The Entry With No Shrines

Waking of Friday, May 3, 2019

The Entry With No Shrines

I warped to the Akkala Tower.

Time for more exploring.

I sailed down, moved into the trees and cleaned out the Torin Wetland—that waterlogged version of the Valley of Terror. Aside from all the dead and rusted Guardians in there, there were also two crawling Guardian Stalkers and one stationary Decayed one. I’d wanted to practice my range parrying the Guardians’ attacks; I was doing okay I thought. But it was still easiest to time it when they were right next to me.

When there was nothing awful left to slay I hiked back up the road and cleaned out the Akkala Parade Ground ruins. There was a Hinox in there, and it was good enough to drop some GUTS for me, which brought me up to seven. I could upgrade some clothes with that....

I was exploring around, exploring around, sniffing into all the various corners of the leafy Parade Ground court, when.... I heard someone in trouble.

But there was no one nearby.

But I was deep in the shadow the Akkala Citadel and its bridges, towering above me. The person must have been....

“Revari.... ONEGAI,” I geeked, and the Rito Champion’s spirit took me up in a trice to the bridge ruins where a lone Hylian man was cornered, beset by Bokoblins.

I fought them off, and the man, Neil, thanked me, and gave me an elixir of some kind.

He told me about the Akkala Citadel. Evidently it had acted as a last stronghold of a sort. It was said to be unassailable. But when the Castle fell, the army here, originally meant to protect Akkala, had no royalty to lead them, and the concentrated attack from the out of control Guardians brought it to ruin.

“Hyrule may very well have made its last stand here,” he said, or something like it.

Hm.

I paraglided or galed my way over the broken bridge, over to the Citadel side, to sport with the Flyer making its rounds about the lower level, and took it down after only a few mishaps.

The Flyers were hard, but.... I was getting better, I thought.

Okay. I had enough Hinox guts, and Mija was just over there across the way. I sailed over to see her, keeping my eyes open for shrines all the while, but.... nothing.

Mija upgraded my Barbarian Armor to the max. YES.

From there.... Hhhhhh I considered messing with some Lizalfos down by the Rist Peninsula, but.... ehhh, decided against it.

Instead I warped to Gut Check Rock and traveled thence up and around the volcano to....

That Skeleton.

THE ELDIN GREAT SKELETON.

WHY DOESN’T IT HAVE A SHRINE?

I searched for clues. Anything. Something that could trigger the appearance of a Shrine. I scoured the adjacent ashfalls and cliffsides. I climbed over the nearby rocks. I ran along the skeleton from nose to tail-tip. I crawled in its giant eye-sockets and planted bombs. Nothing.

....

Well it had worked in Ocarina of Time.

....

But I was just having no luck.

Well, different luck—for there was a music and a sudden wind....

Dinraal!

I tried and failed to get another claw from the dragon. Nuts!

Eh I went and killed the Lynel next door. Silver. Did pretty well.

Came back and killed the bad guy camp under the skeleton—

WHY IS THERE NO SHRINE?

....I may never know.

Or it wouldn’t be any time soon at least. Because now.... it was time for sushi.

Hahh, the Eldin Great Skeleton was a hard place to get to, but.... ehhh I would just warp to.... somewhere.... and save.

I’d warp to my house. No. The Deku Tree.

I’d warp to the Deku Tree’s Navel.

And I did.

Sushi.

Ice cream.

Great afternoon with Mom. ^_^ <3

When I picked up the game again I did a little shopping and cooking at the Deku Tree’s Navel, and some more of the same at Rito Village. I just wanted to buy some ingredients that I couldn’t get out in the field, like wheat and sugar cane and butter.

Siara was around, and she’d been interested to see the amusing clothing-upgrade animations. So I warped to the Great Fairy Tera in the desert and set her to work on my long-neglected Climber’s Shirt, which I’d been retaining at low level for just this purpose.

The animations were cute and Siara laughed, from the glitter-blowing to the head-bopping to the face-kissing to.... well, whatever it is they do on the fourth one.

