Basecamp

Waking of Sunday, January 6, 2019 ~ 2

Basecamp

It was so much easier to get to Kaysa now that I could warp directly to the Tabantha Tower. With the Red Lizalfos tails I had collected, I had her do up my Snowquill Ensemble to its highest level! And then.... I think I am set....???? I thought wildly.

Back to Rito Village. I could only explore for so much longer. At length.... I came back to the Painted Landing—now Revali’s Landing—and aligned myself to the snowy clifftops Saki had indicated before. The Flight Range was somewhere over there. The distance looked manageable....

I was ready.

I leapt off the landing and began my paraglide over the lake. But what was my surprise before I even reached the other clifftop shore.... to see Kilton’s Balloon parked down there behind a rock near the edge.

I went to visit with him, taking my time perusing his wares, but he had nothing new.

FORWARD.

The cold pressed in at once, here near the icy coasts of Hebra once more. There was even snow on the ground. But my newly enhanced gear was awesome.

I did have to switch over to my Snow Boots after just a moment, though. If I wanted to move fast. And I did, because DANG I ran into a lot of trouble with mounted Bokoblins, an extraneous Yiga man who really should’ve been at home before his fire, and a number of Stalmoblins. And wolves.

Always the wolves, man....

But thanks to Kaysa, my Snowquill Ensemble was strong as well as warm. I cut and fought and bowled my way across the snow until I made it through to the Sha Warvo Shrine.

Path of Hidden Winds was the trial inside. Tricky!

Onward....

On into Dronoc’s Pass.

The Flight Range would be near here.... I could see the way I needed to go. But.... there was a dwelling over there, just to the north, nestled against the foothills of the mighty Hebra Peaks.

I just went to check it out....

The Hebra Trailhead Lodge this was called. Seemed to be some kind of basecamp.

No one was home, though.

Well, almost no one—there was a book. “Selmie’s Notes”. Selmie had been here?

Oh, she left survival notes, and mentioned that she’d left supplies at the bases of the flagpoles along the trail. That was nice of her. :)

Somebody else added....

“Selmie! Baby! I think I’m a better shield surfer! If I prove it, can we get married?”

And below that, an up arrow, and: “This total loser will never win!”

And then: “I didn’t know what love was until I saw Selmie sliding down the slopes... I can’t believe you retired... Where did you go?”

“Selmie, thank you for leaving the food! I’ll make good use of it here in the hut!”

“I saw some kid north of Coldsnap Hollow! He looked like he was pretty great at shield surfing!”

These must have been notes from other travelers. ^_^

“Selmie, thanks for the food that was left here. It seriously saved my life. I’ll be sure to leave some for the next person.”

“To whoever is reading this, please take as much of the food as you need.”

That was the end.

And well.... given express permission.... I helped myself, too. <3

When I came back outside, there was a dude by a fire.

I could be in the mood.... I approached him.

It was a Traveler all right.

I killed him.

Okay, to the Flight Range....

But....

No, it was late. I’d spent all day combing around this frosty little valley, and the icy night was fast approaching.

I decided instead to sleep in the lodge until morning.

SNOW DAY 3: WRESTING THE BEST ERE THE QUEST TO THE WEST

Waking of Friday, November 16, 2018

SNOW DAY 3: WRESTING THE BEST ERE THE QUEST TO THE WEST

FOR A TEST PER BEHEST OF THE GODDESS MOST BLESSED.

That’ssss a little carried away.

BECAUSE I DO NOT JEST WHEN I SAY I’M HER GUEST

‘CAUSE THIS WORLD IS ALL MESSED; I’VE KILLED MANY A PEST—

I don’t even like rap, what am I doing—

*AHEM*

I put on all my cold clothes and was ready to go back to Hebra to try out shield surfing and I warped tooooo.... Mount Lanayru.

I sailed down to the Lanayru Road; couldn’t see a thing on the way down for the snowclouds....

But I was gonna get me some hornshard.

It took forever. The dragons never show up when you’re looking for them. I ran around looking for other useful things in the meanwhile, and found the most enormous Korok circle I had ever seen. By which I mean the circle itself was typical, and not extraordinary in shape or pattern. It was just made of BOULDERS. BIG rocks! I grunted and huffed and puffed to roll the one from the center over to the empty spot in the ring.

Whoof.

Well played, Korok. Well played.

I also took the opportunity to kill a Blue Hinox, and that so quickly that it was dead before its music even started! By the time its life bar showed up, only a tenth of it remained, if that. Two more hits with whatever dragon-bone Big Stick I was wielding, and he was down. It’s astonishing what Urbosa’s Fury can accomplish when I wear my Barbarian Armor....

