Waking of Saturday, January 27, 2018
No—more—DAWDLING;
it’s March 27 as I write this, MARCH!
I started at the Kara Kara Bazaar
where Kachoo bade me good morning.
From there I barreled into the desert to find that shrine I had seen in the big
tangle of cliffs beneath the mountain—the Dako
Tah Shrine.
(“Dakota!” said David.)
It was difficult! Another electric path challenge....
After that I followed the foot of
the mountain westward, wrapping round the jutting points until I came above the
north end of those ruins I had explored before.
And wouldn’t you know it, north of
the ruins was.... the Northern Ice House.
The actual house where the ice was kept was not very visible—its exterior
consisted of a single trap door in the ground and a following ramp. But above
this spot was a most improbable rock formation—looked kind of like a big
turtle....
Up against the mountain, a solitary
wolf prowled.
I ran down the ramp before it could
spot me, and met the lone Gerudo manning the place. I roused her from sleep to
learn that her name was Anche (“I’m gonna call you ☥,” I said) and that she really felt it was too early to
be bothered just now.
When she finally did wake up, with my
head still cracking over possible password clues, I spoke to her, but she had
nothing relevant to say, and she never mentioned that Pokki—whose name always made me want
Pocky....
Nor did the Ice House hold much of
anything else that was interesting. Except for ice.
I left. I followed the mountain’s
foot westward further still, dodging from shadow to shadow, until I came to
where the rocky pillars stood tall from the sand and Lizalfos lay in wait upon
every surface.
Satan
Canyon.
I’d thought about coming here
again. Perhaps if I traversed its entire
length I could trip something I’d missed before....
The afternoon was getting on, but
the sun still burned me outside of the shade as I moved further in. I teased David
again by refusing to approach certain treasure chests.... Not those ones.... And as I entered the sandy
mouth of the gorge its proper name was revealed to me – Karusa Valley.
I jogged on, searching for any kind
of entry point clues, but aside from
a few Lizalfos for whom I did not mask soon enough and who took unkindly to my
concussive salutations, it was simply a long, long trudge through the sand.
It was a while before the sandstone
walls closed about me as they had before. I was grateful when the temperature
dropped and I could move freely in the light.... and more grateful still when I
came within sight of more solid ground at last! And momentarily surprised as, just before I reached it,
the air took on a breathtaking, icy chill!
I ran—I’d forgotten how drastically
the temperature could swing in the desert.
It was only a few steps, and then I
was back into the windcarved sandstone, in the temperate air, with my speed blessedly unhobbled.
And there were indeed a few
surprises I had missed before—like falling rocks.
I sheltered behind great rounded
shelves of stone, which jutted from the sidewalls like pinball paddles, while
the avalanches passed. They seemed quite large
here.
Atop one of the shelves I found a
stray Korok hiding in—
Those
frog statues again.
I continued up the gorge and it
wasn’t long before the defaced frog statues lined the paths again and the Yiga
Archers came out laughing to sport with me....
I killed them all, but when I came
to the door at the end.... it still wouldn’t open.
I
guessed.... I had to trigger the
events back in town first after all.
But there was more to draw me up
here than just the Yiga Nest. I donned my Warm Doublet, Snow Boots and Ruby
Circlet, and out above the canyon on the crunching snow I doubled back to the
west, climbing further into the mountain.
Higher and higher I climbed,
crossing glistening frozen shelves I could never have seen from the steps
below. There were even a few sparse and lonely pine trees up here on the otherwise naked highlands.
And rhinoceroses! Great, woolly blue rhinoceroses, being chased around
or ridden by Bokoblins. I watched them at it for a while before slipping past
them and hurrying up a steep gorge—
The weather turned then. Thick grey
clouds descended and the snow fell all around me. Fortunately my Snow Boots
still allowed me free movement, and the rest of my clothing kept me warm from
the chill. But the landscape and its denizens became steadily harsher:
Visibility was limited in the blustering oblivion, gigantic chunks of ice began
to appear, obstructing my way forward (and when I drew near to these and looked
hard, I could see things frozen inside
them.... Bokoblins, Lizalfos....), a new, hardier breed of wolf appeared,
snapping its deadly dance about me, and more Bokoblins and an Ice Wizzrobe harrassed me for more attentions
than I could spare. And though my clothes protected me from the cold.... their ill-tailored defense
against attack had me flirting with
disaster at every altercation. My hearts dropped like mercury as I took heavy
damage.
But two things pierced through the
blizzard to pull me onward: The first was the sounding of the Erhu—Farosh! He was so close now.... Yes,
this was where I had first seen him! From
the river far below on the other side of the highlands! . . . . And the
second was the sudden perking of my Sheikah Slate, chiming Brreep-brreep! between the winds—There was a Shrine nearby....
I pressed on, coming to a cracked
and ruptured saddle, wide and flat with broken snow between two peaks lost in
the grey. Icy Lizalfos lay everywhere, and watched me as I followed the shrine
signal, too frozen even to bother with anyone more than a couple of yards away.
Gigantic snowballs rolled off the
muted red steps to the west, gaining mass and slowing down before crunching to
a halt on the field. I dodged them, climbed over a fragmented hill of ice—and
there lay the Shrine, hard against the lowest western wall in a pit unseeable
from anywhere. The Kema Kosassa
Shrine.
I hurried into the hidden dell—danger was everywhere—and activated it.
And shrinking from the howling of the storm I fled beneath the overhang, and
stepped onto the elevator.
The interior was cool, and stark,
and monumentally quiet after the weather’s rage.
It was a Major Test of Strength.
ಠ_ಠ
I had never done a Major Test of
Strength before. No but wasn’t there something out from Hateno...?
David was with me; I had watched
him.
I was ready for this . . . .
