Last Corners

Friday, May 10, 2019 ~ 5

Last Corners

Back to the Outside Track.

I followed it counter clockwise again. I was almost to the entrance to the Dining Hall. There’d be Moblins in there—

Ah—phoo, I’d forgotten that stretch. That stretch of road just off the Dining Hall, that stretch where a dead Guardian had fallen down from above right in front of me before.

It just did it again.

Ahahah....

Now I was back inside.

I wanted to see if I could reach the Malice Balcony. It had been blocked on the west side.... and completely shut off on the south side opening. I had to be able to reach it from here, from the east....

I made it through the Dining Hall, down the corridor to the left, and to a doorway that led into the room below the balcony, some antechamber.

There was Malice blocking the way here, too. But this time there was an eyeball. I shot it, and the way cleared.

The room beyond was new to me.

There was a Moblin. Right in there to the right, squatting at rest on the floor and facing perpendicular to my entrance.

I walked in with my mask. I thought for sure—for SURE—he would see me, but.... Dang. I mean, I stepped into the room right at his 10:30, but he never stirred. Not when I crossed the threshold, not when I walked slowly along the inner wall, further down his left side. Not when I passed his 9:00, nearly brushing his ear. I came all the way down and back behind him.... and sneakstruck him in one.

Well at least it was quick.

Now, the balcony....

A broad and perhaps still handsome staircase led up to the south, opposite where the Moblin had been squatting. No Malice blocked my way here; the path to the last room was open. I started up the red-carpeted steps.

Another Moblin waited at the top. Oh this one saw me all right, as I came straight up his 12:00. And like they do, he started at my mask, and then began lumbering toward me to investigate this new, tiny brother.

I let him come down and draw close, maneuvering him onto lower ground before—“Don’t try it....”—dispatching him on the staircase.

After this I ascended further, but did not leave the mouth of the stairway. There was an eyeball up there, high and away on the far side of the upper room.

My Royal Bow was extremely damaged. But it had at least one shot left in it, if I could be sure not to waste it....

I took aim before the eyeball could spot me, and—“Royal Bow.... fly!” I urged it. And the arrow struck true, as the bow shattered in my hands.

And the eyeball shriveled and died.... and the Malice evaporated.... and I could see....

The rain.

The Observation Room this was called. Fitting.

A crumbled statue of the bird motif from the royal crest, its wings spread back and wild, stood on a plinth in the center of the room.

It must have been handsome once. Was this.... a stylized Loftwing?

I went up one of the smaller side-stairs, which led to the upper platform, and outside. A Thunderblade was embedded in the high, central floor, but I had no room to carry it. I did have room for the bundle of arrows I found just over the threshold, however. Handy.

And that ridiculous longshot Korok was still there. Yeah don’t think I’ve forgotten you, you little guttersnipe.

But....

My gosh, the view.

The balcony was splendid without the wall of Malice choking it closed. This really was a spectacular vantage point from which to look out over the castle grounds, and the town below. How green and alive it might have looked once, with birds chirping and people milling.... soldiers’ armor clinking.... wagons rattling.... melodious voices....

....

The giant gate, on the earthbridge over the moat, had closed its doors again.

The Guardian Flyer still circled, ready to murder in a dun world.

....

The grey waste of Castle Town looked inviting. To escape to.

How ridiculous.

...

I.... don’t think I can find another shrine inside the Castle Town.

....

How am I to do?

....

....

I consult my map.

I think I have visited all the inside areas of the castle.

Observation Room, Guards’ Chamber, the long corridor down to the Grand Staircase, and back to that Shaft Room, the West Passage on into the Lockup.... And on the east side from the Observation Room.... the Dining Hall, the other little Guards’ Room, back into the Library, leading off into the East Passage, and down to the Docks.

And Zelda’s Chambers isolated high on the west side.

....I’ve been everywhere inside.

And a fair number of places outside.

....

I don’t think there’s another shrine in here.

My fear was that it would be like the Toto Sah Shrine, which I did not recall hearing my Shrine Detector brreep-brreep about. Hidden behind that rock barrier below Misko’s Treasure Cache.

But another thing I did not remember about that encounter was whether or not my Slate was even set to detect Shrines at that moment.

Would I be able to hear a hidden shrine?

I don’t know.

....

I’m really low on arrows.

Revali.

Take me outta here.

Shouldn't It Stand To Reason?

Friday, May 10, 2019 ~ 3

Shouldn’t It Stand To Reason?

Having cleaned out the Lockup, it was back to the tall chamber with the Moblin....

The Shaft.

It seemed to be directly below Princess Zelda’s Study and bedchamber.

