Running

Evening of Monday, May 6, 2019

Running

Scoured Giant’s Forest, skirted the Ancient Stump, looked into Coliseum, checked the crevice below Owa Daim’s shrine, flossed Hemaar’s Descent, ran the cliffs to the Illumeni Plateau.... Have not tried the Castle’s front door yet....

I scoured the road—the road!—from the Tabantha Great Bridge to the Gisa Crater, slaying two Guardian Flyers and a Talus. Nothing.

I searched high and low in the hills between Rito Village and the Hebra Mountains. Nothing. I combed the feet of the Akkala Falls near Tarrey Town. Nothing.

I raked the land in a bird’s-eye paraglide from the Lanayru Tower standing above the wetlands all the way across the Zodobon Highlands, to the Stone bearing Ruto’s Name, donning my Dark Ensemble at the last stretch out of some strange desperation.

How to draw out the final shrines....

I became hungry again and rewatched the Zelda’s Awakening cinematic.

Ahhh. I finally have a visual on Link’s saviors....

Now I can do faithful artistic justice....

It is past my bedtime....

I think.... Pepp’s.... will do....

*

And then I got on DeviantArt instead of going to bed like I should have, and searched out all the epic Zelda art I could find from which I had previously forbidden myself.

Oh sweet cathartic amazement and wonderfulness.

I was high as a kite.

Basecamp

Waking of Sunday, January 6, 2019 ~ 2

Basecamp

It was so much easier to get to Kaysa now that I could warp directly to the Tabantha Tower. With the Red Lizalfos tails I had collected, I had her do up my Snowquill Ensemble to its highest level! And then.... I think I am set....???? I thought wildly.

Back to Rito Village. I could only explore for so much longer. At length.... I came back to the Painted Landing—now Revali’s Landing—and aligned myself to the snowy clifftops Saki had indicated before. The Flight Range was somewhere over there. The distance looked manageable....

I was ready.

I leapt off the landing and began my paraglide over the lake. But what was my surprise before I even reached the other clifftop shore.... to see Kilton’s Balloon parked down there behind a rock near the edge.

I went to visit with him, taking my time perusing his wares, but he had nothing new.

FORWARD.

The cold pressed in at once, here near the icy coasts of Hebra once more. There was even snow on the ground. But my newly enhanced gear was awesome.

I did have to switch over to my Snow Boots after just a moment, though. If I wanted to move fast. And I did, because DANG I ran into a lot of trouble with mounted Bokoblins, an extraneous Yiga man who really should’ve been at home before his fire, and a number of Stalmoblins. And wolves.

Always the wolves, man....

But thanks to Kaysa, my Snowquill Ensemble was strong as well as warm. I cut and fought and bowled my way across the snow until I made it through to the Sha Warvo Shrine.

Path of Hidden Winds was the trial inside. Tricky!

Onward....

On into Dronoc’s Pass.

The Flight Range would be near here.... I could see the way I needed to go. But.... there was a dwelling over there, just to the north, nestled against the foothills of the mighty Hebra Peaks.

I just went to check it out....

The Hebra Trailhead Lodge this was called. Seemed to be some kind of basecamp.

No one was home, though.

Well, almost no one—there was a book. “Selmie’s Notes”. Selmie had been here?

Oh, she left survival notes, and mentioned that she’d left supplies at the bases of the flagpoles along the trail. That was nice of her. :)

Somebody else added....

“Selmie! Baby! I think I’m a better shield surfer! If I prove it, can we get married?”

And below that, an up arrow, and: “This total loser will never win!”

And then: “I didn’t know what love was until I saw Selmie sliding down the slopes... I can’t believe you retired... Where did you go?”

“Selmie, thank you for leaving the food! I’ll make good use of it here in the hut!”

“I saw some kid north of Coldsnap Hollow! He looked like he was pretty great at shield surfing!”

These must have been notes from other travelers. ^_^

“Selmie, thanks for the food that was left here. It seriously saved my life. I’ll be sure to leave some for the next person.”

“To whoever is reading this, please take as much of the food as you need.”

That was the end.

And well.... given express permission.... I helped myself, too. <3

When I came back outside, there was a dude by a fire.

I could be in the mood.... I approached him.

It was a Traveler all right.

I killed him.

Okay, to the Flight Range....

But....

No, it was late. I’d spent all day combing around this frosty little valley, and the icy night was fast approaching.

I decided instead to sleep in the lodge until morning.

Ruins and Remnants

Waking of Saturday, November 17, 2018

Ruins and Remnants

After I’d had a good sleep, I went back to the field.

Heh, I kept thinking of it not as the central plains but as The Field. Like Hyrule Field, from Ocarina of Time. Because there was a feature I’d seen there ever since I had downloaded the Central Map from the Scary Tower: Ranch Ruins.

I went there now, and cleared it out. Just a couple of Bokoblins, albeit they were mounted. But for those kinds I’ve become quite fond of simply Stasising them in midair while their mounts ride on, right out from under them. Makes them easier to deal with.

I guessed it made sense that there would still be horses around this place, too.

Those two brutes and a Guardian later, and the Ranch Ruins were mine to regard, alone in the quiet.

