WEST SIDE

Friday, May 10, 2019 ~ 2

WEST SIDE

As I came to the street that led over the castle’s moat, that big natural bridge of earth and stone.... Malice began to drip through the air. And when I came to the big threshold.... my HUD map changed, and I was in the Castle Grounds Proper, and the music turned to the rupturing, tempestuous orchestra.

A mighty gate with two enormous Magnesable doors in a massive masoned frame spanned the width of the bridge. A single Guardian Flyer circled this edifice, sweeping the road below with the beam of its eye.

I just needed to avoid it....

As soon as it passed, I ran to the gate; the Flyer’s scanning did not come near to or brush the actual structure. Even so, I started climbing. Once I’d gotten up on top, I could see there were Guardians everywhere inside.... One Decayed one beyond could see me if I climbed wrong or didn’t keep my head down. I tried to parry its blast, but the distance was too great, my timing was off—

And as I landed back on the ground and then scurried to hide from the circling Flyer again.... “Daruk’s Protection is now ready to roll!” the Goron Champion rumbled in my head.

Convenient.

Hah. Lousy timing, though.

It had been regenerating.

I may need Daruk’s help.

The Decayed ones.... They spot you from such a long way away. But Daruk’s Protection was as good as a Perfect Parry....

I decided I would call on Daruk....

And I did. And it helped.

But there were other Guardians to deal with yet, as I left the Gate and its Flyer and pressed my way inward. Too many for Daruk alone to deal with. I tried parrying again on some of them, and that worked too at times!

I made an effort to follow the road, but was distracted pretty quickly by a tiny, spinning pinwheel up on a balcony.... an Archery Korok.

I climbed up to the wide, battlemented balcony and found it to be backed by a wall of pure Malice, with no eyeball in sight. If there was a way past the dark blockade and into the castle just here, any eyeball guarding it must have been situated on the inside.

The Korok, meanwhile, proved to be RIDICULOUS in its demands—after dispatching all nearby Guardians or hiding from their view, I stood in the optimum spot beside the pinwheel and went through so many arrows trying to land a hit on the Korok’s designated target, which seemed for all the world to be all the way back across town....

But land it I did, eventually, and collected the seed, whereupon I sailed back down to the road.

This was a smaller track than the great broad street that was so large it showed up in the topo, winding its way over the Castle Grounds and up to the Front Door. But it was still wide enough and serviceable; the blasted waste of a hundred years had not robbed the cobblestone of its charm.

I don’t think it’s possible to do that to cobblestone.

The Lesser Road bent to the left, seeming to start a clockwise circuit of the castle, trailing away around the west side through a pox of Malice and eyeballs.... I followed it, but only briefly, and stopped well before reaching any more Malice gates; for near where that first Decayed Guardian had been that had knocked me off the moat bridge gate, there was a doorway on the right side of the track, leading into the castle’s interior....

I went inside, killed some Lizalfos....

This passage looked like it wrapped back around to the right, and I could use it to make my way back to that Malicey balcony from the inside; the HUD seemed to indicate a connection there.... But when I reached the appropriate junction after following the hallway, Malice blocked my way there, too.

The only way left to approach the chamber leading to the Malice Balcony, then, was from the east. The other passage must connect....

I’d find it later.

I went back the only other way to go. Bypassing the door I’d come in, I followed the passage westward and northward until I made my way to the Guards’ Chamber.

More Lizalfos, and one Moblin. I killed them all. I also found another piece from that dark-sheened weapon set, the Royal Guard’s Claymore. Or whatever the big giant swingy one was.

In the Guards’ Chamber, uh muh gush, there were a couple of hidden chests.... One contained a Savage Lynel Shield. I’d take that! The other, dumped in the hollow under a staircase and hidden behind a curtain of dried leafy overgrowth.... was a SHARD OF NAYDRA’S FANG?

WHUUUUTT???

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh....

Okay.

Okay....

But....

Augh, but hadn’t I fired on the poor beasts in too many places already? Visions of shooting the dragons in the mouth spun through my head.... Now that would just be irritating!

Did they drop eyeballs too?

Whatever!

I kept on!

I made my way back to another chamber, another path.... and this one led to a grand circular staircase blocked by Malice.

I killed the eyeball, clearing the way up—this staircase was massive....

Oh but first... I ran back down and checked round the rubble on the other side, the right side—it was piled up thick beneath the ascending circle of stairs—and climbing up over the heaping mounds of it.... I found more treasure up in the cracks near the top. :) Been finding lots of good weapons.... And in this chest.... 3 more Ancient Arrows. I think that’s the third chest here that’s done that for me.

Thank you.

I clambered back down and back around to the left side to ascend the massive spiral staircase in its ponderous clockwise turn....

