Shrine Out Of Time 2.2 - The Last Shrine

Evening of Tuesday, November 17, 2020 (comprised of some raw note editings from April 29 through April 30, 2023 that I really hope sound consistent because I left it alone for too long) ~ 2

Shrine Out Of Time 2.2 - The Last Shrine

I was in my Hateno House.

I was out of practice. The buttons. The buttons....

I knew those could give me trouble. And so I decided to journey on foot.

I needed the practice.

The fabled Roscoe would be down on a southern beach, far to the west. I could probably get into ample trouble by following the coastline. That would give me practice on the buttons.... And Hateno was close enough to the beach.... I’d go there first!—oh, after I got dressed.

I said it before—this blasted game preying on my girly need to try on clothes! I remembered! As I perused my closets, I remembered. I’d bought an extra pair of Well-Worn Trousers from Granté, down in—up in Tarrey Town, and brought them here, to the Dye Shop.

To Sayge.

I never bothered to remember his name....

I donned some ensemble more suitable for the road.... or lack thereof.... left my house, ran down to the main thoroughfare, and jogged and sprinted my way back up the mountain, toward the Ancient Tech Lab. I was close enough to the beach....

But upon cresting the highest hills and looking down on that beach.... and being so struck by the familiarity of it.... I decided I didn’t need to explore any regions I’d been before along the eastern coast. Several times. I would go south instead.

I could see the Muwo Jeem Shrine from here, way out on its prominent overlook. I warped there, ran inland, then jumped off the crag, and ran and climbed and paraglided until I came down over Lurelin Village.

But I didn’t stop there. I ran straight up over the following mountain and paraglided all the way to Aris Beach. And there.... I started walking.

There were Guardian husks scattered across the sand. I used Stasis to check whether any of them were alive and—oh, that’s a Talus. I’d been so focused on the Guardians I hadn’t even noticed it.

I killed it. With a big wind-up of my weapon, like Ben said he’d done. And Urbosa nailed the thing in one. Felt good.

Walked.... walked....

Lizalfos appeared, and I donned my Lizalfos mask.

Skeletons cropped up, and I put on my Radiant Suit.

Electric Keese came out, and I put on the Thunder Helm.

The cost of a peaceful passage was only so much juggling and juggling....

But I knew there was a live Guardian down here somewhere; that one would be trickier to bypass....

The Lizalfos didn’t mind me sneaking up and sneaksriking them. I took their treasure from under their noses and they left me alone. These masks were so handy....

Kept walking.

I knew there was a live one somewhere.... I was sure I’d seen one.... some place.... some time....

And there it was.

A Guardian Stalker.

Sitting still as a spider.

I hated it when they did that.

There was a Lizalfos kind of near it, hunkered down in camouflage, facing my direction. I didn’t want to deal with them both....

On went my mask again, if it wasn’t already, and I crouched down and continued my westward march at literally the slowest possible pace. I didn’t know the reach of the Guardian’s ken.... but I wanted to get behind that lizard and kill it!

I circled wide enough to evade the Lizalfos’ interest, if not his swiveling little eyes, and.... came around his back side without the Guardian taking notice.

One sneakstrike put him down, leaving the field clear for just me and my larger opponent.

I crept closer to it still....

But the Guardian, it seemed, was nowhere near as lively as I’d feared. I came quite close and it still didn’t move.

It wasn’t even decayed. What was wrong with it?

Maybe some of ‘em just get low on batteries.

I tried whistling. It had worked for that turret on the castle grounds. But here on the beach.... nothing.

So.... I shot it in the head with an arrow.

That got its attention.

It came on....

And I put it down in three Perfect Parries.

....

And kept walking.

The beach was long.

There were more Lizalfos occasionally.... always more Lizalfos....

And the weird, overhanging rocks from the cliffs to the right....

It was a strange place.

And there, another tide pool, with a big hump of black rock rising out of it near the edge.

And I climbed up on that rock.

And there—

Orange—

There it was.

The last Shrine Pedestal.

It was set into a cluster of rocks just a few paces down-beach from.... a very large, very strange.... mushroom-shaped rock? It was tall, it was immense, with a high-rolling, grassy top, like a hill, but.... weathering down so narrow toward its base.... like a tree trunk.... A house-sized tree-trunk.

Maybe it had come to be this way from weathering near the sea.... maybe this area used to be sea caves.... Maybe.