Oh my gosh it looked.... I could see the similarities. The big, once-fenced horse pasture, with the racing track around the outside. The remains of the silo across the way. The place where the cuccos lived. Even the red tile roofings were still here, all collapsed into the dirt.... Oh my heart.

That was poignant.

Also, when night fell.... I found another stalhorse.

I guessed that made sense too.

Partly with the aid of the skeletal mount, I worked my way further around the central plain. Just killing Guardians, exploring ruins.... There was a Mabe Village, there was some kind of garrison....

I moved up toward Castle Town, and remembered that Korok on the western side, in the prison, the one that I could never figure out. Maybe I could give him another go....

I warped to that shrine in the cave on the very western edges of the castle’s territory, and worked my way inward, dodging the Flyer, killing the Stalker.... until I came to the old prison. How many times had I been here? Four?

The little statues stood patiently waiting as always. Two of the three little offering platters once again held Rusty Shields. Tricksy little punk Korok was still throwing that curveball, eh?

Well.... I would just look a little harder this time....

And I did.... AND IT WORKED! I found a Rusty Shield over by a ruined wall beside the moat! And dropping it on the third platter, I got the Korok Seed! Yay. ^_^

That loose end taken care of, I started thinking of what other little chores I could tie up.

....I had pictographs of all three Leviathans now—I warped out of Castle Town Prison and went to the Serenne Stable to find those guys again.... I remembered, they were in Serenne, not Akkala....

But I paused for dinner before I spoke to them.

And then after we had eaten, David wanted to have some time on the game. So I watched him play for a while.

As it turned out, that map-creeper had been spying on me for shrines now that I had passed him up! Every time I’d looked at my map, he’d been studying it for the shrines that I had and he didn’t!

The nerve! XD

He got some shrine that I’d already done; I can’t remember which, and a little while later.... I picked up the game again.

At the Serenne Stable, I finally got back to those three men loitering near the manger. I’d never bothered to commit their names to memory; one of them might have been Akrah....

One of them saw my pictograph of the Gerudo Great Skeleton, bleached by the sun and mired in the desert sands, and he exclaimed that he was so happy because now he’d finally be able to prove his theory that the great leviathans’ extinction was caused by a massive drought!

The next one saw my pictograph of the Hebra Great Skeleton, entombed and encased in the heart of the icy mountain, and declared that now he would finally be able to prove that it had been a mighty ice age that had wiped out the leviathans!

The last one saw my pictograph of the Eldin Great Skeleton, weathering away on Eldin’s Flank at the base of the fiery Death Mountain, and pronounced that finally he had definitive proof that the leviathans had all been killed by a catastrophic volcanic eruption!

I.... kind of shook my head with a weary grin and didn’t argue with any of them.

I just accepted the cool three hundred rupees they gave me for my trouble, and left them to it.

On to another loose end....

I guessed I couldn’t really say anything about David spying on me for shrines.... because I then went after some of the Koroks I’d seen him get!

Back to Hebra I went, scouring that river that fed into the Shrine Under The Hill—the Koroks were really thick along there. So were the Icy Lizalfos, but I made do well enough.

I wandered more and more southward, catching Koroks by the butt-ton, until.... Hey....

“I’m not freezing!” I said to David. :D

The mercury had indeed risen, I could no longer see my breath, and my cheeks and the tip of my nose no more blushed at the stinging cold.

I had come to some large stretches of bare rock over which the snow had no hold, and I was grateful for the chance to switch to my more protective Champion’s Tunic, and especially the agility-boosting Climber’s Bandana. It was a great help in climbing some rock faces in order to dive into a Korok’s lily-pad circle in a large, natural water pocket—whose contents were also safely temperate to boot. :)

The Divine Beast Bird wheeled so close overhead now....

And away in the distance I could see what MUST have been.... Rito Village! 8D Houses like Kass’, all forested up and down that mighty rock spire I had seen!

And just down the cliff from where I was.... a Stable! ^_^

But.... I didn’t go there.... not yet.... not yet. It needed a proper approach.

I whisked away instead to the Central Tower for more Koroks—for from what I’d seen when David was playing, I had missed a few hiding in the scattered copses of trees just south of the ruined Castle Town....

And as I hunted the little sprites I pondered back on the leviathan pictographs I’d shown to Akrah and his friends. And I wondered aloud to David that there seemed to be a shrine at each skeleton except Eldin.

And then I said, “I should not be saying this out loud.” But David never minded.

I’m not sure what David thinks, but.... I have my own suspicions.... Maybe it will be the last shrine that appears there, beneath the Eldin Great Skeleton. The one that has.... those things in it. Dang you, internet.... Or was it Madman Joseph? I can’t remember....

In looking at my map I suddenly saw the little white icon and realized—“Oh shoot....”—I’d left Memory standing outside the Serenne Stable. I warped back there to board him again; poor thing was standing out in the rain.... I’d left him out after taking his and Dragmire’s pictographs for the Compendium. Evidently White and Giant horses registered as separate breeds, or separate enough for the Compendium to give each its own entry.

Hmmmmm....

Of course it was possible there was a discoverable shrine at the Eldin Skeleton after all.... and I just hadn’t been able to turn it up.

Ummmmm....

Vah Rudania.