And of a sudden I was outside. Back in the blustery grey before I knew it.

A Turret took issue at my appearance.

I killed it.

The staircase had come out underneath some kind of huge overhang, some kind of masoned patio roof with a perfectly level ceiling.... The cover from anything overhead for a generous radius was comforting at least, though it still left the lateral directions to deal with.

A very shallow channel-like depression ran through the patio, stretching away in both directions—and then I realized. This was part of the Outside Track—the Lesser Road. There was the Main Road that wound up to the Castle Gate, and then there was this smaller Outside Track that circled all the way around—I could see that now on the 3D overlay in my HUD.

Well, I had started out following it....

I was going to follow the Outside Track again.

As I continued clockwise around the castle, the road took me lower.... I wanted to go higher; I suspected.... that a shrine might be higher, closer to the top, but.... Well, as long as I was here....

I went down lower. Found another entrance to the interior, with Luminous Stone deposits around it. Hmmm.... I wondered if this were one of the ones I had marked on my map in spying the place out from the Elma Knolls. Would I have already walked over it and thus deleted the map marker? Time would tell. Or I guess it wouldn’t.

I went inside....

The name of the place gleamed over my screen, coming into focus....

LOCKUP?

D:

It was a prison....

Or rather a dungeon.

That’s right, I was on the west side, near the Castle Town Prison out on the grounds.... made sense....

What was more, there were Moblins and Lizalfos in here....

Guess they been bad.

....

Man, how awful did a monster have to be for Ganon’s Forces to throw it in the dungeon?

What violent brutes these must have been....

....

The architecture was all hard stone and iron, and a little wood. No fineries for anyone meant to be housed here. After the corner near the entrance, the single corridor continued on a gentle curve, with a row of cells on either side. A very shallow depression ran along the center of the way, sluicing some dismal water drainage away to who knew where.

Malice eyeballs blocked the path, but those were easy enough to dispatch. And I could see what they had been guarding at the first one’s evaporating: there were switches in the central corridor, straddling the sluiceway, that could open the cells on either side, all down the way.

One Silver Moblin was free already, and he and I had it out until I’d laid him out and spoiled his corpse. And then.... I started activating the switches.

Killing them all.... did not feel nice.

They were trapped.

And I an Executioner.

I just wanted to be thorough combing this place....

Well, the Lizalfos were still able to spit at me.

Small consolation.

I killed them all, raiding what spoils and treasures were to be found strewed about their cells. My Master Sword didn’t seem to be running out of energy; it’d been glowing like this for ages, and I’d been killing so many things.

So this was its strength....

Some cells had bombable walls between them, which proved to be the only way to access some of them. And one cell on the left, the castleward side, had a bombable back wall....

I broke through, followed the passageway around; it opened up into a large chamber with some Moblin skulking around.... What was this place....?

But....

No. Not yet.

This wasn’t just some hidden hidey-hole; this was a whole other pathway, and I was not done in the other room yet.

I ran back to the Lockup, slipped around a final dark corner to get to that last, biggest cell, and walked in.

The portcullis slammed shut behind me.

How very OoT.

I’d seen the Stalnox bones. They’d been flopped out in the center of the floor of the big round chamber, bleach-white against the dark stone, and they had stunk of miniboss.

They came to life now.... and I put them down again, with a flurry of arrows to the great, bulbous, black eye, slicing the thing into evil oblivion with my sword at the end, as it popped out and bounced grotesquely around....

There was a treasure chest now, as well as a signpost in the back, engraven into a stone marker. Had these been here all along? The room was quite dark....

The stone read:

- Test of the Royal Guard -

Strike down the giant foe to become

recognized as a knight of the kingdom.

Well....

I opened the chest.

There was that You Get The Thing Music and....

*GASP*

WHAT?

A Hylian Shield?

I mean I had wondered what could be in here, but this was.... I hadn’t expected....

“A shield passed down through the Hyrulean royal family, along with the legend of the hero who wielded it. Its defensive capabilities and durability outshine all other shields.”

Does this.... Is this shield....?

My Master Sword—The Master Sword had been staying so strong. While it had shone. Here in the dark castle. In the Malicey air that seemed to activate its resilience.

Does this shield....

Is this shield unbreakable?

Its strength was 120. Shield Guard Up +30. What does it mean?

Oh my gosh....

Was this shield unbreakable?

I almost didn’t want to test it.

....And after typing a flurry of notes for the log I came back to the game and....

....

Oh, my inventory was full. |D

I dropped the Lizal shield I’d been using, and opened the chest again.

Got the music a second time. Nice.

Now I had the shield....

But heck if I was ever gonna use it.

