Korok Trials

Waking of Saturday, December 29, 2018 ~ 2

Korok Trials

Augh.

On that unhappy note and yet with plenty of energy left to play.... I remembered David’s blatant tut-tutting over my sparsely-filled map of the Great Hyrule Forest. The look he’d given me....

There were shrines to get there.

I didn’t feel like getting them then. That memory had been heavy. But they were there to get, and I knew I wanted to get them eventually. So.... I went to get them.

And, upon warping to the Korok Forest, for the very first time I acknowledged that little Korok near the entrance to the Navel who was always trying to get my attention—Chio was his name—and he told me all about the Korok Trials.

There were three of them, one each to the southwest, to the northwest, and to the east. These must have been the ends of those paths I’d always seen meandering off into the trees beneath the giant bean-pods....

Well.... I went to it.

The first trial, to the southwest, was the Trial of Second Sight. A Korok named Zooki stood a little along the path and gave me a few pointers....

I don’t suppose I really knew what I was expecting. I guess I’d just imagined that the warmly lit forest simply extended further out, rolling into grassy wilds and forests full of animals and useful herbs.... I was only a little surprised when, moving away from the Great Deku Tree, the oppressive, curling mist returned, darkening the world while the Piano once again closed on its repetitive G in petrified focus.

I had to find my way again. But this time, instead of following embers in the breeze, I had to follow metal. There were more of those gape-mouthed trees—nothing but those gape-mouthed trees—and some of them had great stones in their mouths, and some of these stones were metal.

Activating my slate’s Magnesis, I could see the metallic glow through the mist like flags through a sandstorm, and I followed it into the gloom....

At times it became a little tricky. Once I had to climb to the top of a tree in order to spy the next path-marker. But after a short time (and only a few baddies) I made it to the edge of a small lake—Lake Saria.

There was a bit more Magnesing and moving things around between the horrible, gaping trees; and for a time, and in light of some of the local signposts, they seemed almost a friendly, relatable lot....

And then after a short, leaf-powered raft-ride across the deadly still and silent lake, and one more placement of a metal chest inside a tree’s mouth.... the Kuhn Sidajj Shrine came towering up out of the earth with all the ungodly, earth-shattering tempestuocity of a rising Morla.

The Piano didn’t like it....

I guess nothing so still and focused ever would.

It was a Blessing Shrine.

After I’d come out, I saw on my map that I was quite close to the edge of the island—the Hyrule Great Forest, it’s surrounded by a misty lake on most sides.

Hm, I guess technically that’d make it a peninsula.

Anyway, I pressed on into the misty trees to see if I could make it to the shore; I could see the gaps through the last standing trunks, or I thought I could....

But the fog swallowed me again, as it had when I’d strayed from the path into the woods.

I turned up back at the shrine.

I think I just warped back to the shrine in Korok Forest.

The second trial, to the northwest, was called The Lost Pilgrimage.

This one was a bit more challenging, in that somebody else was already taking it. One Korok, Tasho, wanted me to watch over her little one, Oaki, as he made his way to the shrine at the far end. The only catch was that she didn’t want him to know about it! Because if he found out someone was babysitting him.... Well he’d just have to quit and start over and do the thing properly.

Can’t say I blame him.

So I had to stay out of sight. The curling mist made this fairly easy.... but it also made it exceedingly difficult to keep track of him whenever he had a spurt of confidence and dashed forward and ahead. He was a short little thing in the grass!

Most of the time I was just crouching through the grass behind him, and could overhear him muttering encouragements or questionings to himself.... More than once he squeaked something like, “What was that?” and whirled around. Once he even backtracked to have a look.

He caught me.... more than a few times. And he started over each time.

But I kept trying and Tasho kept putting me up to it and Oaki kept waddling off into the gloom.... And he was a slow walker.

Well, I guess his legs were shorter. Can’t fault him there.

Stray tree branches dropped. Oaki whirled. And I hid myself.

Oaki paused and ducked down. “Ooh, what pretty flowers!” I heard him say. And I just had to wait.

Once, a wolf howled.

