Running

Evening of Monday, May 6, 2019

Running

Scoured Giant’s Forest, skirted the Ancient Stump, looked into Coliseum, checked the crevice below Owa Daim’s shrine, flossed Hemaar’s Descent, ran the cliffs to the Illumeni Plateau.... Have not tried the Castle’s front door yet....

I scoured the road—the road!—from the Tabantha Great Bridge to the Gisa Crater, slaying two Guardian Flyers and a Talus. Nothing.

I searched high and low in the hills between Rito Village and the Hebra Mountains. Nothing. I combed the feet of the Akkala Falls near Tarrey Town. Nothing.

I raked the land in a bird’s-eye paraglide from the Lanayru Tower standing above the wetlands all the way across the Zodobon Highlands, to the Stone bearing Ruto’s Name, donning my Dark Ensemble at the last stretch out of some strange desperation.

How to draw out the final shrines....

I became hungry again and rewatched the Zelda’s Awakening cinematic.

Ahhh. I finally have a visual on Link’s saviors....

Now I can do faithful artistic justice....

It is past my bedtime....

I think.... Pepp’s.... will do....

*

And then I got on DeviantArt instead of going to bed like I should have, and searched out all the epic Zelda art I could find from which I had previously forbidden myself.

Oh sweet cathartic amazement and wonderfulness.

I was high as a kite.

The Measure of Creation

Waking of Friday, August 3, 2018 ~ 3

The Measure of Creation

That light—it was definitely a fallen star. If I could just get to where it was in time....

I ran along the high southern bank, rushing for a better view.... There! It was in the wetlands. A warp to the shrine there, a dash through the shallow water.... and it was mine.

Yes!

I looked about me. It had been a while since I’d visited the wetlands. And I was still short on Lizalfos tails....

I hunted them as the day was long.

[Masks are SO handy!]

Still, the element of surprise could only help me so much when it was a Silver Lizalfos. For there were silver ones now, and they were exceptionally strong.

But one good thing I noticed was that these new silver ones were much more willing to part with their tails upon defeat! Excellent. And so I very slowly began to regain my supply....

I was using the Master Sword more and more. And it wasn’t always pristine, and sometimes its power faded completely, and I had to let it rest and breathe.

But I was using it.

I was letting it fulfill its purpose.

And that was all right.

When I couldn’t find any more Lizalfos to fight, I turned once again to the loose Guardian Stalker, donning my double-upgraded Ancient Armor on the approach....

And when I killed it this time.... I wasn’t sure if it was just me, or if it was my armor’s Ancient Proficiency perk at play.... but it seemed that the defeated Guardian dropped more ancient parts than usual. Including a core!

I wonder.... Is that what the Ancient Proficiency did?

I continued to wander all over the wetlands, finding a few more Lizalfos sequestered here and there, scaring up more Koroks, and discovering that the giant water buffalo grazing around were most definitively unrideable. I took a few hits from the great brutes in my close-quarter attempts, but that didn’t keep me down for long. I was bolder than I had been before. Very much so. In my brazen meanderings I even killed the red Hinox before its music could even start up. David remarked on this with an incredulous scoff, and I kept my cool like a boss.

I also began to put into practice one more secret the Master Sword held. Actually I don’t think I would ever have discovered it had the loading screen not mentioned it in passing.

I don’t often throw my weapons, see.

But if you used the same button that would throw any other weapon, with the Master Sword in your hand.... and if you happened to have full hearts and health....

Well, I suppose the result would just stand to reason! for anybody familiar with the Zelda Universe. For myself it was only a surprise until I thought about it for a moment.

I stood at full power, and swung my sword, swung the Master Sword as if to throw it.... and out shot a swirling blue-white bolt of my own! 8D

How far it could travel before disippating depended on how many hearts I had.

But DANG! XD

It was so awesome to fire lasers.

At one point, employing the projected energy to break open ore deposits, I thought I had solved the problem of ever damaging another hammer again. But even without making physical contact, using the laser still sapped the sword’s strength.

I had run it clean out of energy twice now....

Huh.

Well that mechanic never came up in previous games.

Ah well.

When the wetlands were quite empty I decided to take a break on the Hinox’s island, and take a few pictographs of my various weapons for the Compendium.

The Master Sword wasn’t the only thing running out of juice; I puttered around a little further, cleaned out a little cave I found of some treasure....

Hm, perhaps the controller battery was feeling a bit lowly, too.

I took a break.

I went to the fridge and took out the very last bit of Mary’s cake that I had reserved for myself and no one else—it had been my birthday after all.

I had a seat at the table with a nice glass of milk.... and ate the Triforce.

It was delicious.

Patience

Evening of Sunday, June 10, 2018 ~ 2

Patience

I’ve been.... known to be a nice sister sometimes....

I would wait for David before entering the Yiga Nest.

In the meantime.... I erranded.

Off to Dueling Peaks to ask Hino about the moon.... No Blood Moon this time.

