The Weapon Connoisseur

Waking of Sunday, February 24, 2019

The Weapon Connoisseur

I jumped off Kass’ Landing in Rito Village, and sailed for the western shores of Totori Lake. Making my way back to Gisa Crater and its sleeping Talus, I set out to continue my exploration of the western edges of the Tabantha Frontier. I killed the Talus, kept on northward, killed a Lynel—Silver. Gads, why are they all so strong now?—but could not find any shrines anywhere. Where are the shriiiiines....

I might have spoiled myself some days ago; I’ve heard a number on the shrines. I have 117 right now. Not many more to go, I think.

But I still couldn’t find any just now.

After exploring around far and wide, hunting high and low and still coming up empty.... I decided I wanted to try and finish Nebb’s quest instead. That would certainly still throw me for a world tour; I could still keep my eyes open for shrines.... just passively rather than actively.

I checked my quest log to see what weapon Nebb wanted to see next....

Where the heck could I find an Ancient Battle Axe +?

My Compendium said Hyrule Field and the Akkala Highlands.

Hmm.

So I started checking the shrines around those parts. I found a few with some little Guardian baddies inside, namely KAAM YA’TAK for one.... but none wherein the baddies had that weapon.

So I tried Katah Chuki. A Minor Test of Strength. And to my surprise.... the enemy popped up again! Even though I’d defeated it!

THEY RESURRECT. The Test of Strength Guardians come back.

I wonder if they do that every time you enter, or just on Blood Moons....

Unfortunately Katah Chuki’s Guardian Scout carried only a regular Ancient Battle Axe. And so I decided to bump it up a notch and return to the shrine of Muwo Jeem, way out on the east end—the Modest Test of Strength. My first Modest Test of Strength. The only shrine-fight I had ever run away from....

And this Guardian Scout—IS THAT THE WEAPON I’M LOOKING FOR? I thought madly as I sported with it!

I killed the thing, and.... IT WAS!

An Ancient Battle Axe +!

I took it to Nebb, and let him have a good long look at it, and he gave me a silver rupee! 100 rupees! Man his pockets were deep.

“Grandpa said ‘Give it to the one who shows you how to fight!’” he said happily.

Aww, this kid had such a great grandpa. ^_^

And then.... NEXT, he says.... he wants to see a Frost Spear.

Well that should be easy, I thought, I just saw some guys with that kinda thing over in Hebra when I was wandering around.

And I spent the next very long time bouncing back and forth between Hebra and the Gerudo Highlands looking for a Frostspear. It’s one word. Frostspear.

No.

Luck.

ANYWHERE.

I looked around for so long. David recommened I just turn on my sensor. I told him I didn’t have a picture of one.

“Oh.”

I looked and looked and looked....

Nothing.

I tried jogging out west from Selmie’s spot and paragliding to the big baddie treehouse on the very northern border. I swooped down from higher up the mountain, drawing nearer to the monster-nest, lookin’, lookin’.... oops they saw me.

One of ‘em sounded a horn and they all flew into a tizzy, yowling insults and casting arrows of various types.... Okay just scan, I thought, staying on the move, scan, scan.... Nobody’s got it. I couldn’t see a Frostspear anywhere.

So I dropped to the ground, started from there, and just marathoned it back to the east. The frigid shelf of land was not broad, and there were plenty of baddies. Surely somebody had to have the wanted Frostspear....

I was running, running, there were guys blowing their horns and shooting arrows after me, wolves howling—so many freaking wolves—more baddies, Lizalfos either popping out of the snow or jumping out of their ill-camouflaged hunkerings. None of them had the spear that I wanted.

Man, it’s everywhere except when you’re trying to find it.

I was coming up to a skull-den. Somehow the lookouts didn’t see me until I’d come up the left side and around to the front. Ran right in the open mouth. Three Bokoblins and two Lizalfos. But no Frostspears. Ran back out as fast as I’d run in.

Of course they all started at once and came chasing after me. Monsters were yammering all over the snow in pursuit, the animals were going nuts, every creature was freaking all the other creatures out, a rhinoceros was chasing me....

When suddenly I came upon Lynel country. Silver to boot....

