In The Rain

Waking of Saturday, December 29, 2018

In The Rain

I warped to the Wetland Stable, and began to search the woods near the river. I didn’t find much. Just a lot of edible plants, some Koroks I’d already encountered.... Tye and Sorelia in a jam. I stopped to get them out of it.

Nothing. Nothing on this side of the river.

So I crossed to the west side. Picked a high spot of the bank and paraglided over the current. I did not receive a warm welcome on the other shore. One Big Yiga and three Stalkoblins took issue with my presence. But once I’d told them to knock it off, and gotten the woods to myself, and looked just a little deeper into the green....

There.

There was the spot. The Glowing Memory. Waiting for me to step into it....

Link and Zelda ran through the rain. Sword out. His other hand clasped the Princess’. He led her hard and fast through the pouring grey.

They were ragged, and filthy, and dirty, and desperate, panting—

Zelda stumbled.

Link pulled up, stopped. Turned and stood. Walked back slowly.... And stopped.

The trees and the rain could keep watch for a moment.

Zelda had collapsed hands and knees to the ground in her white dress. Her poor, beautiful white dress.

She still panted, and the breaths began to rack her frame with something more.

“How... How did it come to this? Everything... the Divine Beasts, all the Guardians, they’ve turned against us,” she bemoaned.

Link sheathed his sword, and knelt down too.

“It was Calamity Ganon. It turned them all against us—” She clenched her fists against the mud. “—And everyone... Mipha, Urbosa, Revali and Daruk... they’re trapped inside those things...”

She was crying. I could see her tears even through the rain.

“It’s my fault,” she cried, “Everything we’ve done up until now... it’s all been for nothing. All because I couldn’t harness this cursed power!” Her voice was rising now. “So I really am just a failure!”

The mud only ate her howling as she blew herself out, quieting again, “Everyone... My friends, everyone in the Castle... and my father most of all...” she said, “I left them... all to die.”

And she fell into Link’s arms and just.... wept.

High Hopes . . . Bogged

Waking of Saturday, December 8, 2018 ~ 2

High Hopes . . . Bogged

David asked me later about the shrine in Ludfo’s Bog, and how I had gotten the orbs down.

“I just climbed up and got ‘em,” I said.

He stared at me.

“....What?” I said.

“You climbed up and got them?”

“Well, I mean, it took some doing, but I had enough stamina—and the Climbing Gear!”

And he stared at me like Gonzo stares at an imbecilic Rizzo, and I stared back at him like an oblivious Kreacher who doesn’t see the issue.

And then he shook his head and I kept playing.

Off to Hestu. I had enough Korok seeds. I asked for one last dance and Hestu did his thing and sang his song, his maracas exploding in a giddy burst of blue confetti.... and I obtained the final shield slot.

Now all my equipment pages were full.

“Shakalo!?” he started with a jolt, “You’ve expanded all your inventories!?”

But he recovered himself quickly and resumed his easy swaying stance dance. “Naaaaaaice!” he said, the word flanked by little music notes. XD

NOW what would he do?

“Thanks to you my maracas sound so... shakey-shake SHAKETY!”

Yes? OuO

“There are more children of the forest out there, and I’m sure they’d still love to meet you!”

Or some such words.

....Oh.

I guessed that really was it. Each equipment page now had twenty slots of hammerspace and.... that was it.

I guessed the rest of the Koroks were....

Well what would happen if you got the rest of the Koroks?

....

I might not pursue that in this playthrough.

Well! With my pockets deep as they would ever go it seemed, I ran to see what I could see in another unvisited piece of the world.

I’d seen this one many times in looking over my map of Central Hyrule—it was hard to miss with its contingent of giant ribs sticking out of the earth in unnatural arrangements, the tight cluster of weathered skull-dens, and the giant horned skull that sat atop the crest of the hill.

This was a place my map called the Bottomless Swamp. It was situated on the eastern edge of the central plains, just north of Whistling Hill. But I’d never ventured close to it for the rampant Guardians in the area....

It seemed a Guardian-free approach could possibly be made from the riverbank on the east side. But that direction led up through the forest of battlemented ribs, as well as an overabundance of sprawling, gurgling Pools of Malice. And it was uphill from low ground, no less. No.... I would take the back door.

I could handle the Guardians now.

I ran out into the grass until the Guardian Stalker saw me. It had the higher ground, but I could still time my parries all right.... Maybe due to my experiences outside the Pit Gate, it just made me nervous whenever they had the high ground.... in the grass....

I took the Guardian down, and proceeded to the top of the hill. At the crest, the grass died away and the earth became pale and hard, sinking into a large depression full of bogwater, in the middle of which rested the enormous horned skull. Monsters patrolled around on it, inside and out, except where one massive horn had partially broken off. That ponderous fragment rested alone and low in the muck. Around the edges of the bog, Malice pressed in toward the shore and sloughed heavily away downhill to the east and among the skull-dens clustered into the rock like trophies. By the river, the ribs stood clawlike in a challenging and grotesque barrier. Interspersed with all of this stood tall, jagged rocks that were pocked all over as if they’d been boiled.

Ugh, it was creepy. Malice and bogwater....

I stormed the castle nonetheless, knocking what baddies I could into the muck with my arrows before.... eugh.... paragliding over the bog and landing on the connected horn’s lower tip—for the horns curved back and down and around, like rams’ horns.

The number of silver monsters I was made to endure, Bokoblins and Moblins, was a right pain in my royally beknighted patushka. I knocked them into the bog as often as I could; any gemstones they might have dropped weren’t worth the hassle of beating it out with them over solid ground. Or bone.

After I’d cleared the top, I was blessed to discover a hole in the crown of the skull, via which I could rain terror from above on the inner inhabitants, courtesy of Ja Baij. And as the inner level was not well founded, the blasts were sufficient to knock most of the smaller baddies over the edges and into the sucking, mucky drink. But that big heavy Moblin.... him I just had to sail down and deal with personally.

