Return to Serenne

Waking of Saturday, November 3, 2018

Return to Serenne

I’d heard from somewhere, maybe somewheres, very probably including Madman Joseph, that there were 900 Koroks in this game.

I wondered just how deep my pockets could go, or would even need to go. Would I break through some kind of boundary with Hestu, once each of my inventories took up an entire screen? Would I reach hammerspace?

I wandered out from Tera’s fountain and into the desert. I’d caught unintended glimpses of map screens in my researching for finessing the log; the Korok Seed icons were practically tripping over each other. But where were they all hiding in this wasteland?

I trekked all over the desert, all over the highlands, killed the Lynel.... I found a few more Koroks.... But.... where were they all hiding?

Done with the puzzling Koroks for the moment I finally paraglided down to the Gerudo Canyon Stable, and took out.... Dragmire. Hadn’t ridden him in a while. I wanted him to carry me now, all the way to the Serenne Stable. Faron was found and mapped. It was time to head northwest.

We hit the road, stopping only a few times to rescue people—Regan, Chabi....

Near the Coliseum I bought all of Botrick’s arrows; I was always happy to do business with him. And at the Outskirt Stable I stopped to sell some more meat to Trott; he was always happy to do business with me.

But I didn’t continue right away. There was one other person I’d been meaning to speak to here at this stable....

Aliza stood out in the dappled shade of the trees by the road. “So did you find the Hero of Legend?” she asked when I approached. She was excited.

My choices of response made me laugh—it was either “I am he.” or “Bye.” XD

“I am he,” I said. Lol so stoic....

Aliza was.... surprised! She’d been waiting so long, but.... I wasn’t at all what she expected. It was a shame, she told me, because I wasn’t even her type! But she gave me something she had been saving for me anyway—a Star Fragment.

Well that was friendly! :)

“It feels SO good to finally check that off my bucket list!” she finished.

Then when I spoke to her again.... “You must be really busy, saving the world and all. How about instead of talking to random strangers, you think a little more about doing your job, yeah?”

Oof wow. XD

We rode on, not meeting a whole lot of other people on the road except for a guy named Savelle at the north end of the Breach of Demise. He had a cool helm. Made me want to get on enhancing my Soldier’s Armor....

We reached Serenne Stable in the ten o’clock hour where I boarded Dragmire and spent the night . . . . and when I woke up in the morning it was raining.

But here I took a break to eat dinner and then to watch a movie with friends. It was a little after Halloween, but we still enjoyed a corny run of Spaced Invaders. But in the opening credits I thought I recognized that name.... Ariana.... Ariana Richards.... And as the movie progressed and we came to the part with the young girl OH MY GOSH IT WAS LEX—she was so little!—was this her breakout role....?

The Desert Colossi

Waking of Friday, September 21, 2018 ~ 2

The Desert Colossi

When I came out of the South Lomei Labyrinth, I skirted the hillsides all around once more for good measure, paraglided over the Champion’s Gate corridor, and headed north, continuing to comb the foothills between the highlands and the desert. More Koroks, more Violets.... and there were so many pillars to investigate.... surely there had to be a Korok on top of one of ‘em....

I stood sightseeing from the top of one of these pillars when.... PIANO. There was the Piano, and there was the laser, and a Guardian was after me, and I hopped off quick! Better to stay in motion—

I sailed wide as the bolts shot through the air, until I could reach the ground and have it out, and kill the thing.

When it was dead I looked up, saw how many pillars I had passed and left unsearched.... and decided to kiss that swath of land goodbye for the present—I was busy. Those Colossi were just ahead....

I continued north to the Land of the Goddesses—those gigantic statues so enormous they showed up on my topo—they must have been the legendary Seven Heroines....

I jogged over the sand to the break in their imposing circle.

The East Gerudo Ruins these were called.

Oh there had to be Koroks in here....

(And there were.)

It was one of the cleverer puzzles I had yet encountered, and it took a little bit of searching to riddle it out!

At each Heroine’s foot was a long extension of stone with a hollow at the end, near the center of the circle. A few metal orbs lay scattered about the area, each emblazoned with a mysterious symbol....

I found that one of the statues had a symbol corresponding to one of the orbs, carved into its foot. But most of the other statues didn’t even have any symbols.

But ah, they did, but theirs were carved into different places!