But these my diversions were not without their own frustrations—like HOW does a 300-foot dragon sneak past you? TWICE?

I tried to be more attentive, and was rewarded with some scales, but EVENTUALLY.... I did get a hornshard!

That was two hornshards. I could have upgraded my Champion’s Tunic if I wanted to.

But....

I didn’t.

I just went to the Plateau to pray.

I went all the way to the Temple of Time again, before I remembered that I only had 11 Spirit Orbs and I wanted to wait until I had 12. Just one more....

I went back to Pepp’s. I almost went straight into the Deku Tree’s Navel, but I stopped to actually talk to the Deku Tree first, as it had been a while.

And the Deku Tree told me something most illuminating—he said that the Master Sword glowed when it was near Ganon, or those touched by his Malice.

Well that explained it.

And that meant that.... the Guardians must have had the Malice in them too.... judging by my encounters in Ordorac Quarry.

It was 4:55 in the morning when I went to check in with Pepp, and so I slept five minutes until the morning proper, and then quit for a while.

When I came back, I warped to Hebra again, and continued my Snow Day! :)

I didn’t go shield surfing after all, but continued south from the northwestern corner of the map, where I had climbed low down the cliffs nigh to falling off the edge of the world.

Saw many things along the way! Found a bear and killed it—and it was a much more drawn-out fight than I would have thought! I could see now how David had once been killed by one of these. Found a Hinox and killed it—Urbosa’s Fury in the Barbarian Armor once again brought down the house! Found a Lynel and.... skirted it. They’re all White-Maned now.

I kept meandering southward until I found, hidden deep within the black stony cliffs beside a deadly icy lake brooding with malevolent Octoroks and planked by pointless and rickety boardwalks to nowhere.... the Maka Rah Shrine! Whose resident challenge was called Steady Thy Heart.

DANG.

If Hawa Koth were like the sparky younger cousin of Kaam Ya’Tak.... then this Maka Rah was surely.... like the sadistic older sister who punishes you for intruding on her CLEARLY-boundaried privacy.

That was my one-hundredth shrine.

I was ahead of David now.

SNOW DAY 2: THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

Waking of Thursday, November 15, 2018 ~ 2

SNOW DAY 2: THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

I put just a little more juice in the controller before moving on with Selmie’s dialogue.

“*sigh...*” she said, and then, “Hey... What’s that on your back?! That’s a radiant shield! You wouldn’t believe how rare those things are! You practically never see them anymore... If you’re carrying THAT shield, then... Whoa. This is big! You hiked all this way to meet the best there ever was at shield surfing, right?”

Guess that explained all the shields on her walls....

And oh dear I had a choice: “Yes!” or “No.”

I kind of wanted to continue on with my mad rush of a snow day, but.... well, I’d be nice to the lady. “Yes!” I said.

“Knew it!” Selmie cheered, “Too bad for you that I’m retired, huh? It’s been years since anyone knew me as the Duchess of Downhill.”

Oh my gosh I breathed a BIG sigh of relief. XD I don’t like damaging my shields, and hated to think I would be roped into doing so!

“But if you don’t mind a few pointers from a has-been, I’d be happy to critique your technique.”

And again: “Yes!” or “I’m fine.”

Hhhhuhhuhuhuhhhhmmmmm.... but I was sure I could find something.... in my inventory.... that I could throw away for this....

Hhhhh.

“Yes!” I said.

Selmie laughed. She was such a cute, short-haired blond with cute clothes. Just comely.

“Such enthusiasm!” she said, “I haven’t seen anyone with passion like that since...well, me!”

Hehhh.... |D I wondered what Siara would think of my being so codependent. Still.... what was I really here for anyway?

A short while later I was hitting the slopes for twenty rupees a pop, first the basic course and then the advanced. As I’d never practiced very much, my time was pretty average, Selmie said. But she encouraged me by noting that once I cleared the advanced course, I could earn special shields for beating certain times.

“How’s that for incentive?” she said.

Ooh la la! 8D

Except, I was so full on shields already that she couldn’t give me anything just at that time.

Ohh. :c

I could have dropped a Lizalfos shield; I had a million of those. But I didn’t feel like doing the whole slope again just then.

But if I ever wanted neat new shields in the future.... I definitely knew where to find them now!

I had been so distracted by Selmie’s Spot that I hadn’t even locked down the shrine just next door, the Shada Naw Shrine. I completed it to quiet the brreeping, and that was my fifth shrine of the day.

After that I just kept on keepin’ on to the northwest, discovering one Goflam’s Secret Hot Spring. That was a nice place to warm up my hearts.