Bracing beams supported the dark stonework for.... what must have been several stories overhead. Drainage came in from somewhere in a waterfall. A number of grates were set into the floor for this; the torrent sluiced in and gurgled away beneath them. One part of the stone wall stuck out like a barrel, all round—tubular more like, bound in by more beams and struts. I could just spy the Moblin on the other side of one of these supports. Malice glopped onto the walls and floor behind him....

But first.... there was a hidden bombable wall.... and that led to....

The West Passage?

I followed it into a rougher-cut tunnel; no bricks. There was a pool down here.... and.... moldy rotten Guardians lined up as if they were growing out of the walls, what—what—? Augh, they were dead, thankfully, but.... Ugh. The sight was.... It was like those robots from Castle in the Sky, all growing, all moldering.... only.... What did it mean? Hadn’t the Guardians come from those five Pillars somehow? Or had they been buried like fossils in the soil? Is this where the Royal Family had unearthed some of them? Er, had had some of them unearthed....? And so close to the passages they walked.... How.... creepy....

I proceeded cautiously until, Oh, I saw as I got closer—the pool was a hot spring.

And there were three little pools before three little statues on the other side of it.

Hard boiled eggs bobbed in each pool except the middle one.

I dropped an egg into that one, and it boiled. The Korok appeared.

Hadn’t seen that trick before.

Noice.

I soothed myself in the spring. Seven or eight hearts back up to full. It was a welcome respite.

Continuing along the dark passage, I encountered some Keese, but.... nothing else.

A minecart track led its way out of the passage, but.... there was no minecart.

I guessed this was as far as I could go.

Okay then.... back to the Shaft....

I turned to start back, but—

NO. I was probably not going to come this way again. Just go! I told myself. The rest of the passage didn’t extend that far, judging by the map....

I climbed outside! With nothing else for it I crawled along the bare bleak stone beside the anchored minecart track until I got into the other tunnel. More Keese. Frost Pebblits? Easy enough....

I walked a little further to what seemed to finally be the end of the passage.... and.... Okay, it was just another outside entrance guarded by a Flyer.

Due diligence done, it was time to go back.

I took the Goron Minecart this time. Heh, hadn’t done that in a while.... and had never dared do it in the Castle! But, as I’d already cleaned out the passageway.... why not!

I had seen these tracks from far away across the moat before. Many times. How they arced around the great bald patches of stone surrounding the castle’s lower foundations. I could never see myself actually riding them, but now.... I wondered what it looked like from afar....

Back to the Shaft.

I killed the Moblin, and was able to have a proper look around the tall, tall space.... There was so much Malice in the way, how was I supposed to—

Ah, I see. The drainage waterfall was clear. I cast Cryonis on it a few times to make my own stairs up until I could reach that ladder.... And the ladder went up.... And where did this little passage lead?

But I stopped. What was this place? It looked like a little study or something. No. A little table more for like reception or something like it. Book-keeping of some kind. Recording. A little bookshelf.... once-ornate hangings like those in the Guards’ Chamber....

What or who passed through here? Market-goods on their way to the royal kitchen? Smithed wares for the soldiers? Visitors’ registry? A cleaning service? There was no way to know.

Something was lurking on the other side of an explodable wall. Something with 288 hit points. What could it be....?

The noises it issued made it out to be a lizard.

I killed it.

Oh, the Master Sword was running low on energy.

....

What about that shield?

What about the shield?

I wondered....

....

It was only a little alcove where the Lizalfos had been hiding; not really anywhere else to go. Okay what was that lizard guarding.... what was this.... treasure chest....

Oagh!

It’s a Shard of Dinraal’s Fang!

What in the heck! These are amazing! Will I find more? I DON’T KNOW! 8D

Onward!

I sniffed around and zeroed in on the only thing left I could find to mess with in the little record-keeping room.... a switch.

I flicked it.

WHAT! It activated an updraft back out in the Shaft!

I went and took it.... and oh it took me up high.... Twice as high as that first little record-keeping room.... to yet another room above, near the top. One passage from this new room led away outside, and another looked like it connected back to that corridor off which the giant circular staircase stemmed!

I checked the outside first.... and found that I could access a stairway that went back up toward the Outer Track—the area below Princes Zelda’s study and bedchamber.

I’d been around there already though.... Back inside. I would go back through the inner corridors.

There were horns and globs of Malice everywhere....

NO. Wait....

There was another passage, up near Zelda’s Chamber, that I could see on my map. An inside-corridor not connected with anything else, only accessible from the outside, right there. I’d go get that first.

And I did, and....

Oh, it was Princess Zelda’s room. Two layers. I forgot.

All right....

Back down then, to the Outer Track. I followed it clockwise, bending round to the north side of the castle.