When every last baddie had been sent back to the Evil Jar, I turned my attentions to the precarious plank of wood bridging a large and dangerous gap in the floor of the inner layer. On the other side, nestled in the cavity of the occipital bun, was a wooden chest.

Huh, wooden....

But appearances weren’t everything. This place was so dreadfully imposing, so heavily guarded, surely there had to be something valuable inside....

I tiptoed my way across the plank, and opened the chest.

It was a hundred rupees.

A cool hundred rupees.

Neat.

Thanks, guys.

I got off the skull island and traipsed around the hillside to the east, skirting the Malice pools and sweeping up what baddies I’d missed. There was a small forest a short way to the north. The forest that spanned from one shore of the river to the other, just near the Wetland Stable. Pikango had said.... there might be a memory in there....

Or, well, rather I had shown Pikango one of the images from Princess Zelda’s pictograph gallery, and he had said the pictograph was probably taken in that forest, though on what side of the river he could not tell.

I knew David had yet to find the memory linked to the pictograph taken in a woods....

But David never stops to chat it up with the locals.

The only problem was.... David and Savannah were in the room with me now, and they wanted to watch a movie.

Huaaugh I killed time in pointless ways, examining boring-looking hills for Koroks, running back to climb a stone tower.... The forest was so close.... I wanted to explore it for the memory, but.... I didn’t want to let on to David what I was doing.... Plus with he and Savannah together in the room.... That was an as yet unknown variable, and I didn’t want to risk any buzzkill at all, especially with a memory cinematic on the line....

Eugh and there was that tense bit in the conversation; David kept pestering me to wrap it up and get off already.... but I kept pressing that I wanted to explore.... How did it lead up to what he said....?

“What is there a memory in there or something?” His voice was still chiding, not serious, but crap.

“I didn’t say that—” Wrong thing to say. “—I’ve been trying to find Koroks....” Or some such lame excuse when I’d ONLY JUST already maxed out my carrying capacity....

I ran around the riverside green like a distractible puppy—typical enough behavior in and of itself whenever I was running out of juice on playtime.... Did it throw him off the scent?

He pressed me further. They wanted to watch a movie.

“Okay, okay,” I said at length when I could think of nothing else to do.

I relented, and went to Pepp’s—it was 9:00 in the morning, game time—and slept until noon.

Good night.

Shrine for a Rainy Day

Waking of Saturday, December 8, 2018

Shrine for a Rainy Day

It was time to fill in another unexplored spot in my network of shrines....

I warped to the Tabantha Bridge Stable, and set out east, away from the bridge, to explore the Seres Scablands—the land of those gigantic, anomalous, strange, otherworldly.... treeshrooms. And the land over which I had always—ALWAYS—seen a dark and pouring thunderhead, flashing from within with lightning.

The sky was actually clearer in the Scablands near the stable and the ensuing road. The eternal rain only really seemed to hover over the deepest heart of the enormous treeshroom sprawl, in a place my map called Ludfo’s Bog, back where the land flattened into a broad valley surrounded by tall mountains on all sides.

The topo had always seemed to indicate a kind of artificial rise in the middle of that valley.... I was positive there would be a shrine there....

I had traveled the road past the Seres Scablands a few times before, and I had seen the alien treeshroom forest. But for the first time I now indulged myself in plunging headlong into it in earnest, searching about its cracked and erupted earth, scaring Koroks out of the large, odd pocks in the ground, rainwater pooling in their bottoms.

What had made the ground this way? The land looked like it had boiled and then been left to sit, full of hardened bubbles like crusty cheese. But the rampant grass and unworrying flowers with their butterflies still left a gay feeling in the air. And the only beasties about were Chuchus, Keese, and the occasional Octorok.

I chased out a few more Koroks until I came to the Thundra Plateau—where the rain started.

A monk’s voice sounded: You who have come to this thunderous plateau... When the four spirits are settled in their places, the way to the trial will open. Or some such words.

Upon entering the darkness of the thunderhead I had caught sight of these strange, small, beacon-lights of differing colors, shining steadily through the gloom between the treeshrooms. Bright as lamps and somewhat above ground-level. Were those the “spirits”?

As I pressed on deeper into the storm, I saw that a couple of these beacon-lamps—orbs, I could see now, with strange emblazoned patterns on them—were perched atop imposing columns of more dragon-headed statuary. I also found the artificial rise indicated on my topo; it seemed to be a great, walled barrow of some kind. A Great Plateau in miniature, its raised surface upheld and bound in by an encompassing wall of dark stone.

I circumnavigated it first, like I do, the lightning crashing down on my Thunder Helm at whiles; I couldn’t be bothered to switch out my gear. The barrow was so big around that it took a good few minutes to complete one circuit. The wall had worn and crumbled down in a couple of places, leaving exposed slopes of rock and earth that gave easier access to the top. These were handy as it was difficult to climb the walls in the rain. Not impossible. But definitely hampered.

But first, I went after the red orb. It gleamed atop a relatively short dragon-totem, which stood beside another one of the Scablands’ jutting ruptures—a perfect stepping stone to give me a leg up. It took some hard climbing and leaping up the surface between slippings down, but I made it to the top in fairly short order. I picked up the orb and chucked it down to the plain before paragliding down after it.

However, when I tried to carry it up one of the crumbled slopes and onto the barrow.... well, the slope wasn’t quite so smooth as that. One jutting lip of hardened earth impeded me yet from reaching the top without climbing, and I could not climb while carrying this orb. Nor could I simply throw the orb over the lip and up on top—it was just high enough to prevent that.... and it knew it too....

