Castle Goods, COD

Waking of Saturday, March 23, 2019 ~ 2

Castle Goods, COD

I looked back at the castle. The current had carried me far to the west. When—

What? There were.... more Luminous stones? There on the more western side of the castle’s back. I could see them glowing in a little clump.

Did that mean another entrance? Another secret passage?

And what was that hole in the wall over there? Was that real? Or a trick of the polygons? For the polygons had tricked me before, over great, unresolved distances....

I considered the distant gleaming, but.... I had just been INSIDE THE CASTLE.

I had just escaped being inside the castle.

Never mind. I was hungry and my body was tired or it should have been.

I would go to Woodland Stable.

....

No, first.... I pulled up my Sheikah Slate, scoped in on the questionable spot, and tested placing a beacon through it.

The ascending light shaft broke through one of the great stone shelves of the castle’s island.

That was a hole in the wall....

What could it be....?

....

Later.

I hoofed it to Woodland and spoke to Kish, asking him to gimme Memory. It seemed appropriate.

Rode Memory to Riverside Stable, just going by sight mostly. Didn’t even stop for the Korok at Thims Bridge. I did stop for Leekah, though. Like I do.... That poor girl....

I got to Riverside eventually, and boarded Memory with Ember. Good lookin’ guy.

Gotter and Parcy were here, but.... it was raining. I couldn’t cook the royal recipes for Gotter. But I could still visit with Parcy in the Stable.

I showed her the Royal Guard’s Sword.

She was amazed.

So amazed in fact that she gave me 300 rupees for the privilege.

Well that was right dandy!

Then she asked if I’d be willing to trade it for a sapphire.

Dude. Do you know where I went to get this?

I declined.

It was late. I decided I may as well sleep off the rain. I could cook in the morning. Hopefully the wok would be lit....

Ember gave me a bed and I had Blood Moon dreams....

Woke up.

Wok’s not lit.

It wasn’t even raining.

I didn’t have time for this.

I SHOT A FIRE ARROW AT IT.

This startled Gotter, who was standing hard by.

I made a fruitcake. Wheat, sugar, one Wildberry and one Hearty Durian.

(It seemed to be a super-food, as indicated by the extra music and Link’s salivatory anticipation animation.)

Hhhh, and I’d only had two wheats.

That’s okay.

I gave it to Gotter.

“Fruit cake said to have been eaten by the Princess of Hyrule! How can I describe this experience?” he mused as he tried it. “A refreshing aroma reminiscent of galloping across these majestic planes on horseback...”

SSSSSIIIIICCCCC. Planes. Lol.

“No, that undersells the dish’s complexity,” he went on, “It fills me with that heart-thumping intensity that seizes your very soul when you’re spotted by a Guardian!”

Oh gosh I hoped not.

“A truly elegant dish! I never thought I would taste something quite so thrilling.”

And then he told me he must express his gratitude.... and he gave me 100 rupees.

Awesome.

Now for the Chancellor’s dish. Monster Cake—

Oh.... but the quest banner flashed across the screen and said Complete.

....

Maybe I’d make it anyway. Or another fruitcake. For me.

I talked to Gotter to see what he had to say.

“Recipes of the Hyrulean royal family... If there are more of them out there, I’d like to try them.”

Okay then!

One Monster Cake, comin’ up.

There went my last wheat, my second to last sugar, one of only a handfull of butter, and one of another handful of monster exract.

Monster cake!

Said to have been a favorite of the minster of Hyrule.

How had I guessed this recipe correctly when I made it on the first try for Hunnie?

“It tastes...beautiful... How can I put it into words?” said Gotter, “It’s like biting into a Chuchu...”

The heck?? XD XD

“No, no, that would be disgusting and dangerous. It stimulates the brain, much like being pummeled by a Hinox!”

Heh, I like this guy’s way with words. XD

“A truly elegant dish! I never thought I would taste something quite so thrilling,” he repeated, and gave me 100 rupees again.

Nice.

And when I spoke to him again....

“I think I’ll continue to practice my cooking on unsuspecting inn patrons like yourself.”

And that was all.

Heh, good luck, Gotter.

....

I’m going to Hateno to hang up these rare weapons.

Took out Knight.... rode, rode.... Man, rescuing people is a hassle. But I can’t not do it....

I finally get near Hateno, and.... fighting the dang silver Bokoblin what was attacking those sisters.... my weapon shattered.

WAIT.

WHAT.

....

“Your Royal Guard’s Sword broke!”?

NO. NOPE. It was still equipped after talking to Parcy. Nope. I am reloading.

Back to Riverside. Give Gotter the second dish over again.

Just warp to Hateno.

Do. And display all the Royal Guard’s Crap in the center of their respective walls. Bow, Sword, and Shield.

9:50 am. Sleep ‘til noon.

G’NIGHT EVERYBODY!

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.

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.

RETURN OF THE FOOL

Waking of Saturday, April 22, 2017

RETURN OF THE FOOL

I’d been trying so long.... so hard....

I’d wanted so badly to find Mei....

“Have you tried playing with your gloves yet?”

