Clean Up The City

Friday, May 10, 2019

Clean Up The City

I warped to the Shrine of Katah Chuki.

....

I’d really rather just go from there without breaking tone but I feel the need to provide what is probably necessary context for the ones who haven’t spent so many hours playing the game nor noting where the different shrines are—Katah Chuki is in the quarry very near to the castle.

Pay attention.

*AHEM*

I warped to the Shrine of Katah Chuki.

Shouldn’t it stand to reason?

I was gonna clean up this town.

The Piano was so.... malcontent.

I stood on top of a rock and considered the Guardian down inside the wall.... for a long while. It didn’t see me.

“You could just go right down there and.... laugh it right in the face,” Dad suggested.

I took a second’s pause.

“Okay,” I said, and paraglided in.

We had it out.

I killed it.

And I did clean up the town. One Guardian at a time. Though I still avoided the flyers if I could help it.

The Stalkers in here were sleepy. Stationary.

So....

I tried that scary thing I had seen in a gif:

I crept closer, and closer, and closer to one that was sitting so still, and then Stasised it. And during the brief spell when it was completely frozen I ran forward toward it as fast as I could, into the range where it would have otherwise noticed me!

The golden Stasis-charm broke, the Guardian woke up, swiveled its head in the brief moment and—sure enough??—it.... it rolled right over and sank into the ground. Gone.

....

The laser’s needle end blinked on me for a bit. !??

Then it was gone.

????

I spun in all directions. Where did it go?

“If there’s a wasp in the room I think I ought to know where it is!” I shouted when I turned back around and could find no trace of it.

....

I think I sank it into oblivion.

It was tempting to get closer, to go deeper, faster. But as I kept checking my surroundings with my Stasis, I could see which Guardians, legged or decayed, were alive, and I didn’t care for how thickly they were set about the old town ruins.

I didn’t want to divide them.

I circled wide several times, to flank them instead—Dad reminded me of the military operations term. I know, Dad. <3

I cleaned up as I went, my circumnavigation bringing me toward the south end of town. The city wall near the main gate had little guardhouses in it. There were shafts in the wall through which to shoot arrows, and little stairways and ladders leading up to the battlements.

Koroks hide in the weirdest places, man.

There were Malice eyeballs in the town too, and I had to circle a bit tighter to kill those; due to their orientation, they could only be shot from the inside, toward the Castle.

I followed the winding little street ruins, or climbed over blasted walls where I could or dared.

Killing Guardians.

And shooting the eyeballs that guarded the main road. Their Malice was clumped in broad, horned barriers all along that thoroughfare, straight through from the very front gate of the town, near the Sacred Grounds.

Speaking of which, I killed some Guardians outside the town as well, and when the daylight was right, I retook that pictograph.

My first pictograph shot in the Sacred Grounds had been hurried, and uncomposed, due to a stray Guardian’s laser having tagged onto my shoulder, and a terrifying lack of experience on my part to deal with them at that time. But now, I had cleared the ground, and I could take my time.

There were clouds, which was not perfect.... but perhaps it better reflected the age I was in now.

I got the pictograph, headed back inside, and continued to clear out the town. I cleared that place out GOOD.

And now.

I turned toward the Castle.

Yes.

I was going to walk in the front gate.

On the Devil's Doorstep

Waking of Saturday, March 23, 2019

On the Devil’s Doorstep

Looking for Shrines.

Woodland Tower out to the Elma Knolls and down below the northernmost Sheikah Sealing Pillar about the Castle. The air was Malicelike in there. Eugh. No shrines though.

Went up and killed the Lynel below Mount Drena. Aced it pretty good. Checked out Mekar Island again. Lots of baddies. Yowch. No shrines though.

Running around....

You know what? I thought, I’m gonna just try and fly from the Elma Knolls to Hyrule Castle.

And I did, with Revali’s help. Sailing, sailing through the airs I planned to land partway up the north Pillar. I was ready to cling onto it and start climbing. Oh my gosh I saw a Guardian perched on top. Was it alive? Was it dead? I would find out. Closer, closer.... ready to grab it and climb, aaand....