-

Blast these log-notes.... blast my procrastination in finessing them.... Look I’ve been chasing the following paragraph all over and around the document for MONTHS because I could not remember when I first encountered its described architecture. What Castle-visit it had been.... Actually I think I had been going counter-clockwise at the time....

“I scooted around the bulky obstruction to continue, and there was a strange, sheltering overhang, pillared about the road from the living stone, familiar from a dizzy dream I had had before.... But I could only go so far before there were Guardians again, didn’t want to go that way....”

Yes it . . . . must have been an earlier visit.... with how I reacted to the Guardians.... drat.

Rest in peace here on page 600, Dizzy-Dream Pillar Paragraph.

-

Now I passed through the sheltering stone pillars going the other way, rounding the gentle bend to the right, until I came to a Guardian embedded high up in a bleachy hill of rockfall and rubble on the right side of the road, spilling from some higher level of the castle grounds.

I killed it where it stuck out from the rocks at an odd angle; its Ancient bits and spoils came tumbling down, scattering over the landslide.

Across the road from where the Guardian had been—or what remained of the road beneath the rubble—I could see a dark passageway leading into a small hill. A brief consultation of my map let me know that this was one of the passageways into the Library.

! Then that Guardian.... It must have been the one I had seen back when I had come up out of the Library for the first time. The one that had frightened me back inside.

I’d stood my ground well enough this time.

Yes the “bulky obstruction” must have been that landslide outside the Library.... must’ve been heading counter-clockwise....

With the Guardian dead I was free to explore a bit further now. The mound housing the entrance to the Library was straight-sided, and tiered, with a little copse of dead pine trees at its humble crown. It must have been lovely once.

Up on top of the hill over the Library entrance was another chest....

Naydra’s Scale. Very nice.

I looked back. From this vantage point I had a better view of the rubbleslide; it really was massive and it covered the outer track. But.... above....

I wondered if I could scale that cliff. The one the Dizzy Pillars were carved from; the one with the sheltering overhang. It seemed to go right up to the back of the Sanctum. The back of the Castle. The back of the Sanctum....

On went my Climber’s Gear, and though it came to a close call with my stamina, I found that I could. Scale the cliff.

The air turned blustery with Malice.

Globs of Malice everywhere so thick....

This was the uppermost Earth. Everything above here was man-laid brick and stone.

Is there.... Is there....

It would stand to reason....

There must be a Shrine somewhere....

I peeked a little bit into the architecture.

Sanctum flashed on the screen....

I saw a large empty space.... looked like a boss room....

NOPE! NOpe. Nope noep noep I ran back out of there.... climbed around a bit, looked around...  [[Do you see how nervous I was? Never mind the spelling errors—I forgot to add the wonted fourth dot in my ellipsis!]]

But....

I wondered....

I.... WONDERED....

A big, flat empty space....

I....

....

Wondered.

Climbing again, on up into the brickwork, and I came upon.... What?

That little round crosscut of a tree-trunk, with a leaf-shaped pointer on it.

A Korok Race.

Even here.

I stepped on it. It targeted a nearby spire of the upper Castle architecture.

“You’re joking!” I hollered.

But I did it. Running off the edge and sailing over the sky.

“Bloody Koroks!”

Got him.

Okay this is really frightening, I thought. Couldn’t the Guardians see me from here? I felt so exposed on the spire top out in the open. But nothing targeted me.

I could go back down.... maybe....

The front door to the Castle Very Proper was just below me if I dropped.

But.... NO. I was NOT doing that yet. I was going back around to the back!

I paraglided back onto the level I’d been on, climbed around on the brickwork a bit more.... and....

This.

A window into the architecture.

This might have been the selfsame window I saw before. The one with a ladder inside it, leading down into a hole in the floor.

I crept inside.

No cinematics started; nothing jumped out at me.

I took the ladder down.

This was uncomfortably too far inside.... quieter, closer, and full of that unsettlement of when you’re out of the wind and in the den of the beast....

But when I reached the bottom of the ladder, there was too much Malice blocking the way further inward. But two other passageways stood open to the air on either side; I could walk instead around the encompassing ledgewalk. The cross-section of the castle was so narrow now.... It seemed there were three similar ladderways just like this one, inside similar buttress-like towers, leading back up.

This wasn’t a walkway I had been on before.... I could glance in windows here....

THERE IS SOMETHING IN THERE.

OH GOSH.

WHY.

Tentacles—what?

I GET BACK DOWN TO THAT FLAT SPOT!

OKAY I’M BACK WHERE I STARTED WHEN I’D SCALED THIS BLOODY CLIFF.

“NOOOO I DON’T WANNA DO IT!” I hollered to no one.

