The tracks may be restored, but getting to the next realm requires crossing a bridge, and the bridge is out. There’s a trading post before the bridge, so Link stops there to see what he can find out. When Link walks into the trading post, the proprietor comes out of the back to greet him. The camera angles hide his face at first, but the notes that play as he walks in are the opening notes of Linebeck’s theme, so it’s little surprise when the camera decides it’s not fooling anyone (who played Phantom Hourglass, anyway) and shows us the man is identical to Linebeck – the original Linebeck’s grandson. He’s not impressed with Link at first, but warms up to him a bit after the introduction.
Linebeck knows a bridge worker in the Snow Realm, so he sends Link to bring him to repair the bridge. Near the tracks that lead to the trading post, Link finds another rabbit. The bridge worker’s home is a new stop on the tracks near the Tower of Spirits. The bridge worker (same model as Gazpacho, the shipyard worker from Phantom Hourglass) admires Link’s dedication to his job and agrees to come help fix the bridge. He’s apparently got something he wants to say to Linebeck, too, which is certainly not ominous. On the way back to the train, Link meets up with Ferrus, who warns Link that the bridge worker is really picky about having a smooth train ride, so Link needs to blow the train whistle when the signs say, obey posted speed limits, avoid getting hit by enemies, and avoid sudden stops. This gives sort of a second health bar while Link’s carrying him (or any other passenger): mess up too much and the ride fails.
Once he arrives at the trading post, the bridge worker heads over to start fixing the bridge. Linebeck shows up, and the matter of payment comes up. Linebeck still owes the bridge worker for work done to his house, and with the bridge, he puts his fee at 5000 rupees. Linebeck is stunned for a second before passing the buck to Link. He heads off, and the bridge worker says he’ll let Linebeck and Link sort things out, but he wants to be paid. When Link goes to Linebeck, Linebeck says he knows where an item is that will make them enough money to pay the bridge worker: a Regal Ring left behind by Linebeck I. Linebeck I also left instructions on how to find the ring, but Linebeck III hasn’t been able to figure them out, so it passes to Link.
The cave leading to the north part of the area, where Linebeck I is buried, is infested with Like Likes. There’s even one hiding in a pot, waiting for Link to get close so it can pounce, but it’s impatient and the pot jiggles, so Link can whack it with a bomb or boomerang rather than get close. The trading post stamp station is also in this cave. On the north side, there’s a song stone that teaches Link the Song of Light, which will cause nearby crystals to emit lasers. The laser emitted by the crystal hidden by the song stone points to a crystal switch that raises a bridge to small island with the cave. Inside the cave, two more crystal lasers point to the arbitrary point Linebeck I chose to start his final directions from, and walking a short ways leads Link to the place where he can play the Song of Discovery to unearth the Regal Ring. Link takes the ring back to Linebeck just in time for the bridge worker to show up, announce he’s done, and claim the ring as his payment.
Linebeck’s disappointed because the ring’s worth more than he owed, but sees an opportunity to get more treasure from Link. The treasure system’s been overhauled from Phantom Hourglass – there are now 16 treasures, divided into four tiers: common (Linebeck will pay 50 rupees), uncommon (150 rupees), rare (500 rupees), and ultra-rare (2500 rupees). Instead of random train cars, Link can instead trade the treasures to buy the cars he wants directly. In addition to the starting train, there are seven sets: a wooden train, a steel train, a rather evil-looking train with a skull engine, a stagecoach train, a dragon train, a dessert train, and a golden train. Equipping custom parts increases the train’s health, and each engine’s whistle has a unique sound. Each set has four cars: engine, cannon, passenger car, and one Link hasn’t unlocked yet.
The overhaul seems to be an improvement over the random ship parts from Phantom Hourglass, but it’s traded one frustration for another. Within each rarity tier, some treasures are a lot more likely to drop than others. It’s not a big deal for common treasures, because there’s a whole bunch of them and they can be easily farmed in Whittleton, and the ultra-rare ones have enough guaranteed drops to get Link all he needs for a complete train car collection. But for uncommon and rare treasures, it’s basically guaranteed there’s going to be one that is going to take a lot of treasures to get enough while the others in the tier pile up. I would guess the idea was to promote trading, but it penalizes people who can't trade too much.
For now, I sold some treasures to get enough to buy the heart piece from the Snow Sanctuary and called it a day. Link’s gotten Niko’s book half full, so if he returns to Niko, Niko gives him Wind Waker Link’s old shield with the crawfish logo.
Next: They can’t play baseball. They don’t wear sweaters. They’re not good dancers. They don’t play drums.