Next in line was a shrine I had already seen David get—well, I hadn’t actually SEEN him get it, but I sure watched it drive him mad for hours and hours as he combed the northern faces of the mountain range looking for it.

He had showed me on his map all the places he had searched, and the shrine signals he had tracked (he had marked them with stamps). But I had been more interested in the topography.... There on the southern side of the mountains, but still somewhat close to all the hot signals, there seemed to be an overhang of some sort. It looked quite massive....

But I said nothing.

I just watched until David noticed the same thing.

It didn’t feel like a spoiler then.

It was another hidden cavern, and it was kind of like the Kopeeki Drifts in that he’d had to roll a snowball down a hill to smash the doors open. But once those doors had opened for him, I was out! I didn’t want to see spoilers, and the interior of that place looked massive.

But now it was my turn to uncover the same secret.

I hadn’t felt spoiled about watching him roll the snowball either, for I had silently guessed how to do it before he did! (And that before I’d even made it to Kopeeki Drifts!) You had to Cryonis an icy little pond partway down the slope in order to bridge a certain gap and let the snowball go over. And once it did.... smash! The two giant double-doors collapsed inward.

A vast, blue cavern lay within, with what looked like.... roots, at first glance. Pale roots arcing over the path as it bent around to the left.

But then I moved, and the parallax set in. The pale protrusions were much farther away than I’d thought. But I didn’t pay them too much heed; I had eyes only for the shrine I knew was here. And I saw it.

But as I descended further and the cavern widened and I began to take it all in, I could see the glowing orange shrine, and I could see that it was set far down in the middle of the gigantic space, and a bewilderment of dim colors slid over each other high in the gloom as I moved and—AND A SKELETON??

It had registered all at once, of a sudden.

OH MY GOSH THIS WAS THE HEBRA LEVIATHAN??

David passed through the room at that very moment and looked from my gaping mouth to the screen and back, and laughed.

I had found the third skeleton. Without even knowing it.

Those long, bending, crooked pale shapes.

I kept moving forward.

The jutting stalagmites around me rightly crawled with iridescence.

The Hebra Great Skeleton. Oh my gosh.

There was water here, too.... And it was temperate. It lapped along a hump of blue-grey rock that led to the shrine like a path.

This was the To Quomo Shrine.

And that made.... six today, I thought.

It was a Blessing Shrine. I was grateful for the Spirit Orb, but I was also keen to come back out and look around!

I explored the Leviathan, chased a Korok around on top of it. This one’s bones were different again. The skull had.... an occipital protrusion, like a pterodactyl, and its snout was split, down the middle. It was in two parts, all the way to the tips of the nose, which hooked slightly downward. The bottom jaw was in two pieces as well, and those wide apart from each other. A baleen feeder? It had very large eye sockets, and I could also see the phalanges on this one. It seemed.... like a water creature. What on EARTH....

Then.... the Eldin Great Skeleton had been a ground thing, Gerudo a flyer, and.... this one a water-dweller.

But how did it end up inside a mountain? Makes me think of.... Jabun.

Well.

I guess that’s why they call it the Legend of Zelda.

So many elements all the same.

All different in every telling of the tale.

And here was the water-whale god inside the mountain.

Rest In Peace.

Was it.... getting foggy in here....?

I moved on, and kept climbing.

And it wasn’t long before there was.... another Shrine Signal?

I found it over the edge of and down underneath the high, flat Biron Snowshelf. The Mozo Shenno Shrine. Tricky one to get to.

It was a Major Test of Strength, and so I went in with my Guardian Armor. I did well! Until I tried to backflip away again, but evidently came up short as the Guardian cut me once with his giant blade. After this we drew apart, and he did that spinny-laser in a wide radius, casting up an updraft. But hot and mussed from the contact I equipped my strongest Lynel bow (50 damage x3) and nocked some hard specialty arrows.

“Don’t screw with me,” I growled, “I will wreck you.”

I killed him in the end. Hacked him to bits just before his charging laser could fry my face off. And I got a core among the spoils!

That brought me to fifteen cores.

I could upgrade my Ancient Armor set now, I thought. If I wanted.

But I kept trekking through the mountains. More Koroks. Sherfin’s Secret Hot Spring. I wondered who all these people were who had discovered all these hot springs, and why they were a secret....

The Hia Miu Shrine.

I kept climbing about the north faces, chasing lower altitudes and ledges that looked promising but led nowhere until.... I’d finally had enough. Clinging low off my map, wary of the boundary between solid ground and what the game would register as a bottomless fall, I warped the nope out of there to Dueling Peaks. Wasn’t there a cave I’d seen around there once?

I checked.

There wasn’t.

The polygons.... they can trick your eyes, when viewed from a great distance.

