath the bridge! Had my arrow knocked it off?

I paraglided down, took a picture—was it one of those items the camera couldn’t identify?—and it was Farosh’s Scale.

Was this the thing that I needed?

Mmm part of me didn’t think so, but WHAT IF?

I looked around—Farosh was nowhere in sight. Where had he disappeared to?

Eh I guessed lightning dragon spirits could manifest or unmanifest at will.

I waited again.

And again Farosh came.

And again I shot him with an arrow! A bit more arbitrary this time, on the underbelly as he passed over the bridge, and I kept my feet on the solid stone.

And again a scale of his fell off and floated glowing in the water!

I paraglided down to collect it, and then warped away to the shrine near Mija’s Spring!

Unfortunately Mija couldn’t do anything with Farosh’s Scales. Evidently I really did need to land an arrow directly on Farosh’s horn.

Hhhhummmmm....

I wandered out to that other little red plateau or butte that stood above the wetlands, connected to the cliffs below Mija’s Spring by a thin, curving natural bridge. I hadn’t been out here before. I expected either a Korok.... or something sinister....

But I found neither. Instead there was a Goddess statue. <3

I was overdue for some praying—she gave me a heart container and another stamina vessel.

Heh, maybe now I can reach that big cubic maze island off Robbie’s laboratory....

But not just now; I was busy. Back to the lake I went.

And again I waited, in the meantime sporting with the Lizalfos in the middle of the bridge, and chasing a particularly devious Korok down one of the broken support pillars.

And again Farosh came.

I climbed back onto the southern bridge tower—it’s a pretty good spot—No wait I think I changed my mind. I got onto the bridge itself, directly in front of where Farosh would be going....

And he came closer.... and closer....

AND CLOSER....

And I jumped for it, pulled back an arrow, utilized the slowed time, adjusted for gravity and arcing, led the target a bit.... and let fly!

There was definitely a sound—a ringing, important-sounding sound, when you hit Farosh with an arrow.

I fired two arrows—had been firing twice at every jump so far, but had only ever managed to knock off one item at a time.

And it streaked off the dragon’s body in a long tail of light, down below the bridge again.

Was this the one I needed a boat to reach? I don’t remember. Dang Octoroks....

And this time.... this time.... I’D GOT IT!

A Shard of Farosh’s Horn! ^_^

And I looked around again, hoping he would make another pass.... but he had vanished again.

Where did he go?

I waited a long, long time for him to show his face again. Seemed he never did if you were looking for him.

One Lizalfos was still alive out on the bridge. An archer. I spent a lot of time running in, jogging back and forth in front of him, collecting the arrows he tried to shoot me with, and then jogging back out when the supply ran dry—after about six or so. I’d put distance between us until he disappeared, and then run back to see him repopulate on the screen, and do it all over again.

I milked that arrow-lizard for so long....

But then finally—the erhu sounded again.

Farosh time!

I ran back to that spot on the bridge.... leapt and fired in slow motion just the same—and got another hornshard. Excellent!

And I saw where Farosh went this time.

Evidently every time someone shoots him with an arrow, he flies straight up into the sky, twining higher and higher and higher—so slowly, so massively—until a great cloudy vortex coalesces high in the heavens, and swallows him up.

Well I guess I can’t really blame him.

If somebody were shooting me with arrows, I’d leave too.

Sorry, Farosh!

Back to Mija!

And she worked her magic!

That souped up my Champion’s Tunic all right! 8 to 14! Dandy! ^_^

And now.... NORTHWARD! Along the path to Chariots-of-Fire Beach and then inland toward the Quarry! There was a memory there, I was quite sure of it....!

Loose Ends

Waking of Friday, June 30, 2017

Loose Ends

And promptly ignored my log for a week.

You know, it is great to take Link romping all over the hills and through the woods and up and down the mountains but ahhh—there is just something really nice about doing it yourself. Bugs and sweat notwithstanding.

The extra six or seven thousand feet of elevation wasn’t so bad either. Lovely climate. <3 Mm, got a little burned that day at Big Lake, but hey, more vitamin D for me, cool.

Only problem left is what to do with the rest of those six hundred and forty-two gingersnaps we made. Mother and I had combined our forces for three days baking those. I don’t know whether to be madly unimpressed that our multitudinous relations didn’t make a bigger dent.... or delighted that there are so many left over for us.

Mmm I think I’m leaning toward delighted.

Okay. I wanted to go back to Akkala. It was time to get my Hero back on track. Dang these Zelda games.... so much wandering.... sirens over every hill.... Hhhh. <3

Akkala.

But I’d sew up some loose ends on the way.

My first stop was the Scary Tower. I mean the Central Tower. I’d seen a Korok’s pinwheel on my way from there to that northern shrine, but I hadn’t stopped to play; I hadn’t been able to find whatever I was supposed to shoot. The targets—sometimes they are silent, and obscure.

But I returned there now—Guardian lasers pointed at my back as I sailed toward those woods! And taking my time with a much more careful eye.... I found the Korok and got his seed.

The next Korok I scared up was much easier—that one that had been hiding beneath the memory tree by the lake. That rainy, rainy memory.