A Game More Dangerous

Evening of Tuesday, September 4, 2018 ~ 3

A Game More Dangerous

I touched down on the warp pad of the Ishto Soh Shrine, and was met with the buzzing sound of hundreds of flies.

I’d forgotten how much garbage Moza had piled up here.

But I dashed past it all and peered down into the Lynels’ Corridor! I had plans to try out my new toy.... On went the Lynel Mask and Link once again adopted a beefy, stoic stance. X-)

The canyon floor was too far distant for me to make out any creatures prowling along it, and so I relied on the skull stamp I had placed on my map—that was where the southern Lynel would be.

I floated down—there it was—and circled wide, landing some distance further south. Somewhat far away but not too far away.... but pretty far away....

The Lynel still stepped so grandly and paused so ponderously and roared.

And then it turned and SAW ME. FROM FAR AWAY.

We stared at each other. Usually when a bad guy sees its respective mask it starts walking toward you. But neither of us moved. We just stared. For a moment.

And then the Lynel circled round in a canter, faced my way again and nocked a Shock Arrow.

Nope! It was Ishto Soh for me again! I warped the heck outta there! :D

So wow, the mask really didn’t fool the Lynel for very long....

Well they were powerful creatures of many abilities.

But still....

I wanted to try again.

So I ran and jumped and floated down to the left this time, northward toward the mid-Lynel near the base of the Talus’ butte. I spied him as he walked among the baobabs....

With a crunch and a rush I hit the ground running through the long yellow grass. I wanted to get close this time....

It was a White-Maned Lynel, and when he saw my fast approach, he turned to face me, and stood his ground.

I just kept running. If things went south I could always just warp back to Ishto Soh....

The Lynel stood still until I had run right up in front of him, and could physically no longer move forward for his person. He had only looked at me the whole time. The way his head just dropped at the end.... looking down at me....

I was a tiny creature.

We looked at each other only briefly before I walked round to his left flank to see if there was a get on option. There wasn’t. Those zebra stripes. Broad tapers. So high over my head, the body so tall, so BIG. Thick, muscular legs, feathered hooves....

The Lynel turned as well; he wasn’t having me behind him. And we faced each other once more, staring just a bit longer. I was on the north, facing south now. The long south reaches of the Lynels’ Corridor stretched away into the distance behind my.... companion. The baobabs stood in the yellow grass. The Gerudo Highlands glowed bright ruddyrust in the daylight away to my right, the shade of the Zokassa Ridge cooling to my almost immediate left.

At precisely the same moment, I threw the game into a semi-pause by toggling toward the Stasis function, and the White Lynel reached behind his enormous back and fwipped out his gigantic spear.

Oh my.  ._.

I was able to Stasis him and get in a few hits.... But that charm works only briefly on living things, and briefer still on powerful ones.

I could have warped away, but....

Well I did need Lynel bits.... and I was here, wasn’t I?

I stayed.

I stayed, and stood, and fought. And remembering the Shock Arrows this one had pelted me with before, I tried the Thunder Helm for a spell. But apparently the Lynel only resorted to those at a distance, and no range I could give him on the ground would suffice—the ill-defending helmet was not helping. And so I switched to something more justifiable. Real armor. My strongest clothes.

Stasis could only help me so much between rechargings, but I employed it as best I could, capitalizing on every chance to land a Bomb Arrow right between the brute’s eyes. Head-shots dealt double the damage, or so I’d heard and witnessed elsewhere.

This one didn’t stun like the lesser foes did, though. Any Bokoblin would have been bowled over backward with a shriek, and not regained itself for precious seconds....

But a Lynel....

I don’t think he ever even had to shift his footing.

Then again he did have four of them. A leg at each corner. Huh!

I was a mouse to him.

Well the mouse could still bite!

More than once, more than thrice, more times than I counted, really, he sent me flying and tumbling and rolling across the grass with a groan—Get up get up get up, Link!—And I found myself chewing through my stocks at a vigorous pace!

But I gave him his own headaches in return—a Bomb Arrow could slow down a galloping charge! Even if I had to take a bit of it myself at close range—he moved so fast....

It became inescapably dicey however whenever HE BLEW FIRE FROM HIS MOUTH AT ME. The fireballs were broad, far-reaching and enormous, and they set the grass alight all over. Remembering the Big Yiga Clansmen, I used the flames more than once to slip away into the air, a bit singed nevertheless. The Lynel watched me with patient, hungry eyes in one such maneuver as I glided over him, released a Bomb.... and then detonated too early.

Well, that happened sometimes. Good thing nobody else was in the room.

The fire kept coming. I never had the thought of a linear retreat, but rather circled round him in evasion as he kept blowing and blowing and BLOWING! It was deadly and dangerous!—And the best opportunity to get close enough for a strike.