Inward from the outside, the Heroines bore symbols carved upon the Foot, the Breast, and the Hilt, while the central Heroine’s symbol was carved upon her Crown. And after an awful lot of climbing, I found out what each Heroine’s symbol was—clockwise from the break, I called them Yang, KOA, Donut, Twodots, Swipe, Flame, and Pause.

As it turned out there were seven of the corresponding metal orbs hidden all over the construct—some of them high up on the Heroine statues themselves! It was an ordeal and a half, full of a lot of Magnesing, to find them all and get them down to the sandy sink in the center. And I got quite good at scaling the large stone statues in the meanwhile, right up to the tops of their heads—Pardon me, Ladies.

!

I wonder if the Eighth Heroine has a symbol....

Oh now I must go check.

When I finally, finally aligned all the orbs in the ground-level hollows of their corresponding Heroines, WHAT SHOULD COME UP IN THE CENTER OF THE CONSTRUCT but.... the Korsh O’hu Shrine.

And it was a Blessing Shrine as well.

That was four Spirit Orbs.

Guessed it was time to pray again.

POCKY QUEST

Evening of Wednesday, September 19, 2018 ~ 2

POCKY QUEST

With my sand seal gone there was nothing for it but to continue to where Pokki was on foot. And so consulting my map I set my face toward the Misae Suma Shrine... and hoofed it.

There didn’t seem to be too much between us except for a very, very large sand dune, with three Voltfruit cacti growing at its crest.

I’d seen these all over the map. If not the exact species, then definitely the formation. Three plants growing in a perfectly straight line, the ones on the ends equidistant from the one in the middle. I’ve never yet been able to conjure any Koroks from these phenomena.... But I think I heard once.... do they point to shrines?

I looked at my map again. This set certainly did. The Misae Suma Shrine was just over the last rise of sand. As was Pokki. And Pocky....

I collected the fruit and pressed on.

Pokki said the same things as she slumped facedown over the pedestal. She was done for. This was the end. If only she could have tasted a Noble Pursuit....

Well I knew just where to find those.

I warped back to Gerudo Town, and spoke to Furosa, the barkeep at the canteen. When I asked about the Noble Pursuit, she dismissed me as she had many times before—“Not to a young vai like you,” she said.

“Actually...” I responded. That had been my only option. And when she heard what I had to say....

“Pokki’s collapsed?” Furosa perked up at once. She would happily make Pokki a Noble Pursuit. But there was just one problem.

Noble Pursuits required a great deal of ice.

And Furosa was fresh out.

Well I knew just where to find that, too!

We wanted it done fast, but as Furosa was getting on in years, and couldn’t really move like she used to, I offered to go get some from the Northern Ice House.

So this was the Ice House thing! Ah I love me a good fetchquest.

Furosa said I didn’t need to bring it all the way to town; just to the entrance of the ruins would be far enough. But she warned me—Anche, who manned the Ice House, went to bed early. I could only see her when it was light out.

And my, but the sun was fading fast. Dang it it was already evening....

I booked it as fast as I could to the Ice House, but it was no good—Anche was fast asleep.

Nuts.

I picked Swift Violets off the towering cliffs behind to pass the night.... And when the world began to warm I sailed back down to the Ice House and descended in through the trap door and stood and waited and stared at the sleeping woman like an impatiently hungry cat. Wake up, sleepyhead!

She finally did, at seven in the morning.

When I spoke to her, she said what she normally said, some variant of, “Hi I’m Anche and I man this place 24/7.”

Hah! You mean 12/7....

“Actually...” I said in what was once again my only available response. And I related the plight....

“Well if Furosa needs ice you’d better take it to her,” she said, “You are free to take some ice. You took the heat into account, right? If you move too slowly, the ice will melt.”

And it hit me like a ton of pounds why I could only speak to Anche in the daylight hours. Nintendo, you sneaky....

Well, I had Sand Boots, the Heat Spaulder, and my Lizalfos Mask. I could handle this just fine....

The screen blacked out and in again, and I stood holding a huge block of ice over my head.

And it was GO TIME.

I strode out toward the ruins—I couldn’t move very fast under the weight of this block.... But I had no worries about the Lizalfos. They only chirruped in surprise at my appearance and attempted to make friendly conversation.

