But I Like The Red Rocks

Afternoon of Sunday, January 27, 2019

But I Like The Red Rocks

I started up in my own house in Hateno Village.

I wanted to go see what Hudson was up to. Bolson had wondered about him, said something maybe about trouble.... or had hinted that Hudson couldn’t have gotten into too much of such.... which meant....

Mmmm I roved over my mental map of Akkala, wondering where he could have gone. The land was lush and green all over, but I could not banish the lake from my thoughts....

And if he was at Lake Akkala.... well, dude, freakin’—there were Guardians in there!

I warped to the Wolf Shrine—that shrine low north of Zorana, on the cliffs overlooking the waterfalls and the fairy fountain. Wolves had harrassed me when I first came upon it, and were still often seen nearby. And I ran off the cliff and paraglided toward that jut of land just downtrail from Mija’s little copse, out over Lake Akkala.

Standing all alone over the water....

But of course.... There was nothing else there. Nothing but a Goddess statue....

And I drew nearer to the islandy formation and lo! I saw.... some structures there.... And I saw Hudson! Picking away at a rock! He was okay!

I floated down on the landbridge for a proper approach, and the new name of the place gleamed across my screen: Tarrey Town.

Tarrey Town? Was this where he was expanding? Was he settling here?

I had a nice conversation with Hudson. Gave him ten bundles of wood for materials. I didn’t mind helping him! Aww it was good to see him well! ^_^

But the great hulking boulders on this.... island for lack of a better term.... He needed somebody strong, like a Goron (but with a last name ending in –son, per policy), to come and help him get rid of them.

:(

But I liked the shape of this island. And Akkala’s red rocks were so pretty....

Oh humm hmmm.... This seemed fit to develop into something massive and irrevocable.

....

I reloaded back at my house. Without saving.

Dipped around for a little bit.... Mounted a couple more weapons....

Currently, from left to right around the lower room’s walls, the setup consisted of: the Falcon Bow gifted by Teba, My Trusty Phrenic Bow, (empty); the Lightscale Trident, (empty), the Ceremonial Trident; (empty), the Forest Dweller’s Shield, and the Kite Shield.

I just liked the look of the Rito Shield.... And it was still fresh anyway. So was the Falcon Bow.

I liked Akkala’s beautiful red rocks—how could I move forward with this?

....

Eh, it would autosave occasionally. I just called it a day.

Seven Prayers

Waking of Saturday, January 26, 2019

Seven Prayers

My last practice with Shelene and Jane went well.

We women are better singers.

jghjrlghrjlgjhrlea!!ASDFFGGHJKL;

It was time to pray.

After I awoke at Pepp’s, I warped to the Forgotten Temple, deep in the folded land at the head of Tanagar Canyon.

I first prayed before the Giant Goddess Statue, towering tall and smiling with her serene hands resting clasped over her belly. The powerful, imposing figure seemed to want and deserve being first.

And the Goddess granted me a Stamina Vessel.

From there I warped to.... but I felt no connection to Hateno Village.

I warped to Kakariko Village, placidly nestled in the mountains north of the Dueling Peaks, in the shadow of the Pillars of Levia.

I then prayed before the Little Koi Pond Goddess Statue, which was one of the smaller, more simplistic renditions, molded with the suggestion of praying hands. This one wore a little pinafore smock like an apron.

And the Goddess granted me another Stamina Vessel.

And, “Your being overflows with vigor. There is no need to further enhance your stamina,” the Goddess imparted to me. Or some such words.

That was three full wheels of stamina now.

That was what David had....

Following my old footsteps, from there I warped to Zora’s Domain, secluded in the fountains of the rugged blue mountains beyond the wetlands.

I then prayed before the Little Balcony Goddess Statue, which was unadorned, but held a prominent position before King Dorephan’s chamber.

Of course, as David had done, I asked for another Stamina Vessel just to see what would happen.... but the Goddess only reminded me once again that my being already overflowed with vigor, and there was no need.

So I asked aright, and She granted me a Heart Container instead.

From there I took a brief moment to put on my protective suit before warping to Goron City, high on the scorching western flanks of the mighty Death Mountain, crusted between claws of rock and lava flows, its air all flecked with embers.

I then prayed before the Little Crowned Goddess Statue, which was ensconced in a rough-cut shrine of rugged stone near Big Boss Bludo’s house. This one wore a bright yellow, three-pointed crown on its head! The make of it seemed to glow....

