Fight For Your Honey!

Waking of Friday, April 14, 2017 ~ 5

Fight For Your Honey!

Now I could set out for the Woodland Stable. There seemed to be a spread of low mountains between me and Thims Bridge. And the path like a stream of water wound through the lowest parts....

Well I didn’t like that at all—I climbed up into the hills on the right side where I could keep a better eye on things, and I found some very craggy land indeed! There was an especially deep little sunken dell in the ground where it looked like there might be a Korok hiding—and which had two bears in it, skulking around the entrance of a small cave.

I stayed up top and gave them a wide berth for the time being—I’d heard things from David. I think he said a bear killed him once.

Besides, there was a big nasty treehouse up ahead that I wanted to clear out.

It held no bokoblins or moblins, though. Just a few large stray blue chuchus. I dispatched them and looted what was worth looting, and then came back to the Korok in the dell.

A few bombs scared off the bears, but I made sure to scout out a quick escape-route if they should come back while I was flushing out that Korok....

But they never came back.

I found some honey in their cave—swarming with bees, but a bomb took care of that, too. Useful tactic for later, I think.

There was a flat way out of Honeydell—mm, yes that fits—which led straight back to the road, but I climbed back out by going straight up the cliff. I didn’t want to run into those bears!

Only a little more trekking, a little more sniping, another treasure chest inside a big mossy skull-rock.... and I had arrived at Thims Bridge. I knew it! I knew they connected. :)

The rain started to come down as I crossed to the other side of the river, and I saw a man sheltering beneath a little half-tent beside a fire.

I’d never yet seen a Yiga with a campfire, so I talked to him. I can’t remember if his name was Fin or Russ, but he and his buddy, whose name was also either Fin or Russ, were in the business of selling shields.

I’ll say Fin was at the tent. His buddy Russ was up on a hill just to the south, beneath a large and prominent tree. All their wares were up there, because aside from selling shields, they were also teaching people how to shield-surf, which was most effective when going downhill.

David told me he’d done this! I remembered!

Like friggin’ Legolas at Helm’s Deep! 8D

Well.... movie Legolas. ^_~

I didn’t buy from them, but I learned the trick! And then continued on my way.

Another blue bokoblin was ruckusing around up ahead—chasing somebody it looked like.

I ran to get closer, and it was.... Leekah again?

I cut down her assailant, and she stopped and stood shivering in the rain, her poor familiar hunch making her look pitiful and vulnerable. When I spoke to her, she thanked me again for rescuing her, and gave me some honey.

Huh, I briefly wondered if she must have frequented that little Honeydell I’d visited!

This time, she continued down the road at a jog toward the Woodland Stable—just the place I’d wanted to go as well. I escorted her.

It was beginning to thunder.... I had to switch to non-conductive weaponry and equipment. The sky was already dark from the brooding rainclouds, but the sun must have gone down behind them, because only a short while later, no fewer than three stalizalfos popped up out of the earth in front of us.

Leekah shrieked and fled while I charged in, trying to draw their attention. The trouble with these blasted stal-creatures was that they just went all to pieces when you hit them.... but you had to find and finish off their heads or else they would eventually locate their members and put themselves back together again.

In a mad, rattling fray of bones, I took down at least two of them, chasing down their bouncing skulls—did one of them come so conveniently flying my way? Did Leekah punt it over for me to finish off? I could have sworn....

My blade put an end to their mischief. But as I turned to confront the last one—they’re usually so easy—so easy to dodge....

I took a bad arrow-hit.

Ugh, that hurt.... so many hearts....

A few bites of simmered fruit from my pocket, and a final charge, and I cut him down as well, before returning to Leekah in the new pouring stillness.

“We have got to stop meeting like this,” I told her.

She once again expressed her profound gratitude to me.... and gave me more honey.

She really is a sweet girl.

No pun intended.

On our final jog over the last few dozen yards to the stable, we passed another person just jogging out, heading southward, the way we had come. Tall, dark-skinned, ruddy-haired, and wearing poofy pink harem pants. A woman....

I caught her attention and we splashed to a halt beside each other on the road. “Sav’saaba!” she hailed. She introduced herself as Karsh of the Gerudo. “Remember it!” she said, and remarked further on how probably the only people capable of matching her own endurance were the Gorons....

