I don’t know how long dungeons are in this game, and would rather allow too much time and end up Groundhog Daying back to the first day halfway through Day 2 than end up racing the clock to defeat the boss, so I have Link play the Inverted Song of Time to allow as much time in the dungeon as possible, then warp to Woodfall and use the Sonata of Awakening to open the path to the Woodfall Temple; all it takes is Dekucoptering from across the swamp.
As the great fairy in Clock Town mentioned, each dungeon in this game has a bunch of stray fairies that can be gathered up to give Link access to other great fairies. The fairy mask helps by identifying when a fairy is near and attracting the fairy to Link if it’s not trapped. There are fifteen in all, and it’s generally a fun little diversion rounding them up.
The dungeon’s treasure is the Hero’s Bow, and it’s about goddamn time Link gets a ranged weapon he can use in human form. The addition of masks to Link’s items is wreaking havoc with the nice system I had set up for using the equipped item slots in Ocarina: I had the boomerang/hookshot pinned to one slot, the ocarina to another, with the third usually set to the slingshot/bow but could be set for whatever other item Link needed at the moment. Now any equipped mask needs a slot, and I had it set where the boomerang/hookshot went, which was usually fine except when I needed to ranged attack, I’d instinctively hit that button which would take Link out of Deku scrub form, taking away his one ranged attack.
The turtle-like snappers Link saw on his path through the Woods of Mystery are here in the dungeon, and Deku Link can take them out by diving into a flower and popping up from underneath them. This is a good skill to learn, because one of the dungeon’s minibosses rides a snapper during the second phase of the battle and has to be continually dismounted.
The dungeon’s boss is a masked jungle warrior named Odolwa. I’m pretty sure the idea for this fight is to stun him with the bow and thwack him with the sword while he’s stunned, but after doing that once or twice and then being swarmed by insects I had to fight off, I decided to go with a different tack. Namely, I charged at him, blocked or dodged his attacks, and hacked at his shins till he died. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t supposed to work, but screw it, it did.
After Odolwa is defeated, Link is transported to… I’m not sure what it is, actually. It’s misty and cloudy, and there’s a humanoid figure in the distance that starts singing a song that Link repeats on his ocarina that turns out to be called the Oath to Order. The figure says “Call us” before Link returns to the normal world.
With Odolwa gone, the swamps have cleared up, and Link can free the Deku princess to take her home. She’s a little more accommodating than Ruto was, and is able to be transported in Link’s bottle, which I was shocked to learn was empty because I’d had a fairy before resetting time. I guess it’s better than discovering bottle contents don’t carry over between loops by Link not being fairy-rezzed if Odolwa had killed him. Before taking the princess home, Link stops at the nearby fairy fountain to drop off the stray fairies, and the reconstructed great fairy teaches him the spin attack.
When the Deku princess is released in the Deku throne room, she’s rather furious about the treatment of the monkey and jumps up and down on the king (one of the scrubs in the background imitates her, too) and demands the monkey’s release. Out of gratitude to Link, she offers him a reward, which involves entering a cave and then chasing the Deku butler as he runs through. I tried to do this with the Deku mask, but yeesh. It’s much easier, if slightly twitchy, with the bunny hood. The butler apologizes for his competitiveness, saying that Link reminds him of his missing son. The reward turns out to be a pig mask, the Mask of Scents, which can be used to find mushrooms.
All in all, this took just over a (slowed down) day.
Next: Why.