I donned my Flamebreaker Armor and warped to the top of the volcano.... but—and I knew this would happen—I touched down on the side opposite where I needed to be.... and the Divine Beast perched in the way of my taking the short way round; the game wouldn’t let me get too close to it....

And so in only a minor huff I about-faced and began circling the caldera, sailing from crag to crag, and climbing to the pinnacle of each before leaping off again. After perhaps seven or eight of these slow, hot scrambles, I came to the north side of the caldera, from whence I could make the long, direct paraglide down the northern flank of the volcano to the Deplian Badlands below—which flight, even with my nearly full Stamina meter, required a few pitstops along the way.

This really was the most direct route to the Eldin Great Skeleton?

Once again, closest shrine to the east was Gut Check Rock, and that was a very long trek; closest to the west was at the shrouded Thyphlo Ruins, deep in a maze locked in darkness, and also a very long trek; and on the volcano the nearest shrine was that one beneath an ancient, petrified giant crab’s carapace in the middle of a lava lake, accessible only by railcar—not really meant to be a gateway to anywhere....

Gosh there was just NO easy way to get there....

There HAD to be something closer....

On the last legs of my long paraglide I saw that Dinraal was approaching from high in the east over the chasm that separated Hyrule from the north countries. I knew he would swoop down near the skeleton.... May as well try for a piece of him, I thought. But I was so far away still, and he was already passing by....

I gave it a shot anyway. My first arrow came up short—the distance was too great. With my second arrow, I aimed a little higher.... and I JUST caught him on his left hind foot! The scale shimmered and broke off, Dinraal made for the heavens, and I touched down on top of the Eldin Great Skeleton’s skull.

The scale gleamed and glimmered at me from where it had landed a bowshot away, down on the easy, flat ground. A bit forward and to the left of where the skeleton’s great nose was pointing.

“Well go get it,” says David.

“But there’s bad guys underneath this thing.” I wondered if the scale would wait for me, not depopulate, if I took time to play the Bomb game....

“Then we’ll do it real quiet like,” said David in Han Solo’s voice.

And Hnnnnngh I just jumped down and got it. And I found I needn’t have worried; the bad guys didn’t see me. They were situated more underneath the rib cage, and with the immensity of this skeleton’s skull, that was no small distance away.

David was in the other room when I picked up the scale—

“WHAT.”

“What?” asks David.

“DAVID.” I just—

He came back in.

It was not a scale.

It was Dinraal’s CLAW.

Never got wunna those before....

....

I think I’m over-Zelda’ed for this weekend.

Korok Woods. Pepp’s. Sleep. Done.

Good night.

SNOW DAY 3: WRESTING THE BEST ERE THE QUEST TO THE WEST

Waking of Friday, November 16, 2018

SNOW DAY 3: WRESTING THE BEST ERE THE QUEST TO THE WEST

FOR A TEST PER BEHEST OF THE GODDESS MOST BLESSED.

That’ssss a little carried away.

BECAUSE I DO NOT JEST WHEN I SAY I’M HER GUEST

‘CAUSE THIS WORLD IS ALL MESSED; I’VE KILLED MANY A PEST—

I don’t even like rap, what am I doing—

*AHEM*

I put on all my cold clothes and was ready to go back to Hebra to try out shield surfing and I warped tooooo.... Mount Lanayru.

I sailed down to the Lanayru Road; couldn’t see a thing on the way down for the snowclouds....

But I was gonna get me some hornshard.

It took forever. The dragons never show up when you’re looking for them. I ran around looking for other useful things in the meanwhile, and found the most enormous Korok circle I had ever seen. By which I mean the circle itself was typical, and not extraordinary in shape or pattern. It was just made of BOULDERS. BIG rocks! I grunted and huffed and puffed to roll the one from the center over to the empty spot in the ring.

Whoof.

Well played, Korok. Well played.

I also took the opportunity to kill a Blue Hinox, and that so quickly that it was dead before its music even started! By the time its life bar showed up, only a tenth of it remained, if that. Two more hits with whatever dragon-bone Big Stick I was wielding, and he was down. It’s astonishing what Urbosa’s Fury can accomplish when I wear my Barbarian Armor....

But these my diversions were not without their own frustrations—like HOW does a 300-foot dragon sneak past you? TWICE?

I tried to be more attentive, and was rewarded with some scales, but EVENTUALLY.... I did get a hornshard!

That was two hornshards. I could have upgraded my Champion’s Tunic if I wanted to.

But....

I didn’t.

I just went to the Plateau to pray.

I went all the way to the Temple of Time again, before I remembered that I only had 11 Spirit Orbs and I wanted to wait until I had 12. Just one more....

I went back to Pepp’s. I almost went straight into the Deku Tree’s Navel, but I stopped to actually talk to the Deku Tree first, as it had been a while.

And the Deku Tree told me something most illuminating—he said that the Master Sword glowed when it was near Ganon, or those touched by his Malice.

Well that explained it.

And that meant that.... the Guardians must have had the Malice in them too.... judging by my encounters in Ordorac Quarry.

It was 4:55 in the morning when I went to check in with Pepp, and so I slept five minutes until the morning proper, and then quit for a while.

When I came back, I warped to Hebra again, and continued my Snow Day! :)

I didn’t go shield surfing after all, but continued south from the northwestern corner of the map, where I had climbed low down the cliffs nigh to falling off the edge of the world.

