Rhoam's Gift

Continuation of Friday, May 10, 2019 (including raw note editings from April 5, 2023 through April 10, 2023 that I really hope sound consistent because I left it alone for too long)

Rhoam’s Gift

I leapt off the Observation Room’s balcony, due south for Castle Town.

It was night.

The Malcontent Piano was different at night. Only fitful, having nightmares.

Back in the town I was showing David the terrifying trick to Stasising sleepy Guardians and making them fall into oblivion.... when there was a Blood Moon.

The unholy smoke was so unwelcome as it began to drip up from the ground. In a place like this.... I was on the fountain in the ruined central square when midnight struck.

“Not like this,” I imitated Dean’s voice.

When the warning vision faded and I came back, one newly revitalized Guardian targeted me. I killed it before warping to the Plateau Tower.

I went to the Temple of Time to pray, but received no answers about shrines.

I climbed up into the Temple’s high chamber, but King Rhoam wasn’t there.

So I went to Rhoam’s old house. There was.... a chest.

I blinked, and opened it.

A Warm Doublet?

I.... I have his Warm Doublet now.

I looked at the Old Man’s Diary on the table:

Link...

Oh.

Bit by bit, you may come to realize who

I am. I am sorry for not revealing my

true identity to you sooner.

Have I.... seen this before?

The truth is, after you awoke from your

long Slumber of Restoration, I did not

know how to tell you all there was to say.

Read more:

Perhaps deceiving you was not the right

thing to do. Still...you must admit I put

on a great performance!

Heh, you sure did. Had me fooled, that’s for sure.

But all joking aside...what I ask of you

is of the utmost importance, dear hero.

I implore you, with all my heart...

defeat Calamity Ganon and save

my precious daughter, Zelda.

I understand this is no simple task I am

asking of you, but I know beyond a

shadow of a doubt that you can do it.

I.... have faith in myself too, it’s just....

I do not doubt it for a moment. I see

courage in your eyes, just as I did

100 years ago. I believe in you, Link.

....Thank you, King Rhoam.

Read more:

Ah, yes, one more thing. I have left the

warm doublet here as a gift of sorts.

I’m sure it will be useful on your journey.

Heh, wish I’d known to come back here, back then.

You can also weather the cold with

cooking alone, but I caution against it.

There is no time for recklessness.

Good idea.

We are all counting on you.

....

That was all there was.

....

I could sleep in his little hut if I wanted to.

Hm but I did need more arrows.... I got down to nine for the first time in a long time.

....

I’m just gonna go plunder every town I know for arrows.

I hit Kakariko and cleaned it out.

But at Hateno.... I actually decided to make another stop first.

My closet was in a precarious situation.

I had two Warm Doublets.

And that terrible Sort button loomed threatening to wreak irreparable havoc on all my perfect messy piles.... I didn’t want to lose track....

So.... I decided to go to the Dye Shop, so I could differentiate Rhoam’s gift from the other Warm Doublet.

....

Good gravy. I have never logged about Hateno Village’s Dye Shop.

Well, Hateno did leave me with such a sour and sullen flavor when I first rode in. All these people.... So contented. So convenient. So wrapped up in their yarnball world of happy colors when there were terrors hunting the unwary on the road, just outside the gate.

Hunting me.

Hunting anyone I cared about.

Didn’t they know there wasn’t a thing I didn’t cherish?

Maybe that’s why it was such a pain.

I followed the thoroughfare until I came to the paint-splotched building with the big open wall like a garage. I had passed it many times but never gone further than chatting with the proprietor.

Ah, Zunari, from Wind Waker. That’s who he looked like. I remembered.

No, wait—researching—Doc Bandam, excuse me. That’s who he looked like. The Chu Jelly Shop owner.

But this man’s name was Sayge.

Hah, a colorful name.

“You can’t miss him,” his clappercalling wife had always told me when I passed. And she was right. Just a little way into the building and—the color, the face, the forehead, bare knees, that garish lava-pink combover—had he dyed it himself?

He wore a leather apron over what appeared to be his bare chest, and hanging in its row of loops was an assortment of vials filled with different colored liquids. Splashes and stains of different hues smattered his attire and the workshop at large.

I’d never given this place a try. The taste of the town was just too sour in my mouth when I’d first rode in, on that rainy day so long ago. The unfeeling, heedless color of the place.