BUT FUROSA SAID NOTHING ABOUT BOKOBLINS; WHERE DID THESE GUYS COME FROM? I knew it wouldn’t be that simple....

I waddled right by one mean-looking one with a huge club. Just keep moving.... WHOOSH—his strokes would swing and miss! It was a good thing they took their time winding up, and didn’t lead their targets or try to head me. If they’d been Octoroks I would have been in trouble....

And all the while whenever the sun hit my ice block, it started to hiss.

I tried to keep to the shade as much as I could—Iceway Pillars indeed—but it was a little tricky with so many beasties clouding my way....

I moved along the columns of shadow, reminding myself irresistibly of Glim the Candle, until I had gained the more shaded westerly side of the ruins.

I could not move fast enough to shake these Bokoblins! I could only hope that they would lose interest, but would that really happen at this speed?

I could hear them behind me still mucking on in pursuit.... No did they lose interest....? Or did they only lose momentary SIGHT of me? I tried to hurry—WHERE WAS FUROSA?

I stayed on the western periphery—and then I saw her, she was up on the last platform—which I couldn’t reach because the steps were too tall and I couldn’t climb anything while carrying this gigantic block of ice over my head!

Well I couldn’t go back and try to get up!

Huagh! I hoofed it around the horn to the east side, avoiding the bad guys—the ice steamed and hissed further—until I found a step low enough for me to climb, and I huffed and trudged and finally clomped to a halt in the shade before the old Gerudo.

“Huh? You’re... Well, whatever. I don’t care who you are as long as I get my ice.”

Oh yeah, I remembered. I guess she’d never seen me as a voe. Bare-chested and all that.

“With this I can make the ultimate Noble Pursuit,” she said, and asked if I could go tell Pokki. Pokki was her best customer, she said. “Knowing her, she’ll come running when she hears there’s a wonderful drink with her name on it.”

And the screen faded out and back in, and Furosa had gone with her ice.

A sand seal was in order.

I caught one and struck out toward the east. And being one who has walked through the desert, I recognized the very dune I needed to reach almost straight away.... Honestly it was hard to miss.

Pokki bemoaned herself again. “This is it. This is the end...”

“Actually...” I said.

LOL that’s all I ever say in this quest. XD

And I told her.

Pokki perked up. “What? Ultimate Noble Pursuit?”

Well that seemed to put some life into her.

“I am so gone!” she said, or something like it, and she was outta there.

Running.

The screen slow-blinked one last time, and I was alone.

....

Go get it, Pokki.

....

You’re such a PANSY.

....

But I troubled myself about her no more. For NOW.... it was time for my prize....

Out came the Pocky, and the cocoa smell from the newly-opened package wafted against my nostrils like a draft from a warm oven. And with the delightful soft crunch of chocolate-covered biscuit sticks between my teeth, I entered the Misae Suma Shrine, claimed the monk’s blessing.... and saved. ♡

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.

The Other Side of Limbo

Waking of Friday, August 3, 2018 ~ 5

The Other Side of Limbo

The sand storm raged until—

That chime.

And my feet trod for nothing.

You can’t go any farther.

I had reached the western edge of my map.

So I turned south.

The storm continued to rage all around me, blotting out sun and moon, the wind howling, the grit flying horizontal across my path. On and on and on I jogged through the murk, shouldering off to the right every once in a while just to make sure I was still on the border, still on the edge.

My Sheikah Slate had lost functionality again; it was impossible to tell how far I had gone or how far there was left to go. All I had to guide me was that bumping chime to my right side—not that it was too difficult to move in roughly a straight line.

It seemed to go on forever.... just wind and Stalmoblins and dust and more wind and a few lonely animals and more Stalizalfos and—“NOT THE KEESE, NOT THE KEESE!”

I ran whenever I saw them.

Well.... I ran whenever I saw anything. Or nothing.

I just ran.

Was it day or night? I couldn’t tell.

There was a shape to my left. Roundish, humping obtrusive out of the fuzzy horizon. What was this....?

I slowed, and edged closer....

It was a skull-den. And there was at least one tower flanking it, with a Bokoblin on top, keeping a weather eye on—its invisible surroundings.

And I think it’s only now that I’m reminded of the morning of Thursday, January 9, 2003. But that is another story.