I was running out of juice, and for some reason decided to just.... go home. I warped to the Shrine of Resurrection.

“I went home,” I said to David.

And then David caught the affronted look on my face as I saw.... there was a Korok waiting to be found in my bed-pod.

David laughed.

“GET OUT OF MY BED.” I say. D8<

I left the shrine and jogged down the grassy slope to the Temple of Time, and the Goddess Statue.

But.... 11 Spirit orbs.... Just one more....?

I would wait for 12, and pray for three vessels at once.

I did nothing.

I warped to Tera.

But I did nothing.

I went to Pepp’s, and slept.

I was tired.

Been doing this icy mountain all day on a day when it’s cold, cold, cold....

SNOW DAY

Waking of Thursday, November 15, 2018

SNOW DAY

So David and I.... we’d kind of been one-upping each other the entire game. He had more shrines, but I had more Koroks seeds. And we would poke fun at each other for being so behind in one area or another....

But lately.... David’s been seeing my shrine number go up, and so that sped him up, which made me want to get more....

And I’d seen him combing this cold, cold snowy region....

....It was my turn now!

Out from the Snowfield Stable and I was goin’ for the mountains! Looking for Koroks and Shrines!

OH it was a hard and fast snow day for me! I found my first shrine in the Pikida Stonegrove—which would have seemed a friendlier place if not for the everpresent snowy haze in the air! That and the incessant Lizalfos and Frost Pebblits made it rather foreboding. Great stone columns in a slanting valley, bearing up a canopy of flat-topped rock on top—which was as good as another snowfield in and of itself! Rok Uwog was the name of the Shrine there.

The second shrine I found in the Kopeeki Drifts! That was a fun one to get to, rolling giant snowballs down criss-crossing grooves in the snow! Trying to guess which one would lead to the giant stone doors at the bottom and SMASH them open! The Gee Ha’rah Shrine was inside.

I followed my shrine locator just up the hill to the west, and proceeded to chase it in circles around a large, snow-covered mound, beneath which ran an icy stream. I was dang near tripping over the Koroks, but for the life of me I could find no way to access the inside of this mound.... Well, no safe way. For the water was frigid, and would sap my hearts.

There were two small, tunnel-like openings into the mound where the stream entered and exited it; the only other opening to the interior was a low, wide cave-mouth on the side, where the icy water licked at a tiny shore like a miniature beach. I could see the shrine’s orange glow if I crouched. It looked like it was on its own tiny island in there.... with some Lizalfos, aw crap heck....

I rather found that.... there was nothing for it. I swam for it in my Zora Gear! And lost half my hearts. This was the Lanno Kooh Shrine, and thankfully it simply offered a Blessing for my efforts. Hahh, I could see why....

Made me want to draw Link shivering getting back into warm clothes once he got up onto the shrine-rock. Hoohoohooo brrrrr....

I don’t like interrupting the line of my travels when I can help it, but I did not want to swim back out of that place. Though the Spirit Orb had replenished my hearts, I really would rather have warped, and so went back to the Hebra Tower. That would be close enough.

The day was clearer than it had been when I touched down. And looking back at the mountains and studying my map, it was only then that I realized.... oh my goodness....

There is a mountain. A mountain I have seen many times. And it is the most oddly-shaped thing.... There is a hole blasted right through it. Well, not strictly; it did not form a tunnel.

When you looked at it from other places all over Hyrule, you saw the triangle of the peak, and then just high on the left side of the silhouette, somewhat overlapping the edge, there was just a big circle missing. Like a leaf-cutter bee had come and just snipped it out.

I had long been very curious about what must be up in that hole....

And looking back at the mountains and studying my map, I now realized....

I HAD BEEN ON TOP OF THAT MOUNTAIN.

The very one! It was the tallest peak! I’d climbed up there in my mad snow day wanderings and already said hello to the Korok! That giant hole had been right beneath me!

I wanted back up there!

So I went! I climbed and climbed and climbed, cresting hills and paragliding over ravines until I came to THE HOLE.

It gaped above me like a monstrous cave. “Oh my gosh IT’S HUGE,” I marveled. And the inside was all.... one texture? .... Eaten away, blasted out. Burned up.

Wow.

The shrine signal was strong here. I followed it to about the middle of the cut—for though the hole seemed crisp and shallow by far away silhouette, it was actually quite long, spearing lengthwise through the mighty ridge.

Around the middle, nestled in the inward wall against the heart of the mountain, there was a shrine behind some huge chunks of ice. I could see the orange glow through a high gap. There seemed to be plenty of room to access it from above, but when I tried to climb up to it, I slipped down the bluish-grey surface.