Near the base of the MushRock I could see the light of a fire—a wok—a couple of large wooden crates, some barrels.... the silhouette of a dead Guardian there off the right side.... and the glow of—

The Orb.

Heh, the legendary Roscoe, I assumed.

And sitting on the ground beside it, leaning up against it with her palm upon its surface, her cheek against its face, her knelt legs folded off to one sultry side.... was a woman named Loone.

Heh. Fitting.

“So smooth and ancient...” I heard her murmur as I approached.

And as I came up to her directly.... “Your skin is so smooth and gorgeous, my little Roscoe.... Hm? Someone’s watching us? Oh, my sweet Roscoe! You’re so shy, aren’t you? YES, YOU ARE! Why not proudly show off your beaming beauty, my darling? You really MUST come out of your shell.”

This was amazing.

“Hm? The person watching looks like he wants something? Maybe he’s after... *GASP* Is he after you?! Don’t you worry, my sweet Roscoe! I would never ever EVER let you go!”

Well heck, that wouldn’t do.... I needed that thing!

“I’m head over heels for my special friend who’s been around since ancient times! You’re so ancient and special, Roscoe! YES, YOU ARE!!”

The way she just kept stroking it....

But then her voice dropped— “Sorry, my sweet Roscoe, but I fibbed a little... The truth is...” —and then rose again! “I wanna see Guardians! Flying ones! Small ones! Ones that walk around! I wanna see all the Guardians in the world!! Not the ones around here that have rusted away, either. I wanna see fresh and lively Guardians! If I ever do get to see them... I may just have to leave you, my friend.”

For a moment I panicked. Did I need to actually herd a Guardian over this direction and show it to her?

But no.... I remembered.... That’s what Ben had said—she only wanted to see pictures of different types of Guardians.

Well, there was my out.

“Oh, but don’t you worry! Getting near a Guardian is too dangerous for me. Flying ones, small ones, ones that walk... I’m afraid seeing Guardians like that is nothing more than a dream within a dream for me...”

Well, no worries, Loone. It wasn’t too dangerous for me. And it was already a waking nightmare within a waking nightmare to boot.

There was just one problem.

My album was full.

I hemmed and hawed a good long while. I didn’t like deleting records.... Well.... Lasli-in-the-Fireflies had replaced the picture of Impa’s orb....

I.... erased her pictograph. Ach.

Then it was a simple warp to the Castle; easy enough to find Guardians there. I found a flyer first. And the pictograph came out marked with a little red exclamation mark. Good.

I took it back to Loone, but.... she gave no different responses.

Uh.

....?

Let me see....

The quest was called Guardian Slideshow.

Oh no.... she.... she wanted to see all three of them at once?

Then I would need to delete.... two more pictographs?

How could I?

ajhglajgkeklr;ajkf

I pushed it aside, went back to the castle; I would decide when it was upon me.

I made my way to the Observation Room. And I erased.... one picture of Windblight Ganon. For I’d had two of them. The one I erased was less dynamic, but it did better showcase the blight’s four “braids”.... like Revali’s....

I’d just.... found it.... interesting I’m sorry, my friends....

Somewhere near the Observation Room, I snapped a pictograph of a Turret. But no exclamation mark appeared on this one.... Huh.... So by “little one” she must have meant a shrine-crawler, then....

I paraglided down toward Castle Town, got a pictograph of a Crawler, and then.... warped to the Shrine of Oman Au. There were crawlies in there.

Hemmmmmed and haawwwwwed and hemmmmmed and hawwwwed....

That picture.... that picture that I took of the Great Calamity, Calamity Ganon.... right up friggin’ main street.

I actually went and made sure it was on my computer first.... and then.... I deleted it.

It definitely needed better retaking.

And there were other facets of Ganon I had failed to capture as well.

I would find him again.

Soon enough.

I got the crawly, beat the shrine, warped back to Ka’o Makagh.... climbed over the mountain, came back to Loone.

“My sweet Roscoe... Don’t you worry, my special friend! I would never ever, EVER let you go. ...Unless, of course, I find a way to see a flying Guardian and a small one and one that walks around.”

Ah-hah, my choices, “I’ll show them to you.” or “You’re...funny.”

She did seem maybe just a wee bit touched, but....

“I’ll show them to you,” I offered.

“Hm? Someone’s speaking?” she said. Oh gosh.

“You’ll...show me? A Guardian?”