And after that, I really wanted to try to somehow harvest a bit of Farosh’s horn! But loiter all I might atop the Lake Tower, the bridge towers, or along the Bridge of Hylia itself.... he did not show himself.

I warped to Satori Mountain, near where I had seen him for the very first time; perhaps he would show himself there....

No such luck.

I looked at far away, as yet unreached shrines from the top of the mountain, marking them with beacons so I could see how far away they were on my map.... and then deleting those beacons.

“What are you doing?” David seemed shocked. “Don’t you want to leave the marker there?”

ô_ô

It had never really bothered me before, leaving the shrines not in my present path lost in the blue. But.... I found a suitable stamp to mark the spot, and slapped it on the map, and David was sufficed, and I grinned sheepishly.

I didn’t find Farosh from Satori Mountain.

I did however find that giant skeleton in the high meadow again.

It was on its feet and moving around this time. o_o

It was David’s first time seeing it, too.

I didn’t take a picture but I was pretty sure it must have been a Stal-Hinox.

The sun came up and it burrowed back into the ground.

There was still no sign of Farosh.

I went after another loose end in the meanwhile—long ago on my search for Mei, I had left my green marker on a shrine I had seen, in a cave beneath a pockmarked grey hill very near the castle.

I warped to the shrine in that giant Crack-in-the-Earth north of Jeddo Bridge—can’t remember the name of it—and upon rematerializing I remembered that, you know? That was the first shrine I encountered with.... different music; I’ve come across shrines bearing different musical flavors now and again—

And from there I was able to paraglide over the river and onto the grey hill, in the western regions of the castle lands.

The cave was blocked by briars and explodable boulders, easy enough to overcome with some flint and a bomb.

David and I.... rather blanched when we saw it was a combat shrine.

But it was only a Minor Test of Strength.

We exhaled in unison and shared a soft laugh of relief. ^_^;;

When I’d done the shrine I climbed up on top of the hill, looking for Koroks. I found a couple in the nearby vicinity, skirting round the creeping Guardian Flyers.... I also found a Talus on a hill that had looked promising.... I’ll have to remember that....

And as I swept my eyes over the wooded land surrounding that hill, I saw what must definitely have been a Korok’s hiding place: little statues with shallow bowls for offerings before them. They stood even nearer the castle.

I paraglided down into the place—Hyrule Castle Prison or something it was called. I don’t really recall exactly, because just then a laser settled over my heart and the triplet Piano started up at a tempo rather faster than normal. o_o

Korok would have to wait—I ran for cover behind a tree—ran with all the strength I had, but my stamina failed me within a yard of it—

The blast came and blowed me right up.

But Mipha covered me, as I knew she would.

But if I was in real trouble, I couldn’t count on her aid a second time so soon—I swiveled my camera—

A loose, six-legged Guardian.

Its health meter reflected 2000 hit points.

And it was RIGHT up in my grill now—the flames from its first attack hadn’t even gone out—

I was obliged to leave.

I warped once again to the Lake Tower.

But Farosh still did not show himself. Stubborn dragon.... where was he?

Soooo I decided to sew up a few more loose ends: I’d left a few of my beacon markers all over the map—like that green one for the shrine under the hill. I wanted to go try and pick the rest of them up.

The purple one was in the southwestern part of the Lynels’ Corridor, signifying some explodable rocks I had seen. Cleaning those up was easy enough—nifty weaponry!

The red one was away south of Hateno, on the slope before a prominent shrine overlooking the sea. I had visited that shrine once, but as I had not been able to best the Modest Test of Strength inside, I had decided to reload an earlier save in order to escape. This was before I had stopped grouping the activation of shrines with the completion of them in my mind; it hadn’t occurred to me to just lock down the warpable spot, if nothing else. I kinda wish it had....

But I went to the red marker, and found it to be floating in the air beside a tree. That was all. Nothing special. Guess from a distance I’d thought it was something else.

The blue one was far, far away to the northwest of the Elma Knolls. What had I seen there....?

It was too far away for me to care just then. I didn’t feel like running all over those hills, and so went back to the Lake Tower to see if Farosh would show his face.

He didn’t.

Satori Mountain was glowing though.

I’d never gone to visit it during a glowing time, and so decided.... What the hey.

I warped to the shrine near its top, and started climbing. I got onto one of the three highest boulders, and the very air around me took on that phantom teal glow....

I looked down into the little three-way crevasse at its peak.... There at the open end of one of the passes.... three of those little mystical rabbitkabobs sat facing each other.

“Are those blupees?” David asked in excitement. “They’re having a meeting!” he laughed.

....Blupees?

“....Did you know.... that’s what they’re called? Sorry....” he added.

“It’s okay,” I said.

They were right there, but.... still too far away.... I dropped down to get closer, the curvature of the mountain momentary blotting them from my sight! Would they startle and bolt if they saw me coming?

I moved toward them....

But just as my line of sight topped that little rise in the ground—what were those little yellowy dinglethings on their ears?—the teal glow faded, and.... they were gone.

Haaooohhhhhhh it made me want to come back heeeeeere....

I really was procrastinating. It was late and I had to go to bed. David kept reminding me of this. And I kept brushing him off as I swiveled pointlessly around on my map, looking for excuses....