糟糕透了！ಥ⩄ಥ

I don’t think Oaki saw it. But it saw me.

How do you engage a feral beast on eggshells?

How do you swing your sword (for which Link always emits a shout) when you’re pretending to be a tree?

I don’t know, but I seemed to have done it. Fortunately I’d lately become more expert at battling wolves. You can’t Z-target onto them, you know. Er, L-target.

When they bark, they’re about to lunge. When they lunge, just sidestep to avoid it, and while they’re close.... slash!

Did Oaki hear me? It had only taken one cut, maybe two, to put the thing down....

I found him again and kept following.

Late on the third or fourth or fifth attempt, I caught the shrine’s orange glow in the distance, and followed after Oaki very carefully. After how many times he’d discovered me I wasn’t going back to the beginning now!

And so I waited, and waited, and waited, until the Korok was completely done moving, before I approached.

“Guess what, Mr. Hero! I did the trial all by myself! Aren’t I brave?” he chirped.

Oh son.

He went on. “Oh, you’re probably here for the shrine. Why don’t you go take a look?” he said, or something like it.

And I went and claimed the monk’s blessing from the Daag Chokah Shrine.

And after I came back out, I just found my own way back to Korok Forest. I’d walked the route enough times.

The third and final trial, to the east, was called the Test of Wood. At this trailhead, a Korok named Damia presented me with a series of Forest Dweller’s gear—a sword, a shield, and a bow. They were all made of wood. The Forest Dweller’s Shield was quite stylish, actually; I’d seen David with that one....

He said all I had to do was keep these items equipped and intact, and get from where I was now, to the shrine at the end of the trail. It sounded simple, he knew, but he said most people thought this was the most difficult of the Korok Trials.

“I said it was SIMPLE, I never said it was easy!” I thought of the Witch of the Walls again.

What was down this path....?

As I moved ahead and the mist pressed in once again, I soon found out: it was an absolute nightmare of lesser monsters, manifesting a variety of elemental affinities. Common garden Keese and Blue Chuchus gave way to Fire Keese and Electric Chuchus, a host of Octoroks leapt up from boggy pitfalls to spit rocks, and the branches above were crawling with bow-wielding Bokoblins.

Indeed it was dicey for the first little while, even at church-mouse speeds. I could handle the brutes as they came one or two at a time, but I wasn’t sure how many monsters there would be to defeat—I didn’t want to lay too many strokes to my wooden sword, or pounds to my wooden bow. But eventually I did get to an especially boggy spot where the lower beasties tapered off, and it was just me and the Bokoblins.

But then.... I’d had them fooled from the start.

Damia hadn’t said anything about Masks.

In the swamped out area just before the shrine, I traipsed a winding and circuitous course across half-sunken logs in the bubbling bog, under the watchful and curious gaze of no fewer than three armed Bokoblins in the tree branches above.

Thank—you—Kilton.

Once I was clear of the muck I entered the Maag Halan Shrine for the final blessing of the Korok Trials.

After reporting back to Chio, he gave me some prize I don’t remember, and I decided to climb up to the crown of the Deku Tree to have another visit with that Colonel Mustard....

Walton was his actual name. Walton the Korok.

There was one more trial up where he perched, I knew. I’d declined taking it before. But I’d been a few places by now. I felt more confident I’d be ready for his Ultimate Challenge....

At it turned out, the Ultimate Korok Challenge didn’t even entail going anywhere. Walton simply recited a series of riddles for me to solve. The riddles gave clues to certain objects, and if I could lay those objects down on the platter-sized leaf in front of him, he would give me prizes!

And, I must say, these were some of the cleverer rhymes I’d seen in this game—and some of the rhymes were subverted on the last word, a la Sweet Violets! It was hilarious.

There were five riddles in all, I think, and my inventory was so full (I almost always made sure to keep at least one of every item I’d ever found), that I had very little trouble laying down the items Walton was looking for.

An apple.... a certain breed of fish....

The fifth and final riddle I had actually seen previously, while David had been playing:

If stepped on by this, you will go poof!

It starts with an H and ends with an oof!

I’d known what it must have been right away.

But David had never killed a Lynel.