“OH MY GOSH, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”

“What is it, ice?” asked Mom, who was in the room.

“It’s.... glass,” I said.

The mountain had been burned right through. I knew it.

What could do this?

Had it been a Divine Beast?

I got busy laying fires, and decided to clear away all of the ice, even the block containing a frozen Moblin. It came to life well enough once it was free, but I killed it with a little help from Daruk. Another chunk of ice contained a hidden treasure chest, and that was neat.... but most of the rest of it was merely ice.

The multitude of campires I had laid was a striking sight against the cold, dark blue, so I backed up and took a pictograph of them gleaming along with the warm light of the shrine.... JUST before a Blood Moon put them all out and brought that Black Moblin back to life! He hit me again this time without Daruk impeding him. Ouch my Warm Doublet had such a low defense....

I was suddenly regretting freeing the monster from the ice.... Would it forever spawn in this location now? Dang it....

This FOURTH SHRINE that I had found today was called the Goma Asaagh Shrine. And it contained a Major Test of Strength. Easy peazy lemon squeezy.

Upon completing the trial and exiting the shrine, I stepped back into the hole in the mountain to discover.... MORE SHRINE SIGNAL?

I continued up through the hole! Northwest and at a slight incline. Maybe whatever blast made this hole had come from the lower direction of the castle....

After getting rid of an Ice Wizzrobe in my way and going just a bit further I saw some smoke in the distance! And following this, I saw there was.... there was a cabin!

Selmie’s Spot, this was called?

Well at least it sounded like there would be people around.

I went in.

Selmie was.... a girl. Out here alone?

She had a lot of shields mounted high on her walls. Some of them I recognized, some of them I didn’t.

“Huh... Welcome to the middle of nowhere,” she said, “Population: us.”

Hah. XD

Her music was so soothing and pleasant after the rigours of the mountain.

I set the controller in its cradle to recharge (the light was red), just with the screen on that first line of dialogue. And when I came back from MADLY JOTTING ALL THESE NOTES FOR THIS ENTRY.... I just felt like sitting and listening to it. Just the sound of the music at Selmie’s Spot.

So soothing and pleasant after the rigours of the mountain....

Just the sound of it.... and the fire crackling.... and the wind blowing.... I just wished I could have it.... playing. Just for sound in the house. Or in my room. I could fall asleep to this. “Wouldn’t this make a beautiful lullaby?”

Mom agreed. <3

I was so utterly content and happy.

But wait it gets worse.

I was just listening to the slow, downward progression of the notes, the chords.... broken chords rolling upward in little changes.... when OH MY GOSH WHAT NO THIS WHAT YOU CAN’T THAT’S—

I TENSED UPON THE COUCH....

Got up. Still rather crouching. Padded softly closer to the TV.

Listened.

And listened more.

The progression was slow....

But no.... It was.... unmistakable.

Selmie’s music....

WAS THE HOUSE MUSIC FROM OCARINA OF TIME.

OH MY GOOOOSSSSSHHHHHH—

Augh.

It was so beautiful....

I love meeting old friends in new skins and new attire.

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.

Like Prayer Flags in the Wind

Evening of Wednesday, September 19, 2018 ~ 3

Like Prayer Flags in the Wind

I was heading to the Champion’s Gate! That narrow canyon on the east of the desert, leading up into the foothills of the Gerudo Highlands.... That would lead me right into the valley that held that strange, rectangular structure.... Would it be like that stonework above the Forgotten Temple? What would I find there? I wondered....

The glik-glik-glik of my boots on stone was sharp in my ears after so long shuff-shuff-shuffing over the sand! The canyon walls drew in close about me; it was a bit like Satan Canyon, but smaller, more constricted, and with more obstructions. Big boulders and things strewed about the way. And hiding behind these obstructions were hecktons of Lizalfos in camouflage, whom I dispatched. Got a few tails....

I continued up the canyon, but.... wanting to stock my pockets, and being my distractible self, I kept chasing Swift Violets, climbing and climbing again—and catching a couple of Koroks!—getting higher and higher.... until....

Well I could SEE the giant structure down in the depression there. It was a maze. Like the Lomei Labyrinth.

....

I’m going to call it King of the Mountain Syndrome. KOMS for short.

I wanted to float down and explore the structure; it was what I’d come for.

But.... I was so high up, and the altitude, once lost, would be hard to win back....

....

The terrain was rugged, but manageable. And by now, as I could see on my map, I was nearer to the mountain’s top than its foot.

I wanted to climb Daval Peak, and Mount Granajh....

....

I kept climbing.