Away to Hateno to swoop down on Teli once more.... No cores this time either.

Then a warp to the Divine Beast Vah Ruta to start another float down the lazy river, fishing for more Hearty Bass. As well as venturing inland to clear out some of my obsolete stamps. More than a few Lizalfos misadventures there—I’d forgotten what fun Shock Arrows can be.... @_@

I ended up in the wetlands before I thought to go back to Zora’s Domain to see if anybody were simply selling Hearty Bass.

They weren’t that I could discover.

But my sensor did lead me to find some more of the fishies out back, shooting up the waterfalls into Upland Zorana, until finally, finally.... I had ten of them.

Another warp over to Cotera—the fairies had respawned—how long do they take?? I caught three of them, but failed to notice a fourth before accidentally scaring it away.... Rats!

The Great Fairy was able to upgrade one of the remaining two pieces of Zora Armor. But I found that I had been so focused on collecting Hearty Bass.... that I had completely neglected to watch my supply of Lizalfos Tails! I was SHORT! D8

I don’t know! I had just always assumed I would have enough! You know, like Bokoblin horns, I thought they’d never run out! I’d certainly killed enough of them....

Evidently not.

Well.... I knew where I could find them at least.

I warped back to the wetlands and got busy hunting.

[Masks.... are so handy.]

But the reptilian devils were stingy; I wasn’t able to collect very many tails.

But as long as I was there.... when I could find no more Lizalfos to fight, I turned to the loose Guardian Stalker that had so terrified me before, as I had skirted round it high on the naked cliffs....

I killed it.

And—oh delight of delights—it dropped a CORE for me.

Excellent.

As the days continued to turn, I bounced again between Hino for moon details, and Teli to check for cores. But I had no luck with either of them....

Until David came home.

But by then it was so late, and I knew I would have to wake up so early, that....

I wasn’t sure if I was even up to tackling the Yiga Nest anymore.

Which was a little dispiriting. For both of us. But.... I was trying to be as sensible as I could be, with whatever sense I had leftover.

In the end, out of juice, I flipped to my map and piddled around aimlessly looking at various locations....

“You know,” said David, “I think you spend most of your time in this game just looking at your map, groaning about places you can’t visit.”

KhAUgh! .... My heart! X⩄X

He was exactly right. I was hungry to play more and yet fearful of getting too far ahead of the log.... looking at all the places I could visit but didn’t want to let myself get to.... And I didn’t want to cheat myself of too much sleep besides.

A laughing groan was my touché back to him, and we grimly grinned in my plight.... fed up....

But I wanted to finish up with something.... And on my map I spied a very large Korok spiral on a butte southeast of Spectacle Rock.

Spectacle Rock....

I may not have played every Zelda game.... but there were some names I knew to hold in reverence.

Spectacle Rock was a huge, wide, flat-topped mesa just east-southeast of the Wasteland Tower. Or perhaps.... did it include the natural arch that connected to the tower’s butte?

Did it include both mountaintops?

I don’t know.

I warped to the Wasteland Tower, and paraglided as far as I could toward my destination, but was brought to my feet halfway across the natural arch.

I had never been to Spectacle Rock before. The vast openness of its upper reaches—its upper reach, for how could a plane so singular be anything but whole?—was unsettling.

It should have been the home of Taluses. I felt sure that once I crossed the midway point, some gargantuan monster of stone would erupt out of the ground at my trespassing to have a stern word with me.

Or perhaps in the center—those tiny little knobs there—surely between those would be a Korok hiding under a rock.

But there was nothing.

Just nothing.

There was a wolf. And a blue butterfly.

And nothing.

The afternoon was sinking; I wanted to be off that rock.

I steered according to my HUD and did not stop when I came to the edge but leapt off at once, heading for the Korok spiral’s butte.

I landed on the wall somewhat below the mark, but the scramble to the top was easy enough.

There were two spare rocks here. And a long way down on all sides, and so I knew I’d best not waste them....

I couldn’t quite tell where to put the extra rocks until I actually counted how many there already were in each arm of the spiral.

Two of them were shorter than the others.

Well, a little heavy lifting fixed that!

And out came the Korok and gave me a seed.

And that.... that was enough for the night.

I warped back to the Gerudo Canyon Stable.... and a good night’s sleep.

Link The Physical

Waking of Saturday, June 2, 2018 ~ 2

Link The Physical

TO BUSINESS....

David’s ahead of me. But I would show him something he’d never done. Something I’d never done either, to be honest, but....

Well, I had faith it was possible.

Actualy.... I knew it was possible!

I’d become quite practiced at avoiding spoilerish images on the internet, but.... I recalled catching it in one YouTube thumbnail I had seen.... it had been pretty striking....

Also I’d heard tell from my Compendium that it was a thing that you could do.