But he knew how to get me off the game. “How about you watch me do that Ishto Soh Shrine?” he suggested.

“Okay!” I agreed immediately as I gamboled through the crows around Satori’s crown. That was a good idea.

But I found one last excuse on the map before I stopped: that big weird island-thing near Mount Daphnes, with a long bridge to reach it in the middle of a large pond of some sort....

“Come on,” David groaned.

I warped to the beloved Shrine of KAAM YA’TAK....

Had to take out a couple of Moblins on my way—I rather laughed at how the one second-nearest the bridge didn’t really seem to care at all as I bombed the living daylights out of his fellow who was nearest the bridge.

No honor among Ganon’s Minions I guess.

The “island” it turned out was a giant stump. Called The Ancient Stump, in fact. The surrounding pond churned with Lizalfos like an evil moat. The bridge was kept by one solitary blue bokoblin, and on the Stump itself, another bokoblin and a moblin, both blue, sat doing nothing.

I ran in to alleviate their boredom, but they couldn’t quite keep up with the exercise.... When I’d taken care of them both, I had a good look at what was stuck in the stump on the far side: a Great Fireblade.

Ohh-ho-ho-ho it was pretty. OuO Two-handed and heavy, like the Great Thunderblade, but of the fire element rather than the electricity element.

Cool. X-)

“Okay!” David pressed, but I dragged it out for one moment more as I jumped into a Korok ring in the moat far below, and collected a seed....

And then it was back to the Lake Tower and OFF with the game! ^_^

David’s turn!

I ran off to brush my teeth or something while he made his way toward the shrine. And when I came back, I had the delight of watching him interact with Moza. X-)

Now, typically, the shrines I suck at, David aces, and the shrines David sucks at, I ace. But the Ishto Soh Shrine proved quite as maddening for him as it had for me.

I could only encourage him along the route that I had taken, which was to lay out some bombs by the switch, get up the first stair by bow and/or paraglider, get up the next two stairs by the previously laid bombs, and get up the last stair by one more very clever bomb....

And eventually, David got it that way too.

This was all after watching him try the most amazingly outlandish tactics to advance, and seeing them not work; and telling him of all the ridiculously crazy tactics I had tried, and how those had failed; and laughing a lot in between.

But afterward, David went back in the shrine to see if he couldn’t figure out the right way to do it....

I noticed the music was different, after the shrine had been beaten. A soft difference. Subtle. The chimes seemed gentler, and muted....  as if.... as if this were only the ghost of the task you’d had to do. A shadow. An echo.

It was quite nice. <3

But David was busy squeezing his head around that Bravery’s Grasp title of the shrine-task.... and he inspected the laser....

AND WE BOTH THOUGHT OH NO WAY....

AND THEN HE PICKED UP THE LASER.

OH MY GOSH—what heavy palms I dragged down my unbelieving face.

“I wanna take this outside!” said David! 8D

He set the laser on the moving platform and moved up the stairway in seconds.

Dang.

Ah, Zelda.

Delightful.

David paraglided down into the Corridor and—oh my gosh—rode the Lynel for all his stamina . . . . and then I went to bed.

Another Storm

Waking of Sunday, June 25, 2017 ~ 2

Another Storm

Vah Naboris was so far away now....

The desert below was vast.

Still I clung to the bottom of the frost line, high on the mountain range.

David was absolutely boggled why I didn’t just go to that place out in the desert, the one with the shrine right next to it.

But I didn’t want to.... not yet.... I felt more drawn.... to the Volcano. The breadcrumbs seemed to pull me there.

These Gerudo Highlands? This was just a lark, this was exploring....

Mmmm this was not the determined Hero I thought I’d be playing....

Sometimes I wonder if it’s because I let myself slip from being the farthest along in the game. I know it’s not a race, but.... there’s something in that, I think....

Hm.

I ventured into the freezing snow to solve a magnetic Korok puzzle. I climbed up the back of a Talus to show David how it’s done. I didn’t even know how many Talus kills that was for me. Felt like a boss.

Creeping shrinelight shone from the desert floor far below, looming out of a gigantic ribcage lost in a cloud of sand.

“Why don’t you go get that one?”

“You mean that shrine that got eaten by some giant thing?”

No, David, I wouldn’t even go get that one—

A sandstorm blustered up out of nowhere and obliterated the world. Everything was lost in a greenbeige haze.

The map in my HUD went static.

“What?”

David groaned a knowing groan.

“Have you seen this?” I asked him.

He had.

I opened up my Sheikah Slate.

Static. Blue-on-black static.

Nothing. It was nonfunctional.

I put it away.

I couldn’t see anything. Only the ground for a few yards around me.

I pressed on, forward into the raging din, but then—

That soft little xylo-cowbell tap, that chime that means No.

And

You can’t go any farther.

Words at the bottom of my screen.

“Nooo!” I howled, running against the press of nothing, feet not going anywhere.

I paused and—if my map was malfunctioning, how did I place that stamp?

I marked the spot with a Star.

And with nowhere else to go.... I headed down the mountain.... and with a new spot of ground to stand on veered hard into the west once more!

And once more I could not move any farther.

And I marked that spot with a Star.

One more drop in elevation, another press against the edge, another Star....