Nope. Not again. Where the heck was I?

I considered my surroundings and realized I’d reached the northern end of the snowfield. I was back in the familiar territories.

Hey, I thought, the shrine is right there. That shrine at the north end of Hebra’s big snowfield. And according to my Slate, there was treasure left inside it. I went to check it out....

No luck.

But the shrine gave me an idea—there were other shrines, plenty of other shrines, where I had likewise left treasure unclaimed. Weapons for which I had no room in my hammerspace. Maybe one of those had been a Frostspear....

So I started looking in shrines whose treasure I had left. Not a lot of luck. A whole lot of not luck. In all the icy regions. I searched and searched and searched every icebound shrine I could find.... And in one icy shrine, I found a FLAMESPEAR.

NOT THE KIND OF THING I WAS LOOKING FOR.

So that’s the game, is it?

I went to the volcano for a bit to look at the unclaimed treasures in shrines there. No luck there either.

Where where where where wheeeeerrrrrre....

In my Slate I looked at the shrine at the Spring of Wisdom. It was a Blessing Shrine. It had treasure unclaimed. That would be easy enough to check. Easier than a combat shrine anyway....

So I went there, and I checked.

AND IT WAS A FROST SPEAR.

YES.

I warped straight to Hateno, straight to Nebb, and showed it.

Gold Rupee. 300 rupees. Oh he liked that.

“Grandpa said ‘Give it to the one who can show you the real deal!’”

Where was his grandpa getting all this cash anyway? Must’ve been a real doter....

Next....

Oh man, Nebb, how far can you take this? But I had hope.... 300 rupees was the highest value you could go in one gem. Surely this would be the last thing.

Next Nebb wanted to see.... an Ancient Short Sword. “You can’t get those around here,” he said as my only clue.

Ancient Short Sword?

I had a one-handed Guardian blade in my inventory, but that wasn’t what it was called.

Hm, I could only think of one place to try....

Robbie.

Away to Akkala I went, and checked in at the Tech Lab. The Ancient Short Sword was there. Cherry could make that all right. For a thousand rupees, a bunch of nuts and bolts or whatever and two of my precious ancient cores? (Out of eleven, one of which I’d only just bought from Teli in Hateno on a rainy day.)

I came back out and paused to check my Ancient Armor. It was already upgraded all the way.

....

Hnnng. I could.... spare the cores....

I asked Cherry for the Short Sword. Freakin’ thing so expensive when weapons were so transient anyway....

And she made it. 40 damage. Looked cool.

Back to Hateno.

But Nebb was headed to bed.

Dang it!

Okay, okay.... It had been this long, it could be a little longer. I slept in my house, too. And had Blood Moon dreams.

The next morning I did some shopping around town: arrows, Bomb Arrows, Tabantha Wheat.... Came out of the shop and it was hard to tell all those little running kids apart when they wouln’t stop moving....

But I eventually found Nebb around midday, playing with his sister Narah.

And I showed him the Ancient Short Sword.

And he gave me a diamond.

“Just like in the books!” He thrilled. He was always saying things like that.

He was really pleased.

“Thanks for showing me so many things! I’m sure my grandpa is super happy... wherever he is! Bye!”

I drew a quick breath. Wait.... his grandpa.... who gave him all these rupees, he was.... was he....?

Nebb?

And before I knew it the banner flashed across my screen, the gleaming sound effect sheened, and I’d completed the The Weapon Connoisseur sidequest.

What.... but....

Uh?

The sidequest notes confirmed it for me:

You showed Nebb, the young man in Hateno Village, all the weapons he could ever want to see. He rewarded you with a diamond.

He feels that his grandfather is unquestionably smiling down on him from the next world now.

....

Man.

Nebb.... I’m sorry for thinking ill of you.

It was late and.... I needed to go to bed, and.... it was late afternoon for Link, so.... I’d put him to bed, too.

I took him back to his Hateno House, and because I am a girl, I first had him remove the Master Sword, and the faithful Rusty Shield that has seen me through all the way from Divine Beast Vah Medoh, and the Knight’s Bow. And I put him in his Warm Doublet because it looked warm yet loose-fitting, and his Snowquill Trousers because they looked comfortably warm as well.... and I put him to bed.

