TO HEBRA!

Waking of Saturday, November 3, 2018 ~ 4

TO HEBRA!

I went back to the Serenne Stable!

I was gonna go north!

AND I DID!

I took the road to the northeast and ran! Beyond Mount Drena, the Blue Marker Mountain from long ago! Past the place where I had met that nice lady merchant with her donkey! Past the spot where I saw my first Tabantha Moose!

The road bent around the head of the canyon of the Forgotten Temple, curving back to the west, and the mercury plummeted. The trees became stark and sparsely-leaved. More moose and rhinoceroses started appearing! And it was a surprisingly short jog until I came of a sudden.... upon the Snowfield Stable!

I quickly locked down the neighboring Rin Oyaa Shrine—Cool!—before visiting with the locals. What in the world were people even doing out here in the icy nothing?

Harlow spoke of swords—They were cool, he said, but he asserted that a sword didn’t make a hero.

But Danton talked about the Sword of Legend.... now that was a cool sword.

“This sword here?” I showed it.

“That’s the sword of legend?” Danton said, “It’s slimmer than I imagined. I thought it’d be as big as me! With, like... jewels everywhere.”

And I legitimately wondered whether one of the writers must have based that exchange on an actual recounted history of some semi-knowledgeable non-fan getting his first glimpse of The Legend of Zelda’s fabled Master Sword.... XD

Danton was grateful anyway. “I’ll never forget this day!” he said. Aw, he had such a nice smile and a genuine face. :)

I went inside the stable, where the temperature did not improve—gosh this place was just cold all over—and one Juannelle told me about a.... STALHORSE? WHAT ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

She wanted a picture. ಠ_ಠ Or some notes. What in the ACtual crap.

And she told me where to find it. Oh I needed this region’s tower....

I could see the tower further to the southwest, up on some low, dark crumble of snow-covered rock. It looked easy enough to get to....

I KEPT GOING.

I clambered up into the rocky hills with the tower looming closer and closer above me—they were rarer now—until I came to a place where the road forked off to the left.

Huh? There seemed to be some kind of habitation over there.... nestled against the mountain....

I went to investigate.

This place was called Pondo’s Lodge. It was homey, and comfy. And the sole resident Pondo for whom it was named must have been someone’s father. Because only dads can crack out that many bad puns in such rapid succession.

It was amazing.

Near Pondo’s home was a little sunken dell, the far end of which held a smattering of peacefully leafless winter trees, cozy in the grey. The near end of the dell.... Pondo had transformed into something else.

A long, heaping ramp of snow (or earth covered with such) led from Pondo’s stead all the way down to the floor of the dell, where it transitioned smoothly into a large, circular mound with a flat top. And on this platform was where Pondo liked to set up his gigantic, moose-headed, totem pole pins with which to go.... Snowling.

I paid that man so many rupees. You got three big snowballs per game, but that ramp was so bumpy! It was difficult to anticipate how the snowballs would bounce or what little bumps might dump them over the side edge completely. My snowballs—though they grew encouragingly in size on the way down—kept veering off to the right....

But eventually, I got a strike! And Pondo gave me a prize for my efforts, rupees again, I think.... I can’t remember....

That guy.... so punny....

I thought about stopping there for the night. It was an inviting, comfy, warm and friendly place.... And the hour was getting so late, and I was tired.... And I loved all his moose-decor....

BUT THE TOWER WAS RIGHT THERE....

I kept climbing.

There were no great enemies about on guard, but the base of the tower—the Hebra Tower—was surrounded by a bristling ring of ice. And as the ground was so uneven, it was a little difficult to lay a fire. But eventually I found a spot of ground level enough to set down some wood and flint and set it alight without it rolling or sliding away.

It.... exercises your patience, the ice does. Unless you want to blow a ton of Fire Arrows all at once. But I just waited for my fire to melt the ice chunks until a big enough hole opened up for me to reach the tower.

The climb to the top was blissfully uneventful. And as I studied the new map data, I saw that.... THERE WAS ANOTHER LABYRINTH HERE. HEE.

