Shouldn't It Stand To Reason?

Friday, May 10, 2019 ~ 3

Shouldn’t It Stand To Reason?

Having cleaned out the Lockup, it was back to the tall chamber with the Moblin....

The Shaft.

It seemed to be directly below Princess Zelda’s Study and bedchamber.

Bracing beams supported the dark stonework for.... what must have been several stories overhead. Drainage came in from somewhere in a waterfall. A number of grates were set into the floor for this; the torrent sluiced in and gurgled away beneath them. One part of the stone wall stuck out like a barrel, all round—tubular more like, bound in by more beams and struts. I could just spy the Moblin on the other side of one of these supports. Malice glopped onto the walls and floor behind him....

But first.... there was a hidden bombable wall.... and that led to....

The West Passage?

I followed it into a rougher-cut tunnel; no bricks. There was a pool down here.... and.... moldy rotten Guardians lined up as if they were growing out of the walls, what—what—? Augh, they were dead, thankfully, but.... Ugh. The sight was.... It was like those robots from Castle in the Sky, all growing, all moldering.... only.... What did it mean? Hadn’t the Guardians come from those five Pillars somehow? Or had they been buried like fossils in the soil? Is this where the Royal Family had unearthed some of them? Er, had had some of them unearthed....? And so close to the passages they walked.... How.... creepy....

I proceeded cautiously until, Oh, I saw as I got closer—the pool was a hot spring.

And there were three little pools before three little statues on the other side of it.

Hard boiled eggs bobbed in each pool except the middle one.

I dropped an egg into that one, and it boiled. The Korok appeared.

Hadn’t seen that trick before.

Noice.

I soothed myself in the spring. Seven or eight hearts back up to full. It was a welcome respite.

Continuing along the dark passage, I encountered some Keese, but.... nothing else.

A minecart track led its way out of the passage, but.... there was no minecart.

I guessed this was as far as I could go.

Okay then.... back to the Shaft....

I turned to start back, but—

NO. I was probably not going to come this way again. Just go! I told myself. The rest of the passage didn’t extend that far, judging by the map....

I climbed outside! With nothing else for it I crawled along the bare bleak stone beside the anchored minecart track until I got into the other tunnel. More Keese. Frost Pebblits? Easy enough....

I walked a little further to what seemed to finally be the end of the passage.... and.... Okay, it was just another outside entrance guarded by a Flyer.

Due diligence done, it was time to go back.

I took the Goron Minecart this time. Heh, hadn’t done that in a while.... and had never dared do it in the Castle! But, as I’d already cleaned out the passageway.... why not!

I had seen these tracks from far away across the moat before. Many times. How they arced around the great bald patches of stone surrounding the castle’s lower foundations. I could never see myself actually riding them, but now.... I wondered what it looked like from afar....

Back to the Shaft.

I killed the Moblin, and was able to have a proper look around the tall, tall space.... There was so much Malice in the way, how was I supposed to—

Ah, I see. The drainage waterfall was clear. I cast Cryonis on it a few times to make my own stairs up until I could reach that ladder.... And the ladder went up.... And where did this little passage lead?

But I stopped. What was this place? It looked like a little study or something. No. A little table more for like reception or something like it. Book-keeping of some kind. Recording. A little bookshelf.... once-ornate hangings like those in the Guards’ Chamber....

What or who passed through here? Market-goods on their way to the royal kitchen? Smithed wares for the soldiers? Visitors’ registry? A cleaning service? There was no way to know.

Something was lurking on the other side of an explodable wall. Something with 288 hit points. What could it be....?

The noises it issued made it out to be a lizard.

I killed it.

Oh, the Master Sword was running low on energy.

....

What about that shield?

What about the shield?

I wondered....

....

It was only a little alcove where the Lizalfos had been hiding; not really anywhere else to go. Okay what was that lizard guarding.... what was this.... treasure chest....

Oagh!

It’s a Shard of Dinraal’s Fang!

What in the heck! These are amazing! Will I find more? I DON’T KNOW! 8D

Onward!

I sniffed around and zeroed in on the only thing left I could find to mess with in the little record-keeping room.... a switch.

I flicked it.

WHAT! It activated an updraft back out in the Shaft!

I went and took it.... and oh it took me up high.... Twice as high as that first little record-keeping room.... to yet another room above, near the top. One passage from this new room led away outside, and another looked like it connected back to that corridor off which the giant circular staircase stemmed!

I checked the outside first.... and found that I could access a stairway that went back up toward the Outer Track—the area below Princes Zelda’s study and bedchamber.