Though.... perhaps I oughtn’t to have expected the world to turn for any misery I suffered.

I wanted the man’s service now. I wanted Rhoam’s Warm Doublet to stay its original friendly green. But the one I purchased.... Well, I went to see what Sayge could do for me.

“Hue do you do?” he started off.

Oh boy.

Well at least he loved his work.

It seemed clothing could be dyed for 20 rupees a pop, but it also required me to bring some ingredients of my own.

Well, my pockets were certainly full enough; I didn’t anticipate running tight just there.

Sayge also told me it was the tradition in Hateno to dye a person’s entire outfit, from head to toe, all at once.

Oh gosh, then these splatters on the wall—I wondered. Was he going to blast me with some kind of pressure hose?

He had me stand in a large empty quarter of the room at any rate, and—oh, but the menus were generous in letting me see what different colors would look like. And there were quite a few of them to choose from, too!

The menus also allowed me to get into my inventory to change or rearrange my outfit if I wanted—because it seemed when I previewed a color, the projected outcome of the dye-job was reflected across every item I were wearing.

They really would spray everything at once.

So, I stripped off my pants and whatever was on my head until I stood there in the single, thick winter doublet and nothing else.... except for those first sleek blue undershorts I’d had from the Shrine of Resurrection.

It looked.... kind of ridiculous.

I tried to imagine my Hylian Trousers or the Snowquill Trousers still on me, as I cycled through the different colors for the Winter Doublet.... Some colors looked better than others. Why does navy seem to be so universally appealing? But grey looked nice, too. But.... mmmm.... cold....

I took the Warm Doublet I purchased, and chose.... white.

Oh, but Sayge still needed ingredients from me.

And again the menus offered me all kinds of free-reign; I could even still cancel back out if I wanted—

It’s just that the service seemed so scarily final. I mean, yes, this was just one spare Warm Doublet, but some of my clothes I had worked incredibly hard for!

Who could ever do this to his clothing?

Hhhhh—I flicked through my items. Everything I could use for white dye stood out strong; the rest was greyed out.

Flick, flick, flick.... I scrolled through the pages. Lynel horns? As dye!?

The nerve to even suggest it! Those were hard-won!

I guess they were certainly white enough, though.

How interesting.... the entire spread of everything that Link could carry in his inventory.... That the whole of it should be further engineered to provide a balanced rainbow of hues. Apples for red, rushrooms for purple....

Amazing.

I needed to provide five ingredients, and my store of White Chuchu Jelly was ample enough for that. I loaded up my arms with the stuff, and Sayge took my money. No turning back now.

This was it.

My first time dying something.

“All right then,” said Sayge, “hold on to your britches!”

Uh?

I’m standing there.... holding the Chuchu Jellies.... the camera looming in like a cat out for mischief, while the Piano wound up like a ticking bomb, and then....

The floor fell out from under me! And with a gasp and a start, Link fell into a big VAT below and poof!—

....

I stepped out from the glittering cloud as it dissipated, and looked down at myself.

My clothes were magically dyed.

....

Never done that before.

That was....

Well....

....

Never done that before. XD Heh, delightful.

Sayge complimented my outfit, and then I learned—he could change back any dyed item to its original color if I wanted? For 20 more rupees....

HOOOOO what sighs of relief were mine!

Then, I could try things out with no worries of losing any original coloration forever.... albeit a bit expensively....

Well that was good to know!

Wish he’d let on about that a little sooner....

Ah, delightful and lulzy.... But now.... really I needed to stay focused....

Back to arrow-shopping.

....

....

.......

. . . . . . .

Dang this game preying on my girly need to try on clothes.

NOT RIGHT NOW I need arrows.

LINK IS A MAN AND HE NEEDS HIS ARROWS.

FOR KILLING THINGS.

....

Went to Goron City, but no arrows there. Just some Sugar Cane and Goron Spice.

Went to Gerudo Town; always a good supply. I also stopped at that jewelry shop and got the Opal Earrings and the Amber Earrings. Just because.

Just because of all the outfittery on my brain? I wonder....

Went to Outskirt Stable and found Botrick nearby; bought all his arrows....

When did I start running out of juice?

I warped to the Sho Dantu Shrine and made for the head of Satan Canyon, and the Yiga Hideout. But in going through it I only found that it was eerily empty. What was I looking for?