I pulled weapon after weapon from hammerspace as my blades gave their all and shattered in glory. Daruk had leant me three good helping hands that had evaporated pretty early on. And Mipha saved me from the brink before she too had to withdraw her power for a time whose end I would not see in this fight.

But when that monster hit me, ripped me, shredded me so hard that I saw that gleaming little winged orb come swirling up out of my pockets to my aid—

THAT WAS A FAIRY YOU JERK! DON’T YOU KNOW HOW RARE THOSE ARE?

I’d had enough!

I spared no provisions in maintaining my health from then on, and GAVE NO QUARTER in hammering my foe! I did not relent until his mighty, immovable hooves finally gave out from beneath him, and his proud knees sank at last into the ground below his bowing head, wild with mane and horn, heavy with defeat and death.

His carcass was mine.

When I’d pocketed his remains, I looked around at the aftermath of the encounter.

....It was ugly.

The grass was scorched black in great hatching swaths, or shorn clean away in places by blade or hoof. What a ruin. We’d all but burned the whole valley down.

....

It did feel kind of epic, though.

I visited Tera once more in the chill of the desert night to do up my Radiant Gear. The tights were already at level two, but with the shirt and mask enhanced to that level as well....  surely there would be a perk.... I was pretty sure.... it had to be....

IT WAS A DISGUISE I KNEW IT. AND MY ATTACK POWER WITH BONE WEAPONS WAS UP BUT THIS SUIT WAS NOW A DISGUISE I COULD USE TO WALK AMONG STALCREATURES UNDETECTED. I KNEW IT.

AUGH BUT IT WAS TOO COLD TO WEAR OUT HERE IN THE DESERT.

SOON.

I warped to the Deku Tree’s Navel in the three o’clock hour of the morning.... and slept until noon.

GOOD NIGHT.

From: Andrea

To: David

2018-09-04 11:43p

By the way I killed a White Lynel

tonight. On foot. It was ugly. The

whole valley burned down.

From: Andrea

To: David

2018-09-04 11:43p

Love you good night. <3

The Collected Hero

Waking of Saturday, July 28, 2018 ~ 5

The Collected Hero

This was different, too. I’m sure of it.... I think in other Divine Beasts I had never been able to make actual contact to the main control unit with my Sheikah Slate. But now I stood and placed the Slate against the console with a definitive clack.

Nothing.

Link doesn’t need a voice. He has eyes.

You could see him anticipating the rebuff.... and it came, with its repellent explosion of swirling blue light, which coalesced into . . . . a most hideous and grotesque apparition, like the others.

Lither than the Fireblight Ganon had been. Tall—like Urbosa....

And only now I wonder if there will have been a correlation in all their physiques—OH HYLIA, he didn’t—

Their spirits had been trapped?

. . . . . . .

I will not pursue the thought.

There is no time.

Thunderblight Ganon was come for me.

One cruel, sullied-magenta hand was free, the other limb bore a large and vicious kind of Thunderblade—it crackled hungrily.

Urbosa’s voice came to me again—this was the thing that had ended her life one hundred years ago. It was powerful, and fast. She told me to be very, very careful—“Don’t let this place become your grave,” she said, or something like it.

I was ready.

But first, as soon as I was able, I raised my pictobox and took a shot.

My Compendium registered the subject....

But the image was a blur.

Oh dear, what would happen when I unpaused....?

I couldn’t stay still forever. I was the Hero and I had a job to do.

When I came back there was only a very rapid Whoosh-whoosh-WHOOSH-WHOOSH—sha-WHACK! and I was tumbling through the air off the platform—the blow had come from somewhere behind me—a few hearts gone—

Blurs. That’s all he was. A flurry of rushing sounds, streaks of dark color, and then SHRACK! the slice would come and send me sprawling. But I saw that though he was fast, his blows were relatively weak, and electric shock never made me drop my weapons—that was a blessing.

Sometimes—rarely—I was able to dodge it, and come back and get a few hits in.

Sometimes I was able to pelt him with a Bomb Arrow to the face.

Urbosa spoke strongly in my ear time and again, spurring me onward—Be cautious. Stay strong. Fight! Some such words—

Rush-rush-rush-POW! I spun through the air.

“Oh my gosh, what does he WANT?” I howled to David.

“Block it with your shield!”

But I didn’t want to waste Daruk’s power....

Some beloved weapon shattered and I swiped through my pockets for another....

The Master Sword glowed stronger. Sixty damage.

Why did it do that? Why was it sometimes stronger and sometimes weaker?

Was it stronger now because it sensed the evil around it? Did it only manifest its power when it was most needed?

