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.