The Missing Moldugas

Evening of Wednesday, September 19, 2018

The Missing Moldugas

I opened my map and made ready to warp to the Misae Suma Shrine.... but I couldn’t.

Then I remembered. Pokki had been collapsed all over the pedestal. I hadn’t been able to activate the warp pad.

I’d have to get back there on my own power for now.

The shrine still showed up on my map, just yellow instead of blue. I guessed that was what visited but unactivated shrines looked like.

Well, Tera’s shrine seemed to be the next most convenient—not Tera’s, Hawa Koth! That was its name. I warped there, cleaned out all the Safflina, caught a sand seal and started out east.

Every great fairy I’d visited seemed to host a native abundance of.... something. For Cotera it was Blue Nightshade flowers and, very occasionally, fairies. Mija had.... I want to say some kind of root, like carrots. Kaysa.... I don’t remember what Kaysa had; her environ was so dry.... Even Malanya the Horse God had an abundance of butterflies of every kind. And Tera had safflina plants, in many varieties. Good ingredients for whipping up any number of different elixirs.

But I think the Silent Princess flower grew at every fairy fountain.

Now, augh, for SOME reason I forgot to jot this down in my original notes, but.... I think this might have been where it happened.... A likely time and place, anyway....

I couldn’t exactly beeline from the Hawa Koth Shrine at Tera’s to the Misae Suma Shrine where Pokki was stranded.... without passing straight through the Southern Oasis.

I think that this might have been when I decided to do just that.

Fye! Shoddy note-taking....

And I had killed the Arbiter’s Ground Molduga around the same time as well.

FYE!

I sand-sealed toward the great rock until I caught the music on the air, at which point I let the beast go and bade it Godspeed.

Taking my time, I softly circumnavigated the Molduga’s course, limiting my movements when it was near; this one ran a smaller circuit than that very first one I had encountered. In fact, that first one had run the largest circuit of any I had seen thus far. It certainly made each new encounter less daunting at any rate.

One by one I drew out the loitering Lizalfos to put them down before dealing with the main threat. And then.... I attracted the monster’s attention.

Just like at the Arbiter’s Ground, now, I could do this....

I was still short on Bomb Arrows. But.... Well, frankly I had been just a little bit inspired by a certain video I’d seen of someone leading a Guardian Stalker out into the desert to duke it out with a Molduga. That person had been all right handling the Molduga on the ground....

I could do it too.... I’d already done it!

I still tried to keep some distance from it, though, drawing it out of the sand with normal arrows or bombs. And when I’d stunned it, I moved in right up against its great blubbery bulk, and it was melee all the way—which turned out to be faster work than it had been with arrows....

When the Molduga recovered it would thrash and twist round in a huge circle, flicking me high into the air with its huge tail, before burrowing back down into the sand. It sent me cartwheeling head over heels and took some hearts off, but.... it was a licking I could take for the present. My paraglider always caught me.

It only really became complicated when the two of us, ringing round the oasis, chanced upon a Lizalfos I had missed.

It’s.... tricky, to beat back an harrassing Lizalfos when the ground beneath you both is heaving uncontrollably, and could explode at any moment.

But it would be a lie to say it didn’t feel epic.

Turning from my main target I put the Lialfos down in a fury to give me some peace!

Well, relative peace.

But after that it was just a few more meaty exchanges on the ground before the mighty Molduga keeled over and gave up the ghost.

I’d beaten it on the ground. In the sand. In its own element.

At last I could explore this Southern Oasis! Perhaps the top held some kind of shrine-puzzle? I climbed up in the light of the falling sun, checking for Koroks everywhere....

The top was fairly level, with a little oblong depression in the middle where water sprang. A few fruit-bearing palm trees stood about, and there were a few more useful plants.... There were also a few boxes, and an unlit wok. Who had been here before?

After looting a treasure chest I found buried in the dirt, I couldn’t find anything else to do, except.... just enjoy the quiet up here.

Surely there had to be a SHRINE or something? The place was too far out of the way!

But I only walked around, cooked a few meals, explored the placid top of the rock, and enjoyed the quiet.

Until the Blood Moon rose that very night and spawned another Molduga, along with that confounded cello ensemble which I liked VERY MUCH, but which had QUITE overstayed its welcome at this point.

I chucked Bombs at the brute until it was mostly dead, whereupon I sailed down and finally put it out of my misery.

Of course the Lizalfos were always up for another round of sword-tag....

No rest for the weary....

I wondered if I’d missed an opportunity before that Blood Moon. I wondered what might happen at the Southern Oasis.... if I first dispatched all the Moldugas....

I was definitely going to come back here later.

Only those who have walked through the desert

Evening of Monday, September 10, 2018

Only those who have walked through the desert

I warped to the Gerudo Great Skeleton in the corner, ran into the farthest storm, and started walkin’ east. Time to continue my circumnavigation of the map.

It was about noon when I started, and I walked for a long, long way.

But the Lizalfos kept me company.

I was getting better at wardrobe changes in the desert, and so was ready with my Ruby Circlet when night fell. But when the Electric Keese started to come out—where do they roost anyway?—I opted instead for a Warm Doublet and.... the Thunder Helm. It was SO NICE to fight them with the Thunder Helm on! No shocking! Even with metal weapons! 8D

Ahh, never again would I need face their incapacitating overreach in the rain.