Saw many things along the way! Found a bear and killed it—and it was a much more drawn-out fight than I would have thought! I could see now how David had once been killed by one of these. Found a Hinox and killed it—Urbosa’s Fury in the Barbarian Armor once again brought down the house! Found a Lynel and.... skirted it. They’re all White-Maned now.

I kept meandering southward until I found, hidden deep within the black stony cliffs beside a deadly icy lake brooding with malevolent Octoroks and planked by pointless and rickety boardwalks to nowhere.... the Maka Rah Shrine! Whose resident challenge was called Steady Thy Heart.

DANG.

If Hawa Koth were like the sparky younger cousin of Kaam Ya’Tak.... then this Maka Rah was surely.... like the sadistic older sister who punishes you for intruding on her CLEARLY-boundaried privacy.

That was my one-hundredth shrine.

I was ahead of David now.

SNOW DAY 2: THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

Waking of Thursday, November 15, 2018 ~ 2

SNOW DAY 2: THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

I put just a little more juice in the controller before moving on with Selmie’s dialogue.

“*sigh...*” she said, and then, “Hey... What’s that on your back?! That’s a radiant shield! You wouldn’t believe how rare those things are! You practically never see them anymore... If you’re carrying THAT shield, then... Whoa. This is big! You hiked all this way to meet the best there ever was at shield surfing, right?”

Guess that explained all the shields on her walls....

And oh dear I had a choice: “Yes!” or “No.”

I kind of wanted to continue on with my mad rush of a snow day, but.... well, I’d be nice to the lady. “Yes!” I said.

“Knew it!” Selmie cheered, “Too bad for you that I’m retired, huh? It’s been years since anyone knew me as the Duchess of Downhill.”

Oh my gosh I breathed a BIG sigh of relief. XD I don’t like damaging my shields, and hated to think I would be roped into doing so!

“But if you don’t mind a few pointers from a has-been, I’d be happy to critique your technique.”

And again: “Yes!” or “I’m fine.”

Hhhhuhhuhuhuhhhhmmmmm.... but I was sure I could find something.... in my inventory.... that I could throw away for this....

Hhhhh.

“Yes!” I said.

Selmie laughed. She was such a cute, short-haired blond with cute clothes. Just comely.

“Such enthusiasm!” she said, “I haven’t seen anyone with passion like that since...well, me!”

Hehhh.... |D I wondered what Siara would think of my being so codependent. Still.... what was I really here for anyway?

A short while later I was hitting the slopes for twenty rupees a pop, first the basic course and then the advanced. As I’d never practiced very much, my time was pretty average, Selmie said. But she encouraged me by noting that once I cleared the advanced course, I could earn special shields for beating certain times.

“How’s that for incentive?” she said.

Ooh la la! 8D

Except, I was so full on shields already that she couldn’t give me anything just at that time.

Ohh. :c

I could have dropped a Lizalfos shield; I had a million of those. But I didn’t feel like doing the whole slope again just then.

But if I ever wanted neat new shields in the future.... I definitely knew where to find them now!

I had been so distracted by Selmie’s Spot that I hadn’t even locked down the shrine just next door, the Shada Naw Shrine. I completed it to quiet the brreeping, and that was my fifth shrine of the day.

After that I just kept on keepin’ on to the northwest, discovering one Goflam’s Secret Hot Spring. That was a nice place to warm up my hearts.

Next in line was a shrine I had already seen David get—well, I hadn’t actually SEEN him get it, but I sure watched it drive him mad for hours and hours as he combed the northern faces of the mountain range looking for it.

He had showed me on his map all the places he had searched, and the shrine signals he had tracked (he had marked them with stamps). But I had been more interested in the topography.... There on the southern side of the mountains, but still somewhat close to all the hot signals, there seemed to be an overhang of some sort. It looked quite massive....

But I said nothing.

I just watched until David noticed the same thing.

It didn’t feel like a spoiler then.

It was another hidden cavern, and it was kind of like the Kopeeki Drifts in that he’d had to roll a snowball down a hill to smash the doors open. But once those doors had opened for him, I was out! I didn’t want to see spoilers, and the interior of that place looked massive.

But now it was my turn to uncover the same secret.

I hadn’t felt spoiled about watching him roll the snowball either, for I had silently guessed how to do it before he did! (And that before I’d even made it to Kopeeki Drifts!) You had to Cryonis an icy little pond partway down the slope in order to bridge a certain gap and let the snowball go over. And once it did.... smash! The two giant double-doors collapsed inward.

A vast, blue cavern lay within, with what looked like.... roots, at first glance. Pale roots arcing over the path as it bent around to the left.

But then I moved, and the parallax set in. The pale protrusions were much farther away than I’d thought. But I didn’t pay them too much heed; I had eyes only for the shrine I knew was here. And I saw it.

But as I descended further and the cavern widened and I began to take it all in, I could see the glowing orange shrine, and I could see that it was set far down in the middle of the gigantic space, and a bewilderment of dim colors slid over each other high in the gloom as I moved and—AND A SKELETON??

It had registered all at once, of a sudden.

OH MY GOSH THIS WAS THE HEBRA LEVIATHAN??