I PASSED RIGHT THROUGH IT?

UM.

OVER THE MOAT NOW.

HEADING FOR ONE OF THE CASTLE-ISLAND’S PLATFORMS....

I SANK THROUGH IT AND STOPPED.

I WAS IN THE ROCK UNSEEN. COULDN’T MOVE, COULDN’T TURN THE CAMERA. COULDN’T EVEN PAUSE.

AND SOME REAL INTENSE MUSIC STARTED PLAYING AND MY HUD MAP BECAME A 3D OVERLAY. LIKE UNTO A DIVINE BEAST.

I tried everything, but I just could not dislodge myself from the bleak black stone. Eventually I just hit the Home menu button to get out of the game.

Back in, and I was back on the Elma Knolls. I had that Dragonbone Boko Club thingy, so I’d already visited Mekar Island. That was good.

Hhhrmm but I needed a better approach....

I went to Woodland Stable, looking for Gotter and Parcy. But I couldn’t find them... Weren’t they here?

But I did find Molo. The Yolo guy.

He said there were some docks on the north side of the castle. And rumors about a mysterious shrine nearby?

THERE IS A SHRINE.

I’M GOING TO FIND IT.

But.... where are—?

I checked my sidequest menu. Gotter and Parcy were at Riverside Stable. I went there, talked to them.... Gotter just wanted to try the food, the old royal recipes. But Parcy told me about all the various ways to get into the castle.

I tried her Sheikah method. Approached from the east, near Mount Caramel or Mount Crumpet or whatever it was called [Crenel Hills], crossed Helmhead Bridge. Killed the Guardian. There were two Guardians on that island....

I was looking for her secret tunnel but I didn’t see it. So I waited for nightfall and.... There. The luminous stones. I see it now.

The tunnel was there. But.... with so many Guardian Flyers, the remaining space between still felt so treacherous.... So close and yet so far. How could I get in safely?

Well.... the night is young, I thought. Let’s try the Elma Knolls flight again.

It’s always a long paraglide and jog from the Woodland Tower to get to the Elma Knolls.

Or at least.... to get to where you want to be.

Too many trips to Mekar Island....

I was lining myself up just at the edge near the moat this time, not higher up the knolls and with no plans for an extra Revali boost, when three Stalmoblins popped up and start chatting it up with me—I have become an incredibly good quick-change artist. And then I was waiting for the blasted rain to clear, just so I could see where to land....

There were plenty of hampering circumstances, but at length the air did clear up and between my new Stal-friends I could scope in on the castle and see where I wanted to go—and there were explodable rocks there! Is that where the shrine is?

I leapt off.

Please let the ground be solid.

....

And it was. My boots connected, and glicked as they ought. I landed near the rocks, ready to call on Ja Baij.

But time stopped first.

There was a cinematic: The Swirling Calamity Ganon whirled up in a roaring ferocious, swinging about the castle, raging, roaring, raving, ravening.... mouth agape.... Oh gosh would it come and just eat me because I approached the castle wrong?

But no.... As the camera pulled back, trembling in the ragged tear of its orbit, Malice and dust stinging its eye.... there at the center of the storm, there in the middle, shining through the stone of the towers and parapets, in the center.... A brilliant, penetrating Golden Light.

The Princess was still there. Her holy power still held.

And on that heartening note, the cinematic ended, and I was free to move. I blew up the rocks. Treasure chest. I opened the chest. Rupees.

‘Kay cool.

I went clockwise over the dark stone, toward the east side, bent around a rugged corner and killed a decayed Guardian, and made my way to the tunnel by the glowy stones....

The East Passage.

It was all crumbled in here. Dust and grit and rubble strewn everywhere. The walls seemed rough-hewn, though I wondered how much of it was by design and how much by the ruin of time.

The music had muted as well. The same desperate progression as had sounded outside still floated hauntingly through these inner passages, only now performed by an organ running on minimal stops. The brass, tempestuous percussion and keening strings had stayed outside.

Malice still smoked through the air, choking the passage.

Keese.

They fluttered around up ahead, in a slightly wider spot, not yet aware of my presence.