Could I even see these stamps on my static map?

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t see. Everything was gone. Storks flew away into the howling wind. Wolves loomed out of the airborne murk. My Great Thunderblade became my flashlight.

I came to a rock ledge overlooking the desert I could not see.

“I’m at the edge of the universe,” I said.

There was nowhere left to go but back counterclockwise around the mountain. I had to jog quite far before the sandstorm let up and the air cleared enough for me to see.

My Sheikah Slate came back to life and I looked at the stamps I had placed.

They formed a perfectly vertical line near the western edge of my map.

“You should do what I did,” said David, “I just went to my map, scrolled aaaall the way down to the bottom-left corner, and put a marker, then I unpaused to see where it was!”

Ugh! “Nooo!” What a ghastly thought!

So that was the end. I couldn’t circumnavigate the Gerudo Highlands after all. The highest, westernmost plateau continued off into spaces and areas over which I could not pan.

And I felt a little sadness again . . . . but not like before.

Before, when I saw the sea, there was something more awful there. Woeful. An empty isolation.

But here on the sandblasted mountainside.... something inside me joyed to know that....

The land went on.

I don’t know, I just....

I liked that thought.

There was a kind of dread finality when the border was the sea, but when you can see the land goes on?

There’s something hopeful there.

When more is left to the imagination.

I went back round the mountain. I found more Koroks here and there. I saw the lower entrance to that Satan Canyon with all the frogs.

I paraglided to the other side of it—boggling David further still as to why I did not just go down and explore the sandy desert floor.

I did take a look at a couple of treasure chests down there. One of them was Magnesable, but the other....

“Maybe you’re not close enough,” said David.

“Oh, I’m close enough,” I said, and it was my turn to have a knowing groan in my voice.

David was confused. “What, are there things that disguise themselves to look like treasure chests?”

I only narrowed my eyes as I regarded the chest on the screen. Oh I’d love to see his first encounter with one of those....

I climbed further up the rocks, still counterclockwise back around the mountain, and found some amazing ruins haunted by three Lizalfos and an Ice Wizzrobe. I bombed the Wizzrobe from a nearby cliff, and killed the Lizalfos up close; looting the place turned over a bunch of SWEET bows, man. I left a bow stamp there for later.

A hop, skip and a jump further around the mountain and all at once the screen flicked to an interrupted connection message from my WiiU.

My controller had run out of batteries.

Well.... it was just as well. It was getting pretty late, and I had to pack anyway.

I set the controller in its cradle and set to filling my suitcase....

I’d never run my battery completely dry before. I checked in every few minutes until there was enough juice to at least put Link safe in the pause screen for a while. And there he sat while I went through my packing list.

And by the time I was done.... I really should have just gone to bed. But instead I justified myself in playing just a little bit more by reasoning that after all that packing, I really deserved a little cool-down time....

But I played much like I got ready for the family reunion: with much procrastinatory wandering.

I only wended my way back toward the Gerudo Tower, exploring some of the lower reaches of that spiral path around the Tower hole—I really think there must not be a floor there—finally just warped back up to the Tower platform, saved.... quit.... and went to bed.

I got a good twenty minutes before my alarm went off.

Ant Lions

Waking of Sunday, June 25, 2017

Ant Lions

I waited all day on that platform for the Tower’s shadow to find me. Firing a few test shots—and hoping Kass wouldn’t mind me taking potshots at him—I hoped this wouldn’t require a Phrenic Bow, because I was fresh outta those....

But when the shadow crossed over me, a single arrow in the general direction of the sun turned out to be sufficient. Up out of the ground rumbled the Sasa Kai Shrine. A Modest Test of Strength.

I nailed it. Even forgetting until about halfway through that I was still wearing my Warm Doublet instead of the much stronger Champion’s Tunic.

Yes I think I am definitely feeling more confident in my combat skills.

After that I continued my circumnavigation of the mountain, and found a rich weapon cache under a big prominent hill! I took the rupees, the Opal and the Bomb Arrows, but I left the rest for later, and blocked up the entrance again, as I had first found it.

As I continued my trek just below the frost line, I briefly wondered whether my course would take me straight through the mountain range, for there was a lower spot that seemed as if it might cut straight across, and spit me out somewhere near Satori Mountain.

It was a deep canyon of red, windswept stone—felt like I was suddenly in Sedona—and it cut a great, penetrating swath of blank space into my map. Guess it belonged to a different Sheikah Tower.

I stayed high, as usual, but I was dreadfully curious about the layers below me, for there were many. And there seemed to be a road or path down at the twisting bottom, and it was lined along both sides with small stone frog statues.

This was so unusual....

But I still stayed high. The canyon rock at my level formed immense natural bridges and domes and I contented myself with a bird’s eye view.

One giant hole opened up in front of me into which a ringing curtain of sand was gently spilling, like a gossamer veil in the sunlight. I peered into it; a much more complex arrangement of the frog statues seemed to adorn a wider space below. What did it mean....

I got too close and fell in—I threw up my paraglider and scrambled to turn and get purchase on the stone....!

I stopped about six feet from the bottom.

Well, as long as I was here....

I let go and hit the ground—and some ruckus started up.