I traced the Bokoblin’s obscured movements through the sand, and stayed just deep enough away in the storm that he did not see me as I circled round to the back of their camp.

They never guard the backs.

I shinnied up the rear of the skull, and crouched low before sniping the two lookouts. The wind and the desert devoured their remains and there was no reclaiming them. Tsch!

Thereafter I stood to drop bombs through one of the eye-holes. The wind made this tricky, but with a little trial and error I found a good position, and watched as the life-meters below me reacted, converged, and were blown in all directions, over and over again.... I played this game until they were all dead, and thankfully, the bits leftover were less blustered and more contained inside the den.

I didn’t have room for the actual treasure inside the chest, though.

Oh well.

I harvested what I could from the Limbo Den, and made my way back from nothing to nothing; I hit the border, and started skirting southward again.

The air was a shifting array of dull colors all mashing together, darker beneath, lighter above. Somewhat.

Thank goodness for these Sand Boots at least....

I jogged.... and jogged.... and jogged....

And there was another shape to my left.

This one was.... geologically improbable. A great dark bow loomed from some large mass on the right, and arced unsupported through the air to the left, pointing north.

That had to be—BUT FIRST—

I hurried. Further southward. More creatures, more critters, Lizalfos burrowing through the sand.... I bumped to the right again—the border was still there—and then came the same abrupt chime—and I was brought to a halt.

I had come to the farthest point.

I had reached the corner.

So had the Lizalfos.

I cut them down, and the leftover bits rolled away unreachable in the gale. I might have been able to grab a talon or something....

The big shape with the bowhead still loomed darker than the surrounding grit. I could have approached it from this new angle, but.... instead I followed the western edge of the world back north, until I was even with the bow again. And I stepped eastward out of the storm....

As the air cleared, the great skull came into view. The bow-shape resolved into the enormous upper jaw, the entirety of it from cranium to nose-tip longer and thinner and more streamlined than that of the other Leviathan had been, the one on the volcano. That one had been broader, heavier-looking, more armored, like some giant horny toad.

But this one looked a proper whale. And the entire skeleton was smooth and bleached, whereas the other had been so weathered and darkened that in places it looked more like stone.

And there was another difference—round about where the scapulae might be, the long bones of some right-side limb jutted up from the spine at a high angle—sticking right up into the sky!

What in the—?

Was this . . . .

Was this a WINDFISH?

The mouth was open, the lower jaw buried deep into the sand. And—there was something—

There was a Gerudo! Kneeling directly before the open mouth as if in prayer to a deity.... she was so tiny before it....

Who....?

I approached her.

It was Barta.

“Barta!” The one who had been imprisoned before!

“Ugh,” she groaned, “Are you... a fairy? An angel? Are you here to guide my passage?”

She wasn’t kneeling out of awe or respect; she was clinging onto her spear for dear life, resting in the shade of the bowheaded jaw. “...Everything’s going hazy... This might be the end...”

“Snap out of it!” I said.

But she only moaned, “Ahh... If only I could’ve eaten a hearty durian one last time... A hearty durian... A hearty durian...”

I spoke to her again.

“Ahh, spirits of the Goddess... Before you take me from this world, if I could just taste fruit... Just one last bite of a hearty durian...”

And here I was given two choices of response, and I laughed at the cruel polarity: “Take this!” or “Good-bye.”

“Take this!” I said, and the screen blacked out and back in.

Barta stood on her feet now. “Hah... I’ve returned from the brink of death thanks to you...” she gasped, “Sarqso!”

Then she saw me more clearly—“Huh? Is that you I spoke to before? So you are actually a voe... I thought you were a bit muscular for a Hylian vai.”

XD

“But don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I owe you my life, after all!”

Ah, so many Gerudo ladies who’d found me out already. Felt kinda nice to be real.

“Hah... Anyway,” Barta continued, “I’m totally exhausted. Maybe I’ll rest just a little longer then head home.”

I was given only one response to say: “Your boss was MAD.” It was not untrue. Liana and her other subordinates.... had been quite agitated the last time I’d seen them in the barracks.

“Huh? So...they knew I snuck off...”

I nodded.

“...Oh, I am in such trouble...” Barta muttered under her breath. “Yep, looks like I’d better go on ahead. See you later and sav’orq!”

And the screen blacked out again, and when it came back, Barta had gone.