I kept running, bumping into the southern boundary with my right shoulder time and again. Occasionally I would venture a few steps to the north if I saw some Hydromelons or a Voltfruit cactus.... and then it was back into the blur, the grit flying in an endless storm.

The desert was vast.

Once I inadvertently stepped into.... a laughing tambourine? And the cellos started up and taunted me to come out, and the name Arbiter’s Ground Molduga appeared at the top of my screen, along with a life-meter.

Arbiter’s Ground?

How interesting....

It was another name from another game. Another reference. Like Spectacle Rock. Or the more obvious Death Mountain—that one’s in a lot of games. But those were geologic features, and not so fleeting as any man-made structures.

Like the Arbiter’s Ground....

I am very fond of Twilight Princess. I was curious to investigate any reference to it, but.... No, I would come back to it later. I was busy combing the nether edges of my map.... in search of.... I was there because....

Well I just wanted to do it.

Soon after I stepped out of the Molduga’s song, however, a new sound came to my ears—the brreep-brreeping of my shrine-detector. And that did warrant a detour!

I turned north, and came out of the swirling limbo and into a brilliant, bright white world of glaring sky. I’d been in the murk so long; the difference was jarring.

Away in the dunes to the north I could see a single, large, solitary rock. One guess where the shrine was.

I followed the signal nonetheless, and was unsurprised when it took me straight toward the formation. I wondered if this was the shrine I had heard when the Chief and I had been sand-sealing after Vah Naboris.... I thought I’d even caught a glimpse of it then....

I climbed up on top of the rock and swept for Koroks before I found the familiar orange glow on the far side. The Misae Suma Shrine. But when I floated down.... I found there was a Gerudo collapsed against the activation pedestal.

What the....? Was that Barta? But this one wore green.... I didn’t remember Barta wearing that color....

It was....

Pokki!

I’d been looking everywhere for her!

She was exhausted under the hot sun, and she croaked that if this were the end.... then before she went, she just wanted a taste, just a sip.... of a NOBLE PURSUIT.

This gave me something of a dilemma.

See, Pokki’s name always made me think of Pocky. I do enjoy Pocky. And somebody must’ve let it slip to my Mom because she’d given me a large box of it for my birthday. And now I was down to the very last packet. And I’d been saving that packet.... for whenever I happened to find the missing Pokki.

And I’d just found her.

But it was late. It was nearly bedtime. I didn’t want to go to bed with a whole packet of Pocky just sitting in my gut like a stone all night.

So....

I left her there. Still begging for a Noble Pursuit in all her heat-stroke delirium. Very unlike me....

And I ran back down into the farthest storm and continued eastward.

I would save the Pocky for the time when I rescued her instead.

Soon, Pokki.... Soon....

I kept going east until I came to a sheer cliff face—the drop-off at the west end of the Devil’s Own Highway. I attempted to climb it, but.... it was too tall and I didn’t have the stamina.

I could no longer circumnavigate the map from here.

....

But.... that had never really been my immediate intention....

For now.... I decided to suffice myself with the desert. For there was plenty I had not seen of its deeper interior.

And so I bent my course to the north. I didn’t venture into the mountains but stayed down on the sand, skirting curious and tempting features on my map like that large, straight-edged rectangular structure, and of course those monumental statues of the Seven Heroines, whose grandeur I had thus far only witnessed in the topo.

However I was already fairly well acquainted with the desert’s northern edge, and its forests of stone pillars. And so halfway to it, I left the anchoring foothills, and plunged back westward into the trackless ocean of grit.

I passed through strange, flat scapes of small, isolated stonework ruins, the lot of them jutting from the sand like a pox. I found the sandy dell where my sand seal and I had won the race, and for kicks I rolled Bombs down into the Lizalfos camp. And I scaled every surprising island rock I found breaching the sand for air. The Koroks did not come out easily.

Every so often I gazed into the south at the enormous, palm-capped rock that had to be the Southern Oasis. I’d been giving it a wide berth; there was a Molduga down there, and I was short on Bomb Arrows. Soon.

After a very long time, mostly via the sand seal track at the end, I managed to walk all the way back to the lookout tower, and thence back to Gerudo Town.

I had walked through the desert.

And it was vast.

But does vastness retain its vastness once it is known?

Hm.

At any rate I felt undaunted enough to continue westward further still! I did make a stop at my favorite specialty arrow stall first, but.... Bomb Arrows were so expensive. And I was still short on cash. I couldn’t go Molduga hunting just now.

Unfazed, I continued nonetheless into the desert’s northwestern regions, with which I was not quite so familiar. There were many giant bones, and a lot more rock. Great place for an ambush, I thought in Scott McNeil’s voice.

I made it all the way up to that shrine beneath the ribcage, and this time, with my stronger clothes, I was able to climb up on top of the spine! And as I’d suspected there was a Korok.

The Koroks weren’t so shy out in the west. In fact they were fairly obvious, one of them perched at the top of a ribcage angled so high out of the ground that it could be seen for miles all around. There were also absolute treasure troves of Swift Violets to collect! Albeit along rock formations crawling with Lizalfos. But that didn’t pose too much of a hassle.

When I had ventured to the edge, and had my absolute fill of climbing around in the western sand storm, picking violets from high walls, turning over treasure chests, scaring up the odd Korok, and fending off Electric Lizalfos.... I hoofed it back to the ribcage shrine, captured a sand seal, and sailed back to Tera’s spring.