I’ll.... I’LL SAVE IT FIRST. OH GOSH.

I crept closer to a broad opening to the inside.

NO THERE IS A BIG EYEBALL UP THERE OH GOSH

WHERE IS THE LAST SHRINE?

WHERE IS IT?

IS IT IN HERE?

THIS CAN’T BE RIGHT THERE FEELS LIKE TOO MUCH DANGER.

I CAN’T EVEN GRAMMAR ANYMORE.

DEVIANTART THUMBNAILS.

I felt more comfortable perusing the art because I’d gotten past most of the spoilers, but—

HOW DO I KNOW?

OH GOSH WHAT IS IN THAT ROOM?

I DON’T WANNA DO IT.

I’M JUST LOOKING FOR A SHRINE.

IS IT IN HERE?

SHOULDN’T IT STAND TO REASON?

SHOULDN’T

IT

STAND

TO

REASON?

ASDFGHJKL;

Two more steps.

....

Black out.

....

That’s not a shrine.

....

Things.... started.... happening.....

NOPE! C8

I’M CHECKIN’ OUT OF THIS GAME.

WIIU MENU PLEASE!

WEST SIDE

Friday, May 10, 2019 ~ 2

WEST SIDE

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

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

I just needed to avoid it....

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

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

Convenient.

Hah. Lousy timing, though.

It had been regenerating.

I may need Daruk’s help.

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

I decided I would call on Daruk....

And I did. And it helped.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I went inside, killed some Lizalfos....

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

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

I’d find it later.

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

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

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

WHUUUUTT???

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh....

Okay.

Okay....

But....

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

Did they drop eyeballs too?

Whatever!

I kept on!

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

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

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

Thank you.

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

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

A Turret took issue at my appearance.

I killed it.

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

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

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

I was going to follow the Outside Track again.

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

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

I went inside....

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

LOCKUP?

D:

It was a prison....

Or rather a dungeon.

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

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

Guess they been bad.

....

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

What violent brutes these must have been....

....

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

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

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

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

They were trapped.

And I an Executioner.

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

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

Small consolation.

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

So this was its strength....

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

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

But....

No. Not yet.

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

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

The portcullis slammed shut behind me.

How very OoT.

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

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

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

The stone read:

- Test of the Royal Guard -

Strike down the giant foe to become

recognized as a knight of the kingdom.

Well....

I opened the chest.

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

*GASP*

WHAT?

A Hylian Shield?

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

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

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

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

Does this shield....

Is this shield unbreakable?

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

Oh my gosh....

Was this shield unbreakable?

I almost didn’t want to test it.

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

....

Oh, my inventory was full. |D

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

Got the music a second time. Nice.

Now I had the shield....

But heck if I was ever gonna use it.

Clean Up The City

Friday, May 10, 2019

Clean Up The City

I warped to the Shrine of Katah Chuki.

....

I’d really rather just go from there without breaking tone but I feel the need to provide what is probably necessary context for the ones who haven’t spent so many hours playing the game nor noting where the different shrines are—Katah Chuki is in the quarry very near to the castle.

Pay attention.

*AHEM*

I warped to the Shrine of Katah Chuki.

Shouldn’t it stand to reason?

I was gonna clean up this town.

The Piano was so.... malcontent.

I stood on top of a rock and considered the Guardian down inside the wall.... for a long while. It didn’t see me.

“You could just go right down there and.... laugh it right in the face,” Dad suggested.

I took a second’s pause.

“Okay,” I said, and paraglided in.

We had it out.

I killed it.

And I did clean up the town. One Guardian at a time. Though I still avoided the flyers if I could help it.

The Stalkers in here were sleepy. Stationary.

So....

I tried that scary thing I had seen in a gif:

I crept closer, and closer, and closer to one that was sitting so still, and then Stasised it. And during the brief spell when it was completely frozen I ran forward toward it as fast as I could, into the range where it would have otherwise noticed me!

The golden Stasis-charm broke, the Guardian woke up, swiveled its head in the brief moment and—sure enough??—it.... it rolled right over and sank into the ground. Gone.

....

The laser’s needle end blinked on me for a bit. !??

Then it was gone.

????

I spun in all directions. Where did it go?

“If there’s a wasp in the room I think I ought to know where it is!” I shouted when I turned back around and could find no trace of it.

....

I think I sank it into oblivion.

It was tempting to get closer, to go deeper, faster. But as I kept checking my surroundings with my Stasis, I could see which Guardians, legged or decayed, were alive, and I didn’t care for how thickly they were set about the old town ruins.

I didn’t want to divide them.