My eyes roved over all the cool new places to explore, until eventually I paraglided back to the stable. I thought to save it then, it was getting so late, but....

Stalhorse....

It was night.

I went to look for it.

Juannelle had said it was to the north.... I set out across the stark and naked snowscape, only pulling up when I saw a Lynel in the distance. I didn’t want to get too close.

I searched up and down the north end of the plain, but couldn’t find any trace of a stalhorse. No, but hadn’t she said it would be near some ruins?

The labyrinth!

But.... those freaking Lynels in the way!

The night was burning fast. In desperation I ran up onto the bordering mountain to skirt the eastern Lynel before the morning came. And paragliding back down through the everpresent fog and mist, I caught sight of some movement on the road to the towering labyrinth....

I came closer and FOUND IT OH MY GOSH. I snapped a pictograph. A Stalkoblin was riding a Stalhorse!

....

I WANTED IT!

I dashed in, dispatched a loitering Lizalfos, killed the Bokoblin rider, and.... approached the skeletal equine.... It had glowing eyes and the rags of ancient trappings. Its tail was scraggly, and it had no mane.

I mounted it, and it uttered the rippling, gurgling ghost of a whinny as I tried to soothe it.... And what was more my surprise and my dread.... it calmed down and I sat still upon it. .__.

It was nearly morning! I wanted to take it back to the stable—could I make it?

I turned it about, and we got on the road, and I spurred it forward, but it bucked me off—had I spurred it too forcefully?—reared in throat-tearing agony, and DIED as the sun rose. Its bones separated and crumbled and turned black and disintegrated in the rising light, and it was gone.

....

Man.

....

I warped back to the stable—still didn’t want to deal with that Lynel—and Juannelle gave me like a hundred rupees or something for the picture.

That was enough for today. I was savin’ and goin’ to bed. It was late.

And all my two hours of sleep were full of Lynels in the snow.

The Lamb

Waking of Friday, September 21, 2018 ~ 5

The Lamb

I was brought back to the top of the mountain, to the Spring of Wisdom.

The Goddess statue spoke again.

“Thanks to your efforts, Naydra, the spirit

of Mount Lanayru, has been freed from

the grips of an evil power.”

The dragon was once again coiled atop the mountain, but he looked much better, the arching curves of his long body more alive, less weighed down, his great taloned feet strong on the snow and ice beneath him. His great head he held, low and docile, above the spring. Eyes so bright....

“But a single ceremony remains. Now...

Loose your arrow through the body of

Naydra to free the spirit of this region!”

What?

Naydra still lay.... stood.... coiled, there, head hung low beneath his beautifully arched neck. I’d never seen a dragon still as this before. And getting a chance to actually look at him, he was.... just....

His eyes so bright and yet so calm, wells of peace, outward facing as a deer or a horse, such long beautiful eyelashes, drooping, funneled llama-ears hanging down, and his flexing, moving, unsplit, camellike muzzle.... Was he really a scaled creature? It looked almost like a fringe of fur, hanging down from his upper.... lip. Whiskered. Fuzzed. So that the mouthline could not be seen. Like a grazing creature. Patient. Peaceful.

In that moment especially, the blue spirit Naydra really did seem.... as a lamb.

And I held the knife.

I did take a few pictographs first, some of them, I’m only a little sorry to say.... somewhat irreverent. Like standing as if in deep and oblivious thought with his man-sized, all-rending claws behind me....

It was funny.

And I tried to touch him, too. But, even when he was still, the force and chill of his body sent me sprawling back, taking a tiny bite from my health each time.

All right.

I went back to the platform. If it was to be a bowshot, I wanted to try for a hornshard. Giving the honors to the Phrenic Bow that had served me so well, I took careful aim, and landed a shaft in the crystal-blue horn a third-way up from the dragon’s brow.