Then again why did I keep refusing it? It was there for me to use. And I couldn’t ignore it forever. This was what it was made for. To be a Bane against Evil....

I switched to the sixty-strong Master Sword—Daruk gave me an opening—and sliced-sliced-sliced against Thunderblight Ganon while I was close enough—

And then came the point when he had had enough. What would he do now? I wondered as I peered from behind a distant strut.

And a glistening metallic tablet like an overly tall tombstone appeared in the cracked surface beside me so suddenly that I was unsure whether it had slammed down from above or sprung up from beneath. It gleamed with a sharp electric charge....

Then more tablets fell—I could see the trailing lightning now—they were definitely falling, one after another in perfect succession, chasing me at a crisp hundred and twenty beats per minute as I fled from their rhythmic onslaught.

When Thunderblight Ganon had laid enough of them into the bulkheads, I gather he must have set an explosive current arcing through the lot of them to fry anything caught in their web—I gather. I couldn’t tell exactly because I was too busy putting distance between myself and that trap.

And so Thunderblight Ganon had another go—and I had another run. These crude lightning rods were more dodgeable than his rushing attacks. But.... I had to gain some points of my own.... Urbosa urged me on.

I claimed a higher spot and, as the monster detonated another web of electric death, sent him my love in the form of a Bomb Arrow.

There was no effect.

Great.

What could I—?

I thought, as I ran. My arrows were now ineffective. I couldn’t hit him. And I couldn’t get close enough to him to try any melee weapons either—that might bring me too close to those lightning rods.

What could I do?

Well, what did I have at my disposal?

What had this Divine Beast given me?

Nothing. Only the weapons from those Guardian Crawlies.

But I couldn’t use my weapons.

What else did I have?

Well.... I had a Sheikah Slate.

Those lightning rods looked like they were metallic.

Oman Au—Magnesis!

Oh great, I thought, this is gonna be tricky....

But I turned around in my flight, and as the lightning rods were planted but before they could be charged, I activated the Slate’s Magnesing power—the nearest lightning rod glowed pink in indication—I could grab that.

And I did, the Magnesis rippling out of the Slate far too slowly for my liking—it latched onto the rod with a clean electrical snapping—Where was Thunderblight Ganon?

He was up there to the left—

You can’t run as fast when you’re holding something in Magnesis. I took a few steps, turned, raised the rod higher, shot it forward, casting all my hopes into the trajectory—

I had worried for my aim, but somehow.... the rod connected! And Thunderblight Ganon came tumbling out of the air at the counterattack!

Now—

I paraglided from the platform and sailed in—the Master Sword glowed so bright—and I gave no quarter as I swiped and sliced and cut—

The monster leapt upright again—was I hit?

“Link!”

It was Urbosa. Only calling my name.

None of the Champions had done that before.

Their words had always been urges and suggestions and hints and encouragement, but this brave Gerudo Warrior only calling my name in the heat of a terrible and ferocious battle....

I appreciated that.

Of all the Champions thus far she seemed the most.... real and invested.

Thunderblight Ganon’s one evil eye glared at me fiercely.... and then began to glow.

The laser settled over my heart.

I backed up.

“What are you—?” came David’s voice.

I only had a few seconds—was everything in order? It seemed to be.

The laser glowed hotter, began to beep.... and beep....

. . . .

And beep . . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

The shimmer appeared in the air, and I swung my shield as the blast came—

Khing!

Time slowed as the bolt rebounded off my shield and flew back into Thunderblight Ganon’s face!

“You parried it??” says David.

“Well I’ve had a lot of practice!” says I and my heart was a bold roaring lion as I ran back in and walloped away on Thunderblight Ganon where he slumped against the curving wall—Slicing and slicing and slicing as his life-meter dropped—

He spent his all in a final cinematic leap from my last attack—and he writhed and shriveled and died in the air with the same piercing scream as the others had done. High and keening as an exploding kettle.... but no more horrific in my ears.

Only wretched.

Turning the Tables

Waking of Thursday, May 31, 2018 ~ 2

Turning the Tables

Many, many moons ago, before any moons I could remember, before moons were moons, I hurried with a shake from the cold and entered into the Keh Namut Shrine, high on the Great Plateau, and found myself face to face with a three-legged devil terror that wanted to kill me.

It was only the second Guardian I had ever faced, the first having appeared before me in the Shrine of Oman Au.

But in engaging that second one.... somehow....

....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....

That was it....

I checked my list of skills. It was actually called the Perfect Guard, but I think I preferred the alliteration.

That was it. That was what I was remembering.

I.... had never taken the time to finesse my swordplay—I’d always imagined I would, in the future, at some point....

But I never had.

But now....