I’d been around there already though.... Back inside. I would go back through the inner corridors.

There were horns and globs of Malice everywhere....

NO. Wait....

There was another passage, up near Zelda’s Chamber, that I could see on my map. An inside-corridor not connected with anything else, only accessible from the outside, right there. I’d go get that first.

And I did, and....

Oh, it was Princess Zelda’s room. Two layers. I forgot.

All right....

Back down then, to the Outer Track. I followed it clockwise, bending round to the north side of the castle.

-

Blast these log-notes.... blast my procrastination in finessing them.... Look I’ve been chasing the following paragraph all over and around the document for MONTHS because I could not remember when I first encountered its described architecture. What Castle-visit it had been.... Actually I think I had been going counter-clockwise at the time....

“I scooted around the bulky obstruction to continue, and there was a strange, sheltering overhang, pillared about the road from the living stone, familiar from a dizzy dream I had had before.... But I could only go so far before there were Guardians again, didn’t want to go that way....”

Yes it . . . . must have been an earlier visit.... with how I reacted to the Guardians.... drat.

Rest in peace here on page 600, Dizzy-Dream Pillar Paragraph.

-

Now I passed through the sheltering stone pillars going the other way, rounding the gentle bend to the right, until I came to a Guardian embedded high up in a bleachy hill of rockfall and rubble on the right side of the road, spilling from some higher level of the castle grounds.

I killed it where it stuck out from the rocks at an odd angle; its Ancient bits and spoils came tumbling down, scattering over the landslide.

Across the road from where the Guardian had been—or what remained of the road beneath the rubble—I could see a dark passageway leading into a small hill. A brief consultation of my map let me know that this was one of the passageways into the Library.

! Then that Guardian.... It must have been the one I had seen back when I had come up out of the Library for the first time. The one that had frightened me back inside.

I’d stood my ground well enough this time.

Yes the “bulky obstruction” must have been that landslide outside the Library.... must’ve been heading counter-clockwise....

With the Guardian dead I was free to explore a bit further now. The mound housing the entrance to the Library was straight-sided, and tiered, with a little copse of dead pine trees at its humble crown. It must have been lovely once.

Up on top of the hill over the Library entrance was another chest....

Naydra’s Scale. Very nice.

I looked back. From this vantage point I had a better view of the rubbleslide; it really was massive and it covered the outer track. But.... above....

I wondered if I could scale that cliff. The one the Dizzy Pillars were carved from; the one with the sheltering overhang. It seemed to go right up to the back of the Sanctum. The back of the Castle. The back of the Sanctum....

On went my Climber’s Gear, and though it came to a close call with my stamina, I found that I could. Scale the cliff.

The air turned blustery with Malice.

Globs of Malice everywhere so thick....

This was the uppermost Earth. Everything above here was man-laid brick and stone.

Is there.... Is there....

It would stand to reason....

There must be a Shrine somewhere....

I peeked a little bit into the architecture.

Sanctum flashed on the screen....

I saw a large empty space.... looked like a boss room....

NOPE! NOpe. Nope noep noep I ran back out of there.... climbed around a bit, looked around...  [[Do you see how nervous I was? Never mind the spelling errors—I forgot to add the wonted fourth dot in my ellipsis!]]

But....

I wondered....

I.... WONDERED....

A big, flat empty space....

I....

....

Wondered.

Climbing again, on up into the brickwork, and I came upon.... What?

That little round crosscut of a tree-trunk, with a leaf-shaped pointer on it.

A Korok Race.

Even here.

I stepped on it. It targeted a nearby spire of the upper Castle architecture.

“You’re joking!” I hollered.

But I did it. Running off the edge and sailing over the sky.

“Bloody Koroks!”

Got him.

Okay this is really frightening, I thought. Couldn’t the Guardians see me from here? I felt so exposed on the spire top out in the open. But nothing targeted me.

I could go back down.... maybe....

The front door to the Castle Very Proper was just below me if I dropped.

But.... NO. I was NOT doing that yet. I was going back around to the back!

I paraglided back onto the level I’d been on, climbed around on the brickwork a bit more.... and....

This.

A window into the architecture.

This might have been the selfsame window I saw before. The one with a ladder inside it, leading down into a hole in the floor.

I crept inside.

No cinematics started; nothing jumped out at me.

I took the ladder down.

This was uncomfortably too far inside.... quieter, closer, and full of that unsettlement of when you’re out of the wind and in the den of the beast....