At the contact, Naydra took off, this time rearing straight up into the grey, grey sky, and for a worryingly long time, or what seemed like it, nothing happened. But after a moment, a gleaming something broke from the glittering mark I had left on the horn, and came streaking back down to earth, landing on the platform before the Goddess statue.

It was a dragon scale.

Well.... that was good enough, I thought.

“That is the spirit Naydra’s scale.

It fell when your arrow struck.

It serves as proof of the courage you

received from the one who served the

spring since ancient times.

Come... Offer a scale from the blue spirit

Naydra to the Spring of Wisdom.”

Naydra....

He was flying away. Up into his vortex in the sky.

Like they do.

I picked up the scale. The first and only one I had ever held from the blue dragon Naydra. So precious and wanted a thing, but.... I needed to sacrifice it to another, first.

I stepped down into the spring, waded forward to where I could see the royal family’s crest engraved upon the submerged stones, and let fall the scale into the water.

A plash and a golden light.... and a door opened behind the Goddess statue.

“Your path has shown itself. Now go forth.”

I glanced into the sky once more before entering the cavern. Freed from the shackles of evil, Naydra flew away in peace.

And I crossed over the threshold, and entered the Jitan Sa’mi Shrine.

And when I stepped back out of it, it was noon, and the mountain knew it.

And the high, cold music was playing again.

Clarion as ice.

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. ♡

Ice and Fire

Waking of Wednesday, June 20, 2018 ~ 4

Ice and Fire

I wanted to see how the Thunder Helm looked on me, but I couldn’t equip it. Mmmm not unexpected, but.... Rats!

I had wondered, after I beat whatever I would surely face in the Death Hole Arena, whether I would be rewarded with something to protect me from the cold, as the only way to proceed from there was to climb above the frost line.

But that wasn’t the case.

Fortunately I had already accumulated just such gear elsewhere on my travels.

And so instead of simply warping back to Gerudo Town I decided to take the scenic route, and hiked further into the mountains. Remembering Vah Ruta and Vah Rudania, and how it was always unsafe to approach too near to them.... I just wanted to see if I could traverse the ridge lands before Vah Naboris took a permanent perch somewhere.

I chased my Shrine locator for a while, until I encountered the largest single block of ice I had ever seen. Two dancing Ice Wizzrobes guarded it—from a high ledge, I took the first down in one shot with a Fire Arrow. The second was a little farther away and I missed a couple of times.... but at length he went down, too.

The iceblock was huge. But I was positive that was where the shrine was. I shot a Fire Arrow into its face.

Nothing happened.

Well, the arrow burned against it for a little bit, but.... afterward there was no difference that I could discern.

David insisted it had done a little to melt the ice, but....

I didn’t have that many Fire Arrows.

I paraglided down and cleaned out the immediate area. How was I going to do this....?

I laid down some wood and flint, and struck the flint with my blade—a bright blaze flared up.

The frozen monolith stood solid.

What in the world was I—wait.

I held very still and looked carefully....

There were some subtle variations in the ice’s surface—drippings. And a tiny bit of steam clouding up into the air. But the ice—

There it was. Barely discernable, so slow it almost couldn’t be seen, the face of the iceblock slowly began to shrink away from the flames. And there on the ground! There was definitely a space growing between my woodpile and the foot of the ice.

But it was going so slow....

This needed more fire; I laid down more wood and flint partway around the side. But it was still too slow.... So I started another campfire around the back.

The speed of the ice’s melting was picking up, but....

It seemed a bit of patience was required to solve this puzzle as well.

The ice had receded so far away from my first campfire, I wondered if it was still having any effect. I didn’t want to build another fire.... though I could certainly spare the materials. I was just being stingy. I only like to splurge when I’m hunting big game and Guardians.

My fires burned all night long, and when the sun woke up soft and turned the snow all to roses, the iceblock’s mass shrank past its last vital threshold, and it steamed and melted away in a final watery sigh.

The Shrine of Kuh Takkar stood before me.

Kuh Takkar himself spoke to me twice.

