Before heading up the mountain to meet the gorons, Link needs to gather some bombs and arrows. Losing all consumables is probably my least favorite part of the time loop mechanic, and it feels like a waste of precious time having to go out into Termina Field and hack away at bushes until they’re restocked. Also, on a hunch, I also went through the title deed trading sequence as far as it’s gone. The pass up to the mountain is blocked by a huge block of ice, which Link needs to break by knocking some stalactites free with arrows. Further up are some huge snowballs that need to be blown up.
The Mountain Village isn’t really much of a village. There’s a smithy, but its ability to smith is limited by the forge being frozen by all the cold. They say something about using hot spring water to thaw the forge, but Link doesn’t have any way to help with that right now, and I’ll wait for spring’s thaw before using their services. Outside, there’s a goron who’s stranded and starving, but Link doesn’t have anything for him just yet, either. There’s an owl statue here for quick travel, and then it’s time to head to the larger goron village. Getting there means crossing over a series of islands connected by rope bridges. Tingle’s flying over the center island, but it turns out I already have all his maps, so I don’t need to shoot him down and listen to him introduce himself right now. I did, so I could make sure I didn’t need any of his maps, but… I didn’t need to.
The gorons all seem to be huddling inside their homes for warmth, so there’s just one guy standing guard over the goron shrine. This is yet another case of can’t do anything just yet, so Link makes his way through the village and finds the owl. The owl leads Link over a series of invisible platforms to a cave. Hidden in the cave is the item that will make the return trip much easier, the Lens of Truth. There’s a chance to use the Lens in the cave to kill a skulltula and get a couple chests, then it’s back out and over the platforms, where Link finds a goron ghost waiting for him.
The ghost leads Link back down to the mountain village, then across the river to a wall with a network of hidden ladders. There are many wrong turns and dead ends on the ladder network; once at the top, Link follows the ghost into the Goron Graveyard. The ghost properly introduces himself as Darmani, a goron hero, and he tried heading to Snowhead Temple to try to break the wintry curse that’s killing his people. The winds claimed him, and so he asks Link to bring him back from the dead. That’s beyond Link’s power, so he simply plays the Song of Healing to ease Darmani’s pain. Darmani passes on the duty of saving the gorons on to Link, leaving a mask behind that will let Link assume his form.
Wearing Darmani’s mask, Link investigates the goron shrine. With Darmani dead, the elder has set out to try to fix the situation at Snowhead himself, and his son won’t sleep and his crying is keeping everyone else in the shrine awake and blowing out torches. Link finds the elder just outside the village, not having gotten very far before becoming encased in ice. Link thaws him out and asks him to help with his son. He’s so cold he can only come up with the first six notes of the lullaby he sings, but that’s enough for the son to teach Link the rest. Link puts the baby to sleep with the lullaby and can set out for the temple. The road to the temple requires Link to use the goron rolling ability to jump over gaps. Finally, Link comes to an owl statue in the temple’s shadow, so it’s time to wrap up this cycle.
Before returning to dawn of the first day, there are a few last things Link can do. Back in the goron shrine, if Link lights all the torches now that the baby’s asleep, the chandelier starts spinning. Link can goron roll into it and smash the pots, eventually discovering a rock sirloin that the starving stranded goron will appreciate, giving him a frog mask. Also in the goron village is a business scrub, who’ll sell a goron Link the second bomb capacity upgrade, and trade his deed to the flower to Deku Link. Link can then Dekucopter from the flower to yet another heart piece. And there’s one more heart piece he can get, playing Clock Town’s chest game in goron form. After that, there’s nothing left but to farm rupees and start over with a full day’s time to complete the next dungeon.
Next: Off to the races.