David passed through the room at that very moment and looked from my gaping mouth to the screen and back, and laughed.

I had found the third skeleton. Without even knowing it.

Those long, bending, crooked pale shapes.

I kept moving forward.

The jutting stalagmites around me rightly crawled with iridescence.

The Hebra Great Skeleton. Oh my gosh.

There was water here, too.... And it was temperate. It lapped along a hump of blue-grey rock that led to the shrine like a path.

This was the To Quomo Shrine.

And that made.... six today, I thought.

It was a Blessing Shrine. I was grateful for the Spirit Orb, but I was also keen to come back out and look around!

I explored the Leviathan, chased a Korok around on top of it. This one’s bones were different again. The skull had.... an occipital protrusion, like a pterodactyl, and its snout was split, down the middle. It was in two parts, all the way to the tips of the nose, which hooked slightly downward. The bottom jaw was in two pieces as well, and those wide apart from each other. A baleen feeder? It had very large eye sockets, and I could also see the phalanges on this one. It seemed.... like a water creature. What on EARTH....

Then.... the Eldin Great Skeleton had been a ground thing, Gerudo a flyer, and.... this one a water-dweller.

But how did it end up inside a mountain? Makes me think of.... Jabun.

Well.

I guess that’s why they call it the Legend of Zelda.

So many elements all the same.

All different in every telling of the tale.

And here was the water-whale god inside the mountain.

Rest In Peace.

Was it.... getting foggy in here....?

I moved on, and kept climbing.

And it wasn’t long before there was.... another Shrine Signal?

I found it over the edge of and down underneath the high, flat Biron Snowshelf. The Mozo Shenno Shrine. Tricky one to get to.

It was a Major Test of Strength, and so I went in with my Guardian Armor. I did well! Until I tried to backflip away again, but evidently came up short as the Guardian cut me once with his giant blade. After this we drew apart, and he did that spinny-laser in a wide radius, casting up an updraft. But hot and mussed from the contact I equipped my strongest Lynel bow (50 damage x3) and nocked some hard specialty arrows.

“Don’t screw with me,” I growled, “I will wreck you.”

I killed him in the end. Hacked him to bits just before his charging laser could fry my face off. And I got a core among the spoils!

That brought me to fifteen cores.

I could upgrade my Ancient Armor set now, I thought. If I wanted.

But I kept trekking through the mountains. More Koroks. Sherfin’s Secret Hot Spring. I wondered who all these people were who had discovered all these hot springs, and why they were a secret....

The Hia Miu Shrine.

I kept climbing about the north faces, chasing lower altitudes and ledges that looked promising but led nowhere until.... I’d finally had enough. Clinging low off my map, wary of the boundary between solid ground and what the game would register as a bottomless fall, I warped the nope out of there to Dueling Peaks. Wasn’t there a cave I’d seen around there once?

I checked.

There wasn’t.

The polygons.... they can trick your eyes, when viewed from a great distance.

I was running out of juice, and for some reason decided to just.... go home. I warped to the Shrine of Resurrection.

“I went home,” I said to David.

And then David caught the affronted look on my face as I saw.... there was a Korok waiting to be found in my bed-pod.

David laughed.

“GET OUT OF MY BED.” I say. D8<

I left the shrine and jogged down the grassy slope to the Temple of Time, and the Goddess Statue.

But.... 11 Spirit orbs.... Just one more....?

I would wait for 12, and pray for three vessels at once.

I did nothing.

I warped to Tera.

But I did nothing.

I went to Pepp’s, and slept.

I was tired.

Been doing this icy mountain all day on a day when it’s cold, cold, cold....

SNOW DAY

Waking of Thursday, November 15, 2018

SNOW DAY

So David and I.... we’d kind of been one-upping each other the entire game. He had more shrines, but I had more Koroks seeds. And we would poke fun at each other for being so behind in one area or another....

But lately.... David’s been seeing my shrine number go up, and so that sped him up, which made me want to get more....

And I’d seen him combing this cold, cold snowy region....

....It was my turn now!

Out from the Snowfield Stable and I was goin’ for the mountains! Looking for Koroks and Shrines!

OH it was a hard and fast snow day for me! I found my first shrine in the Pikida Stonegrove—which would have seemed a friendlier place if not for the everpresent snowy haze in the air! That and the incessant Lizalfos and Frost Pebblits made it rather foreboding. Great stone columns in a slanting valley, bearing up a canopy of flat-topped rock on top—which was as good as another snowfield in and of itself! Rok Uwog was the name of the Shrine there.

The second shrine I found in the Kopeeki Drifts! That was a fun one to get to, rolling giant snowballs down criss-crossing grooves in the snow! Trying to guess which one would lead to the giant stone doors at the bottom and SMASH them open! The Gee Ha’rah Shrine was inside.

I followed my shrine locator just up the hill to the west, and proceeded to chase it in circles around a large, snow-covered mound, beneath which ran an icy stream. I was dang near tripping over the Koroks, but for the life of me I could find no way to access the inside of this mound.... Well, no safe way. For the water was frigid, and would sap my hearts.