I readied a weapon.

Oh, the Master Sword.... was glowing.

The hammering it made when it smote the Keese out of the air!

This place made my sword bare its teeth in righteous ferocity.

I followed the passage to where it widened slightly. A mine cart?

....

I didn’t want to take a mine cart.

No, I was become a church mouse once again, senses flared wide, stepping my way forward. I went slowly. Slowly. So very very slowly.

The railtrack had risen up on the left side of the widening tunnel; on the right side was a shallow pond—more of a little puddle in the ground, really. Dingy against the cracks between wall and floor, like seepage from somewhere. A large ice block stood in the midst.

Four fire arrows reduced it to nothing, and out came a Korok!

Even here. Even here they were hiding.

It was strange....

Further down the passage, I finally came to a Malice eyeball, beyond which I thought I could hear.... Lizalfos....

After I shot the eyeball, I could definitely hear Lizalfos. Quickchange!

These Masks are so handy.

There were Red Lizalfos everywhere. No, not red, they must have been Black. I dispatched them as I could isolate them, and they only dropped normal tails. Black Lizalfos.

I killed them and cleared the way until the path rounded to the right and widened in earnest in a large, round chamber, braced with heavy beams.

What was clearly a Talus sat dormant and obvious in the center.

It seemed to be the end of the passage, except for the telltale lack of a ceiling that I could see in the chamber.... The walls seemed climbable enough, and there didn’t seem to be any other way to go.

Hhhmhm but I didn’t want to have rocks thrown at me while I climbed.... with that Talus in the way....

....

All right then.

I killed it. And where it had sat, the ground was ruptured with escaping air—an updraft.

Even better.

I rode the current up the shaft. And up above I came to.... another chamber and then.... the Library?

That’s what it was called.

But everything was so smashed and ruined....

It was awful. It must have been so lofty and stately once, light shining in, such rich, dark tables, a beautiful place for study.... Now there was a great gaping hole high up in one of the long walls, as well as some of the ceiling above—a dismal drizzle poured in from outside. The short walls each had an ornate stairway up to the upper walkways and more bookshelves. But one of these stairways was partly collapsed, and the red carpets lining them were all frayed and moth-eaten. Books lay strewn over the tile, dog-eared to heck and back and now loved only by spiders.

It was sad.

More Lizalfos prowled and patrolled here and there. I slowly cleared out the room, luring them away one by one with my Mask until I could put them down out of sight of their companions.

But partway through my sweep, in the midst of the ruin and cascades of debris, I found something down on the ground level, on a table that must have been handsome once: an open book. A recipe book!

Inside was a recipe of the Princess’ Favorite: Fruit Cake. It consisted of any two fruit + Tabantha wheat + sugar cane. Apparently, according to the following notes, it helped to clear the head for better concentration on ancient technology research or something.... Heh, interesting....

Clear, clear, Lizalfos, Lizalfos, Mask, Mask—I continued to sweep the room. And on an upper balcony-walk, I found a second book. This one contained a recipe for the Chancellor’s Favorite: Monster Cake. It called for Monster Extract + Tabantha wheat + sugar cane + goat butter. So that was the proper recipe.... Further notes read that it was a dangerous dish that made the head fuzzy and might even encourage the formulation of evil schemes!

What was up with these dishes?? XD

That was two of them anyway. Did I need more? Would there be any more? I’d been pretty thorough over the Library, and I continued to look hard.... but I didn’t find any more recipes. That was Gotter’s errand done, then.

I didn’t want to get too far ahead.... I could see the pathways branching off the Library on my map, but it took a moment for me to realize they were hidden behind some some big metal cabinets. Magnesing one of these out of the way I uncovered a crooked, rubble-strewn, downward-leading passageway that led to the Docks.

More Keese, more Lizalfos. And....

There was a big space where I thought something like another Talus would be, as there had been in the other passageway.

But.... it was empty. All except for—

That giant brazier.

!!

The Shrine!

I backed up, and shot a fire arrow into the brazier.

UP came the Saas Ko’sah Shrine!

