Link is, once again, done with Kakariko for now, so it’s back to Hateno for more sidequests. First up, a kid named Teebo has an interesting discovery to share with Link, and leads Link to a statue similar to the Goddess Statues, only this one has horns. It’s got a “I have a quest, talk to me” speech bubble, and when Link talks to it, the spirit trapped inside steals one of Link’s heart containers (or, if he’s going all-in on stamina first [1][2], a stamina orb). When Link talks to it again, it can return it as either a heart container or stamina orb. Further uses of the Horned Statue involve rupees – selling gives 100 rupees per essence, and buying costs 120, making transfer cost an effective 20 rupees.
There’s another kid in the village whose late grandfather loved weapons and left descriptions behind, and the kid wants to see the described weapons. First up is an easy one: a Traveler’s Sword, plentiful on the Great Plateau. The kid gives Link 20 rupees for that, which is probably more than it’s worth. (Hard to tell, since this game won’t let you sell weapons. Pity, I’d prefer that to having to leave them behind.) Next up is a Fire Rod, and while I got a Meteor Rod from a Wizzrobe during my wanderings, it’s neither a horseshoe nor a hand grenade.
Next, Link gets involved in dating once again; Manny wants to get a gift for Prima, who works at the Hateno inn. When Link asks her what she wants, she says she wants a collection of 100 restless crickets. I’m not sure how sincere that dream is, but Manny takes it and… asks Link to get a starter set of 10. While wandering around collecting those, I ran into a Stone Talus, the Wizzrobe mentioned above, and a bunch of Pebblits, mini-Taluses. Pebblits are… cute and kind of pathetic; all Link needs to do to defeat them is pick them up and set them on their back, then they explode. Seriously. Manny pays 100 rupees for the cricket collection starter pack, so it was time well spent.
Outside of the village, a rancher named Koyin is having trouble with monsters coming up from the beach to steal her sheep. Link finds their camp; it’s six Bokoblins and a Moblin. Once they’re gone, there’s a chest in camp Link can open for a ruby, and the reward from Koyin is ten jars of milk.
While wandering the beaches, there were two interesting sights out at sea. First, on a tall island not far from shore, there’s a Rito playing the accordion. His name is Kass, and he’s a wandering bard with songs about various locations about Hyrule. He has one about the island he’s on and its surroundings: An ancient hero spoke these words: / “One day I’ll return to fight evil. / My cache is at 17 of 24, / This rock will point toward its retrieval.” I’m not quite sure of “17 of 24” means, but the island does seem to point to an underwater chest to the southeast containing a gold rupee, which completes the quest. Kass is surprised there was so little in the chest, but figures the ancient hero was richer in character. He doesn’t seem interested in a share of the reward.
Further out to sea – requiring me to find and figure out how to use a raft (use a Korok Leaf to blow wind into the sail) – there’s a shrine, Chaas Qeta/A Major Test of Strength. As the monk describes it, this is a simple combat trial: Link vs. a Guardian. This Guardian is armed with an axe, sword, and spear, and fighting it was where I started to get good at perfect dodging and Flurry Rushes. The axe is the hardest for me to perfect dodge – I usually jump way too soon. It has a second attack style where it spreads its weapons and turns into a whirling buzzsaw, but Link can make it hit a pillar, stunning it. As its health gets low, it jumps back and starts shooting a laser in circles around it, giving Link a chance to pepper it with arrows. When its health gets really low, it goes for the Guardian Death Laser – perfect guard, and wham, it’s done. The monk’s parting message is different here, too: “Your triumph over the test of strength subverts a prophecy of ruin. From the ashes of Hyrule, a hero rises.” A chest has the torso armor to match Link’s Climber’s Bandana.
Armed with the Guardian’s weapons and practice getting perfect dodging, I decided it was time for a rematch with the Lynel. It took some work to get the dodge timing down, and I had this problem where I’d press the thumbstick in to crouch rather than down to backflip away from its sword attacks – it works, but leaves Link a sitting duck, which is bad when it does three slashes in a row. Still, once I was able to beat it, walk away for a few hours, and come back and beat it twice in a row, I figured I had it down enough for now.
Next: Cyclopes, deer, and dragons.
[1] Which makes a certain kind of sense at this point… health-restoring food is plentiful, most attacks seem to deal token damage or fairy-time damage even with seven hearts, but there have been lots of things just out of reach with the base stamina wheel. I’m stubborn, old-fashioned, and well-stocked on Staminoka Bass enough to stick to hearts for now, but I see the appeal.
[2] I’m not sure, and I’m not resetting my save to check, but I think you need to get one or the other before Rhoam will give Link the paraglider.
