Rafting Down the River of the Dead

I use Cryonis to piggy back across ice pillars until I make it to the still functioning part of the dock. It’s secured with a rope (physics!) but otherwise appears to be a simple raft. I hop onto it and look down river for a second before cutting the raft loose. We start moving, though it’s a little slow for my liking and I’m left at the mercy of the current and wind. I pull out my Korok Leaf from earlier and decide to see how hard it is to steer one of these.

*whistles Steamboat Willie theme*

I'm not too bad, it turns out. The leaf doesn’t lose any durability unless I’m standing too close to the mast and it hits, so I can see the benefit in carrying one of these on me going forward. I fuck around for just a little longer before beaching the raft further down river – There wasn’t any place I needed it to get to, and there’s waterfalls on either end. Still, I can say I’ve steered a boat now.

There’s really only one direction left to go, so I pass by the disabled guardians in the snow again, and head north, towards the large bokoblin tree fort. I hug the mountainside to avoid being seen, climbing up some so I can get a good vantage point.

It’s a pretty big tree fort – one I definitely would have been jealous of as a kid. It’s got two levels, three if you count the ground where I can spot a cooking pot and some plants. There seem to about four or five bokoblins here, including one of their darker colored kin. A drawbridge to the second floor is pulled up by some ropes, probably to prevent me from just running up and slaughtering everyone.

FACE

Hitting the bokoblins with my bow from here is a little annoying, and if I move any closer, they will probably see me. There are no other trees or boulders to hide behind, just this big stone pillar that’s too far to be of any use. Throwing bombs from this distance is out of the question, so that leaves running in and shooting the bridge down before they can snipe at me.

There’s a few false starts, my hands of course feeling slipperier than usual since I actually need to focus on something. I have to practice my aim a few times, the rope is a fairly small target, and I have to aim a little higher to hit it and not the bridge. I still manage to miss on my first run, my arrow landing on the side of the fort and drawing the attention of the bokoblins. I don’t know if they have the programming to lower the drawbridge, but nothing happens. There’s just some confusion and screaming before they give up and seemingly forget about me.

Yay. Arrows. *twitch*

I make another run for it, this time managing to bring the bridge down. I shoot a few more arrows at the ‘blins as they come running down towards me, and finish the rest of the reds off with my sword. The darker one is a little tougher and I have to actually dodge a few of its swings before I can take it out. I collect their body parts, arrows, and some Amber from a chest. The only other thing in the immediate area is that large stone column. There’s something at the top, but I’m a little worried I won’t have enough stamina to make it.

I cut it close – I use the very last of my stamina to jump to the top – but don’t end up needing to eat any food. I’m decently high up – not as high as Mount Hylia or anything but still, I can see for a decent distance. There’s a chest up here and my reward for the treacherous climb are some arrows. I see a bokoblin camp just northeast of where I am now – that’s where I’ll head next.

Beautiful, and full of death.

The climb down is less exciting without any real danger of running out of stamina. I make my way towards the camp I saw, up a hill connected to the snowy hills I explored earlier. Nothing fancy here either, a cooking pot and some more amber…getting a little sick of all this amber. The enemy camp is against a cliff, and I follow the cliff’s edge back towards the stone column and tree fort. It’s a pretty steep drop, and I can see the Forest of Spirits - and the clearing with the Talus – below me. The cliff side seems to turn and then drop suddenly, though not so drastically that I don’t think I could make it.

I continue to follow the cliffside as it winds down the side of the plateau. There are a few precarious drops, but I manage to survive the first part of the climb down. About halfway down from where I started, I can see down the cliff clearly – it’s another skull fort! Also along this cliff are a series of precariously placed boulders. I immediately put my rock-presents to good use and take out all three of the bokoblins I spot below me with a SPLAT. I’ll finish off whatever’s inside once I get down there.

Still tacky.

The cliff spirals around and down the alcove. On the way down, I snatch up a few Apples and Hylian Herbs for some future cooking. I can see another bokoblin camp in the forest not too far away, so that’ll be up next on our murder tour. As I move towards the skull’s entrance, the wind starts blowing very dramatically. I don’t waste time, slaughtering the remaining bokoblin and collecting some Fire Arrows from a lone chest inside. I move back towards the forest after collecting the body parts of my enemies.

Hopper Pond

I reenter the Forest of Spirits, this time on its west end, on the opposite site of the Stone Talus’s clearing. Phew. This is probably the biggest camp on the plateau by my estimates. The bokoblins are spread out around the lake, with a few towers and patrols. This is gonna be a fun one. I start by sneaking towards the northern end. I climb up a tree and use my bow to pick a couple of them off. Then I climb back down, sneak to another tree, and repeat. The trick only works twice though, and the remaining bokoblins see me when I try a third. Oh well.

Not pictured: The Bokoblin I blew off the screen.

I dance with the remaining bokoblins on foot, switching between two of them while dodging the arrows of a third. Once they are both down, I notch an arrow and take out the last attacker. My reward? An Opal. Better than an Amber, I guess. Looking at the map, it seems like I’ve explored just about everywhere else on the plateau. Guess it’s time to head to the temple. Of Time.

I make sure I take the LONG way around the Talus.

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Heart Containers: 3
Koroks Found: 8
Shrines Completed: 4
Rivers Rafted: 1
Skulls Cleared: 2
Stone Talus: Avoided