It was a Major Test of Strength with no stone pillars for cover, but only big magnetic blocks I could toggle up out of the floor with Magnesis! I’d seen David do this kind of trial....

I did it without a hit.

Once I came back out I proceeded down a ramp to the docks themselves, low on the moat in the huge, cavernous chamber. Faint light shone from beyond a bend in the immense stone passageway, dappling the water; it must have led to the outside.

There were more Lizalfos down on the docks, and I almost went to deal with the two obvious ones.... before I caught the movement of the other. I changed course and instead went up the earthen walkway around the edge of the huge chamber, and took out the sniper first. The one who would have seen me get up to mischief with the others. Dropped a pretty nice bow and a decent bundle of arrows, that one.

Once his watchful eyes were no longer a concern, it was down to the docks, where I killed the other two.

This left the run of the place to me. There were weapons and things scattered everywhere around this place, all among this ruin, boxes and barrels full of supplies.... It was a treasure trove of junk. And there were some good Hearty Salmon swimming near the piles—those were good fish.

Once I’d cleared out the Docks, I made my way back to the Library.

I’d seen to Gotter, but.... what about Parcy? Where was this Royal Guard’s Gear she was so interested in? It had to be close.... right?

I went up to the other end of the Library, the far end; there had been an upper exit there, at the top of the carpeted stairs. This led to more chambers, more Lizalfos.... and a long, long hallway. And still more Lizalfos.

The walls were cracked and crumbled here and there. Rubble spilled in huge cascades. Was the red carpet still so red by dint of its quality? Or was that just the glow of the constant Malice through the air?

There had been so many Lizalfos all throughout the castle that I was almost taken off guard when, near the end of the long hallway, I heard a sudden Moblin grunt.

A large set of double doors stood cracked slightly open; I could see movement beyond.... and I could tell that it could see me too.

I dashed aside in a tense flutter before whatever lurked within could take too much notice of me though, and quickly changed to a more appropriate headpiece....

Now a Moblin myself, I edged cautiously through the crack between the doors and into the next chamber, where the Moblin was. He seemed to be the only baddie around, which was good—it’s tricky when there are multiple breeds; Kilton’s Masks could only fool so much.

He held a huge sword.

I killed him.

And looked around....

The room was not draped in so much finery as the hallway had been; the surfaces were more bare, warm and wooden, the floor of finely cobbled stone. It was some kind of Guards’ chamber. And there were beautiful weapons everywhere.

And there!

Those were different. My pictobox didn’t recognize those.

The Royal Guard’s Shield. The Royal Guard’s Bow. They were sleek and dark, and looked like they’d be more at home under cover of darkness than anywhere else. Or infiltrating the dens of things that preferred such.

So I made choices. I dropped. (As my pockets were full.) And I picked up these new weapons. They evidently were ancient Sheikah Technology designed to fight Calamity Ganon, and they were strong and effective, but not very durable.

But surely there had to be a sword as well?

There was a broad staircase in the chamber, running up a couple of walls to a wooden balcony. I made my way up until I reached a part where a large chunk of the steps had busted with age or rot. There was nothing for it but to climb the wall.... higher....

The next passageway leading off the upper Guards’ Chamber was smaller, cold and stony, and seemed to bend and twist all around on itself. And it was lined with a series of blocked doorways that looked tantalizingly explodable.

They were.

Moving slowly, cautiously, I blew the first one up. Inside the hollow was a large and mighty armored statue, resting its hands on the hilt of a Rusty Claymore, the bladetip at its foot.

It was very impressive-looking, but I left it there.

Oh, but I did take the seed from the Korok hovering in the corner. Even here.

There were so many weapons about.... The next hollow HAD A LIZALFOS AND I WAS STILL IN THE MOBLIN MASK—I gasped as he saw me, as he recognized me. Gave me a start but I could take him! I ran back quick and killed him before he could breathe to another soul that an intruder walked the castle grounds.

Hooooohh.

It was finally in the last hollow.... that I found the Royal Guard’s Sword. In a pedestal.

An ancient Sheikah replica of the Sword to Seal the Darkness. It looked just like the Master Sword, only darker, just like the other Royal Guard’s things had been.