With all the Swift Violets I had collected, I was able to have her do up my Sand Boots another level, which was a welcome enhancement in this environment. However this also required me to part with four of my five precious remaining Molduga guts. I’d need to go hunting again soon.

That Molduga at the Southern Oasis....

All in good time.

I’ll get you later!

I warped back to the woods, settled Link down in Pepp’s bed at a decent evening hour for once.... and went to bed myself.

Journey to Toruma

Waking of Friday, August 3, 2018 ~ 4

Journey to Toruma

More Koroks.

More Guardians.

All around the wetlands and up the Sahasra Slope....

I was a little beyond the Pit when I saw the red moon rising....

“Dang it it’s a Blood Moon!” I warped to Satori Mountain and scrambled near enough to its top as fast as I could.

“What?” David asked, confused at my agitation.

But I had already launched off toward Washa’s Bluff.

My paraglide.... could not be fast enough.

“I’m not gonna make it,” I moaned.

“Not gonna make what?” said David. I don’t think he knows about that shrine....

The air began to redden as I was still sailing, approaching the bluff’s edge.

“I’m not gonna make it....”

“What are you trying to do?”

I hit the grass and the strange music began to weep and howl and unholy smoke dripped up into the air—I could see the dais—it was glowing—I was sprinting—the Piano was rumbling—I was almost there—

And the vision started and Zelda’s voice sounded in warning and I came back to the present and the dais went dark and....

I had missed it.

Dang it.

I traveled back to where I had been, shooing up Koroks around a lake southeast of the Pit. I got a few more of them before attempting to swim upriver toward Kakariko Bridge. But the current was stronger than one would think, for just running into a little dead-ended lake like that.

I couldn’t quite make it, even in full Zora Armor....

Just before I ran out of stamina, I warped out of my predicament to the nearby Dueling Peaks Stable, and thought.

I’d already done some shopping to find bits for the Great Fairies to work with.... but I hadn’t seen Hestu in a while. What could he do for me? I had certainly collected a lot of seeds since I’d last seen him.

I warped to Korok Woods to have a visit. But he could offer me no more room for bows. I didn’t want any more shields just now, and another slot for a weapon was still too expensive.

Poop.

I climbed up the Deku Tree’s giant roots and into the Navel; a Korok named Peeks had been waiting for me to show him a pictograph of a Blupee. I did, and he liked that. He liked it to the tune of a hundred rupees, to be precise.... and I liked that.

The day was only just dawning, and so I slept in Pepp’s bed until noon, at which point I decided I had been meandering around long enough.

At noon, I warped to the Sand Seal Rally in the desert.... and started walkin’.

I was going to find Dragon’s Exile.

“Only those who have walked through the desert can truly know its size.” The line from a certain, ah.... Bellena, from Skies of Arcadia, immediately came to mind.

I’d started in a fairly westward direction. The dunes stretched endlessly before me, melting into a blinding ruddybeige haze and rippling in the heat. Fortunately my upgraded Desert Voe Gear was enough to deal with the temperature. I could wander anywhere down here....

The sandscape was not devoid of obstacles, however. There were Lizalfos galore, and more often than not I found myself wearing my mask to keep them at bay. The real trouble came when the Lizalfos began taking up with other breeds of baddies, for I could only wear one mask at a time.

At a giant ribcage I had to stay out of sight up on top of the spine whilst I dropped bombs on a gang of Moblins. But once the Moblins were gone, I had no trouble floating down and looting the place completely. Lizalfos still frozen in sandy-colored camouflage watched me from four feet away, movement betrayed only in their gleaming eyes as I cracked into their treasure chests and carried on my way.

A long jog later, at a tunneled rock formation set low into the sand, I had to hide again while lobbing Bomb Arrows at a small troop of Bokoblins. Some well-placed boomers helped a great deal at the opening volley. But man, that one Black Bokoblin kept wandering off, and took forever to bring down.

But afterward, my mask was enough once again to walk freely among the remaining Lizalfos.

Dusk fell, the sand became a wash of purple-green and grey, and I had to switch from my Headband to my Ruby Circlet.

The desert was truly vast.

In the cool of the night I encountered two men tangling with a couple of Bokoblins, and I dashed in to give them a hand.... but the nighttime came with its own added challenges.

I saw the tiny, crackling, flapping shapes descending fast upon me—“NOT THE KEESE, NOT THE KEESE!”—and immediately ran to put some distance between us. I still had not forgotten that Electric Keese in the rain outside the Honeydell. My GOSH what an ordeal that had been....

From a greater distance I was able to drop the little fiends with my bow, and take care of the Bokoblins. But I rather lost sight of the two men. I ran back toward where I had seen them, near a couple of lonesome palm trees, and I found them standing easily.

They offered me no goodies, though. Seemed I’d run so far away, the game had depopulated them.

Ah well, that was all right. But dang, that Silver Bokoblin could hit.

In the end I could only suffice myself with the said Bokoblin’s weapon—a Trilizal Boomerang with an added attack-bonus like crazy.

At length I came to a long, low shelf in the bedrock, maybe a little taller than I was; the topo lines were gentle here. Toruma Dunes was the name of this place. I jogged along the edge on the upper part, and in the lower portion, out some score yards and burrowing around in a circle in the sand, was a Molduga.

There was something.... peculiar.... about its path....

I didn’t want to get close and I did not want it to sense me down in its own element. But there was something there.... I was sure of it. The Molduga was going round and round within the confines of four small, jutting stone formations, and these formations seemed to share a kind of radial symmetry with each other. Equally distanced.