But when I reached the bottom of the ladder, there was too much Malice blocking the way further inward. But two other passageways stood open to the air on either side; I could walk instead around the encompassing ledgewalk. The cross-section of the castle was so narrow now.... It seemed there were three similar ladderways just like this one, inside similar buttress-like towers, leading back up.

This wasn’t a walkway I had been on before.... I could glance in windows here....

THERE IS SOMETHING IN THERE.

OH GOSH.

WHY.

Tentacles—what?

I GET BACK DOWN TO THAT FLAT SPOT!

OKAY I’M BACK WHERE I STARTED WHEN I’D SCALED THIS BLOODY CLIFF.

“NOOOO I DON’T WANNA DO IT!” I hollered to no one.

I’ll.... I’LL SAVE IT FIRST. OH GOSH.

I crept closer to a broad opening to the inside.

NO THERE IS A BIG EYEBALL UP THERE OH GOSH

WHERE IS THE LAST SHRINE?

WHERE IS IT?

IS IT IN HERE?

THIS CAN’T BE RIGHT THERE FEELS LIKE TOO MUCH DANGER.

I CAN’T EVEN GRAMMAR ANYMORE.

DEVIANTART THUMBNAILS.

I felt more comfortable perusing the art because I’d gotten past most of the spoilers, but—

HOW DO I KNOW?

OH GOSH WHAT IS IN THAT ROOM?

I DON’T WANNA DO IT.

I’M JUST LOOKING FOR A SHRINE.

IS IT IN HERE?

SHOULDN’T IT STAND TO REASON?

SHOULDN’T

IT

STAND

TO

REASON?

ASDFGHJKL;

Two more steps.

....

Black out.

....

That’s not a shrine.

....

Things.... started.... happening.....

NOPE! C8

I’M CHECKIN’ OUT OF THIS GAME.

WIIU MENU PLEASE!

Errands in Zorana

Evening of Tuesday, September 4, 2018 ~ 2

Errands in Zorana

It was time to smarten up—I could at least aim for what materials I wanted. And Luminous Stone from Zora’s Domain was a pretty easy place to start.

I wandered around to Upland Zorana—finally spying on my way, via Magnesis, the Ceremonial Trident at the bottom of the channel beneath the western bridge. Trello had said it had fallen down there....

But I only took a mental note of its location and continued up into the hills, ranging all over, collecting Luminous Stone.

On a paraglide back down toward the Domain proper, I saw that Kilton had parked his balloon near Ralis Pond, so I went to pay him a visit.

Upon approaching him I noticed that the back of his hood (he always faced away from the counter at first) seemed to have.... a hole in it? What?

So I spoke to him, wondering if he had anything new.

And LO AND BEHOLD his hot new item tonight was the LYNEL MASK.

And he confided to me that he had recently nearly been killed while studying actual Lynels to design this mask! Well that explained the hole then! XD

Lynel Mask?

YES PLEASE!

I sold him monster bits for Mon—999 Mon!—and then exchanged again and the Lynel Mask was mine.

SWEET.

I tried it on right away—and laughed so hard—for similar to how he had done with other masks, Link immediately took on the stance and air of its.... what was that word.... exemplificator....

He stood up tall and puffed out his chest and held back his arms like some beefy bodybuilder posing for a film ad! XD Oh my gosh.... XD

Kilton warned me, though.... Lynels were smart. The mask might not fool them for long.

Well I’d just burn that bridge when I came to it then. :)

With my pockets full of Luminous Stone and my Lynel Mask in tow, I sailed down to try and pick up that Ceremonial Trident....

It was a bit of a chore to reach it. But only because I so often forget and neglect the Sheikah Slate power of Cryonis. With a little persistence I was able to ice-bridge my way out to the center of the channel, grab the Trident and get back to solid ground.

But I still didn’t know how to plunge it into the pedestal at the Veiled Falls. I spoke to Trello, I spoke to Laruta, I spoke to Keye.... Keye gave the same demonstration he always had: you jump up high and then slam your spear into the ground.

But I had already tried that with Lady Mipha’s Lightscale Trident, to no effect. And I gave it a go with the Ceremonial Trident. Still nothing.

What was I doing wrong?

I didn’t like damaging these weapons....

Jump up high.... jump up high.... Did I have to go higher? There was a way for that....

I put on my Zora Armor and jetted straight up the Veiled Falls, bursting out the top to hang in the air by my paraglider. Then down, down, down I floated....