And I finally got the perk for the Climbing Set, dimly registering that my climbing stamina usage was reduced or something to that end.

But my mind was already back on shrines.

I scanned the map, looking for triple-trees. Those anomalous little mini-copses of three trees or bushes or cacti standing in perfect, orderly little lines. Did those point to shrines?

I took stock; most of the things these formations pointed to were easy to find. There, that one pointed to a shrine, which had been hidden.... But that one in the desert pointed to Pocky’s Shrine, which was never hidden. But THERE, on that waterfall.... Where did that point to?

I warped to Faron to check it out, and couldn’t find a shrine. But I did find an ore cache that had been hidden.

Maybe the triple-trees pointed to secrets, and not necessarily just shrines.

Still, that desert one....

Hmm.

Running out of gas I worked my way over to the Highland Stable. I visited Malanya, who reported that I’m good with horses. Cool.

Took out Dragmire from the stable and rode to Kakariko. Didn’t stay at the inn, though. Just.... saved and put it to bed.

Deepest Woods

Afternoon of Saturday, February 24, 2018, noted the same day, written and edited properly beginning Tuesday, May 29, 2018, and I am pained

I am so, so pained.

Deepest Woods

It had been too long.

Too long.

I started my game. David was with me.

I was on top of the Dragon’s Head, the giant tree breaking through. The Spring of Courage, that’s where this was. The soothing spring music played; some ringing, resonating, sustained thing that I cannot name—somewhere between harpsichord and glass armonica—only rolling through clustery chords that felt nevertheless.... unhurried.

It’s a restful fill for the air.

What was I doing here again?

I went to my map. The blue ribbon of the dragony river grinned at me.

Oh yes. I remembered. I was looking for Mister Hestu. Fooling myself he was in Faron Woods.

All right.

It was time to get serious and find him.

I had already completed a quest for pants; and now the game was late; I really needed to go questing for pockets before I had no room left for anything.

I needed Mister Hestu.

And I knew where to find him.

Somehow, in my heart.... I think I’d known for a long, long time.

I warped to the Woodland Tower in the treacherous bog, and paraglided thence down into the path running hard against Death Mountain’s foot, upward into the hills, into the trees, in between those grassy shelves where I had first encountered wolves....

And I passed through the grey-walled bottleneck, down into the grey-green, living softness, and the light dimmed with the curling mist, and the Piano came to heel.

It was quiet.

Although I was cautious, I proceeded with a slowness borne more of reverence than of fear. This was a momentous place.

The torches were in plain view and easy enough to see, clear and empty swaths of grass or bare earth between them as they led round tree and hill and boulder, twining deeper. I always followed the embers. The tiny, glowing specks from one torch always seemed to drift toward the next. I did not stray from their path this time, but was strict to adhere to the zephyred directions.

There were a few animals about, a fox, some deer.... Once I even thought I heard the yawning squeal a wolf makes when it stretches. But I dared not pursue any of these and risk losing the path.

And then I came to two torches standing near each other, their parallel embers blowing away into dank and tangled woods where there was no other light to be seen.

For how bare and sad and dead so many of the trees looked, stark and naked, it was amazing how dense the place still felt.

I walked on, following the course of the twin ember trails, and just tried my best to keep moving in a straight line. There were no more obvious borders to keep me in line, like rocks and banks. There was only the close circle of ground about me, defined by the mist, and.... the trees.

The terrible, terrible trees—

Brreep-brreep! went my Sheikah Slate! o_o Gave me a bit of a start, but.... well that was something good at least!

It continued to beep as I kept moving ahead. I thought about turning it off; the forest didn’t seem to like it. But.... I let it go.

The larger trees took on.... a terrible look. Great twisted cracks in their barrel trunks like grimacing mouths with teeth.

Then the mouths began to gape....

I hid in one of them briefly, all full of the willies.

After a moment I climbed out again, and came to a clearing.

Which.... direction was I going in? I turned....

“Are you lost?” said David with a grin in his voice.

I walked back to the maw-tree, tried to line myself up.... The mouth had been unseen just around the right side....

I walked to the clearing again.