I’m only a little sorry to say I took some pleasure in watching him crack his head over it. What could it beeee? he wondered.

I didn’t spoil him too bad, but after only minimal nudging on my part he came to the conclusion on his own that it must indeed be a hoof from a Lynel.

He’d never killed a Lynel before....!

I wanted to watch him complete this last test for Walton.

I was happy to offer guidance on where to find good Lynels to fight, and he took it. And that is how I got David to FINALLY talk to the Zora Laflat so he could get the Zora Pants.

But first he had to climb Ploymus Mountain and have it out with the Devil....

Fortunately for him, I had already carried out enough trials and errors to know how to stand up to them decently enough.

He did well! Though, like me, he did burn his fair share of restorative items through the fray. But that was kind of to be expected, when it was a matter of Lynels.

And so it came to pass that David slew his very first Lynel. And when he brought the hoof back to Walton, he was able to finally complete the Ultimate Korok Challenge.

Just like I was going to do, now....

And after that....

After that....

Didn’t know what to do. Hhhh, how the heck was I gonna find an Ancient Battle Axe+ for Nebb? I had 21 Spirit Orbs; maybe I should have prayed.... Wandered around. Gorko’s Tunnel on the volcano? Still couldn’t solve it. Asked around Goron City to no avail. Saw the sleeping Gerudo. Was jealous. I just wanted to sleep....

I dipped around for only a little bit more before.... I headed back to Pepp’s, and bed.

Deepest Woods

Afternoon of Saturday, February 24, 2018, noted the same day, written and edited properly beginning Tuesday, May 29, 2018, and I am pained

I am so, so pained.

Deepest Woods

It had been too long.

Too long.

I started my game. David was with me.

I was on top of the Dragon’s Head, the giant tree breaking through. The Spring of Courage, that’s where this was. The soothing spring music played; some ringing, resonating, sustained thing that I cannot name—somewhere between harpsichord and glass armonica—only rolling through clustery chords that felt nevertheless.... unhurried.

It’s a restful fill for the air.

What was I doing here again?

I went to my map. The blue ribbon of the dragony river grinned at me.

Oh yes. I remembered. I was looking for Mister Hestu. Fooling myself he was in Faron Woods.

All right.

It was time to get serious and find him.

I had already completed a quest for pants; and now the game was late; I really needed to go questing for pockets before I had no room left for anything.

I needed Mister Hestu.

And I knew where to find him.

Somehow, in my heart.... I think I’d known for a long, long time.

I warped to the Woodland Tower in the treacherous bog, and paraglided thence down into the path running hard against Death Mountain’s foot, upward into the hills, into the trees, in between those grassy shelves where I had first encountered wolves....

And I passed through the grey-walled bottleneck, down into the grey-green, living softness, and the light dimmed with the curling mist, and the Piano came to heel.

It was quiet.

Although I was cautious, I proceeded with a slowness borne more of reverence than of fear. This was a momentous place.

The torches were in plain view and easy enough to see, clear and empty swaths of grass or bare earth between them as they led round tree and hill and boulder, twining deeper. I always followed the embers. The tiny, glowing specks from one torch always seemed to drift toward the next. I did not stray from their path this time, but was strict to adhere to the zephyred directions.

There were a few animals about, a fox, some deer.... Once I even thought I heard the yawning squeal a wolf makes when it stretches. But I dared not pursue any of these and risk losing the path.

And then I came to two torches standing near each other, their parallel embers blowing away into dank and tangled woods where there was no other light to be seen.

For how bare and sad and dead so many of the trees looked, stark and naked, it was amazing how dense the place still felt.

I walked on, following the course of the twin ember trails, and just tried my best to keep moving in a straight line. There were no more obvious borders to keep me in line, like rocks and banks. There was only the close circle of ground about me, defined by the mist, and.... the trees.

The terrible, terrible trees—

Brreep-brreep! went my Sheikah Slate! o_o Gave me a bit of a start, but.... well that was something good at least!

It continued to beep as I kept moving ahead. I thought about turning it off; the forest didn’t seem to like it. But.... I let it go.

