There are four shrines left in Akkala; however, I can’t do one of them just yet. At the east stable, Link hears about the Shrine of Power to the west, and heading out there, the Goddess Statue asks for Dinraal’s Scale. Dinraal, of course but unfortunately, is the red dragon, not the green one I’ve seen flying around Lake Hylia; I’ve got no idea where Dinraal’s stomping grounds are. The quest log is no help on the matter, in fact, it goes me one better and wonders “Who or what is Dinraal?” I assume I’ll see Dinraal flying around Death Mountain somewhere and that’ll settle the matter, but for now the quest has to go on the back burner. In the meantime, there’s a sparkly area in the Spring of Power, which turns out to be the trigger for another memory. Zelda stands in the spring while Link stands watch nearby, trying to awaken her power, and grows increasingly frustrated as it’s not working.
Far to the northeast, past Robbie’s lab, there’s an island with a shrine. The shrine’s monk challenges Link to find him. The shrine’s easily visible paragliding in, but the wall leading to it can’t be climbed. Outside of the central area of the island is a giant maze for Link to navigate his way through. It’s possible for Link to get cute and climb to the top of the walls and try to get close to the shrine that way, but the skies have the flying guardians as a deterrent. The shrine (Tu Ka’loh) is a blessing shrine that gives a Barbarian Helmet that’s functionally equivalent to the Fierce Deity Mask (attack power boost, reduced charge attack stamina cost set bonus once I find the other two pieces).
Once the shrine is done, there’s a hole nearby Link can drop into to find a guardian graveyard. However, opening the chest in the middle reveals that a few of the guardians aren’t entirely dead and Link suddenly finds himself targeted by four guardian death lasers; I’m good at parrying, but I have limits, and this is past them. That chest has a Diamond Circlet that is mostly equivalent to the Ancient Armor helmet (no set bonus, looks much less ridiculous). There’s another chest in the guardian graveyard with the real prize for the whole island adventure: the Travel Medallion, which lets Link create his own fast-travel point. This is great for many things; for one, if it starts raining I can drop the travel point, go to Hateno Village to sleep, and warp back and see if the rain’s let up. (Doesn’t work while climbing.) Or, if I find Stalnox bones, like in this area, I can drop the gate and come back at night to fight the Stalnox.
The other interesting feature on the Akkala map is Rist Peninsula, which is a spiral. Sure enough, it turns out to be another shrine quest challenge: carry an orb from the start of the spiral to the end. Of course, it’s not that simple – there are monsters all along the path, including some tough Moblins and Lizalfos. (You can skip most of them by using Cryonis to get the orb across the water. I tend to forget I even have Cryonis.) At the end is another blessing shrine, Ritaag Zumo.
The final shrine is in the southeast, and even with the Sheikah Sensor pinging its little heart out, the hardest part is finding the place. It’s buried on a cliffside behind a bunch of rocks. Ke’nai Shakah Shrine is A Modest Test of Strength, which by now is easy (the guardian usually dies to archery the first time it uses its sweeping laser) [1].
There are fifty Korok Seeds in Akkala, but no new tricks for getting them. However, one stands out above the rest: Link has to move a rock from one hill to a hole on a nearby hill. The best way – the only way I found that comes close to working – is to Stasis the rock and whack it and hope it goes the right direction and keep trying. This is ridiculous, and extremely frustrating to use weapon durability trying to get. Oh, and there’s a Lynel in the area. Seriously, I’d rather do the motion control minigolf shrine a dozen times than this ever again.
Next: Feels like home.
[1] This has been corrected from the original version, which accidentally got Ke’nai Shakah Shrine confused with Tutsuwa Nima, the shrine in the Spring of Power.
