#gerudo highlands skyview tower

[vozchik]

[totkdaily]

Day 57: Yiga in Lanayru, and Akkala

The tower I climbed in the Abandoned Lanayru Mine is a forge, and it's manned by a Steward. I think this is the first one I've seen in the Depths, and only the second I've seen outside the sky islands. 

Another Steward asks me to go to the Central Abandoned Mine - if I do that and come back here, it'll give me something. 

There's a Yiga building here with a journal.

They want to conquer the Depths, but they say they need to find every entrance to do so. The journal ends: "Glory to Master Kohga."

I hope that's just something they say. He fell into- oh. He fell into an apparently bottomless hole. Is he… is he here somewhere?? 

Surely not. But unease follows me as I gather the remains of zonaite in the mine. 

I can't see any more lightroots from here, so I head back to the Ulri Mountain Skyview Tower, thinking to head to Tarrey Town - and spy Dinraal emerging from a chasm! I chase to catch up with him, but I don't have the right gear. I only just grab a shard of his spike and a claw before the heat of his mere proximity threatens my life. 

I drop to the ground and land in the shadows of North Akkala Beach - right next to a shrine! 

I spend the early morning scaling the cliff up to the Akkala Lab. Didn't Robbie say he needed something from here? I don't think I've spoken to him in over a month. Still, I should check it out. I've always loved the Lab. 

I scale the outside first to enjoy the view from the top, but it's a grey and cloudy day. And… that's weird. There's a frog sitting in Robbie's sun lounger. And… it bears the mark of the yiga. I've got a bad feeling about this. 

I look for further clues as I head back down the lab. There's boxes of bananas at the base of the telescope. And from the front, it's obvious - frogs and banana crates everywhere. 

I summon the Sages, ready my gear, and knock. 

It's a closer match than I'd like, but I dispatch the Yiga guards. Inside, there's only a fashionista - Konba. It sounds as though he's been forced to work against his will to make the Yiga's outfits. He gives me the Yiga armor he just finished. I suppose I could use it as a disguise, though I dislike the idea of wearing it at all. Konba points out I'd need the whole set before I could pass as a Yiga member anyway. 

There's a Yiga journal here. They're interested in sourcing Zonai devices, as well as Zelda and myself. Even they haven't seen her. They say they're setting up traps to catch me, but I've only encountered the weird cucco prophecy scam, and that hardly seemed aimed at me. Don't pick up bananas on the road? I'd have hoped I would have spotted that one for a trap without the hint. 

There's a map with Yiga hideouts on it, I think. Let's see…

Here, the Colosseum, somewhere north of Death Mountain and the old hideout in the Gerudo Highlands.

There's also a travel medallion prototype, which I should probably give to Robbie. Was that what he wanted from here?

For now, I head down the hill to the East Akkala Stable, and stop at the shrine on the way. 

Penn's the first person I see at the stable. He mentions the god of horses is near here - I'd forgotten my dream about it! - and the suspicious lab, the mystery of which I think I've probably solved by clearing out the Yiga. But no news here of the Princess, so he's off! That was quick. 

I speak to a few people at the stable. Aya is preoccupied with the monsters on North Akkala beach- I must have missed them, but she'd like me to deal with them, please. Rudi says Malanya's at Bloodleaf Lake, north of here. Rudi would like a picture of Octorok Lake when the water's high and it looks like an octorok. Maybe in the rain? Atin's newspaper says that YunoboCo is restoring Goron City again - that's good. Khini points me towards the horse god, and then goes back to selling buns. I buy and eat one of his Malanya buns, and I feel filled with stamina. 

The korok at the back of the stable wants to go down the hill to meet its friend. I summon Peaches and hook up the wagon for transport. I can probably do this before bed. 

I ignore the blood moon rising behind me as we gallop down the hill. Which means it comes upon me right as I'm fighting off two bokoblins in a cart. 

When the Gloom clears, I reunite the koroks and take the knight's bow the bokoblins had. Then I take both the horses and carts back to the stables to bed.

[darkdragon768]

Ok have a first look at my idea for the division of the depth into different biomes. I've separated it into seven different biomes called:

Crystal Maze, the biome below the Hebra Region, is filled with crystals and gems of all kinds. They've grown huge. Some are sharp, some are soft and some act like mirrors. Structure | Flora | Fauna

Inside Death Mountain, the biome below the Eldin Region, is burning hot and dangerous. Magma is everywhere and from time to time there'll fall flaming rocks from above due to eruptions. Structure | Flora | Fauna

Forgotten Kingdom, the biome below the border of the Gerudo Highlands and the Hebra Region, is filled with a lot of buildings and machines that might have belonged to the Zonai once. This biome got occupied by the Yiga as it lays right below their Hideout and is of great use for them because of all the Zonai Devices. Structure | Flora | Fauna

Ancient Jungle, the biome below the Lanayru Region, is incredibly humid and filled with all different kinds of plants and fruits that have never been seen before. Structure | Flora | Fauna