It was a Yiga Nest. Three Yiga Archers poofed in and out all around me, laughing and taking shots—but at least they stayed still longer than their blade-wielding brethren. I cut them down, and took their bananas, their rupees and their.... Duplex Bows. Interesting weapons. Two arrows at a shot. Can’t beat the Forest Dweller’s Bow or the Lynel’s Bow, though.

When the area was quiet, I studied the frog statues—the faces of the ones up here had been covered by flags bearing a perversely inverted Sheikah Eye. Yiga. I looked to the end of the canyon—for it seemed to end just right there—and found what I believed to be a door in the stone.

But I could not open it.

Not that I was quite so sure I wanted to.

David turned up again, froze for a heartbeat or two, and went into a transport of excitement. “I know where you are!” he said.

And then he turned to me. “Andrea.”

“Yeah?”

“This is about Zelda.” It was the preface he had designed to alert me to when he really was talking about Zelda, as there had been occasions where I’d heard him say snatches of some completely unrelated things that I’d mistaken for spoilers.

“Okay?”

“This is the part that I have most wanted to see you play.” He was positively aquiver with anticipation.

“Ah-huh....”

I still couldn’t open the door, though.

“What, do I need to walk up through the entire canyon first?”

David helpfully just shrugged.

I walked down the path in the canyon a bit—killed a couple more Yiga Archers—and came to a large platform with a sign in front of it: “Offer a Glowing Blue Stone” it said, or something like it. Would this open the door?

There were four Luminous Stone deposits surrounding it. I blew one up with my bomb, and accidentally landed a fragment right onto the pedestal.

And.... a shrine burst out of the ground.

The Sho Dantu Shrine.

A little too much fun with high explosives in that one.

The door still didn’t open, though. But I was not concerned. I climbed my way back onto the sandy natural domes and arches above it, and continued into the high canyon.

I waited out a Blood Moon and soon came to another giant hole in the ground, this one much more conspicuous—at its center was a deep pit, with sheer, wavy Sedona-rock sides. The perfectly round mouth of it was paved with flat stones above, and lined with hanging flags and draperies below the edge. What did this mean? Was this a way in?

I felt amazingly stupid as I tried to get a better look, stepped too close again and once more fell off the edge.

And again, I scrambled to cling onto the wall before I hit the floor, tasting a great impending danger this time.

But when I finally psyched myself up to let go.... nothing happened. No Yiga Clansmen jumped out at me.

There was another stone door on one side like the one back in the canyon. I was certain some diabolical passage under the rock connected them. What was in there?

And then there was that giant pit in the middle.

David had tried jumping in it.

Eh, I’d try it too.

I floated down for a bit, fell, and the screen went black. Would there be a dungeon?

There wasn’t. I just came to back on the edge above.

A note: don’t jump in the Yiga Pit; it’s just a hole to nowhere and you die. Makes me wonder about that hole where the Gerudo Tower stood, actually....

Well there was nothing I could do here, and so climbed out through the snow, freezing only a little on my way back to some warmer ground where I could stand.

It looked like this cut across the Gerudo Highlands was too high after all, even for my Warm Doublet.

But no matter.... I’d just keep going right around the mountain range....

The Tallest Tower

Waking of Tuesday, June 20, 2017 ~ 2

The Tallest Tower

After a while the canyon widened.... and got wider.... and kept widening. I was getting farther away from the visible tower.

But I kept on my course around the Gerudo Highlands—that’s what these were.

I don’t know why. I just wanted to explore.

It’s a Zelda game.

It was that fever again.

You just want to wander.

I wanted to circumnavigate this mountain range.... probably come back around near Satori Mountain or the Plateau after a big clockwise path....

I got higher and higher until I had to put on my Warm Doublet.... and higher still until even that was insufficient and I had to come back down.

And far away stepping around in its clouds of what David said was dust, I could see the Divine Beast Vah Naboris.

“That’s the Giant Golden Tingle Statue,” he said.

It had been Vah Naboris.

“Well how would you react if you came up over a mountain and saw a three-hundred-foot camel walkin’ around?” he laughed.

I guessed I’d be as flabbergasted as he had been.

The desert stretched out below me, far, far into the distance.... littered with ominously gigantic ribcages and vertebrae—what had those come from? And beyond the sandscape....

Beyond that....

Hhhh.

I saw the sea, and it made me.... sad.

I thought of San Andreas.

I thought of Pacific City.

And I just felt.... sad.

I guess there was something about just the impassable mountains and cliffs you always see in other Zelda games. Those boundaries.

Just the thought of Hyrule—that beautiful land!—nestled somewhere in the vast, indefinable world. Lands and worlds unknown, unseen. Left to the imagination.

But here, on the western edge of the map—and having been to Hateno on the east, and having seen the sea there—and having seen it in the south, beyond the Highland Tower—and seeing it again, here in the west—

I just felt . . . . a sadness.

“Why don’t you go get that shrine?” David pointed to the settlement-looking place I had been watching for a while, way, way out in the desert.

“It looks.... like it could be a friendly place,” I conceded.

“Is the front door open?”

I laughed.

UHF. Fun movie.

Oh, there was plenty down there that had looked intersting to me. That settlement, plenty of ruins, a bit of treasure.... even what appeared to be the location of one of Princess Zelda’s pictographs.