As I ran from the Wetland Stable toward the Honeydell (and saved Leekah again), I felt appropriate in rather recreating what I had glimpsed in that thumbnail, and started stripping off my clothes. I left a rugged-looking spear on my back, though. And so, looking a proper barbarian, I came to the edge of the dell and peered down. The rain made it difficult to see, but there were unmistakably two bears down there.

That.... could complicate matters. I was hardly sure I could handle one bear—how could I be sure the other wouldn’t attack me while I was at it?

As I hemmed and hawed, shirtless Link did something I’d never seen him do before—seemed the programmers had added a new stance dance move....

Suddenly I saw his arms rise slowly up from his sides, straight out—I swung the camera around him to see what he was on about....

And then flex! He regarded one bicep, and then with a slight shift in posture turned his head to admire the other.

Oh my gosh! XD Oh I laughed so much at that.... XD XD XD

Well, eventually one bear ran off, but the remaining one wouldn’t come out of the cave. I couldn’t deal with it like that....

And then that one suddenly ran off too, and I was bearless.

Eh, as it was night, I returned to the Wetland Stable and rested until the morning. Whereupon I gave Honeydell another go, but there were no bears.

Hmph.

So I tried Shadow Pass. I’d seen a bear in there before. And my Compendium said they could be found in the Akkala Highlands. But when I got there all I found was a wolf.

I bounced between the two for a while, Honeydell and Shadow Pass, but with no luck—just a really bad encounter with an electric Keese in the rain—NEVER AGAIN—

And.... David had stepped out again anyway, so.... I decided to hunt some more Guardians in the meanwhile.

Back to Lomei Labyrinth. I killed the Crawler. I killed the maze-lurker. And then.... it was time to revisit the dread basement.

When I floated down this time.... they all could see me coming! I sailed quickly behind the giant pillar by the entrance....

Four Decayed Guardians in the room. That’s how many lasers there had been. I peeked round the pillar’s edge until one of them saw me.

Hoo. I could do this.

I stepped out again, its laser found me, the Piano got restless, and I had to time my parry very carefully this time—the Guardians’ laserbolts were fast, but they still took time to traverse the yards between us. A very short time....

But I whacked it back across the room nonetheless, and that Guardian exploded. Excellent!

On to the next!

I killed the four Decayed ones that way, peeping round the pillar. But there were two Stalkers left. And for those ones all I could do was . . . . well walk up to them as surely as I might, until they came to life.

Sparks and embers rained from the ceiling where the lightning struck on the maze’s rainy surface.

I almost had to come right up between the splay of their spider legs before they’d finally wake up.

Ughuhuh.

But I did it. Twice. And the swell of Strings carried me through the maniacal Piano, and presently every threat was eliminated, and I....

I HAD CLEANED THE BASEMENT.

And its yield brought me up to twenty-three gears! ^_^

HUH! After this, that thing I wanted to show David would surely pose no problem at all!

I warped back to the Wetland, and luck was on my side: the day was fair, and only one bear prowled in the Honeydell, and that well away from the cave.

David wasn’t there, but.... I knew he would be shortly.

Switching once again to my Nature Boy outfit, I leapt off the edge as silently as I could, and paraglided down in a calculated sail toward the bear . . . it was so big up close.

It sensed me just before I landed on its back, and then started jumping and rearing, trying to throw me off....

My stamina is greater than it has been—two full wheels.

And with it I was able to hold on.... and soothe the bear.

After only a moment it stood still, and only rocked in its lumbering animal stance dance beneath me.

Oh my gosh I tamed a bear! XD

And I got it to walk! :D I headed toward the road....

I’d seen David ride a deer at a walk before, but when he had tried to give it a spur it had bucked him off.

Could I get the bear to go faster than a walk? Safely at least?

But I was content to just go lumbering forward for the moment. It was such a big animal—and its tail was quite as fluffy as a rabbit’s!

As I neared the way out of the dell, the bear roared and tried to throw me off again, but I was able to soothe it once more.

It was around this time that David entered the room.

“....Why are you riding a bear?” he said flatly.

“Well that’s not the reaction I was hoping for!” I said, “Have you ever ridden a bear?”

“No,” he laughed.

But I was glad that I seemed to have thoroughly captured his attentions with the spectacle for the moment. ^_^

Spectacled.... Spectacled bear.

LOL.

I asked him about spurring his deer before, and then.... decided to try it on the bear. I hit A—

And the bear started into a great burly lope! It ran down the road! With me on its back! Oh my gosh! XD XD

At whiles it would get tired of me and grunt and roar, but I was able to get it all the way back to the Wetland Stable.

And I wondered....

The more attentive denizens of the stable all cowered and whimpered at my approach—even Kass siffened and looked at me with some pause, his accordion momentarily forgotten. But Lawdon (whom I’d been giving a lot of business to lately) said automatically when I rode up, “Well, looks like you’ve caught yourself a new steed! Would you like to register it?”

“Yes, please!”

“Understoo— Uh...”

And then he looked at my big new mount.

“Oh for the love of Hylia... That’s not a horse!”