I took care to center myself directly over the pedestal. And when I was still high up, but not so high that I’d injure myself.... I let go and plunged down with the weapon....

I didn’t hit dead center, but it was enough.

The Dagah Keek Shrine rumbled out of the earth just up near Ralis Pond!

Well that would make an excellent waypoint up into the hills! It would save a long jog up the stairs and across the bridge anyway.

I entered the shrine and received the monk’s blessing. Excellent.

Trello later mentioned something about a similar effect the Lightscale Trident might have on.... Mipha’s pedestal?

What like the one in the square?

Which I considered and.... might have even tried once or twice.... but....

I don’t like damaging these spears.

Ja Baij Triumphant

Waking of Friday, October 13, 2017 ~ 3

Ja Baij Triumphant

But of course, I was repulsed from making contact with my Sheikah Slate.

Unholy dark clouds swirled up around the main control unit, the evil energy condensing into a swirling blue light that was.... much too pretty for what it portended....

I momentarily wondered if I might even see Daruk instead. That light.... so fair....

But a few heartbeats later, the light coalesced into a massive sword, no a right sword-arm, the hulking limb clamped upon by some titanic hilt, from which gleamed a blade of Ancient make, twenty foot long at least—into a cruel left hand on an arm more lithe, palm curled upwards with vicious nails and malicious magenta flesh—into the bottom of the torso, the terrible drippy body, lost like hanging guts, uneven, non-corporeal, irrelevant—and into the head—into massive, massive armor in a wreck of towering dominance, wild horns jutting strangely and bloodred mane split into two matted flags waving—

Some of this I only remember from later glancing at the pictograph I took.

I think I was too close.

But I’m not going back to take another.

Fireblight Ganon was much beefier than Waterblight Ganon had been.

Ugh.

Fortunately, I still had a million ice arrows.

What a serendipitous elemental affinity.

Daruk’s voice encouraged me as I pelted him with arrow after arrow, as I dodged his blade and played ring-around-the-rosie about the main control unit, as I felled him and ran in swinging with the biggest stick I had on me—a Royal Claymore or something, some two-handed longsword with a sharp point and golden embellishments....

I don’t think I sliced him up too much between arrowings, though. I tried one time but.... so close, so dangerous....

And when Fireblight Ganon’s life meter was half-emptied.... he upped his game.

With a terrible roar no living thing could emulate, the monster flexed and flared, fire engulfing its person. The Ancient Blade turned a hot, bright orange. The thing took a place in the air, and began charging up what I could tell would be a devastating attack.

I took cover behind one of the many struts supporting the spiky frill on the Divine Beast’s back. The fiery charge raised in pitch, in intensity, until I heard the monster release it, and the air around me was instantly BLASTED outward, ignited, from where Fireblight Ganon hovered.

But I was safe. That was good cover.

I was confident.

In fact, I was still running on just the half remaining hearts I had left after climbing the volcano.

....

Sweet.

I peeked around and shot a few more Ice Arrows at him, but he soon found a new spot to occupy and charge up a new attack.

I had to move and duck down again.

I glanced at his life-meter. Was I doing any damage?

I stepped out once more and watched carefully as I pelted him again: the Ice Arrows seemed to impact on the encircling sphere of flame; they never made contact with the body beneath. And the life-meter didn’t go down.

My Ice Arrows were now ineffective.

Great, how was I going to hit him? I thought. Projectiles couldn’t penetrate the fireshield; did I need to get up close and personal with a melee weapon?

I looked at Fireblight Ganon again. He was charging up another fireball to cast at me.

And I looked at him.

Arms straining, claw hand trembling, muscles working.... he was gathering in a lot of energy for this....

And I saw—pulling it in.

Sucking it in.

Like those Rock Octoroks....

And a suspicion I’d had of the four Divine Beasts blossomed into further realization.

Four Divine Beasts.

Four Plateau Shrines.

Four Slate Functions.

Each of these four beasts must have something to do with each of my four Slate functions....

Water with Water for Zoras—Cryonis—that one was obvious.

Magnesis and Stasis, those could go either way with the Gerudo and the Rito—

But Bombs?

Bombs were always and forever a Goron device.

And the Gorons were dealing with Vah Rudania.

Vah Rudania had to be dealt with with bombs.

Hadn’t the land of Eldin prepared me for such? Cannons activated by bombs, railcars activated by bombs....

And pulling, sucking Rock Octoroks, defeated by Bombs.

All of this flashed through my mind in the span of a heartbeat or two. Or maybe more—I’m not sure; my heart could have been going pretty fast.