There were two small, tunnel-like openings into the mound where the stream entered and exited it; the only other opening to the interior was a low, wide cave-mouth on the side, where the icy water licked at a tiny shore like a miniature beach. I could see the shrine’s orange glow if I crouched. It looked like it was on its own tiny island in there.... with some Lizalfos, aw crap heck....

I rather found that.... there was nothing for it. I swam for it in my Zora Gear! And lost half my hearts. This was the Lanno Kooh Shrine, and thankfully it simply offered a Blessing for my efforts. Hahh, I could see why....

Made me want to draw Link shivering getting back into warm clothes once he got up onto the shrine-rock. Hoohoohooo brrrrr....

I don’t like interrupting the line of my travels when I can help it, but I did not want to swim back out of that place. Though the Spirit Orb had replenished my hearts, I really would rather have warped, and so went back to the Hebra Tower. That would be close enough.

The day was clearer than it had been when I touched down. And looking back at the mountains and studying my map, it was only then that I realized.... oh my goodness....

There is a mountain. A mountain I have seen many times. And it is the most oddly-shaped thing.... There is a hole blasted right through it. Well, not strictly; it did not form a tunnel.

When you looked at it from other places all over Hyrule, you saw the triangle of the peak, and then just high on the left side of the silhouette, somewhat overlapping the edge, there was just a big circle missing. Like a leaf-cutter bee had come and just snipped it out.

I had long been very curious about what must be up in that hole....

And looking back at the mountains and studying my map, I now realized....

I HAD BEEN ON TOP OF THAT MOUNTAIN.

The very one! It was the tallest peak! I’d climbed up there in my mad snow day wanderings and already said hello to the Korok! That giant hole had been right beneath me!

I wanted back up there!

So I went! I climbed and climbed and climbed, cresting hills and paragliding over ravines until I came to THE HOLE.

It gaped above me like a monstrous cave. “Oh my gosh IT’S HUGE,” I marveled. And the inside was all.... one texture? .... Eaten away, blasted out. Burned up.

Wow.

The shrine signal was strong here. I followed it to about the middle of the cut—for though the hole seemed crisp and shallow by far away silhouette, it was actually quite long, spearing lengthwise through the mighty ridge.

Around the middle, nestled in the inward wall against the heart of the mountain, there was a shrine behind some huge chunks of ice. I could see the orange glow through a high gap. There seemed to be plenty of room to access it from above, but when I tried to climb up to it, I slipped down the bluish-grey surface.

“OH MY GOSH, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”

“What is it, ice?” asked Mom, who was in the room.

“It’s.... glass,” I said.

The mountain had been burned right through. I knew it.

What could do this?

Had it been a Divine Beast?

I got busy laying fires, and decided to clear away all of the ice, even the block containing a frozen Moblin. It came to life well enough once it was free, but I killed it with a little help from Daruk. Another chunk of ice contained a hidden treasure chest, and that was neat.... but most of the rest of it was merely ice.

The multitude of campires I had laid was a striking sight against the cold, dark blue, so I backed up and took a pictograph of them gleaming along with the warm light of the shrine.... JUST before a Blood Moon put them all out and brought that Black Moblin back to life! He hit me again this time without Daruk impeding him. Ouch my Warm Doublet had such a low defense....

I was suddenly regretting freeing the monster from the ice.... Would it forever spawn in this location now? Dang it....

This FOURTH SHRINE that I had found today was called the Goma Asaagh Shrine. And it contained a Major Test of Strength. Easy peazy lemon squeezy.

Upon completing the trial and exiting the shrine, I stepped back into the hole in the mountain to discover.... MORE SHRINE SIGNAL?

I continued up through the hole! Northwest and at a slight incline. Maybe whatever blast made this hole had come from the lower direction of the castle....

After getting rid of an Ice Wizzrobe in my way and going just a bit further I saw some smoke in the distance! And following this, I saw there was.... there was a cabin!

Selmie’s Spot, this was called?

Well at least it sounded like there would be people around.

I went in.

Selmie was.... a girl. Out here alone?

She had a lot of shields mounted high on her walls. Some of them I recognized, some of them I didn’t.

“Huh... Welcome to the middle of nowhere,” she said, “Population: us.”

Hah. XD

Her music was so soothing and pleasant after the rigours of the mountain.

I set the controller in its cradle to recharge (the light was red), just with the screen on that first line of dialogue. And when I came back from MADLY JOTTING ALL THESE NOTES FOR THIS ENTRY.... I just felt like sitting and listening to it. Just the sound of the music at Selmie’s Spot.

So soothing and pleasant after the rigours of the mountain....

Just the sound of it.... and the fire crackling.... and the wind blowing.... I just wished I could have it.... playing. Just for sound in the house. Or in my room. I could fall asleep to this. “Wouldn’t this make a beautiful lullaby?”

Mom agreed. <3

I was so utterly content and happy.

But wait it gets worse.

I was just listening to the slow, downward progression of the notes, the chords.... broken chords rolling upward in little changes.... when OH MY GOSH WHAT NO THIS WHAT YOU CAN’T THAT’S—

I TENSED UPON THE COUCH....

Got up. Still rather crouching. Padded softly closer to the TV.

Listened.

And listened more.

The progression was slow....

But no.... It was.... unmistakable.

Selmie’s music....

WAS THE HOUSE MUSIC FROM OCARINA OF TIME.