XD XD XD XD

“We only board horses here, no exceptions,” he told me.

XD XD XD XD XD XD XD

Oh that was PRECIOUS! ^_^

Ah!

Delightful. > u <

Agh well I figured I’d dealt with the poor bear for long enough at that point. But when I thought about dismounting.... I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t go savaging all the people standing around.

So I rode him back home.

It was rather terrifying and alarming every time he tried to buck me off. And I wondered if, when I let him go.... he’d turn on me and I’d have to kill him.

I equipped something a bit stronger than my scary-looking Nature Boy spear, just in case. But when I got off, we just ran our separate ways from each other.

Heh. Cool.

I rode a bear! ^_^

The Piano's Rival

Waking of Saturday, June 2, 2018

The Piano’s Rival

David was with me when I started up in Kakariko!

He’s always so far ahead but now I would show him something he’d never seen or done before!

Maybe a few things! :D

Those Guardians would have come back after the Blood Moon—I went out back and approached the one in the Pit. And when I paraglided down to the little hilly rockpile, below the line of safe escape, facing the monstrosity even as it glowed hot angry pink and lasered in to take careful aim at my heart and the Piano pounded indignation at this brazen affront.... David could not believe what I was doing.

BUT I HELD MY GROUND!

Careful now.... CAREFUL NOW....

“What are you doing?” David gasped.

The targeting laser steadied, the Guardian beeped.... beeped....

....

. . . . . . .

BEEPED . . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

It always took longer than you thought or wanted . . . .

But it was not until the FLASH—and absolutely no later than its first shining—that I swung my shield as the blue-white bolt of death-made-light came streaking in an instant up the field!

KHING!

And the satisfying slow-down so that I could see the reflected bolt almost frozen in the air, bounced back, its trajectory sure....

“Whaaaat?” said David.

And the normal flow of time resumed and the Guardian took the hit in the face!

“WHAAAT?” said David.

And then, riding over the deadly triplitive Piano came a swell of Strings, shining against the terror, just for a moment. At each successful hit they came back, breathing cool strength into the sound. The Guardians were not the only terrors to be reckoned with on this earth!

And this time, my Perfect Parry really was perfect. And in three hits.... the Guardian was down.

MAN THAT FELT SO GOOD! As I sailed down to collect all the bits left behind! So many gears! ^_^ So cool.

And what was more.... when I checked my inventory.... MY SHIELD WAS STILL SPARKLY!! 8D I’d come in with a new shield—and the Perfect Parry had upheld its quality, prolonged its life!

AWESOME! XD

I climbed up over the PitGate to see if I could sneak up on the other.... and we saw it creeping around below, quite close to the vertical rockface. I paraglided down.... and landed on its head.

“David! Look!”

The Guardian continued to crawl around, flicking its juddering, hundred-year-old gaze over the grass. Evidently it didn’t know I was there.

But every time it started and turned and started again, I had to readjust my footing on top of its can-head, even as Link bent slightly in that spring-ready stance he takes whenever an enemy is near....

Got kinda tricky when the Guardian wouldn’t get away from the wall, and started tipping....

Oh my gosh.... XD

I hopped down at some point and tried to have it out proper with this one too, but—

Well, my practice wasn’t perfect yet.

In the rolling confusion of close fire I warped away to the Wetland Stable....

That one was close enough to the Honeydell....

Goodbye, Memories

Waking of Sunday, November 26, 2017 ~ 5

Goodbye, Memories

I WISHED ALL THESE MYSTICAL ENTITIES WOULD STOP CURSING MY ELECTRONICS.

I turned the TV back on.

But Embry the stablehand didn’t have anything else to say anyway.

Well shoot.

Well....

On to the Wetland Stable, then. That was where I’d first heard tell of this beast between my legs. Quince. That was the man’s name.

I would have to go see Quince....

We plunged on ahead through the night, the Lord of the Mountain and I. I had not dared spur him above a normal gallop, but I did then, to dodge past a whirling Keese flock. And he hearted at me after I soothed him then.

We weren’t stopping for anything.

I hoped the rain would let up....

We made it to the Riverside Stable, but I couldn’t stop there, and still we pressed on toward the Wetland Stable. And Quince....

I spurred him again and was shocked and flummoxed to notice that HIS SPEED CAME BACK IMMEDIATELY.

I KNEW HE WAS POWERFUL FOR THE FIVE WHIPCRACKS HE DISPLAYED BUT I COULDN’T PRESS THEM FAST ENOUGH BEFORE THE FIRST ONE JUST REPLENISHED ITSELF.

I SOOTHED HIM AND HE LOVED ME AGAIN.

WHAT EVEN WAS THIS BLUE SHADOWFAX CREATURE THAT COULD SPRINT FOREVER?

We passed Doctor Spoone between Horwell and Eagus Bridges. Interestingly enough he had nothing to say of my four-eyed alien mount, but he did educate me that Naydra’s scale could cure any illness—the only problem was that Lanayru Mountain, where Naydra dwelt, was just so cold....