Fireblight Ganon seared with raging heat as he completed his charge and let loose another exploding firebomb—I ducked where the blast couldn’t reach me.

But when he next stopped in the air to charge another attack, I called upon Ja Baij.

In my hour of need, I called upon the aid of the Sheikah Monk Ja Baij!

And Ja Baij delivered.

The round Bomb I hurled toward the demon menace was swirled up in the sucking whirlwind, spinning closer and closer—past the fireshield!—and I detonated.

I don’t remember if I could see the blue of the explosion. But I knew the monster felt it.

He tumbled out of the air and crashed upon the deck of Vah Rudania’s back, stunned and dazed! And in I ran!

I was so far away, but in I ran, swinging and slicing!

Too far away indeed—I didn’t get but a few hits in on him. But I got the pattern down, and there was no safety for him then.

I repeated the attack a few times as Daruk’s voice cheered me on—“Lay it on him, little guy!”

And I did.

And Fireblight Ganon screamed a high keening as it died.... high, high, wailing, shrieking like an over-boiling teapot.... terrible thing....

AND THEN SOME

Waking of Saturday, March 18, 2017 ~ 12

AND THEN SOME

I’m sorry to say that David and I kind of giggled irreverently at the placement of the final map marker. Well, we supposed it was near the end of the dungeon after all.

It was one more long, slow walk down the middle of the floor as I approached the terminal at the far end. I watched the time as I went; it was nearing midnight. I stepped in front of the pedestal just on the stroke of twelve, and held out my Sheikah Slate. But just before I made contact, a dark force repelled me, and then coalesced in the center of the room into a hideous, grotesque creature, seemingly composed of the same black-and-purple substance I’d seen all over the Divine Beast. Long, gangling—did it have legs? I only remember its cruel, spidery arms, one of them wielding an enormous blade of blue light. A dark red mane ran down its neck and spine.

This was Waterblight Ganon.

This was the thing that had murdered Lady Mipha.

For a time I shot him with arrows from behind the great pedestal while he cast his magical spear at me repeatedly—it rematerialized in his grasp every time.

Moblin’s Magic Spear, I thought ridiculously.

But my arrows weren’t doing enough damage. “I can’t keep this up,” I said. I’d have to face him directly. The biggest stick I had was a double-edged blade that dealt 38 damage a blow. I equipped it, and ran at him—

But he took offense at the strokes I dealt, and began to flood the chamber. It had been full of ankle-deep water before, but now.... there was nowhere to stand but on four isolated raised platforms.

He started casting huge blocks of ice at me, just as Vah Ruta had done. They were easy enough to dodge.... sort of. At times they knocked me into the water—they hurt me. And it was so slow to swim back and get back on my feet—

“Use Cryonis!” said David.

But would it work?

I aimed my Slate at the next volley of ice blocks—and I could break them.

And I felt like a FOOL for wasting so many arrows outside with the Prince!

Mipha’s voice came dimly into my mind: If only the ice could be used as a weapon.

“Try Stasis!” said David at the same time I thought it—

I shattered all but one of the demon’s next volley, and then stopped the last one in its tracks just before it collided with me. I hammered it four times with my Special 38 before the Stasis broke, and the stored kinetic energy hurtled it back into the beast and wounded him considerably! He sagged into the water, hanging onto one of the pillars for support.

And as he floated dead in the water there I took out my arrows once more and shot the blazes out of him—and this time they had a much greater effect. Flame Arrows I shot at him, all I had, which was about ten, as well as the one Bomb Arrow I had ever seen in my life—the explosion rocked the room.... “Die, die, DIE, DIE, YOU PUTRID—” I shouted at him, reveling in the volume I could attain with no sleepers in the house—

The monster was very weak by the time he regained himself in a last wind—he cast ice at me again, and again I shattered them all but one, and hurled that one back in his face, and that one did it. That one finished him.

Oh the ungodly screams and cries that issued from this.... abomination.... as it writhed and curled and melted and evaporated into oblivion—it was grotesque....

I wished it would die faster.

Even the thing that had killed Lady Mipha.

ALL MY SKILL

Waking of Saturday, March 18, 2017 ~ 11

ALL MY SKILL

I had been in places that kept me on my physical toes. But this place was more a mental exercise than anything else. The powers of my Sheikah Slate were heavily employed; Cryonis, Magnesis, Stasis.... It took all my skill and a dash of mad courage to figure how to access the four terminals I needed to activate.