Try every angle and starting point that I might, I could not get this orb up onto the grassy top of the barrow.... A couple of times I only succeeded in accidentally dropping it on my own head. ☆☆ -_- ☆☆

After a while I decided to leave off the red orb for a bit, and I climbed up on top of the barrow to just go and see about the other orbs up there, for I was sure I’d seen some....

A purple orb was just sitting there, in the midst of the four inward-facing dragon-totems. Each of these totems had a colored symbol on its neck, and a waiting depression in front of it. So I picked up the purple orb and set it in its place before the dragon with the matching purple symbol.

Nothing happened. Just as well; there were more orbs to get.

Some rusting weapon or other was stuck into the wet earth up here, and it too drew the occasional lightning explosion. But after a time even I got tired of all the fireworks, and just put off all my metal trappings.

The green orb was a little trickier, as it sat up on top of one of the dragon totems, and there were no handy stepping stones of ruptured earth to give me a boost here. However, I did have almost three full wheels of stamina, and a lot of Climbing Gear.

I knew I could climb seven or eight steps or grips before the rain would send me sliding back down. And so it was grip, grip, grip, grip, grip, grip, JUMP! Sliiiide.... Which would have produced a net gain each time if I could just rinse and repeat that pattern. But sometimes I could only make a couple of grips up the stone before slipping back down to the ground. The results to my efforts were annoyingly random, but I kept trying....

And all the while the rain lashed and the wind blew and the thunder kept up a constant grumbling overhead, the Piano lazing all over the sodden grass, contentedly picking its nails as it watched me work.

I scrabbled and slipped and hit the ground repeatedly, panting and out of breath. But with much persistence, I eventually did make it to the top of the totem. And the green orb was mine to toss down onto the grass.

The green orb went into its place before the green-marked dragon.

Now for that red one....

I hadn’t wanted to use Stasis, as I didn’t like wearing down my weapons. But I could see no other alternative. Back on the crumbled slope to the barrow-top, I found a bit of earth that looked like it could serve as a ramp.... and there was just enough rock for the orb to sit without rolling down, too.

I tried a Bomb first, to see if that would do it.... then two Bombs.... But Ja Baij had neither the force nor the aim to get the orb where I wanted it.

So I picked a single-handed weapon to sacrifice....

I set the red orb down once again in the nook above the rock, positioned myself just downhill, Stasised the thing, and started whackin’....

This approach was much more controlled, and I had soon imbued the orb with enough force to send it rocketing up the ramp and high over the barrow like a golf ball.

I scurried up once again, was relieved to find that I hadn’t whacked the orb clean over the barrow, and set the red orb down in its place before the red-marked dragon.

One more.

The final orb, orange, was set atop another dragon-totem down on the plain off the barrow. The tallest totem yet....

I got to it, jumping, climbing, scrabbling, grabbing, slipping, falling, panting, running out of energy again and again and again.... until my persistence paid off and I got on top.

I cast the orange orb back down onto the plain, and went to position it on the makeshift earthen ramp....

Huh.... this corresponding dragon’s motif looked yellow, not orange....

I wondered for only a moment, and then placed the orb.

And in the flat grass in the midst of the dragon-totems on top of the rainy barrow.... the Toh Yahsa Shrine came rumbling up out of the earth.

The trial within was called Buried Secrets. And WOW that was a lot of big blocks to knock around and blow up. Much fun.

BIG BOYS

Waking of Friday, December 7, 2018

BIG BOYS

In studying the network of bright blue shrine markers on my map, I could still see a few empty spaces between them, too-broad empty spaces with conspicuous geography that looked.... likely....

I warped to the Qukah Nata Shrine high above Faron’s waterfalls, and wandered into the wetlands—the Rabella Wetlands these were called. I could see a spot on my map that looked like somewhere I’d seen David visit before....

And I found it. In the middle of a leafy, dappled plateau, an enormous ribcage jutted into the air, points to the sky. And in the middle of that ribcage, snoring grotesquely away.... a big Black Hinox. I remembered seeing David throwing Bombs at this one from one of the ribs....

The Hinox was surrounded by lesser meanies, just Bokoblins, and these I drew away one by one with my Mask, dispatching them each privily in a manner that did not make me feel proud.

But when it was just me and the big guy, I was able to get closer, and I saw that it had.... an orb?

On went my Barbarian Armor and I killed it then and there! With Urbosa’s help. I was just briefly bewildered during the short time its life-meter was visible. For this one wasn’t just a “Hinox”, but it bore the secondary title of “Eldest Kin”.

Oh yeah, I remembered, It had said that when David was fighting it.

What was this some kinda Super-Hinox?

Well if it had been before, it wasn’t now.

I looted the spoils. Now where the heck did this orb go....?

I looked around, and.... there! There seemed to be some ruins of a sort just a bowshot away. I hefted the orb over the grass and drew nearer to the ruins and—

What the—? Three pedestals??

I set the orb in the pedestal nearest to where I had come from, and approached a small stone marker. The inscription on it said something about orbs guarded by three giants....

And the shrine quest banner flashed across my screen: The Three Giant Brothers.

Heh, it sounded like a kind of fairy tale. ^_^

Well then! Two to go, I supposed! :D

So I had killed the Eldest Kin in the Rabella Wetlands. I spread out and searched now in the directions indicated by the remaining two pedestals....

In a place called Uten Marsh, as the sun was going down, I found the Youngest Kin, a Red Hinox. He was just a little bit down the grassy hill, and so was very easy to get to with my paraglider. So easy, in fact, that I took my flight just a little bit farther than I’d ever gone, and landed right on his big sleeping chest!

He didn’t wake, but only continued to snore.

Link meanwhile adopted the broad-stanced, bent-kneed posture he took on whenever danger was near, and glared with ready eyes down at the beast. But at every heaving breath from the monster beneath his feet, his arms would windmill just slightly, and he would have to twine his torso aright with a little jerk to keep from losing his balance.

