Waking of Saturday, October 13, 2018 ~ 2
I felt the nearness of my journey’s
end. There was only one Divine Beast left. And I didn’t want any more blank
patches when I faced it. If I was coming full circle, that circle had to be full.
It was time to fill in my map.
It was time to venture into the
jungles of Faron.
I traveled by horse this time,
deciding to give Brown some riding time; he’d done such a good job. We headed
out from the Highland Stable, into Faron Woods, traveling slowly. Even on the
road, and with a horse, I still preferred a cautious church mouse’s pace.
We found ourselves crossing paths
multiple times with one Chumin, a vendor, and his donkey. He looked cool in his
vest and shorts and said he hailed from Lurelin Village—that habitation I’d
heard tell of around here before. His attire made it seem.... like a laid-back
kind of place. Maybe it was a beach town....
We met a few other people along the
way, Meeshy, and someone called Totsuna.... And....
An “Oh noooo!” floated to me from
over a hill. I dismounted and ran, and found two Black Bokoblins, one of them beating
up.... Tye!
I saw it pummeling him against the
thick trunk of a tree; I saw him take hits—
What it does to a hero’s heart.
I killed it! And ran. Sorelia was
down. I killed that one too!
And they were safe and ran to each
other to huddle together like they do.
Those
two....
It was a long way through the
jungle, with many detours, a good deal of Koroks, and a nigh unplumbable heckton of mysterious ruins, towers and
treasures. But after an age of walking the road beneath a downpour of thundery
weather, we made it to the Lakeside Stable.
And dang that Shai Utoh Shrine behind the stable was a head-cracker!
I decided to board Brown. He’d had
some good exercise, but.... I really preferred to travel on foot. There were
still a few resident Koroks to chase, and they led me out from the rattling
jungle and toward the overlook—and a Floria
Bridge.
Floria? I wondered.... And I walked
further, and—the name flashed across the
screen.
IT IS LAKE FLORIA, I realized.
The
Ancient Lake Floria....
I had.... kind of heard it was
here.
But discovering it was still cool
nonetheless.
I crossed Floria Bridge as the rain
still hammered the world, and dang
Farosh was just.... this was just his playground or something. For the first
time from this low angle, I saw him swoop over the watery valley. He came quite
close to the bridge, as did his attendant aura of ball lightning.
This place was hazardous.
Fortunately I still carried the
Thunder Helm. But I made it to the other side of the bridge without incident.
And my shrine-locator started going
off again.
One of the stablehands had said
there was something strange on top of the waterfalls on this side of the
bridge....
The road was so long, the Koroks so
plentiful, the enemies so insistent, and my pace so slow. The distance was
mounting in my mind and I wondered where this path would even take me. But I
received some assurance from one Letty, who looked like a Sheikah girl in
Hylian clothes, that Lurelin Village was indeed this way.
I was way off my map.
Hmm,
maybe I should have gone for the tower, first....
I continued. My shrine detector was
still brreep-brreeping; I was sure it
must have been on top of the tall cliffs to my left. But there was no getting
up there in this weather.
And as I continued along the path,
with a tremendous rumbling, the sky turned fiercer still.
That was thunder.
OH LIGHTNING! C8
“Uh, you need to—” David started.
BUT
I DIDN’T. I’d been waiting for this. I’d switched to metal weapons in
the course of my frays, but I was still wearing my Thunder Helm.
I stood still on the path, and my
sword and shield spikked and spacked and zapped and crackled!
David watched but I didn’t move!
TESTING....
TESTING.... TESTINNGGG....
Kracka-BOOOOOM LIGHTNING CRASHED DOWN ON ME
AND I JUST STOOD THERE IN THE SHAKING EXPLOSION WHILE THE EARTH ERUPTED ALL
AROUND ME AND I WAS LEFT STANDING AMIDST THE FLAMES AND UPDRAFTS RISING THROUGH
THE FALLING RAIN STANDING SO STILL AND STOIC YET. The Master Sword still in my hand.
“DID YOU SEE THAT?” says I.
“Yeah I did.” He eats cereal.
SO COOL. I LOVE THE THUNDER HELM.
A little further and of a sudden I
was out of the jungle and.... in a rather pleasantly sunny little valley
between mountains.
But my shrine detector had stopped.
Well I couldn’t have that.... I
turned back. Where was that shrine?
It had to be up on top of those cliffs. The road had skirted around to the
right of them.
The little valley was refreshingly
open and bright after the pouring din of the jungle. But it was a soggy
sunshine. The rain came in patches—the most inconvenient
patches! I tried every nook and overhang, took advantage of the highest rises
in the ground that I could find, just trying to gain one of the lower steppes,
for the cliffs were not sheer.... But always that rain! I COULD NOT CLIMB IN THIS RAIN.
And the blasted Yiga Clansmen
hounding my footsteps were no help.
