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aubergionSo, I need to get a claw off of Dinraal. According to the Spring of Power, Dinraal flies around somewhere up north. Dinraal is also on fire. If I need to be fireproof and I need to be high up and I need to be north, I need to go to Death Mountain.
So the obvious way up Death Mountain is to follow the road and take the east fork up. This was fairly straightforward, except for one bit where my horse spooked straight off the side of the road and down a barely traversable cliff and I had to horse-shuffle all the way back up. Thanks, Inqy. You're a pall. About a third of the way up, I reached a diner where the proprietor Goron is stuffing his face with obviously gloom-infected rocks. Look, ok. I can't say I'm that shocked? There's like, two ways "Gorons eating weird rocks" was going to go in this game. I was just sort of hoping it was the zonaite option? This is a lot worse.
However! I know where to find gloom. Change of plans: going straight to the source. I sprint west and dive off the side of the mountain, into Minshi Woods Chasm and start gliding east towards what looks like a city where.. ah. The air under Death Mountain is on fire. And no a three-fire-lizard elixir isn't enough fireproofing. I tried it. That's a no-go. So now I'm in the Depths and out of lizards and mildly on fire. BUT I can see lightroots under Korok Forest. Last time I tried to enter Korok Forest on the surface, it was literally impassable. What about underground? I didn't see any chasms on the overworld map, but if they're hidden somehow, or there's an ascension point like under Mount Drena....
Four lightroots, all in a triangle with one at the center, in a forest of screaming ghost trees, so already, we're off to a good start. I also enjoy being able to kill boss bokoblins without fear now. And in the center - aha! Another one of those square boxes I used to ascend last time! This one pops me up right in front of the old master sword stone. I did it! I'm in Korok Forest! And... the Deku Tree is bleeding gloom out of its nose? There is pink smoke everywhere, and a whole bunch of koroks just... standing there, completely mute. I could go up and try to talk to the Deku tree, theoretically, but I also could run straight inside and see what's happening and oh shit that's a hole in the Great Deku Tree.
I could prepare. I could heal - I'm still missing a couple hearts from the journey up here. I could think for two seconds before throwing myself - and I'm down the hole. Oh shit. Hands. I don't know how to kill hands but there's no way out of here! I'm in a mossy cylinder covered in gloop with no escape and there's five hands trying to shake me to death like a rag doll. There's no choice. I have to figure out how to kill these fuckers.
Things that help: spears, 2H weapons, haste elixirs, Link's superhuman ability to eat twenty apples in 0.1 seconds. Things that do not help: bows (I can't get far enough away to aim), standing in gloom (if I'm not mistaken, if the hands drain enough hearts from me it spawns another hand). But - after a lot of panicking, two spears, thirty apples, one dish of sauteed daffodils, and a loaf of warding bread - I did it! I killed my first hand! Why is there a cutscene happening?!?!
why is there a boss bar
Oh shit. I got a picture this time. The Korok tree just casually has a whole-ass phantom Ganon inside it? Not a phantom Ganondorf (though it looks like the Ganondorf model), phantom Ganon. What - what - how - who - and he's fast too. I try to block him, use some of those 1H weapons I still have in my back pocket, but oh my GOD this guy hits like a truck. He keeps zooming at me, and spinning, and OW. Thankfully, his lag time is a lot longer than the hands, so I do get enough space to fire some potshots with Riju's help. That takes a solid chunk out of him, and my flux core 3 pulverizer takes another big chunk. I break a spear over his head for good measure, and then - he's dead! He drops a sword and a bow, and three Koroks descend to sing my praises. They're talking again! That must mean the forest is fixed!
It turns out there are mushroom shelves I can use to ascend out, which I missed on my first descent on account of the screaming panic, I pop up back in the center where I am surrounded by mushrooms. Damn, these little guys move quick. And the Deku tree returns my very first memory, the knowledge of the Master Sword's ties to sacred power. And its ties to the Master Sword. And it knows where the Master Sword is... and it's moving. Circling around the top of Rito Village, in fact, thanks to the Purah Pad. We'll leave aside the question of how the hell the Deku Tree learned how to jailbreak a Switch for later. For now, I have eyes on my goal.
Zelda! I will find you, Zelda. Whatever it takes.
