Waking of Saturday, July 28, 2018
I warped from Zora’s Domain to
Gerudo Town, grabbed a sand seal and headed
out southwest. I still needed Molduga fins for the next upgrade to my Sand Boots.
The heat was still an issue, even
with my Sapphire Circlet and Gerudo Outfit. Outside of the solace of night and
dawn and dusk, at the height of the day I could only cling to the thin shadows
wrapping below tall rocks. ....Rather like the time we spent at Needles Outlook.
It was so hot.... but having the
place to ourselves for an hour was exquisitely
adventurous.
Though the high sun was still
intolerable, this time the Molduga didn’t take me that long—not when I knew how
to draw it out, and not when I employed my Most
Terrible Lynel Bow, which spat three arrows of thirty-two attack points
each for ninety-six damage at every shot.
And that if I had only used normal
arrows. No, it was Bomb Arrows this
time, as it should be every time, and the Molduga was such a large target that
the only shots I missed were during its recovery-burrowing animation.
I brought it down in one pass.
Excellent.
I also picked up more Rushrooms and
one more diamond from Ledo, and then it was off to Cotera to have her do up
some of my clothes. Got my Sand Boots to a more respectable level of defense.
Since I’d be going out into the desert and all....
I also saw I had three spirit orbs.
Just one more shrine and I could add another heart or a slice of stamina.... So
I went to where I’d always suspected there might be a shrine: from the Hateno
Tower I paraglided toward a certain stretch of the Hateno Road—checking out
Oakle’s Navel for the first time along the way—there was a Korok down there—
I headed toward that little grotto
on the north side of the road. Kind of a big
grotto actually. I had heard my shrine-locator go off near there before, back
before I had the wherewithal to climb the surrounding cliffs.... But my locator
had seemed to indicate something up on that shelf opposite the Cliffs of
Quince, or maybe a little beyond.
With a little persistence and my
Climber’s Bandana I got up on top, and was promptly led by my locator in
dizzying circles around a small lakespring, which poured into a long valley
just to the north.
I had regarded this valley many
times on my map, but had never visited it. It had seemed isolated at first, but
upon closer inspection I could see there were ways to access it—ways whose
entries I had brushed against many times.
But I did not want to be tempted by
it now. I was pretty sure I saw David exploring it one time and.... there were
things going on that I heard, but
didn’t let myself see, except in the
murky reflection off the microwave door. What
was I eating that day....?
At any rate I was leery of the valley.
First of all it was raining, and any elevation losses would be difficult to regain.
And secondly, I had to head into the desert; I didn’t want to get too
distracted or trigger anything momentous in this new environ....
In truth.... I suspected Naydra might make a pass.
However, the brreep-brreep I was hearing now sounded like the shrine might be under the little lake, and like I might
not be able to access it unless I
descended into the long water-valley.
There were an awful lot of ruins
down there.... I got as close as I could to the edge first on one side of the
waterfall, then on the other.... On the east side I dropped down by small
degrees onto ancient mossy stonework shelves, peering down at lonely Lizalfos
stretching in and out of camouflage—and
there. There on the west side of the waterfall was a hole cut into the
rock. It was well off the valley floor. Er, valley-bottom. (It seemed to be all
water down there.)
I paraglided down and in. Brreep-brreep! The tunnel was long, but
at the end.... stood the Dow Na’eh Shrine. Cool.
The cavern happened to have a
second opening, right onto the back of the waterfall. I dove in with my Zora
Armor for a quick ascent back up to the mountain shelf....
That made four Spirit Orbs all
right, but when I was back on the Hateno Road, I considered.... I was much
better equipped than I had been before.... What
was up with that grotto anyway? Maybe I could solve it now. A long time ago
I’d thought the shrine I heard on my locator would appear in that grotto....
But hidden shrines didn’t work like
that.
Doctor Calip was there, studying
the hordes of little statues standing in the ground like an army in prayer.
Doctor Calip from that friendly house back in the woods near Fort Hateno. I’d
slept there once....
I’m not sure if I knew it before,
but I gathered now that he frequented this place. I spoke to him. It’d been a
long time. And he repeated the strange riddle to me, the one he was trying to
puzzle out himself: “When a dark light resides in the cursed statue’s eyes, pierce
its gaze to release the seal on the shrine” or some such words.
Was the statue one of this bunch of
little ones?
When I asked him about it further
he said he reckoned it was some terrible variety of doll that could influence people’s behavior.
What
like a voodoo doll? .__.
Sounded freaky....
When it started getting dark,
Doctor Calip high-tailed it out of there—monsters
came out after nightfall, he reminded me.
I had made Doctor Calip’s riddle my
active quest, and I watched him leave by the pulsing yellow light on my HUD. I
looked up and could see his person jogging away in the distance, about to round
the bend—the yellow light had barely moved—and I marveled at the scale of the map. <3
The fall of night in earnest was
still a good way off, but.... I decided to hang around anyway. Would any
monsters bother me in here? Mmmm maybe. But maybe there would also be some kind
of clue the night might reveal.... or
maybe it only happened on Blood Moons. A
voodoo doll? My hopes weren’t that high. I ran around collecting plants and
passing a Korok I had found.... was there anything
I had skipped over before? I jumped off low blocks of old ruins, waiting for
the sun to sink....
Wheee.
Then uh—
Looking back. Into the grotto. For
I had jogged over near its mouth. Oh gosh what—
The little army of statues stood
clustered and shrouded in the dimness. But it looked like.... did that one there.... But it was a good
stone’s throw away—maybe it was just a trick of my vision—I scoped in—
NO
THAT ONE STATUE’S EYES WERE DEFINITELY
GLOWING. THEY GLOWED PURPLE. WHAT.
“David look!” I strained in tight unmoving terror.
Oh
my gosh it looked so freaky....
So I snapped a pictograph.
The statue didn’t do anything as I
came back toward it.
Its eyes just glowed purple. What unholy....
I swung at it with my farmer’s hoe.
But I couldn’t hit it that way.
So I tried shooting an arrow into
it.
That destroyed the statue.
And up rumbled the shrine out of
the earth, right in that bare patch of ground I had always thought would look just dandy with a shrine in
it....
The Kam Urog Shrine.
Inside was the biggest hamster wheel
I had ever seen. With giant, free-rolling morningstars in it.
“YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME,” I
said.
But I did it.
And it was awesome.
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