We continued on our separate ways beneath the raging storm.

I’d never seen a Gerudo before.... at least not in present memory.

Now there went a damsel who looked hard put to be put in distress.

[[Fanart should have Link putting his cloak around her poor shivering figure as he helps to steady her in the pouring rain. But I was wearing the Zora ensemble + bandana at the time.]] - [[originally withheld from the blog; added from the log 2018-09-17 per entry of Wednesday, June 20, 2018 ~ 6: Unsaved Again]]

The Fool Reckless

Waking of Friday, April 14, 2017 ~ 4

The Fool Reckless

Well, after hanging around as much as I cared to, I decided it was finally time to head toward the Woodland Stable and its tower. I needed to find out what I could about the river....

There was a road passing close by the Wetland Stable; it looked like it led away overland in the direction I needed to go. Surely it must have connected with the other side of Thims Bridge.

When I was ready I set off at a jog, blowing past Doctor Spoone and a coughing merchant as they visited in some tree-shade.

I was headed for some tricky territory—sooner than I expected it.

There was a man walking a little ahead of me, not even very far from the stable. But he trod just a little to the left of the path it seemed....

I spoke to him.

He was a Traveler.

I looked through him in avid determination—I had places to go!

But this Traveler was slightly different; he didn’t put up any thin lies.... He just asked about that thing on my waist.

Lots of people have been doing that.

But when he asked if it were indeed a Sheikah Slate, and fed up I told him No.... —I didn’t want to endanger this thing—

Well, we both dropped the charade and proceeded to have a very violent discussion about it.

Sometimes they still get me—sometimes I still get hurt.

But I’ve not fallen to one of them yet.

And I wasn’t about to start now.

I took his life before he could take mine.

Hylia help me if they ever start walking on the very roads....

No. Hylia help them.

I saw a blue bokoblin capering over a prone figure on a smaller bridge a short way ahead, just off the castleward split of a fork in the path. Great honk but this road was.... busy.

Well, as long as I was picking fights....

When the bokoblin was dead, the poor Hylian got up from the planks. It was a woman, and she had darkish hair.... and she stood, a little hunched, in her pink tunic before me—

“Leekah?” I said.

“You know, a hundred years ago, a girl could go for a walk alone if she wanted,” she said.

Poor thing.

She thanked me for my help, and took off in the direction of the Wetland Stable.

I jogged along with her. It wasn’t that far.

Well, Quince, here’s a woman for you.

Treat her nice.

With a Fine-Toothed Comb

Waking of Thursday, April 6, 2017

With a Fine-Toothed Comb

I spent a little time at the Woodland Stable. This one wasn’t crawling with sets of twins like the other one, and the man behind the counter seemed.... a bit more easy-going as well. There was a friendly dog shepherding over some goats in a pen—we became good buddies <3—er, the dog and I, not the goats and I—and I found a really lovely new labrys to swing around.

I saw a man come riding a grey horse along the road in the direction I’d been going; his name was Zorona and his heart was set on the mysteries of the world! Whether solving them or just reveling in their existence I wasn’t quite sure.

There was another man, with white-blonde hair dangling in his eyes, who hung around the stable. He introduced himself as Molo and it was his ambition to go and loot Hyrule Castle. I did not encourage him in this endeavor as we conversed.

He admitted that every person he’d ever known who had ventured there had never come back.... but he guessed it was because they were all too busy being rich! I don’t doubt there must have been great treasures left behind there.... but so many people I’d met had warned of how dangerous it was.... and I’d seen a few Guardians. Uhuhuh.

Molo, don’t say YOLO, just stay where you are.

One other older gentleman whose name I can’t remember informed me about the surrounding areas near the stable—this was the Eldin region. This was the home of the volcano. To the north was the great forest, but he warned me against straying too deeply into it, something about the Lost Woods at its heart.... And Hyrule Field was.... in another direction near here, south or east I think he said. And there was a third feature he directed me to, I’m sure of it.... maybe it was the volcano itself.

Well, it’s hard to memorize the whole map, as I discovered when I warped back to the Lanayru Tower. That other river I’d thought ran back toward the east off the wetlands was actually the other runoff from the East Reservoir Lake. I suppose it flowed into the wetlands. Or it would have, if not for the big dam wall in the way.