And I could see on one stone, there was a small, dark shape. I couldn’t quite make out what it was, but....

I needed to get closer.

I dropped onto the lower sands when the beast was farthest away in its tiny circuit. Uhuh, it was terrible approaching it! My steps were slow and light and even, but how long would I be able to flout the Molduga’s superior senses?

In the end I curved wide until I had centered one of the stone formations between the Molduga and me.... and then made a mad dash for it.

I made it onto the stone without incident, and the Molduga continued on its course.

You know I think it may actually have been much smaller than that Molduga I had killed for Malena....

Huh.

But I didn’t wonder about it for long. The object I had seen on the stone stood plain before me now: it was a brazier. And I could see on the stones to my left and right, more braziers waiting to be lit. I assumed the one across from me had one as well—they were situated on the outward-facing edges.

But I couldn’t very well light them up with this brute in the way....

So I drew it up with normal arrows, and blew it up with Bombs.

....That has a nice ring to it. Time to write a song stop rhyming.

With the Molduga dead I was free to light the braziers, and when all four of them were lit, up in the center came the Tho Kayu Shrine.

Excellent.

Spirit Orb Shenanigans

Waking of Saturday, July 28, 2018

Spirit Orb Shenanigans

I warped from Zora’s Domain to Gerudo Town, grabbed a sand seal and headed out southwest. I still needed Molduga fins for the next upgrade to my Sand Boots.

The heat was still an issue, even with my Sapphire Circlet and Gerudo Outfit. Outside of the solace of night and dawn and dusk, at the height of the day I could only cling to the thin shadows wrapping below tall rocks. ....Rather like the time we spent at Needles Outlook. It was so hot.... but having the place to ourselves for an hour was exquisitely adventurous.

Though the high sun was still intolerable, this time the Molduga didn’t take me that long—not when I knew how to draw it out, and not when I employed my Most Terrible Lynel Bow, which spat three arrows of thirty-two attack points each for ninety-six damage at every shot. And that if I had only used normal arrows. No, it was Bomb Arrows this time, as it should be every time, and the Molduga was such a large target that the only shots I missed were during its recovery-burrowing animation.

I brought it down in one pass.

Excellent.

I also picked up more Rushrooms and one more diamond from Ledo, and then it was off to Cotera to have her do up some of my clothes. Got my Sand Boots to a more respectable level of defense. Since I’d be going out into the desert and all....

I also saw I had three spirit orbs. Just one more shrine and I could add another heart or a slice of stamina.... So I went to where I’d always suspected there might be a shrine: from the Hateno Tower I paraglided toward a certain stretch of the Hateno Road—checking out Oakle’s Navel for the first time along the way—there was a Korok down there—

I headed toward that little grotto on the north side of the road. Kind of a big grotto actually. I had heard my shrine-locator go off near there before, back before I had the wherewithal to climb the surrounding cliffs.... But my locator had seemed to indicate something up on that shelf opposite the Cliffs of Quince, or maybe a little beyond.

With a little persistence and my Climber’s Bandana I got up on top, and was promptly led by my locator in dizzying circles around a small lakespring, which poured into a long valley just to the north.

I had regarded this valley many times on my map, but had never visited it. It had seemed isolated at first, but upon closer inspection I could see there were ways to access it—ways whose entries I had brushed against many times.

But I did not want to be tempted by it now. I was pretty sure I saw David exploring it one time and.... there were things going on that I heard, but didn’t let myself see, except in the murky reflection off the microwave door. What was I eating that day....?

At any rate I was leery of the valley. First of all it was raining, and any elevation losses would be difficult to regain. And secondly, I had to head into the desert; I didn’t want to get too distracted or trigger anything momentous in this new environ....

In truth.... I suspected Naydra might make a pass.

However, the brreep-brreep I was hearing now sounded like the shrine might be under the little lake, and like I might not be able to access it unless I descended into the long water-valley.

There were an awful lot of ruins down there.... I got as close as I could to the edge first on one side of the waterfall, then on the other.... On the east side I dropped down by small degrees onto ancient mossy stonework shelves, peering down at lonely Lizalfos stretching in and out of camouflage—and there. There on the west side of the waterfall was a hole cut into the rock. It was well off the valley floor. Er, valley-bottom. (It seemed to be all water down there.)

I paraglided down and in. Brreep-brreep! The tunnel was long, but at the end.... stood the Dow Na’eh Shrine. Cool.

The cavern happened to have a second opening, right onto the back of the waterfall. I dove in with my Zora Armor for a quick ascent back up to the mountain shelf....

That made four Spirit Orbs all right, but when I was back on the Hateno Road, I considered.... I was much better equipped than I had been before.... What was up with that grotto anyway? Maybe I could solve it now. A long time ago I’d thought the shrine I heard on my locator would appear in that grotto....

But hidden shrines didn’t work like that.

Doctor Calip was there, studying the hordes of little statues standing in the ground like an army in prayer. Doctor Calip from that friendly house back in the woods near Fort Hateno. I’d slept there once....

I’m not sure if I knew it before, but I gathered now that he frequented this place. I spoke to him. It’d been a long time. And he repeated the strange riddle to me, the one he was trying to puzzle out himself: “When a dark light resides in the cursed statue’s eyes, pierce its gaze to release the seal on the shrine” or some such words.

