The road to Kakariko Village leads east through a river pass between two mountains, the Dueling Peaks of the region’s name. At the tower, the Sheikah Slate received a new feature, the Sheikah Sensor, which pings when there’s an inactive shrine nearby, and louder/more frequently if Link’s walking toward it. (If Wolf Link’s out, he’ll guide Link to the shrine.) The shrine – Ree Dahee Shrine – is on a ledge Link can climb to (or, alternately, it’s quite long and easily within paraglider distance of the tower).
The trial’s name is Timing Is Critical, and it consists of three puzzles where Link stands on a floor switch that simultaneously drops a ball to start rolling and tilts the platform the ball’s rolling on. The first puzzle is simple; if Link stands on the switch, the puzzle completes itself. The second puzzle has two platforms, and Link needs to step off the switch so the ball rolls onto the second and toward the goal rather than flying off into space. The third puzzle has a gap between the platform and the goal so Link needs to step off to turn the platform into a ramp to make the ball fly to the goal. There’s a treasure chest here with a Climber’s Bandana, a headpiece that makes Link climb faster. As I’ve learned through experimentation, Link burns through stamina at the same faster rate, so big climbs aren’t going to be any easier, but they will be quicker.
Through the pass, the road forks over two bridges, with the north path over Big Twin bridge being the one Link needs. Immediately over the bridge, there’s another stable to the right, and in a pond, a shrine to the left. At this point, I think it’s clear that most important/notable locations are going to have a shrine nearby so Link can quick travel there easily. This shrine (Ha Dahamar / The Water Guides) is built around using Cryonis. The first two puzzles have Link cross moving water; the first is easy and obvious, the second requires using Cryonis on the water flowing down the wall to create a horizontal pillar, which is a new one for me. Then there’s another rolling ball puzzle that uses the Cryonis wall pillars to guide the ball to its goal.
The Dueling Peaks Stable is intended to be the first stable the player comes across. A man in front of the stable offers directions to Kakariko Village and Hateno Village, and also challenges Link to a horse taming contest. There’s a group of horses near the stable, and all Link has to do is mount one and bring it back to the stable in under two minutes. The two tricky parts of the quest are getting close enough to a horse to mount it; once Link does that, the horse starts trying to throw him, which can be tricky to deal with without stamina upgrades. (I had to use stamina-boosting food to hold on. I love that Link can just eat a full meal while on a bucking horse which should, among other complications, make for a rather unsettled stomach.)
Inside the stable, there are two guys discussing a treasure belonging to a bandit named Misko. Link overhears and asks what they’re talking about, then gives them the 100 rupees they want for the information. “The little twin steps over the little river. My cave rests above that river’s source.” Well, that’s easy enough if you actually look at a map. The Little Twin Bridge is to the south of the Big Twin Bridge, so cross it and follow the river to the source. Climb the wall, blow up the obvious place, and there it is. There’s some gems and, behind another bombable wall, a flameblade that I immediately resolved to never use because I don’t want to waste it. So it sits in my inventory doing nothing, which is an even worse waste but one I can live with. *sigh*
As Link was heading to Misko’s treasure, the Sheikah Sensor started pinging. Looking around, there’s a bombable wall across the river, and in the cave behind that, the Toto Sah Shrine. The trial name is Toto Sah Apparatus, and Link steps up to each apparatus and then the player has to rotate the affected bit of the shrine’s construction by rotating the Switch (or, in docked mode, the controller; I can imagine this is fun in handheld mode when you turn it so you can’t see the screen); shades of Skyward Sword’s big keys. One decision I found particularly questionable was that you can’t “pause” a puzzle to reset the controller; canceling and restarting resets the bit you’re trying to rotate. That’s actually not something bad to have, but I wish we could have both pause puzzle and reset puzzle.
Or, you know, not using motion controls. That works, too. Anyway, Link solves three of these puzzles (or four, if you count getting the small key from the chest as a separate puzzle) and gets Spirit Orbed.
And one last thing before continuing on; at night in the woods near Misko’s cave and the Toto Sah Shrine, a Stalnox (Stalfos Hinox) comes to life. I don’t know if Hinox are in the game or not, but if they are and their skeletons are any indication, they’re huge. The Stalnox will pick up trees or rip off its ribs to throw at Link. Its vulnerable point is, of course, its eye; if it’s not holding anything, sometimes it will shield the eye with its hand. This game’s other Stal-foes lose their head when they take damage and Link has to destroy it before they can pick it up and reattach them; with the Stalnox, when it gets low on health and is shot in the eye, the eye falls out, and must be destroyed to put the Stalnox to rest. This wasn’t a particularly challenging fight, but knowing mistakes would hurt a lot made it exciting.
Next: No, wait, I’ve got more… don’t you… okay, fine, be that way.