“David, look at this!” I choked in a whisper.

“Oh my gosh, what are you doing?” He didn’t sound shocked or impressed, just.... resigned. :|

I stole the orb right off the Hinox’s necklace, turned, and stepped off the side of his big red belly....

I hit the grass with the expected clomp of my boots and little gasp from my lips after the drop.... but the Hinox didn’t wake up.

The orb was still in my hands, still held high over my head. I’d been afraid I would lose my grip on it in the little freefall and it would clonk loudly against the ground, or strike the Hinox. But nothing had happened.

And so I started walking softly away through the darkness, back toward the hill.

Well this was going to be cake! I thought. ^_^ I could just walk off with it!

But I stopped when the ground began to incline, and remembered.

I still needed Hinox guts.

I set the orb down in a place where it wouldn’t roll, and.... I actually felt a little bit sad, when I went back, and just.... killed the thing.

Red ones don’t especially drop a lot of good stuff anyway, but it never hurts to check.

And when I came to Hanu Pond and found the Middle Kin Blue Hinox.... I wasted no time there either, but killed him right away too.

And when I went back to the ruin and placed the last orb in the last pedestal, the Tawa Jinn Shrine appeared. It was a Blessing.

That was 105 shrines for me. David was still at 109? Maybe....?

I continued to wander all over the wetlands. I thought about going up to that one high plateau to kill the Lynel, but.... eh, I held off.

Wandered.... wandered.... I meandered looking for Koroks and new things to explore until I came back to whatever peak that was—the Peak of Awakening? Mount Floria? It was Mount Floria. The Peak of Awakening was above the Lanayru Road.

Mount Floria was the name of the mount between the provinces. The one above Misko’s Treasure Cache, and the Twin Bridges. The peak from which you could see both the Valley of Terror spread before the Dueling Peaks Stable, and the jungled plateaus of the Faron Province.

It was the crest from which I had first seen that Lynel-haunted plateau. The Lynel had been Blue that first time—the kind I’d always wanted to fight, but had never gotten the chance to.

Tougher Lynels kept showing up all the time.

I had a look at the Lynel down there now. Looked like another White-Maned one. I scoped in for a better view, not knowing what in the world possessed me to use my Pictobox zoom instead of the regular scope....

And as the reticle passed over the Lynel, the targeting box briefly flashed, but it was.... orange? What in the heck—The box only ever turned orange if the subject hadn’t yet been logged in the Compendium. I thought I’d already pictographed a White Lynel....

I steadied the Pictobox, and looked again. Lined up the reticle.

And the Sheikah Slate identified it as....

A SILVER LYNEL?

THE HECK.

....

.__.

....

WELL.

I’D JUST HAVE TO FLY DOWN THERE AND GET IT THEN.

I donned my Lynel Mask, and laughed as Link puffed out his chest and cast back his arms in muscular majesty. Forgot about that one. XD

I paraglided in, and could see the subtle differences now. It was still striped like a monstrous Zebra, but it was not so much black-and-white as purple-and-white. Like the other silver creatures, Moblins and Bokoblins and Lizalfos, pale with purple markings.

The thing had 5000 HIT POINTS.

DANG.

....

SO I GOT TO IT UNTIL IT WAS DEAD.

....

Hey I needed the Lynel bits.

After that I kept wandering, just finding a whole lotta Koroks. And finally a claw from the dragon Farosh as well.

More wandering, more wandering, more wandering in the Wetlands.... That would make a good title. Wandering in the Wetlands. Or Wetland Wanderings....

Just a few more Koroks, just a few more Koroks.... I was up to seventeen; if I could just get to twenty, Hestu could fill my last shield slot, and then.... I could find out what would happen next. Just a few more.... Huh, I wonder what color the southern Corridor Lynel is....

I warped to Ishto Soh to check.

It was Silver.

Just my luck.

I didn’t bother with it.

Any more Koroks....?

Hhhhhh.

Running out of juice, I warped to Tera and upgraded a few clothes. Soldier’s Armor all up to level three.... Barbarian Leg Wraps up from level one to level two.... which meant there might be a perk....

And there was! My charge-attack stamina was.... up? Or something? Did that mean.... I could charge up a spin-attack without wearing out so fast? Like how in the Zora Suit I could swim harder and faster without wearing out?

I dunno I’m tired.

PEPP’S AND BED.

GOOD NIGHT.

To The Glistening Eastern Sea

Waking of Saturday, November 24, 2018

To The Glistening Eastern Sea

I hoped David wouldn’t peek when I looked at my map—he’d been creepin’ off my shrine locations!

I warped to the shrine in Ulria Grotto, the Thing Under The Mountain, and headed for the coast. I wanted to explore those tall islands standing just off the mountainous shoreline....

Because I’d been creeping shrine locations off of David, too!

Or at least.... I just happened to see one out on his map of Tingel Island.

I’d seen this series of islands many times on my map, and noted how they all seemed to be connected by a network of thin, wooden bridges. And when I reached them.... I had a sneaking suspicion as to why....

I wasn’t sure, but something about those winds worried me—they were positively howling out there so high over the sea! I suspected that if I attempted to flit between islands using my paraglider, I might get back an unexpected result, and be flung either back onto the mainland or perhaps even out to sea!

And so I simply just buckled down for it and swept the islands on foot. There were plenty of moblins and no shortage of landbound Octoroks, and of course, stal-creatures that popped out whenever the sun went down. They were irritating for sure, but nothing I couldn’t handle.

I was just happy they didn’t haunt any of those bridges.

(No, the only things haunting the bridges were the patrolling Guardian Flyers. I avoided them.)

The bridges were made of wood all right, but they weren’t like Manhala Bridge or Thims Bridge, broad and planked. They weren’t even like Jeddo Bridge, planked just the same but with bites taken out of it.