“Hah, I don’t think I’d be able to control it....” Unless I cut the fingertips off, but I don’t want to do that!

“Sure you could!”

“What were your joysticks like?”

“Well this one over here had to move like this, and like this.... and this one moved like this.... and on this one were the buttons for—”

Dad went on explaining the various cockpit functions. I didn’t really pay the closest attention until something lodged in my perceptual filter:

“And on top, we had a little tiny joystick for—”

“You had thumbsticks?” I blurted.

“Yeah.”

“And you could control them?”

“Oh yeah. It was easy.”

“With your gloves on and everything?”

“Yup!”

I might have been too impressed with just that to remember to argue that Well, did you have a bunch of little thumb buttons and a D-pad?

Maybe someday I’ll try playing with the flight gloves on. I could practice on the Plateau. :)

He used to do a lot of search and rescue, Dad did.

Search and Rescue.

Search and Rescue....

It was a heroic thing. He even saved lives.

Heroic....

Heroic Search and Rescue....

What—

What kind of Hero was I, if I couldn’t even find one slippery fish woman?

Blow it.

Blow it all, Robbie!

I had some Searching and Rescuing to do!

I WAS GOING TO FIND MEI. Because she was missing, and her husband and children needed her to be all right.

I ran out the door of the Woodland Stable and plunged down the road that Zorona never followed and that Molo only dreamed about.

I’M COMING TO SAVE YOU, MEI!

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.

What I Came For

Waking of Friday, April 14, 2017 ~ 8

What I Came For

I thought I’d heard of a Shiekah Tower like this from Joseph. Something about bogs.... something about the tower being surrounded by giant stones.... something about bombs....

But I don’t think this was that tower.

This tower did indeed have one large grey stone of some kind beside it in the bog. But there was also some strange, large.... dark.... rounding kind of shape high atop its crown. It was difficult to make out from below.

I remembered the Hateno Tower and its briars. Was this another obstacle, only situated at the top instead of crawling along its length? But it looked too thick and solid to be briars. Oh gosh, had bad guys taken it over? Would I have to fight them up there once I scaled it?

I had been so confused as to what was on top of this tower, and I wanted to get rid of it or burn it off it as soon as I could.

But when I came close I understood. And I didn’t think fire was gonna do it.

The large grey stone at the tower’s base and the dark rounding shape at its crown were two halves of a bokoblins’ skull-den—those skull-shaped cave-enclosures they like to hide in. The tower’s eruption from the ground must have cracked this one in two. And now this Sheikah Tower had.... well a very nice lid I guess.

A hat like a big busted eggshell.

Well that was swell.

Wished I could’ve removed it.

Especially once I reached the top—that thick stone casing really obstructed the view. But, no matter. I just had to distill the rune and my map could tell me of the surroundings.... This would tell me the river’s course.

This would tell me about Mei.

I activated the pedestal. The runes dripped down, the teardrop fell into my Sheikah Slate....

According to the map, the river out of the wetlands ran right through Ganon’s backyard. I could even see what must have been the dock Molo had said was situated just north of the castle—the way to get inside, he’d said.

It was all too close.

The castle was right there.

Traveling that way.... I could very well be seeking my own death.

Not now. Not in my present state.

Mei, I’m sorry.... but I have to get to Akkala.

If they don’t find you soon, then I will.... when I’m strong enough to do so.

My map also said there was a Great Hyrule Forest to the north, but.... I couldn’t see it at all from the tower-top. Nor could I see the castle very well. The big dratted stone casing was in the way.

But then I considered.... well....

Did I really want to be visible to the great Calamity, at the top of a glowing blue tower so close to the castle?

Maybe the eggshell cap wasn’t so bad.

I spent a while at the top of the tower; I could still see a great distance over a broad area. I even counted the towers I had already been to; I could see all of them but Hateno. The Dueling Peaks looked like molehills, and the Great Plateau was so far away and tiny....

When the sky was dark again the rain came back—and I started to freeze. I’d been able to see my breath, and my cheeks had had that rosy ice-bitten tint to them, but I hadn’t realized I was that high up.

I put on my Warm Doublet and passed the night beneath the shelter of the tower’s rune stone.

Grace of Life

Waking of Friday, April 14, 2017 ~ 7

Grace of Life

It was dark when I had climbed to one particularly broad thoroughfare, high over the bog. It was comprised of a very worn-down bridge extending between two tall towers. Its planks were sagging here and there; some of them were missing entirely. A few explosive barrels sat scattered along its length.

I had cleaned up my end. At the other end, a great black moblin lay snoozing. I thought about casting bombs, seeing if I could detonate the farthest explosive barrel to take him out, but.... who knew if just one barrel would do the job? Did I really want to risk duking it out with a groggy moblin way up on this bridge?

....

Okay the Groggy Moblin needs to be a restaurant now.

BESIDES, if I made such a ruckus, other baddies might wake up as well; I didn’t want to have half the camp after me. And anyway the planks in the bridge were so skewed a bomb might not even be able to hit its mark.

But there were alternative courses of action....