And the Goddess granted me another Heart Container.

From there I warped to Gerudo Town, the bustling oasis, jewel in the sands, and had to stop to put on some different clothing before entering town. I bought some arrows before finding my way back to the Forgotten Court and visiting with Muava.

I then prayed before the Little Court Goddess Statue, left alone in its quietude with only garbage and lost things for company, but no less faithful in its prayerful rendition, no less a conduit for worship.

And the Goddess granted me a Heart Container.

From there I warped to Rito Village, stacked in beautiful wooded seclusion in Tabantha’s piney wilderness, over breezy trails loved by the sun.

I then prayed before the Little Flowered Goddess Statue, set in its alcove in the Neck, adorned with comely cloths and wearing a circlet of flowers on its head and with flowers before its feet. Ahhh, this one is my favorite. :)

And the Goddess granted me a Heart Container.

And that was.... two statues of magnitude or personal importance.... plus the statues in the lands of the four peoples I had visited.... which made six....

Just one more.

And from there.... finally.... I warped to the Shrine of Resurrection, far away and back and long ago on the Great Plateau, back where it all began, hidden away in the cave so secluded, full of steps and barriers I had halted to climb when I was naked and weak as a kitten.

I rushed out into the sunlight quick as anything now in my rattling gear and thick clothing, and made my way to the Temple of Time, past the paltry Red Bokoblins around whom I used to be so cautious and calculated. One cut was all it took to bring them down now.

Past the crumbling walls and in the hallowed space inside, where the moss and the grass grew as soft as a prayer, and the air moved in glimmering haunts fit for fairies, I then prayed before the Temple Goddess Statue, standing in the midst of its attendant statuettes and smiling that same serene smile under a shaft of heavenly light.

And the Goddess granted me a Heart Container.

Seven Prayers. That would do.

I was stronger now.

Then....

Hateno Village.

I had unfinished business.

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.

Shrine for a Rainy Day

Waking of Saturday, December 8, 2018

Shrine for a Rainy Day

It was time to fill in another unexplored spot in my network of shrines....

I warped to the Tabantha Bridge Stable, and set out east, away from the bridge, to explore the Seres Scablands—the land of those gigantic, anomalous, strange, otherworldly.... treeshrooms. And the land over which I had always—ALWAYS—seen a dark and pouring thunderhead, flashing from within with lightning.

The sky was actually clearer in the Scablands near the stable and the ensuing road. The eternal rain only really seemed to hover over the deepest heart of the enormous treeshroom sprawl, in a place my map called Ludfo’s Bog, back where the land flattened into a broad valley surrounded by tall mountains on all sides.

The topo had always seemed to indicate a kind of artificial rise in the middle of that valley.... I was positive there would be a shrine there....

I had traveled the road past the Seres Scablands a few times before, and I had seen the alien treeshroom forest. But for the first time I now indulged myself in plunging headlong into it in earnest, searching about its cracked and erupted earth, scaring Koroks out of the large, odd pocks in the ground, rainwater pooling in their bottoms.

What had made the ground this way? The land looked like it had boiled and then been left to sit, full of hardened bubbles like crusty cheese. But the rampant grass and unworrying flowers with their butterflies still left a gay feeling in the air. And the only beasties about were Chuchus, Keese, and the occasional Octorok.

I chased out a few more Koroks until I came to the Thundra Plateau—where the rain started.

A monk’s voice sounded: You who have come to this thunderous plateau... When the four spirits are settled in their places, the way to the trial will open. Or some such words.

Upon entering the darkness of the thunderhead I had caught sight of these strange, small, beacon-lights of differing colors, shining steadily through the gloom between the treeshrooms. Bright as lamps and somewhat above ground-level. Were those the “spirits”?

As I pressed on deeper into the storm, I saw that a couple of these beacon-lamps—orbs, I could see now, with strange emblazoned patterns on them—were perched atop imposing columns of more dragon-headed statuary. I also found the artificial rise indicated on my topo; it seemed to be a great, walled barrow of some kind. A Great Plateau in miniature, its raised surface upheld and bound in by an encompassing wall of dark stone.

I circumnavigated it first, like I do, the lightning crashing down on my Thunder Helm at whiles; I couldn’t be bothered to switch out my gear. The barrow was so big around that it took a good few minutes to complete one circuit. The wall had worn and crumbled down in a couple of places, leaving exposed slopes of rock and earth that gave easier access to the top. These were handy as it was difficult to climb the walls in the rain. Not impossible. But definitely hampered.