Well, thanks, Doc! I had to be on my way.

We passed more people—Tye and Sorelia’s camp was blessedly at peace—

And THERE WAS THE WETLAND STABLE.

However Lawdon, the resident stablehand, gave me much the same reaction as Embry had.

Hmph. ò.O

Where was Quince?

Probably sleeping. It was about 3:00 am when I got there.

I waited for him to wake up.

And looked at my clock....

And watched the time tick slowly by....

And swiveled the camera....

And studied the Lord of the Mountain....

And looked at the stable and all its satellite structures....

And glanced at the sky....

And peered about the landscape....

And peeked inside the stable from the Lord of the Mountain’s back and could see the slumbering masses on the beds in there I NEEDED TO TALK TO QUINCE—WAKE UP ALREADY, QUINCE!

I trotted around, admiring how the sun-colored hooves lit up the grass.

And what was that tinkling sound like tiny metal chimes?

Hanging on by only a hank of ethereal, light blue hair along the spine.

So precarious.

And the sun had risen, and people were moving.

Which one was Quince?

He would pair up with the dog, and they would stand near the woods to gaze at Satori Mountain....

And they DID—I moved in. Got close enough....!

TARGET.

A.

“I wonder what’ll happen today...” Quince said.

WAT—okay despite my immensely deep appreciation at seeing that sentence written with the proper punctuation—no no no no Quince, can’t you see I’m riding your great Blue Beast? Ah, perhaps it’s because he’s on the move, I thought.

And I waited for him to come to a standstill.

And when I spoke to him again....

“What the—seriously? Another guy?” he said. And he went on to lament that there were no girls around here. Just guys. “And when we finally were visited by a Zora, turned out it was just some manly prince guy who’s a dude,” he finished.

I.... admitted a snicker at the funny old line but QUINCE DON’T GIMME THAT I CAUGHT YOUR FRIGGIN’ BEAST WHY WON’T THE STABLES LET ME—

HHHHUUHHHHHHHH.

Wait.

Maybe if I let him tell me about his dog. Like he did before.

And I prompted him to speak at length about how he had gone to the mountain to hunt, and how he’d met Satty (Ah, yes, Satty, not Natty; and Satty was a boy....), and how Satty had protected him from the Blue Beast, and how they’d made their getaway—

“Someday I’d like to go back there and give that glowing beast a piece of my mind!” he asserted. Or something like it.

He said this to me as I sat on the back of said glowing beast.

Uh. -_-

Well, there was nothing for it then but to zip over to the Home menu and upload the ridiculous screenshot to Miiverse.

And I was saddened to discover that Miiverse . . . . had gone.

All the pictures I’d taken.

Well honestly I hadn’t taken very many. Less than twenty I’d say.

But....

They were memories.

I berated myself for not having downloaded them when I had the chance.

For I’d even thought about including them in this log.

Perhaps not those few from Twilight Princess HD –

– That first magnetic wall-walk. “I’d forgotten just how much fun this game is!” Or some such words.

– The somber, masked trio of ghostly Zora, sick with worry as they searched for their prince. “They care so much for their prince. ;.;” Or some such words. And emoticons.

– The most beautiful picture of all of Kakariko, taken from that high bend in the road where you could see the whole village.... I don’t remember what I may have said about it.

But from Breath of the Wild –

– In the dread, dark rain, on Fort Hateno’s high turrets, overlooking the Valley of Terror—and swearing the lightning was flashing me back, those great lumps still crawling, still glowing, as the water slicked over cloak and skin. Hand to my face and sigh at the thought.

– The IKEA houses of Hateno Village that perked me up that weary, weary night.

– Capturing the lightning strike as I weathered the storm beneath the shelter of that first wetland shrine.

– The beautiful dawn above the empty reaches of Zorana, as the music slithered out of the bare rock to run a chill up my spine.

– Sunset warming the red rocks and lying bright on the pond as I left the Shrine of Mirro Shaz triumphant.

– A rainbow away over green hills and against a brooding sky.

– A drippy sky afire from the top of the Woodland Tower.

– The ledge at the end of the world lit by a Thunderblade.

And others I am sure.

Just.... memories.

They were nothing really earth-shattering I suppose. Just sights. Gorgeous vistas that caught my fancy. It’s too bad I won’t be able to look at them again. They were pretty.

I came back to the game, and realized I did at least still have a pictobox on me.

Well that was something.

....

One for the album, then: I was going to take a self-portrait with the beast.

I.... dismounted.

The Lord of the Mountain.... stayed where he was.

Hooooo. ‘Kay. o__o;

That was good.

And I took out my pictobox and put it up to my face.

But I had left it too zoomed in—a blur of distant greenery, leaves and grass.... I’d need to pull back, turn a bit, zoom out to find the blue beast—

Only as soon as my eyes were off it, the instant it had escaped the frame.... there was a snort, and a whirlwind of hooves.... and then....

