While I’m in Kakariko Village, I figure I should revisit a few things.
The goddess statue now mentions Sage’s Wills, so I guess that’s how you upgrade those too.
Koko is out selling wreaths again. I still don’t know what I’m supposed to do with them, and since they’re a bulky carry-able item, I don’t want to buy one from her right now. But she doesn’t seem to mind and wishes me well.
I walk up to the Kakariko Inn, and it’s not open for business. I’m told that the proprietor went missing. But it turns out that the proprietor was the Hylian who I woke up with the Truffle, a while ago, so as soon as I find out that the Inn is not open for business, I also find out that I already completed this quest, and now the Innkeeper is back and the Inn is open after all.
I check out the arrow shop and vegetable shop as well, and buy some butter. The vegetable lady is out of stock with her eggs, and wishes she had 10. I have 10 in my inventory and offer them to her, closing out an easy sidequest. She gives me 50 rupees, and then I see the eggs are on sale for 12 rupees each. What a racket.
Then I go back to the clothing store, and buy one of the stealth armor set, the top piece.
I decide from here to take a walk down the road leading out of town. I find abundant forage along the road, mostly mushrooms of various types, also a lot of Hylian tomatoes, and some frogs.
I encounter Addison, holding up a sign, and aid him, and receive my customary reward.
Continuing on the road, I encounter a few other characters on the road. I meet a Gerudo vai, who asks me if I hear a drum beating. I don’t hear it yet, but she tells me it’s probably because it’s raining. A short time after I talk to her, I do hear a drumbeat added to the music. Or is it actually a drummer in the game?
Off in the distance, I spot another SkyView Tower, and uncertain whether it’s one I’ve been to already, I mark it with the scope, and check the location on the map, and it is a new one for me. I note it to visit it when I can.
I continue on the road a ways, meeting a man on a horse, and a young woman. They seem to recognize me, but I don’t remember them. Did I meet them earlier in the game? Or was it during the BOTW days?
Before long, I come across a familiar looking bridge. I’m coming up to the Dueling Peaks Stable, and I recognize it from BOTW. A little further back in the distance, I spot another Fairy Flower.
Near the Stable, halfway up the nearby mountain, there is a Shrine. I beeline toward the Shrine and enter. It’s a combat trial, to train me on perfect parry. There are two Zonai Soldier constructs armed with fire and lightning weapons (in TOTK these are fused items, made from a regular melee weapon and a gem, ruby for fire, topaz for electricity). None of my other weapons are effective; I *must* use my shield to reflect their attacks back at them.
It’s not that difficult. Z-trigger to bring up your shield, then A at the right moment to parry. Do it perfectly, and you reflect the shot back at the enemy; too early and you take damage, too late and you just absorb the attack with your shield. Your wood shields will catch fire, and your metal shields will shock you with the electricity, so you need to use the right type.
These are all the lessons to learn. I reflect the fire attack easily, but the lightning is so slow, I have a hard time getting the timing right, way early several times, and end up taking so much damage that I burn a Fairy, but eventually I pass the challenge, and claim my Light of Blessing.
Exiting the shrine, I want to get down to the Stables and do some news work. I glide down, and as I approach I spot a Rito perched on the roof of the stables. It’s my friend from the Lucky Clover, Penn! I talk to him, he tells me the story here is that Princess Zelda has been kidnapped! By the Yiga clan! They sent a letter to the Lucky Clover to claim responsibility. They say she’s being held at the nearby Dueling Peaks (although they’re poetic about it, intending it as a bit of a riddle, the meaning is pretty clear it seems.)
That seems like the most important thing I should do next as my top priority, but I’m a little bit skeptical. The Yiga clan have no honor, they are full of deception. And there have been sightings of Zelda everywhere. She seems to disappear at will, so how could the Yiga hold her captive? And isn’t she stuck in the past? We don’t really know. It must be investigated, but I’m not going to just run off like a fool into some trap.
I want to find out more, whatever I can, so I talk to the people at the Stables. One by the cooking pot is looking for a pumpkin called the Master Gourd, which is rumored to be somewhere in the woods nearby. But he says no one believes that it exists, and he wonders if he’s been lied to. Talking to him doesn’t open a side quest, and I try offering him a Mighty Pumpkin out of my inventory, but he doesn’t seem interested in it.
The musicians are here, and talking to them I find that the flute player has joined the band. They mention that they need to get the drummer to re-join the band, so they can wake up the Fairy at the nearby flower. So that drum I heard back up the road must be the drummer, only I couldn’t find him then. But now I will look harder.
What else? The stable keeper says his children draw pictures. There is an empty picture frame on the wall, but when I look at it he tells me that he wants a photo of the most beautiful sunrise in Hyrule, as seen from a mountain peak near Lurelin Village.
I offer the stable doggo a couple of pieces of raw meat, and he gets happ, and then leads me to a treasure chest where I find a nice sword, the 8-fold blade.
I also know to look for a well near any stable, and this one is something special. I drop down and explore, and at first it seems small and just has a few mushrooms. Then I notice what looks like a second well, within this well. I go down again, and find a chamber full of mineral ores. I clear this area out, and find a third well. I go down again, and this one has fairies! I grab three fairies, and some frogs and fish.
I Ascend to the surface and emerge right in front of the stable. Then I notice off in the distance there’s a korok looking for his friend. I talk to him, and the friend is a bit of a distance away, but the terrain is easy so I just take him, stopping along the way to pick up lots of forage in the middle of the field we need to cross to get the korok to his friend.
I get him there, and get my two korok seeds. Near the korok buddy’s campsite, I notice two caves. I enter one and clear it out — there’s a couple of Horriblins, a Like Like which I think is armored, I have to hit it with a bomb arrow before I can hit it, and it shoots boulders at me, but they don’t do a lot of damage although they knock me back pretty hard. I pick up a bit more forage — mushrooms, lizards, mineral ores, a chest containing a weapon of some kind, and then discover a bombable wall that leads to a deeper cavern where I find a bubbul frog, which I kill and claim its gem.
Next thing I think I’ll do is look for the drummer and try to open up the fairy flower so I can boost my armor rating higher and be a bit better equipped for the Yiga battle I’ll have to do when I get into the Dueling Peaks.