I stepped out onto the planks. No need to make a mess.

I crept forward, sinking into a crouch as I drew nearer the slumbering brute. One sneak-strike would do it....

My father would have called it “a lack of situational awareness”.

A flash of red color, in some inward, downward motion—from above?—from the side?

A clatter, a boom, and the world exploded, and I was flying forward, beyond the moblin, passing on its left, arcing and whirling like a drill bit—I paused, I needed food, no but was I dead?—and the moblin was awake, and its bright blue eye was open, and it was on fire, and then it crumpled down dead—and I was mad with pausing—what had happened?—what had I been foolish enough to miss?—what had I not seen?—and I skidded onto the planks near the other tower, inside the other tower, and a glowing, glimmering teal angel with a long head-fin and beautiful arms like an enfolding shroud shimmered up in the air around me, dissipating into twinkling lights like fireflies.

“Mipha, no—” I choked, feverishly pausing again. I didn’t want to waste her gift on something so foolish—

It would revive me, she had said, the moment my strength was completely depleted.

It would bring me back to life.

Like a fairy, I had thought.

Oh why hadn’t I just been able to use a fairy, and preserve Mipha’s Grace for a time more needed than this?

Was there really any silence after the blast? How could there be?

I staggered to my feet.

I was alive.

I had extra hearts.

I was strong.

But Mipha’s Grace—

I paused again.

Would it still be there?

And to my shock it was. There in my inventory. But it was hollow. No longer gleaming in holy blue flames, but empty, and stark, and red with its usage.

I hadn’t wanted to waste it on something like this....

But as I looked again—there was a timer beside it. Counting down. And the words “Ready in”....

OH SWEET NAYRU IT WASN’T WASTED! I had been so afraid that I would only be able to use it once—but it was going to come back!

Mipha’s Grace would come back!

It would take time, but it was there.

It was still there.

She was still with me.

I took stock of my surroundings. One bokoblin snuffled around, alert, on the platform directly above me. That must have been the one that—

Must’ve cast an arrow, or thrown something.

That blue bokoblin....

Or maybe it really was black this time.

Augh, Black! Blue! What’s it matter anyway? They would all end up both of those colors when I got through with them!

Not So Simple

Waking of Friday, April 14, 2017 ~ 6

Not So Simple

There seemed to be a rugged but fairly clear path straight up into the foothills and toward the tower. I followed it, but.... not for too long. I soon found myself vaulting over the knolls to the left, keeping to higher ground, wanting to skirt the bare open spaces. I didn’t like to make myself a welcome target.

Left was the wrong choice, though, I soon discovered. Not by any imminent attacking danger—but by hazard of the environment.

Unseeable from the river valley below, pools upon pools of sticky brown bogwater festered in these high sort of paddies or spills.... The land was depressed enough up here to hold them. The landscaping might even have been man-made, for there were ruins up here, too. This was the Military Training Camp....?

Hm, but I am hesitant to call them ruins exactly; everything seemed mostly made of wood. Which I don’t suppose disqualifies it, but.... Well, the majority of it seemed to have been smashed and scattered all over itself, but the thing was it looked as if it could have happened only days ago.

Ruin enough anyway, I suppose.... An enormous tangle of tilted boardwalks, listing platforms.... and deadly spills into the bubbling ooze.

It was also crawling with blue bokoblins, and peppered with high explosives.

I moved carefully, and progressed by my bow.

The bokoblins didn’t pose too much of a threat. But it was a little disheartening seeing so many spoils lost to the bog. There was simply no recovering them. I tried to use my arrows sparingly.

The camp was extensive, to put it mildly. Onward and upward the splintered woodwork and wonky boardwalks led, until I came to one very large brown bog at the crest of the whole dead hill. Rickety wooden spires and questionable platforms spread over its glistening surface in an unpleasantly sun-simmered complex that looked thick and navigable enough from the shore. But moving out amidst it, treading over its narrow planks and planting myself on its sorry little islands of scrap boxes and upturned bridge-segments made into ladders and walls....

No, the ways here were few and constricted. The avenues were sparse, and I’d only have one dimension to move around in. I could see a few blue moblins tromping around on patrol up on some of the higher levels.... and blue bokoblins camped out high on some of the towers.

We may as well have been moving through tunnels. There would be no skirting around these guys. Sooner or later, I would have to face them, and take them down.

Because the Sheikah Tower was jutting from this bog too. And if I could just make my way to that high, high platform beside it.... I could reach it, and scale it.

To make it even more interesting, there were two or three lizalfos churning through the mud below. Dratted reptiles, that they could swim in that muck....

With a little Magnesis to move a large metal box for an extra platform, I got just close enough to take out the lizalfos first, not giving them enough time between my arrows to spit back at me. But there were still plenty of bokoblins to get through on the scrapwood islands—and I did not want to upset any of their explosives!

The sun went down. Rain came and went. The trek was longer than I’d thought it would be. There were so many dead-ended platforms reachable only by paraglider, traps low in the mud.... For where could you go once you landed?

This place would be so much easier to shake down once the tower was activated....