Those two trees there.... looked sort of like a gate of some kind....

I kept walking, right beneath their touching boughs. On and on I kept walking, the incessant brreep-brreep from my Slate doing me no psychological favors in the listening dark.

The clock in my HUD told me that it was nighttime, but I wondered if a bright shining sun would have made any difference here.

I kept going. Straight line. Brreep-brreep. No deviation.

And then, as the morning came on.... perhaps the sun did make a difference. Or perhaps....

The fog at last began to thin, and there was music: the doppelganger of Faron Woods—Skyward Sword’s Faron Woods, the Kikwi Home—it sounded so similar but I just could not place how it was done.... or perhaps was only too bewildered and bewuthered to think about melodies and chord progressions.

Warmer colors began to appear, sun-yellows and honey-browns and flowers.... The wildlife was no longer furtive and afraid. The birds chirped and the leaves sang.

Korok Woods was this place; the name gleamed over the screen.

“Are you serious?” said David.

And there were Koroks in plain sight! Not hiding! :D

“Do you know how many tries it took me to make it all the way through?” Or some such words.

Apparently he’d been watching me the whole time just grinning with anticipation for when I would.... when I would....

Well I didn’t experience it, whatever it was, so I’m not sure how it would have gone. I just made it end to end in one go. But I guess he’d had a harder time, and kept being transported back to the beginning of the Woods. I remembered the screen whiting out, and that childlike laughter....

He told me it took him forever to figure out the embers. HA! But that was such a Zeldic device, David! If I may make up words. XD

Well, like I’ve said before: sometimes, where I suck, David excels, and where he sucks, I excel.

What a team.

A few steps more and I seemed to enter a new wood proper. The trees looked healthier here. And the Koroks were soon all around me—though any particular one would disappear if I ever got too close. Heh.

And a few steps more again, and I caught sight of the tall, bobbing figure of Mister Hestu over a rise to my right! I’d found him! It’d been so long since I’d seen him that I’d almost forgotten his face....

And I did approach him, and we did visit, and he was happy to see me again, as I was to see him. And I did upgrade my carrying capacity. I upgraded the CRAP out of my carrying capacity. Weapons, bows, shields.

But there was something else further up the path.

Just a few steps more ahead.

Over the little stepping stones in the water.

Right there.

Right there.

Fooling Myself

Waking of a Saturday, February 3, 2018 ~ 2

Fooling Myself

There were too many people around.

I tried to figure out the password to that place behind the clothing shop again. And who was Pokki? Nobody in town that I could find.... or at the Ice House.

And why wouldn’t that other Gerudo in the bar wake up? I wanted to talk to her....

I went to the Ice House, I went back to town, I went to the Bazaar, and somehow.... found that I could take the heat in my Gerudo clothes now? I thought I couldn’t before.

I couldn’t find out the password.

Mmm not all my clothes were enhanced. A trip to Cotera remedied that.

I didn’t want to do anything important with all these people around.... and so decided.... to just look for Mister Hestu.

I rode Memory from Dueling Peaks to Faron Woods, and walked him cautiously in among the trees.... But after a while of encountering a few too many Bokoblins and other nasties, I rode him back to the Highland Stable to board him—No more endangering the horses.

After that I warped back to that shrine in the woods I had unlocked so long ago—the one near which I’d saved Tye and Sorelia in the shallow, dappled water—it was near to the path—and continued into Faron Woods on foot.

I wandered around and onward, meeting a few other travelers, some of whom claimed to hail from a nearby village. And I was sorely, SORELY tempted by the prospect of discovering a new, friendly habitation, but.... Hestu.

And I could see on my map—there was something about this forest that had piqued my curiosity every time I looked upon it: the river which twined through it in great looping curves and which ended in (or sprang from; I wasn’t really paying attention to the direction it flowed) a box canyon....

It had always looked like a dragon to me. The long course of it like a serpentine body, and the last distant pool of it shaped like open, toothy jaws. Perhaps more akin to a typical charicature of a venus fly trap than anything else.... but drawn there in the geography and hinted at all the same.