I circled wide several times, to flank them instead—Dad reminded me of the military operations term. I know, Dad. <3

I cleaned up as I went, my circumnavigation bringing me toward the south end of town. The city wall near the main gate had little guardhouses in it. There were shafts in the wall through which to shoot arrows, and little stairways and ladders leading up to the battlements.

Koroks hide in the weirdest places, man.

There were Malice eyeballs in the town too, and I had to circle a bit tighter to kill those; due to their orientation, they could only be shot from the inside, toward the Castle.

I followed the winding little street ruins, or climbed over blasted walls where I could or dared.

Killing Guardians.

And shooting the eyeballs that guarded the main road. Their Malice was clumped in broad, horned barriers all along that thoroughfare, straight through from the very front gate of the town, near the Sacred Grounds.

Speaking of which, I killed some Guardians outside the town as well, and when the daylight was right, I retook that pictograph.

My first pictograph shot in the Sacred Grounds had been hurried, and uncomposed, due to a stray Guardian’s laser having tagged onto my shoulder, and a terrifying lack of experience on my part to deal with them at that time. But now, I had cleared the ground, and I could take my time.

There were clouds, which was not perfect.... but perhaps it better reflected the age I was in now.

I got the pictograph, headed back inside, and continued to clear out the town. I cleared that place out GOOD.

And now.

I turned toward the Castle.

Yes.

I was going to walk in the front gate.

Before The Storm

Afternoon of Sunday, May 5, 2019

Before The Storm

As I stand in the field....

The Piano plays The Legend of Zelda theme, small at first, delicately....

A muffled:

“...

Link...

Link.

You have recovered all of your memories

of us from 100 years ago...”

Her voice sounds.... weary. A weary kind of relief.

“I am here...inside Hyrule Castle.

It is now time for you to defeat Ganon.”

And the Piano stretching across many octaves resounds the last refrain.... as I clench my firsts and set my brow against the storm to come.

I am ready.

*

Lost Memories – Complete

*

WHERE IS THE LAST SHRINE?

I searched all around Nirvata Lake, suspicious of that line of three trees up on the cliff above the waterfall. Nothing.

I CLEANED OUT the Deplian Badlands, killing three Lynels along the way, but found no shrines there either. (That first Lynel didn’t even land a hit on me. Noice.) I did find some Koroks though. That Korok circle back by the east Lynel.... I had to kill the Lynel to get the rock for the circle. Well, to get it safely at least.

And west into the Drenan Highlands was the third Lynel. Forgot it was there; I hadn’t left a stamp for it.

Killed it. In the rain. With Shock Arrows. I had rather a lot of those. They come in handy.

I went east to west across the entire Deplian Badlands. And then some into the foothills. But couldn’t find any shrines, or any explodable rockfaces.

Got a few pieces of Dinraal, though.

And I was getting better at killing Lynels.

Hm, how about the Eastern Reservoir Lake? Vah Naboris had blocked a shrine when it was running wild; maybe Vah Ruta had done so, too....

Mm, but I didn’t explore the reservoir too deeply.... I drifted into the Domain proper and....

Well, it was my bedtime.

For once.

I was short on sleep the previous night. I did need it tonight. Had some goob shadowing me the next day about Top-Up, in which I just was not an expert.

Oh well.

No new words of wisdom from Prince Sidon or King Dorephan.

But lots of familiar faces I hadn’t visited with in ages.... Rivan, Dunma, Torfeau; Tula, Toma and Laruta, the Prince Sidon Fan Club.... little Tumbo and Keye running around the square.... Tumbo more full of energy, Keye more.... low key. And he said he hoped, if anything ever happened to them again, that I would be around to help again, aww.... ^_^ .... Mei.... Ledo.... good old Bazz. Was it Tula’s or Toma’s older brother Cleff who ran the inn? No, some other shop. I love that name....

And Cleff had married.... Kodah, who 100 years ago had asked me to choose between Mipha and her.

She apologized for doing that.

She still calls me Linny.

Went to the Seabed Inn, It was 3:something in the afternoon.

I slept on a regular bed until morning.

Dark Ascent

Waking of Monday, April 22, 2019 ~ 4

Dark Ascent

I still stood on Zelda’s Bridge.

I was feeling pretty accomplished! and now didn’t quite know what to do with myself.

....

Well, I came here for the memory, and I got it.

But before I go, I want.... that. The highest tower.

....

I’m gonna go get it.

*

Okay, Revali’s Gale did not work from my position of clinging to the top of the spire—scrabbled to throw another A-press and paraglide anyway, from the spire atop Zelda’s Study to.... further in.