But something still kept me away.... And it wasn’t just this mountain I was exploring....

My thoughts were still back in Akkala. I still had business there.

How had I even gotten this far? All I did was go climb the Lake Tower just to give David a kick and then—suddenly I’m wandering the backside of the Gerudo Highlands.

And then ahead, over a little shoulder of the mountain I saw.... some kind of shape that looked familiar....

It was.... a tower top?

I moved in close. A couple of Bokoblins tried to signal my approach but I rather cut their horn-blasts short. A big black Moblin stepped in to investigate but I Stasised him in his tracks before laying him out flat.

“Nice,” David grinned.

Cool. X-)

I’m feeling quite a bit more confident in combat.

I hiked over the shoulder and it was a tower top. A Sheikah Tower hiding right here in the folds of the mountain! Seemed to be standing in a lower spot in the middle of a ring of cliffs.

There were only a couple more baddies to deal with in the little clifftop camp I’d stumbled upon, but they weren’t too much trouble. And as I raided their spoils, breaking open metal boxes with Magnesis, I was MOST gratified when David shouted in surprise, “Those things BREAK?”

8D

Oh yes they do—and I turned over quite a few rupees that way!

Sweet.

I approached the cliff’s edge to have a look at the Tower’s base. But the hole in which this Sheikah Tower stood was so deep.... that I saw an atmospheric haze before I saw the bottom.

My gosh, this was the tallest Sheikah Tower I had ever seen. o__o

And it had only a handful of platforms on which to rest, all clustered near its top.

And there was something else, up at the crown—a bad guy on top? A top-heavy silhouette moving against the bright sky....

I scoped in.

No it was Kass.

I paraglided over from a high wooden jumping platform, and climbed my way up. Kass sang me another song from his old mentor, this one about shooting an arrow from the tower’s shadow during a certain time of day.... something about piercing heaven’s light....

Shoot for the morning light, I thought fondly.

I could see the platform from which to let fly on a cliff far below....

“Aren’t you gonna activate it??” said David.

“Oh yeah....” I turned to the pedestal. “Almost forgot....”

I dunno what was wrong with me.

I activated the Sheikah Tower—the Gerudo Tower—downloaded the map, and saved.

Hylian Sauté

Waking of Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Hylian Sauté

I still didn’t know how to complete the Ishto Soh Shrine properly, but I reloaded and went through it in my own special way again just to extend the life of the bow I’d been using. It was harder that time....

When I’d beaten the shrine I went north along the Lynels’ Corridor, on the west side again. I scaled that little butte I had skirted around, hoping for a Korok or something on top. Unfortunately all there was was a Talus. But I’m getting quite good at taking them down. :)

After that I sailed down to the valley floor. Lynels or no, I was going to make it to the northern end of that corridor, and see what the big deal was.

There was a smattering of very tall baobab trees, some with Koroks in their branches, others with birds’ eggs. I climbed almost every one I came to, both on the lookout for secrets, and wanting to stay high. There were some shapes in the distance. Horselike shapes....

But they weren’t Lynels. As it turned out, they were just horses. And one of them was big.

I got closer. Man that was a BIG dang horse. It was all black except for its flaming red mane and tail.... it kind of reminded me of.... Ganondorf’s horse, actually....

I checked my pockets and found only one semi-decent stamina potion. Hm.

Well, I snuck up on the big horse and tried it without the potion, and he bucked me off straight away. And somehow I didn’t think just that one potion would have helped me stay on. I would have to come back here later....

Big dang horse.... must’ve been what David was so interested in....

The Lynels’ Corridor ran straight into the southern wall of the Great Plateau, and there were two ways I could go from this abrupt end: east, which would take me toward the Lake; or west.... which led into uncharted territory.

I went west.

It was near Digdogg Suspension Bridge, I could see on my map; that river had come right down around the west side of the Plateau. I climbed and looked down on the lands beyond the bridge. The mounted Bokoblins were there again.

I didn’t want to deal with them, but bypassed them over the hills until I came to the shrine I had detected here before: the Jee Noh Shrine. That was a fun time with lasers. Mom saw part of it and couldn’t understand how I could stand it!

I claimed the Spirit Orb and came out. And just a little more jogging brought me to a place I’d seen before.... I’d been around here before.... somewhere.... when I was searching for Mei.

There was a deep canyon, the same I had asked David about, wondering if there were water in the bottom of it. (There hadn’t been.) On the far side of the canyon was Giant Golden Tingle Statue Mountain, a prominent Sheikah Tower standing away in its upper reaches. A tantalizing array of boardwalks and ladders seemed to lead a fairly straightforward course up into those hills....

Mmmm but something made me stay on the near side of the canyon. I don’t know....

Ignoring a nearby Traveler, I started to climb. I followed the canyon, but I stayed on the east side, running into the night.

At one point a Talus grumbled up out of the earth but I didn’t want to bother with it. I kept going north. However it wasn’t long before some Stalmoblins popped up and really insisted that I stop.

I didn’t want to deal with them either, and so just started climbing the cliff to my right. But one of them shot me with an arrow and I fell. Fine then. I killed them all. Of course by that time the Talus had caught up with me, and so I ran back south again. The cliff was gentler there, and I climbed up to the upper shelf.