I’d wanted to climb up here before, when I was on the other side of the mountain, on the high steps west of the Lynels’ Corridor. But I hadn’t been able to abide the altitude then.

But now I had gear made for such climates! I wanted to see what was up there.... That tall stone standing like a beacon....

In due course I changed from my Champion’s Tunic to a Warm Doublet, and donned my Ruby Circlet to ward away the cold. And soon.... on came the Snow Boots....

There are two types of Cold Music that I have heard in this game.

The first plays at the chill’s initial encounter, when the air bursts into frost around you, and Link begins to shiver. It sounds out in a slow pulse: high, clustery, and ringing like ice. It feels like a warning. It feels like danger. It feels like a call for caution. An intolerableness you could face if you had to.... but you really shouldn’t.

It does feel like an easy escape. Like you have time left....

But even so you shouldn’t waste it.

I have heard this music play at altitudes just above the frost line, irrespective of what clothes you pack. Maybe you can stand it, maybe you have to retreat. But the sound intimates a change, and with that change a challenge, or even a threat.

You have entered a new environ.

The second type of Cold Music I have only heard play at much, much higher altitudes. And, perhaps because the element of change is no longer a factor.... or perhaps for the emotional underpinnings of the concept of the pinnacle....

The sound.... sails so pristinely clarion, when the sky is blue.

It sings like prayer flags in the wind over virgin snow.

And you just feel.... like an eagle. above the world.

It is likewise slow, and beatless. One piping flute soaring like a bird while the Piano rolls little chords and cascades beneath it like sunlight off water.

The first time I heard it in the game, I recognized it.... It had played in the beginning of one of the trailers. That peaceful, serene one that just showed the beautiful, beautiful lands in gentle passes. Fields and mountains, rivers and rills leaping with deer, even the traquil lumberings of a Stalnox away up on the ridge.

A beautiful choice to showcase the land of Hyrule.

But for me, for now.... it only played upon the highest, highest caps.

And on that semi-accidental chiasmus....

I climbed up into the high, beautiful music where the snow was so white and the sky was so clear.... and came upon the ruin of a cabin. Right up on Daval Peak. What was this place?

As I drew nearer I could see a few household items still protected by the remaining bits of wall and roof: some barrels, a woodpile for fire, a table, and—a book?

Excitement thrilled in me.... What did it say? Who could have lived up here?

I heard the shuffling in the snow, and the spat, and the impact and crumble of rock against wood. Freakin’ Octorok.... I went to convince him to let me have some peace before coming back to the book on the table....

I read it eagerly – Mountain Peak Log it was simply entitled.

This man was researching the shrine atop the high Gerudo peak. In the entry marked Day One, he said that he’d found the pedestal, and that it glowed for a time each day, at the same time. But he couldn’t quite work out the riddle, part of which said to “cast a cold shadow”....

I had to look for a bit myself before I saw the pedestal—it had been on a little face of rock right behind me as I’d climbed the last rise. A tiny saddle-pass, maybe fifteen feet deep and wide, lay between it and the Mountain Man’s stead.

On Day Seven, the man said that he was eating through his reserves faster than he anticipated, and I felt a sinking chill. What had happened to him?

He was frustrated, in that entry, due to that he had reached the place where the shrine should be, he was so close, had been close for days, and yet he could not solve the riddle. Did it involve throwing something? He puzzled over a few possibilities, none of which had worked for him.

I read on.

And then there was an entry marked Day... lost count.

He was.... losing hope....

I was feeling a strong upwelling of hnnnng for this man. Who could it have been? I could just imagine him up here, in the cold and the dark and the wind....

There were no more entries after that.

I thought about cracking open his barrels, wondering what I might find inside, but.... I didn’t disturb them. I left them for him instead.

Outside the cabin, near the little saddle-pass, was a little pool of.... liquid water. Strange, for so high up. And in the pool was a large.... snowball I guess. It wasn’t a stone; it was much rounder than any rocks I had seen. As a matter of fact there were quite a few of these snowballs around up here.

I saw what to do straight away. In a matter of hours, the sun would sink and sway and, if I stayed near the saddle-pass, cast my shadow across to the other side, where the pedestal was.

The pedestal glowed for a time each day.... I could guess which time that was.

I grabbed the big snowball and tromped as near to the stead’s edge as I could.... and waited.

And very near the appointed time, as my cold shadow crept closer and closer toward the heart of the pedestal.... a Blue Lizalfos came to have a disagreement with me.

Dang Lizalfos! I at least had the presence of mind to let the snowball fall well away from the edge before I knocked the brute off the stead. He was still alive down there, but.... I was busy.

I grabbed the big snowball again, stood back in my place, and waited just a few moments more, until the shadow cast by the snowball darkened the entire innermost circle of the pedestal....

