More Loose Ends

Evening of Sunday, April 14, 2019

More Loose Ends

I was in my Hateno House.

....

I didn’t even remember what I was doing.

So I decided to wrap up the sidequests.

First.... Kula’s Ice Rod. That Korok who was like another Nebb. He wanted to see an Ice Rod....

I searched Hebra, and had no luck, just a lot of Blizzrobes. Wrong rod. I searched the Gerudo Highlands, and found another Blizzrobe.... no good.... but then—!! There was an Ice Wizzrobe! That one had what I needed!

I killed it, and took its Ice Rod. I also tried for the swooping Farosh, but he took off before I could shoot him.

Well, if I’d chased two rabbits, both would’ve escaped.

I got what I came for.

I warped to see Kula in the Korok Forest, and showed him the Ice Rod.

He gave me a hundred rupees.

Cool.

Next.... Dugby’s Stick. Dugby that little Goron kid who was always hanging out in the hot springs near the Bridge of Eldin. He’d hidden something, probably a weapon, somewhere near there. And he said I could keep it if I found it....

I warped to the shrine near the Bridge of Eldin and started poking around.... hahhh, as I’d poked around many times before. Where was this thing? Dugby said it was between the hot springs and the Bridge of Eldin, but I’d never yet been able to find any hidden special “schticks”!

I just kept my eyes peeled for butterflies in the meanwhile.

At length I got up on top of that stretch that overhangs the railtrack, and wandered back to the far side of it, and—

ROOOOOCKS?

They were hidden around the back of a big upjutting protrusion of the red volcanic stone. A big grey clump of what was decidedly the explodable variety!

How long had these been here?

I blew it up.

In the hollow behind lay a Drillshaft. Heh, hadn’t seen one of those in a while. I took it back to Dugby.

He was amazed. Yeah he thought he’d heard a loud noise, he said.... XD

Well, I found it, so he’d let me keep it.

Cool.

I’d also found three Smotherwing Butterflies while I was there. That was enough for the Flamebreaker Armor, plus one for to keep in my pocket. Who was the closest Fairy?

Mija.

I warped.

Oh, but I needed Hinox guts for the Flamebreaker Armor as well, and.... I was short one. Dang.

But I could upgrade either the Soldier’s Armor or the Barbarian Armor. I’d run out of Naydra Horn if I did the Barbarian, BUT.... I did have enough Lynel Guts for it. Finally.

But which to choose....

Naydra Horn....

....

I chose the Soldier’s Armor. Got it up to 84 Defense! Sweet.

Next.... Shrines.

I just went to Kakariko. Checked those woods. That pedestal. Back up on the hill in Cotera’s Forest. There MUST be a shrine there. And there MUST be a Shrine at the Eldin Great Skeleton.... but how....?

I chased Naydra’s tail as I climbed further up into the mountains, but.... he gone.

Went back to the village.

Visited Impa. Didn’t save.

Reload.

One more memory, and that’s in the castle.

Ain’t got time for that, bro.

Pepp’s and bed.

GOOD NIGHT.

Return to Hateno

Waking of Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Return to Hateno

I wanted to play, but there were people around; I could not continue on with my main quest with that kind of buzzkill risk hanging in the air.

Have I only lost faith in humanity?

Hm.

I warped from Gerudo Canyon to the Shrine of Kaam Ya’Tak. There were plenty of crawlies in there; surely one of them would drop an Ancient Core for me....

No joy.

So I warped to Hateno—I could have sworn there was somebody who sold Guardian parts SOMEWHERE near there.... someone I’d met a long time ago on the road....

No luck.

But I did buy that fancy armor set David had reminded me of in his playthrough—the Soldier’s Armor. And I showed Nebb the Moblin Club, for which viewing he gave me fifty rupees! That was nice. :) The next thing he wanted to see was a Duplex Bow....

Haeh, well.... given where I was fixing to go in the near future that didn’t seem like too tall an order.

I also cleaned up an old sidequest by stepping behind the counter and addressing the lady inkeep directly. Dunno why I hadn’t tried that before.... I asked her what she liked, and she told me “Darners!” more out of a desperation to get rid of me than out of honest consideration. I relayed this to the lovesick chump down the street who’d put me up to it, whereafter he paid me a royal rupee for a handful of my own darners. I don’t even remember which kind.... I had plenty to spare.