Huh, no monk had ever addressed me twice before. He said something like “Offer me a block of ice and the way will open.”

Or some such words.

Well then! I had a look around. There was an—ice cube dispenser.... heh.... in the middle of the room, and all around seemed to be one long, upward ramp that passed through all manner of fire hazards before reaching the monk’s platform.

“My gosh, I feel like The Mosquito Coast!” I hollered as I made another attempt. A couple of times, there was nothing for it but to pass through the flames. My FlameBreaker Armor protected me, but my iceblock kept getting smaller and smaller....

It was just enough for Kuh Takkar when I reached him, though, and he gave me his Spirit Orb. That made seven of them I had. I needed to pray....

Ascent

Waking of Saturday, January 27, 2018

Ascent

No—more—DAWDLING; it’s March 27 as I write this, MARCH!

I started at the Kara Kara Bazaar where Kachoo bade me good morning.

From there I barreled into the desert to find that shrine I had seen in the big tangle of cliffs beneath the mountain—the Dako Tah Shrine.

(“Dakota!” said David.)

It was difficult! Another electric path challenge....

After that I followed the foot of the mountain westward, wrapping round the jutting points until I came above the north end of those ruins I had explored before.

And wouldn’t you know it, north of the ruins was.... the Northern Ice House.

The actual house where the ice was kept was not very visible—its exterior consisted of a single trap door in the ground and a following ramp. But above this spot was a most improbable rock formation—looked kind of like a big turtle....

Up against the mountain, a solitary wolf prowled.

I ran down the ramp before it could spot me, and met the lone Gerudo manning the place. I roused her from sleep to learn that her name was Anche (“I’m gonna call you ☥,” I said) and that she really felt it was too early to be bothered just now.

When she finally did wake up, with my head still cracking over possible password clues, I spoke to her, but she had nothing relevant to say, and she never mentioned that Pokki—whose name always made me want Pocky....

Nor did the Ice House hold much of anything else that was interesting. Except for ice.

I left. I followed the mountain’s foot westward further still, dodging from shadow to shadow, until I came to where the rocky pillars stood tall from the sand and Lizalfos lay in wait upon every surface.

Satan Canyon.

I’d thought about coming here again. Perhaps if I traversed its entire length I could trip something I’d missed before....

The afternoon was getting on, but the sun still burned me outside of the shade as I moved further in. I teased David again by refusing to approach certain treasure chests.... Not those ones.... And as I entered the sandy mouth of the gorge its proper name was revealed to me – Karusa Valley.

I jogged on, searching for any kind of entry point clues, but aside from a few Lizalfos for whom I did not mask soon enough and who took unkindly to my concussive salutations, it was simply a long, long trudge through the sand.

It was a while before the sandstone walls closed about me as they had before. I was grateful when the temperature dropped and I could move freely in the light.... and more grateful still when I came within sight of more solid ground at last! And momentarily surprised as, just before I reached it, the air took on a breathtaking, icy chill!

I ran—I’d forgotten how drastically the temperature could swing in the desert.

It was only a few steps, and then I was back into the windcarved sandstone, in the temperate air, with my speed blessedly unhobbled.

And there were indeed a few surprises I had missed before—like falling rocks.

I sheltered behind great rounded shelves of stone, which jutted from the sidewalls like pinball paddles, while the avalanches passed. They seemed quite large here.

Atop one of the shelves I found a stray Korok hiding in—

Those frog statues again.

I continued up the gorge and it wasn’t long before the defaced frog statues lined the paths again and the Yiga Archers came out laughing to sport with me....

I killed them all, but when I came to the door at the end.... it still wouldn’t open.

I guessed.... I had to trigger the events back in town first after all.

But there was more to draw me up here than just the Yiga Nest. I donned my Warm Doublet, Snow Boots and Ruby Circlet, and out above the canyon on the crunching snow I doubled back to the west, climbing further into the mountain.

Higher and higher I climbed, crossing glistening frozen shelves I could never have seen from the steps below. There were even a few sparse and lonely pine trees up here on the otherwise naked highlands.