Was the statue one of this bunch of little ones?

When I asked him about it further he said he reckoned it was some terrible variety of doll that could influence people’s behavior.

What like a voodoo doll? .__.

Sounded freaky....

When it started getting dark, Doctor Calip high-tailed it out of there—monsters came out after nightfall, he reminded me.

I had made Doctor Calip’s riddle my active quest, and I watched him leave by the pulsing yellow light on my HUD. I looked up and could see his person jogging away in the distance, about to round the bend—the yellow light had barely moved—and I marveled at the scale of the map. <3

The fall of night in earnest was still a good way off, but.... I decided to hang around anyway. Would any monsters bother me in here? Mmmm maybe. But maybe there would also be some kind of clue the night might reveal.... or maybe it only happened on Blood Moons. A voodoo doll? My hopes weren’t that high. I ran around collecting plants and passing a Korok I had found.... was there anything I had skipped over before? I jumped off low blocks of old ruins, waiting for the sun to sink....

Wheee.

Then uh—

Looking back. Into the grotto. For I had jogged over near its mouth. Oh gosh what—

The little army of statues stood clustered and shrouded in the dimness. But it looked like.... did that one there.... But it was a good stone’s throw away—maybe it was just a trick of my vision—I scoped in—

NO THAT ONE STATUE’S EYES WERE DEFINITELY GLOWING. THEY GLOWED PURPLE. WHAT.

“David look!” I strained in tight unmoving terror.

Oh my gosh it looked so freaky....

So I snapped a pictograph.

The statue didn’t do anything as I came back toward it.

Its eyes just glowed purple. What unholy....

I swung at it with my farmer’s hoe. But I couldn’t hit it that way.

So I tried shooting an arrow into it.

That destroyed the statue.

And up rumbled the shrine out of the earth, right in that bare patch of ground I had always thought would look just dandy with a shrine in it....

The Kam Urog Shrine.

Inside was the biggest hamster wheel I had ever seen. With giant, free-rolling morningstars in it.

“YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME,” I said.

But I did it.

And it was awesome.

The City Again

Waking of Friday, January 19, 2018 ~ 9

The City Again

Dang it, where had my sand seal gone? Hopefully back home....

No matter; I could just warp back to town.... And I did, Molduga guts in tow, before doing myself up like a girl once again and heading for the gate.

Before I got there, however, I bumped into Bozai.

I guessed this was the first time he’d seen me as a girl; he positively fell all over himself making an introduction.

“So yeah, hey, the name’s Bozai. I’m 35, single, and I LOVE jogging. Especially on sand.”

Oh yeah those Sand Boots! He said he might give them to a girl!

At once I started trying to weasel them out of him, and I heard him mumble something to himself about a golden chance to woo.... But he seemed quite attached and he kept playing coy, and in the end he said he’d only give them to me if I could first do him the favor of finding the legendary Eighth Heroine, somewhere in the Gerudo Highlands.

And to help me out he lent me a pair of.... SNOW BOOTS?

Well HANDYSAUCE I guess! ‹8D

I checked my map—I’d heard tell of the Seven Heroines, and I was pretty sure I knew what those had to be. I found that circle of Desert Colossi I had seen, and counted—there were seven.

And if those Colossi were big enough to register on my topo.... my eyes swept over the Gerudo Highlands....

Ah! There it was. :) Way up round the north side where I hadn’t been able to reach before.

But with my new Snow Boots, and my Warm Doublet AND the cold-resistant circlet from that nice lady back in town....! 8D

But.... that was an excursion for another time; I had some business at present.

As the day became stronger I stepped into the city, and immediately got lost in the sprawling tangle. Where was Malena? I went looking here, looking there, looking for Malena—no, the area full of guards was the wrong place—I needed the front of the palace....

And even as I veered to correct my course, I bumped right into her as she walked up the street!

Malena! ^_^

And I gave her the Molduga guts.

And she was in disbelief, she was so grateful—“OH, SARQSO!” she cried! and promptly became all sniffly with emotion. “This will save him...”

She wished she could give me more in thanks, but I graciously accepted her proffered 300 rupees.

“I never asked your name, did I?”

I told her it was Link.

“Sounds like a sturdy voe name to me,” she said.

Ah, hehh.... ^_^;

“May I... possibly... name my vehvi after you? If I ever have one, that is!”

AwwwWWW! There was a Gerudo word for BABIES!  ^___^ <3

“Deepest Sarqso, Link. I’ll never forget about you.”

Dang that felt good.

As I moved further about the city I found yet more areas that I had never encountered. One odd corner of town brought me to an old woman named Muava, sitting alone on a rug, and further along the wall, on the other side of.... what looked like a pile of rubbish.... a Goddess Statue.

I spoke to Muava, and she recognized me for a voe! But she wasn’t going to tell anyone. Actually she liked the idea of chatting with a voe once again.

She said she was quite a trveler, and a beauty, when she was younger. She had looked all over for the Lover’s Pond, but she never found it—I knew where that was—and before she knew it she was old.

Now.... she was just lonely. Lonely and alone, and she appreciated the time I spent talking with her.

Hhhhhhh, makes me want to.... I don’t know. I don’t know any cut-off and detatched elderly people. Though I suppose if they were cut off, how would they inform anyone?

What a cruel joke.

....

I wonder if I’ll end up like that, since I’m not very outgoing.

....

At the very least we could Christmas carol to a nursing home again.