I suppose the dash of courage came when I realized I would need to trek out onto Vah Ruta’s trunk as it stretched out over the Reservoir. Good gads it had to be a furlong in length at least....

I could manipulate the trunk via the map I had distilled into my Sheikah Slate. But LET ME TELL YOU it was one thing to watch it bend and move according to my commands in its little glowing blue schematic in my HUD. But it was another thing entirely to be standing upon it as it executed my commands.

It was articulated in segments, like an earthworm, but still always sort of curved, you see. I couldn’t venture out from the base to the middle without bending it mostly upward, and I couldn’t move from the middle out to the tip without bending it back down—and there were more darkpools to do away with out there.

But after much puzzling and legwork, and a few Zora-dives up an internal waterfall.... I had activated all the terminals except for one. Mipha’s voice came to encourage me after every one; but the ambient music.... some soft, asymmetrical, delicately chimed thing.... subtly changed after every one as well, and not exactly in a good way.

It did nothing to prevent me from feeling a sense of dread impending doom.

It was like the place was on to me.

The last terminal took me an hour and a half, including interspersed escapes from the game to numb my brain on stupid YouTube videos while my WiiU controller recharged in its cradle. Days passed in the game. Suns and moons rose and set, though I never saw any Blood Moons.... Logic now.... I couldn’t reach the terminal underwater; I had to either drain the water, or remove the entire apparatus. The apparatus didn’t look movable, so to drain the water, I either had to stop the leak in, or spring a new leak out.... but my bombs wouldn’t sink.... the ice arrows wouldn’t stop the inflow.... a Shock Arrow didn’t jumpstart the terminal....

David gave me a much needed helping hand when he came home, and suggested I aim Cryonis on the inpouring waterfall. The one thing I hadn’t tried.

I didn’t think the water was thick enough there to use Cryonis.

And it didn’t look like it would fit, either.

But, as luck would have it, when I took aim with Cryonis, it fat.

And one button later the waterfall stopped.

But the terminal was upside down.

A couple buttons more and I had it.

Mipha directed me then to go to the last terminal.

I already knew where it was.

It was time to return to the Big Room.

Rompered

Waking of Saturday, March 11, 2017

Rompered

I just had a thought, and David voiced it as it began to percolate, “Try setting it on fire.”

It was my first time using flint. But.... wouldn’t you know it, it worked! The briars burned away, and I was able to get into the shrine!

And that was the start of my troubles.

I don’t remember the name of the resident shaman, but the name of his trial was Speed of Light.

It involved a laser. Mirrors? I thought.

Nope.

Not even close.

There was plenty of ice-pillaring, though. And getting to the shaman was easy enough. And I’d already gotten one chest but there was one more. And I WANTED it.

I must’ve spent almost an hour in there trying to figure out how to get it.

At one point I did identify the sequence I needed to use, and I wasn’t fast enough; the gate shut in my face right before I could cross the threshold.

Wow, when they said speed of light, they really meant speed of light!

But as my head was already thoroughly rompered over the entire affair, I finally, gloriously snapped it just one step further, and I cheated.

And I got the second chest.

Maybe you can guess how.

Bitter Cold

Waking of Thursday, March 2, 2017 ~ 7

Bitter Cold

Finding the shrines across the plateau was no easy feat. And when I finally did get close to another one.... the temperature dropped and I began to shiver—the elements were affecting my health.

I needed a plan.

The shrine was across a river—the River of the Dead it was called no less, dear me. There was a bridge, but it was broken; I’d need Magnesis to maneuver a large plate to fix it. This was all in the cold zone.

A little along the river, I don’t remember whether up- or downstream, but in the warm zone anyway, there was a little treehouse of bokoblins. I decided to get them out of the way first.

I played dodgeball with their archers, to up my own supply—a dangerous game! And then I used my arrows to shoot down a little drawbridge they had strung up. Once that was down, they came pouring out to get me. The red ones were.... well, I killed the red ones, but that black one, my goodness, he was tough.

Once they were all dead, I used their campsite and for the first time, I attempted cooking.

There were a number of spicy pepper-plants nearby, and I used many of these, and some bird eggs I had collected from the treetops, to make some spicy omelets that would keep me warm.

It was a nasty trick getting to that shrine across the river, but once I did, the Ice Block power I was able to download to my Sheikah Slate was a neat thing to have.

.... but dang those little shrine-crawlies with their lasers....

Somehow I blocked that one with my shield and learned something called the Perfect Parry.

Hopefully I’ll be able to employ this more purposefully in the future.