Evening of Tuesday, September 4, 2018
The Hateno Tower gave me an
excellent vantage point. Now I just had to wait. What phase of the moon was it again....?
There it was creeping over the
horizon: waning gibous.
I warped back to the Deku Tree’s
Navel and sat by the fire. Again. And again. And again.
David remarked that the Koroks must
have thought me very weird. Just sitting
there unmoving on my haunches for such a long time.
I counted sittings until the full
moon night, whereupon I warped to the Muwo Jeem Shrine on the eastern edge of
the map. I would definitely get the earliest possible notice looking out
over the sea from here....
And up came the big full moon....
It was white. Not red.
Rats!
Okay!
I thought to myself, here is what I will
do then! I would just go about my business as usual, and then, as each
night fell, I would just warp back here to the Muwo Jeem Shrine over the sea
and check.
Oh but first I would need to test,
yes.... How long would it take me to make it to Washa’s Bluff from the shrine
by Tabantha Bridge? I warped there to try it....
The night-speed of the Stealth Suit
would help. I touched down on the warp pad at 10:25 pm, and started running. I did not make time to
correct the camera angle and so had a bit of a stumble getting off the little
hill and down to the ground, but I got the general direction well enough!
Augh,
and then I accidentally ran myself out of stamina—Link slumped into a slow,
panting jog for a few moments while he recovered—but that was all right, this
was only a test run after all. And I
wouldn’t make that mistake during the actual Blood Moon....
I dashed and sprinted ahead, giving
no satisfaction to the Keese and Stal-creatures hounding my footsteps.
I made it to the pedestal by Kass’
treeshroom—AND THE TERRIBLE ACCORDION RANG DOWN
THROUGH MY TEMPLES—and it was five or ten minutes past midnight. I was
late.
Hmmmm....
But I had only started at 10:25.... I would be able to see a Blood Moon come up
over the sea before that time of
night.
Moon usually rose about ten
o’clock....
I could make it in an hour and
forty minutes....
I
could make it to Washa’s Bluff....
I would just go about my business
in the meanwhile, yes....
Business
as usual.
I was stark raving moon-mad crazy.
I visited Tera and suffered a
clothes-alignment conniption inside my menus—I didn’t want to rearrange my closet. But I was short on most
materials anyway.
And so I had the BRILLIANT idea to
just go back to the beginning per Vizzini, go back to the plateau, and loot
EVERYTHING, and take the old east road I had taken before—there were lots of minerals along the way, like
between the Dueling Peaks....
Unfortunately the Great Plateau had
nothing but a plethora of mushrooms. I killed the Talus anyway. And many
Bokoblins. So many Bokoblins. What a
killing spree.
When I realized and remembered that
the Plateau yielded only the most basic of materials, I paraglided down and
headed east through the old ruins anyway, cleaning out the Moblins as I went. I
sniffed around every corner, looking everywhere, turning over treasure chest
after treasure chest that I just couldn’t fit in my inventory.
I’d meant to explore this place more
thoroughly later anyway. Huh, “later”. When exactly was “later”? I’d
thought of it back when I first left the plateau. But I’d had to find Impa
then, and I hadn’t been strong enough.
I came upon a weapon stamp I had left on my map, for in case I was ever in desperate
need of something strong. And at the indicated location, thrust into the earth
at the center of a shallow rain-pool.... was a Rusty Halberd.
How
little I used to be.
The ruins were a somber place.
Inside some of them I could see where I was sure that.... beds.... used to stand. Such simple little dwellings. And I
imagined the faithful, loyal guards who must have manned them.
Our poor country.
I continued searching, chasing out
a Korok at the top of a weathered flagpole—my
gosh there were so many such towers in the field—how many of them hid Koroks? And there turned out to be more
Moblins than I had realized between the Plateau and Proxim Bridge as well. Big
Yiga Clansmen came out to play sometimes. I killed them too.
Then suddenly I looked up AND THE
MOON WAS RED. I GASPED.
IT WASN’T EVEN A FULL MOON NIGHT.
WHAT THE HECK, GAME?
CURSE YOU NINTENDOOOOO!
I looked at the clock. Oh wicked fate! It was 10:25. The same
as last time. The time I hadn’t made it.
I went to my map—no.... I paused first. I put on clothes
for night-speed. Yes. Then to the
map. And I warped to the Tabantha Bridge Stable.
This was it....
I had a better time getting off the
little hill, hugging tight to the mountainside in my paraglide and jog until I
could round the bend enough to make a beeline. I won’t make the stamina mistake, I won’t make the stamina mistake, I
won’t make the stamina mistake I MADE THE STAMINA MISTAKE. D8
Link recovered, I was running, I
was beelining, hoofing it, there were bad guys, I ran past them, there was no
time, the ground began to smoke, the creepy music started, I could see the
pedestal glowing far ahead of me, the sky was turning red, I was running, I was
RUNNING—
The clock struck midnight.
I didn’t make it
Zelda’s voice warned.
Dang
it....
The vision ended.
I ran still.
THE PEDESTAL STILL GLOWED.
I GOT ON.
TOOK ALL MY CLOTHES OFF.
.
. .
.
. .
.
. . .
. .
. . .
.
. . .
.
. .
.
.
.
.
.
.
AND THERE WAS A SHRIIIIINE! 8D
THE MIJAH ROKEE SHRINE BURST OUT OF
THE EARTH JUST THERE IN THE LITTLE DEPRESSION ON TOP OF WASHA’S BLUFF!
Mijah Rokee!
What did Mijah Rokee have in store
for me! A blessing perhaps? Surely....
It was a Modest Test of Strength.
I put my clothes back on.
And when I came out, the sun was
shining so low and warm and beautiful.
And the accordion was gone.
....
It felt a little hollow.
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