Good night, Hero.

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.

The Windy Canyon

Waking of Friday, January 11, 2019

The Windy Canyon

Ahhhh, Rito Village.

I wanted to find a shrine. There must have been another shrine.

I warped to Robbie’s to check that strange jut of land I had seen on my map—the one at the east end of that chasm that separated Hyrule from the north countries. It was just a raised bit of the topo that ran between the chasm and the eastern sea, flat for a good while as it jutted north off the Hyrulean landmass, and then degrading into rugged and more treacherous spiky formations that marched away to the northeast and off the edge of nowhere.

I had to kill a Lynel before I got there—such a daunting thing before—but once I’d made it to the spot, there was nothing to find after all. No hidden alcoves. Just that chime and You can’t go any farther once I came to the end of the flat part.

Filled with a kind of loneliness, I only gazed out into the mist and across the chasm to the towering northlands. Out of reach.

It looked kinda cool, so I took a pictograph.

After a brief warp to the Great Fairy Mija to upgrade my Barbarian Leg Wraps with a giant fairy-kiss to the face.... I consulted my map to see if I could find any other places I’d never tracked out on foot.

Tanagar Canyon. I’d never combed its bottom.

And so it was a warp to the Snowfield Stable and a jog and paraglide down onto the roof of the Forgotten Temple.

I had my work cut out for me here—Tanagar Canyon was huge.

The windy canyon stretched on and on before me, an endless beige track beneath the strip of sky over my head. Ruins and rubbled bits of stonework littered its floor, becoming more sparse as I moved away from the Forgotten Temple. These were hardly replaced by what scanty scrub had been able to take root in the bone-dry earth down here. And there were hecktons of wolves. Lots and lots and lots of wolves.

Dinraal passed overhead twice, but he was far out of reach of any of my bows.

And then my shrine detector went off! :D

I went and found it! It lay secluded in a jagged little corner veering off to the right—the north side—and back behind some large rocks. The Dunba Taag Shrine.

“Build and Release” was the name of the trial inside—it was a DEVILISH Stasis-based Shrine.

And that made 28 Spirit Orbs.

I must pray now, I thought.

But I am so tired.

I kept going, down to the south end of Tanagar Canyon—it curved that way—until I found a Goron who ran.... the Boom Bam Golf! Course.

The Boom Bam Golf! Course was a long, raised strip of the lower bedrock with some minor lateral angling to it, which connected to a large mound at one end with a sizeable depression in its middle. And a very tall flagpole.

Like any good Goron, this one, Modar, huffed and puffed and groared and whooped about the sheer and raw amazingness of his game and how awesome one would be to play it. He actually asked me, “if ya got the stones to strut your stuff in a game of BOOM BAM GOLF!”

Oh wow I can’t believe a Zelda game just said that! XD

So I played it. It was fun.

I didn’t like wearing down my weapons unnecessarily just to whack around the big Stasised golf ball, but....

It was fun.

I kept going. And toward the very last southern end of Tanagar Canyon, as the ground began to rise again.... brreep-brreep! went my shrine detector!

The canyon floor came gently up, curled around to the right and back northward, and it was there that I found the Kah Okeo Shrine, buried in a hole in the ground under a giant slab.

OH MY GOSH WIND GUIDE—THIS TRIAL—

THIS SHRINE WAS DISGUSTING.

But as soon as I had beaten it—Oh, I saw.

I guess that’s 29 Spirit Orbs now. Oops.

I was out of gas. I wandered north. The impassable chasm gaped stark and dusty to my left. Seas to the east and south, chasms and deserts to the north and west.... I wondered what the lands beyond were like....

Wandered north over the same beige rock.

Found a Gisa Crater with a Talus sleeping in the middle of it.

Pass.

This western coast of the country was long. And I was tired.

I called it a day, went to Pepp’s, and slept.

I guess I have 29 Spirit Orbs now. But I’ll pray next time anyway.

Korok Trials

Waking of Saturday, December 29, 2018 ~ 2

Korok Trials

Augh.