But first, I went after the red orb. It gleamed atop a relatively short dragon-totem, which stood beside another one of the Scablands’ jutting ruptures—a perfect stepping stone to give me a leg up. It took some hard climbing and leaping up the surface between slippings down, but I made it to the top in fairly short order. I picked up the orb and chucked it down to the plain before paragliding down after it.

However, when I tried to carry it up one of the crumbled slopes and onto the barrow.... well, the slope wasn’t quite so smooth as that. One jutting lip of hardened earth impeded me yet from reaching the top without climbing, and I could not climb while carrying this orb. Nor could I simply throw the orb over the lip and up on top—it was just high enough to prevent that.... and it knew it too....

Try every angle and starting point that I might, I could not get this orb up onto the grassy top of the barrow.... A couple of times I only succeeded in accidentally dropping it on my own head. ☆☆ -_- ☆☆

After a while I decided to leave off the red orb for a bit, and I climbed up on top of the barrow to just go and see about the other orbs up there, for I was sure I’d seen some....

A purple orb was just sitting there, in the midst of the four inward-facing dragon-totems. Each of these totems had a colored symbol on its neck, and a waiting depression in front of it. So I picked up the purple orb and set it in its place before the dragon with the matching purple symbol.

Nothing happened. Just as well; there were more orbs to get.

Some rusting weapon or other was stuck into the wet earth up here, and it too drew the occasional lightning explosion. But after a time even I got tired of all the fireworks, and just put off all my metal trappings.

The green orb was a little trickier, as it sat up on top of one of the dragon totems, and there were no handy stepping stones of ruptured earth to give me a boost here. However, I did have almost three full wheels of stamina, and a lot of Climbing Gear.

I knew I could climb seven or eight steps or grips before the rain would send me sliding back down. And so it was grip, grip, grip, grip, grip, grip, JUMP! Sliiiide.... Which would have produced a net gain each time if I could just rinse and repeat that pattern. But sometimes I could only make a couple of grips up the stone before slipping back down to the ground. The results to my efforts were annoyingly random, but I kept trying....

And all the while the rain lashed and the wind blew and the thunder kept up a constant grumbling overhead, the Piano lazing all over the sodden grass, contentedly picking its nails as it watched me work.

I scrabbled and slipped and hit the ground repeatedly, panting and out of breath. But with much persistence, I eventually did make it to the top of the totem. And the green orb was mine to toss down onto the grass.

The green orb went into its place before the green-marked dragon.

Now for that red one....

I hadn’t wanted to use Stasis, as I didn’t like wearing down my weapons. But I could see no other alternative. Back on the crumbled slope to the barrow-top, I found a bit of earth that looked like it could serve as a ramp.... and there was just enough rock for the orb to sit without rolling down, too.

I tried a Bomb first, to see if that would do it.... then two Bombs.... But Ja Baij had neither the force nor the aim to get the orb where I wanted it.

So I picked a single-handed weapon to sacrifice....

I set the red orb down once again in the nook above the rock, positioned myself just downhill, Stasised the thing, and started whackin’....

This approach was much more controlled, and I had soon imbued the orb with enough force to send it rocketing up the ramp and high over the barrow like a golf ball.

I scurried up once again, was relieved to find that I hadn’t whacked the orb clean over the barrow, and set the red orb down in its place before the red-marked dragon.

One more.

The final orb, orange, was set atop another dragon-totem down on the plain off the barrow. The tallest totem yet....

I got to it, jumping, climbing, scrabbling, grabbing, slipping, falling, panting, running out of energy again and again and again.... until my persistence paid off and I got on top.

I cast the orange orb back down onto the plain, and went to position it on the makeshift earthen ramp....

Huh.... this corresponding dragon’s motif looked yellow, not orange....

I wondered for only a moment, and then placed the orb.

And in the flat grass in the midst of the dragon-totems on top of the rainy barrow.... the Toh Yahsa Shrine came rumbling up out of the earth.

The trial within was called Buried Secrets. And WOW that was a lot of big blocks to knock around and blow up. Much fun.

Spirit Orb Shenanigans

Waking of Saturday, July 28, 2018

Spirit Orb Shenanigans

I warped from Zora’s Domain to Gerudo Town, grabbed a sand seal and headed out southwest. I still needed Molduga fins for the next upgrade to my Sand Boots.

