Waking of Friday, October 13, 2017 ~ 2
I landed on an open platform on the
Divine Beast’s bronzy back.
“Hey, little guy. Long time no
see.”
It was the voice of Daruk.
He greeted me, encouraged me,
believed in me and, like Lady Mipha had done, directed me on where I’d be able
to find a map of “the guts of this place”,
for I wouldn’t get far without a map.
I looked around and knew he was
right. I literally could not make heads or tails of where I was. It took a
little bit of trekking to discover that my landing platform was somewhat above
the base of the Divine Beast’s tail, behind its hips.
The main control unit stood on the
center of its back, beneath the arcing spine of spikes.
So that was to be the final arena.
Well.
From the platform, there was a
doorway into the interior; a hallway ramp led down into what looked like a wide
space.... befouled with those rancid eyeballs again.... But that was the
chamber where the guidance stone with the map was.
I stepped across the threshold—
And a door slammed down fast behind
me, Rudania’s dorsal vents contracted all the way, and it was lights out.
I couldn’t open the door again.
At the bottom of the ramp, two lit
braziers cast a few blue lumens dimly into the space, and beyond in the inky
blackness, malice pools glistened evil dark magenta while wicked eyeballs
popped yellowy-orange here and there. Aside from these three visions, the
darkness was absolute.
....
Blue
Lumens should be the magic shop across the road from The Groggy Moblin.
I saw that with the Divine Beast’s
interior closed off from the volcano’s heat, the temperature had decreased
significantly, and so changed into some clothes with lesser heat-resistance but
greater defense.
I would see to the nearer eyeballs
first. But I was low on arrows....
No, I was low on normal arrows. But I had over sixty Ice Arrows.
Waste not, want not.
I switched to Ice, and took out
what eyeballs were closest. They crystallized and shattered with a satisfying keeeeshh!
My weapons inventory was full, but
I momentarily dropped something in
order to grab the torch beside the brazier—this offered much better lighting
than the couple of glowing elemental weapons I had tried.
My way was slow. There was no
telling what I would find in the darkness. Only all around me dripped that
weird Blood Moon haze up into the air, smoking like unholy demons while the
music tapped out a creaky-eerie rhythm on a subdued chorus of drums.
But aside from the pools of malice,
and a few treasure chests, the chamber seemed empty.
Lighting further braziers with the
ancient flame opened new doors, ways through the dividing walls in this huge
space. I did meet one small Guardian deeper in, but not much else on my way to
the pedestal that gave me the map.
And upon that upgrade to my Sheikah
Slate, the dorsal vents reopened, and a burning rusty light filled the gigantic
room once more.
But I did not spontaneously combust
in the exposure; it seemed the interior of the Divine Beast remained somewhat
temperate. Even so, I switched back to my Flamebreaker Armor.
The map indicated there were five
terminals to activate this time. And just as with Vah Ruta, it seemed I could
manipulate this Divine Beast to some extent to help me on my way. But there
weren’t any individual moving parts. Rather, I
COULD TURN THE WHOLE LIZARD ONTO ITS SIDE.
I had wondered about that, when I
had first passed through the darkened room with nothing but that blue torch.
For in the darkness I had come upon strange holes in the floor, barred
openings, trapdoors with extraneous protrusions beside them—ledges to stand on.
I found a nice, tight little corner
to hide in the first time I tried turning the lizard—you had to be careful not
to be standing on the wrong surface and dump yourself into the lava when you
did this.
I hit the button, and Vah Rudania went
into a slow, sideways creep up onto the wall of the caldera and clung there,
settling to stillness again with a resounding groaarr....
The loose treasure chests meanwhile
tumbled around the inner chamber. I
wondered if I would inadvertently dump any of them into the inferno.... Hard to keep track when the whole room tilts....
To be honest, I found Vah Rudania’s
terminals much easier to activate than Vah Ruta’s. Perhaps they were easier. Or perhaps I simply had
more experience and could better apply my skills to my situations by then.
Perhaps it was, so to speak, just a whole
‘nuther animal.
At the activation of the first
terminal, the creaky-eerie drumbeats evaporated and the music once again took
on a darker, more sinister, noticing tone.
Quicker. Watchful. Aware.
Like the place was on to me.
Just like in Vah Ruta.
But unlike in Vah Ruta, I found myself gratifyingly bounding through the terminals. Tipping
the beast here, placing an orb there, activating doors and rollicking through
obstacles. Reading the Rube Goldberg like an interesting novella.
A fire arrow there, some Magnesis
to follow through.... But there was one
terminal which stood in a small, enclosed alcove with only one entrance. And
the threshold of that entrance was comprised of a line of fire-spewing vents in
the floor. The flames reached up to the ceiling, and there was no way around.
But after only a moment of
consideration, I remembered, and stepped up, quite literally, into the line of
fire.
The Great Fairies’ handiwork stood
firm.
It did not even faze me in the
slightest.
“I’M FIREPROOF, SUCKAS!” I sang
out, relishing my upgraded Flamebreaker Armor set.
I was having quite a good time. I
found a spare treasure chest way out on the club of the tail, and I even
ventured out onto the tip of the nose to take a smiling self-portrait with the
beast. :)
Soon, though, I was closing in on
the final terminal.
Daruk’s voice had been encouraging
me forward.
I carried the blue flame on a long
walk outside to light another torch on the Divine Beast’s back, which released
another orb, which I then guided through its track inside the tilting beast
with gravity games....
The orb landed in a pedestal, which
tripped open a door, which gave me access to activate the last terminal, which
I did, and—
“Great work, little guy!” Daruk’s voice sounded, and he instructed
me to proceed to the main control unit.
It was the only place left to go.
It was late, I was on a cusp, and I
wanted to eat a bowl of cereal.
But I was in the moment.
Putting it off would wreck it.
I looked in the fridge, settled for
the dregs of a bottle of prune juice to be my liquid courage, and activated the
main control unit.