These bridges were comprised of thin logs, bound together at whiles with cords, and staggered lengthwise to create a surface to walk on. Maybe three or four logs broad at the narrowest, five or six at the widest. I’d actually seen bridges like these before, many times in fact. But never to such extreme lengths!

And, curse the foley engineers, but they creaked! They creaked and groaned in the high fierce winds!

I was doing all right when I ventured out to Davdi Island, and thence to Ankel Island and Knuckel Island. But when I came to THAT bridge.... that last bridge.... the one single span that remained between me and Tingel Island, where the shrine would be.... THAT BRIDGE....

I stood high on the tallest crest of Knuckel Island, and the last bridge extended before me in one immense, swooping bow that did not inspire confidence. It had to start out fifty degrees downward at least!

It creaked in the wind.

Okay....

I set foot on it and skidded for a tense few heartbeats, shortly catching myself on the narrow logs. I just had to stay straight.

The wind howled and whistled as I took a few more sliding steps forward. The sea spun dizzyingly far below me, the logs in front of me shrinking into the distance, stringing into the tiny, faraway, dark line that connected with the other island.

Creeeeak-k-k-k-k.

Step—step—skiddd—step—step—step—skiddd—step, step, step.... Very slowly, the angle began to rise with the bowing of the bridge, until at last I could walk normally.

This did not alleviate the narrowness of the path, nor banish the hovering Guardians, but it was something. And what seemed like a very long time later, I finally set foot on the final island, Tingel Island.

Brreep-brreep! went my shrine detector.

And two full handfuls of unpleasant monsters later, I came to a bald patch between two hills where a large, dark slab lay on a flat spot of ground. This seemed to be where the signal was pointing....

I Stasised the slab and knocked it out of the way and lo! there was the shrine, in a hole in the ground. The Kah Mael Shrine.

After this adventure I paraglided back to the mainland, touching down on the dramatic slopes above the sea, and followed the coast south to the Talus Plateau and the Lodrum Headland. Another name I recognized but whose originator (Holodrum I assume) I had never visited.

As I neared the end of this particular jut of the landmass, called Tarm Point, David cautioned me with a “Careful....”

And I slowed, and caught a glimpse of what he meant. “Oh. A Lynel.” I could see it prowling a sizeable green field before some tottering ruins of stately columns. I guessed David had been here before. “Thanks.”

“Yup.”

I considered the white beast, and my wardrobe, and actually concluded after a few seconds, “I’d like to bag me a Lynel....” I wanted its guts. And so I went in, and we danced about it, and I took them. And the contents of the two chests he was evidently guarding among the ruins—two gold rupees! No small prize! 8D

I rounded the horn of Tarm Point (accidentally skipping over a Wintre Island) and came back up north along the inside, the west side, and into the bay—Lanayru Bay. It wasn’t the part I had flown over before, that one time when I was chasing Naydra’s scale, but a different branch to the north called Horon Lagoon.

And WHO should I find here.... but Kass.

I was always happy to see Kass. ^_^

He sang me the song of the region, and what followed was one of the more diverting challenges I had yet encountered.

I am very fond of Ja Baij; and Ja Baij’s bombs are very easily manipulated by the wind. And this Horon Lagoon was full of nothing so much as strong air currents, and explodable hunks of rock.

After much searching and bombing and sailing and cutting down pesky Octoroks and casting more Bombs and sailing again.... I had cleared enough space for three whistling air currents to converge through a single, singing stone, and then shoot out as one from the other side—and it was this conjoined whirlwind that I rode through the hollow stone, and then all the way out the impossible distance to the pedestal, the landing upon of which, immediately after having passed through the wind tunnels, summoned the Shai Yota Shrine up out of the jagged, tide-pooly earth.

Yay.

That was two more shrines for me.

David and I were.... well, we were on to each other, and kind of racing each other for shrines at this point.

But after the Shai Yota Shrine I just kind of followed the bay inland, chasing Koroks. I’d been catching Koroks all the way and there were still plenty of them to turn over. I traced the shoreline up until I did reach that part I’d flown over before, and came to that low spot of ground outside the Eastern Reservoir, where the Bad Blood Lizalfos camped.

At length I left the bay entirely and plunged on ahead over land. I came to Rabia Plain where I sent the deer scattering said hi to Eryck. I chased a shooting star into the wetlands where it vanished—saw that happen to David once, too; maybe a glitch.... I chased hilltop Koroks into Eldin Canyon and the craggy, red foothills of the volcano. Perhaps reminded by the rocks, I warped away to the Gerudo Highlands to pick up another Korok I had marked on my map but then forgotten about—came with a friend, that one did. I warped to the Outskirt Stable and got that Korok by the Fire Wizzrobe—

And what even are Wizzrobes? They’re not like other monsters.... More man-shaped; no stal-equivalent; not a beast like a Keese or a Chuchu.... potential for tremendous power.... but I’ve seen Bokoblins with more brains.... Were they human once?

Hm.

I had started this playtime with less than fifteen Korok seeds in my pockets. But by the time I was done hunting I’d gathered more than forty. I cashed ‘em in to Hestu for two more shield slots. Just two slots more and I’d have a full shield page....

And I thought about cashing in the 16 Spirit Orbs I had on my person, but.... I didn’t. For some reason. I don’t know.

Instead I went to Pepp’s, and bed.

Good night.

Definitely Not Girl Stuff

Waking of Thursday, November 22, 2018

Definitely Not Girl Stuff

I considered, at the shindig at Ben’s house. I was too far behind with logging, but.... what the hey. I brought Mary home for a visit, and we played Zelda anyway. By which I mean I played Zelda, and Mary watched. She enjoys it—she asked for it. I assume because it’s the next best thing when I don’t let anybody touch my consoles!

Besides, I had been holding off on something fairly large in the game, and I figured this would be a good opportunity to do it. I dared say it would be entertaining enough, even for someone just watching.