The heat was still an issue, even with my Sapphire Circlet and Gerudo Outfit. Outside of the solace of night and dawn and dusk, at the height of the day I could only cling to the thin shadows wrapping below tall rocks. ....Rather like the time we spent at Needles Outlook. It was so hot.... but having the place to ourselves for an hour was exquisitely adventurous.

Though the high sun was still intolerable, this time the Molduga didn’t take me that long—not when I knew how to draw it out, and not when I employed my Most Terrible Lynel Bow, which spat three arrows of thirty-two attack points each for ninety-six damage at every shot. And that if I had only used normal arrows. No, it was Bomb Arrows this time, as it should be every time, and the Molduga was such a large target that the only shots I missed were during its recovery-burrowing animation.

I brought it down in one pass.

Excellent.

I also picked up more Rushrooms and one more diamond from Ledo, and then it was off to Cotera to have her do up some of my clothes. Got my Sand Boots to a more respectable level of defense. Since I’d be going out into the desert and all....

I also saw I had three spirit orbs. Just one more shrine and I could add another heart or a slice of stamina.... So I went to where I’d always suspected there might be a shrine: from the Hateno Tower I paraglided toward a certain stretch of the Hateno Road—checking out Oakle’s Navel for the first time along the way—there was a Korok down there—

I headed toward that little grotto on the north side of the road. Kind of a big grotto actually. I had heard my shrine-locator go off near there before, back before I had the wherewithal to climb the surrounding cliffs.... But my locator had seemed to indicate something up on that shelf opposite the Cliffs of Quince, or maybe a little beyond.

With a little persistence and my Climber’s Bandana I got up on top, and was promptly led by my locator in dizzying circles around a small lakespring, which poured into a long valley just to the north.

I had regarded this valley many times on my map, but had never visited it. It had seemed isolated at first, but upon closer inspection I could see there were ways to access it—ways whose entries I had brushed against many times.

But I did not want to be tempted by it now. I was pretty sure I saw David exploring it one time and.... there were things going on that I heard, but didn’t let myself see, except in the murky reflection off the microwave door. What was I eating that day....?

At any rate I was leery of the valley. First of all it was raining, and any elevation losses would be difficult to regain. And secondly, I had to head into the desert; I didn’t want to get too distracted or trigger anything momentous in this new environ....

In truth.... I suspected Naydra might make a pass.

However, the brreep-brreep I was hearing now sounded like the shrine might be under the little lake, and like I might not be able to access it unless I descended into the long water-valley.

There were an awful lot of ruins down there.... I got as close as I could to the edge first on one side of the waterfall, then on the other.... On the east side I dropped down by small degrees onto ancient mossy stonework shelves, peering down at lonely Lizalfos stretching in and out of camouflage—and there. There on the west side of the waterfall was a hole cut into the rock. It was well off the valley floor. Er, valley-bottom. (It seemed to be all water down there.)

I paraglided down and in. Brreep-brreep! The tunnel was long, but at the end.... stood the Dow Na’eh Shrine. Cool.

The cavern happened to have a second opening, right onto the back of the waterfall. I dove in with my Zora Armor for a quick ascent back up to the mountain shelf....

That made four Spirit Orbs all right, but when I was back on the Hateno Road, I considered.... I was much better equipped than I had been before.... What was up with that grotto anyway? Maybe I could solve it now. A long time ago I’d thought the shrine I heard on my locator would appear in that grotto....

But hidden shrines didn’t work like that.

Doctor Calip was there, studying the hordes of little statues standing in the ground like an army in prayer. Doctor Calip from that friendly house back in the woods near Fort Hateno. I’d slept there once....

I’m not sure if I knew it before, but I gathered now that he frequented this place. I spoke to him. It’d been a long time. And he repeated the strange riddle to me, the one he was trying to puzzle out himself: “When a dark light resides in the cursed statue’s eyes, pierce its gaze to release the seal on the shrine” or some such words.

Was the statue one of this bunch of little ones?

When I asked him about it further he said he reckoned it was some terrible variety of doll that could influence people’s behavior.

What like a voodoo doll? .__.

Sounded freaky....

When it started getting dark, Doctor Calip high-tailed it out of there—monsters came out after nightfall, he reminded me.