Oh, she addressed me this time! But she was still glued to her precious ball.

“Hey, you! Could you please not bother my Roscoe and me?”

But I held up my Sheikah Slate, and showed her—

“It’s not like you can show me a Guardian or anything...”

—the Guardian Skywatcher.

Suddenly Loon was on her feet. “That image... That’s a flying Guardian! Wow, I feel alive with terror just from gazing at its beautiful form!”

Beautiful?

....Well, I know most of that feel, sister.

I then showed her Oman Au’s little crawly.

“A small Guardian! Awww, it looks so vicious for its tiny size! Adorable!!”

Adorable?

“Hold on... If you’ve been able to show me two types, then that must mean...”

And I held up my slate once more with the pictograph of the Stalker.

“A walking Guardian! I can’t believe it! Nothing could be more dangerous! What an exhilaratingly scary sight!”

Exhilarating? Wait, let me look it up.... “Ex-” plus.... “hilarus” as in “hilarity”?

....

Well maybe if your sense of humor is very, very dark.

“Phew... What a joy,” Loone sighed. “Hey, you! Give me that box, OK?! I wanna look at those images every single day!”

Uh oh.

“I can’t do that,” I said.

“You can’t? I see... How unfortunate.” Her face wilted into her palm. “I guess I’ll just have to burn those images into my imagination.”

“Can I have that orb?” My only option.

Loone raised her head again. “Hm? Oh, you mean Roscoe? Sure, that weird sphere thing is all yours. Really, I’m over it.”

Oh wow, Loone. XD

“Yeah, I’m all about Guardians now! If I close my eyes, I can see them in my imagination! It’s glorious!”

Heh, and I hope that’s the only place you’ll ever see them.

I’d been taking my time.

Mom and David were in the room with me, and David had been impatient, but.... he said if he’d known it were the last shrine....

He was understanding about that....

I picked up the Roscoe Orb, walked it over the few paces to the pedestal, and set it down in the hole.

Up came the Shrine of Shoqa Tatone.

The Final Shrine....

I stepped inside.

 

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.

The Weapon Connoisseur

Waking of Sunday, February 24, 2019

The Weapon Connoisseur

I jumped off Kass’ Landing in Rito Village, and sailed for the western shores of Totori Lake. Making my way back to Gisa Crater and its sleeping Talus, I set out to continue my exploration of the western edges of the Tabantha Frontier. I killed the Talus, kept on northward, killed a Lynel—Silver. Gads, why are they all so strong now?—but could not find any shrines anywhere. Where are the shriiiiines....

I might have spoiled myself some days ago; I’ve heard a number on the shrines. I have 117 right now. Not many more to go, I think.

But I still couldn’t find any just now.

After exploring around far and wide, hunting high and low and still coming up empty.... I decided I wanted to try and finish Nebb’s quest instead. That would certainly still throw me for a world tour; I could still keep my eyes open for shrines.... just passively rather than actively.

I checked my quest log to see what weapon Nebb wanted to see next....

Where the heck could I find an Ancient Battle Axe +?

My Compendium said Hyrule Field and the Akkala Highlands.

Hmm.

So I started checking the shrines around those parts. I found a few with some little Guardian baddies inside, namely KAAM YA’TAK for one.... but none wherein the baddies had that weapon.

So I tried Katah Chuki. A Minor Test of Strength. And to my surprise.... the enemy popped up again! Even though I’d defeated it!

THEY RESURRECT. The Test of Strength Guardians come back.

I wonder if they do that every time you enter, or just on Blood Moons....

Unfortunately Katah Chuki’s Guardian Scout carried only a regular Ancient Battle Axe. And so I decided to bump it up a notch and return to the shrine of Muwo Jeem, way out on the east end—the Modest Test of Strength. My first Modest Test of Strength. The only shrine-fight I had ever run away from....

And this Guardian Scout—IS THAT THE WEAPON I’M LOOKING FOR? I thought madly as I sported with it!

I killed the thing, and.... IT WAS!

An Ancient Battle Axe +!

I took it to Nebb, and let him have a good long look at it, and he gave me a silver rupee! 100 rupees! Man his pockets were deep.

“Grandpa said ‘Give it to the one who shows you how to fight!’” he said happily.

Aww, this kid had such a great grandpa. ^_^

And then.... NEXT, he says.... he wants to see a Frost Spear.