It was when I watched David do it.

After picking up just a few more Koroks in the Hebra region, I warped to the Muwo Jeem Shrine on the tall cliff overlooking the sea, and paraglided to a lonely little island I’d seen more than a few times. Just a speck of rock, really, made visible only by the brilliantly glowing orange shrine that took up most of its surface....

I’d seen it there many times. Don’t know why I’d never gone for it. Maybe because I hadn’t gotten the Faron map yet, and I wanted to wait. Maybe because it was too far out of the way. Maybe because it was just a waypoint to that bigger island out there, paying a visit to which would become almost obligatory, if you were already out that far.... But I’d already seen that place, through David.

Maybe it was because I’d seen that bigger island.... and I knew what a hassle it would be....

On the tiny island, Tenoko Island, we found the Chaas Qeta Shrine, which turned out to hold a Major Test of Strength. I beat this all right, and was rewarded with.... THE CLIMBING SHIRT!!!! SWEET! 8D

HA! And here I thought I’d surely find it on some mountain!

It looked cool! Ropes and straps everywhere with dangling carabiners swinging when I turned.... X-)

I had the set now! ^_^

Upon exiting the shrine, I chucked my Dragonbone Boko Club out to sea, blew up the resident palm tree, and collected from its remains a Korok Leaf. Because of course it would drop a Korok Leaf.... as there was a raft to use right there! Convenient.

Dealing with only a few Octoroks along the way, we sailed out to the big island. I knew the name of it before it loomed across the screen:

EVENTIDE ISLAND

And the moment my feet touched the shore.... those low, heralding bells sounded.... along with the echoing drone of the monk’s summons.

As well as.... some inane, irreverent commentary from Mary, which jarred the moment and I didn’t like it, but.... I didn’t shush her. I’d brought her over so she could enjoy this and well.... THEM’S THE FRIGGIN’ HAZARDS. :p

To you who has traveled to this island...

I present you with a challenge. In your

travels, you’ve relied on the equipment

you’ve found along the way.

Here, you must cast this equipment

aside and face this trial with only your

wits and whatever you can scavenge.

And after a brief blackout of the screen, I stood naked and barefoot on the beach, with no weapon or shield. Just an empty bandolier and the Sheikah Slate still resting against my sleek blue undershorts.

Offer up the orbs to the three altars on

this island. Only then will I acknowledge

your skill and return your items.

And the Shrine Quest title flashed across my screen: Stranded on Eventide, and I was free to move again.

I checked my inventory. As it had been with David, everything I had was gone. Weapons, shields, bows, clothes, items, monster bits, food....

Everything.

Well, I did at least still have the paraglider, though.

Hoo, and I’d thought things were skinny after freeing the Great Fairy Tera....

It had been more shocking to David and I when we’d both watched him play this part. But I’d been expecting it now. Time to get down to business, I thought....

I combed everything I could from the beach, besting a meager camp of three Red Bokoblins with something like a tree branch.

Thank goodness they were only red ones. The weakest kind. A fair marriage to what humble weapons there were to be found. I still felt somewhat spoiled by how many hearts I had by this time, though. David had done this island on a much shorter life-meter.... and shallower pockets....

I found the first orb at the top of a small treehouse guarded by mostly Red Bokoblins. I was able to snipe the lookouts using a very basic bow I had taken from another Bokoblin, and for the rest of them, well.... for each one I put down, that was another dropped weapon for me to pick up as the ones in my hand shattered. Bats and clubs and spears, all glorified sticks, really, and not very hard-hitting. But they sufficed. There was the occasional sword as well.

I had no protective clothing, but the island provided for if I should take hits—crabs along the beach, a smattering of banana trees in the dense patch of jungle, fish already roasted on spits and swiped from Bokoblin fires.... I was confident I’d be just fine.

With the treehouse cleared I picked up the orb, tiptoed past the snoring Blue Hinox slumbering in the sunny open dell in the middle of the island, and made for the pointy end of Eventide.

Half a stone’s cast from the beach, an outcrop of black rock jutted out of the sea. And on that rock was the first of the pedestals. I had to put the orb in there.

Now DAVID.... had done this in a REALLY AMAZING WAY—he had Magnesed the Woodcutter’s Axe from the stump in the middle of the little bog back in the jungle, taken careful aim, chopped down a palm tree so that its log extended between the beach and the outcrop, and then WALKED ACROSS THIS LOG while carrying the orb.

And THAT.... was friggin’ amazing.

I, on the other hand, I did what we’d later seen PB & Jeff do: threw the orb in the water and lifted it up by Cryonising an ice pillar beneath it. It was still tricky, mind! But nowhere near as hardcore as David’s method had been.

Once I’d placed the orb, it vanished away in a melt of blue light, and the pedestal likewise lit up blue. One down, two to go!

I considered confronting the Hinox next (it wore an orb around its neck), but.... No. I went in search of the other orb first. And I found it perched on a tower in the midst of a much stronger baddie camp, a fair distance up the highest hill on the island.

Night had fallen by the time I’d properly scoped out the place. I tried for a stealth approach, and was able to sneakstrike a few of the Bokoblins, but when that last Black Moblin spotted me, well.... we just had to go at it the old fashioned way.

Fortunately my deep pockets and growing collection of crude spears and clubs saw me through, until the run of the high camp was mine. I collected the orb, whacked the impeding slab off the pedestal with a bit of Stasis, and claimed the second pedestal.

Now all that was left was that Hinox....

And for this I had long planned to emulate what David had done....

The Hinox snored in the low spot between the two highest hills on the island. I’d already dealt with the highest hill, but for this I would need the second highest. And the second highest hill held another baddie camp, this one with Electric Chuchus. David’s encounter with them here on this island had been the first time we’d ever seen them. But even then I’d been able to pass on some words of wisdom from Madman Joseph—don’t attack them directly, because they’ll explode.