I had often imagined myself traveling into this forest, wondering what I might find at the dragon’s maw. But now that I was here, my intentions of being so straightforward began to melt away, and I was longing to maintain a stealthy distance from the road as is so my wont.

The deciduous trees gave way to palm trees, tall and thick, and a racket of birds and bugs began to fill the air. This was the jungle I had always seen from the Talus’ sporting field on the slopes of the southern Dueling Peak.... but never ventured into.

There were a few more Bokoblins; a lady called Meeshy, whose words and wants I didn’t really catch because I was giggling at her name—it’s the name I call the neighborhood cat (an Anglicized variant of the Spanish for “Kitty”) when she comes around and wants something to eat; and—

That accordion!

Kass!

He treated me to a song about a dragon’s mouth, and I was sure of it then—something important had to be at the end of that river.... And I wanted to find it for certain, but.... the road to get there twined among the trees in almost as circuitous a route as that of the river. Great place for an ambush or three....

I was wary of roads.

Leastways those upon which I’d never traveled.

But then again.... what else was new?

Pausing only to solve an INFURIATING Korok Puzzle involving metal balls tethered together by a chain like enormous bolas—infuriating!—I plunged into the foliage to the left and kept well off the track, clinging to the hills on the edge of the giant jungle-bowl instead.

The whole valley seemed to be nestled between the foothills of the Dueling Peaks and an appreciable red mountain of steps and buttes which I had never explored. Or at least, that’s what I had always surmised by the view from Talus Junior’s Field.

I set the high rim to my left and the cascading, sweltery depths to my right, and crept forward, ever cautious. Tropical rain came down in sheets to claps of thunder and lightning, and I quickly found myself having to unequip anything metal. The palm trees rattled in the din. They really were huge, and they grew more and more thickly as I pressed on.

And then of a sudden I emerged from the leaves and was confronted by a level clearing set with a weathered old square of foundation ruins.

It positively stank of Korok to me.

A number of large, flat paving blocks made up a hollow square shape on the ground, with grass and foliage filling its wide center. On three of the cornerstones of this formation sat three very large stone boulders. Where was the fourth....?

And at each corner of the grassy central space, a huge pillar towered out of the earth. Three of these were empty, but atop one of them—SOMEHOW—was the fourth boulder.

Oh boy....

Stasis and arrows didn’t make it budge. And I didn’t want to spend any specialty arrows.... Or maybe I just didn’t have any left after that last Lynel encounter. I would need something more powerful....

I didn’t want to throw any of my heavier weapons and damage them in the process. A Bomb would do, but.... I couldn’t throw them so high. Mm, but I could drop them....

I set myself to climbing the pillar in the rain, slipping again and again, but forcing myself onward. This course was made even more difficult by the fact that the boulder was so huge and the column just thin enough that there would be no place to stand until I had scaled the boulder itself, crawling up around to its top like a spider!

It took a few tries, but I made it, standing at last in sodden triumph at the top. The view from up high was nice, even in the rain. I could see over some of the trees and deeper into the valley....

But now for this boulder.

What I did next also took a few tries, to get the timing right. But fortunately Ja Baij is a gernerous chap, and I had an infinite number of Bombs to play with.

I Stasised the giant boulder beneath my feet, took out a Bomb, rolled it over the edge, and detonated it while it was close enough to exert some force upon the boulder, but far enough away that it wouldn’t blow me up!

And when the Stasis let go.... over the boulder keeled and finally fell to the ground (I paraglided down after it) where I could manage it with a bit more ease.

Ha, yeah—ease. Surely. The thing was still huge.

I tried pushing it toward the empty cornerstone. No good; it was too big. So I tried Stasis and another Bomb. Not enough force. Stasis and two more Bombs.... got it on the square!

And the Korok appeared!

YES! ^_^

That had to be the heaviest Korok I’d ever chased up. Epic.

There was something supremely satisfying about that one.

Really made you work for it.

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

Old Friends

Waking of Thursday, May 11, 2017 ~ 4

Old Friends

Beyond the tree was a little gully running up over the hill of the shore. It looked like I could shinny up there....