Well I wanted to show David something but he wasn’t coming and I dared not do anything important in the meanwhile but I could go hunting because I needed those gears for the Ancient Cuirass—

AND I WAS GOING TO PLAY THIS GAME FOR THE PRESENT ANYWAY.

I needed gears. And only Guardians had gears.

So....

Up to my aid came the memory of an accidental parry, and....

I wanted to test it.

I wanted to try doing it on purpose.

Perhaps it had only been foolish to think of making the attempt in the middle of that basement full of nightmares, but.... where could I....?

I knew.

Back to Robbie’s place—The Decayed Guardian down the hill would suffice for the experiment. I floated down to say hello....

I.... stood my ground.... and held my shield....

No was it a two-handed weapon in my grasp? What was I doing—Daruk’s protection wore thinner....

I had come in too fast without a plan—And then as I could not take much more I made a dash for the other side of the stone, falling shamefully back to a panicked mashing of buttons.... I was Z-targeting, but I was facing away. The blast came. Daruk roared again.

But—

....

And the Guardian died?

How had—?

Was it because the shield had been on my back?

That happened to me in Majora’s Mask.

But if the shield were not actually deployed (for it was a Guardian shield)....

....

This needed more practice.

I collected the Guardian’s remains—there were no gears.

Cheapskate.

I was out of Ancient Arrows anyway. I didn’t want to go charging up against any more Guardians, decayed or not, without some backup. So it was back to Robbie’s again, where I bought ten more arrows. But I only had eighteen or nineteen gears. Not enough for the Cuirass.

Soon.... VERY SOON....

I warped to Kakariko Village—there were a couple more fairly manageable Guardians near there. I wanted to see if I could get more gears, continue practicing the Perfect Parry and, if need be, put my new arrows to use.

Oh my gosh I was hunting Guardians.

My first target was that one in the pit out back, at the top of the Sahasra Slope.

That first live one I’d ever seen....

Where was this Courage coming from?

....

I guess.... the lightning strikes near you often enough, and makes the earth to shake....

At some point you just stop trembling.

....

But you try not to get struck nonetheless.

My timing was very much off, and I lost my footing in the fireballs. One laserbolt destroyed my Guardian Shield and I had to switch to a Knight’s Shield—It wasn’t Ancient Tech; would it work the same?

This was a dangerous skill to practice; there was no padded training arena for this. But Daruk protected me. And Mipha kept watch.

I managed to take the Pit Guardian down using only the Perfect Parry followed up with normal arrows to its eye.

I slew a Guardian without an Ancient Arrow.

And the second one just through the PitGate and out on the grass was almost as manageable! But, as Daruk became exhausted with my poor sense of timing—and, as I also lost my Knight’s Shield to a laserbolt—I did use an Ancient Arrow to finish that one off.

Two Guardians with one Arrow. Heh.

I made one last stop at Cotera’s to see if there were anything I could upgrade—turned out there were—I bumped up the defense on some of my Circlets.

And then it was back to Robbie’s once again because those two Guardians out back of Kakariko had bumped me up to twenty-four gears!

I HAD ENOUGH GEARS FOR THE CUIRASS!

AND CHERRY MADE IT FOR ME!

KhuAGH! My wallet!  >⩄<

But it didn’t matter—I had enough rupees—and now I had two of the three pieces of armor that would defend me from my deepest nightmares!

DANG it, Nintendo! I said it before! Why do they do this!

The only way to acquire the thing that would make your most dreaded trial more bearable.... is to first complete your most dreaded trial without it! OH you cruel ironic building my character so I can—hrrmph!

Back to Cotera’s and I upgraded my new Cuirass, for there were no gears required for the first level. Plenty of lesser parts, but I had enough of those to spare.

There were gears required for the second level of upgrades: ten gears per piece for the Ancient Armor set. I assumed it would be the same case with the Ancient Greaves. After the twenty gears it would cost me to acquire those in the first place....

These things were so expensive.... and not just in rupees.

But.... I was getting better.

Soon I would become better still.

A Blood Moon rose as I ran around Cotera’s forest.

More gears would be ready and waiting for me to collect them.

SOON.

I just needed a few more shields. Mine were running out pretty quick.

A Walk with Yunobo

Waking of Saturday, October 28, 2017

A Walk with Yunobo

David’s been kind. He stayed away from the volcano’s Divine Beast until I’d had a go at it. But now he felt free to plunge right up Death Mountain, and I watched him for some of the time.

He cleverly defeated those first Moblins at Eldin Bridge by climbing up a nearby crag and bombing the living daylights out of them. And as the second one finally died, he jumped off the rock to float down and collect its spoils.

But the cinematic started before he could deploy his paraglider.