But I noticed that the hilt was backwards. The wings.... angled gripward instead of bladeward. That combined with the menacing sheen of the darker metals used.... gave it an almost perverse look.

Replicate the Sword that Seals the Darkness?

.... It just....

Hh.

....

I took it.

This was Parcy’s Royal Guard’s Series. I didn’t think there could be armor involved.

This was it.

I was going back now.

I was going back....

But what was behind that other passage off the Library, leading up? It had been blocked by Malice, and the attendant Eyeball was on the other side, but I wondered if I could....

I drew a bow, aimed carefully.... and shot the Malice Eyeball. And what do you know? It worked from behind! I’d shot it right through those goop-strands....

The dark barriers disintegrated, and now the rainy outside and the bony glow of naked rubble glared in an off-white rectangle at the top of the steps. I went up NOPE! NOPE. THERE’S A GUARDIAN. GOING BACK INSIDE NOW.

Hm.

....

I had Gotter’s and Parcy’s things.

....

I’m leaving.

But I couldn’t warp from this map....

To the Docks then.

I would swim out.

And I did.

My paraglider gave me a headstart out of range of a Guardian’s laser and I was plashing through the choppy water before I registered the sudden change in volume.

The music was more orchestral outside; I’d forgotten it was like that, with all my sneaking around the inner parts. It was still the same progression, but now pronounced again by a doomful, desperate brass section, and punctuated underneath by that iron-sharp snare drum that tasted like spikes at your back and on your heels.

And I heard it again.

As I had heard it while I was sneaking about inside the castle.

At times the meter broke apart, the theme turning to a fit of asymmetrical hammering like the darkness inside a mad dog’s head. And yet underneath.... That dissonant, ascending organ line....

He was still serenading her.

Still serenading his captive.

And when the meter was allowed back to a semblance or order, she would answer, with her Ancient Lullaby, perpetually rocking the balance of power in a Dreadful Dialogue.

I swam, I swam.... waiting for the map to change....

I swam, I swam....

Malice still swirled hellishly all around me as I kicked and paddled for the northern shore, the current sweeping me carelessly away....

If I could just reach the shores of the Elma Knolls....

And still the nightmare music played.

Swim, swim.... swim, swim....

I swim....

And of a sudden the dripping crimson dissipated and the air cleared. The Malice evaporated. My HUD showed the normal map of the countryside.

And I made it.

Bedraggled back onto the shore.

That would be a good artwork.

Here in the rain at night as the moon goes down above me.

Unscathed from the belly of the beast.

Angled low from the east, to see the back of the castle on the left, and the high western sky in the middle, and maybe the muddy rise of the Knolls on the right. Link on hands and knees, sopping wet in his Zora Armor, like I was.

The sky and the moon all warped with pink, like the bending air of a heat-haze, or the rainbow sheen of motor oil on the ground.

....

I think I’ll get to Riverside by myself.

Woodland. Woodland I mean.

I’ll get to the Woodland Stable on foot.

The Last Frontier

Waking of Saturday, January 5, 2019 ~ 2

The Last Frontier

From the Ancient Columns and down the gentler, grassier back of the hill, I sported with a few Moblins and a lily-Korok before striking toward the Sheikah Tower.

The tower stood at the crest of a rocky hill to the north, across an empty gorge where the road bent and twined. Malice crawled all over the stones around the tower’s base. It was at a lower altitude than where I was, but I could tell I wouldn’t be able to paraglide directly onto the tower. The best I could hit was partway up the slope on the gorge’s far side.

Mom was with me during this part. I enjoy.... just being with my Mom. Even when she still starts and warns and cautions whenever I run along the edges of cliffs or take flying leaps into the air.

She is a Good Mom. <3

I floated over, scrambled up the far slope, and came to where the tower was. Malice completely encompassed its base; I couldn’t access it. There were a few tall stones standing here and there; I thought perhaps if I could get on one of those.... I could paraglide from one to the other.... maybe paraglide onto the side of the tower, but.... No, the distances were too great. I’d fry in the slime.