The Talus didn’t seem to want to go back to bed, so I ended up just bombing it to death. And after collecting its remains I continued on my way.

David turned up, and asked what I was up to.

I told him I’d killed a Talus.

“A Talus?” he said.

“Yeah, my second one today.”

“What?”

“Have you ever killed a Talus?”

He hadn’t.

Well that was just a little gratifying. :)

Ahead of me were three Gorons standing in a row, arms folded. Behind them was some kind of large platform....

“Where are you?” David laughed.

Which was even more gratifying. ^_^

The Gorons’ names were Bayge, Heehl, and Kabetta, and they were accompanied by what sounded like the half-drunken solo trombone cousin of the musical theme from Skyloft.

This was some kind of shrine-challenge, I gathered, and if I could pass some kind of heat-based endurance test, then the shrine would appear.

For the first round we all stepped onto the big platform. It was a round slab of what looked like metal, and its surface bore huge cracks that looked like they came from heat-damage and—worryingly—seemed to glow red.

If you passed out or left the ring, you lost. Last man standing won.

Fair enough.

I stepped up, we got on the platform and the timer started.

We all began to sway and pant.... Bayge was in the middle. He and Heehl had determined scowls on their faces, but Kabetta seemed like a softer fellow.

“Someone’s.... waving....” said Heehl.

What’s he talking about? I wondered.

My hearts began to tick away, like they had on the Lake Tower.

“It’s.... too.... much....” said Kabetta, and he keeled right over.

Ugh, it was so hot.

“Is that.... Grandpa....?” said Heehl, and then he went down.

It was just me and Bayge. He seemed the toughest of the lot.

“Piece of cake,” he grimaced.

Oh great, I thought.

But then Bayge fell over too!

I won! And only lost two hearts. Phewf!

But there was still another part to the challenge. There was another platform. This one was surrounded by enormous flaming bowls on raised stands, and it looked.... molten....

No, I realized, it was only waving like that because of the heat distortions....

Oh gads....

Well, as long as I was here, I thought I’d try it. I did have one fireproofing elixir I got from I don’t remember where—someone had given it to me—but, like I do, I didn’t want to waste it, and so went without.

I jumped up onto the platform and promptly began to smoke.

The cinematic ensued and Bayge asked if I were ready.

He counted down. The clock started.

I ran in hot circles, wooping like Curly.

The bow on my back burst into flames. Then some of my clothes burst into flames. Then more of my clothes burst into flames—my hearts began to burn away much faster—would this damage my very attire?

I jumped off.

Bayge called me out, and I clicked through the dialogue as fast as I could—I wanted to put out those fires! Stop, drop and roll, I thought, stop, drop and roll....

I got through the conversation and then with HORROR I realized.... there was no button to roll! I could jump but I could not roll! D8

So many times in so many Zelda games I had taken it for granted just to be able to roll!

But my clothes eventually stopped burning and I was able to simly unequip the bow.

And after that I just reloaded from the time before I got on the second platform—I didn’t want that damage to my equipment.

I checked the recipe for the fireproofing elixir—one Fireproof Lizard, and a Bokoblin Horn. Easy enough I guessed. But I had never encountered any Fireproof Lizards in my wanderings.

I didn’t use the elixir, but.... only continued on my way. I decided I would just have to come back here later.

But for now I wanted to climb higher and follow this range....

The Lynels' Corridor

Waking of Saturday, June 10, 2017

The Lynels’ Corridor

Well, what started out as a plan to go get hornshards from Farosh.... ended up as a wandering exploration of the Faron region.... disguised as a giant Korok hunt. I climbed all over the hills above Malanya’s spring, meandered around the seashore, found some more Guardians—I’ve been marking them on my map. It’s creepy when the normal, healthy ones with working legs just sit there.... unmoving.... like enormous spiders....

My wanderings brought me westward, through a great mess of mounted bokoblins, and toward a place David had said he’d really liked. On the west side of Faron were some grasslands running north to south between a green ridge on the east side and some bare beige tiered mountains on the west side, part of the Gerudo Highlands I think. Maybe.

These grasslands had a name, but I do not remember it.

I simply called it.... The Lynels’ Corridor.

For there were two of them in there.

I started at the south end, and stayed on the east side, atop the green ridge. The first Lynel I saw I tried casting bombs at, but he soon got wise to my presence—over such a distance—and started shooting Shock Arrows back at me. At first they sailed over my head and away into the countryside, but then.... mm he must have pulled some different tactic.... lightning came bolting out of the sky....

I ran away—remembering to go back and grab the Korok Leaf I’d dropped when I got zapped!—until he finally lost interest.

Further north along the Corridor, there was another Lynel.

For this one, I situated myself on a little shelf of rock where I could not be seen from the valley floor—and commenced another game of Bomb-Golf.

It took some doing I tell you what but after a great many bombs over a few days and nights—I had slain the northern Lynel.

Evening was coming on, and lest there was a Blood Moon coming I paraglided down and quickly scooped up his remains—a Lynel hoof, a Lynel horn, a Lynel Spear, a Lynel BOW. Among other things I’m sure.