Could I even tell anymore?

The place was creepy, and so I decided instead to go scope out some cliffside scaffolds on the north side of the Gerudo Highlands, which I didn’t think I had explored before.

But I didn’t find much. Just some ‘Blins to kill, and wolves like gangbusters.

....

I’m going back to the Old Man’s Hut.

I made the old Warm Doublet, the one I had just dyed white, Link’s new pajamas. Those and his Snowquill Trousers. I took everything else off.

8:45 pm.

Slept until the morning.

Good night.

 

 

Return to Serenne

Waking of Saturday, November 3, 2018

Return to Serenne

I’d heard from somewhere, maybe somewheres, very probably including Madman Joseph, that there were 900 Koroks in this game.

I wondered just how deep my pockets could go, or would even need to go. Would I break through some kind of boundary with Hestu, once each of my inventories took up an entire screen? Would I reach hammerspace?

I wandered out from Tera’s fountain and into the desert. I’d caught unintended glimpses of map screens in my researching for finessing the log; the Korok Seed icons were practically tripping over each other. But where were they all hiding in this wasteland?

I trekked all over the desert, all over the highlands, killed the Lynel.... I found a few more Koroks.... But.... where were they all hiding?

Done with the puzzling Koroks for the moment I finally paraglided down to the Gerudo Canyon Stable, and took out.... Dragmire. Hadn’t ridden him in a while. I wanted him to carry me now, all the way to the Serenne Stable. Faron was found and mapped. It was time to head northwest.

We hit the road, stopping only a few times to rescue people—Regan, Chabi....

Near the Coliseum I bought all of Botrick’s arrows; I was always happy to do business with him. And at the Outskirt Stable I stopped to sell some more meat to Trott; he was always happy to do business with me.

But I didn’t continue right away. There was one other person I’d been meaning to speak to here at this stable....

Aliza stood out in the dappled shade of the trees by the road. “So did you find the Hero of Legend?” she asked when I approached. She was excited.

My choices of response made me laugh—it was either “I am he.” or “Bye.” XD

“I am he,” I said. Lol so stoic....

Aliza was.... surprised! She’d been waiting so long, but.... I wasn’t at all what she expected. It was a shame, she told me, because I wasn’t even her type! But she gave me something she had been saving for me anyway—a Star Fragment.

Well that was friendly! :)

“It feels SO good to finally check that off my bucket list!” she finished.

Then when I spoke to her again.... “You must be really busy, saving the world and all. How about instead of talking to random strangers, you think a little more about doing your job, yeah?”

Oof wow. XD

We rode on, not meeting a whole lot of other people on the road except for a guy named Savelle at the north end of the Breach of Demise. He had a cool helm. Made me want to get on enhancing my Soldier’s Armor....

We reached Serenne Stable in the ten o’clock hour where I boarded Dragmire and spent the night . . . . and when I woke up in the morning it was raining.

But here I took a break to eat dinner and then to watch a movie with friends. It was a little after Halloween, but we still enjoyed a corny run of Spaced Invaders. But in the opening credits I thought I recognized that name.... Ariana.... Ariana Richards.... And as the movie progressed and we came to the part with the young girl OH MY GOSH IT WAS LEX—she was so little!—was this her breakout role....?

The Desert Colossi

Waking of Friday, September 21, 2018 ~ 2

The Desert Colossi

When I came out of the South Lomei Labyrinth, I skirted the hillsides all around once more for good measure, paraglided over the Champion’s Gate corridor, and headed north, continuing to comb the foothills between the highlands and the desert. More Koroks, more Violets.... and there were so many pillars to investigate.... surely there had to be a Korok on top of one of ‘em....

I stood sightseeing from the top of one of these pillars when.... PIANO. There was the Piano, and there was the laser, and a Guardian was after me, and I hopped off quick! Better to stay in motion—

I sailed wide as the bolts shot through the air, until I could reach the ground and have it out, and kill the thing.

When it was dead I looked up, saw how many pillars I had passed and left unsearched.... and decided to kiss that swath of land goodbye for the present—I was busy. Those Colossi were just ahead....

I continued north to the Land of the Goddesses—those gigantic statues so enormous they showed up on my topo—they must have been the legendary Seven Heroines....

I jogged over the sand to the break in their imposing circle.

The East Gerudo Ruins these were called.

Oh there had to be Koroks in here....