The Lord of the Mountain was gone.

Well that just iced my 糟糕。

Guess it was like a leprechaun—you look away and they vanish.

.... I woulda called him Lucky.

I putter-putter-puttered in the dismal loss of Miiverse and the loosing of my fine wild Janus Owl Moth Horse.

How could I waste more time.... -_-

No, but I needed to be responsible. I had a full week ahead of me after all.

But I didn’t want to end on such an abysmal note....

....

I knew—I would just try to find that silver Bokoblin again.

I’d seen him on my mad dash over here, between the Outskirt and Riverside Stables, at a T-junction in the plain.

But rare sight though he was, I hadn’t been stopping for anything, remember?

Not even a Silver Bokoblin.

But I went to find him now.

It wasn’t far; I got there quickly even on foot, and found him capering happily before his campfire, quite alone.

I remembered: on my last pass through here the blue beast and I had mowed down his sole red companion.

Guess he wasn’t all that broken up about it.

Concealed by distance and long grass, I tried the beehive first. One arrow brought it down, and sent the swarm buzzing after the silver Bokoblin in an angry cloud.

He outran them, though.

Next I put on my Bokoblin Mask to approach, and he started at my presence before coming over and proceeding to strike up what seemed to be an engaging conversation with me.

I couldn’t tell; I don’t speak Bokoblin.

He wouldn’t stay put when I tried to take a pictograph—they do that, the baddies, when they see you disguised as one of their own. They like to come in real close and just.... look at you.  O_O  And maybe chat a bit.

The fidgets notwithstanding I was able to get a couple of decent pictographs, and my Compendium outlined what this particular breed might drop upon dispatch—

Ore.

Lots of it, and in the rarest varieties.

....

As I could think of no further way to sport with the creature, I laid him out flat with my Flameblade. Just a regular Flameblade, and it took a lot of damage before I was through—the silver Bokoblin had something like seven hundred and fifty hit points. That was more than many Moblins I’d slain.

But I was not disappointed with the spoils: rubies, topaz, sapphires—I think there may even have been a diamond in there.

And with the camp cleared, the treasure chest on top of the tower unlocked with the familiar boxing-match bell—it always makes David and I laugh—

I couldn’t claim the sword within, however; my inventory was full.

.... Hhhhh ....

It was.... a nice little camp. Not too big. And the field was green and lovely....

But.... it was getting late. In the game and on the couch.

Sometimes the days just blow out with a murmur, and you still feel lost and unfulfilled.

I sat by the fire until morning, saved, and quit, and got ready for the week.

Thing Under The Mountain

Waking of Saturday, May 27, 2017 ~ 5

Thing Under The Mountain

I took my time surveying my surroundings from the top of the Akkala Tower. That first Akkalan shrine I had come to, surrounded by wolves, stood on a red plateau far to the east on the other side of a marshy wetland.

A couple of lower cliffs stood just on this side of it. One of them was strangely-shaped, looking more like a smaller, separate plateau, isolated but for a single, thin, somewhat curved ridge of red earth connecting it to the larger plateau. The other cliff was.... just a cliff. A small wood grew upon it, with a little pond at its heart.

“You didn’t go there?” David asked as we looked at my new map.

“No.”

“Look at it!”

I scoped it.

“What does it look like?”

“....DAY-VIIID!” I griped, and pretended I hadn’t seen.

You know, all in all, he’s really . . . . really fantastic about keeping me unspoiled. From what I gather, it’s been somewhat maddeningly difficult for him at times.

I’m sure I’ll understand someday.

And then I will read the aforetyped line and gawp at my own inadvertent cruelty to him, I am quite sure.

I stayed up on top of the tower as the sun sank lower, viewing my surroundings until after dark. And, as it happened, in the dimness I caught sight of another orange glow to the east:

That little wood on the cliff.

Springing up in the midst of the trees was a number of large, very tall, bright orange toadstools.

(So I could say.... I would have caught sight of it then, anyway. That could excuse and alleviate the spoilage a bit.)

I knew what those mushrooms were. There was only one other place I’d ever seen mushrooms grow like that—

The Fairy Fountain.

Now that was some good fortune. <3

The Road to Robbie was also in that general direction, so I decided to jump for it, and paraglide back east.

It was also partly at David’s insistence—he said he had paraglided to that Wolf Shrine from this Sheikah Tower. Wanted me to do it too, I guess. It was raining when I did, and the grey-green haze of it swallowed me up until I seemed simply to rush through a great dark cloud of dust and wind.

“This is exactly where I was, when you saw me in that place with a lot of wind. It was raining then, too,” said David, referencing a time I’d taken an accidental glance at his screen.

“I thought you were on solid ground then,” I said. It had looked like a desert or something. Daytime colors maybe.

My rain cleared up pretty quick, though, and I looked down in the pre-dawn pink to see the whole expansive wetland below me. And two loose Guardian Stalkers creeping about. “Whoa,” we both said.

