I transport to the shrine in the heart of the Hyrule Woods where all the koroks live. I want to find the Master Sword, and I don’t want to get distracted again by something else before I find it.
I arrive, and see Hestu, and I buy another Shield slot for my inventory. Then I turn around, and walk literally about 20 feet and find it: The Master Sword! It was right there, in front of the giant tree that I’d climbed at least four or five times to go up to visit the korok that tells riddles. If I’d gone around to this side of the tree, I would have found it! So dumb!
I go to grab the sword, but the Deku tree wakes up and talks to me, and there’s a cutscene where Link hears Zelda’s voice from the past. It’s imparted how important the sword is, and how I must be worthy in order to wield it.
Well, OK. I pull the sword out of the rock, and doing so drains some of my hearts, but I have enough, and I retrieve the sword. Hooray!
I notice a few more koroks about who don’t disappear when I start to approach them, so I get to talk to them. I pick up a bunch of new sidequests. One wants to see a picture of a blupee which is what those glowing spirit bunnies that drop rupees when you hit them with an arrow are called, apparently. I don’t have a photo in my album to show him, so I’ll need to go out to Kakariko village and get one.
There’s a tunnel leading into the heart of the Deku tree, where there’s a few more koroks. One has created a bed for me to sleep in for free, which is nice; two have shops, and I buy out all their arrows to re-supply.
I talk to another korok, who wants to see a blizzard rod. I know where to find one — in Gerudo on top of the mountain where I couldn’t figure out the secret of the mountaintop shrine, is where I encountered my first white wizzorobe.
So, then:
I transport to Kakariko village. I snap a picture of a blupee. I go to the fairy pond, and get four fairies and get some more upgrades for my outfits. I go to the arrow shop in Kakariko, and buy out all their arrows. I go and talk to Impa and her assistant, and they are impressed that I have the Master Sword now, but they tell me I need to get all of the Divine Beasts under control. Only the last one remains, the lizard on the volcano. OK OK. I still can’t touch their sacred orb. Maybe later.
I transport out to the nearest shrine to the Gerudo mountain where I solve the riddle of the cold shadow. Earlier when I had read the clues in the diary about the puzzle, I thought that the “pedestal” it was referring to was the oddly shaped columns nearby, at the top of the peak. I wasn’t sure if they glowed at night, but it looked like maybe if I squinted they were very faintly reflecting moonlight in a way that could have been a faint glow. That was a red herring.
Off the mountain, on the wall of the mountain opposite I had observed the round “symbol”, and being that it was on the wall of the cliff face, I didn’t think it was a pedestal. But given that I’ve seen so many of these now in connection with numerous other shrine quests, I surmise that perhaps these things are pedestals, and I need to cast a shadow on it. But what is a “cold shadow”? Well, there are numerous snow balls laying around the mountain top here. Perhaps I need to pick one up and hold it, at the time of day when the sun is in the right position to cast a shadow on the wall-pedestal? That was maybe the hardest shrine to figure out for me in the whole game. Although there have been others that have been pretty hard too.
I have to wait and wait and wait, but I find out that I am right. OK then. I go to the shrine after it emerges, and collect my spirit orb. Then I go find a white wizzorobe and kill him with a fire arrow while falling from mid-air using the bullet-time trick shot technique, and he’s toast. I pick up the rod, and then teleport to Gerudo.
I try to figure out what to do about the woman on the roof who eats melons non-stop, but it’s night time and I gather that whatever I need to do for her, must be done during the day, because it involves the little girl who wants to grow her garden where the melon rinds collect when they wash down the fountain stream. I’ll come back to it later.
I go over to talk to Rija, and see if she’ll lend me the Thunderhelm now that I have the master sword, but when I ask for it, she tells me that I first have to solve all of Gerudo’s problems. Well then! I guess it won’t be anytime soon.
I visit the Gerudo Secret Club and sell off some stuff, and discover that I can sell off the extra diamond pendant that I found in the Akkala labyrinth basement. It only gets me 325 rupees, though, which is a giant ripoff. The one I bought cost me 1500!
I transport back out to the Korok’s village, and show the one dude my blizzard rod; he gives me 300 Rupees. I show the other dude my photo of the blupee, and he gives me 100 Rupees. I buy more arrows at the shop, and then talk to the one guy who wants me to do the korok trials.
I guess, why not?
I’ll see about doing them next time I play. It feels like I got a lot done this session, even though I didn’t spend a whole lot of time playing.
Master Sword!
The master sword only has a damage rating of 30, which isn’t close to my best weapon right now. I have royal broadswords with an attack rating of 36 and 52. I have two handed weapons that have damage above 60, even 74. This will keep those other weapons relevant in my inventory. I guess from what they told me at the Deku tree cutscene, the sword’s power is greatest when it’s fighting Ganon, so maybe it does extra damage against him. I sure hope so, or else it’s going to take a long time to kill him.