But it was, in essence, what I’d thought it to be: another extensive dead-ended waterway for me to search.

Starting from the tower I began a broad, clockwise trek around the entire delta proper, scouring the islets as I went, but saw no sign of Mei.

I did, however, near the southeastern reaches of my circuit, spy a GUARDIAN “STALKER” AS MY COMPENDIUM CALLED IT, LOOSE AND MOVING THROUGH THE MARSH OH GOSH NO PLEASE NO WHY JUST—

It had six legs, and it was very much alive—oh my gosh was this the one I’d seen loose on the Sahasra Slope, made its way down to the marshes now?

Oh gads....

Off came the Zora Helm, on went the Climber’s Bandana, and I climbed up into the mountains to give it a very wide berth as I continued my circuit of the wetlands. I did stop on a little grassy shelf with a single large tree to see if I could shoot it with arrows and chuck bombs at it, but.... well, I did give it a very wide berth. I couldn’t come close to hitting it with anything. I’m not sure whether this disappointed me or not.

If only I’d had a Korok Leaf.... I could do that bomb-golfing thing I’d seen David do....

I kept to the hills until I came to another little deep-water spot tendriling off the marshes in the southwest. It was near a sad little abandoned homestead ruin, with trees, and a well, and a single Korok spriting around in the grass. There were some rusted weapons here and there.... maybe it had belonged to a soldier. Maybe he’d had a family.

It started to rain.

There was a little raft-boat with a sail down near where the little waterway broke off.

But I didn’t have a Korok Leaf!

I’d never really made room for one in my inventory, but seeing David play.... hhhh I kept seeing more and more reasons to pick one up now. I’ve never yet bothered with the boats I’ve seen but I want to now....!

I felled a tree near the old homestead but got nothing but wood. Go figure.

Well, I couldn’t see anything down the short little waterway, and so moved on. The mountains crumbled away, the land leveled out, and became a smooth sweep off the wetlands.

I think this was where I ran into those mounted bokoblins.

I felt a little bad for their horses.... because you see, in my long searching trek through all the islets and the ruins therein, I’d run into a few more of those skipping lightning-ghost things. They could be tricky customers but I’d taken care of them, and stolen their Lightning Rod weapons. And it was one of these weapons I used to stop the charging bokoblin riders.

The peachy, skewbald steed I hit first seized up, neighing high and loud, and the bokoblin fell off and we had it out on the ground. I brought down the one on the brown horse in roughly the same manner. And then....

Well I got on the peachy one, and he bucked for a bit before calming down, but.... mm, the brown was closer to being a one-color horse, and so I got on that one instead.

He bucked too, but I soothed him and saw—this one had three speed-bursts at a gallop.

Brown only had two.

Well that could be useful....

I let this new horse carry me for a bit. His body was all brown, mane and tail black, with four black socks and a white muzzle. I don’t suppose he was anything fancy, but he was just dandy fine for moving across this flatter part of the land.

I left him at the shore at times, to go in and scout out more islets, or to kill lizalfos or bokoblins. And when I’d come back to him he’d wander a bit before I got on.... but he was a good, patient horse. Even when the lashing rain came back.

I rode the horse the rest of the way around the marshes and the surrounding areas. I even came across Tye and S.... Ssss—uh, Saaalisa? Salisa? I came across Tye and his sweetheart again. And killed their bokoblin assailants once more. I rode and searched and searched and rode until I came all the way back to the Moor Garrison Ruins, near where I’d first met Ledo.

I’d circled the entire marsh, and not seen one lick of the missing Mei.... I had even cleaned out every bokoblin nest I had come to and searched among all the buildings. I’d combed through the ruins, I’d left no stone unturned, no box unexploded.

I had not gone up the long waterway toward the Eastern Reservoir; I’d thought to save that for last as it was so extensive. But....

There was no sign of Mei.

Maybe she really was further down the river.

And this horse....

This chuffing, wandering horse was starting to grow on me just a little bit.

I decided to take him up to the Woodland Stable and have him registered.

I rode him into the marsh; it was quite shallow. But.... huh, to get him across to the north bank....