Oh, the way their eyes light up and their smiles come to life....

I prayed at the Goddess Statue, and received another stamina vessel, which made now for two complete wheels.

Back at the clothing shop—Armor Shop?—I attempted to explore a little deeper beyond the front stall—but the attendant told me that door was “for employees only”.

Huh.

So I combed the outside of the building until I found another door. But when I attempted entry here, a voice from within asked me for a password.

! So this was the password door!

I had a wild guess at it anyway. Not unexpectedly, I got it wrong.

The voice chided me and told me to go back to the tavern and order.... milk or something or some such words.

I turned and ran back to the square, passing Jules in the street—we momentarily reveled in our sharing the secret. Hee.

But I hurried on to the tavern—I wanted to learn the password!

As it turned out there was indeed a new option to order milk from the bartender—but when I tried it she told me off just the same!

I got the feeling both the bartender and that voice behind the door each thought the other were playing tricks on her....

The only other things the bartender talked about were one Pokki and some purported Ice House which aided in their business. Of neither of which I found any sign as I looked all over.

I spoke to another patron in the bar, Pritana, but she only said I didn’t look old enough to be in there. “How old are you really?” she asked.

“I’m over 100!” I answered, selecting the answer before I realized the dialogue had given me options.

Pritana laughed and told me what a funny vai I was. “When you’re older,” she said, “let’s have a drink together!”

Fed up and unable to squeeze anything further from the canteen, I threw the barrel at those lounge ladies once again before plunging back into the city.

I think inwardly.... I only wanted to put off my quest for a little longer. I wanted to play, and yet I also wanted to keep from doing the important things in the game.... because I was always behind on my log, and I wanted to catch up on my writing first before playing deeper into the main storyline....

Though I’m sure you can see the lot of good that has done me in my writing. Sometimes it doesn’t matter whether it’s important or inane, main storyline or not. The moment that strikes you has no preferred time or place or shape or color or taste. It manifests when it wants to, and you can only try your best to bottle it with your words.

Like that whole Molduga chapter.... How did two or three sentences of notes become three or four pages of log?

I guess because the moment was familiar.

Maybe I am the spider in the web, perservering motionless for endless hours.

I am Buck in the wilderness.

I’m Pangur Bán hunting mice.

I’m the scholar, hunting words.

Hunting mice is his delight,

Hunting words I sit all night.

Better far than praise of men

‘Tis to sit with book and pen...

Translated from the Irish by Robin Flower (1881 – 1946)

A walk around some very high walls with enormous planters and palm trees in the corners gave me a view of one more sand seal paddock, containing only one animal.

I floated down—this sand seal was different, and had a stronger color.

Padda, the single Gerudo standing by, informed me that this was the chief’s favorite sand seal, Patricia.

I regarded the creature.

She had a tiny red bow at the front of her scruffy mane, but I think.... it only accentuated what great hulking squash-faced beasts they are.

Padda further explained that Patricia was an oracle.

WAT.  ._.

“Offer her fruit, and she will give you words of wisdom,” says Padda.

So I gave her an apple.

She ate it, and then proceeded to bark and grunt and flap her big flippers with a great deal of show.

Padda translated for me: “‘The southern desert is...searing hot during the day! Bring gear made for it!’ I’ve spared you the painful seal pun,” she added.

OH GOSH. |-D

Thanks, Padda.

I think.... I’d had enough.

I got out of town, grabbed a seal, sealed back to the Bazaar, headed to the inn....

And went to bed.

Good night.

That Patience Which Holds Motionless for Endless Hours the Spider in its Web

Waking of Friday, January 19, 2018 ~ 8

That Patience Which Holds Motionless for Endless Hours the Spider in its Web

In the dark of the night I sailed out west behind my rented sand seal, skirting giant bones and Lizalfos habitations.

My trajectory was vague at best and I had no idea what I was looking for—what did Moldugas look like?

Were they gigantic and woolly? Did they walk on their knuckles? Did they have tusks? Would I know one when I saw it?

As it turned out I did—I knew it before I saw it.

The music gave it away.

Like the Talus and its pounding percussion, the Hinox and its fatshnazzy brass band—the Molduga’s name and life-meter appeared at the top of the screen, accompanied by an insistent, repetitive, Phrygian ambush of cellos, arpeggiating sans the third beneath a dancing tambourine pacesetter as if it had been a race!

I banked hard in a panic—the arc was too wide and slow—and charged back the way I had come—!

And the music did not follow me.

I try to be a good steward; I did not want to bring the sand seal to any harm, especially as it was not my own.

But I think it would be a lie to say I was not also fleeing to save my own skin.

Once I was sure I had put a sufficient distance between myself and the monster, I stopped, and had a look back.

The Molduga was somewhere in among those stones, I was sure of it: Great, gargantuan juts of sandstone pushing up out of the earth like enormous toadstools. —And there was movement.

I scoped in.

As the day began to dawn I could see: Something large was.... swimming beneath the surface of the sand, casting up a wake. Burrowing. I could see the hump of earth rolling along, indicating where it was.... but what did the thing itself actually look—

It breached the surface. Whale. Crocodile. Jaws. Teeth. Spoonbill. Little arms waggling. Manatee tail. Thrash. Twist. Snap. Huge—HUGE—

And it was down burrowing again.

Oh my Hylia that thing was—how could I—so big—could it sense me even here?

I watched it. A long, long time I watched it; and it did not stray beyond the confines of its great stone toadstool ring, but only cycled around within it.

