As Link approaches the northern end of Faron Woods, his old monkey friend comes hopping over some ledges, chased by four large marionettes. After Link breaks the marionettes, the monkey thanks him by telling him about the area where she met them. With Midna’s help, Link’s able to jump across to the area the monkey came from. Along the way, he discovers another Howling Stone, this one with the Prelude of Light. The wolf appears south of Hyrule Castle. There’s another Howling Stone inside the woods marked with the Triforce that sings Zelda’s Lullaby. When Link howls it, a Skull Kid drops from the treetops and blows a trumpet, summoning a group of the marionettes [1], and runs off.
A game of hide-and-seek follows, with Link chasing the Skull Kid all over the forest while the marionettes chase him. And if Link destroys the marionettes, the Skull Kid will summon more. When Link gets close, the Skull Kid’s trumpet joins the background music (a subdued remix of Saria’s Song); when Link hits the Skull Kid with an attack, he runs off to hide somewhere else. After three times, he sets up for a straight fight, although he’s still tricky. He’ll teleport around the arena when Link gets too close, unless he’s preoccupied summoning more marionettes. After Link’s hit him three more times, he leaves, opening the way forward.
There’s one more test before Link can claim the Master Sword. After Link activates another Triforce glyph by howling Zelda’s Lullaby again, the terrain transforms into a series of tiles, and two statues come to life and jump to tiles in front of and behind Link. One statue mimics Link’s movements, the other does the reverse. The ultimate goal is to get the statues to the marked tiles (where they started). Once it’s done, they go inactive again and open the way forward to the Master Sword’s location.
As Link approaches the Master Sword, its magic turns him back into a human. Midna looks at the crystal that turned him into a wolf while Link draws the sword from its pedestal. Midna notes that the crystal is definitely not her people’s normal magic, and initially thinks it best to leave the crystal behind. But then she realizes the potential of Link being able to wolf out and back at will, so they decide to take advantage of Zant’s gift. Now Link can change as convenient, and has access to fast travel. Midna asks Link to help her find the Mirror of Twilight that she asked Zelda about.
Before heading back, there are a few things to collect. A rock where Link fought the Skull Kid can be blown up, revealing a Poe. This one seems to be a tutorial to show what to look for as a human (a floating lantern) and that Link can transform mid-combat to see and defeat the Poe and claim its soul. Under where the rock used to be, Link can dig into a cave where he’ll find a heart piece. And there’s a snail hiding in the area, but I couldn’t find its mate.
When Link returns to civilization, he’s greeted by the postman with a letter from Telma. She’s back home and wants Link to meet her friends. So Link goes to town and heads to the bar, where he finds two of the people he met before and a new guy wearing a mask. The ones he met before are apologetic for how they treated him. (Well, Shad is. Ashei’s more, “I wasn’t taught to be polite, so deal with it.”) The masked man’s silent at first, but then removes the mask and reveals that he’s Rusl! Uli’s told him about the kids, and he’s been to see them, and he’s grateful to Link for everything he’s done for Colin. And now he wants to help reclaim Hyrule from the Twilight, so he’s here. The missing member, Auru, is headed out to Lake Hylia to look into troubles in the desert. That’s Link’s next destination, but there’s sidequestin’ to do.
In the Castle Town, there’s a shop that’s only open a few hours every day. Even when it’s open, the doorman requires Link get his shoes shined to be allowed inside. And even if he does that, the prices are beyond what his wallet will hold [2]. But Malo’s got his eye on taking the shop over. First, he needs 1000 rupees to repair a bridge to town. That’s still a lot, but I left a lot behind in the last two dungeons [3] (including one chest in the Goron Mines only accessible via Clawshot) and in caves by Lake Hylia, and there’s always Agitha’s guests to deliver. After that, he wants 2000 rupees to buy the store. That’s a lot, but Link can bring it down to 200 rupees by helping the Goron who was selling spring water in town. This requires running a barrel of spring water through Hyrule Field while enemies harrass Link. The Bokoblins aren’t bad – in another universe, they’d be Imperial Stormtroopers. The Kargarocs can’t catch Link as he runs. But the Leevers will trip Link up and destroy the barrel before he reacts. It took a few tries to find a path with no Leevers to get the barrel safely to its target. (Link also gets a heart piece for his troubles, and can open the way south from town with spring water.) With that done, Malo buys out the shop – the music changes from a classy remix of the shop theme to a dance remix, with everyone in the store, including the previous owner, dancing – and Link can buy stuff. The highest item, the magic armor, costs 598 rupees. With no magic meter, it now drains rupees, and if Link doesn’t have any, becomes like he’s wearing the iron boots.
Next: Go. Hunt. Kill Pos.
[1] The Skull Kid from Majora’s Mask is a playable character in Hyrule Warriors. He’s got a move based on this that I had just assumed was based on the dancing scarecrows.
[2] I’m not sure just how much rupees are in any sort of real value. Is 50 rupees a lot? Obviously, we’re not meant to think about how the economy of Hyrule (and related lands) works, since rupees aren’t exactly scarce – you can find a bunch by mowing the lawn, which grows back with more hidden rupees in the time it takes you to go inside and come back, and prices are driven by gameplay concerns. But still, I wonder.
[3] Yep, iron boots up the goddamn slide, again.