So the obvious way up Death Mountain is to follow the road and take the east fork up. This was fairly straightforward, except for one bit where my horse spooked straight off the side of the road and down a barely traversable cliff and I had to horse-shuffle all the way back up. Thanks, Inqy. You're a pall. About a third of the way up, I reached a diner where the proprietor Goron is stuffing his face with obviously gloom-infected rocks. Look, ok. I can't say I'm that shocked? There's like, two ways "Gorons eating weird rocks" was going to go in this game. I was just sort of hoping it was the zonaite option? This is a lot worse.
However! I know where to find gloom. Change of plans: going straight to the source. I sprint west and dive off the side of the mountain, into Minshi Woods Chasm and start gliding east towards what looks like a city where.. ah. The air under Death Mountain is on fire. And no a three-fire-lizard elixir isn't enough fireproofing. I tried it. That's a no-go. So now I'm in the Depths and out of lizards and mildly on fire. BUT I can see lightroots under Korok Forest. Last time I tried to enter Korok Forest on the surface, it was literally impassable. What about underground? I didn't see any chasms on the overworld map, but if they're hidden somehow, or there's an ascension point like under Mount Drena....
Four lightroots, all in a triangle with one at the center, in a forest of screaming ghost trees, so already, we're off to a good start. I also enjoy being able to kill boss bokoblins without fear now. And in the center - aha! Another one of those square boxes I used to ascend last time! This one pops me up right in front of the old master sword stone. I did it! I'm in Korok Forest! And... the Deku Tree is bleeding gloom out of its nose? There is pink smoke everywhere, and a whole bunch of koroks just... standing there, completely mute. I could go up and try to talk to the Deku tree, theoretically, but I also could run straight inside and see what's happening and oh shit that's a hole in the Great Deku Tree.
I could prepare. I could heal - I'm still missing a couple hearts from the journey up here. I could think for two seconds before throwing myself - and I'm down the hole. Oh shit. Hands. I don't know how to kill hands but there's no way out of here! I'm in a mossy cylinder covered in gloop with no escape and there's five hands trying to shake me to death like a rag doll. There's no choice. I have to figure out how to kill these fuckers.
Things that help: spears, 2H weapons, haste elixirs, Link's superhuman ability to eat twenty apples in 0.1 seconds. Things that do not help: bows (I can't get far enough away to aim), standing in gloom (if I'm not mistaken, if the hands drain enough hearts from me it spawns another hand). But - after a lot of panicking, two spears, thirty apples, one dish of sauteed daffodils, and a loaf of warding bread - I did it! I killed my first hand! Why is there a cutscene happening?!?!
why is there a boss bar
Oh shit. I got a picture this time. The Korok tree just casually has a whole-ass phantom Ganon inside it? Not a phantom Ganondorf (though it looks like the Ganondorf model), phantom Ganon. What - what - how - who - and he's fast too. I try to block him, use some of those 1H weapons I still have in my back pocket, but oh my GOD this guy hits like a truck. He keeps zooming at me, and spinning, and OW. Thankfully, his lag time is a lot longer than the hands, so I do get enough space to fire some potshots with Riju's help. That takes a solid chunk out of him, and my flux core 3 pulverizer takes another big chunk. I break a spear over his head for good measure, and then - he's dead! He drops a sword and a bow, and three Koroks descend to sing my praises. They're talking again! That must mean the forest is fixed!
It turns out there are mushroom shelves I can use to ascend out, which I missed on my first descent on account of the screaming panic, I pop up back in the center where I am surrounded by mushrooms. Damn, these little guys move quick. And the Deku tree returns my very first memory, the knowledge of the Master Sword's ties to sacred power. And its ties to the Master Sword. And it knows where the Master Sword is... and it's moving. Circling around the top of Rito Village, in fact, thanks to the Purah Pad. We'll leave aside the question of how the hell the Deku Tree learned how to jailbreak a Switch for later. For now, I have eyes on my goal.
Zelda! I will find you, Zelda. Whatever it takes.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-06-18 21:15 (UTC)I wonder what it does if you haven't uncovered Zelda!dragon.
ALSO. I AM SO GLAD. SOMEONE ELSE HAS FINALLY SEEN PHANTOM GANON
I got that fucker spawning the *2nd* time I tried fighting gloom hands suuuper early on and THE TERROR. Bastard.