And rhinoceroses! Great, woolly blue rhinoceroses, being chased around or ridden by Bokoblins. I watched them at it for a while before slipping past them and hurrying up a steep gorge—

The weather turned then. Thick grey clouds descended and the snow fell all around me. Fortunately my Snow Boots still allowed me free movement, and the rest of my clothing kept me warm from the chill. But the landscape and its denizens became steadily harsher: Visibility was limited in the blustering oblivion, gigantic chunks of ice began to appear, obstructing my way forward (and when I drew near to these and looked hard, I could see things frozen inside them.... Bokoblins, Lizalfos....), a new, hardier breed of wolf appeared, snapping its deadly dance about me, and more Bokoblins and an Ice Wizzrobe harrassed me for more attentions than I could spare. And though my clothes protected me from the cold.... their ill-tailored defense against attack had me flirting with disaster at every altercation. My hearts dropped like mercury as I took heavy damage.

But two things pierced through the blizzard to pull me onward: The first was the sounding of the Erhu—Farosh! He was so close now.... Yes, this was where I had first seen him! From the river far below on the other side of the highlands! . . . . And the second was the sudden perking of my Sheikah Slate, chiming Brreep-brreep! between the winds—There was a Shrine nearby....

I pressed on, coming to a cracked and ruptured saddle, wide and flat with broken snow between two peaks lost in the grey. Icy Lizalfos lay everywhere, and watched me as I followed the shrine signal, too frozen even to bother with anyone more than a couple of yards away.

Gigantic snowballs rolled off the muted red steps to the west, gaining mass and slowing down before crunching to a halt on the field. I dodged them, climbed over a fragmented hill of ice—and there lay the Shrine, hard against the lowest western wall in a pit unseeable from anywhere. The Kema Kosassa Shrine.

I hurried into the hidden dell—danger was everywhere—and activated it. And shrinking from the howling of the storm I fled beneath the overhang, and stepped onto the elevator.

The interior was cool, and stark, and monumentally quiet after the weather’s rage.

It was a Major Test of Strength.

ಠ_ಠ

I had never done a Major Test of Strength before. No but wasn’t there something out from Hateno...?

David was with me; I had watched him.

I was ready for this . . . .

To See What I Could See

Waking of Friday, August 11, 2017

To See What I Could See

You know, lately I try not to play too far ahead before I’ve written up my adventures so far. I really do. But man....

I don’t know what came over me on this day. It’s a Zelda game. It’s a siren. It’s Blow it all I just wanna play the game and be the Hero. Escape to Hyrule. Divert my mind. Fly me away and tell me stories....

I was still in the deepest recesses of the Forgotten Temple.

David said he’d just warped out of that one. But.... There were no convenient shrines to warp to outside. I think the closest one was Ketoh Wawai, and that one was all in the dark with a Hinox next to it.

I didn’t want to have to traverse any huge distances again. How was I going to get out of here?

....

Well, I decided to just try the same way I’d gotten in—on the air currents. I climbed up the giant Goddess statue for some altitude (pardon me, Lady) and wouldn’t you know.... I made it out unscathed this time! ^_^

After that I climbed back up to where the shrine-detector had vexed me, near where I’d met Yammo and seen my first Tabantha Moose.

My blue marker was right there on that red mountain.

What had I seen on top of that mountain?

I needed to go get it—NOW.

It had always been my wont to keep so many things in reserve until NEVER, because what if I had more urgent need of them down the road?

But I chucked that notion out the window as I perused my very old stock of Spicy Omelets. Surely they should have molded over by now.... but! My hammerspace pockets seemed also to act as the perfect preservation larder.

I ate an omelet, and charged up the road, not stopping for anything! I scrambled over the rough red rocks, straight up the mountainside! My blue marker drew nearer in my HUD map....! And UP over a little crest and it would be in sight!

I had a little difficulty focusing on it however as I seemed to have disturbed a little camp of cold-blooded baddies. Bokoblins, Ice Keese, White Chuchus.

