In Horon Village, Link returns to Bipin and Blossom, who are worried because Bob is sick. Blossom asks Link for money to help pay for treatment, and Link gives her 150 rupees, which she’s grateful for. The shop’s updated its inventory and now sells a strange flute, which I’m sure will come in handy eventually. The way to the swamp lies to the north, so that’s the next direction.
To Spool Swamp, and Back to Subrosia
As Link travels, he comes across another seed tree with its own flavor of seeds. These are scent seeds, which can be used as bait. Over a bridge, Link finds a kangaroo named Ricky who offers to take Link to the swamp, only he lost his boxing gloves to Blaino. Blaino has a gym back across the bridge, and he challenges Link to a boxing match. Link wins, gets Ricky’s gloves back, and takes them back to Ricky, who gives him a ride. As they go, they come across a house whose inhabitant is struggling to deal with heat and wants the ghastly doll to send a chill down her spine; Link’s reward is an iron pot. Once Link’s past all the obstacles he needed Ricky for, Ricky leaves. Nearby, Link finds yet another seed tree; this one’s Pegasus seeds can be activated to give him a momentary speed boost.
The swamp is currently flooded, and the floodgate keeper has lost the key to the gate. Link hits a switch to drain the water around his house, and wouldn’t you know it, the key’s at the bottom of a pool in the house. Outside, the lowered water level has opened a cave full of puzzles that eventually leads to the other side of the swamp. There, Link finds the lock to open the floodgates, lowering the water level in the area. Sokra shows up and tells Link he needs a new season, so he needs to go back to Subrosia.
Down in the swamp area, Link comes across a bear being harassed by Moblins. Link drives the Moblins off, and the bear introduces itself to him as Moosh. The flute Link bought in Horon Village can be used to call Moosh, who’ll give Link rides. Moosh doesn’t like deep water, but can fly over holes and smash enemies with a jumping attack. Moosh takes Link across pits to another portal to Subrosia, which Link takes.
Dating Rosa
In the area of Subrosia Link finds himself in now, he finds the girl he followed to Subrosia to the first time. She’s lost her ribbon and while she wants to explore the “temple,” she can’t go out without it. The local merchant has a ribbon for sale, wanting to trade it for star-shaped ore. So, it’s time for Link to get out his shovel and start digging and he finds a chunk of star-shaped ore, takes it back to the merchant, and makes the trade. The merchant has some other interesting items: a heart piece, a bomb bag upgrade, rings, and Gasha seeds. I’ll clean him out of these before Link leaves. (Well, not the Gasha seeds, because those seem to restock.)
Rosa’s happy with the ribbon gift, and agrees to go on a date as thanks. She suggests visiting the “temple,” which is just fine with Link. Rosa has a key that can unlock doors in Subrosia, and so she and Link pass through a cave back to the area Link explored on his first visit, and back to the Temple, where she can open the door to the summer tower. Link and Rosa go to meet the Spirit of Summer, who imbues the Rod of Seasons with the power to summon summer, and explains that summer lowers water levels and causes vines to grow that Link can climb.
Before ending the date, Link takes Rosa dancing, only she doesn’t go in with him. Her loss, I guess. The dancing game gets a lot harder, quickly – it should be easy to just watch the guy, note the next three steps, and make those moves, but when Link’s along the bottom part of the circle and pressing right moves him left, mistakes are easy to make. Also, for some reason, I keep moving him one extra step at the end of a move, which means if he moves too soon/too late, he can run into the guy next to him, so an extra layer of precision is required after that mistake. After a long time, I finally got enough ore chunks to buy everything I wanted from the store, and that’s a good place to leave it for now.
Next: Jumping and swimming.