Is sav’orq another form of thanks? Or is it perhaps an expression of farewell? Someone else had said it to me when I’d turned down some business or other. But if that’s what it were, then Barta would have been repeating herself. Does it regard rather the time of day?

Hmm.

I hoped she wouldn’t catch it too bad from Liana. Then again, maybe that would have been good for her.

I turned to check out the skeleton—the shrine beneath it and near to the skull was called the Hawa Koth Shrine, and it was the awesomest shrine ever, with much electricity and GIANT GEARS to play with.... It was like the sparky younger cousin of Kaam Ya’Tak....

But that wasn’t what interested me the most.

After I’d locked down the warpable, I turned to the large, thrumming, pulsing cocoon a stone’s cast down-whale....

There was a FAIRY FOUNTAIN BENEATH THIS THING.

....

AND THE GREAT FAIRY TERA WANTED TEN THOUSAND RUPEES?

. . . .

Oh boy....

. . . . . . .

And I was.... just about skint-broke....

. .  .   .    .     .      .

I needed to go make me some cash.

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.

The Bravest

Waking of Saturday, July 28, 2018 ~ 3

The Bravest

I was still dressed as a vai when I pulled up to the island of rock in the desert sands—the Eastern Lookout Post. I wanted to look around a bit myself first, and found a Gerudo named Sudrey inside. Guess she was there to man the place.

She said she hadn’t expected the Chief would call for the help of someone so.... short.... as I was.

Ouch. XD

Maybe it was this affront to my physique that reminded me to change into something a bit stronger—I ditched the girl clothes, and decked myself out for maximum strength.

Outside the outpost was a ladder up to a high platform. I found Riju up there and spoke to her as the late sun cast everything into red fire.

“So that’s what you really look like,” she said upon seeing me. And I don’t know why it should have, but it took me by surprise—she had only seen me as a vai before then after all!

Riju set to explaining her plan, and I wondered.... Would it be hard and fast with speed on our side, like with Prince Sidon? An approach on foot from a safe distance, and a volley of heavy ranged attacks, like with Yunobo?

What would Riju’s plan be?

Vah Naboris drew energy from the earth through its feet, she explained. If we could disrupt that process, we could subdue it. We would go out by sand seal, Riju wearing the Thunder Helm to protect herself and anyone near her, and I employing Bomb Arrows—Riju supplied these as well, twenty of them—and they would be for Vah Naboris’ feet.

The Divine Beast would rain lightning down on us once we drew near. But if I could stay close enough to Riju I would be safe. However, if at any point I felt it would be better to retreat and regroup, Riju told me not to hesitate to say so.

....So that was it then. Just....

Up close and personal.

We readied our sand seals back down on the ground; I was afforded one of the redder, tamer, faster ones to use. But before we got going, Riju asked me to back up a bit first.

She was wearing the Thunder Helm (which was a little big, she had conceded). But she wore it confidently now and offered aloud an unashamed prayer to her ancestors and the great Champion Urbosa. She called on their aid in her time of need—her people’s time of need—and asked for their protection in the dangerous endeavor we were about to undertake....

And a crackling, shimmering field emanated from the Thunder Helm—pale, energetic yellow—a wide, protective bubble.

And then....

We started.

“Stay close,” Riju had told me, and I tried to now. Our sand seals plunged ahead through ancient ruins and between tottering towers of stone—easy enough to dodge. But it was more difficult to stay inside the Thunder Helm’s protective circle. The conflicted weavings of our passage aside, it seemed that Patricia was slightly faster than my own sand seal....

And then we entered the dust cloud.

Arizona Fog I would have called it.

The horizon vanished, distance disappeared, and we were inside the night.

I could only stay close to Riju; at least she seemed to know where she was going.

What were we doing? We couldn’t see anything, the world had closed around us, we were shooting off into the oblivious blank of an ocean of tiny grit, all the while nearing a Divine Beast that was FREE ROAMING where it would—

Brreep-brreep! Brreep-brreep!

I shut off my shrine detector.

The boundaries of the universe only swirled darkly around us in an impenetrable sphere.

What were we doing?

Chief Riju stopped by the ruin of an ancient stone wall, and I followed suit. The dust thinned a bit and we could see Vah Naboris tromping gigantic through the gloom.

So big....