Coral Lowlands, the biome below the Gerudo Desert, is covered in a huge variety of beautiful and colorful corals, which have grown unnaturally large. Structure | Flora | Fauna

Wild Prairie, the biome below the Hyrule Fields, is just like in the game. A simple field with a few trees, grass and ponds here and there. Not much to see here. Structure | Flora | Fauna

Rotton Hollow, the biome below the Faron Region, is said to be the destination monsters seek when they are about to die, thus this biome is littered with bones and decaying corpses of ancient monsters and beings. The air here is rather toxic due to the gas that's released by the decaying corpses. Structure | Flora | Fauna

Every biome has exactly one Lightroot that acts the same way as the Skyview Towers on the Surface. Every Lightroot has a boss which is protecting it from intruders (I'll make a separate post for the bosses). The Lightroots don't share the same location with any Shrines or Skyview Towers, I've picked those randomly. I've decided to get rid of the original 120 ones because it's ridiculous and stupid that they're connected to all the Shrines on the Surface. I'll probably have to brainstorm a bit more here to make the Lightroots make more sense.

Every biome also has its own unique fauna! You'll never see the same monster in another biome (maybe with exceptions). Some are new and some are inspired from monsters of older games.

This is only a rough layout. I'll go into deeper detail when I'm writing about the specific biomes, but that's gonna take some more time of preparation.

[phoenixmaiden-gaming]

Now up in the North Gerudo Sky Archipelado I went toward the first sky island that was close and it was one of the star islands. The center dropped as soon as I landed and the tablet fell to the surface in the Gerudo Desert where I took a picture of it. Then I went back to the Gerudo Highlands skyview tower and had it launch me back up into the sky so I could go to another sky island. It was a bigger island and there was a Korok stump there that I had to get over to a target without touching the floor. I tried it but got distracted since I saw a chest and messed up, so I just opened the chest and it had an Old Map to treasure in the Depths I hadn’t found yet. I then did the Korok puzzle again and this time was able to do it and the Korok gave me my 33rd seed (327 total).

[theblackdragon-studios]

A couple tips for Naydra and Farosh I found easier too:

Naydra: She also flies near Hateno Village. I was trying to do that stupid mushroom vote quest (and it bugged on me…) and saw her fly by several times while I was trying to give tomato farmer a mushroom.

If you go to a nearby hill and wait, she flies around past that area.

Farosh: You can easily land on Farosh when flying through Gerudo Highlands. The Skyview Tower where you do the weight puzzle to get the Hudson Construction guy up to fix the tower is the easiest place to land on Farosh from.

Just launch into the air from the tower launch pad and sky dive until you land on Farosh’s back. You’ll know you’re close when it starts raining and thundering in the air around you.

-

I haven’t found any tricks with Dinraal, so nothing for that one. I have seen Dinraal in the depths more often than anywhere though.

And for the Light Dragon if anyone’s seeking stuff from her, I heard she flies close to the Temple of Time (in the sky) at some point on her route. I think she has the same time measurement as Naydra and Farosh, and only flies around Hyrule and in the sky map areas.

I didn't see this elsewhere so here are the maps for the three dragons. A couple notes, it takes 10 in game hours for the dragon to renew scale ability (it will glow). Only the head of the dragon spawns elemental attacks but otherwise you take no damage riding if properly armored. I've heard that aerocuda will attack but I only got close enough to one on naydra

Dinraal - the only dragon to go into the sky, though briefly. Dinraal definitely goes up and down the most. Theres a point in the depths where its really low to the ground, near one of the lightroots it goes by. This loop is the longest at a little over two in game days. Double fire effect so wear your armor

Naydra - the most challenging dragon for me to find, personally. Most of its surface time is pretty high up and it's cruising high in the depths too. This loop is the shortest at almost a day and a half. Double ice so wear your armor

Farosh - I think farosh is the easiest to find because so much of its route is over lake hylia but maybe thats just me. Takes a little over a day and a half. On the surface there will be a constant thunderstorm near it

Happy hunting

[phoenixmaiden-gaming]

I found the Mayamats Shrine: A Route for a Ball further out in the Gerudo Highlands and in it I had to use a giant ball to get a different ball to put in a target. I had to get creative with it like putting the ball up between some ledges so I could use Asend to get on top and attaching it to the ball I wanted to bring it to the target. In the end, I got to the altar and got my 15th Light of Blessing. Upon leaving I spotted a tower and headed to it and it was the Gerudo Highlands Skyview Tower. Like the others, there was something wrong with it, mainly that it was snowed in and the entrance was inaccessible. There was a notebook nearby on a table from one of the crew members that mentioned they had put their supplies in a nearby cave. So I went looking for it and found the Meadela’s Mantle Cave and it had a small river inside that flowed outward. I had to use some wood as a raft so I could get across to the other side where the underside of the tower was. As I went around the corner I found a glow frog on the wall and shot it to get my 57th Bubbul Gem (103 total). I then made it to the other side of the cave and used Ascend to get into the skyview tower and activate it. It melted the slow and I got shot up into the air to update my map. Just one more area to uncover.