Craving the high ground once again, I climbed round a single tall butte and up into the stony Gerudo Highlands on the west side this time. I didn’t fancy being on the valley floor if there were any more Lynels about.

I thought to go farther north to continue my bird’s eye sweep of the Corridor, but there was a Guardian in the way. It was on a lower shelf of the mountains than where I was, but I didn’t care for the lively patrol it kept of that area.

So I climbed up to the next shelf, looking for a bypass....

As it turned out there were quite a few things in the way up here! More Guardians—thank you, pictobox feature—wolves, electric keese....

Just too many hassles that I didn’t want to bother with. And so every time I encountered one.... I just kept climbing up to the next shelf.

I came to one place where a Decayed Guardian sat in a wide, bare expanse of sandy stone, and at something of a risk to my general wellbeing I paraglided onto a nearby overhang to flush up a Korok. (There were a few Koroks up here, too.)

And as I stood on that tall, tall outcropping of stone, I looked into the low clouds on the other side of these Highlands, to the west.... and I saw it.

It was an island—and it was moving.

Strange movements. Rotational and sharp, as if it were timed for something, as if you had to paraglide from those crags to the north to get onto it properly. What in....?

It turned, machine-like, swiveling under the single pine tree at its crest—no there were two islands, one had been behind—

No.... not islands....

“That’s a Divine Beast,” I said, eyes wide in awe.

No one was in the room with me.

Two great humps with strange spires on top of them, the curving neck with the weird head....

That was a Divine Beast.

I remembered the name Vah Naboris from Impa’s tale. Was this that beast? It sounded like Nabooru, a Gerudo name.... and this seemed to be Gerudo territory.... though admittedly I hadn’t seen any Gerudo since Karsh, long, long ago at the rainy Woodland Stable.

And that one in my memory at the Sacred Ground.

I was curious about the northern part of that Corridor, but.... with so many Guardians and other things in the way.... the route I was on wasn’t exactly ideal.

I headed south again.

And of course there in my way again were—

“Wolves,” I growled, “we don’t need their scum.” XD

I climbed up to the next shelf and kept heading south, getting quite far this time.... back down south along the Corridor....

I had seen a pillar of black smoke somewhere down there, on a high ledge near the southern mouth of the Corridor. I may even have seen it from as far away as the Highland Stable and the Ka’o Makagh Shrine. In my experience, black smoke meant bad guys. White smoke meant good guys I think. But all smoke.... had a kind of interesting draw to it.... Agh, like a moth to a flame, I just wanna see what’s going on!

I could see the smoke ahead of me now, south along the shelves of the Highlands. It had come in and out of view, disappearing and reappearing.... But now as I was higher up about its level, I kind of wanted to go find its source.

Before I got there however, I came across a huge saddle in the mountain: a vast, bare stretch of grit and gravel cut east to west through the Highlands like the devil’s own highway. It looked.... somehow contrived. Not natural. In my mind’s eye I could see the massive Vah Naboris treading along it....

My but I wondered what could be that way.... the bending of the ground brought the tempting horizon much too close....

Hmmm but I was getting tired. I really felt like I should just find a shrine and stop or something; it was my bedtime.

I marked the Devil’s Own Highway with a little line of stars on my map (it was in an empty blue region I had not yet downloaded into my Slate), and turned back to the east. There below me was the southern mouth of the Lynel’s Corridor. I could just jog on across it and back to the green ridge on the east side, and then go north. Maybe I’d finally reach the northern end....

When 說曹操曹操到！ My shrine-locator started beeping.

And there was the smokestack! Right there! Just a few shelves downhill.

Hmm, seemed like the shrine signal and the smoke were coming from near the same spot! How interesting....

As I approached—scaring up two Koroks very close by—I could see a lot of messy piles of bones and things around the Shrine.... looked like a bad guy camp. But I couldn’t see any Bokoblins around....

I climbed up over the rock, dropped down into a little shallow bit where most of the garbage was, and found.... a woman, brandishing a ladle at a giant hunk of gourmet meat in a wok over a fire.

It was black.

“Who are you?” she said.

“Who are YOU?” I replied.

Her name was Moza, and for the sake of becoming a better cook, she was training in isolation.

“Your smoke signal?” I asked.

“Smoke signal?” she said, puzzled, “Oh you mean the dish I’m making?” or something like that.

“It’s burning,” I said, “Badly.”

And that ruffed her feathers all right.

She taught me some.... recipes of her own design. Lavish Meat Dish: meat and ore. Ancient Meat Dish: meat and ancient parts. Ultimate Survival Dish: straight up monster parts.

“That sounds gross,” I said.

“HEY!” she yelled back at me, “If you want to be an ultimate survivor then you’ve got to be willing to eat anything!”

I don’t think.... there was any helping her.

I left her to it.

And approached the shrine. The surrounding garbage piles were.... multitudinous. Flies buzzed loudly and nastily. Ugh. What a horrible place for a shrine.

The Ishto Soh Shrine – Bravery’s Grasp the trial inside was called.

I still have no idea what to do with that moving platform on the floor.

Somehow I made it up those stairs and to the monk.

Oh I would dearly love to see David attempt that one....

Might just do it again. To save my bow.