I swiveled my scope madly—there it was! My blue marker!

It was a tree.

I had placed it on the naked trunk of a frozen tree.

....

I ran toward it! Straight through the baddie-camp and further up the hill! Passed the tree, the marker disappeared, and I kept running! I didn’t care to engage any of those things just now!

But higher up on the crest of the mountain was something that made me pull up a short. o_o I snapped its pictograph just as it turned its massive head and noticed me.

A Great-Horned Rhinoceros.

It was big, and woolly! With a blue-grey coat, and an enormous mean-lookin’ horn on its nose!

It charged and I jumped out of the way! Turned and pinked it with my sword. It bellowed and ran away. I ran but couldn’t catch it.... fired one arrow—it groared again—landed a second arrow....!

And it was down!

That was a great lotta meat to harvest! I scooped it all up quick and skipped up to the very tip of the mountain.

The warming effect from my spicy omelet would run out soon.... I decided I would paraglide back to the warmer climes!

And I did—it was a very long flight and I started freezing before I escaped the frigid air. But I managed to touch down on a warmer hill just above where I had started, near that bend in the path that curves around the head of the Forgotten Temple Valley.

GOT the blue marker!

Where to next? :D

AND THEN SOME

Waking of Saturday, March 18, 2017 ~ 12

AND THEN SOME

I’m sorry to say that David and I kind of giggled irreverently at the placement of the final map marker. Well, we supposed it was near the end of the dungeon after all.

It was one more long, slow walk down the middle of the floor as I approached the terminal at the far end. I watched the time as I went; it was nearing midnight. I stepped in front of the pedestal just on the stroke of twelve, and held out my Sheikah Slate. But just before I made contact, a dark force repelled me, and then coalesced in the center of the room into a hideous, grotesque creature, seemingly composed of the same black-and-purple substance I’d seen all over the Divine Beast. Long, gangling—did it have legs? I only remember its cruel, spidery arms, one of them wielding an enormous blade of blue light. A dark red mane ran down its neck and spine.

This was Waterblight Ganon.

This was the thing that had murdered Lady Mipha.

For a time I shot him with arrows from behind the great pedestal while he cast his magical spear at me repeatedly—it rematerialized in his grasp every time.

Moblin’s Magic Spear, I thought ridiculously.

But my arrows weren’t doing enough damage. “I can’t keep this up,” I said. I’d have to face him directly. The biggest stick I had was a double-edged blade that dealt 38 damage a blow. I equipped it, and ran at him—

But he took offense at the strokes I dealt, and began to flood the chamber. It had been full of ankle-deep water before, but now.... there was nowhere to stand but on four isolated raised platforms.

He started casting huge blocks of ice at me, just as Vah Ruta had done. They were easy enough to dodge.... sort of. At times they knocked me into the water—they hurt me. And it was so slow to swim back and get back on my feet—

“Use Cryonis!” said David.

But would it work?

I aimed my Slate at the next volley of ice blocks—and I could break them.

And I felt like a FOOL for wasting so many arrows outside with the Prince!

Mipha’s voice came dimly into my mind: If only the ice could be used as a weapon.

“Try Stasis!” said David at the same time I thought it—

I shattered all but one of the demon’s next volley, and then stopped the last one in its tracks just before it collided with me. I hammered it four times with my Special 38 before the Stasis broke, and the stored kinetic energy hurtled it back into the beast and wounded him considerably! He sagged into the water, hanging onto one of the pillars for support.

And as he floated dead in the water there I took out my arrows once more and shot the blazes out of him—and this time they had a much greater effect. Flame Arrows I shot at him, all I had, which was about ten, as well as the one Bomb Arrow I had ever seen in my life—the explosion rocked the room.... “Die, die, DIE, DIE, YOU PUTRID—” I shouted at him, reveling in the volume I could attain with no sleepers in the house—

The monster was very weak by the time he regained himself in a last wind—he cast ice at me again, and again I shattered them all but one, and hurled that one back in his face, and that one did it. That one finished him.