[ryttu3k]

So I didn't go to Eldin, I launched from a new tower, spotted something that looked interesting and soared down, and found myself outside Zora's Domain. So. Done that now! (Like. The whole Zora bit.) Also, more memories, now up to 'Zelda and Sonia'!

Zora my beloved! Sidon my baby! He's all grown up ;_; Yona seems very sweet, so I'm just going with 'everyone is poly, Sidon is engaged to Yona and totally dating Link, who's also dating Zelda'. And Sidon's got one hell of a promotion! He was very fun to battle alongside with, and I can see his ability being extremely useful in both Eldin and Gerudo, haha.

Goddamn loved the floaty gravity at Wellspring and the Temple. Wheeee! *BOUNCE!* Did not love the Sludge; the Sludge Like in particular messed me up a whole lot. Eww. Also, I missed getting a photo, so that's another I'll have to buy later for the Compendium.

After that, headed Gerudo-ward for the next few towers and memories. Pretty much went... Gerudo Canyon tower, geoglyph 5 (Ganondorf kneeling), Gerudo Highlands tower, geoglyph 6 (Sonia). I'm going to head southeast next and grab the next memory (scimitar glyph!), then back into Hebra (crown... thing?), then back to southern Eldin (tear) and make my way back up, progressively grinding shrines, Koroks, etc. I want to have more hearts, stamina, and inventory space before I head into Eldin proper.

These memories are kicking my ass, especially now that I'm convinced a) Ganondorf is going to kill Sonia and b) Zelda is going to lose her sense of self by becoming a dragon. The bit Cado said at the most recent glyph (the 'Zelda and Sonia' one) was just... ow my heart. Asking why a dragon would cry...

The memories themselves were absolutely fascinating. 'A Show of Fealty' was sharply reminiscent of Ocarina of Time - Ganondorf, as King of the Gerudo, pleading fealty to the King of Hyrule, with Zelda as the one most suspicious and worried about his motives. Rauru seems to take her fears seriously, at least, but I still have a Bad Feeling about it. Well, I mean, I know it's going to be bad, Ganondorf very much does get a stone, and also I'm remembering this engraving...

Like. We know those carvings are of Sonia, Rauru, and Ganondorf now. So something is definitely going to Happen oh jeez ;_;

Especially since the 'Zelda and Sonia' memory is so cute. 100% has vibes of parents teasing their daughter about her crush.

Narratively, the memories have gone... introduction to world and characters ('Where Am I?', Zelda arrives in the past and meets Rauru and Sonia), characters bond ('An Unfamiliar World', Rauru and Sonia take Zelda in), establishing the conflict ('Mineru's Counsel', how does Zelda get home?), the first obstacle ('The Gerudo Assault', Ganondorf attacks and is defeated, and decides to steal a stone), the full conflict is set in place ('A Show of Fealty', Ganondorf pledges loyalty but Zelda holds grave worries), and now 'Zelda and Sonia'. 100% would be willing to bet my Master of Creative Writing that 'Zelda and Sonia' is the calm before the storm, and in the next one, the shit hits the fan.

That'd be the scimitar glyph. Oh dear...

Current progression:

Regional Phenomena: 2/4

Skyview Towers: 13/15 (just missing the Korok Forest one and the Akkala one)

Shrines: 33/152

Geoglyphs: 6/11

Starting a new post because the other one is getting unwieldy. Previous posts: starting area, starting area, starting area, surface, and Kakariko, Hateno and down we go, New Serenne Stables, Rito. Beneath the cut: the rest of the Rito quest, more memories (up to: the one with the Molduga), and on to Eldin!

Been very productive! First, I've finished Tulin's quest and. Oh goodness emotions. a) He's so stinkin' cute, baby hero with serious kid Link vibes, and b) the emotions of meeting his ancestor! And being told he's important! And Teba finally seeing him as a warrior! That would be so validating!

The actual content of what the Sage said - Zelda confirmed for Sage of Time (I have a bunch of speculation on the Sages here), and also Rauru's sacrifice D: If we have an actual memory of that, I may well cry, I'm getting very fond of him. He and Sonia are very sweet, I love how Sonia was just, "Well, you're clearly our daughter now."

Am vaguely concerned about how this is going to turn out. Draconification? Does Zelda turn herself into a fucking dragon? ...bbygirl are you okay? ;_;

In less plot-relevant updates: have done many more shrines and miniquests. Am now slowly making my way up to see the Gorons, since that seems to be where the game is nudging me. Will probably do the Zora next, then the Gerudo? Basically clockwise around the map. Also, fuck electrical enemies, I want to make sure I have as much health as possible before those!

In conclusion, Rauru is lowkey giving me gender envy and also I may or may not be slightly hateshipping Rauru/Ganondorf after that Gerudo Assault memory and am fascinated to see where it goes, along with Rauru/Link just because... the potential intimacy of literally sharing an arm, there's already five fics along those lines on AO3 god bless you fandom and also Nintendo why did you give the dead goat guy that hip-to-waist ratio. A big win for furries and monsterfuckers everywhere including his actual canon wife ig??