(And there were.)

It was one of the cleverer puzzles I had yet encountered, and it took a little bit of searching to riddle it out!

At each Heroine’s foot was a long extension of stone with a hollow at the end, near the center of the circle. A few metal orbs lay scattered about the area, each emblazoned with a mysterious symbol....

I found that one of the statues had a symbol corresponding to one of the orbs, carved into its foot. But most of the other statues didn’t even have any symbols.

But ah, they did, but theirs were carved into different places!

Inward from the outside, the Heroines bore symbols carved upon the Foot, the Breast, and the Hilt, while the central Heroine’s symbol was carved upon her Crown. And after an awful lot of climbing, I found out what each Heroine’s symbol was—clockwise from the break, I called them Yang, KOA, Donut, Twodots, Swipe, Flame, and Pause.

As it turned out there were seven of the corresponding metal orbs hidden all over the construct—some of them high up on the Heroine statues themselves! It was an ordeal and a half, full of a lot of Magnesing, to find them all and get them down to the sandy sink in the center. And I got quite good at scaling the large stone statues in the meanwhile, right up to the tops of their heads—Pardon me, Ladies.

!

I wonder if the Eighth Heroine has a symbol....

Oh now I must go check.

When I finally, finally aligned all the orbs in the ground-level hollows of their corresponding Heroines, WHAT SHOULD COME UP IN THE CENTER OF THE CONSTRUCT but.... the Korsh O’hu Shrine.

And it was a Blessing Shrine as well.

That was four Spirit Orbs.

Guessed it was time to pray again.

Another Maze

Waking of Friday, September 21, 2018

Another Maze

I had come back toward the Suma Sahma Shrine until I was close enough to trigger an autosave. Now from the shrine I wanted to go south to the Devil’s Own Highway, and thence to that big mysterious maze between the mountain and the desert....

But....

That King Of The Mountain Syndrome.... KOMS.... I just wanted to explore a bit of the northern parts of Mount Granajh first....

And we all know how that goes.

I wandered and wandered until I came all the way to Spectacle Rock, catching Koroks, Violets, and Guardians along the way.

But I did come back, and ended up on the north side of the Champion’s Gate canyon anyway, down low to the ground. And so I just decided.... to approach the maze via the Gate, as I had originally intended.

It was called the SOUTH LOMEI LABYRINTH.

Another Lomei Labyrinth. How interesting....

From ground-level it looked much like its Akkalan counterpart, just a large, very tall cubic thing of ancient stonework. The encompassing geology meanwhile was either exceedingly convenient.... or this gigantic depression had been carved out some time beforehand.

Then again the land was old. I thought of the Forgotten Temple far to the north, and the pressing collapse of the canyon all around it. Anything could have happened in the history of this South Lomei Labyrinth. At any rate the surrounding crags concealed it perfectly from any eyes below the tops of the foothills.

I circumnavigated it first. It was big, and all the while my shrine-locator was going off like crazy. I knew what had to lie within, somewhere near the center by the sound of it....

There were no sweeping Guardian Flyers here, but rather I saw, from some higher vantage points, a couple of Bokoblins patrolling the tops of the walls! Interesting....

When I’d made a round of its outside and encountered no other baddies, I came to the opening nearest the Champion’s Gate, and set foot over the threshold and inside.

A monk’s voice sounded: To you who sets foot in this place, my blessing awaits you at the labyrinth’s end.

Or some such words.

Well.

I knew how to play this game.

I started running the maze....

It wasn’t like the Akkalan island; on my map the maze looked downright symmetrical, which was why I had wondered if it would just be a big flat enclosure similar to the top of the Forgotten Temple. There was a straight shot right to the middle that I could see, but....

Well the Akkalan Lomei Labyrinth had also had a wide open central court.... with a Guardian running around in it.

The straight corridor stank of ambush, and so I plunged into the lesser tunnels to try my luck there. The avenues still twisted and turned, but I could still feel a bit of the symmetrical order in their arrangement, which was nice.

I continued running the maze, senses flared for any minor baddies or Decayed Guardians. But I never encountered anything that actively sought to hurt me.

However, around one corner, in the distance down the hallway—

“Malice,” I hissed.

I’d have to be careful in this place.

It made for some interesting climbs and a tight watch on my stamina-meter, but eventually I found the shrine—the Dila Maag Shrine—without too much of a struggle.

