Gear Out Of Time - The Knight Proper

Evening of Sunday, March 29, 2020 (comprised of somewhat-finessed note editings during April 28, 2023 that I really hope sound consistent because I left it alone for too long)

Gear Out Of Time - The Knight Proper

Looking for Shrines, I turned on my Hero’s Path in the map just to see where I hadn’t been yet. Or at least.... where I hadn’t been in a while. The Hero’s Path.... it can only record so many hours of gameplay, which I’d discovered myself to have surpassed a long time ago.

That little area just southeast of Zokassa Ridge. Mounted Archery Camp.... I’d always thought it portended Bokoblins, and I never wanted to deal with them. But, seeing the general area to be empty, I went there now.

The top of that little hill really should have had a Korok, I thought, but nothing was there. Hmmm.... I scoped around the base of the hill, and.... ah, there was the flower. As I expected, the Flower Korok led me right back up to the top of the hill. Cool.

Down near where the flower had been, there was a little tent, and two Hylians standing around. Straia and Jini.

Huh. Never met these gents before.

Straia wanted to see a Giant Horse.

Oh did he now? Remembering Zyle, I was hesitant.

Evidently the two of them were conducting an ecological survey of the animals in the region, and heard there was a Giant Horse in the area. They were trying to find it, but had just run into too many monsters to continue. Actually they had even come across a horse-like creature they had thought might be the legendary Giant Horse....

Oh no....

But that encounter did not turn out well. “Oh, it was terrible,” said Straia.

Yeah, I can imagine, buddy.

So while these two were somewhat frustrated in their efforts, they still suspected the Giant Horse was probably to be found in the Taobab Grasslands.

Huh.

Curious, I went there to check it out, just up the Zokassa Ridge and down into the valley.... But there were no more Giant Horses. Mine really was the only one.

....

Surely the game wouldn’t allow for some NPC to spirit away my Giant Horse, were I to bring it here....

....

Jini, meanwhile, wanted to instruct me in horseback archery.

Ah, so the horseback archery didn’t refer to Bokoblins after all.... That was a relief.

He told me to head down that road and I’d find a stable, and to bring back a horse, and talk to him while riding high in the saddle. If I wanted to drill, that was.

I checked my map; the road led to the Highland Stable.

....

I warped there and got Dragmire.

Straia was asleep when I returned to the Archery Camp. I woke him up and showed him what he’d been looking for—

“I’ve never seen one that big! That is definitely an endemic species!” he cried. “Sorry, but can I take a good look at that horse?”

“Go ahead,” I told him as my only option.

“Thanks, I’ll be right back.”

The screen blacked out and a parade of his breathless musings scrolled through the text box....

Hrmmm.... This is impressive.... Ah, hmm.... Quite interesting....

Heh, I wondered what features he must have been inspecting, or what differences he may have found from normal horses.

The screen came back presently. “Wow. With this much info, I can feel my spirit for discovery murmuring in contentment,” he said. Aww, that’s a good feeling. :)

He gave me a silver rupee for helping with their investigation. Very nice. ^_^

Now for Jini.... and horseback archery.

Jini didn’t just run drills, he also sold arrows. I bought some of his stock, and then he set me to the obstacle course—balloons. I’d be hitting balloon targets with arrows. While riding.

He told me to aim to hit 20 targets. If I could do that, he said, he would give me his horse gear.

Oh. :)

....

It was hard.

But he kept milking me for rupees, and I kept paying. 20 rupees a pop. Like they do.

Like I do.

And when I finally hit the 20 targets.... Jini gave me the Knight’s Bridle.

Ohhhohohohhohohhhh....

All metal and shiny....

I wanted the other piece. But Jini never gave me a target number for it. It wasn’t until I quit and came back later (like a minute later), that he told me the target to hit this time was 23, and then I could have the other piece of the set.

Oh my GOSH it was hard. Even with my Phrenic Bow, which I’d either forgotten or never realized had a zooming effect.

But at last I hit 23. Just BARELY. Oh my gosh. I even made Dad stop before crossing the room. Aaaaaughhjhgjkhsjglkfskl....

And I’d made it. And Jini gave me the Knight’s Saddle.

And I took Dragmire back to the Highland Stable—and since he doesn’t like his tack messed with anyway, I got out—of course—Knight.

Oh, Knight looked STUNNING in the Knight’s Tack.

I played dress-up with so many of my horses then.... I now have more tack sets than I have horses.... not that I can change out Dragmire’s anyway....

Stable, Royal, Monster, Extravagant, Ancient, and Knight.

Cool.

And whatever else I did with my other horses, when I finally settled back to Knight in his Knight’s Tack, and I took him out for a ride.... stopping now and again to stir up treasure or Koroks.... at some point near the Dueling Peaks, I changed my own get-up to be a Knight as well, changed my weapon, changed my shield.... ehh stuck with the Duplex Bow, but whatever.... all the others were Lynel Bows—well, the few Lynel bows I had left; I’d shattered so many running that horseback archery course.

But oh we looked stunning together. A Proper Knight on a Proper Knight’s Horse.

It’s almost time for me to go to work. New schedule.

Oh. David doesn’t work today. I didn’t have to wake up this early.

But if I didn’t.... I couldn’t have written this much.

....

I got to the Dueling Peaks Stable very late, and slept until the morning.