I did, and came to a wooded land, indecisive between forest and marsh, for it seemed as much flooded as not.

This was Faron Woods.

The sun rose again as I wandered into the trees, the framerate keeping a valiant pace amid all the wood and water and floating leaves. I thought of the Yiga Clan. Would I run into any of them here? The place seemed quiet for the most part; I only encountered one Octorok I think, hiding in the ground, and I blew him up easily enough.

The silence otherwise was.... disquieting.

I pressed on into the woods, but.... was there any point, if I was getting so far away from the water? Or were these little pools and puddles remnants of Vah Ruta’s flooding? Dared I hope?

Where was Mei?

Had she been kidnapped by the Yiga?

Oh gads was this like a Kafei-type quest, that I wouldn’t be able to resolve until nearer the end of the game?

My mind drifted through what Yiga Clan minibosses might look like....

The land twisted through the trees; I found some huge crumbled statuary—of the dragon, I think—and another shrine. But.... I was getting too far.

I had to consult my Sheikah Slate to head back toward the water. There was no map, but the compass still worked, and I could register the direction of the Ya Naga shrine. I wended back between the trunks—

And a commotion played in the dappled water ahead.

There was a man.

And a bokoblin, a blue one.

“Come get some!” the man yelled bravely, even as he splashed a few steps back from his foe.

I ran in—what confusion was the sun through the trees in the splashing, shadow-spotted water!—and cut the offending brute down.

I turned, and spoke to—

“Tye?” I gasped.

He stood panting, gripping one arm. “Oh Sorelia please be all right—” he grunted.

Oh no.

I whirled around—there a stone’s throw away, a red bokoblin capered over her as she lay collapsed in the shallow water.

I bolted forward, hopped a fallen log in my way, and a few sloshing strides later collided with the monster, beating him back.

When the bokoblin was dead, Sorelia staggered to her feet—Tye joined us—and we moved to a dry spot where we could catch our breath.

Those two do seem to get around.

They were still searching for their elusive Silent Princess flower. But they hadn’t seen any Zoras along the way.

Satisfied they were at least out of harm’s way for the present, I bade them goodbye, and continued back toward the lake.

My raft was gone.

Hhhh, I’d known it would be, when I first ventured into the trees, but....

Well, there was nothing for it but to start sweeping the coastline. The ridge of big rolling hills to my right seemed an easy place to start. I hiked up to their crest and started back along the lake.

This proved largely uneventful, until very late into the night, when I came upon the ruins of a Deya Village, in a shallow little valley just over the other side of the ridge.

A chill stole over my soul at the sight of its rickety remains, the overturned wagons, the charred and splintered house-frames.... but my heart leapt to see that it was all flooded.

Would Mei be in there?

I moved in—cautiously. There was a very large dead tree beside it—I mean VERY large. I’ve seen these blasted hollow stumps here and there in my travels, especially along the road near the Honeydell. I’m not quite sure yet what they portend, if anything, but they give me the willies.

But this one near the Deya Village Ruins just had a few baddies hiding around it—and a Korok inside the adjacent fallen log. And that was all.

One end of the great hollow log lay near the flooded valley floor; I walked quietly down through it until I stepped out into the water. The village was big....

But in the end, after an extensive search, I found only two poorly-equipped Lizalfos lurking about. And a few well-hidden treasure chests.

But Mei wasn’t there.

I climbed all over the surrounding cliffs, stole a Flame Rod off a Wizzrobe, found out just how ineffective it was against stal-creatures, paraglided back into the village....

No sign of her.

Then I saw a cleft in the hills surrounding the Deya Village valley.

The water snaked away through it.

Follow the water, I thought.

I’d been following the water for weeks.

Just keep following the water....

But the water in the cleft ran dry after only a few score paces.

The only thing left was another camouflaged Lizalfos. They’re pretty talented, the Deya Lizalfos; they produce a most convincing mottle....

But there was no sign of Mei.

What was left?

I moved into the area beyond the cleft. Wound my way through a few more trees. Came upon a campfire. Saw a man there. Spoke to him and—it was—?