“Gooped. Ya got gooped.” –PBG

I couldn’t climb a stone and float over to the tower, but....! There!

I found an eyeball. :)

I shot it, it poofsploded and evaporated, taking a lot of the Malice with it, and the column it had been surrounding collapsed against the tower! Access!

And a long climb through the fargazing music later, I was at the top.

This was my last Sheikah Tower. The Tabantha Tower.

I set my slate into the pedestal, distilled the rune, and.... ♪You get the thing!♪ ....The last blank space on my map populated. This was the Tabantha Frontier.

Complete Map of Hyrule Extracted, said my Slate.

Wow! ^_^

The Rito Rock—that tall, oddly-shaped spire—Heh, Oddly-shaped indeed—it looked like a bird!—Although.... that Oddly was probably a mockingbird or a grackle; this rock spire looked more like the neck and head of some kind of crane or stork....

*AHEM*

The Rito Rock, I could see from the tower, was so close now, standing tall and straight, its neck hewn all up and down with odd angles from erosion, and its “beak” jutting out at a stark perpendicular angle at the top. I could see, both from the tower and on my map, that the spire actually stood in the middle of a sizeable lake. Huh.

Okay!

I considered, as I was so high up and could see all the world laid out before me. I could have struck out on a more direct route to the Rito Rock, but.... I decided to follow the road instead. Rather unlike me, now that I think about it.

It was rife with Lizalfos.

But after cutting and dodging my way through so many belligerent hoodlums I came at length to the Rito Stable. This was the one I had seen from the edge of Hebra.

Kass was there.

After talking with some of the other people there, I approached him.

He was happy to see me in one piece! The feeling was mutual as always. ^_^ And here so close to his hometown of Rito Village, he said he was feeling terribly homesick, and confided to me that he’d had to leave his wife and children back in the village.

Kass has a wife and kids? I thought. My goodness!

I never knew.

“But I can’t go home until I fulfill my promise to my teacher,” he said.

“Promise?” I asked. It was my only option.

“My promise to... No, perhaps now is not the time.”

He said he would tell me, in Rito Village, once he learned all the ancient songs.

So mysterious, Kass.... I’d heard him talk about his teacher before.... What promise did he mean....?

I decided to sleep the night at the stable before moving on. And in the morning, I headed toward the village.

The lake—Totori Lake—was different from most other lakes I had seen, in that its “shore” consisted mostly of two-hundred-foot dropoffs all the way around. The water shimmered distantly below in the enormous, sunken, beigestony pit. A few other rock spires stood attendant to the mighty bird-shaped one in the center, but none it seemed were half so tall. I could see the occasional updraft blowing here and there as well, in the event I should paraglide around and sink too low, but aside from those.... there didn’t seem to be much down there....

Not that I had reason to worry: well kempt, handsome bridges of dark wood spanned from shore to spire to spire to spire, high above the water. It was at the beginning of the first of these bridges that I met Gesane of the Rito as he patrolled the path to the village.

He introduced his home and kin for me: “The Rito of Totori Lake. Where the men are fine archers and the women better singers.”

Heh.

^_^ I liked it.

The tops of the spires were grassy, and pleasant, with birds and flowers and pine trees and even the occasional little water pocket pond. This really was beautiful country. Breezy and beautiful.

As I crossed the third bridge after the second rock, there were.... Malice drips and a sudden blackout? Would I meet the Divine Beast? I’d forgotten these bits! But it was.... a BLOOD MOON CINEMATIC?

“The Blood Moon rises once again,” came Zelda’s voice.

BUT IT WAS DAYTIME.

“Please be careful, Link.”

THE SCENE ENDED. It was six-something in the morning.

What the heck?

Afraid I had missed the proper cinematic on a glitch, I reloaded from the stable, and went toward the village again. I stopped to pick the same peppers or berries or whatever it was I had grabbed before. I moved forward at the same pace, had the same talk with Gesane. Began crossing over the water and came to the same bridge and....

Nothing.

Huh.

But.... I had reloaded.... Was the game acting like I had saved?