It must have been moving so fast and yet.... every circuit took.... what seemed like several minutes. With a few breaches along the way.

So big.

Was the Compendium lying, when it said the Hinox was the largest monster to call Hyrule home?

Or was this not a part of Hyrule after all?

I eased my sand seal toward it again, timing our pace to arrive at one of the gigantic rounded rocks just as the monster was on the far side of its circuit from us.

The cellos were nowhere to be heard.

I left the sand seal near the stone, on the outside of the ring. Removed enough to be out of harm’s way, but close enough to be called at short notice.

I meanwhile climbed up on top of the squat rock formation, and watched.... and waited.

I dared not move a muscle as the Molduga came pummeling back round the circle, clockwise, coming in hard from the right.

It would pass near me soon; I would have an opportunity to strike. And given the enormity of the circuit, I could see just how sparse and precious that opportunity would be. No time for test shots here—it would be imprudent to attempt anything less than maximum damage.

I selected the strongest Lynel Bow I had, nocked a Bomb Arrow, and prepared to demand the attention of a carnivore one hundred times my size....

And with perfect timing the Molduga flew up out of the sand before my eyes, blue-grey-green and enormous, huge jaws snapping, tiny limbs flapping pointless, and I took my best guess at distance, at arcing, at my quarry’s momentum, and let fly—

I wonder how much was skill at this point, and how much was luck.

At least in part, the tripled Bomb Arrow connected! and the huge whale of a creature slammed onto the surface of the sand and lay there heaving in its blubbery vastness.

My gosh I couldn’t believe it! A direct hit on the first go! Great shot! ^_^ And I looked at its life-meter.... It had gone down a bit! Maybe not an overly substantial amount, but—

What was I doing it was immobile I could hit it again—

In the folly of my hesitation I got off only another shot or two before the Mulduga regained itself and burrowed back into the sand, safe and untouchable once more.

And off it went around the circuit.

And the music went with it.

The day became lighter and I was alone. On a few of the other sandstone towers to my right and left and into the distance, little camps of monsters could be seen. On the central hub, a large, wide stone like my own but on a greater scale, seemed to be the biggest party of them all, with a fire, a few storage crates, and no small supply of boomers. On the sands in between, camouflaged Lizalfos crouched still as statues.

The Molduga breached away in its course.

The timing was off—it did not breach in the same places on every revolution. It wouldn’t breach directly in front of me again for . . . . I didn’t know how many cycles.

Landing those hits really had been fortuitous.

But how long was this going to take?

I waited for it to pass by me again, and the arcing sun grew stronger.... I watched my thermometer tip further and further toward the red until it was too hot for me to stay where I was. My clothes could not protect me. I didn’t want to guzzle elixirs, not that I had that many. What could I—

Hm.

The Molduga was far away. I stepped forward and dropped onto the sand on the inside of the ring, landing in the shade.

There was something about letting myself down into the territory, the element, of my enemy that felt.... unnerving at best.

But at least I was protected here.

Well . . . . protected from the sun.

I didn’t like that Lizalfos half a stone’s cast away from me, though. I took the time to dispatch it before returning to the little strip of shade beneath the brim of the toadstool rock, where once again.... I waited.

And waited.

The Molduga slowly arced back around, breaching, as I had anticipated, well out of range of my arrows. How many circuits would it have to make before it would breach where I could reach it again?

I considered. I could try for the central stone hub....

But there were so many baddies there; it could take a moment too long to do away with them all—the Molduga might very well detect the ruckus, and then what? Or would it just as soon detect me making a break for that spot in the first place? To say nothing of what to do with all the Lizalfos in between....

The Molduga’s senses were sharp; I had stepped and jumped around in investigating this, when I was still on top of the rock, and my movements had caught its attention over impressive distances. And every time, I had stopped and ducked before the question mark could develop into anything further, stilling in time to let the monster be on its way. But I dared not shift my footing again down on the sand.

The day passed.

My sliver of shade narrowed. But the cool of the evening returned before it disappeared completely.

I had long since plucked what scanty plants there were in the vicinity. A Rushroom. Some Safflina.

The monster arced around.

Some breaches were nearer, some I could hit, away at the edge of my range, where as many arrows missed as hit their mark. Maybe more. Couldn’t risk a direct hit with something uselessly weak.

And the Molduga’s life-meter would drop by a small degree.

Chip by chip, piece by piece.

By and by the thought came to me, as I employed my projectile weaponry.... The Molduga responds to the faintest vibrations.... I can’t move when it’s near.... But perhaps.... my BOW.

The Molduga came round again. Its breaches would be far out of reach I could see.

But before it came even with me, I nocked a normal arrow into a weak, wooden Bokoblin bow, and fired off into the sand before its path.

The dread question mark appeared again, and this time—the monster breached where the arrow had struck!

I scrambled to switch out my equipment for something stronger again! Lynel Bow! Bomb Arrows! Fire! FIRE!

I could induce a breach from the beast.

I cut down its life-meter by a much more gratifying portion before it was able to escape again.... though my bow-work was become a bit sloppy in my excitement. I knew Bomb Arrows didn’t come cheap, but by this point I would rather have lost arrows than lost time spent refining my aim. Enough had connected that I was sufficed.

And I waited for the beast’s return.

And waited.

And waited.