“GIRO?” I gaped.

My gosh, I hadn’t seen him in forever! :D Giro! Buddy!

Wait where the heck was I?

I opened my map.

I had wandered back into West Necluda.

It was the selfsame campsite I had cooked so many dishes at, long, long ago with Giro, before the night of my first Blood Moon.

The very same.

To think that I had been so close to the lake back then.

But I wasn’t looking for Giro, I was looking for Mei.

And I couldn’t find her.

I couldn’t find her.

Water's End

Waking of Thursday, May 11, 2017 ~ 3

Water’s End

Farosh did move slowly. Before he had even touched back down into the water after first rising from it, I climbed and floated my way down to the little dock, and its raft.

The mighty bridge stood to my left, its near end connecting with a much higher part of the land only a short lateral distance away, and its far end angling somewhat rightward across my view before it connected with the opposite shore.

In this part of the lake I could see almost the entire shoreline. It was mostly just a grassmossy green all around, steep, and hilly, and unremarkably empty. The only things of import I imagined were those little islets out in the middle.

To my left, the other part of the lake, striped by the bridge’s huge dark pillars, seemed to go just a little bit further, bending away out of sight, oblong and obscure.... The river had to course further south from there....

I would explore the islands first.

The sun sank as I made ready to launch. One octorok some way offshore gave me a bit of trouble as I did this—they are devilish hard to see after dark, out there in the rippling water. I spent quite a few arrows pinning it down, dancing my way round its own pounding projectiles all the while; but eventually I dispatched it, and was soon blowing my way across the water’s surface, heading for the small cluster of green islets.

The rain came back as I neared them. And.... it was the queerest thing—I found some Lizalfos roaming around the little slips of land, but.... I’d never seen them act this way before....

I do believe they were playing! In the rain!

One of them was, anyway. He splished around in the water near a steep, rocky little beach—and then he would get up onto the land, climb a tiny bit onto the rocks.... and then jump back into the water! Whereupon he would splish around some more! :D

He did this like four times while I watched! Cannonballs!

I must say it was quite adorable. I almost regretted having to kill them all. But I really did want to explore these islands thoroughly.

Unfortunately all I found were more Lizalfos, a devious land-crawling octorok of a breed I’d never seen, which alarmed me something vicious before it escaped, and a shrine belonging to one Ya Naga.

The Ya Naga Shrine is the FUNNEST and also the SHORTEST shrine I have ever been through. Hahh.... like a rollercoaster over too fast.

The skies had cleared again by the time I came out, and I steered my little raft over toward the bridge. I sailed right between two of its mighty pillars, one of which had completely crumbled away; a Korok gamboled in the remaining foundations.

And the second half of the lake.... seemed empty.

But I kept on.

Surely the waterway had to continue....

I pressed my course on toward the south, the rolling moss-green shorelines passing by in bending hills, teasing at what lay behind them....

But there was no more river. This seemed to be the end.

There. On the far shore. The farthest shore. A tree.

One, single, tall, thick tree.

The only landmark touching the water.

I was forcibly reminded of the time I met Sasan after drifting downstream from Zora’s Domain. Surely this was the place where I would find Mei, here at the last edges of this body of water—was this Lake Hylia after all?

This was where I would find her, and she would be so despondent, possibly injured, and I would have to escort her all the way back.... Would she require a horse ride? And Fronk would be so relieved.... their family would be so happy to finally be together again....

The large tree drew nearer.

I blew my raft right up onto the shore.

There was nobody there.

Only a few castaway wooden treasure chests bobbed dimly in the light of the moon, just off the shore.

Heavenly Apex . . . Rock Bottom

Waking of Tuesday, May 2, 2017 ~ 3

Heavenly Apex . . . Rock Bottom

Ah, Sheem Dagoze’s was a fun little shrine....

The cliffs certainly were tall here. I ran along the high ledge on the north side—the non-Satori-Mountain side—and headed west. Straaange looking things crossed my periphery, but.... I didn’t stop to investigate. Oddly-shaped trees like gigantic mushrooms, a yammering conglomeration of blue moblins—what in the world were they all so riled up about? I would explore this area more thoroughly another time.