I couldn’t tell. Maybe I could, once, in another life. But at present I barely had a grasp of the castle’s interior, and a great deal of that was collapsing in ruin. The higher exterior was a Malice-tormented forest of spires, tiered cliffsides, battlements running from who knows to why not, and the mightiest of flying buttresses. For myself it was only a fretful, embered surreptition of climbing towers.... paragliding.... climbing towers again.... So much Malice.... the air so blustery.... and I always wondering whether a Guardian would target me at any moment....

The cross section of the roughly conical shape of the castle grounds was narrowing; I was definitely making progress. I paraglided again—Sanctum—the name of the new locale gleamed into terrible focus across my screen—“NO, I DON’T WANT THE SANCTUM!” I hollered as I sailed toward the fire-bright architecture glowing under the hellish sky. I was not ready for this.

I slammed into a wall and clung on for dear life and was afraid to touch the ground below me. Would it trigger something? Defying physics I demanded my way instead up over a horizontal battlement until I could stand again.

I did not want anywhere called a “Sanctum”.... Not now....

I kept climbing.

Oh my gosh I could see inside windows and places to go, a hole in the floor with a ladder leading down OH GOSH....

Oh, nope, nope, NOPE, NOPE! Nope, nope. Nope! NOPE! NOPE!

*

I got up on top of a tower with a busted top; the collapse was flat enough to stand on. I am so high up now. I could see the tops of those five columns.... Might even be able to paraglide to one of them, but.... NO, first....

>_<

Oh man....

Very close.... I was very close.... This seemed to be one of a handful of side towers encircling the uppermost central column of the castle’s architecture.

Okay help me, Revali....

And he did—

OH!

GOT ON THE CENTRAL TOWER.

OKAY.

WOW.

OH MY GOHOHOSH, I COULD SEE THE WHOLE WORLD FROM HERE! So narrow, so open, so little to obstruct my views anymore.

All the Divine Beasts’ lasers were pointed right at me..... oh my gosh....

I kept climbing.... up the vertical stone, up the steep shingles.... It got cold, and on went one of my warming circlets.... Who built this spire? Did they freeze too?

“Vah Rudania.... Vah Naboris....” [waitthosetwoaren’tadjacent--] I named the distant, barely visible shapes as they passed under the orbit of my gaze, the ends of their lasers so MONUMENTALLY PRESENT. I kept climbing and looking and I looked up into the raging yellow-orange-fire sky and “WHAAAAT? WHAT IS THAT?”

THERE IS A DARK BODY IN THE SKY. ROUND LIKE THE MOON. AN ECLIPSE? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

IT IS NEARLY MIDNIGHT. IS THAT THE BLOOD MOON?

OH MY GOSH.

“I GOTTA SEE IT.” I SAID LIKE IAN MALCOLM. I MEAN. UM. DAVID LEVINSON. JEFF GOLDBLUM.

IS EVERY NIGHT HERE A BLOOD MOON NIGHT?

MIDNIGHT STRIKES.

AND THEN THE DARK BODY TURNED WHITE AND SHRUNK BACK TO SIZE.

IT’S THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WHY IS THE SKY STILL SO RAGING?

I KEEP CLIMBING. THE LAST SPIRE’S BASE SO TOWERING AND STRANGE, LIKE A STACK OF ALTERNATING GEARS.

WHO ERECTED THIS TOWER?

AND THEN.... I SEE FLOWING LEAVES AND HEAR THAT LIGHT WOODEN CLATTERING AS I NEAR THE TOP.

“Found you.”

I knew it.

I reached the final, heaven-piercing end of the highest spire on the tallest tower, and saddled into a hanging, one-handed cling. My gosh.

I examined the glittering dapple of leaves and woodwindwater sounds—and it was a Korok. Of course. Even here. Just between the beams of Vah Rudania and Vah.... Ruta, I think.

Oh my gosh, I could see the whole world. Everything.

Heuhuhuh! And on my map in the Castle Map, my location-indicator.... that little yellow arrow that showed where I was.... I looked like a flag on a pole.

Oh gosh....

The castle’s billowing Orchestra still blustered all around me like this hellish, hellish sky! What was up with this sky? The everpresent cloud wrack was driven endlessly tormented in unholy flames above my head. Day or night, it was always the beautiful, terrible color of fiery doom, blown on forever by forces unnatural.

So swept the Orchestra. Still pounding, still ringing, still tipping between the Ascending Organ of the Dark One, and the Lullaby of She who held him at bay. The tension between them still tautened on a rusty crank meant for torture before I realized—there was yet another theme there as well. One older even than Zelda’s Lullaby.

Those five notes ascending, springing like a flame, tonic to dominant, root to fifth—in minor this time. Preceded by those two hits that came clomping down like boots with something to say.

1__5__________1_1-2-3-4-5__________!

The Hero’s Theme.

My Theme.

And that made Three.

Should it have come as any surprise?