Round and again the great Molduga came, and I lured it up each time, unmoving in my pocket of shade, in my refuge from the chill, and cast arrow after arrow after arrow.

Quivers ran dry. Bows broke. It was becoming increasingly expensive....

But the desert was not unfeeling toward my plight.

Once as I stood through the long and lonely night, watching and waiting as the stars winked overhead and the Molduga thrashed soundlessly in the far distance, something glimmered over the sand out in front of me.

There was a kind of twinkling, a little way off, but it vanished almost at once. And then it came again, in a different spot—and disappeared once more. Pulsing like a satellite. What in the world....?

Another sparkle, and I could see faint dark movement against the bluebeige of the moonwashed sand. Something was making that light.

And it was coming closer.

And then I recognized the glittering—that was an item I could grab!

But.... moving? Smooth as a shark-fin—was it a lizard?

And as it came nearer, listing away to my right, I saw it clearly: The kindly desert breeze had found one of my stray arrows, and blown it back toward me, rolling it over the dunes.

I ran to collect it as it blew against a far section of my rock, and then trudged back to the place where I had chosen to wait.

The sand—it slows you down.

It was in the nighttime that the mighty Molduga finally succumbed to my Assault of a Thousand Arrows, writhing in the air on the last hit with an almighty bellow before crashing to the ground in an ignominious explosion of wasted darkness.

I was running straight away—already the fickle wind was beginning to toy with the leftover parts and blow them about.... I picked up so many fins, AND . . . . the guts!

Got it! Molduga Guts! HAHHH, that was a HARD-EARNED PRIZE.

And there were yet a few lingering Lizalfos from whose claws I had to pry it.

After this I was not waiting for the next Blood Moon—I stormed and looted the central hub for all that it was worth. And I realized that while I had been hunting the Molduga, some of my incendiary arrows must have ignited a few of the boomers strewed about the sand. For there was a great swath of them missing where I had made my attacks.

Inadvertently handy!

I rejoiced in my spoils, I felt mighty in my accomplishment, but after days and nights in the wilderness of the Wasteland.... the time really did feel ripe to head back.

I trudged back toward my squat little hunting rock to harness up my sand seal once more.

It was gone.

Forbidden City, Take Two

Waking of Friday, January 19, 2018 ~ 7

Forbidden City, Take Two

I tried again. And this time, I did not remove my Gerudo garb.

Some ladies at the Canteen were driving me nuts—muttering to each other about some secret password to some secret place. But every time I listened in, they shut up about it and told me to get lost.

Fed up I grabbed a loose barrel from the corner of the room and chucked it into their general midst before turning to leave.

I derived a really wonderful juvenile pleasure from their shrieking reactions then.

But on my way into the other room, I met and spoke with one of the few Hylian women I’d seen wandering around.

Jules was her name.

“Say, are you, uhh... I really don’t know how to say it... Might you be... A boy?”

Link jolted back in surprise!

“You are! I knew it!”

Who was this lady?

“It’s really impressive—you getting in here without anyone else noticing!” she said, “No need to worry. I won’t tell a soul. Just a little secret between us Hylian vai, right? Hehehe.”

Oh my gosh this was awesome. X-)

I left the Canteen and continued to climb around, until a guard kept me from inadvertently entering the palace, whereupon I wound up back at the entrance of said palace and saw....

“TRAYSI?”

That was the name. That was her. In the flesh. A Hylian.

The author of all those volumes of the Rumor Mill.

She looked nothing like I had imagined. Her writing sounded more like a hyperactive teenage girl, but she was.... rather a well-filled out, wide-faced woman.

She seemed to be arguing with one of the palace guards, maybe over entry into the building, maybe over something else. I forgot very quickly, because I was more interested in the plight of another nearby Gerudo.

Her name was Malena. But I might have first called her Shorty. Her stature really was quite small, especially next to those guards.

Malena had asked them for help, but they were still on high alert after the theft of the Thunder Helm, and couldn’t spare time or energy for the citizenry.

Malena’s husband had fallen very ill, and I caught from her that only the innards of a Molduga would cure him.

....What the heck was a Molduga?

Malena told me it was a monster so fierce that even other monsters fled before it. She said that it lived to the west, and the south, and that it was impossible to approach for it was sensitive to vibrations in the ground, and that any who drew near it would surely be KILLED.

Wo . . .

. . . was her.

The sidequest banner flashed over the top of the screen.

What the heck was a Molduga?

Dazed, I continued combing the endless city.

I discovered that I could in fact make it to the top of the central stone formation without the aid of the Zora Armor or my Climber’s Bandana—and was rewarded with a Korok at the top for my trouble!

The view from the topmost waterspring was excellent. And I’ve just reached three hundred pages. What in even the heck.

The view from the topmost waterspring was excellent, and after taking a look over the city I sailed down into a partition I had not yet explored—a training area of some kind.

The Captain Teake I met there, and her subordinates, said much the same thing the other guards had been telling me: the Thunder Helm was stolen. Everyone was on high alert.

Aside from this they didn’t say much. Except perhaps for some minor grumbling from the low-rungers now being overworked, and practicing endless spear-jabs.

Further wandering brought me to a little paddock with a few sand seals in it. They were more ruddyrose-colored than the ones out in the dunes, and they wore harnesses.

These ones were domesticated, and wouldn’t burrow away if you left them alone.

Frelly’s mother, Kohm, was renting them out.

Twenty rupees.

....

....Molduga . . . .

“I’ll take one,” I said.