It was a blessing Shrine. And I remembered winning the Barbarian Helm at the Lomei Labyrinth north of the Akkalan Ancient Tech Lab.... and I wondered....

AND MY WONDERING WAS JUSTIFIED—Inside Dila Maag’s treasure chest was BARBARIAN ARMOR.

And when I put it on—OOOOHHHHHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHHH DID I LOOK AWESOME. 8-) All fur and bone and cord and a wicked right bracer and there was even vicious purple paint splashed up my midriff in thuggish, primordial shapes! XD I looked like I fell out of a Mad Max movie or something! Oh my gosh so cool....

There were at least three more areas on my map that I had yet to fill.... And I decided then and there to keep my eyes open for any more mazes that might show up once I hit those towers....!

Like Prayer Flags in the Wind

Evening of Wednesday, September 19, 2018 ~ 3

Like Prayer Flags in the Wind

I was heading to the Champion’s Gate! That narrow canyon on the east of the desert, leading up into the foothills of the Gerudo Highlands.... That would lead me right into the valley that held that strange, rectangular structure.... Would it be like that stonework above the Forgotten Temple? What would I find there? I wondered....

The glik-glik-glik of my boots on stone was sharp in my ears after so long shuff-shuff-shuffing over the sand! The canyon walls drew in close about me; it was a bit like Satan Canyon, but smaller, more constricted, and with more obstructions. Big boulders and things strewed about the way. And hiding behind these obstructions were hecktons of Lizalfos in camouflage, whom I dispatched. Got a few tails....

I continued up the canyon, but.... wanting to stock my pockets, and being my distractible self, I kept chasing Swift Violets, climbing and climbing again—and catching a couple of Koroks!—getting higher and higher.... until....

Well I could SEE the giant structure down in the depression there. It was a maze. Like the Lomei Labyrinth.

....

I’m going to call it King of the Mountain Syndrome. KOMS for short.

I wanted to float down and explore the structure; it was what I’d come for.

But.... I was so high up, and the altitude, once lost, would be hard to win back....

....

The terrain was rugged, but manageable. And by now, as I could see on my map, I was nearer to the mountain’s top than its foot.

I wanted to climb Daval Peak, and Mount Granajh....

....

I kept climbing.

I’d wanted to climb up here before, when I was on the other side of the mountain, on the high steps west of the Lynels’ Corridor. But I hadn’t been able to abide the altitude then.

But now I had gear made for such climates! I wanted to see what was up there.... That tall stone standing like a beacon....

In due course I changed from my Champion’s Tunic to a Warm Doublet, and donned my Ruby Circlet to ward away the cold. And soon.... on came the Snow Boots....

There are two types of Cold Music that I have heard in this game.

The first plays at the chill’s initial encounter, when the air bursts into frost around you, and Link begins to shiver. It sounds out in a slow pulse: high, clustery, and ringing like ice. It feels like a warning. It feels like danger. It feels like a call for caution. An intolerableness you could face if you had to.... but you really shouldn’t.

It does feel like an easy escape. Like you have time left....

But even so you shouldn’t waste it.

I have heard this music play at altitudes just above the frost line, irrespective of what clothes you pack. Maybe you can stand it, maybe you have to retreat. But the sound intimates a change, and with that change a challenge, or even a threat.

You have entered a new environ.

The second type of Cold Music I have only heard play at much, much higher altitudes. And, perhaps because the element of change is no longer a factor.... or perhaps for the emotional underpinnings of the concept of the pinnacle....

The sound.... sails so pristinely clarion, when the sky is blue.

It sings like prayer flags in the wind over virgin snow.

And you just feel.... like an eagle. above the world.

It is likewise slow, and beatless. One piping flute soaring like a bird while the Piano rolls little chords and cascades beneath it like sunlight off water.

The first time I heard it in the game, I recognized it.... It had played in the beginning of one of the trailers. That peaceful, serene one that just showed the beautiful, beautiful lands in gentle passes. Fields and mountains, rivers and rills leaping with deer, even the traquil lumberings of a Stalnox away up on the ridge.

A beautiful choice to showcase the land of Hyrule.

But for me, for now.... it only played upon the highest, highest caps.

And on that semi-accidental chiasmus....

I climbed up into the high, beautiful music where the snow was so white and the sky was so clear.... and came upon the ruin of a cabin. Right up on Daval Peak. What was this place?