On that unhappy note and yet with plenty of energy left to play.... I remembered David’s blatant tut-tutting over my sparsely-filled map of the Great Hyrule Forest. The look he’d given me....

There were shrines to get there.

I didn’t feel like getting them then. That memory had been heavy. But they were there to get, and I knew I wanted to get them eventually. So.... I went to get them.

And, upon warping to the Korok Forest, for the very first time I acknowledged that little Korok near the entrance to the Navel who was always trying to get my attention—Chio was his name—and he told me all about the Korok Trials.

There were three of them, one each to the southwest, to the northwest, and to the east. These must have been the ends of those paths I’d always seen meandering off into the trees beneath the giant bean-pods....

Well.... I went to it.

The first trial, to the southwest, was the Trial of Second Sight. A Korok named Zooki stood a little along the path and gave me a few pointers....

I don’t suppose I really knew what I was expecting. I guess I’d just imagined that the warmly lit forest simply extended further out, rolling into grassy wilds and forests full of animals and useful herbs.... I was only a little surprised when, moving away from the Great Deku Tree, the oppressive, curling mist returned, darkening the world while the Piano once again closed on its repetitive G in petrified focus.

I had to find my way again. But this time, instead of following embers in the breeze, I had to follow metal. There were more of those gape-mouthed trees—nothing but those gape-mouthed trees—and some of them had great stones in their mouths, and some of these stones were metal.

Activating my slate’s Magnesis, I could see the metallic glow through the mist like flags through a sandstorm, and I followed it into the gloom....

At times it became a little tricky. Once I had to climb to the top of a tree in order to spy the next path-marker. But after a short time (and only a few baddies) I made it to the edge of a small lake—Lake Saria.

There was a bit more Magnesing and moving things around between the horrible, gaping trees; and for a time, and in light of some of the local signposts, they seemed almost a friendly, relatable lot....

And then after a short, leaf-powered raft-ride across the deadly still and silent lake, and one more placement of a metal chest inside a tree’s mouth.... the Kuhn Sidajj Shrine came towering up out of the earth with all the ungodly, earth-shattering tempestuocity of a rising Morla.

The Piano didn’t like it....

I guess nothing so still and focused ever would.

It was a Blessing Shrine.

After I’d come out, I saw on my map that I was quite close to the edge of the island—the Hyrule Great Forest, it’s surrounded by a misty lake on most sides.

Hm, I guess technically that’d make it a peninsula.

Anyway, I pressed on into the misty trees to see if I could make it to the shore; I could see the gaps through the last standing trunks, or I thought I could....

But the fog swallowed me again, as it had when I’d strayed from the path into the woods.

I turned up back at the shrine.

I think I just warped back to the shrine in Korok Forest.

The second trial, to the northwest, was called The Lost Pilgrimage.

This one was a bit more challenging, in that somebody else was already taking it. One Korok, Tasho, wanted me to watch over her little one, Oaki, as he made his way to the shrine at the far end. The only catch was that she didn’t want him to know about it! Because if he found out someone was babysitting him.... Well he’d just have to quit and start over and do the thing properly.

Can’t say I blame him.

So I had to stay out of sight. The curling mist made this fairly easy.... but it also made it exceedingly difficult to keep track of him whenever he had a spurt of confidence and dashed forward and ahead. He was a short little thing in the grass!

Most of the time I was just crouching through the grass behind him, and could overhear him muttering encouragements or questionings to himself.... More than once he squeaked something like, “What was that?” and whirled around. Once he even backtracked to have a look.

He caught me.... more than a few times. And he started over each time.

But I kept trying and Tasho kept putting me up to it and Oaki kept waddling off into the gloom.... And he was a slow walker.

Well, I guess his legs were shorter. Can’t fault him there.

Stray tree branches dropped. Oaki whirled. And I hid myself.

Oaki paused and ducked down. “Ooh, what pretty flowers!” I heard him say. And I just had to wait.

Once, a wolf howled.

糟糕透了！ಥ⩄ಥ

I don’t think Oaki saw it. But it saw me.

How do you engage a feral beast on eggshells?

How do you swing your sword (for which Link always emits a shout) when you’re pretending to be a tree?