We started our run—it was so difficult to make my seal keep pace with Patricia—too far forward, too far back—A chill burst over the screen in a cloud of cold and I switched to my Ruby Circlet—blasted desert climate—The Divine Beast walked, left legs, right legs, left legs, right legs, paying such little regard to two insects like us—but as we pursued after its massive, slow meandering with all our tiny and furious might, we could feel its attack charging and incoming—a powerful, precise reticle centering on my position—my position—come on, seal—and still the Divine Beast walked and we two tiny worms dared to charge closer—

Kra-KKAAOOWwww! Lightning shattered down—but at that very moment I was safe inside the Chief’s protective aura. Nothing happened. We were untouched. Invulnerable.

Excellent.

But it wasn’t always so easy.

I was pulling backward and forward of Chief Riju’s position as if connected to her by a yo-yo. Vah Naboris tromped ahead so slowly, so deliberately—so hugely—I couldn’t keep up unless I made a dash for it with my seal, but Riju held Patricia in reserve—The Divine Beast was gaining—

And the lightning loomed again and I had to fall back—and I didn’t always make it.

Kra-KKAAOOWwww!

My hearts vanished by more than half. Gone. In a flash.

Lost my sand seal—it popped up out of the sand a little way ahead and stood still, waiting.

Riju wheeled round and came back to me—the protective field was there.

“Link! Do you want to fall back for now?” Or some such words she said.

But I never gave up.

My stocks were plentiul; a few well-prepared dishes saw me strong and on my feet again—and then it was the rush of reality back in my face as I dashed beyond the Thunder Helm’s protection to reclaim my sand seal once more.

Riju and I charged closer, and closer.... and I fired Bomb Arrow after Bomb Arrow—but I was a poor judge of distance and my shots always came up short—the monumentality of this thing—how far did I have to dash toward it before it stopped growing in my view?

But some of my shots connected—in the rushing, tumbling push-and-pull between me and Riju, I let fly my explosives and two of Vah Naboris’ house-sized feet went dark—please tell me they wouldn’t regenerate if I delayed....

And lightning reduced me to a sizzling heap again.

How many times did it strike me down like that?

“Do you want to fall back for now?”

No.

This Divine Beast....

This Chief....

What were we doing?

We two humans—well one human, one Gerudo—but she was short enough—but technically I was a Hylian—

WE TWO tiny things.

We were using what was at our disposal.

The Chief was using what was at her disposal. And what was at her disposal were sand seals and nerve.

She felt like that shot from the old Xena opening sequence, standing unafraid on the rocky shore and crying defiance at the rising Poseidon, the Force that could crush her in a heartbeat....

We two tiny things.

She was surely the bravest child I had ever met.

Vah Naboris was far away now, but I came back to my sand seal, and we surfed through the dark sand once more, in pursuit.

I stayed close to Riju and waited this time for lightning to strike.... and only after it did, and immediately at that, did I shoot my sand seal forward, stopping for nothing and spurring it onward until I was at the monster’s very feet—not house-sized—HILL-sized—They pounded into the earth all around me, the sand exploded, one step equalled death, and they moved—so far and fast they moved at one stride from the beast—but my arrows caught them—

Kra-KKAAOOWWwww!

Riju circled to my position and kept me safe until I could regain my feet....

The strategy was sound.... but.... and I had the meals to spare.

One more run waiting for the Divine Beast’s attack to deplete itself of energy, and another mad dash forward.... another brush with ten thousand tons of crushing, beigebronzy death.... Bomb Arrows away....

And the last foot went out, and the mighty Divine Beast Vah Naboris sank to the earth—we had literally brought it to its knees.

....It had the same face as that on the Thunder Helm....

What followed then were some of the most beautifully animated and charged cutscenes I had seen thus far: the two of us, the Chief and I, surging the final distance to the subdued Divine Beast, Link swinging off his sliding shield as his sand seal came to a halt, leaping deftly into a run to join the Chief where she stood, and imparted a few final words.... There was only so much Chief Riju the leader of the Gerudo could do—the rest was up to Link now.  And Link as he hurried to board Vah Naboris.... clinging fingers and toes in a kneeling position to that slanted surface as the beast began to rise again.... I could feel the strain and balance in his muscles oh if he could just hold on....

These were the best cinematics.