OH MY GOOOOSSSSSHHHHHH—

Augh.

It was so beautiful....

I love meeting old friends in new skins and new attire.

It's Barbaric Out There

Waking of Saturday, November 10, 2018 ~ 2

It’s Barbaric Out There

I made just one more dash past the Lynels to get back to the labyrinth, and give it a proper explore.

This was the North Lomei Labyrinth.

Huh. But the Lomei Labyrinth Island was just as northward, wasn’t it?

I didn’t let it bother me. I just made my perfunctory circumnavigation—happily discovering a Korok on the way, in a green-leafed tree that was most out of place here in this frozen wasteland—before stepping over the threshold, and hearing the voice of the monk.

Qaza Tokki addressed me and informed me that his treasure awaited me at the labyrinth’s end....

I went to it. There were some Lizalfos nests in here, some of them SERIOUS. And more Malice. But this time, I actually FOUND AN EYEBALL. I shot it, and a few of the magenta pools evaporated to reveal some extra treasure chests.... neat!

It was a cool maze, and quite difficult! I had to look beyond the lateral to solve it.... But at length I finally came to the Qaza Tokki Shrine, where the monk simply granted me his Blessing.

And inside the treasure chest.... Here it comes, I thought.... OuO

BARBARIAN LEG WRAPS!

I HAD THE SET!  >⩌<

OH IT LOOKED SO COOL!

Aahh! Time to hit up the Great Fairies! .... Later.

I went back to the stable, and thought about climbing more of the icy hills on the other side of the snowfield, but.... it was late.

I satisfied myself with listening to a few bedtime stories from Old Man Monkton, who told me the tragic tales of his childhood friends Harry and Mary. They had always been warned of the dangers of going near the maze and the nearby canyon ruins. But one day Monkton urged Harry to go into the maze as a sort of test of courage. He never saw Harry again. He said the mere memory still breaks his heart to this day. And Mary? One day she and Monkton went to the canyon to get a glimpse of the ruins. But Mary lost her footing and in the blink of an eye she slipped and tumbled down the cliff. Monkton never saw her again. He said that memory would haunt him to his dying day.

He said he guessed children have no real sense of danger, and that innocent curiosity can sometimes cause tragedies that can never be taken back. But as he grew older, he learned to overcome his grief over losing them, saying that you can’t change the past, only the future.

I was pretty shocked at how.... dark this was turning! Until Monkton went on to say, “Harry and Mary never made it back, but two of their descendants are in that stall over there. My only friends out in these parts were horses, you see. I suppose that’s still true to this day.”

....Oh.

They were horses.

Well that made it.... a bit more bearable I guess. XD

Goodness.

The Fleeting Career of Mr. Jingles

Waking of Saturday, November 10, 2018

The Fleeting Career of Mr. Jingles

I WAS GONNA GET THAT STALHORSE!

I set out from the Snowfield Stable in the morning, and fortunately it took me all day to climb the mountain, kill the baddies on top and find and suffice that golf-Korok. And when the world went dark, I sailed down past the Lynel toward the maze and.... there were no stalhorses there.

I dashed past the Lynel and back to the snowfield. No stalhorses anywhere.

Um.

“Where’d you see it, David?”

“By the maze.”

Huh.

Okay.

I slipped back past the Lynel ONE MORE TIME.... And found a stalhorse. Excellent. I knocked off its rider, tamed it, and took it back to the stable....

And as ever and always, the stablehand at the counter blindly asked if I wanted to register my new mount.

“Yes!” Oh please oh please oh please.... XD I was already thinking of possible names, and for some reason could not banish the thought of calling him “Mr. Jingles”....

“Uh,” the stablehand pulled up short, “that’s a monster, not a horse!”

Dang it! XD

“I’m sorry but we can’t board that... thing, here. It might eat the other horses.”

XD Well, couldn’t say I hadn’t been expecting that response....

I tried to interact with the skeletal horse for a while. The other residents were certainly reacting to him already, the people starting in shock at the sight of him, and the dog darting away in fear.

I dropped some carrots on the ground, but the stalhorse ignored them. Next, reminding myself just a bit of Harry Potter, I tried some meat. The stalhorse ignored this too. But the dog didn’t. He came hopefully padding up to where it lay on the ground, but I picked up the treat before he could get it, and he bounded away again.

I didn’t know what else to do, and so simply remounted and walked in sedate meanderings for a while, admiring the lightening scenery about the stable. I stayed with Mr. Jingles until the sun came up, whereupon he bucked me off.... and died.

David was horrified at the sight and sound of it.

I was just another horse short.

Ah well.

TO HEBRA!

Waking of Saturday, November 3, 2018 ~ 4

TO HEBRA!

I went back to the Serenne Stable!

I was gonna go north!

AND I DID!

I took the road to the northeast and ran! Beyond Mount Drena, the Blue Marker Mountain from long ago! Past the place where I had met that nice lady merchant with her donkey! Past the spot where I saw my first Tabantha Moose!

The road bent around the head of the canyon of the Forgotten Temple, curving back to the west, and the mercury plummeted. The trees became stark and sparsely-leaved. More moose and rhinoceroses started appearing! And it was a surprisingly short jog until I came of a sudden.... upon the Snowfield Stable!

