Climbin' 'n Glidin'

My heart un-exploded, I catchmy breath before running back and speaking with Giro, though he didn’t indicate that anything was out of the ordinary. Does that mean I’m the only person who can see the Blood Moon and its effects? Surely people would have noticed monsters coming back to life.

You know, between hearing voices in my head, talking to ghosts, and now this horrifying Blood Moon vision, I wouldn’t mind a little confirmation that Link isn’t, you know, mentally ill. I’m not claiming to be an expert, but those are definitely signs of schizophrenia. Just saying.

...Yay. Another one.

I continue my way down the path alongside the Squabble River. The riverbank is just to my left, and as I near Dueling Peaks I take note of the Sheikah Tower across from me once again. It gives of a red glow, unlike the blue one on the plateau. It’s actually the same hue that an unfinished shrine has, before turning into that same electric blue after completion.

I need to get to that tower.

As I approach the Dueling Peak’s base, what do I see but a Korok flower! After touching it, it moves across the river, jumping from shallow rock to shallow rock. I chase after it, eventually swimming to the other side of the river to claim my seed. Thanks Korok.

I turn my gaze once again towards the tower, rising from the center of a lake. A large chunk of earth at the base of the tower leads me to believe that it must have been buried underneath the ground just as on the plateau. It also occurs to me that I am going to have to actually climb this tower, instead of just riding it to the top after it explodes. Crap.

...Goddamnit...

Dueling Peaks Tower

I walk around the lake’s edge towards the tower and up the “ramp” made by the earth. As I look up, I try to get an idea for the most optimal way to make the climb. Doesn’t look too different from the first tower, except I’ll be going up instead of down. I climb onto the side of the tower, and make my way up to the first platform. Then I allow my stamina to restore, and do it again, and again, until I’m finally at the top. As I make my way to the orange platform, rain begins to fall, and I insert my slate.

I get a nice cinematic flyby as the tower activates, turning from orange to blue, and unlocking the map for the area. Oh look, the names for all those places I’ve been but couldn’t have possibly known the names of! Even though the game doesn’t count every individual labeled item on the map as its own area, I still think it’s pretty awesome and will be using all of the names I can to refer to geographical locations. I also unlock something called the Sheikah Sensor, which acts like a radar, alerting me of nearby shrines.

It starts going off almost immediately. That’s gonna get annoying.

Okay, it was worth the climb.

While on the tower, I use my scope to note the locations of some shrines, though none of them are really on the way to Kakariko from what I can see. Still smart to have marked down probably. Once I’m satisfied, I leap from the tower, using my paraglider to slow my fall back down to the other side of the river bank. At the base of the mountain is another tree fort. Joy, more bokoblins to fight. However as I approach it, I see that it’s actually…empty. Completely. There’s not even an easy way up – there’s no drawbridge to lower. I land on top, but seeing nothing, hope down to take shelter.

There’s a Torch and an Woodcutter's Axe underneath, along with an unlit cooking pot, but nothing else. This feels like a trap. As I debate waiting for the rain to stop or not, what do I see running towards me but yet ANOTHER Hylian! Hooray! He joins me under the fort, also taking cover from the storm. I love the AI. He even talk about the weather when I talk to him.

Mezer, as he is named, is a traveling merchant, selling meat and salt. And since it’s raining, he is having a rainy day special! I don’t have a point of reference for any of the non-sale prices for things, so I take a gander over his inventory but refrain from making any purchases. I’ve still got a decent amount of raw meat leftover from hunting on the plateau. Still, I appreciate the company while we wait for the rain to let up. Not that he has much to say. Eventually the thunder stops and it’s safe to move on. I say my goodbyes and I walk through the Dueling Peaks.

Makin' friends all over the place.

Dueling Peaks

The Shrine Sensor is indicating that I’m headed towards one, so I make sure to check my surroundings as I go. Walking this close to the river, I see a classic Zelda enemy: Lizafos! At first, I have no idea what they are – I only see the splash of the water as two of them swim downstream, towards me. Curious, I step away from the water and pull out my scope as they pass, just making out the forms of the swimming reptiles but still not clear as to what they are.

Then I see Mezer coming up the path. And so do they, leaping from the water and onto the river bank to attack. Not on my watch! I leapt into action, drawing my sword to defend my rain-buddy.

He protek!

Lizafos are just as annoying as I remember, and very bouncy. They resemble overgrown chameleons, complete with bug eyes and long tongues. I try to keep both of them in my view as I target one, slashing at him with my sword. After he leaps out of reach, I switch to the other, and so on until they are both dead. I speak with Mezer’s still-cowering form and he thanks me for rescuing him, and even gives me some food as a reward. Then he continues on his way.

I examine some metallic boulders off to the side, though they don’t seem to do anything even when moved with Magnesis. Looking across the river, I see a Shrine on a cliff not too far up. Must be what was setting of the Sensor. I jump into the river and swim across, and then climb up to the Shrine to activate it, and enter.

Timing is Critical

      ~Ree Dahee Shrine~

I enter the shrine to see…a lot of platforms, all glowing orange. In front of me is a switch which, when pressed causes one of the platforms ahead of me to tilt to the right. On that platform is a ball which rolls onto another platform and into a slot, activating a moving platform. I hop on the platform and move to the next set.

This seems like overkill for what is basically Marble Madness.

This switch moves two platforms - the ball is on the top one, and I have to depress the switch as it rolls onto the bottom so that it is tilted towards the ball slot and not a bottomless pit. Takes a few tries before I get it, but I do. The next moving platform is activated, and I’m brought to the final puzzle platform.

This is only a single platform, but with a decent sized gap between it and the ball slot. I also spot a chest above the ramp holding the ball, too high to climb to. Hmm. In order to move the ball across, I have to press the switch and allow it to build up momentum, before letting go and moving the platform to a high enough position so the ball can jump the gap. I also see that when turned, the ramp reaches high enough to get the chest. But, unless I’m standing on the switch, the ramp remains too low.

Rhee Dahee

“Timing is Critical” is the name of the challenge right? I bet Stasis can help by freezing the platform in place. I learn I am wrong when the platform neglects to react to my rune. The switch however can be frozen, so after I get the moving platform activated, I stand on the switch. Once it’s close enough, I freeze the switch below me and hop onto the platform, allowing me to climb up the ramp and to the chest before Stasis wears off and the switch goes back to normal.

CLIMBERS BANDANA!

I know that’s probably way too excited for something I never even knew existed, but in the chest was a piece of armor for my head that increases my climb speed. Super useful! I also hadn’t had any head armor at all so the defense boost doesn’t hurt either. I slap it on and climb down to Ree Dahee, earning myself another Spirit Orb.

Gonna climb all sorts of shit.

---

Heart Containers: 4
Shrines Completed: 6
Koroks Found: 14
Tower: Climbed
Head: Bandanna’d