I also made a friend at the inn, Worten. He was just sitting out on this patio I had never explored, looking content with the world. He was a traveler like me, and he told me about a few of the places he’d visited—or at least tried to; he hadn’t actually made it to Goron City. Nor had he been able to enter Gerudo Town. But he said if I was looking for adventure, I might try Zora’s Domain or Rito Village, though both of those were quite a ways away.

The sight of him contentedly sipping from his mug as he sat there in the breezy shade was so happily striking that I took a pictograph.

It’s a good one.

I felt like I might have been overworking poor Cotera, so I warped to Mija’s fountain in Akkala to see what she could make of my new armor set. She was able to enhance each piece two levels at least—three levels for the greaves. But I needed Hinox guts for further upgrades.

Fortunately I knew where a few Hinoxes could be found.

At Digdogg Suspension Bridge I left I think it was Memory a couple of bridges out while I marched straight in and killed the Hinox myself—ON FOOT! And I didn’t even get squished. :)

But the brute didn’t drop any guts. Cheapskate.

I boarded Memory again, warped to Dueling Peaks, took out Brown, and—dear me.... as I had done long ago in the dreary, dreary rain.... rode him down the long Hateno Road.

I had not taken that road in so, so long.

Why is that?

....

I don’t know.

Maybe my very first Yiga encounters had made me shy of it.

Maybe the pressing danger of the Yiga and the madness of the Valley of Terror had made me detest Hateno, and its road.

I still have not purchased that house.

....

We’ll see.

I spoke to everyone I met along the Hateno Road, and this time.... good luck was with me—I met a man named Teli, who sold GUARDIAN PARTS. Er, Ancient Tech, I mean.

However bad luck was with me too, for he carried no cores.

Hhhhh.

I rode Brown onward into Hatenooooish lands. One more place to check.

David keeps saying They’re in shrines! The cores.

Well, I knew of one shrine with a high chance of core capacity, that’s.... an odd way to word it.... core containment, no.... breach the core, um.... mockingbirds—

—I knew of ONE shrine with a high chance of containing an Ancient Core. I had quit from it many moons before in a bid to preserve mine own life. Just quit from it—I hadn’t known how to load a previous save from within the menu.

I had Brown take me back to it this time, while I maintained a rotation of different masks; for we passed roaming Moblins in the Woods of Concussion, and Bokoblins in the heights beyond.

The great, jutting mountain-cliff beside the sea was perhaps not well suited for horses, but we picked our way as best we could between stones and along ledges (Brown at one point attempting to align to a path crossing forty feet below us), and we made fair progress until we reached the highest, broadest open shelf.

The Shrine that stood at its tip over the ocean may very well have been the most prominent Shrine on the map. You could see it for miles from many directions. Maybe that’s what had drawn me to it so long ago. I’d been out of my depth, then. But now.... I was stronger.

On the flat, open ground Brown and I broke into a welcome gallop, slipping past the strong camp of curious Bokoblins until we were safe about the reaches of the shrine.

Even so, I led Brown around to the shady back of it, out of sight of the baddies.... just in case.

And then I stepped inside the shrine—the Muwo Jeem Shrine—and faced the long-feared Modest Test of Strength that had so daunted me into retreating before.

I beat it easily this time.

But there were still no cores for me.

Hhhh.

Well, it was another Spirit Orb anyway. I was overdue to pray at a Goddess statue....

I rode Brown back down the mountain [back toward home I wrote in my original notes—To Hateno? Strange of me....]—it was a little tricky to reclaim the path we had imagined for ourselves to get up here in the first place. And when we finally reached the road, I met Teli again.

I asked him about his wares just to see.

AND HE HAD A CORE!

I BOUGHT IT. FOR A COUPLE HUNDRED RUPEES AND THEN SOME.

SWEET.

Aha! So Ancient Cores could be bought!

It was raining as I galloped back westward. But I was feeling too jubilant—this called for a change of outfit! I ripped off my Bokoblin Mask. And then.... I ripped off everything else! And rode back to Dueling Peaks in my skin.

“Well, you’re looking peppy today, stranger!” said Tasseren the stablehand when I came to board Brown again, and I laughed.