I don’t know, but I seemed to have done it. Fortunately I’d lately become more expert at battling wolves. You can’t Z-target onto them, you know. Er, L-target.

When they bark, they’re about to lunge. When they lunge, just sidestep to avoid it, and while they’re close.... slash!

Did Oaki hear me? It had only taken one cut, maybe two, to put the thing down....

I found him again and kept following.

Late on the third or fourth or fifth attempt, I caught the shrine’s orange glow in the distance, and followed after Oaki very carefully. After how many times he’d discovered me I wasn’t going back to the beginning now!

And so I waited, and waited, and waited, until the Korok was completely done moving, before I approached.

“Guess what, Mr. Hero! I did the trial all by myself! Aren’t I brave?” he chirped.

Oh son.

He went on. “Oh, you’re probably here for the shrine. Why don’t you go take a look?” he said, or something like it.

And I went and claimed the monk’s blessing from the Daag Chokah Shrine.

And after I came back out, I just found my own way back to Korok Forest. I’d walked the route enough times.

The third and final trial, to the east, was called the Test of Wood. At this trailhead, a Korok named Damia presented me with a series of Forest Dweller’s gear—a sword, a shield, and a bow. They were all made of wood. The Forest Dweller’s Shield was quite stylish, actually; I’d seen David with that one....

He said all I had to do was keep these items equipped and intact, and get from where I was now, to the shrine at the end of the trail. It sounded simple, he knew, but he said most people thought this was the most difficult of the Korok Trials.

“I said it was SIMPLE, I never said it was easy!” I thought of the Witch of the Walls again.

What was down this path....?

As I moved ahead and the mist pressed in once again, I soon found out: it was an absolute nightmare of lesser monsters, manifesting a variety of elemental affinities. Common garden Keese and Blue Chuchus gave way to Fire Keese and Electric Chuchus, a host of Octoroks leapt up from boggy pitfalls to spit rocks, and the branches above were crawling with bow-wielding Bokoblins.

Indeed it was dicey for the first little while, even at church-mouse speeds. I could handle the brutes as they came one or two at a time, but I wasn’t sure how many monsters there would be to defeat—I didn’t want to lay too many strokes to my wooden sword, or pounds to my wooden bow. But eventually I did get to an especially boggy spot where the lower beasties tapered off, and it was just me and the Bokoblins.

But then.... I’d had them fooled from the start.

Damia hadn’t said anything about Masks.

In the swamped out area just before the shrine, I traipsed a winding and circuitous course across half-sunken logs in the bubbling bog, under the watchful and curious gaze of no fewer than three armed Bokoblins in the tree branches above.

Thank—you—Kilton.

Once I was clear of the muck I entered the Maag Halan Shrine for the final blessing of the Korok Trials.

After reporting back to Chio, he gave me some prize I don’t remember, and I decided to climb up to the crown of the Deku Tree to have another visit with that Colonel Mustard....

Walton was his actual name. Walton the Korok.

There was one more trial up where he perched, I knew. I’d declined taking it before. But I’d been a few places by now. I felt more confident I’d be ready for his Ultimate Challenge....

At it turned out, the Ultimate Korok Challenge didn’t even entail going anywhere. Walton simply recited a series of riddles for me to solve. The riddles gave clues to certain objects, and if I could lay those objects down on the platter-sized leaf in front of him, he would give me prizes!

And, I must say, these were some of the cleverer rhymes I’d seen in this game—and some of the rhymes were subverted on the last word, a la Sweet Violets! It was hilarious.

There were five riddles in all, I think, and my inventory was so full (I almost always made sure to keep at least one of every item I’d ever found), that I had very little trouble laying down the items Walton was looking for.

An apple.... a certain breed of fish....

The fifth and final riddle I had actually seen previously, while David had been playing:

If stepped on by this, you will go poof!

It starts with an H and ends with an oof!

I’d known what it must have been right away.

But David had never killed a Lynel.

I’m only a little sorry to say I took some pleasure in watching him crack his head over it. What could it beeee? he wondered.

I didn’t spoil him too bad, but after only minimal nudging on my part he came to the conclusion on his own that it must indeed be a hoof from a Lynel.