As I drew nearer I could see a few household items still protected by the remaining bits of wall and roof: some barrels, a woodpile for fire, a table, and—a book?

Excitement thrilled in me.... What did it say? Who could have lived up here?

I heard the shuffling in the snow, and the spat, and the impact and crumble of rock against wood. Freakin’ Octorok.... I went to convince him to let me have some peace before coming back to the book on the table....

I read it eagerly – Mountain Peak Log it was simply entitled.

This man was researching the shrine atop the high Gerudo peak. In the entry marked Day One, he said that he’d found the pedestal, and that it glowed for a time each day, at the same time. But he couldn’t quite work out the riddle, part of which said to “cast a cold shadow”....

I had to look for a bit myself before I saw the pedestal—it had been on a little face of rock right behind me as I’d climbed the last rise. A tiny saddle-pass, maybe fifteen feet deep and wide, lay between it and the Mountain Man’s stead.

On Day Seven, the man said that he was eating through his reserves faster than he anticipated, and I felt a sinking chill. What had happened to him?

He was frustrated, in that entry, due to that he had reached the place where the shrine should be, he was so close, had been close for days, and yet he could not solve the riddle. Did it involve throwing something? He puzzled over a few possibilities, none of which had worked for him.

I read on.

And then there was an entry marked Day... lost count.

He was.... losing hope....

I was feeling a strong upwelling of hnnnng for this man. Who could it have been? I could just imagine him up here, in the cold and the dark and the wind....

There were no more entries after that.

I thought about cracking open his barrels, wondering what I might find inside, but.... I didn’t disturb them. I left them for him instead.

Outside the cabin, near the little saddle-pass, was a little pool of.... liquid water. Strange, for so high up. And in the pool was a large.... snowball I guess. It wasn’t a stone; it was much rounder than any rocks I had seen. As a matter of fact there were quite a few of these snowballs around up here.

I saw what to do straight away. In a matter of hours, the sun would sink and sway and, if I stayed near the saddle-pass, cast my shadow across to the other side, where the pedestal was.

The pedestal glowed for a time each day.... I could guess which time that was.

I grabbed the big snowball and tromped as near to the stead’s edge as I could.... and waited.

And very near the appointed time, as my cold shadow crept closer and closer toward the heart of the pedestal.... a Blue Lizalfos came to have a disagreement with me.

Dang Lizalfos! I at least had the presence of mind to let the snowball fall well away from the edge before I knocked the brute off the stead. He was still alive down there, but.... I was busy.

I grabbed the big snowball again, stood back in my place, and waited just a few moments more, until the shadow cast by the snowball darkened the entire innermost circle of the pedestal....

A blue glow—that sheening ring—and the Suma Sahma Shrine erupted from the hill behind me! Not even over near the pedestal, but on the Mountain Man’s Stead!

Cool! ^_^

I’d get to it.... just as soon as I took care of that hopping, chirruping lizard just down the mountain....

I actually led myself on quite a merry chase before coming back to the shrine, paragliding down even lower to come around the southern horn of the mountain to pick up a Korok I’d just spotted on my map. A wrack of snowy clouds descended upon the range and I bumped into some Decayed Guardians SO frozen that they didn’t wake up until I was quite literally nearly upon them—gave me a start.... And then I swung back up to the saddle from the other side.

Once the Spirit Orb was mine I finally, finally trekked the short jog up to the highest crest in the soft grey din, and climbed to the top of the stony spire of Daval Peak. I had seen it from so many directions, marked it so many times through my scope.... now I could finally stand on top of it....

I uncovered a Korok from beneath a rock up there, and the two of us stood King of the World. It was an invisible world lost in the grey, but that made our perch no less a pinnacle.

I waited.

I waited, and turned, and swiveled, and watched Link nod off in the deep watches of the swirling, icy night.

But I wanted to see....

I let the hours pass, and the day crept nearer, and as morning broke the clouds parted and the snow vanished away and the sun touched all with a glowing, ice-gold clarity.... and we could see the whole world....

Do you ever slowly swivel the camera around Link, just to indulge in a little cinematography?

It’s the best place to do it.

High up there in the beautiful, beautiful clear day.

Frozen Goods

Waking of Friday, August 3, 2018

Frozen Goods

I slept at Outskirt Stable until morning, and when I woke up, it was raining.