And for some reason I didn’t pay attention to my stamina wheel until it was on its last gasping splinter of red and then . . . .

Well I fell out of the sky.

I plummeted below the red cliffs. “Okay I have a better idea,” I said, and looked at my Sheikah Slate. I mapped over to the Wolf shrine, and concluded my journey to it via the warp pad.

Hoped my momentum wouldnt carry over....

It didn’t.

Once I was clear of the wolves, I had a lovely distracting time with a couple of mounted Bokoblins—one of whom I finally got to try out my new tricked out Stasis ability on!

I stopped him in midair as his horse galloped out from between his legs!

And then I walloped him right out of the sky like a big lumpy golf ball! Man, that guy FLEW when the Stasis let go!

And then I ran after him to finish the job AND HE RAN AWAY FROM ME!

I had never seen them retreat before. O__O

I was feeling pretty awesome! >:D

I chased him up a hill to the east and was further distracted by my shrine-locator’s beeping.... Ah, what the hey! I figured. I’ll just go and grab another shrine!

But chase down the signal as I might, I couldn’t see a shrine anywhere.... It sounded so close....

It was in a strange land of deep crevasses and gushing jets of air from cracks in the earth—made for great updrafts, really. I started on top of the hill where the beeping indicated the shrine should have been, and started a spiraling trail down around its sides—perhaps there was some cave....

There was. But I had to hike and glide quite far away to see it. Because it was set into a sheer cliff face beneath the hill, shadowed by an overhang of stone, with no footpaths to reach it, flanked on all sides by the open atmosphere of an immense chasm, and blocked off at its mouth by a wall of crumbling stone. I could see the shrine’s orange glow between the cracks....

Well.

I tried dropping bombs from the hill above.

No good.

I tried Bomb-Golfing from the other side.

Came up short.

I tentatively tried a precious Bomb Arrow.

Got.... nothing? Oh dear....

An inordinate number of large boulders lay scattered everywhere in this strange pit-mine of a place. Some of them were magnetizable....

David told me to take care, though. He said he’d seen places where lots of boulders like this meant ammunition for nearby Flying Guardians.

I kept my eyes open....

I tried Magnesising a makeshift battering-ram.

Couldn’t reach.

I tried Stasising a regular boulder and whacking it up to send a flying bombardment....! But I hit it too hard and missed.

It would take a lot of careful effort to maneuver another boulder over here to the edge....

And then “Wait a second!” I shouted. “It was raining before! Let me try another Bomb Arrow!”

And I nocked it, and it sparked and fizzed as the other one never had! I let fly and BOOM! Hole-in-the-Rock!

After that it was a matter of gaining enough altitude to paraglide in. I ended up on the cliff face beneath anyway, but not by much. It was a slightly startling scramble to climb up to the lip however, as it started to rain again just then. But perhaps I needn’t have worried—there was still that giant stone overhang above. Maybe it kept the cliff beneath it dry.

And what happiness was this! My extra Bomb Arrow was still there! :D It must have sailed right in through the cracks between the rocks! Lucky! 8D

The shrine contained another Modest Test of Strength, and I conquered it.

I tend to go through a lot of specialty arrows in those kind. “You don’t mess around!” David said as I pummeled the resident Guardian with most of the rest of my Bomb Arrows....

Oasis in the Water

Waking of Friday, April 14, 2017 ~ 3

Oasis in the Water

Well.... I did feel somewhat silly for passing over this entire little settlement for.... gosh I dunno how many Blood Moons.

But from here on out, it looked like visiting Tye and Sorelia was going to become a whole lot easier.

This was the Wetland Stable, and it seemed a laid-back, easy-going place. An older kid named Yorelo was playing swords against a dummy—except he was using a torch. “The Master Torch!” he called it, “Burning away evil with its flames of justice!” or something along those lines. It wasn’t even lit....

Well that was.... cute. Wished I could’ve pat that kid on the head, even tall as he was, close to my own height. Oh, you dear sweet child. XD

Yorelo’s younger brother Ami had somehow been resigned to assist visitors like myself, and he was bored out of his skull for it. He only let me ask of the compass directions, and gave me the barebones directions of what was nearby. East?

“Zora’s Domain. That’s it.”

North?

“Death Mountain. Duh.”

West?

“Well Mr. Perceptive, that would be Hyrule Castle.”

Or some such words from this kid. Really, this place was just charming. XD Wish I’d found the middle-brother; Ami said they had one....

When I asked him what was to the south, he said I’d just have to go there and ask at the Riverside Stable to find out.

Huh, so it seems there are more stables about than I’d realized.

I had seen disconnected snatches of roads on my map, but so far I had only been keeping to the veins whose entire lengths I could see. I didn’t go trying to make connections between the pathways—and what if I’d just kept following whatever road I came across? I’d had business I was about, and roads have a tendency to keep going. I might very well have been swept right off my feet and away.