Oh the ungodly screams and cries that issued from this.... abomination.... as it writhed and curled and melted and evaporated into oblivion—it was grotesque....

I wished it would die faster.

Even the thing that had killed Lady Mipha.

TWO HEROIC MEN TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS

Waking of Saturday, March 18, 2017 ~ 9

TWO HEROIC MEN TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS

I stood a while with Sidon on the dock before we spoke. When we did he turned and flashed his winning grin at me—a bit more subdued this time.

I don’t suppose waiting would have made it any easier. But then.... somehow, with Sidon there, in all his mad grinning confidence, his unwavering surety.... maybe it didn’t seem like such a hard thing after all.

He leapt into the water, flipping like he does, and called me in. I would ride on his back. He would get me close, and with my Zora Armor I would be able to ascend the four waterfalls spilling from Vah Ruta’s back, to land my Shock Arrows on the orbs above.

And away we went, slicing through the water at incredible speed! Prince Sidon’s dulcet tenor spurring us onward, steady as a rock—that guy could move. And when Vah Ruta reacted to our presence—I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t that!

How it trumpeted, crying out so loudly—pulling huge blocks of ice from the water, hovering them up as if by magic, and hurling them at us one after the other.

“Get rid of that ice!” the Prince shouted to me. Two of the bergs struck us, and it hurt—Sidon punched through—before I got my fumbling bow into my hands, whereupon I started dropping them out of the air one by one as Sidon flew through the water in a wide curve, arcing round the beast. Spray flew, rain slashed at our faces, and when Vah Ruta’s opening volley had run dry, Sidon darted in toward its side—“Do you have those Shock Arrows?” he called.

Man. His voice so fair and princely even here.

I readied them in my quiver. Sidon came right up against the raging beast’s side, maintaining a swift movement—no static targets here—as he bounded back and forth between two of the waterfalls. “Now, Link!”

I took the fall on the right side, I leapt from his back, spearing upward, upward, leaping in and out of the current like a fish, testament to the handiwork of Lady Mipha—until I broke through the upper surface and shot into the air—high above my target. I drew my bow, looked down, and time seemed to slow.... There was the orb, huge and pink, I drew, pulled back, let fly.... everything crackled and yellow and then I was falling....

I plashed back into the water with jarring violence, back in the tempest, back in the storm, back up to speed—“Nice going!”—there he was—and I grabbed onto the Prince’s back again and he hauled us outta there—Vah Ruta had collected more ice to try and crush us with—grateful I was carrying so many arrows.... though my bows couldn’t take all the firing.... grateful I was packing more than one bow....

Again and again, THAT VOICE.

WHO VOICED THIS GUY?

“Can you stop that ice?”

“Get those Shock Arrows!”

“You did it, Link!”

“Shock Arrows ready?”

And as I plummeted from the final orb—“Marvelous!”

AND YOU KNOW? It’s possible it’s not even a stupendous actor and he’s just lucky to be riding on the writing and animation of a character who already bleeds charisma! But I just like him!

Just channeling through the water like a mad torpedo on the back of the Prince of the Zoras, diving up waterfalls and sailing into the sky for freefalling archery with that friggin’ dulcet tenor still playing the cheer squad and EAUGH!

Do you know how hard I pumped my fists, how high I pranced and skipped as I went to close the curtains because it was getting dark, how convicted my affirmations to the house at large that “THAT WAS SO COOL”?

GAUGH.

Yes, I think the voice acting did add something, thickened the atmosphere of the charged, charged moment.

And as the Divine Beast Vah Ruta quieted, as the waterflow cut off and the sky became brighter.... Sidon took us in close—there was a platform....

“You wanted to get inside that thing, right?”

I did want to get inside it.

I still had to infiltrate its depths, and retake it for Princess Zelda.

“Finish the job, Link,” Sidon urged, low and even from the water below as the Beast began to float higher and I was lifted away, higher and higher....