The larger trees took on.... a terrible look. Great twisted cracks in their barrel trunks like grimacing mouths with teeth.

Then the mouths began to gape....

I hid in one of them briefly, all full of the willies.

After a moment I climbed out again, and came to a clearing.

Which.... direction was I going in? I turned....

“Are you lost?” said David with a grin in his voice.

I walked back to the maw-tree, tried to line myself up.... The mouth had been unseen just around the right side....

I walked to the clearing again.

Those two trees there.... looked sort of like a gate of some kind....

I kept walking, right beneath their touching boughs. On and on I kept walking, the incessant brreep-brreep from my Slate doing me no psychological favors in the listening dark.

The clock in my HUD told me that it was nighttime, but I wondered if a bright shining sun would have made any difference here.

I kept going. Straight line. Brreep-brreep. No deviation.

And then, as the morning came on.... perhaps the sun did make a difference. Or perhaps....

The fog at last began to thin, and there was music: the doppelganger of Faron Woods—Skyward Sword’s Faron Woods, the Kikwi Home—it sounded so similar but I just could not place how it was done.... or perhaps was only too bewildered and bewuthered to think about melodies and chord progressions.

Warmer colors began to appear, sun-yellows and honey-browns and flowers.... The wildlife was no longer furtive and afraid. The birds chirped and the leaves sang.

Korok Woods was this place; the name gleamed over the screen.

“Are you serious?” said David.

And there were Koroks in plain sight! Not hiding! :D

“Do you know how many tries it took me to make it all the way through?” Or some such words.

Apparently he’d been watching me the whole time just grinning with anticipation for when I would.... when I would....

Well I didn’t experience it, whatever it was, so I’m not sure how it would have gone. I just made it end to end in one go. But I guess he’d had a harder time, and kept being transported back to the beginning of the Woods. I remembered the screen whiting out, and that childlike laughter....

He told me it took him forever to figure out the embers. HA! But that was such a Zeldic device, David! If I may make up words. XD

Well, like I’ve said before: sometimes, where I suck, David excels, and where he sucks, I excel.

What a team.

A few steps more and I seemed to enter a new wood proper. The trees looked healthier here. And the Koroks were soon all around me—though any particular one would disappear if I ever got too close. Heh.

And a few steps more again, and I caught sight of the tall, bobbing figure of Mister Hestu over a rise to my right! I’d found him! It’d been so long since I’d seen him that I’d almost forgotten his face....

And I did approach him, and we did visit, and he was happy to see me again, as I was to see him. And I did upgrade my carrying capacity. I upgraded the CRAP out of my carrying capacity. Weapons, bows, shields.

But there was something else further up the path.

Just a few steps more ahead.

Over the little stepping stones in the water.

Right there.

Right there.

The Forest

Waking of Friday, April 14, 2017 ~ 9

The Forest

You know, I really enjoy the little stance dance Link does whenever you leave the controller alone for too long. In Ocarina of Time it was the dirt-removal toe-tapping or the infamous tunic-straightening. I’ve seen him sneeze when he’s cold in Majora’s Mask, or swing some moves with the sword in his hand. He would stretch long and luxuriously in Wind Waker, or just take a rest on his haunches when he was a wolf in Twilight Princess. There are dozens of these idle animations.

But in Breath of the Wild.... he just nods off. XD His eyes glaze over and his mouth starts to sag until his head drops a little too suddenly and he shakes himself out of it with a hilariously surprised look on his face!

Ahh delightful animations in this game....

Well.

I’d seen what I had come to see at this tower.

When day broke with a clear sky, I jumped from the top and paraglided toward the road that led to the woods. That old man at the Woodland Stable had said something about the Lost Woods in the heart of the forest.... I would plunge ahead in a minor exploratory sweep until I ran into something too dangerous to face—which I was sure would inevitably happen—whereupon I could simply warp back to Zora’s Domain, and Upland Zorana. Robbie was waiting.

Maybe Karson would react to that pictograph of Tye and Sorelia....

The trees were thick along the road. I followed it until I came to a narrow pass between two sheer hills. Like a canyon.