From there I warped to Cotera to get an idea of what I needed—in essence, to have a look at my shopping list.... White Chuchus and Ice Keese Wings. Those would strengthen my new Desert Voe Gear. Cool. Well I knew just where to look for those....

And I warped to a shrine in the eastern Gerudo Highlands, just beyond the Death Hole Arena.... and started walking westward.

The frilled backs of camouflaged Lizalfos humped out of the snow in blatant arches; I dunno who they were trying to fool. I killed them and collected.... hhhh.... their icy white tails—I wished the normal ones would drop tails for me so readily.

There weren’t very many White Chuchus to go on, but I did find a few Ice Keese as I meandered over the icy plateaus. There were also quite a few treasure chests stuck in the frozen ground up here. I guess since it was such a harsh environment.... hardly anybody had ever come a-looting.

Some sights were familiar, some were new.... and then I came to that giant Lightning Symbol. I had seen it from many directions at many distances, bur now I walked along the shelf at its very foot. It was carved or painted, or both, into the stark red stone of the naked cliff, at least fifty feet above me. At the heart of the radial design was a Sheikah dais....

Along the cliff’s bottom, about a half a stone’s cast to the right, an icy Lizalfos watched me as I started to climb. I decided I would leave him be as long as he wasn’t raising any ruckus.

The way was slow, and I think.... I was not able to employ my Climber’s Bandana—I needed my Ruby Circlet to ward away the cold.

Either that or I just forgot. Like I do sometimes.

It seems I’ve become a man of many hats.

I climbed all the way to the upturned dais, and though I had a decent amount of stamina left, I nevertheless tested whether the tiny shelf of rounded stone would support me.

It wouldn’t.

I clung like a spider to the red, snow-dampened wall, swiveling the camera about me at the views. It was simply a Sheikah dais, turned up sideways and set into the heart of this.... lightning motif. The painted bolts stuck out in four distinct directions.... mmmm Skies of Arcadia woulda had five....

Shock Arrows.

I concentrated before jumping—sometimes I only let go when I mean to leap—and in midair I drew my bow, twisted back round, took aim, and snapped a spattering, zapping bolt of crackling electricity right into the dais.

On the shelf below, the Keeha Yoog shrine erupted from the snow, and I received the monk’s blessing.... as well as a completion notification to an either unwarranted or completely forgotten shrine quest. When had I spoken to this “Geggle”....?

Well that’s embarrassing I mean usually I take such note....

When I exited the shrine, the Lizalfos was gone.

I continued westward until with a shock I realized I had reached the northern end of that saddle—the Risoka Snowfield it was called. I found where the little Taluses had guarded the Meteor Rod, but the chest had not respawned.

Well.... no worries there; I still had the weapon.

I still hadn’t gotten enough White Chuchu Jelly, though. I fished for them all over the snowfield, tangling with Lizalfos, with Bokoblins, with wolves, with no blasted shortage of stalmoblins.... with all kinds of things.

And then I checked out that skull-den....

I don’t like to venture into those if I can help it. I’d much rather draw the fiends out of the structure to play. But I was surprised when I drew near to this one’s mouth and saw that it was empty anyway. Empty save for one solitary chest in the middle of the space....

Huh.

I approached the chest and HALF A DOZEN WHITE CHUCHUS EXPLODED OUT OF THE GROUND. Huaghh. Gave me a start I tell YOU what.

But when I had recovered from the shock, as I backed up from their freezing attacks, I grinned to myself—these were just what I needed....

I killed them all and turned over a plentiful supply of White Chuchu Jelly. And by this time, I had gotten my fill of Keese wings, too.

Satori Mountain was alight. For kicks, I warped to it, subdued the Lord of the Mountain, and rode him to the Outskirt Stable. Here I dismounted and tried once again to take its picture, being careful to keep it in my view the entire time. But evidently even just raising the pictobox counted as looking away from it; it snorted, galloped away a few paces and vanished.

Ah that was all right.

I knew where it lived.

I had my frozen goods; it was time to visit Cotera. She raised my Radiant Outfit one level—when had I picked up those Luminous Stones?—and she upgraded my Desert Voe outfit to level two. And two levels of course meant the outfit got a perk.... and the Desert Voe perk.... was shock-damage resistance.

Well wouldn’t THAT have been nice! |D