And as the camera centered on the bewildered Yunobo, looking around to see if the coast was clear, David and I watched a dark shape swip down right in front of him and off the screen out of sight.

“Was that Link?” we both wondered, laughing incredulously at each other.

The cinematic ended, and the camera pulled back a gentle distance, and there was Link, on the ground.

Which was just . . . . great. XD

With a little more effort than I had taken the time for, David was able to destroy the Sentries using Yunobo as a projectile.

I didn’t know you could do that!! D8 ??

But I did feel a little clever in that I had thought to Stasis them, when this did not occur to David.

He also ran right past the first cannon without firing at Rudania. He was wearing full Flamebreaker Armor, and I wanted to see what would happen if he climbed up near Rudania’s big flaming right hind foot.

David was kind to oblige. XD

And the result was that he burst into flame. ÓuÒ;;

Maybe Vah Rudania was just too hot, even for the Flamebreaker Armor. Or maybe David hadn’t upgraded his armor to be fireproof yet.

After a bit either I told him or he figured it out that he should use the cannon on the Divine Beast, and he progressed on his way.

I watched him all the way up the mountain (he never once was spotted by a Sentry) and into the volcano until.... the trapdoor clamped down behind him and locked him in the darkness.

And on that grinning bombshell, I left to go attend to some other things.

When I came back some time later, he was about to face off against Fireblight Ganon, but he first left to regain full hearts by sleeping at his house.

Which I told him was LAME. And like some crotchety old geezer I told him that back when I did the Divine Beast I did the whole thing at half hearts, and I never warped away or even ate any of my meals!

But he went to rest at his house anyway.

I don’t have a house yet.

It was fun watching him defeat Fireblight Ganon. He was quite stumped for a while, but he was brave and kept psyching himself up to venture out from behind the posterior structure to try a new tactic . . . .

I stepped out for his ending cinematics. It was his fourth beast, and we suspected there might be something extra, and I didn’t want to be spoiled.

And there was something extra, he said.

But I did watch the part with the ghostly Daruk.

And after a little more time, David insisted that I play.

He really does want me to catch up.

And I believe he wants to talk about more of the game with people. And I know that feeling.

Hah. Welcome to my life, David.

I played from the activation of Vah Rudania when I started. Because I wanted to see it again. And.... I was still logging, and I wanted a refresher for the scene.

Sometimes I go through the game faster than I intend, and.... I lose some of the finer details.

Dang this log.

The bright, gold-tinged light that had borne me off the beast brought me down into Goron City.

I can never bring myself to make the avatar run, after things like that. I just can’t.

It just feels so.... uncalled-for.

Being thrust back into normalcy after the brutally insane places I’ve been?

It’s like being on another planet.

It’s a kind of dazedness, a kind of triumph, a kind of relief, a kind of sorrow, which for me will forever require a walking pace.

Yunobo told me the Boss had summoned me, and that that kind of thing couldn’t be refused.

And he rolled away.

I walked after him, toward the Boss’s house.

Bludo said Yunobo had told him everything. And he was amazed and grateful that we had subdued the Divine Beast.

“But did you have to wait until my back finally felt better?” he griped, pressing that now I was making him look like big fibber!

In the end he rewarded me with a gift he said I could find in his house: a blade once wielded by the legendary Daruk himself.

“Take it. Keep it. It’s yours,” he said.

I couldn’t fit it in my inventory.

So I left it there.

Which was just as well, I figured; one block of my weapon inventory was already taken up by Mipha’s spear, which I dared not use any further lest it break.

Made me think of getting that house again. Maybe weapons could be stored in houses....

Why hadn’t I gotten that house yet? Well.... I had my reasoning. Although to be honest I’d since been “spoiled” on that point—I knew by then that it was—

Mm but maybe you don’t.

....

In which case I’ll just say....

....

I just wanted to wait until I had seen all the land first, before choosing a place for me to live.

I was wandering around Goron City, still at a walk.

I saw Yunobo. He was walking too.

I went to speak with him.

“I’m going for a walk today,” he smiled, “Want to come?”

And that was all he said.

And he continued in his slow and easy NPC pace.

Well, he wasn’t like that tour guide back in Hateno, huffing and puffing and making me jog. He was just.... walking. Slow as Uli from Twilight Princess.

But he had invited me, so I followed him.

After a very brief climb, he came to a stop in the middle of a short bridge over the thoroughfare below, and turned toward the volcano.

I spoke to him again.

“Welcome to my secret hideout,” he grinned to me, “This is the best place to get a good view of Vah Rudania.”

We both looked at it, perched way up there at the mountain’s top, lasering toward the castle.

“To think we actually fought that thing...” Yunobo continued. “I’ve never been afraid of it... until just now.”

