What Garill Knew

Waking of Saturday, May 4, 2019 ~ 2

What Garill Knew

It’s 8:40 in the evening.

I’ll go out and get Dragmire.

Oh, but not before snagging a Korok behind Impa’s house first.

After that I come back to the broad thoroughfare before the house; I’d left Dragmire there to graze and lounge beside Cado and Dorian.

I give him a carrot.

And we are on our way.

Dorian says it’s dangerous to travel at night, but....

I’m going.

I round onto Hestu’s Hillside and can see the Dueling Peaks Stable in the far distance.

Very close.

Dragmire and I continue down the road at a trot.

Talk with Brokka.

Talk with Bugut.

Old friends.

But still keeping my eyes peeled for enemies.

I see the disguised Yiga by the foot of the mountain. In your dreams, creeper.

I pass by, and cross Kakariko Bridge.

And.... there’s another lady walking on the road. I suspect her, but—I hear them.

Stal creatures. And a Yiga man, laughing as he foregoes pretense and somersaults from nowhere to have it out with me....

I put on my Radiant Gear—too late—and kill the Stalkoblins, and the Yiga Archer....

And with the threats put down I see the lady breathe a sigh of relief....

I collect the spoils, and then go to check on her....

.... But she is yet a Traveler?

I must say, this is a trick I had not seen them use before.

Fine. What.

“Hey, buuuuuddy!”

“Me?” My response.

“Awwww! You’re so cuuute!”

Really.

“Want to spend some.... tiiiiime with meee?”

My choices: “OK...” and “I refuse!”

I’d rather not, lady.

“I refuse!”

“Whaaaaa—?! But whyyyyy?” she pouts. “Don’t you like meeee? If you doooo, please cloooose those eyes!”

Choices: “Well...OK, then.” or “No, I don’t like you.”

I’m not going to play your games.

“No, I don’t like you.”

“You’re so meeeean. Well, theeeen... Hylian Champion...”

The tissue-thin guise dropped and her face contorted into a snarl.

“Begone, enemy of my Master!”

YOU begone!

It’s on.

Aaaand it’s over quickly.

Not tonight.

I am busy.

So near the stable.

I’ll put Dragmire to manger first.

And I do. Thanks, Tasseren.

It will be light, soon.

....

I think I’ll go find Garill.

I kill things that get in my way. But that Bokoblin.... it went after someone else. I pursue and kill it anyway.

Still wary from the bridge I do not talk to the other man this time until I’m sure I know him. It’s Agus. And his donkey.

Don’t think the Yiga keep donkeys....

I buy all his milk and butter.

Thanks, Agus.

Heh, and as I continue along the winding road.... here comes Joute, the old Witcher III guy who spooked me in the rain before on his pale horse. Joute.

“White horsies, giants, and bony ones too. They’re out there for catchin’, and that’s what you should do...” he sings. “You like my song about the legendary horses? There’s only one of each, but I took some liberties to make it musical.”

I do like it, Joute.

The Guardians grow thick now. Here in the Valley of Terror.

I heard that.... Octorok....

Found it. Killed it.

So close to the fort now.... I’ve surely passed where the memory lies....

But I continue....

Garill. My friend. ^_^

“Incredible!” I hear him say.

And I visit with him.

“The more I see of this place, the more it hits me just how hard the old tragedy struck here. But even knowing that, seeing so many Guardians... It boggles the mind. That warrior must have been some threat to the forces of darkness, huh?”

Huh. Well, I would like to think so at least.

Garill doesn’t say anything else.

....

Good old Garill.

I’ll take his pictograph.

I coax him to speak again; try and get him to look up....

“If I’d been alive 100 years ago...I like to think I’d have fought these Guardians here, right at the warrior’s side.”

More....

“The warrior and his soldiers at Fort Hateno risked their lives to protect the world. I wasn’t there at the time, but I’m alive now because of them, and I’ve got to make sure future generations know it!”

Now there’s a good smiling face! ^_^

Got a good pictograph.

Now.... to find that memory....

Heh, I see Toma heading back toward the crossroads too, on her horse.

More familiar faces than I’d realized, around these parts.

Wander, wander.... back into the field.... I won’t be able to tell until I’m within a few feet of it.... There was a Guardian’s husk in the foreground of the painting on Impa’s wall. I look around all the clusters of Guardians, but.... No.... Must be further out....

I might have to kill all the central baddies....

And I do. That Frostspear did come in handy!

Searching, seaching.... Not in any of these clusters near the wall, then....

Perhaps that cluster farther back. Is that the one with an active Decayed one in it?

I go. Find three more Bokoblins, but.... nothing else.

I won’t be able to tell until I’m within a few feet of it.... Was that a trick of the setting sun’s glare? Or....

No.

It’s here.

It’s right here.

My memory.

!

And.... a lot of.... swords. In the ground. Oh....

Oh...

What....

What happened in this place?

....

It’s been two years and two months and two days.

It’s time for me to find out.

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.