Journey to Toruma

Waking of Friday, August 3, 2018 ~ 4

Journey to Toruma

More Koroks.

More Guardians.

All around the wetlands and up the Sahasra Slope....

I was a little beyond the Pit when I saw the red moon rising....

“Dang it it’s a Blood Moon!” I warped to Satori Mountain and scrambled near enough to its top as fast as I could.

“What?” David asked, confused at my agitation.

But I had already launched off toward Washa’s Bluff.

My paraglide.... could not be fast enough.

“I’m not gonna make it,” I moaned.

“Not gonna make what?” said David. I don’t think he knows about that shrine....

The air began to redden as I was still sailing, approaching the bluff’s edge.

“I’m not gonna make it....”

“What are you trying to do?”

I hit the grass and the strange music began to weep and howl and unholy smoke dripped up into the air—I could see the dais—it was glowing—I was sprinting—the Piano was rumbling—I was almost there—

And the vision started and Zelda’s voice sounded in warning and I came back to the present and the dais went dark and....

I had missed it.

Dang it.

I traveled back to where I had been, shooing up Koroks around a lake southeast of the Pit. I got a few more of them before attempting to swim upriver toward Kakariko Bridge. But the current was stronger than one would think, for just running into a little dead-ended lake like that.

I couldn’t quite make it, even in full Zora Armor....

Just before I ran out of stamina, I warped out of my predicament to the nearby Dueling Peaks Stable, and thought.

I’d already done some shopping to find bits for the Great Fairies to work with.... but I hadn’t seen Hestu in a while. What could he do for me? I had certainly collected a lot of seeds since I’d last seen him.

I warped to Korok Woods to have a visit. But he could offer me no more room for bows. I didn’t want any more shields just now, and another slot for a weapon was still too expensive.

Poop.

I climbed up the Deku Tree’s giant roots and into the Navel; a Korok named Peeks had been waiting for me to show him a pictograph of a Blupee. I did, and he liked that. He liked it to the tune of a hundred rupees, to be precise.... and I liked that.

The day was only just dawning, and so I slept in Pepp’s bed until noon, at which point I decided I had been meandering around long enough.

At noon, I warped to the Sand Seal Rally in the desert.... and started walkin’.

I was going to find Dragon’s Exile.

“Only those who have walked through the desert can truly know its size.” The line from a certain, ah.... Bellena, from Skies of Arcadia, immediately came to mind.

I’d started in a fairly westward direction. The dunes stretched endlessly before me, melting into a blinding ruddybeige haze and rippling in the heat. Fortunately my upgraded Desert Voe Gear was enough to deal with the temperature. I could wander anywhere down here....

The sandscape was not devoid of obstacles, however. There were Lizalfos galore, and more often than not I found myself wearing my mask to keep them at bay. The real trouble came when the Lizalfos began taking up with other breeds of baddies, for I could only wear one mask at a time.

At a giant ribcage I had to stay out of sight up on top of the spine whilst I dropped bombs on a gang of Moblins. But once the Moblins were gone, I had no trouble floating down and looting the place completely. Lizalfos still frozen in sandy-colored camouflage watched me from four feet away, movement betrayed only in their gleaming eyes as I cracked into their treasure chests and carried on my way.

A long jog later, at a tunneled rock formation set low into the sand, I had to hide again while lobbing Bomb Arrows at a small troop of Bokoblins. Some well-placed boomers helped a great deal at the opening volley. But man, that one Black Bokoblin kept wandering off, and took forever to bring down.

But afterward, my mask was enough once again to walk freely among the remaining Lizalfos.

Dusk fell, the sand became a wash of purple-green and grey, and I had to switch from my Headband to my Ruby Circlet.

The desert was truly vast.

In the cool of the night I encountered two men tangling with a couple of Bokoblins, and I dashed in to give them a hand.... but the nighttime came with its own added challenges.

I saw the tiny, crackling, flapping shapes descending fast upon me—“NOT THE KEESE, NOT THE KEESE!”—and immediately ran to put some distance between us. I still had not forgotten that Electric Keese in the rain outside the Honeydell. My GOSH what an ordeal that had been....

From a greater distance I was able to drop the little fiends with my bow, and take care of the Bokoblins. But I rather lost sight of the two men. I ran back toward where I had seen them, near a couple of lonesome palm trees, and I found them standing easily.

They offered me no goodies, though. Seemed I’d run so far away, the game had depopulated them.

Ah well, that was all right. But dang, that Silver Bokoblin could hit.

In the end I could only suffice myself with the said Bokoblin’s weapon—a Trilizal Boomerang with an added attack-bonus like crazy.

At length I came to a long, low shelf in the bedrock, maybe a little taller than I was; the topo lines were gentle here. Toruma Dunes was the name of this place. I jogged along the edge on the upper part, and in the lower portion, out some score yards and burrowing around in a circle in the sand, was a Molduga.

There was something.... peculiar.... about its path....

I didn’t want to get close and I did not want it to sense me down in its own element. But there was something there.... I was sure of it. The Molduga was going round and round within the confines of four small, jutting stone formations, and these formations seemed to share a kind of radial symmetry with each other. Equally distanced.

And I could see on one stone, there was a small, dark shape. I couldn’t quite make out what it was, but....

I needed to get closer.

I dropped onto the lower sands when the beast was farthest away in its tiny circuit. Uhuh, it was terrible approaching it! My steps were slow and light and even, but how long would I be able to flout the Molduga’s superior senses?

In the end I curved wide until I had centered one of the stone formations between the Molduga and me.... and then made a mad dash for it.

I made it onto the stone without incident, and the Molduga continued on its course.

You know I think it may actually have been much smaller than that Molduga I had killed for Malena....

Huh.

But I didn’t wonder about it for long. The object I had seen on the stone stood plain before me now: it was a brazier. And I could see on the stones to my left and right, more braziers waiting to be lit. I assumed the one across from me had one as well—they were situated on the outward-facing edges.

But I couldn’t very well light them up with this brute in the way....

So I drew it up with normal arrows, and blew it up with Bombs.

....That has a nice ring to it. Time to write a song stop rhyming.

With the Molduga dead I was free to light the braziers, and when all four of them were lit, up in the center came the Tho Kayu Shrine.

Excellent.