I had made Doctor Calip’s riddle my active quest, and I watched him leave by the pulsing yellow light on my HUD. I looked up and could see his person jogging away in the distance, about to round the bend—the yellow light had barely moved—and I marveled at the scale of the map. <3

The fall of night in earnest was still a good way off, but.... I decided to hang around anyway. Would any monsters bother me in here? Mmmm maybe. But maybe there would also be some kind of clue the night might reveal.... or maybe it only happened on Blood Moons. A voodoo doll? My hopes weren’t that high. I ran around collecting plants and passing a Korok I had found.... was there anything I had skipped over before? I jumped off low blocks of old ruins, waiting for the sun to sink....

Wheee.

Then uh—

Looking back. Into the grotto. For I had jogged over near its mouth. Oh gosh what—

The little army of statues stood clustered and shrouded in the dimness. But it looked like.... did that one there.... But it was a good stone’s throw away—maybe it was just a trick of my vision—I scoped in—

NO THAT ONE STATUE’S EYES WERE DEFINITELY GLOWING. THEY GLOWED PURPLE. WHAT.

“David look!” I strained in tight unmoving terror.

Oh my gosh it looked so freaky....

So I snapped a pictograph.

The statue didn’t do anything as I came back toward it.

Its eyes just glowed purple. What unholy....

I swung at it with my farmer’s hoe. But I couldn’t hit it that way.

So I tried shooting an arrow into it.

That destroyed the statue.

And up rumbled the shrine out of the earth, right in that bare patch of ground I had always thought would look just dandy with a shrine in it....

The Kam Urog Shrine.

Inside was the biggest hamster wheel I had ever seen. With giant, free-rolling morningstars in it.

“YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME,” I said.

But I did it.

And it was awesome.

Into The Dragon's Maw

Waking of a Saturday, February 3, 2018 ~ 3

Into The Dragon’s Maw

I pressed forward through the jungle again, as the rain-haze came and went. And the foliage and brush were still so thick that it came once more as a surprise when the leaves suddenly parted and I was presented with a wider view of the valley.

It took me a moment to understand what I was seeing.... I could see on my HUD that I was very near to the riverhead—I thought I should be able to make out the shape of the toothy mouth.

But that wasn’t what caught my eye first.

Looming in the dimness—was it daytime or nighttime?—a large, very large shape of stone thrust from the deepest wall at the back of the box canyon, thick, and heavy, and greened with atmosphere or moss. It was enshrouded and entangled by the sprawling plants, and hazed by distance and mist, so that it was difficult to say where the stone ended and the canyon wall began. Everything was so dim....

But even in the darkness, the shape was unmistakable—mountaining over the last grinning lake of the dragony river, flanked by two taloned paws of the same immense scale, stood the masoned head of a dragon.

Dodongo’s Cavern, I thought, seeing the enormous lower jaw there like a ramp into the Inferno. The Lizalfos that guarded it were so tiny....

Surely this must have shown up on the topo—I checked my map and could see it now, even the claws. How had I never seen—?

But it had always stood just adjacent to the gaping, bright blue mouth of the ribbony dragon river. Of course. How could anything stand out juxtaposed against that?

I decided to pick off a Lizalfos or two with my bow before venturing too far from the shelter of the trees. The range made it tricky, but I couldn’t have them alerting any of their friends to my presence.

Scoping in to examine the dragon’s head further, I saw part of a cubic Korok puzzle standing on the back of the big right paw.

Well, I could do that at least, I thought, and moved ahead through the gloom.

But as I drew near, something beyond the puzzle caught my eye—something.... glowing.

A MEMORY?

I bypassed the puzzle—the light was coming from behind—inside—the dragon’s neck. It seemed much of it was hollow. That made sense, with the gaping jaw-ramp.

But as I clambered closer over the mossy, sloping terrain, I could see it was not a memory.

It was a Goddess Statue.

IN—? WHAT?

—the name of the place gleamed over the screen—

IN.... THE SPRING OF COURAGE.

THIS WAS THE SPRING OF COURAGE.

I HAD FOUND ANOTHER SPRING.

I killed the Moblin keeping the inside of the Dragon’s Head—and waded through the water to pray before the Goddess.... I think.... Oh, was there some kind of sign in the stonework or was it.... Her?

Whence came those instructions?

Hhhh, I must not put off the keeping of the log for so long.... -_-

Said to offer Farosh’s Scale to the spring.