Well that should be easy, I thought, I just saw some guys with that kinda thing over in Hebra when I was wandering around.

And I spent the next very long time bouncing back and forth between Hebra and the Gerudo Highlands looking for a Frostspear. It’s one word. Frostspear.

No.

Luck.

ANYWHERE.

I looked around for so long. David recommened I just turn on my sensor. I told him I didn’t have a picture of one.

“Oh.”

I looked and looked and looked....

Nothing.

I tried jogging out west from Selmie’s spot and paragliding to the big baddie treehouse on the very northern border. I swooped down from higher up the mountain, drawing nearer to the monster-nest, lookin’, lookin’.... oops they saw me.

One of ‘em sounded a horn and they all flew into a tizzy, yowling insults and casting arrows of various types.... Okay just scan, I thought, staying on the move, scan, scan.... Nobody’s got it. I couldn’t see a Frostspear anywhere.

So I dropped to the ground, started from there, and just marathoned it back to the east. The frigid shelf of land was not broad, and there were plenty of baddies. Surely somebody had to have the wanted Frostspear....

I was running, running, there were guys blowing their horns and shooting arrows after me, wolves howling—so many freaking wolves—more baddies, Lizalfos either popping out of the snow or jumping out of their ill-camouflaged hunkerings. None of them had the spear that I wanted.

Man, it’s everywhere except when you’re trying to find it.

I was coming up to a skull-den. Somehow the lookouts didn’t see me until I’d come up the left side and around to the front. Ran right in the open mouth. Three Bokoblins and two Lizalfos. But no Frostspears. Ran back out as fast as I’d run in.

Of course they all started at once and came chasing after me. Monsters were yammering all over the snow in pursuit, the animals were going nuts, every creature was freaking all the other creatures out, a rhinoceros was chasing me....

When suddenly I came upon Lynel country. Silver to boot....

Nope. Not again. Where the heck was I?

I considered my surroundings and realized I’d reached the northern end of the snowfield. I was back in the familiar territories.

Hey, I thought, the shrine is right there. That shrine at the north end of Hebra’s big snowfield. And according to my Slate, there was treasure left inside it. I went to check it out....

No luck.

But the shrine gave me an idea—there were other shrines, plenty of other shrines, where I had likewise left treasure unclaimed. Weapons for which I had no room in my hammerspace. Maybe one of those had been a Frostspear....

So I started looking in shrines whose treasure I had left. Not a lot of luck. A whole lot of not luck. In all the icy regions. I searched and searched and searched every icebound shrine I could find.... And in one icy shrine, I found a FLAMESPEAR.

NOT THE KIND OF THING I WAS LOOKING FOR.

So that’s the game, is it?

I went to the volcano for a bit to look at the unclaimed treasures in shrines there. No luck there either.

Where where where where wheeeeerrrrrre....

In my Slate I looked at the shrine at the Spring of Wisdom. It was a Blessing Shrine. It had treasure unclaimed. That would be easy enough to check. Easier than a combat shrine anyway....

So I went there, and I checked.

AND IT WAS A FROST SPEAR.

YES.

I warped straight to Hateno, straight to Nebb, and showed it.

Gold Rupee. 300 rupees. Oh he liked that.

“Grandpa said ‘Give it to the one who can show you the real deal!’”

Where was his grandpa getting all this cash anyway? Must’ve been a real doter....

Next....

Oh man, Nebb, how far can you take this? But I had hope.... 300 rupees was the highest value you could go in one gem. Surely this would be the last thing.

Next Nebb wanted to see.... an Ancient Short Sword. “You can’t get those around here,” he said as my only clue.

Ancient Short Sword?

I had a one-handed Guardian blade in my inventory, but that wasn’t what it was called.

Hm, I could only think of one place to try....

Robbie.

Away to Akkala I went, and checked in at the Tech Lab. The Ancient Short Sword was there. Cherry could make that all right. For a thousand rupees, a bunch of nuts and bolts or whatever and two of my precious ancient cores? (Out of eleven, one of which I’d only just bought from Teli in Hateno on a rainy day.)

I came back out and paused to check my Ancient Armor. It was already upgraded all the way.

....

Hnnng. I could.... spare the cores....

I asked Cherry for the Short Sword. Freakin’ thing so expensive when weapons were so transient anyway....

And she made it. 40 damage. Looked cool.

Back to Hateno.

But Nebb was headed to bed.

Dang it!