I quickly locked down the neighboring Rin Oyaa Shrine—Cool!—before visiting with the locals. What in the world were people even doing out here in the icy nothing?

Harlow spoke of swords—They were cool, he said, but he asserted that a sword didn’t make a hero.

But Danton talked about the Sword of Legend.... now that was a cool sword.

“This sword here?” I showed it.

“That’s the sword of legend?” Danton said, “It’s slimmer than I imagined. I thought it’d be as big as me! With, like... jewels everywhere.”

And I legitimately wondered whether one of the writers must have based that exchange on an actual recounted history of some semi-knowledgeable non-fan getting his first glimpse of The Legend of Zelda’s fabled Master Sword.... XD

Danton was grateful anyway. “I’ll never forget this day!” he said. Aw, he had such a nice smile and a genuine face. :)

I went inside the stable, where the temperature did not improve—gosh this place was just cold all over—and one Juannelle told me about a.... STALHORSE? WHAT ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

She wanted a picture. ಠ_ಠ Or some notes. What in the ACtual crap.

And she told me where to find it. Oh I needed this region’s tower....

I could see the tower further to the southwest, up on some low, dark crumble of snow-covered rock. It looked easy enough to get to....

I KEPT GOING.

I clambered up into the rocky hills with the tower looming closer and closer above me—they were rarer now—until I came to a place where the road forked off to the left.

Huh? There seemed to be some kind of habitation over there.... nestled against the mountain....

I went to investigate.

This place was called Pondo’s Lodge. It was homey, and comfy. And the sole resident Pondo for whom it was named must have been someone’s father. Because only dads can crack out that many bad puns in such rapid succession.

It was amazing.

Near Pondo’s home was a little sunken dell, the far end of which held a smattering of peacefully leafless winter trees, cozy in the grey. The near end of the dell.... Pondo had transformed into something else.

A long, heaping ramp of snow (or earth covered with such) led from Pondo’s stead all the way down to the floor of the dell, where it transitioned smoothly into a large, circular mound with a flat top. And on this platform was where Pondo liked to set up his gigantic, moose-headed, totem pole pins with which to go.... Snowling.

I paid that man so many rupees. You got three big snowballs per game, but that ramp was so bumpy! It was difficult to anticipate how the snowballs would bounce or what little bumps might dump them over the side edge completely. My snowballs—though they grew encouragingly in size on the way down—kept veering off to the right....

But eventually, I got a strike! And Pondo gave me a prize for my efforts, rupees again, I think.... I can’t remember....

That guy.... so punny....

I thought about stopping there for the night. It was an inviting, comfy, warm and friendly place.... And the hour was getting so late, and I was tired.... And I loved all his moose-decor....

BUT THE TOWER WAS RIGHT THERE....

I kept climbing.

There were no great enemies about on guard, but the base of the tower—the Hebra Tower—was surrounded by a bristling ring of ice. And as the ground was so uneven, it was a little difficult to lay a fire. But eventually I found a spot of ground level enough to set down some wood and flint and set it alight without it rolling or sliding away.

It.... exercises your patience, the ice does. Unless you want to blow a ton of Fire Arrows all at once. But I just waited for my fire to melt the ice chunks until a big enough hole opened up for me to reach the tower.

The climb to the top was blissfully uneventful. And as I studied the new map data, I saw that.... THERE WAS ANOTHER LABYRINTH HERE. HEE.

My eyes roved over all the cool new places to explore, until eventually I paraglided back to the stable. I thought to save it then, it was getting so late, but....

Stalhorse....

It was night.

I went to look for it.

Juannelle had said it was to the north.... I set out across the stark and naked snowscape, only pulling up when I saw a Lynel in the distance. I didn’t want to get too close.

I searched up and down the north end of the plain, but couldn’t find any trace of a stalhorse. No, but hadn’t she said it would be near some ruins?

The labyrinth!

But.... those freaking Lynels in the way!

The night was burning fast. In desperation I ran up onto the bordering mountain to skirt the eastern Lynel before the morning came. And paragliding back down through the everpresent fog and mist, I caught sight of some movement on the road to the towering labyrinth....

I came closer and FOUND IT OH MY GOSH. I snapped a pictograph. A Stalkoblin was riding a Stalhorse!

....

I WANTED IT!

I dashed in, dispatched a loitering Lizalfos, killed the Bokoblin rider, and.... approached the skeletal equine.... It had glowing eyes and the rags of ancient trappings. Its tail was scraggly, and it had no mane.

I mounted it, and it uttered the rippling, gurgling ghost of a whinny as I tried to soothe it.... And what was more my surprise and my dread.... it calmed down and I sat still upon it. .__.

It was nearly morning! I wanted to take it back to the stable—could I make it?

I turned it about, and we got on the road, and I spurred it forward, but it bucked me off—had I spurred it too forcefully?—reared in throat-tearing agony, and DIED as the sun rose. Its bones separated and crumbled and turned black and disintegrated in the rising light, and it was gone.

....

Man.

....

I warped back to the stable—still didn’t want to deal with that Lynel—and Juannelle gave me like a hundred rupees or something for the picture.

That was enough for today. I was savin’ and goin’ to bed. It was late.

And all my two hours of sleep were full of Lynels in the snow.