The camera pans over to a nearby feature, the Temple of Time as seen in Ocarina of Time. A bit down the hill, a hooded man with a Santa Claus beard carrying a lantern on a pole stands looking up at Link before he turns to walk to his campfire. Link follows him to the campfire, gathering tree branches to use as weapons and mushrooms and apples to restore health. An apple has fallen near the old man’s campfire and gotten cooked, and when Link picks it up, the old man scolds him for stealing it before revealing he’s only joking. There’s a torch behind the old man that Link also takes, and the old man is rather concerned when he says he’s going to use it to set things on fire, but gives him a brief tutorial on target-locking (sadly, hold only). There’s a nearby pile of wood Link can set on fire to use to try his hand at baking stuff. There’s also an axe here he can take.
As Link explores more, the voice contacts him again to tell him to look at his Sheikah Slate and go to the marked spot (and FOLLOW THE SHEIKAH SLATE is splashed in a big banner across the screen – this game has actual quests and a quest log), but the Temple of Time is so much more interesting. And I’m probably not supposed to be here right away, judging by the red Bokoblins who take an entire tree branch’s of damage to kill (one weapon breaks, and I take the enemy’s weapon as a replacement; I don’t like weapon breakage, but I don’t like leaving stuff enemies drop, either, and while one should be the solution to the other it doesn’t quite work that way). Anyway, not counting the Boko Clubs, I got a better pair of pants and a bow out of the trip.
Now Link decides to check out the marked spot on the map, and after clearing out some Bokoblins around the area, finds a structure with similar lighting to the room where he woke up, and there’s a pedestal with a slot for the Sheikah Slate. Link places the Slate in the slot, and a message pops up, “Sheikah Tower activated. Please watch for falling rocks.” The earth begins shaking and a giant tower shoots up from the ground under Link’s feet. Once the shaking stops, a title identifies the location as the Great Plateau Tower, and the tower begins “distilling local information.” A stalactite above the Sheikah Slate glows blue with Ghost in the Shell/Matrix-esque glyphs as music similar to the buildup part of the Getting the Master Sword music plays, then a blue drop falls from the stalactite onto the Sheikah Slate, which I hope is insured against water damage. This fills in the map of the nearby area to show geographic features so navigation’s going to be a little less fluky.
As Link takes the Slate and prepares to leave, the voice speaks to him, “Remember… try… try to remember… you have been asleep for the past one hundred years. The beast… when the beast regains its true power, this world will end.” As she’s speaking, Link’s sight is drawn to a castle in the distance, and a shadow rises around the castle, with a figure that appears very much like a boar’s head rising above the shadow and roaring. “Now then… you must hurry, Link. Before it’s too late…” The Follow the Sheikah Slate quest is marked complete.
There’s a gap in the middle of the tower that Link can climb down into, then a series of balcony-like steps Link can use to jump down safely. As Link reaches the bottom, the old man shouts a greeting and rides in on a paraglider, landing in front of Link. He says the tower isn’t the only one of its kind to suddenly erupt, and asks if anything happened when Link was at the top. Link mentions the voice, which doesn’t seem to surprise the old man who finds it unfortunate Link doesn’t recognize it. He points out the shadow around the castle, and names it Calamity Ganon, who’s contained in the castle after reducing Hyrule to the state it’s in now.
He proceeds to ask if Link intends to face Calamity Ganon, and Link says yes. The old man points out the first problem Link’s going to have to overcome: getting off the Great Plateau. The jump would be fatal, and the walls are too high to climb down safely. He offers to give Link his paraglider in exchange for a nearby treasure. (Main Quest: THE ISOLATED PLATEAU.) He guides Link over to point out a shrine (with glowing red lights) and asks Link to recover the treasure in exchange for the paraglider.
Next: “I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.”