This
was ridiculous. I would step away from the cliffs, and the sun would peek
through, as if to check on my progress. I would return to the cliffs, and the
clouds would just POUR! WHAT!
I looked down the road; the cliffs
seemed to give way to a more sloping geography further on. It might be a long jog,
but.... their tops seemed to connect to the clifftops back here. And if this blasted rain wasn’t going to let up—
Fine!
I’d take the long way round.... I ran down the road. I ran for a long way
but there was still no sign of this Lurelin Village.... How far away was it? And when the slopes turned gentler I hoofed it
up into the hills, cutting my arc as tightly as the land and the rain would
allow, passing four-legged bovines
along the way—if they could get up
here....
I traversed craggy ridges that melded
into the tops of red buttes until I had come back toward the waterfalls, where
I found.... Kass.
I actually had to paraglide down a butte to reach him. My shrine
locator was once again brreeping like
mad, and nearby there was a most obtrusive, yellow-cracked mound, standing on the edge of a large drop-off above the lake. Huh.
My gosh, I dared say I must have
been at that place the stablehands had pointed out from the other side of the
bridge—the place above the waterfalls with the big weird.... thing. This rock formation.
I walked to the edge and scoped
into the rainy haze at the distant twinkling lights to check, dropping markers
to be sure, for the rain was still too thick to make anything out for certain.
And sure enough, that distant glimmer away below the drop-off and more than a
few bowshots out was the Lakeside Stable.
Time to see what their mysterious
rock formation was about....
“Very impressive,” Kass said, “Not
many could make it all the way up here in such rain.”
You’re
telling me! I thought.
“Me? I stay nice and dry,” Kass
went on, “My feathers repel the rain rather well. And my instrument is designed
to withstand extreme moisture.”
Well that was handy. I considered.... If I’d seen a real instrument out in the rain.... even an accordion.... ugh I couldn’t abide such abuse.
“When your living revolves around
ancient songs, you’ve got to be prepared for a few raindrops!” He smiled.
Kass sang the song handed down in
this region for me. Heh.... I guess he’s kinda like.... Oh what is that guy’s
name.... He even has his own -isms!
Because he refuses to use the Italian. Is he dead....? Oh, what was it.... I
keep thinking Purcell, but it’s not
Purcell. That guy is definitely dead.
He stayed out too late and his wife wouldn’t let him back in the house and he
froze to death.
CONFOUND IT—it’s got a G in it, I’m
sure of it.... ohhh.... GRAINGER! PERCY GRAINGER! Auwgh! That kinda sounds
like Purcell!
Grainger?
....
Hm, he’s quite a handsome chap.
Gads that photo looks old.
....Oh yeah, he’s dead.
I have forgotten more music theory
and music history than most people will ever know.
Ah
but PRESERVING SONGS HANDED DOWN.... Heh,
why is it only now reminding me of Grainger?
I feel a sudden and renewed rush of
affection toward Kass. Well done, mate.
AHEM! Where was I?
Kass sang his song for me!
When a lost hero calls down lightning from the sky
The monk responds from a giant mound on high.
Lightning, huh?
Heh....
This was gonna be good....
Through some persistence I was able
to climb up on top of the rocky mound, where I re-equipped my metal trappings. (I’d
taken them off while talking to Kass, because I didn’t want to inadvertently
blow him to smithereens.)
After that I just had to wait for
it....
So
this was why it kept raining in this
area.... NICE.
I waited.... and waited....
until.... snap-crackle-pop.... Kraka-BOOOOOOMmmm!
The mound explodacrumbled beneath my feet while I, the human lightning rod in
my Thunder Helm, nonchalantly dropped onto the top of the Qukah Nata Shrine.
This
dang shrine had been so hard to get to. I was ready to complete it and save
and quit; my body was very tired. But first.... before he depopulated....
“Ah, so there was a shrine inside
that crag split by lightning...” Kass said when
I returned to him. “The bolt was so ferocious that I worried I might be struck
down myself!”
You only weren’t before because I kept you out of
danger, Kass!
“I’d say that’s worthy of being
immortalized in song. Anyway, may the light shine ever on your path.”
Aw,
with his lovely bird-smile with eyes half closed. ^_^
Love that guy.
Okay,
let’s do this. I entered the shrine. And happily enough it was a blessing
shrine! And inside the treasure chest were—
Rubber Tights?
Gotta say, I hadn’t been expecting
that. What the heck....? XD
“These invaluable tights are resistant
to electricity. They’re made with something called “rubber,” an ancient
technology that no longer exists in this modern age.
WAT.
....
Okay. XD
That was.... very anomalous. It was four Spirit Orbs anyway. I came back out of
the shrine and.... it was not.... storming?
The ground and grass still shone
with moisture, but the world had opened up, and it was just that plimmering,
shining, wetland music.... that happy Piano....
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