It pronounced its presence with a percussive flare, and swelled heroically with the string section, as though to proclaim its intention of slicing the ties and bringing this battle to rest one way or the other. Until at the cadence the Castle’s own theme cycled back round to take up the song again.

Like it does.

Should it have come as any surprise? That here in the Heart of Hyrule, here at the Crux of the Age, under the eyes of the Goddesses.... there would be Three.

There would always be Three voices in this Dreadful Dialogue.

....

I’d thought about the logging of this part, and had wanted to say that it wasn’t a Dreadful Dialogue after all, but a Dreadful Trialogue; but then I looked up the Greek roots, and the “dia” of “dialogue” actually meant “through” instead of “two”, and I was vexed by the thwartation and couldn’t bring myself to justify the pun.

Return To The Castle

Waking of Monday, April 22, 2019

Return To The Castle

I searched a few more shrines for missed treasure.... no good.

SHRINES.

I am missing some shrines.

Impa is hiding at least one shrine.

And Impa wanted me to regain my memories.

My last memory rests at the castle.

I must go to the castle.

So.... I went.

At least I had a shortcut now.

I warped to the Docks Shrine, donned my Lizalfos Mask, and ascended the crumbly, rubble-strewn passageway to the Library once more. Venturing further along the avenues I had previously discovered, this time I made my way to the Dining Hall.

And found I had to change my Mask.

Ugh, four Moblins had turned it into.... a waste. But there were edibles everywhere. On what looked like animal furs draped over the ruined tables. What a mess. But I took the foodstuffs for myself.

Two Moblins squatted near a little fire at one end of the long room, and the other two squatted near the cold and unused fireplace at the other end. For—

I killed them. As was my wont in such tight quarters; I didn’t need their noses in my face while I was poking around.

The Dining Hall had a very gentle bend along the length of it, so that one of the long walls was slightly concave and the other silghtly convex. The convex wall had two doorways, each double-doored and both widely spaced from each other, and those led back to the red-carpeted corridor where the Lizalfos patrolled. Or.... where they had patrolled.

The concave wall had only a single door in the center, framed with fine stonework, and that led outside.

....

I went outside, and it was a bewilderment of Maliced things, the mighty Sheikah Sealing Pillar looming toward me, looking down the drop-offs, dun and dusty ruin, cobbled stones and.... uhuhuhuhhhhgjklhdfsjgklfhjk Guardians.

! But what was that Guardian? There on the other side of some kind of battlemented tower. Just far enough around the structure so that it couldn’t see me. The head looked different, skinnier like a pole, there were swivelly bits.... Guardian Turret? That’s what my Slate told me.

And then that dread spotlight, and a Guardian Flyer chased me back inside. I hated the flyers; they were hard to kill....

Hhhh but....

Gotta move forward now.... gotta find that memory....

I watched the Flyer settle down and resume its normal pattern, and waited for it to pass by again.... and then came back out through the door. It was a broad, flat area, just bare stone, with what seemed to be a street of hardy cobblestone continuing off from it in either direction, running fairly parallel to the Dining Hall behind me. And across this street from the Dining Hall was only a drop-off down to the lower levels of the tiered castle grounds.

I had seen the castle from many angles, but it was bewildering to be crawling around the surface in the thick of it.

As the Flying Guardian was elsewhere in its circuit, I ran to the left, hard along the wall, which degraded into a rough earthen slope as the street continued counterclockwise at a gentle incline. I ran until I was certain I was far from the Guardian’s patrol loop, and continued cautiously as the street became progressively rougher, the cobblestone giving way to packed dirt and the traces of double-ruts.

The wall of earth to my left became more uneven and encroached upon the road, as though parts of it had broken off and slid down over the years AND A BIG DARK SHAPE DROPPED AND THUDDED ONTO THE ROAD IN FRONT OF ME.

A GUARDIAN? DECAYED? NO, IT WAS—it was—It was dead.

Its overturned, cereal-bowl-shape teetered to a creepy standstill before me, and a couple of Ancient bits tumbled down beside it or bounced away unclaimable down the drop-off.

I looked up.

An Ancient Screw still perched on a little jutting boulder most of the way up the steep slope.

Had this Guardian fallen from all the way up there?

What the heck?

That Flyer was coming back. Coming from the direction of the Dining Hall. I didn’t want to be under its gaze, and so darted up the landslide from which the dead Guardian had fallen.

I didn’t even know which way I needed to go.

Where was that spot?

That spot in the pictograph, the last memory.... such elegant stonework....

I thought I needed to get higher at any rate, and so I abandoned the circuiting road and just kept climbing up to the next tier. It was unnerving to peek up over the last edge....