I had two scales on me, and I parted with one.

Light shone where I dropped it into the water, right in the center before the statue of the Goddess. Golden light shooting straight up from the tiny concentric ripple....

And a mighty stone door opened in the grey canyon wall behind the Goddess.

Inside was a Blessing Shrine. The Shae Katha Shrine.

After collecting the monk’s Spirit Orb, I came back out and proceeded to climb the Dragon’s Head—a gigantic tree rooted among the springwaters inside came bursting through the top of the neck. The views from its upper boughs were excellent, and aside from that I found a Korok!

But.... it was getting late.

From the treetop I saw the other half of the cubic puzzle I’d seen on the right paw—it happened to be on the left paw, and that one held the Magnesable piece.

I paraglided down, and studied the structure very carefully before removing the spare block and trekking back behind the Dragon’s Head to the other side again. After inserting the block correctly into the first puzzle, the Korok appeared, I got a seed and....

I called it a day.

I climbed back onto the Dragon’s Head for a safe perch, settled down somewhere near its right ear, saved, and quit.

I was done.

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

Even More Bad Things

Waking of Saturday, July 29, 2017 ~ 2

Even More Bad Things

The deep valley ruins were expansive.... but blessedly devoid of monster life.

I climbed all OVER looking for that shrine, my locator beeping feebly at me at every triangulation. The house was still full and the table had filled up a bit. The chatter drilling into my temples....

I asked them if they could chat in the living room instead, and they were very kind to oblige. But Dad stayed and sat by me, keen to solve the puzzle.

“Why don’t you try bombing that platform?”

I knew it wouldn’t work, but I did it anyway, and planted a bomb on one of the great stone octagons jutting from the floor. “Cool guys don’t look at explosions!” I sang as I leapt off the platform and detonated.

But the stone remained solid.

And when the sun had gone down— “Wait a minute wait a minute—what’s that up there?”

“Those are Luminous Stone deposits. They’re not a shrine.”

The beeping seemed to be coming from.... one of three large stones, between which I’d scared up a Korok. But.... there were no weak spots to bomb, no cracks to enter. Nothing I could do would upset such a huge piece of rock.

I finally said, “I’m going to go to the end of this.... construct.... and see if I can get underneath.”

Dad gave a single surprised laugh. “I wouldn’t have thought of that!”

It was a long jog. I hopped on one of the stone ribs in the architecture, making it my pathway as I ran toward the little horizon that indicated that the valley became deeper further on. I jumped over more stone octagons and ran and ran until I came to an edge.

The place was called.... the Forgotten Temple.

The valley indeed became much deeper here.

A wide patio-shelf of more stonework lay below me. I paraglided down to this second level, and had a look at the wall that held up the top.

There seemed to be a gigantic archway.... but it was blocked and filled with earth and giant standstony boulders.

But near the base was a bit that looked explodable!

Surely this would be my way inside!

I blew it up—!

A Korok hid behind it.

“Yahaha!” he giggled, “You found me!”

>_<

I walked to the edge of the second level, and saw a similar patio-shelf even further down. I paraglided down toward this third level, and was hungrily relieved to see that the archway in the wall between levels two and three.... was unobstructed.

I angled the camera as I touched down on the stone, so that I had a good look through the archway.

I registered only one thing: a number of dark mounded shapes.... like upside-down cereal bowls....

Those were Guardians in there.

I paused to flip the sensor in my Sheikah Slate to look for Decayed Guardians.

Unpaused.

Brreep-brreep! Even as I saw the nearest mounds light up red. Brreep-brreep! Their heads began to swivel. Brreep-brreep! Found me. Lasers locked on.

I RAN. Straight away. Straight toward the edge. Not bothering with any other controls. I just ran.

The camera remained directed at the open archway behind me, the horde of black shapes like spiders congregated in an overturned box, three hot red lasers boring into the back of my shirt—one of them blinking—it was going to fire, it was firing—

And BARELY I jumped off the edge in time—

The air began to rush and I caught myself with my paraglider before I hit the ground—the final rocky dirt bottom of this canyon.

“HAAAUUGH!” Dad and I looked at each other.

That was close.

“Only one thing left to do when you hit rock bottom,” I said.

“Dig,” said Dad.

“Start digging,” I concurred with a nod. u_u

I found a way to climb back up, which brought me back to the Korok level. I could paraglide down for another quick entrance this time.... Because there was something else I had noticed through that archway.... something absolutely ridiculous....