I kept moving slowly and shoot that was a bear over there, didn’t want to get its attention, what was a bear doing on one of these rock spires—

But nothing else happened. And.... I.... finally just kind of accepted that.... the game had somehow deprived me of the cinematic.

I resigned myself to just find it on YouTube later.

I sighed, relaxed my guard, and just continued on AND THEN THAT TERRIBLE BIRDLIKE SHRIEKING FROM THE SKY.

Then came the Divine Beast introduction cinematic.

. . . . Whoof.

That was alarming. I told David about it later and we laughed.

On into the village, and I was really liking the look of this place. Lush grass, sweet flowers, breezy pines; the dark, comely wood of the bridges-turned-staircases and -boardwalks intermittently broken by soft earthen paths under the gentle sun; the wilderness on all sides and above and below....

And the music. Rito Village’s music....

*-!-*

And in a soft jolt, I was both surprised and not:

It was DRAGONROOST. <3

It was the musical theme from Dragonroost Island.... only settled cozily in a cabin in the woods, instead of flying fiercely about a wild island in the bluster of an untamed sea.

Of course it was Dragonroost.

Ahhh. <3

The handsome boardwalk continued straight inward and upward, ending directly against the base of the central pillar of the Rito Rock, the Neck of the Crane. At this landing, the wooden path continued to the right, winding upward and away around the Neck. But for a moment I was more taken with the sight just in front of me.

At this juncture, a gentle alcove had been carved into the light stone of the spire, and a small Goddess statue erected in the hollow. The little shrine was laid with decorative cloth; offerings of flowers lay thereon at the statue’s foot, and a crown of similar blossoms rested gaily upon its head. All bright and fresh-looking as if they’d just been picked.

Of all the shrines to the Goddess I had seen, this one was surely the fairest in its happy simplicity.

*

The pine trees smiled and the wind and wood breathed.

The earth and the sun had never been as content.

The world was at ease here.

*

Well at this point I was pretty sure I’d finally done it. I had seen every major habitation Hyrule had to offer. Just in case.... Just in case....

Just in case of that notion I well knew by now to be only fancy, but which I had still decided to humor through to the end: I had made sure, or sure enough, that there were no other houses to be bought aside from that one in Hateno.

So that was the only place.

Hahhhh.

But if I had had a choice.... the pines, the grass, and open air, the open-walled homes in cozy simplicity, village full of flyers and all musically inclined....

Yes.

I think I would have lived here.

I think I would have lived here.

A Walk with Yunobo

Waking of Saturday, October 28, 2017

A Walk with Yunobo

David’s been kind. He stayed away from the volcano’s Divine Beast until I’d had a go at it. But now he felt free to plunge right up Death Mountain, and I watched him for some of the time.

He cleverly defeated those first Moblins at Eldin Bridge by climbing up a nearby crag and bombing the living daylights out of them. And as the second one finally died, he jumped off the rock to float down and collect its spoils.

But the cinematic started before he could deploy his paraglider.

And as the camera centered on the bewildered Yunobo, looking around to see if the coast was clear, David and I watched a dark shape swip down right in front of him and off the screen out of sight.

“Was that Link?” we both wondered, laughing incredulously at each other.

The cinematic ended, and the camera pulled back a gentle distance, and there was Link, on the ground.

Which was just . . . . great. XD

With a little more effort than I had taken the time for, David was able to destroy the Sentries using Yunobo as a projectile.

I didn’t know you could do that!! D8 ??

But I did feel a little clever in that I had thought to Stasis them, when this did not occur to David.

He also ran right past the first cannon without firing at Rudania. He was wearing full Flamebreaker Armor, and I wanted to see what would happen if he climbed up near Rudania’s big flaming right hind foot.

David was kind to oblige. XD

And the result was that he burst into flame. ÓuÒ;;

Maybe Vah Rudania was just too hot, even for the Flamebreaker Armor. Or maybe David hadn’t upgraded his armor to be fireproof yet.

After a bit either I told him or he figured it out that he should use the cannon on the Divine Beast, and he progressed on his way.

I watched him all the way up the mountain (he never once was spotted by a Sentry) and into the volcano until.... the trapdoor clamped down behind him and locked him in the darkness.