I consulted my map. The water was pretty deep on the north side of the big island. I might.... dear me, I might have to ride him through the boardwalks—

But then I remembered! Thims Bridge! Northward along the river! I could cross him over there.

And so I took the new horse along the other bank now with me, still keeping an eye out for the missing Mei. We had a nasty run-in with another bokoblin camp—the horse got stuck over a rock on the ground as they closed in around us—I did the best I could with a sword until they knocked me clean off. The horse made a break for it, but I could only turn my attention to the bokoblins and pray he didn’t run too far....

Turned out he didn’t. Also turned out the camp was full of high explosives, and I felt quite lucky none of them went off or was employed during the scuffle.

I bombed them just to clear the area, scooped up the spoils, and the horse and I moved on.

He moved at a nice clip, and the ever lurking Piano picked up on the change of movement and plinked happily along around us, sounding like raindrops in the sunshine. At such a pace it was only a short time before we came to Thims Bridge. But just before we did.... I heard a sound I hadn’t heard before. I slowed the horse, the Piano shied and flitted away, and I scanned the sunlit slope to my left, but could only see a couple of foxes.

And there it was again. High, soft.... kind of whistling.... it sounded like.... howling....

But no I was sure those were foxes. And as I came nearer, there I could see the red of their coats. And they scampered away at my approach.

Were there....

Are there wolves in Hyrule?

(I ain’t gonna lie; I seen a few fanarts with ‘em.)

Horsey and I crossed the bridge, and from there it was just a short trot back to the stable. I spoke to the man at the window, and registered my new steed.

I called him.... Thrice. Once for his three-fold endurance, and once for what I imagined must have been his third life—a life before bokoblins, a life with bokoblins.... and now hopefully third time’s the charmed life with Link.

I’ll take good care of him.

Besides, the name Mudfoot for his black socks seemed too sloggish and slow.

The Fool Cautious

Waking of Wednesday, March 29, 2017 ~ 3

The Fool Cautious

A traveler stood on one of the nearest hilltops to my right.

I felt.... as if I could see right through him, but I went to speak to him anyway. I felt like I needed the practice....

He tried to sell me bananas. Twice.

I declined both times.

And either he took offense at that or he just plain hadn’t liked me all along, because he tried to kill me shortly thereafter. But I killed him first, and then I took his bananas anyway. And his rupees!

Nice of the Goron traveling likewise north along the road to stop and just kind of look on while I crossed blades with a murderous assassin. I suppose it was either a nod of confidence to my strength.... or a supreme display of apathy.

Well.... I guess stopping and staying was a step up from the flailing retreat I’ve seen most self-respecting Hylians take.

Anyway I don’t know the Gorons’ ways.

Yiga! YOU KEEP COMING FOR ME I WILL GO FULL CURARE ALL OVER YOUR—

Hhhhh....

I had a Zora to find.

But she wasn’t anywhere.

It started to rain, and I pressed on until I came to a bridge. I was off my map now. I ventured out onto the planks, but couldn’t really see anything through the haze. Except another octorok a little downstream. I dropped a bomb into the water and dodged his shots while I waited for it to float closer to him—did you know octoroks have the mind to lead their targets? And quite skillfully at that.

How interesting, I thought, and then blew him up.

I kept moving.

A little further along the road, I came across a young woman running through the rain. “I have the worst luck...” I heard her mutter.

Well, everybody gets caught in the rain some time, I thought.

But that wasn’t what she was running from—a black bokoblin was chasing after her.

I ran in and killed the thing, and the girl stopped. She had brown hair, and she wore a pink tunic and a timid, weary kind of posture, a little hunched and bowed beneath the downpour.

I didn’t speak to her, but only followed after her as she started to run up the road again. Pulling back from my full jog, I kept pace by her side; I would at least escort her until she reached.... whatever orange glow that was that I had seen in the distance. Flickering and indefinite, far ahead behind some trees.... maybe a fire’s glare.... Another house like Doctor Calip’s, perhaps? Maybe that’s where this girl was headed....

And then as we neared, and it came looming out of the gloom with its gentle flute and soft guitar, I saw the mighty horse’s head.

It was a stable.

And on the other side of the road, off to the left by the river, standing beneath a large tree was....

Mister Hestu??

8D