He’d never killed a Lynel before....!

I wanted to watch him complete this last test for Walton.

I was happy to offer guidance on where to find good Lynels to fight, and he took it. And that is how I got David to FINALLY talk to the Zora Laflat so he could get the Zora Pants.

But first he had to climb Ploymus Mountain and have it out with the Devil....

Fortunately for him, I had already carried out enough trials and errors to know how to stand up to them decently enough.

He did well! Though, like me, he did burn his fair share of restorative items through the fray. But that was kind of to be expected, when it was a matter of Lynels.

And so it came to pass that David slew his very first Lynel. And when he brought the hoof back to Walton, he was able to finally complete the Ultimate Korok Challenge.

Just like I was going to do, now....

And after that....

After that....

Didn’t know what to do. Hhhh, how the heck was I gonna find an Ancient Battle Axe+ for Nebb? I had 21 Spirit Orbs; maybe I should have prayed.... Wandered around. Gorko’s Tunnel on the volcano? Still couldn’t solve it. Asked around Goron City to no avail. Saw the sleeping Gerudo. Was jealous. I just wanted to sleep....

I dipped around for only a little bit more before.... I headed back to Pepp’s, and bed.

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.

The Lynels' Corridor

Waking of Saturday, June 10, 2017

The Lynels’ Corridor

Well, what started out as a plan to go get hornshards from Farosh.... ended up as a wandering exploration of the Faron region.... disguised as a giant Korok hunt. I climbed all over the hills above Malanya’s spring, meandered around the seashore, found some more Guardians—I’ve been marking them on my map. It’s creepy when the normal, healthy ones with working legs just sit there.... unmoving.... like enormous spiders....

My wanderings brought me westward, through a great mess of mounted bokoblins, and toward a place David had said he’d really liked. On the west side of Faron were some grasslands running north to south between a green ridge on the east side and some bare beige tiered mountains on the west side, part of the Gerudo Highlands I think. Maybe.

These grasslands had a name, but I do not remember it.

I simply called it.... The Lynels’ Corridor.

For there were two of them in there.

I started at the south end, and stayed on the east side, atop the green ridge. The first Lynel I saw I tried casting bombs at, but he soon got wise to my presence—over such a distance—and started shooting Shock Arrows back at me. At first they sailed over my head and away into the countryside, but then.... mm he must have pulled some different tactic.... lightning came bolting out of the sky....

I ran away—remembering to go back and grab the Korok Leaf I’d dropped when I got zapped!—until he finally lost interest.

Further north along the Corridor, there was another Lynel.

For this one, I situated myself on a little shelf of rock where I could not be seen from the valley floor—and commenced another game of Bomb-Golf.

It took some doing I tell you what but after a great many bombs over a few days and nights—I had slain the northern Lynel.

Evening was coming on, and lest there was a Blood Moon coming I paraglided down and quickly scooped up his remains—a Lynel hoof, a Lynel horn, a Lynel Spear, a Lynel BOW. Among other things I’m sure.

Craving the high ground once again, I climbed round a single tall butte and up into the stony Gerudo Highlands on the west side this time. I didn’t fancy being on the valley floor if there were any more Lynels about.

I thought to go farther north to continue my bird’s eye sweep of the Corridor, but there was a Guardian in the way. It was on a lower shelf of the mountains than where I was, but I didn’t care for the lively patrol it kept of that area.

So I climbed up to the next shelf, looking for a bypass....

As it turned out there were quite a few things in the way up here! More Guardians—thank you, pictobox feature—wolves, electric keese....

Just too many hassles that I didn’t want to bother with. And so every time I encountered one.... I just kept climbing up to the next shelf.

I came to one place where a Decayed Guardian sat in a wide, bare expanse of sandy stone, and at something of a risk to my general wellbeing I paraglided onto a nearby overhang to flush up a Korok. (There were a few Koroks up here, too.)

And as I stood on that tall, tall outcropping of stone, I looked into the low clouds on the other side of these Highlands, to the west.... and I saw it.

It was an island—and it was moving.