Okay, okay.... It had been this long, it could be a little longer. I slept in my house, too. And had Blood Moon dreams.

The next morning I did some shopping around town: arrows, Bomb Arrows, Tabantha Wheat.... Came out of the shop and it was hard to tell all those little running kids apart when they wouln’t stop moving....

But I eventually found Nebb around midday, playing with his sister Narah.

And I showed him the Ancient Short Sword.

And he gave me a diamond.

“Just like in the books!” He thrilled. He was always saying things like that.

He was really pleased.

“Thanks for showing me so many things! I’m sure my grandpa is super happy... wherever he is! Bye!”

I drew a quick breath. Wait.... his grandpa.... who gave him all these rupees, he was.... was he....?

Nebb?

And before I knew it the banner flashed across my screen, the gleaming sound effect sheened, and I’d completed the The Weapon Connoisseur sidequest.

What.... but....

Uh?

The sidequest notes confirmed it for me:

You showed Nebb, the young man in Hateno Village, all the weapons he could ever want to see. He rewarded you with a diamond.

He feels that his grandfather is unquestionably smiling down on him from the next world now.

....

Man.

Nebb.... I’m sorry for thinking ill of you.

It was late and.... I needed to go to bed, and.... it was late afternoon for Link, so.... I’d put him to bed, too.

I took him back to his Hateno House, and because I am a girl, I first had him remove the Master Sword, and the faithful Rusty Shield that has seen me through all the way from Divine Beast Vah Medoh, and the Knight’s Bow. And I put him in his Warm Doublet because it looked warm yet loose-fitting, and his Snowquill Trousers because they looked comfortably warm as well.... and I put him to bed.

Good night, Hero.

Divine Beast Vah Medoh

Waking of Sunday, January 6, 2019 ~ 4

Divine Beast Vah Medoh

“Well now,” said a well-polished voice as I stood on the Divine Beast, “I think I’ve seen that face before.”

Revali!

“I had a feeling you would show up eventually. But making me wait a hundred years is a bit...indulgent.” The rapier glimmered in deigning to even prick me.

“You’re here to wrest control of Medoh away from Ganon, correct?”

I was.

Revali pointed me toward the interface and Sheikah Stone from which I could distill the local map, asking at the last if I thought I could make my way there.

Huh, didn’t sound like he thought any more of me, after all these years.

I made it to the map terminal just fine; it was in the bird’s head, seemed like. Two large, circular windows—Vah Medoh’s eyes—were set into the walls on either side of the chamber, which was surprisingly smaller than I’d have thought.... this being a Divine Beast.... I feel.... like I’ve written this before....

Once I’d distilled the map into my Slate, Revali ran down the control terminals, stating that I would need to activate them all. And then, again, “Think you’re up to it?”

Even now, his voice bore a tinge of.... snideness.

Well.... Better start makin’ my way around, I thought.

I checked out the Divine Beast’s controls. Tilt? It looked like I could rock the wings....

And I regarded the inside of the torso. I’d seen it getting to the head, but now studied it more closely in light of how the Divine Beast might move.

A number of large blocks were suspended in the central space, far removed from both floor and ceiling, but all on the same horizontal plane parallel to the ground. The two metal blocks were attached to two rails that spanned the space from fore to aft. The three stone blocks ran on rails crossing between starboard and port.

I could see—the metal blocks I could move with Magnesis, but the stone blocks would slide according to the tilt of the Beast.

OH this could really screw things up. I hated disrupting their discovered orientation, and knew I probably wouldn’t be able to restore it, but I wouldn’t let that stop me now! Besides, it looked like different orientations would give access to different areas. So I started moving, Vah Medoh cried out at my commands, and I made my way into the port wing.

With the bending of the world inside the Beast, I found that the tilt of the inner decks was at a steeper grade even than my paragliding angle. This meant I could fly farther and longer, but it was dizzying—never paraglided up to something before....

Inside the port wing—MALICE MOUTHS?

OH GOSH WHAT—THIS WAS UNHOLY!

I KILLED IT.

Ugh. ._.

Also, the music sounded.... poisoned.

This place did NOT want me here.

I came to the first terminal and activated it.

“There are four terminals remaining,” came Revali’s voice, “Still a ways to go.”

And that was when it all.... turned.

Oh my gosh, this music was so freaking.... the strings....

THE STRINGS. I CAN’T.

THE DESPERATION.

THE HOPE.