But I climbed. I could face down the Guardian Turrets, for they behaved no differently than Decayed Guardians, and I could simply avoid the flyers. Or dang well try.

Where was it?

I ducked beside a wall and studied the pictograph: Spires, a big round turret of some kind, winged caps of stone on the battlements. Echoes of that motif from the Royal Crest. Those wings.... Where was that spot? I looked at the pictograph, the map, the pictograph, the map, my surroundings.... Danger was everywhere.... and the 3D overlay map was deucedly difficult to read.... Could it even register details so fine? Maybe that structure there....

One Turret had me pinned. It had the higher ground, it was far away at a very unpracticed distance in my parry-reaction-timing, and Daruk’s Protection had become a short-lived resource in this place. But I couldn’t hide forever. I stepped out from behind the wall again and again, fishing for the correct angle, and I arrowed that Turret to death. Dashed across the open—how could there be grass here?—and hid beside a large structure. This was quite sizeable and roundish. Could this be the castle turret in the pictograph?

There was a doorway that led inside the structure, but I did not go in. I could see Malice Mouths in there. And no eyeball in sight. Didn’t need to deal with that....

And on the outside of the structure, just around the corner, was another Turret. Didn’t need that just then either.

My options were somewhat limited.

So.... I climbed up.

I climbed up over the awful, perpendicular stonework and jutting battlements, and onward and upward, until I found myself clinging to the side of a very pointed roof-spire. But I didn’t dare go higher than the width of my own silhouette lest another Turret spot me. The Guardians seemed to crop up on all sides; they were so thick on the castle grounds.

The air was so blustery and hellish hellish red....

I looked around, but the pictograph.... this place that I’d thought might have been it.... It didn’t look like it was so. No matching battlements, no winged capstones.

Haungh, besides, the turret in the pictograph didn’t have a pointed roof-spire of its own.

Hahhhh.

But as long as I had such a spider’s-eye vantage point I took the opportunity to look around a little more.... Those wings.... Looked around.... looked around.... scrutinizing every pointed spire I could see and every object nearby, scanning for those wing-shapes.... near and far, far and near, high and low, low and—and?

There! That spire! Those shapes! Could it be?

I studied the scene and it.... looked likely! Those wings were there! And they seemed a proper distance from the spire!

But.... it was on the other side of the castle! The west side!

I was on the east!

....

Well....

There was nothing for it.

I climbed up to the highest, highest spire on this big round structure—and found a Korok. Hey there jolly little friend.

The Turret did not see me.

There was another Flyer nearby, however. Patrolling right around the direction I wanted to go no less, gleaming a loop over some kind of landbridge near the end of the broad road to the castle’s gate. I waited for it to make its round a couple of times, and then.... paraglided. Oh gosh through all this danger....

That other Turret saw me then, but didn’t lead me as a target. One blue bolt flashed behind me, I cleared its range or line of sight—didn’t check which—slipped under the landbridge and was coming down fast over a deep pool. Made it to the water, swam only a couple of strokes against a tame waterfall’s current and climbed up the little bank which immediately dropped off in a ledge. Malice gathered on both sides of me. The air was clearer again down here.

Danger? Am I safe?

....

I thought so, for the moment.

But this was a narrow perch—what waterfall engineering....? It was a little like standing on the lip of a bowl.

I looked over the edge, down the drop-off.

There was another Turret on the next tier down below, a bit to my right. Guarding that little winding staircase I’d seen on the external map. Only he was facing the large open area away from the wall behind him. Away from me.

So I dropped down onto the stairs behind him and whistled to get his attention.

Funnily enough, it worked.

I parried him into oblivion.

The stairs were only slightly clockwise round the Castle of where I had stood on the lip-ledge, and they were set into a much taller tier of the castle ground, the one spilling the waterfall that fed the pool I’d landed in. A mountain of Malice globbed all over the towering walls of this tier, and high above, spanning out from near its crest to connect with another tower....

That bridge.

That must have been the battlement from the pictograph. I was probably just below the round turret-structure! I was so close!

I climbed the stairs—watching out for the Flyer, for there was another Flyer patrolling high around the attendant tower. Patrolling that battlemented walk where I needed to be....

The Flyer passed by, I scrambled up quickly over the rough and weathered stones, got inside.

Inside—

Silver Moblin!

I wasn’t wearing my mask.

Oh, he’d seen me....

But I switched to my Barbarian Gear, and the Master Sword had been glowing fiercely this whole time besides.

I killed him in short work, and he went down beside a fireplace.

Inside. Inside.... Where was I?

What was this room?

What? What.... was this.... corner?

There were papers plastered on the walls.... books everywhere.... and.... one book open on the desk.

Zelda’s Diary.

Oh my gosh.