As the river bent toward the south, I eventually ran out of footing and had to paraglide closer to the water’s surface—a big piece of land jutted up like a plateau inside the canyon down there.... But as I jogged across it another stalmoblin popped up to say hello.

I didn’t have time for it, but ran straight to the plateau’s westernmost tip; the stalmoblin left off back by some trees....

I could see the next best place to go if I wanted to maintain this agile altitude—across the river on Mount Satori was another ledge—with.... baobab trees on it?

How interesting.

However, the rain had returned, and with the little plateau’s height, I wasn’t positive I’d be able to make that ledge.... There was a large possibility I’d touch down on the face of the cliff beneath, and I didn’t want to get caught in the rain there and slip.

So I just had to wait it out.

And as I waited, there was little else for me to do but look around: a ruddy, tiered sort of mountain range stood before me, west of the river.

I looked up. Some of its higher bluffs were dusted with snow.

I looked up further.

“WHAT THE—”

Gleaming electric yellow against the night sky, undulating like a jellyfish, long, gargantuan, twining like an enormous snake, four forelegs, two hind, floating on the snowy, cloudy air, passing in such serene slowness for its sheer size—

It was a DRAGON.

I had found David’s Dragon.

I snapped a pictograph, and my Compendium informed me its name was Farosh—a spirit of lightning in the form of a great dragon. Although it meant no ill toward men, it was still very dangerous to approach.

Well—

I—

....

Wow.

My Compendium also mentioned something about the Spring of Courage.

Was the Spring of Courage on top of that tiered mountain range?

Zelda had mentioned a Spring of Courage....

Eventually the rain let up, and I paraglided over to the low riverside cliff on Mount Satori—I’d been wise to wait; I didn’t make the top of the ledge, but had to scramble up from the sheer rock face.

The baobab trees were big and bewildering! I ran through them, following the cliff’s edge until—it disappeared? Suddenly I was running through the bottom of a valley bordered by both Mount Satori and the tiered red mountain range. What just happened?

I turned around and had a careful look into the gorge.

The river seemed to stop.

No, surely this had to be just a land bridge. The river just passed underground for a while—

I floated down—well, fell in, really, after trying to get a better view.

The river really did just stop in a dead end.

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?”

Where the heck was the LAKE?

Rivers didn’t just run out—I had known this ever since Ben had explained it to me way back when I’d shown him my very first fantasy map. I hated having been wrong about something and it was irritating to think of redrawing my map, but at least I then knew some proper geology. DEAD END RIVERS....

“Shut up its Hyrule,” my own ironic voice sounded in my head.

Rivers don’t run out....

I puttered around the bottom for a while—the wind was unnaturally strong, blowing everything in toward this dead end; it was a little creepy. The Korok I found was small consolation for my long journey to nowhere.

Hhhhh.

There was nothing else for it except to start swimming back.

I changed into my Zora Armor; it’d be slow going against the current.

The Forest

Waking of Friday, April 14, 2017 ~ 9

The Forest

You know, I really enjoy the little stance dance Link does whenever you leave the controller alone for too long. In Ocarina of Time it was the dirt-removal toe-tapping or the infamous tunic-straightening. I’ve seen him sneeze when he’s cold in Majora’s Mask, or swing some moves with the sword in his hand. He would stretch long and luxuriously in Wind Waker, or just take a rest on his haunches when he was a wolf in Twilight Princess. There are dozens of these idle animations.

But in Breath of the Wild.... he just nods off. XD His eyes glaze over and his mouth starts to sag until his head drops a little too suddenly and he shakes himself out of it with a hilariously surprised look on his face!

Ahh delightful animations in this game....

Well.

I’d seen what I had come to see at this tower.

When day broke with a clear sky, I jumped from the top and paraglided toward the road that led to the woods. That old man at the Woodland Stable had said something about the Lost Woods in the heart of the forest.... I would plunge ahead in a minor exploratory sweep until I ran into something too dangerous to face—which I was sure would inevitably happen—whereupon I could simply warp back to Zora’s Domain, and Upland Zorana. Robbie was waiting.