That was one spoiler I was glad of at least.

And so I spent a few more of the precious arrows I’d collected to blow up the sparking green Chuchus and subsequently flash-fry most of the remaining enemies. And the second highest hilltop was mine.

This hill was important not only for the third pedestal which rested at its top, but also for its craggly, rocky surface on the side leading toward the Hinox’s dell. For partway down that slope was the perfect shelf from which to play Bomb-Golf....

There were also a few large boulders at the crest, and I pushed these off as well as I could toward the slumbering Hinox. At least one of them made contact, and that put a damper on his day all right. He woke up and stood up and found me and started throwing rocks and roaring unintelligible curses I’m sure. And down I scrambled to that one broad stone, just out of reach of the Hinox’s projectiles and just big enough for me and a Deku Leaf....

I must say, Mary was most unimpressed with this pansy approach, and I don’t blame her. But once I’d set up camp I doggedly planted Bomb after Bomb at my feet, whiffing them off into the blue with the Deku Leaf’s gusts of air, and detonating them as they landed in the Hinox’s vicinity. It took a loooong time, but eventually the Hinox succumbed to its inevitable death by a thousand small explosions.

I paraglided down, collected all the leftover bits, and picked up the third and final orb. This I marched back up to the top of that second highest hill, and planted in the final pedestal. And at once across the way, on the tallest grassy top of the highest hill, the Korgu Chideh Shrine came rrrumbling up out of the earth.

The monk spoke again.

You’ve done well to complete the trial.

I will now return your things, as

I promised.

And a brief blackout, and I had all my clothes and gear on again.

Huhh, I’d become.... rather fond of the wild boy look. :c

Though I guessed I could adopt it any time I wanted to.... the climate allowing....

Come, enter the shrine.

It was a Blessing.

*

That romping shrine quest was just enough, and shortly after we’d finished I took Mary back home.

When I got back, I booted up the game again and, feeling aimless like I do, I found myself simply enjoying the day up on top of the highest hill of Eventide. The spot, close to sea level as it was, had that high cold music. That prayerflag song. Huh....

!

I stiffened as I realized that someone was sitting just a bit down the hill from where I was.

A Rito.

The feathers looked dark, though that may simply have been an effect of the sun setting in the sky beyond.

I approached him.

His name was Mimo. Oh hey his sidelocks looked.... like Link’s did when he wore the Wingaling Hat.... all bound up with that anchor-shaped weight on the end.... Was the Wingaling Hat a Rito item then?

Mimo spoke to me about flying, and, wouldn’t you know it, he ran a certain little minigame....

And I spent the next half hour or so throwing rupees at this Mimo in exchange for the pleasure of jumping off the hilltop to navigate through a series of floating hoops Mimo had placed all over the airspace. Aided by a few updrafts that hadn’t been there before, I was able to rack up a higher and higher hoop-count until Mimo acknowledged my mastery of the air and rewarded me back with a hefty sum of rupees of my own. It was much fun! XD

When I’d had enough of the flying course, I went back to Hebra, Koroked a little more and then.... put it to bed.

Ruins and Remnants

Waking of Saturday, November 17, 2018

Ruins and Remnants

After I’d had a good sleep, I went back to the field.

Heh, I kept thinking of it not as the central plains but as The Field. Like Hyrule Field, from Ocarina of Time. Because there was a feature I’d seen there ever since I had downloaded the Central Map from the Scary Tower: Ranch Ruins.

I went there now, and cleared it out. Just a couple of Bokoblins, albeit they were mounted. But for those kinds I’ve become quite fond of simply Stasising them in midair while their mounts ride on, right out from under them. Makes them easier to deal with.

I guessed it made sense that there would still be horses around this place, too.

Those two brutes and a Guardian later, and the Ranch Ruins were mine to regard, alone in the quiet.

Oh my gosh it looked.... I could see the similarities. The big, once-fenced horse pasture, with the racing track around the outside. The remains of the silo across the way. The place where the cuccos lived. Even the red tile roofings were still here, all collapsed into the dirt.... Oh my heart.

That was poignant.

Also, when night fell.... I found another stalhorse.

I guessed that made sense too.

Partly with the aid of the skeletal mount, I worked my way further around the central plain. Just killing Guardians, exploring ruins.... There was a Mabe Village, there was some kind of garrison....

I moved up toward Castle Town, and remembered that Korok on the western side, in the prison, the one that I could never figure out. Maybe I could give him another go....

I warped to that shrine in the cave on the very western edges of the castle’s territory, and worked my way inward, dodging the Flyer, killing the Stalker.... until I came to the old prison. How many times had I been here? Four?

The little statues stood patiently waiting as always. Two of the three little offering platters once again held Rusty Shields. Tricksy little punk Korok was still throwing that curveball, eh?

Well.... I would just look a little harder this time....

And I did.... AND IT WORKED! I found a Rusty Shield over by a ruined wall beside the moat! And dropping it on the third platter, I got the Korok Seed! Yay. ^_^

That loose end taken care of, I started thinking of what other little chores I could tie up.

....I had pictographs of all three Leviathans now—I warped out of Castle Town Prison and went to the Serenne Stable to find those guys again.... I remembered, they were in Serenne, not Akkala....

But I paused for dinner before I spoke to them.

And then after we had eaten, David wanted to have some time on the game. So I watched him play for a while.

As it turned out, that map-creeper had been spying on me for shrines now that I had passed him up! Every time I’d looked at my map, he’d been studying it for the shrines that I had and he didn’t!

The nerve! XD

He got some shrine that I’d already done; I can’t remember which, and a little while later.... I picked up the game again.

At the Serenne Stable, I finally got back to those three men loitering near the manger. I’d never bothered to commit their names to memory; one of them might have been Akrah....