A blue glow—that sheening ring—and the Suma Sahma Shrine erupted from the hill behind me! Not even over near the pedestal, but on the Mountain Man’s Stead!

Cool! ^_^

I’d get to it.... just as soon as I took care of that hopping, chirruping lizard just down the mountain....

I actually led myself on quite a merry chase before coming back to the shrine, paragliding down even lower to come around the southern horn of the mountain to pick up a Korok I’d just spotted on my map. A wrack of snowy clouds descended upon the range and I bumped into some Decayed Guardians SO frozen that they didn’t wake up until I was quite literally nearly upon them—gave me a start.... And then I swung back up to the saddle from the other side.

Once the Spirit Orb was mine I finally, finally trekked the short jog up to the highest crest in the soft grey din, and climbed to the top of the stony spire of Daval Peak. I had seen it from so many directions, marked it so many times through my scope.... now I could finally stand on top of it....

I uncovered a Korok from beneath a rock up there, and the two of us stood King of the World. It was an invisible world lost in the grey, but that made our perch no less a pinnacle.

I waited.

I waited, and turned, and swiveled, and watched Link nod off in the deep watches of the swirling, icy night.

But I wanted to see....

I let the hours pass, and the day crept nearer, and as morning broke the clouds parted and the snow vanished away and the sun touched all with a glowing, ice-gold clarity.... and we could see the whole world....

Do you ever slowly swivel the camera around Link, just to indulge in a little cinematography?

It’s the best place to do it.

High up there in the beautiful, beautiful clear day.

Frozen Goods

Waking of Friday, August 3, 2018

Frozen Goods

I slept at Outskirt Stable until morning, and when I woke up, it was raining.

From there I warped to Cotera to get an idea of what I needed—in essence, to have a look at my shopping list.... White Chuchus and Ice Keese Wings. Those would strengthen my new Desert Voe Gear. Cool. Well I knew just where to look for those....

And I warped to a shrine in the eastern Gerudo Highlands, just beyond the Death Hole Arena.... and started walking westward.

The frilled backs of camouflaged Lizalfos humped out of the snow in blatant arches; I dunno who they were trying to fool. I killed them and collected.... hhhh.... their icy white tails—I wished the normal ones would drop tails for me so readily.

There weren’t very many White Chuchus to go on, but I did find a few Ice Keese as I meandered over the icy plateaus. There were also quite a few treasure chests stuck in the frozen ground up here. I guess since it was such a harsh environment.... hardly anybody had ever come a-looting.

Some sights were familiar, some were new.... and then I came to that giant Lightning Symbol. I had seen it from many directions at many distances, bur now I walked along the shelf at its very foot. It was carved or painted, or both, into the stark red stone of the naked cliff, at least fifty feet above me. At the heart of the radial design was a Sheikah dais....

Along the cliff’s bottom, about a half a stone’s cast to the right, an icy Lizalfos watched me as I started to climb. I decided I would leave him be as long as he wasn’t raising any ruckus.

The way was slow, and I think.... I was not able to employ my Climber’s Bandana—I needed my Ruby Circlet to ward away the cold.

Either that or I just forgot. Like I do sometimes.

It seems I’ve become a man of many hats.

I climbed all the way to the upturned dais, and though I had a decent amount of stamina left, I nevertheless tested whether the tiny shelf of rounded stone would support me.

It wouldn’t.

I clung like a spider to the red, snow-dampened wall, swiveling the camera about me at the views. It was simply a Sheikah dais, turned up sideways and set into the heart of this.... lightning motif. The painted bolts stuck out in four distinct directions.... mmmm Skies of Arcadia woulda had five....

Shock Arrows.

I concentrated before jumping—sometimes I only let go when I mean to leap—and in midair I drew my bow, twisted back round, took aim, and snapped a spattering, zapping bolt of crackling electricity right into the dais.

On the shelf below, the Keeha Yoog shrine erupted from the snow, and I received the monk’s blessing.... as well as a completion notification to an either unwarranted or completely forgotten shrine quest. When had I spoken to this “Geggle”....?

Well that’s embarrassing I mean usually I take such note....

When I exited the shrine, the Lizalfos was gone.

I continued westward until with a shock I realized I had reached the northern end of that saddle—the Risoka Snowfield it was called. I found where the little Taluses had guarded the Meteor Rod, but the chest had not respawned.

Well.... no worries there; I still had the weapon.

I still hadn’t gotten enough White Chuchu Jelly, though. I fished for them all over the snowfield, tangling with Lizalfos, with Bokoblins, with wolves, with no blasted shortage of stalmoblins.... with all kinds of things.