Strange movements. Rotational and sharp, as if it were timed for something, as if you had to paraglide from those crags to the north to get onto it properly. What in....?

It turned, machine-like, swiveling under the single pine tree at its crest—no there were two islands, one had been behind—

No.... not islands....

“That’s a Divine Beast,” I said, eyes wide in awe.

No one was in the room with me.

Two great humps with strange spires on top of them, the curving neck with the weird head....

That was a Divine Beast.

I remembered the name Vah Naboris from Impa’s tale. Was this that beast? It sounded like Nabooru, a Gerudo name.... and this seemed to be Gerudo territory.... though admittedly I hadn’t seen any Gerudo since Karsh, long, long ago at the rainy Woodland Stable.

And that one in my memory at the Sacred Ground.

I was curious about the northern part of that Corridor, but.... with so many Guardians and other things in the way.... the route I was on wasn’t exactly ideal.

I headed south again.

And of course there in my way again were—

“Wolves,” I growled, “we don’t need their scum.” XD

I climbed up to the next shelf and kept heading south, getting quite far this time.... back down south along the Corridor....

I had seen a pillar of black smoke somewhere down there, on a high ledge near the southern mouth of the Corridor. I may even have seen it from as far away as the Highland Stable and the Ka’o Makagh Shrine. In my experience, black smoke meant bad guys. White smoke meant good guys I think. But all smoke.... had a kind of interesting draw to it.... Agh, like a moth to a flame, I just wanna see what’s going on!

I could see the smoke ahead of me now, south along the shelves of the Highlands. It had come in and out of view, disappearing and reappearing.... But now as I was higher up about its level, I kind of wanted to go find its source.

Before I got there however, I came across a huge saddle in the mountain: a vast, bare stretch of grit and gravel cut east to west through the Highlands like the devil’s own highway. It looked.... somehow contrived. Not natural. In my mind’s eye I could see the massive Vah Naboris treading along it....

My but I wondered what could be that way.... the bending of the ground brought the tempting horizon much too close....

Hmmm but I was getting tired. I really felt like I should just find a shrine and stop or something; it was my bedtime.

I marked the Devil’s Own Highway with a little line of stars on my map (it was in an empty blue region I had not yet downloaded into my Slate), and turned back to the east. There below me was the southern mouth of the Lynel’s Corridor. I could just jog on across it and back to the green ridge on the east side, and then go north. Maybe I’d finally reach the northern end....

When 說曹操曹操到！ My shrine-locator started beeping.

And there was the smokestack! Right there! Just a few shelves downhill.

Hmm, seemed like the shrine signal and the smoke were coming from near the same spot! How interesting....

As I approached—scaring up two Koroks very close by—I could see a lot of messy piles of bones and things around the Shrine.... looked like a bad guy camp. But I couldn’t see any Bokoblins around....

I climbed up over the rock, dropped down into a little shallow bit where most of the garbage was, and found.... a woman, brandishing a ladle at a giant hunk of gourmet meat in a wok over a fire.

It was black.

“Who are you?” she said.

“Who are YOU?” I replied.

Her name was Moza, and for the sake of becoming a better cook, she was training in isolation.

“Your smoke signal?” I asked.

“Smoke signal?” she said, puzzled, “Oh you mean the dish I’m making?” or something like that.

“It’s burning,” I said, “Badly.”

And that ruffed her feathers all right.

She taught me some.... recipes of her own design. Lavish Meat Dish: meat and ore. Ancient Meat Dish: meat and ancient parts. Ultimate Survival Dish: straight up monster parts.

“That sounds gross,” I said.

“HEY!” she yelled back at me, “If you want to be an ultimate survivor then you’ve got to be willing to eat anything!”

I don’t think.... there was any helping her.

I left her to it.

And approached the shrine. The surrounding garbage piles were.... multitudinous. Flies buzzed loudly and nastily. Ugh. What a horrible place for a shrine.

The Ishto Soh Shrine – Bravery’s Grasp the trial inside was called.

I still have no idea what to do with that moving platform on the floor.

Somehow I made it up those stairs and to the monk.

Oh I would dearly love to see David attempt that one....

Might just do it again. To save my bow.

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....