The overwhelming sense of caution coursed through my veins and filled my lungs, and the bold exploratory sweep was promptly forgotten.

I chose the hill on the right side; it seemed to offer access to even higher foothills....

But up on its grassy top, between the tree trunks, I saw something I had not seen before: lean grey shapes with tufted tails. Canine. Two, no, three, no there were more of them—

Wolves.

I turned right back around. Perhaps the hill on the left would offer me something better.

It did. It was quite clear. However, it was too far away from the right hilltop for me to spy out what creatures might have been lurking there....

Or snipe them.

Drats.

Well, I had a look around anyway.

This Great Hyrule Forest was.... interesting. It seemed completely misted over with a thick, thick fog. The trees looked dead. And far away in its very heart, one tree stood supremely huge above them all. It looked.... like a giant cherry tree....

So many dead limbs with no leaves growing on them made it seem easier to see in there. And yet.... the tangle of it all seemed dangerous....

Was Hestu in there somewhere?

Ugh, but did I really want to go in there?

Wait, but I’d been planning to, hadn’t I?

And couldn’t I just warp away if anything happened?

Then why couldn’t I make myself move?

I surveyed the surrounding landscape a bit instead; the hill was tall enough to give me some fairly good views. I looked behind me and could see the tower I had scaled, standing amid all the platforms in the little circle of the bog—

WAIT A SECOND.

What I Came For

Waking of Friday, April 14, 2017 ~ 8

What I Came For

I thought I’d heard of a Shiekah Tower like this from Joseph. Something about bogs.... something about the tower being surrounded by giant stones.... something about bombs....

But I don’t think this was that tower.

This tower did indeed have one large grey stone of some kind beside it in the bog. But there was also some strange, large.... dark.... rounding kind of shape high atop its crown. It was difficult to make out from below.

I remembered the Hateno Tower and its briars. Was this another obstacle, only situated at the top instead of crawling along its length? But it looked too thick and solid to be briars. Oh gosh, had bad guys taken it over? Would I have to fight them up there once I scaled it?

I had been so confused as to what was on top of this tower, and I wanted to get rid of it or burn it off it as soon as I could.

But when I came close I understood. And I didn’t think fire was gonna do it.

The large grey stone at the tower’s base and the dark rounding shape at its crown were two halves of a bokoblins’ skull-den—those skull-shaped cave-enclosures they like to hide in. The tower’s eruption from the ground must have cracked this one in two. And now this Sheikah Tower had.... well a very nice lid I guess.

A hat like a big busted eggshell.

Well that was swell.

Wished I could’ve removed it.

Especially once I reached the top—that thick stone casing really obstructed the view. But, no matter. I just had to distill the rune and my map could tell me of the surroundings.... This would tell me the river’s course.

This would tell me about Mei.

I activated the pedestal. The runes dripped down, the teardrop fell into my Sheikah Slate....

According to the map, the river out of the wetlands ran right through Ganon’s backyard. I could even see what must have been the dock Molo had said was situated just north of the castle—the way to get inside, he’d said.

It was all too close.

The castle was right there.

Traveling that way.... I could very well be seeking my own death.

Not now. Not in my present state.

Mei, I’m sorry.... but I have to get to Akkala.

If they don’t find you soon, then I will.... when I’m strong enough to do so.

My map also said there was a Great Hyrule Forest to the north, but.... I couldn’t see it at all from the tower-top. Nor could I see the castle very well. The big dratted stone casing was in the way.

But then I considered.... well....

Did I really want to be visible to the great Calamity, at the top of a glowing blue tower so close to the castle?

Maybe the eggshell cap wasn’t so bad.

I spent a while at the top of the tower; I could still see a great distance over a broad area. I even counted the towers I had already been to; I could see all of them but Hateno. The Dueling Peaks looked like molehills, and the Great Plateau was so far away and tiny....

When the sky was dark again the rain came back—and I started to freeze. I’d been able to see my breath, and my cheeks had had that rosy ice-bitten tint to them, but I hadn’t realized I was that high up.

I put on my Warm Doublet and passed the night beneath the shelter of the tower’s rune stone.