One of them saw my pictograph of the Gerudo Great Skeleton, bleached by the sun and mired in the desert sands, and he exclaimed that he was so happy because now he’d finally be able to prove his theory that the great leviathans’ extinction was caused by a massive drought!

The next one saw my pictograph of the Hebra Great Skeleton, entombed and encased in the heart of the icy mountain, and declared that now he would finally be able to prove that it had been a mighty ice age that had wiped out the leviathans!

The last one saw my pictograph of the Eldin Great Skeleton, weathering away on Eldin’s Flank at the base of the fiery Death Mountain, and pronounced that finally he had definitive proof that the leviathans had all been killed by a catastrophic volcanic eruption!

I.... kind of shook my head with a weary grin and didn’t argue with any of them.

I just accepted the cool three hundred rupees they gave me for my trouble, and left them to it.

On to another loose end....

I guessed I couldn’t really say anything about David spying on me for shrines.... because I then went after some of the Koroks I’d seen him get!

Back to Hebra I went, scouring that river that fed into the Shrine Under The Hill—the Koroks were really thick along there. So were the Icy Lizalfos, but I made do well enough.

I wandered more and more southward, catching Koroks by the butt-ton, until.... Hey....

“I’m not freezing!” I said to David. :D

The mercury had indeed risen, I could no longer see my breath, and my cheeks and the tip of my nose no more blushed at the stinging cold.

I had come to some large stretches of bare rock over which the snow had no hold, and I was grateful for the chance to switch to my more protective Champion’s Tunic, and especially the agility-boosting Climber’s Bandana. It was a great help in climbing some rock faces in order to dive into a Korok’s lily-pad circle in a large, natural water pocket—whose contents were also safely temperate to boot. :)

The Divine Beast Bird wheeled so close overhead now....

And away in the distance I could see what MUST have been.... Rito Village! 8D Houses like Kass’, all forested up and down that mighty rock spire I had seen!

And just down the cliff from where I was.... a Stable! ^_^

But.... I didn’t go there.... not yet.... not yet. It needed a proper approach.

I whisked away instead to the Central Tower for more Koroks—for from what I’d seen when David was playing, I had missed a few hiding in the scattered copses of trees just south of the ruined Castle Town....

And as I hunted the little sprites I pondered back on the leviathan pictographs I’d shown to Akrah and his friends. And I wondered aloud to David that there seemed to be a shrine at each skeleton except Eldin.

And then I said, “I should not be saying this out loud.” But David never minded.

I’m not sure what David thinks, but.... I have my own suspicions.... Maybe it will be the last shrine that appears there, beneath the Eldin Great Skeleton. The one that has.... those things in it. Dang you, internet.... Or was it Madman Joseph? I can’t remember....

In looking at my map I suddenly saw the little white icon and realized—“Oh shoot....”—I’d left Memory standing outside the Serenne Stable. I warped back there to board him again; poor thing was standing out in the rain.... I’d left him out after taking his and Dragmire’s pictographs for the Compendium. Evidently White and Giant horses registered as separate breeds, or separate enough for the Compendium to give each its own entry.

Hmmmmm....

Of course it was possible there was a discoverable shrine at the Eldin Skeleton after all.... and I just hadn’t been able to turn it up.

Ummmmm....

Vah Rudania.

I donned my Flamebreaker Armor and warped to the top of the volcano.... but—and I knew this would happen—I touched down on the side opposite where I needed to be.... and the Divine Beast perched in the way of my taking the short way round; the game wouldn’t let me get too close to it....

And so in only a minor huff I about-faced and began circling the caldera, sailing from crag to crag, and climbing to the pinnacle of each before leaping off again. After perhaps seven or eight of these slow, hot scrambles, I came to the north side of the caldera, from whence I could make the long, direct paraglide down the northern flank of the volcano to the Deplian Badlands below—which flight, even with my nearly full Stamina meter, required a few pitstops along the way.

This really was the most direct route to the Eldin Great Skeleton?

Once again, closest shrine to the east was Gut Check Rock, and that was a very long trek; closest to the west was at the shrouded Thyphlo Ruins, deep in a maze locked in darkness, and also a very long trek; and on the volcano the nearest shrine was that one beneath an ancient, petrified giant crab’s carapace in the middle of a lava lake, accessible only by railcar—not really meant to be a gateway to anywhere....

Gosh there was just NO easy way to get there....

There HAD to be something closer....

On the last legs of my long paraglide I saw that Dinraal was approaching from high in the east over the chasm that separated Hyrule from the north countries. I knew he would swoop down near the skeleton.... May as well try for a piece of him, I thought. But I was so far away still, and he was already passing by....

I gave it a shot anyway. My first arrow came up short—the distance was too great. With my second arrow, I aimed a little higher.... and I JUST caught him on his left hind foot! The scale shimmered and broke off, Dinraal made for the heavens, and I touched down on top of the Eldin Great Skeleton’s skull.

The scale gleamed and glimmered at me from where it had landed a bowshot away, down on the easy, flat ground. A bit forward and to the left of where the skeleton’s great nose was pointing.

“Well go get it,” says David.

“But there’s bad guys underneath this thing.” I wondered if the scale would wait for me, not depopulate, if I took time to play the Bomb game....

“Then we’ll do it real quiet like,” said David in Han Solo’s voice.

And Hnnnnngh I just jumped down and got it. And I found I needn’t have worried; the bad guys didn’t see me. They were situated more underneath the rib cage, and with the immensity of this skeleton’s skull, that was no small distance away.

David was in the other room when I picked up the scale—

“WHAT.”

“What?” asks David.

“DAVID.” I just—

He came back in.

It was not a scale.

It was Dinraal’s CLAW.

Never got wunna those before....

....

I think I’m over-Zelda’ed for this weekend.

Korok Woods. Pepp’s. Sleep. Done.

Good night.