Maybe that was why I’d never come upon this Wetland Stable. Or the “Riverside Stable”.

Just trying to stay focused.

Hm. Though now I’m wondering about how I shall approach Akkala.... I’d been thinking about just paragliding down from Toto Lake in the Upland Zorana, but.... come to think of it, I think there was a road that must have gone that way.... yes, if I go downstream from Inogo Bridge and hang a sharp right.... yeeaahh.... And I think I saw another stable through my scope along that way, too....

Well, there were a few more people about the Wetland Stable. A man named Kazul rode his horse along the road; I think he might have warned me about the dangers of the lands so close to the castle....

There was a Doctor Spoone, whose name made me smile. Seemed he was one to travel around instead of holding down a practice in one location. Seemed like a nice man.

Beedle was there again, and as we perused each other’s goods he flipped out at the sight of my . . . . well I can’t remember the name but it’s some kind of golden rhino beetle with special properties, and it’s apparently quite rare....

It’s not the first time he’s asked after it, offering to trade me elixirs and other things.

I haven’t given it to him though. Not least of all because I’d hate to trade away the only one I have of anything in my inventory. We’ll see what the future will bring.

Inside the stable, on a tabletop, was an open book belonging to one Staysi, who seemed to produce these Rumor Mills (this was volume five)—and this one made just one claim, based, from what I gathered, on some hearsay from young children: DRAGONS ARE REAL.

(David has asked me more than once if I’ve seen any dragons. Huge, HUUUGE dragons, he says. And I just keep telling him, No, no I haven’t. Has he seen any rock-monsters? Like.... Gorignak-style rock-monsters? He keeps saying No.... no he hasn’t.)

And then there was QUINCE.

Quince was standing a little away from the stable, in the company of a shepherd-dog, both of them gazing intently into some distant hills.

When I approached him, he started, “What the—seriously? Another guy?” And he lamented to me that that was all there were around here. Just guys.

And I raised my eyebrows as I recalled—he was right; I hadn’t seen any women. I guess we were quite close to Hyrule Castle. Womenfolk probably wouldn’t want to come out here....

“And when we finally were visited by a Zora,” Quince continued, “turned out it was just some manly prince guy who’s a dude.”

Oh, so Prince Sidon had come all the way out here, too....

I asked Quince about the Zora.

“The Zora? They’re like.... slippery fish people,” he so eloquently explained.

Hm, seemed I may have been meant to come to this stable some time much earlier.

But no worries.

Quince also told me about his dog. Natty, I think, was its name [it was Satty]. He asked me if I wanted to know how they met; it sounded like it was an involved story....

But I told him I’d listen.

There was a mountain, he said, Satori Mountain I think he said it was called. At certain times on Satori Mountain, animals of all kinds would appear, and so Quince had gone there to go hunting for game.

He asked me if I was bored. I told him to keep going.

Did he say the animals all disappeared at one point? Or could he just not find them to begin with? I don’t remember. He said at some point there were no animals, but there appeared before him a large, glowing beast.

“And then?” I prompted him when he paused.

He ran for it, and this glowing beast chased him through the mountain I gather, until at some point he was cornered. The beast loomed over him....

“And then?”

All of a sudden this tiny little pup comes out of nowhere, jumps between him and the beast, and starts yapping and growling, and the beast, ten times its size, pulls up short, startled.

“AND THEN??”

In that split-second when the beast took pause, Quince gets up, grabs the pup, and bolts down the mountain and he made it away to safety.

PHEWF.

And that was where his Natty came from, and they’d been together ever since.

Heh, Quince was quite a good storyteller.

....

I’ve seen a strange mountain sometimes when I scan the horizons with my scope. It’s quite plain and dun, a little lumpy but otherwise fairly conical. Something.... glows at its crest. I wonder if that’s the same mountain....

Perhaps an excursion for another day.

Kass had been the first person I had spoken to at the stable, in another life, in another save. (I’d quit the game under some intrusive buzzkill. It was only a little deviation....)

Now he was the last person I spoke to.

Because he did what he did before, and asked if I’d like to hear another song of his.

And I said Yes.

It was longer, this one, and it told the tale of the Hero of ten thousand years ago, same as Impa had told me. How the land of Hyrule had been prosperous, and advanced, and protected.... and how they had prepared against Calamity Ganon by building the Guardians, and the Divine Beasts.... and how the Champions who piloted the Divine Beasts had aided the Hero, and how the Guardians had protected the Hero, and how the Hero had struck Ganon down, and how the Princess with Goddess’ blood had sealed Calamity Ganon away with her holy powers....

Very nice song.

Seemed the Wetland Stable was just full of good storytellers.

Kass returned to his counterpoint (which I’m pretty sure included sections of Epona’s Song) as I parted ways with him.

I’d had a fine time familiarizing myself with some of the stable people, but I really did need to do that shrine. It’d be nice to have another warpable here off the wetlands.