Maybe Karson would react to that pictograph of Tye and Sorelia....

The trees were thick along the road. I followed it until I came to a narrow pass between two sheer hills. Like a canyon.

The overwhelming sense of caution coursed through my veins and filled my lungs, and the bold exploratory sweep was promptly forgotten.

I chose the hill on the right side; it seemed to offer access to even higher foothills....

But up on its grassy top, between the tree trunks, I saw something I had not seen before: lean grey shapes with tufted tails. Canine. Two, no, three, no there were more of them—

Wolves.

I turned right back around. Perhaps the hill on the left would offer me something better.

It did. It was quite clear. However, it was too far away from the right hilltop for me to spy out what creatures might have been lurking there....

Or snipe them.

Drats.

Well, I had a look around anyway.

This Great Hyrule Forest was.... interesting. It seemed completely misted over with a thick, thick fog. The trees looked dead. And far away in its very heart, one tree stood supremely huge above them all. It looked.... like a giant cherry tree....

So many dead limbs with no leaves growing on them made it seem easier to see in there. And yet.... the tangle of it all seemed dangerous....

Was Hestu in there somewhere?

Ugh, but did I really want to go in there?

Wait, but I’d been planning to, hadn’t I?

And couldn’t I just warp away if anything happened?

Then why couldn’t I make myself move?

I surveyed the surrounding landscape a bit instead; the hill was tall enough to give me some fairly good views. I looked behind me and could see the tower I had scaled, standing amid all the platforms in the little circle of the bog—

WAIT A SECOND.

Concussive Logging

Waking of Monday, March 6, 2017

Concussive Logging

Well, Bolson wanted thirty bundles of wood? I’d get him thirty bundles of wood.

I left Brown by the house we wanted to buy—heh, I seem to have been including him in my first-person pronouns lately—and took off into the hills. That house (it takes a great deal of concentration to not say “my” house), being way up near the end of the village, opened right onto a grassy, hilly wilderness. And I knew there was a big stand of trees somewhere along the ridge....

There were also some moblins. Whom I bombed. Because I didn’t want to deal with them up close.

They are quite large, the moblins in this game.

Besides, I didn’t know just how long my Iron Sledgehammer would last.

But I know where two more of those are....

From dawn to dusk I was about this endeavor. But I didn’t know how long my axe would last either—and then it dawned on me: In bombing the moblin, I had accidentally knocked down a tree or two....

!

I could just blow up the whole forest! :D

And so some time that day I put away my axe, and only let the wild wilderness resound with the Gift of Ja Baij.

They’re very talented bombs. They could even turn fallen logs into wood bundles.

Cool.

And when the sky was darkening and I had felled every single thin tree in the vicinity (I left the thick ones alone), which came out to exactly the thirty bundles I needed, I climbed a hill to paraglide back toward Hateno Village again (it takes a great deal of concentration to not just say “home”).

As I sailed I saw someone with a lantern walking along the ridge through the tall grass.

“Who’s this?” I wondered, and slowed my flight, angling downward.

I landed next to her, and she was trying to think of a word.

Her name was Traveler.

Oh no....

“It starts with L and ends with K.... What was it again....?” she wondered.

I tried to, uh, help her out with suggestions such as Lurk, Lick and Leek, but none of those were it and.... soon there was only one option left.

“Link?”

As Luck would have it, that was the right answer. She looked happy as a Lark—a very evil Lark—as she dropped all pretense and gave me battle. She went down easier than the others had, but not for Lack of trying; I was just catching on to their fighting style. When they stand still, charging up an orange energy cloud, then is a good time to go Lunk ‘em on the head or slash ‘em with your sword or use whatever you’ve got. Dang Lank creepers.... Do they all keep finding me by chance, or is there some kind of information Leak among my friends? How do I keep my whereabouts under Lock and key....

Okay, Look, fine, I’ll stop. Gosh.