Air currents. Blasting up out of the floor. Meant to be sailed upon.

Heh, my brothers and I used to really enjoy playing a demo of a great little side-scrolling game where you controlled a paper airplane. The floor vents were your friend.

Seemed like the same story here....

Go nuts! Ben had told me at the lake.

I sailed in. The Guardians glowed red and began to swivel. I hit the ground for a few paces to regain the sliver of stamina I had spent. Jumped off the inner edge—there were so many of them in here—lasers tagged onto my shirt—the air current lifted me up—

One of the Guardians blew me out of the air and I fell in a flaming rush—too fast!—But I recovered before I hit the ground—the flames went out—oh my gosh so many lasers....

Up the updraft again, across the huge room—so many Guardians.

I neared a tall, thick barrier wall which seemed to bisect the length of the Temple—there was a hole in the middle of it. I headed straight for it, dropping a bit to get down to its altitude and inside it more quickly....!

I touched down on the last dregs of my stamina and ran to duck behind the mounded earth and rubble in this little alcove.

My gosh that was the LAST dregs of my stamina! Lucky I’d enhanced it as far as I had....

From my hidden perch I could see what that giant dark grey thing was at the far end of the Temple: an enormous statue of the Goddess.

My gosh it was like.... Skyloft....

What was this place?

There was still the other half of the room to cross.... and I crossed it, sailing through another net of pin-cushioning lasers and deadly blue bolts whizzing behind my back—how do you weave when the lasers come from so many angles?—but somehow none of them hit me—too low to make the hole in the last wall—had to drop to the floor, run through that opening down at floor level—lasers chasing me in—UHH!

I made it....

I made it.

And I found the shrine that had so MADDENINGLY eluded me up above.

And it was a Blessing Shrine.

You know, the Blessing Shrines seem to have the same muted music as a shrine you enter after it’s been beaten. Soft. Echoey. Like a memory or a ghost.

I received the Spirit Orb, the eighth I now carried with me, stepped outside, and prayed before the Goddess statue.

One Heart Container.

One Stamina Vessel.

One save.

And one quit.

My battery was out, and it was time for bed anyway.

Afraid of the Dark

Waking of Saturday, July 8, 2017 ~ 3

Afraid of the Dark

As I continued around Death Mountain I offhandedly scoped out a few of the mountains in the distance and saw.... my blue marker? But I had left that far northwest of the Elma Knolls!

It seemed I was already north of the volcano.

Well, I had followed Dinraal’s course, and that was the whole reason I had come this way, to track where he went. And I did get a piece of him out of it, too.

I’d wanted to go to find.... that Kilton fellow....

But this place had its sirens, too.

Could I reach my blue marker and pick it up? I didn’t even remember what I had seen out there....

I kept going west, and passed another White Lynel my gosh.... Maybe this was the place Joseph meant when he said he knew where all the Lynels were....

And beyond the Lynel, a single, solitary Korok—the first I had seen in ages—hiding at the top of a dead and blasted tree in a dead and blasted ruin that shone like Eden for the starkness of the encompassing wasteland. Even the puzzle it offered seemed tired. But its presence was refreshing.

A little further and more blessed vegetation began to appear—including what seemed to be an epic treehouse in the distance. But I didn’t want to go play with any bokoblins just now; I was more interested in.... what looked like an enormous, fat black boe.

A strange, large dell was before me. Water filled its bottom and tree branches bloomed from its middle, but—

Everything was obscured by a thick blackness.

Perhaps it would have been less maddening if it were only mist, but—it was so black. The sheer unnaturalness of it made it just . . . . Augh how I wanted to see! The laws of nature demanded that daylight, even moonlight, penetrate those depths and yet . . . .

All remained concealed.

I considered trying to paraglide in, but was glad I didn’t when I came closer and found the water to actually be a bog.

However—I was back on my visible map, now, the Woodland Region, and I could see if I just circled a little bit farther around the dell, there would be a bridge I could use to access the center.

So I found the bridge, crossed it, entered the blackness, and....

A monk named Ketoh Wawai invited me to find the shrine in the middle of the darkness if I could. The Shrouded Shrine. It was a Shrine Quest.

Remembering David’s island off the Hateno coast, not wanting to be trapped, I immediately backtracked and—

Found that I could easily come out on the bridge and back into the light.

