There’s been an outbreak of vandalism: someone’s painted pictures of soldiers on the walls of Hyrule Castle. The captain’s not at the castle; the guard at the gate suggests going to Sanctuary to see him. Outside of Sanctuary, the priest’s daughter, Seres, is talking with Dampé. Seres greets Link and goes inside to get the captain for him. While they wait, Dampé suggests Seres is the real reason the captain comes to Sanctuary so much. He moves on to noting that the castle graffiti are signs of trouble, but is interrupted when Seres screams from inside and the door slams shut. Dampé remembers hearing the priest talk about a secret passage under the graveyard leading to Sanctuary, and asks Link to find it. At Dampé’s encouragement, Link equips the sword, figuring the captain won’t care if he borrows it.
The correct grave isn’t hard to find: it’s set apart from the others with stones and trees. In the first room of the passage, there’s a treasure chest with a lamp, and torches on either side of the door that need to be lit to open the way forward. The rest of the passage is the standard tutorial dungeon – find a key, open a door, fight Poes to open the way forward, pull a switch to open the way to Sanctuary. (For those who remember the last door before Sanctuary from A Link to the Past, the correct switch is on the other side.)
Link’s arrived in Sanctuary to find the priest and Seres confronting an intruder, who identifies himself as Yuga. Yuga has come to Sanctuary looking for perfection, which he sees in Seres. He gets creepy, asking her, “How can you stand being so lovely, surrounded by these filthy fools?” He zaps her with his wand, turning her into a painting, which he admires, thinking “Her Grace will be most pleased” with it. At this point, the priest and Yuga both notice Link, and the priest tells Link to run, while Yuga taunts Link to come at him. Link does, but Yuga merges into the wall, and Link knocks himself dizzy charging into it. (The guard captain seems to have been turned into a graffiti painting on the west wall.) Yuga taunts Link and the priest before strolling out, kicking Link out of his way as he goes, singing along with the game’s music.
Link blacks out, and as he comes to back in his house, a guy dressed as a giant pink bunny sticks his view, causing Link to start and fall out of bed. The bunny doesn’t wait for Link to get up before launching into his introduction. He’s Ravio, a traveling merchant (accompanied by a little bird thing), and he found Link alone in Sanctuary and brought him to this “empty” house to recover. Link explains what happened at Sanctuary, and Ravio tells him to report it to the castle. Before Link leaves, Ravio asks if he can stay for a couple days, and Link agrees. Ravio gives Link a bracelet in exchange; it’s old and apparently smells like a wet dog, but Ravio insists Link take and wear it.
The guard at the castle doesn’t take Link seriously, but Impa comes out of the castle, drawn by the shouting, and upon hearing the story, invites Link in. While Impa goes to announce Link’s arrival to Zelda, Link looks at the gallery of art, depicting the history of the Triforce as recounted in the prologue. Once Link’s looked at all the paintings, Impa comes back to say Zelda’s ready for him. Zelda’s been having the same dream as Link. Link tells Zelda what happened at Sanctuary, and she asks Impa for help. The next story beat is familiar from A Link to the Past, and that game’s Cukemen can sing along: .“Tra, la, la, look for Sahasrahla…” She gives Link a charm, thinking Link will need it. The charm is a pendant, and given that it’s Zelda giving it, I would think it’s the Pendant of Wisdom, but it’s green and has Farore’s mark on it, so it must be the Pendant of Courage [1].
Link goes to Kakariko Village to look for Sahasrahla. South of the village, Link meets Cucco Girl, who has a minigame for Link to play: standing in a pen and dodging the Cuccos that fly in from all directions. There are three levels of difficulty, and winning each one unlocks the next. The third level awards a heart piece for winning and unlocks an endless mode. In town, Gramps helps Link set up the game’s StreetPass system, which lets players trade Shadow Links to battle for prizes. I don’t get many StreetPass connections, so I only get the random Shadow Links generated every few hours, so I don’t know if I’m going to pursue this or not. (Right now I’m leaving the DS on while I’m at work/sleeping to generate them.) Finally, Link can buy a bottle from a merchant in town, and with the bottle, Bee Guy, a guy dressed like a bee, gives Link a Bug-Catching Net to catch bees for him. He’ll buy bees for 50 rupees, but has his heart set on a Golden Bee. Guess I’ll keep an eye out for one, but in the meantime, catching bees is easy and lucrative (if a little annoying, since Link only has the one bottle right now).
Next: The first dungeon, and three new mechanics that feel like this game’s signature.
[1] In A Link to the Past, the Pendants of Power and Wisdom had their colors reversed from the standard colors, but that was before the standard was established, it was fixed in the GBA remake, and they wouldn’t mix up the goddesses’ symbols. I think.