And then I checked out that skull-den....

I don’t like to venture into those if I can help it. I’d much rather draw the fiends out of the structure to play. But I was surprised when I drew near to this one’s mouth and saw that it was empty anyway. Empty save for one solitary chest in the middle of the space....

Huh.

I approached the chest and HALF A DOZEN WHITE CHUCHUS EXPLODED OUT OF THE GROUND. Huaghh. Gave me a start I tell YOU what.

But when I had recovered from the shock, as I backed up from their freezing attacks, I grinned to myself—these were just what I needed....

I killed them all and turned over a plentiful supply of White Chuchu Jelly. And by this time, I had gotten my fill of Keese wings, too.

Satori Mountain was alight. For kicks, I warped to it, subdued the Lord of the Mountain, and rode him to the Outskirt Stable. Here I dismounted and tried once again to take its picture, being careful to keep it in my view the entire time. But evidently even just raising the pictobox counted as looking away from it; it snorted, galloped away a few paces and vanished.

Ah that was all right.

I knew where it lived.

I had my frozen goods; it was time to visit Cotera. She raised my Radiant Outfit one level—when had I picked up those Luminous Stones?—and she upgraded my Desert Voe outfit to level two. And two levels of course meant the outfit got a perk.... and the Desert Voe perk.... was shock-damage resistance.

Well wouldn’t THAT have been nice! |D

QUEST FOR PANTS

Waking of a Saturday, February 3, 2018

QUEST FOR PANTS

I warped from Cotera’s to Gerudo Town, and found Bozai. He seemed overly-concerned when he learned that a delicate little flower such as myself (for I was disguised as a girl again) had actually ventured into the wild Gerudo Highlands. He didn’t think I’d actually do it. But when he saw the pictograph I’d taken of the Eighth Heroine, he could make no disputations—he’d promised me those Sand Boots, and so he gave me those Sand Boots.

Though it was a real wrench handing back the Snow Boots, I tell you what.

He kept flirting with me pretty strongly until I could worm my way out of the conversation. But then.... as he sat beneath the tent out in front of the town....

I approached him again.

And dang. I don’t know if even I had boiled it down to what was really on my mind. Not so baldly or succinctly. But the penetrating bluntness of the very first option I was given in my conversation with Bozai spelled it out plain—“I want Snow Boots.”

Dang it, Nintendo! I could take a lesson in non-codependent assertiveness from this.... XD

Bozai seemed taken aback, but sweetly accommodating. And through all his coddly flirting he struck a new deal for this delicate desert flower and her silly flights of fancy.... one she wouldn’t possibly be able to see through....

If I could snap a pictograph of the Eighth Heroine’s Missing Sword—

Hahh, yes, yes, indeed—the Missing Sword—so that’s what it was.... But I hardly heard the rest of Bozai’s words for how pleased I was feeling at having the fetchquest mapped so plainly before me! ^_^

If I could take a pictograph of the Eighth Heroine’s Missing Sword, this time without the aid of the Snow Boots he had lent me before, then he would let me have and keep the Snow Boots upon my return.

He was sure I would never find it this time, as it didn’t really exist, I heard him murmur beneath his breath.

Oh what wicked cacklings were mine as I warped off to the Shrine of Kema Kosassa....

It was slower going, without the Snow Boots. But at least that left me to finally invest in something with a higher defense for my legs.

I schlumped up the mountain to the Dragon’s Nest, and was favored with the good fortune of there not having been a Blood Moon in the meanwhile—no Lynel to tangle with.... and no Moblin either!—and took a fabulously artful pictograph of the sword.

A simple warp and a change of wardrobe later I was back at Gerudo Town, once again listening to Bozai’s incredulous fluster at my having ventured into such savage, dangerous territory, a dainty little thing like me, I mean really! Silly girl, didn’t I know I could’ve been seriously—

I showed Bozai the pictograph.

He was shocked.

“Snow Boots,” I snapped.

DANG! XD XD Didn’t let him mess around much for this encounter, did they? XD XD

Bozai.... shifted, and hemmed, and hawed, and.... decided he’d better stay true to his word. After all.... this was his big move for a pretty lady....

He gave me the Snow Boots. And started to ask, “Would you... g-go... out... with...”

“Not a chance.”

“You could at least let me finish the question.”

Aoh MAN.... XD SAVAGE. XD XD XD

Well, Bozai couldn’t really go anywhere after that—he was confined to the little tent out front of the city. The sand was very hot after all.

I felt kinda bad that I’d taken every lower-body wardrobe item he had....

But not nearly bad enough to do anything about it, not that the game had a mechanism for it that I could tell!

Nyahahahaha! XD