As the music of the early Beasts had been open, and neutral.... and then turned dark and insidious once it caught on to me activating the terminals....

And as the music of the following Vah Naboris had started out in seething anger at my presence.... only to give way to a brighter, stronger sound as I claimed more territory, returned hope to the ancient contraptions....

Now the music of this final Beast—what the harmonic minor....—at first poisoned in the wretched wrath and fury of a cornered, dying thing.... at my DARING to move forward for the kill and the entire reclamation, was now running, now flying, now clinging and willing and praying in the desperate heat of a final bid for freedom from the darkness. Undauntable not by choice but by necessity. Surely this music had to be the culmination.

There is hope for the world, I thought.

There is hope for this world.

I found the second terminal behind a gusty, howling puzzle involving a very large, round porthole in the wall that I’d had to open.... and activated it.

“There are three terminals remaining!” Revali’s voice echoed, “Keep going.”

And Hey! I could see Shatterback Point out the window! And Death Mountain! As we wheeled through the sky....

I can’t take this music, it’s.... it’s too amazing.

I couldn’t find the lower terminal in the port wing indicated by my map, so I went to the starboard side and locked down the third terminal there. Paragliding upward to find treasure chests was so strange....

“There are two terminals remaining. You’re almost there.”

He sounded.... surprised.

I looked out another porthole I’d opened, and I could see Mount Nero! And the Tabantha Tower! Clear as day.... Right there.... As if I were only paragliding very, very high.... All the world stretching out before me.... So many familiar landmarks.... all close enough to fly down and touch....

The music was not changing anymore with the different terminals.

It was still just that strong, determined, indeterrable, indomitably swelling string section.

There is still hope for this world.

My Compendium already had pictographs of Cursed Bokoblins and Cursed Moblins.... Now in the lower part of the torso, down on the floor, I finally got a pictograph of a Cursed Lizalfos.

Gross.

There was a Malice Mouth down there, and it would occasionally spit these undead floating skulls out into the room.... It was.... really alarming, when the Cursed Lizalfos saw me and just.... rushed me in this distorted flying lurch—

I prefer the live ones.

After I’d gotten the pictograph and killed the skull, I found and accessed an outer deck via a large open hatch on the starboard side. This deck wrapped around to the fore in a broad and happily uniform kind of walkway. The arc of it passed beneath Vah Medoh’s neck and continued round to the port side, where a similar hatch led back into the central chamber.

That was where the eyeball was. The eyeball to that mouth what’d been spittin’ out gross things.

I shot it.

That cleared up the central chamber all right, or it cleared it up enough—there were always little rogue Malice Pools you couldn’t get rid of, and which you just had to watch your footing around.

But after that I went back outside, for I had seen something else along the outer walkway....

There were launch points out here. Like grandiose diving platforms, complete with ornate little railings leading up the steps to nowhere. I could imagine the ancient Rito who must have manned this thing diving off them into the sky....

And beyond the port side launching platform, I could see, there, in the belly of the port side wing.... there was the next terminal. Standing in an open belly hatch near the wingtip.

I would have to fly to get there.

Oh my gosh.

So—I tilted the bird—rocked the port wing down into a dip—the Rito Rock was RIGHT THERE below—I had stood on that rock—the angle aligned and the port wing was down—and—

I flew.

Oh my gosh this music COULD NOT be more.... appropriate.

I did not want to let go of my paraglider until I was WELL inside the little hollow of the belly hatch. I landed on the pedestal itself, in a deep recess far away from the door, and ACTIVATED.

“Just one terminal remaining!”

And he laughed a little huff.

“What do you know?”

Still sounded surprised.

I rocked Medoh’s wings the other way and paraglided back to the main deck. Now I’m dropping the Vah....

Starboard side? The last terminal was in that wing, but.... I hadn’t been able to reach it via the inner decks....

I jogged through the Beast and out onto the other external walkway.

There. It must have been in the same, opposite belly hatch.

And that was guarded by a Malice eyeball.

The last terminal must be in there....

It took a few arrows, but at the proper tilt, I was able to shoot the eyeball at long range. And once its attendant cluster of Malice had evaporated, I scoped in and could see....

There was a gondola!

The track ran above, attached to the underside of the starboard wing!

I tilted the Beast, brought it to me.... and rode it.

I stepped inside, rocked the wings back the other way and it started moving my gosh I was.... I was in the air with so little to hold me.