I went back in again.

Ketoh Wawai did not address me this time.

Mmmm maybe that was lame of me. It definitely killed the drama, that’s for sure. But.... that’s okay.

I walked on ahead.

It was so dread dark in here. Two lit bird-shaped torches flanked the inner end of the bridge, but beyond that....?

Nothing. Just blackness.

I couldn’t even see my own person.

An unlit torch rested nearby, but.... I had no more room in my inventory. Not caring to enter another which-weapon-do-I-discard fit, I walked ahead using the light of my Great Fireblade, step by step into the darkness.

Barely-discernible shapes loomed in the shadows, punctuated at long whiles by glowing mushrooms or ore. I tried following one boundary, hugging weathered stone and bubbling shore to see where it would lead me, but.... the place was a maze.

In truth I was reminded of Faron Woods, and the crumbled dragon-head statuary I’d seen there, for there seemed to be more of it here. Was this a similar kind of place, or the ruins of one, just.... dedicated to Dinraal instead of Farosh?

There were also more bird-statues standing here and there, unlit, and I realized.

Hahhhh, and I decided I’d better go back and get that torch; it’d be easier.

I don’t remember what I dropped in order to pick the torch up, but the bird-lights were handy. The beak of every one I lit pointed the way to the next one.

Heh, thanks, Zelda. X-) I turned off my HUD just to make it more interesting....

It was a bit alarming when I heard a wolf howl from the darkness—I ran back to the last torch I had lit and readied a sturdier weapon....

My gosh their unseen forms prowling the black just beyond the edge of the fire’s light.... the wicked shine of their hungry eyes.... I couldn’t see them—

There was something primal there. That encounter.

That was a well-conceived encounter.

But it wasn’t what struck me deepest.

What I thought most wondrous and beautiful.... was the Piano.

In the darkness of the shrouded island, like a frightened dog the Piano came at once to heel and repetitively pattered only a tiny spread of notes in my wake. Key of G with the eeriest high pedal points lost in the dark.... it was so dark....

Beautiful, beautiful music befitting the range of my sight.

I’d heard the Hinox snoring now and again as I crept through the black. Maybe that was worse than when I actually came upon it. Waiting for something is always worse than the thing itself.

Then I saw that the orb I had to plant in the pedestal across the way was strung up around the Hinox’s neck.

Dandy.

My tactics were.... varied. It’s one thing to shoot arrows at a Hinox from a high and clear vantage point. It’s another thing entirely to do it on level ground at close quarters in the dark. At least its single, huge eye glowed in the dark. Its movements were still deucedly difficult to lead, though. Retreats were frequent.

I tried scaling a row of columns by the light of an Ice Rod—it worked better than my Fireblade—and shooting arrows from this higher point.

It seemed the Hinox had better eyes than I did, though; it pelted me again and again with huge boulders it scooped from the dirt. Dead on. I couldn’t keep this up....

Ice Rod? No. Stasis? That worked, but I didn’t want to stay too close to the thing....

At length, to the left of the main path, I found a slim crack between two tall pillars that I could fit through, but that the Hinox had no chance of penetrating, which opened right onto the Hinox’s clearing. Excellent.

I lured it in close to this crack and then backed up quick; I didn’t want that thing’s giant mitts coming after me! Roarings and rumblings would ensue from the far side of the thick, thick pillars.... and then the Hinox would finally show its bulbous yellow eye peeping through.... closer, closer, closer.... very close.... and I’d fire.

The pattern worked! And I was safe behind thick stone, keeping arrows tightly nocked and reminding myself irresistibly of an art piece by Katsuya Terada. The Hinox roared and stamped and snarled—what was it doing? I could hear it scratching, grabbing, swinging, smashing—was it ripping trees out of the ground, as my Compendium had said was its wont?

During one such obscured wind-up-and-attack, I even saw its life-meter go down a smidge. Did it accidentally smack itself in the face with a tree?

I could only imagine.

A few more carefully shot arrows, and the Hinox was down. I killed a Hinox in the dark. Oh my gosh. And I collected the orb—and all the Hinox’s goodies—placed it in the pedestal, and the Ketoh Wawai Shrine rumbled out of the earth a short way away.

Kinda wanted to call it the Ketoh Wha-WHY? Shrine.

I received Ketoh Wawai’s Blessing, exited the shrine, watched the game auto-save.... and quit.