And on that grinning bombshell, I left to go attend to some other things.

When I came back some time later, he was about to face off against Fireblight Ganon, but he first left to regain full hearts by sleeping at his house.

Which I told him was LAME. And like some crotchety old geezer I told him that back when I did the Divine Beast I did the whole thing at half hearts, and I never warped away or even ate any of my meals!

But he went to rest at his house anyway.

I don’t have a house yet.

It was fun watching him defeat Fireblight Ganon. He was quite stumped for a while, but he was brave and kept psyching himself up to venture out from behind the posterior structure to try a new tactic . . . .

I stepped out for his ending cinematics. It was his fourth beast, and we suspected there might be something extra, and I didn’t want to be spoiled.

And there was something extra, he said.

But I did watch the part with the ghostly Daruk.

And after a little more time, David insisted that I play.

He really does want me to catch up.

And I believe he wants to talk about more of the game with people. And I know that feeling.

Hah. Welcome to my life, David.

I played from the activation of Vah Rudania when I started. Because I wanted to see it again. And.... I was still logging, and I wanted a refresher for the scene.

Sometimes I go through the game faster than I intend, and.... I lose some of the finer details.

Dang this log.

The bright, gold-tinged light that had borne me off the beast brought me down into Goron City.

I can never bring myself to make the avatar run, after things like that. I just can’t.

It just feels so.... uncalled-for.

Being thrust back into normalcy after the brutally insane places I’ve been?

It’s like being on another planet.

It’s a kind of dazedness, a kind of triumph, a kind of relief, a kind of sorrow, which for me will forever require a walking pace.

Yunobo told me the Boss had summoned me, and that that kind of thing couldn’t be refused.

And he rolled away.

I walked after him, toward the Boss’s house.

Bludo said Yunobo had told him everything. And he was amazed and grateful that we had subdued the Divine Beast.

“But did you have to wait until my back finally felt better?” he griped, pressing that now I was making him look like big fibber!

In the end he rewarded me with a gift he said I could find in his house: a blade once wielded by the legendary Daruk himself.

“Take it. Keep it. It’s yours,” he said.

I couldn’t fit it in my inventory.

So I left it there.

Which was just as well, I figured; one block of my weapon inventory was already taken up by Mipha’s spear, which I dared not use any further lest it break.

Made me think of getting that house again. Maybe weapons could be stored in houses....

Why hadn’t I gotten that house yet? Well.... I had my reasoning. Although to be honest I’d since been “spoiled” on that point—I knew by then that it was—

Mm but maybe you don’t.

....

In which case I’ll just say....

....

I just wanted to wait until I had seen all the land first, before choosing a place for me to live.

I was wandering around Goron City, still at a walk.

I saw Yunobo. He was walking too.

I went to speak with him.

“I’m going for a walk today,” he smiled, “Want to come?”

And that was all he said.

And he continued in his slow and easy NPC pace.

Well, he wasn’t like that tour guide back in Hateno, huffing and puffing and making me jog. He was just.... walking. Slow as Uli from Twilight Princess.

But he had invited me, so I followed him.

After a very brief climb, he came to a stop in the middle of a short bridge over the thoroughfare below, and turned toward the volcano.

I spoke to him again.

“Welcome to my secret hideout,” he grinned to me, “This is the best place to get a good view of Vah Rudania.”

We both looked at it, perched way up there at the mountain’s top, lasering toward the castle.

“To think we actually fought that thing...” Yunobo continued. “I’ve never been afraid of it... until just now.”

I guessed it was all hitting him at once.

“It’s strange, but ever since we defeated Vah Rudania, I’ve felt like my ancestor Daruk is somehow with me all the time.”

He turned to me.

“Link, I did good, didn’t I?”

“You did your best!” I said, and this seemed to give him a little more confidence.

“Yeah, I did, didn’t I.”

Or some such words.

“And with Daruk’s Protection I know my ancestor will never let me down.”

Or some such words.

Or some such words.

Sometimes I forget the exact things people say.

Sometimes I prefer not to go back and check.

Sometimes I just try to do my best, too.

Dang this log.