“Don’t fail me, Gondola....” I murmured.

The apparatus seemed so spindly. Somehow I didn’t trust it as much as I did my paraglider....

But it held firm, and took me well into the starboard belly hatch. At the far end was an upward ramp leading back to the inner deck. The last terminal was up there....

I’m here, Revali.

I activated it.

“That was the last terminal! Now you just need to start the main control unit!” Revali’s voice echoed in what sounded like impressment. But he quickly brought the rapier under a fine-tuned control again, “I want you to take a good look at your map. There should be a new glowing point on there. Well?”

Still condescending a bit.

But I don’t mind.

“Flap to it!”

And the aforelocked door between this last terminal’s antechamber and the rest of the starboard side wing-deck opened. I was free to move back into the interior of the Beast, bypassing the gondola.

The music has changed.

This is desperation. This is some kind of wire.

Have I gotten all the chests? I think I have....

I feel like I need to hurry.... This music....

This is it.

The Hunt for Red Lizalfos

Waking of Sunday, January 6, 2019

The Hunt for Red Lizalfos

When did I explore the rest of Rito Village? When did I climb the Neck? That tall, distinct spire of rock I had seen from so many angles all over Hyrule....

The weathered yellow stone gave pretty good purchase to stand on and catch my breath at whiles, carved by the wind maybe. One spot near the top even had a large hole that ran right through, making a little tunnel. It was shady, and pleasantly charged in there, with that energy only hikers can find in the little hollows they bond with and break bread with and part with at once.

I climbed right to the crown and walked out to the tip of the beak. It did make for quite a stunning view....

But after playing binocular—monocular—er.... After playing Slate games, at some point I went to the Great Fairy Kaysa, whom I felt I had visited least of all, here in this lastly-mapped frontier, and had her do up my Snowquill Ensemble as far as she could.

We enhanced the entire set three levels, but I was short two red Lizalfos tails before we could reach the fourth.

I wanted these clothes to be strong. I finally had the Wingaling Hat, it looked like I was going into the cold again, and I’d never had anything thicker than my 1-point Warm Doublet to protect me from the frost.

So I warped to the volcano, set my sensor to detect Smotherwing Butterflies in the meanwhile, and got to hunting Red Lizalfos.

Heh. The Hunt for Red Lizalfos. That’d be a good title.

I searched out both critters until I got three more tails, which put me at a total of thirty-one. Kaysa only needed thirty, but I always like to keep at least one spare of anything in my pockets. When I can.

Now I could upgrade my clothes to the fourth level. But.... while I was here.... I decided to stop by Gorko Tunnel to see if I couldn’t solve it and figure out what was behind that giant pile of rock at the end....

That, and.... I’d recently seen David do this.

Gonguron was the name of the mad Goron who had been digging in Gorko Tunnel, and he was still in there. But unlike the other times I had seen him, this time he had completely run out of energy, and was lying flat on his back on the ground. What had been the trigger? I never figured that part out.

At any rate, his big brother Bladon was wondering where he was, and I let him know. Bladon then asked me to fetch a rock roast from a little spot down the hill from the tunnel, near a little lava pool which, I guess, was a good place to cook rock roasts.

What was a rock roast? It was a big hunk of.... rock.... which resembled Raw Gourmet Meat. There were six or seven of them down there.

I made sure to kill the handful of Moblins crowding the path on my way down to the lava pool, but.... I should have known it was never going to be that easy.

Hefting the giant rock roast high over my head, I started the long trudge back up the hill, and lo, the way was an absolute minefield of Moblins, Fire Chuchus, and other nasties no doubt, along with the occasional rumbling of the mountain beneath my feet and the cascading of giant boulders down the hill.

It was basically an uphill, hotter, louder and more crowded version of the Rist Peninsula.

But I made it back to Gorko’s Tunnel all right, rock roast safely in hand.

When I set the roast in the little resident wok per Bladon’s instructions, and Gonguron caught the scent of it cooking, well that perked him up all right. He got up, grabbed the rock and started taking great, thunderous bites out of it. Holy Din, what are their teeth made of? And as soon as he had chowed down, with his renewed strength, he went at the last bit of bedrock in a fat and happy fury, until the wall finally collapsed and the Kayra Mah Shrine was revealed.

The trial inside was called Greedy Hill, and it was an absolute riot of boyish diversion.

Heh.

Okay back to birdland....

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.