The Basement

Waking of Thursday, May 31, 2018

The Basement

NOT—THREE—MONTHS.

I REFUSE.

I AM GOING TO PLAY BEFORE MAY BECOMES JUNE, WHICH IS SOON stop rhyming....

I was in the Great Deku Tree’s Navel.

I talked to Pepp, and as it was evening and he insisted so sweetly, I slept in his bed until morning, whereupon I spoke to some of the other Koroks, just to refamiliarize myself a bit. One of them told me a little about the place—“We’re actually inside the Great Deku Tree’s stomach. Try not to think about it too hard.”

Mm. Good advice.

David has been very far ahead of me in the game for quite some time, but.... I wanted to do something that he had never done, and I wanted him to see it.

But he wasn’t around.

So....

I decided to hunt Guardians in the meanwhile. I needed to save up on Ancient Gears so I could get the Ancient Cuirass from Cherry.

And there were a few Guardians I knew how to handle easily enough....

My first stop was Lomei Labyrinth Island. I still had a couple of Ancient Arrows on me, and I knew just where to put ‘em....

The crawler in the central court was easy enough, and then I tracked down the decayed one in the maze. Blew him up too—and found some pretty neat stuff down the corridors formerly under his lasers!

Actually.... as I approached the one long dead end.... it made me kind of sad. Sword and shield and bundles of arrows, and the Thunderstorm Rod....

Somehow all I could imagine, seeing that scattering of weapons on the floor at the dark end of the tunnel, was how they must have gotten there. And in my mind I saw some poor brave warrior meet his final end....

I did not bother with the Flyers, but after cleaning up the two Guardians (well, one and a half) on the main floor, I warped back to the shrine, and considered the column of air blowing up from a deep, deep shaft before the shrine.

I’d found this place before David, but I had just assumed that the air current came from some door down in the central court. Like an elevator. Guarded by that Guardian.

But when I watched David do the labyrinth, he had decided to explore that shaft for himself.

The bottom of it did not come out into the central court.

It turned out that Lomei Labyrinth Island.... had a basement.

And that basement was full of Decayed Guardians.

Admittedly most of them were truly dead, but that did nothing to lessen the terror of seeing them all like so many spiders in the bottom of a forgotten barrel. Some of them were even Stalkers—they were of the variety that could move, like the one in the central court.

I knew all of this as I climbed down the shaft for myself, dropping short distances and grabbing on again to conserve my stamina. And when I neared the bottom, I dropped out and angled myself just enough to clear the air-column, and then floated with my paraglider directly downard to the floor where I landed in a crouch and did not move.

I considered my surroundings. My pictobox came in quite useful, as I could use it to spot which Guardians were alive. Marking their locations carefully, I gave these all a very wide berth as I combed the gigantic underground room to get at the dead ones.

Wasn’t able to salvage any gears, though.

But when I had satisfied myself with scavenging.... or when I just plum couldn’t take it anymore—I turned my attentions to the last thing I knew I’d be able to touch in peace down here. That’s how it had been for David.

In the center of the chamber was a small rectangular dais, set with torches. And between those torches sat an unassuming treasure chest.

I did just as David had done, dipped into a cautious crouch, and moved slowly—so, so slowly—toward it.

And just as David had done, I made myself stand up for a frightening few heartbeats so that I could get onto the dais.

And crouching once again, I approached the chest....

And opening it I obtained.... a Diamond Circlet, with protective properties against Ancient weaponry!

And.... just as had happened with David.... once that chest was open and the dialogue box showing me my prize had closed....

LASERS.

Four of them. From all sides.

It was here that I had planned to deviate from the course that David had followed; I had no intention of making it back to the entry point and riding the shaft of air back up to the top—I just wanted to warp back out to the shrine!

But.... for some reason, I didn’t.

Some distant memory stirred.... And I had a Guardian Shield on me. Couldn’t those deflect....?

For some reason, right then, I just wanted to see.... if I could manage....

I didn’t. Four laser bolts came in at once and flash-fried me where I stood—but for some reason when I stopped tumbling I noticed I had only lost five hearts. Maybe one of the bolts had blown me clear of the rest....? Or it could have been Daruk....

I didn’t spend too much time thinking about it; I retreated to my Sheikah Slate and told it to warp me the heck outta there. And it did. Usually I’m standing when I do this. It was a little dramatically striking to see Link instead crouching in a protective huddle, with his arms raised over his head, as he coalesced into blue light and teleported away....

When I was safe again I checked my inventory. Yes, the Guardian Shield could defelct Guardian blasts. From Guardian Scouts.

Oh dear. Did Guardian Stalkers and Guardian Scouts have similar weaponry? The Stalkers were everywhere on the map, but the Scouts could only be found within Combat Shrines.

But.... I wanted to test it....

Where in the world was this Courage coming from?