I guessed it was all hitting him at once.

“It’s strange, but ever since we defeated Vah Rudania, I’ve felt like my ancestor Daruk is somehow with me all the time.”

He turned to me.

“Link, I did good, didn’t I?”

“You did your best!” I said, and this seemed to give him a little more confidence.

“Yeah, I did, didn’t I.”

Or some such words.

“And with Daruk’s Protection I know my ancestor will never let me down.”

Or some such words.

Or some such words.

Sometimes I forget the exact things people say.

Sometimes I prefer not to go back and check.

Sometimes I just try to do my best, too.

Dang this log.

Daruk's Protection

Waking of Friday, October 13, 2017 ~ 4

Daruk’s Protection

With the demonic apparition defeated, I was finally able to activate the main control unit on Vah Rudania’s back. And when I did—

“Great work, little guy!”

I turned and there stood the spirit of Daruk, all ghostly teal.... but grinning hugely and with his arms spread wide.

Similar to what Lady Mipha had said, but in much gruffer terms, he explained to me that since I had slain the monster that got the best of him, his spirit was finally free. “Sorry that my resting with the rubble caused so much trouble for you...” he added, “But now Vah Rudania is back under our control!” He pounded fist into palm with palpable force and I daresay a small shockwave.

Man, I bet even Goron ghosts could knock you out if they tried.

Daruk went on to say that he wanted to give me something.... a power he had, called “Daruk’s Protection” . . . .

Oh yeah, I knew.

It wouldn’t do him any good as a spirit, he said, but maybe it could help me.

“Ready? Here it comes!”

These Gorons don’t do anything small. ._.

With a strenuous roar he seemed to summon a ball of energy between his giant palms, and with a “Hah!”, clapped in my direction—

And his power plunged into my chest and I was surrounded with a burning, powerful light, my feet again momentarily losing contact with the ground on which I’d stood as I closed my eyes and took it all in.

And when I was myself again I tried it—I planted my feet and rammed the knuckles of my fists together—feeling all the more impressive being ironclad in the FlameBreaker Armor—and the shimmering, lava-colored dodecahedron flared into being around my person.

I was invincible.

And I let go of it and flexed my gloved fingers....

Daruk continued, “I’m gonna take this thing down the mountain where I’ll have a clear shot at Calamity Ganon. And when you get inside the castle . . . we’re gonna light that place up!”

Or some such words he said....

Hadn’t Mipha said something about.... draining Ganon’s power?

What did he mean ‘light it up’?

And there were parting words—more encouragement I am sure.

I like Daruk’s temperament.

But I remember the very last thing he said before the light swallowed me up to transport me away—

“And.... Give my regards to the Princess,” he said with a grin.

Vah Rudania, lit a purer blue this time between its joints, instead of the corrupted red, clawstomped its powerful way out of the crater and perched atop an impressive crag. Its head moved, lizard-like, getting a fix on the castle I assumed—for the six segments from nose to neck then shuddered apart, splitting the whole of it wide open like a flower. And inside, a great bronzy barrel telescoped out into menacing life, charged with a mighty whirring, and let loose the enormous red beam. Straight into the calamitous clouds about the castle.

Little halos of the same energy ringed in and out of being along its length....

“Well, that about does it!” Daruk spoke to the Divine Beast or maybe a bit to himself. Or maybe to the player. “All we have to do now is wait for the perfect shot.”

Perfect shot?

Hadn’t Mipha said something about sapping Ganon’s power?

What were these beams, anyway? Wouldn’t they just work to weaken—

Red circles.

A red imploding circle on the target. Repeatedly shrinking to the center and then reappearing.

It . . . . was familiar . . . . ?

Oh my Hylia.

The Divine Beasts were Sheikah technology.

Like the Guardians.

THAT LASER . . . . IS A LASER OH MY GOSH WAT THIS I CAN’T—

Daruk took in the landscape.

“Hyrule looks good even after a hundred years,” he said, “The old rollin’ grounds sure are a sight for sore eyes.”

His eyes and his tone fell a bit.

“I wonder how the Gorons.... fared after the Great Calamity. I hope they’re still going strong even after every—”

But the camera had angled behind the figure of Yunobo, on a crag further down the cone, as he gazed up at the Divine Beast, and the ghostly teal figure on top of it.

Daruk had seen him too.

Yunobo gasped in wonder.

“Well would you look at that . . .” Daruk mused, “Still going strong indeed!”

With a manly grunt, he thrust his huge right fist straight up into the air in a rugged salutation.

And with that kind of delight you only feel when you know you are the sole partaker of the rarest of gifts.... Yunobo shouted and waved his hand vigorously back, laughing his exultation to the morning sky . . . .