Vah Rudania & Master Sword

With three fireproof elixirs in hand, I headed off to Death Mountain in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Once I reached the southern mine, I found many Gorons working here. But there was also a guy who offered me some heat-resistant armor if I gathered up ten fireproof lizards for him.

After accepting the request, my second fireproof elixir wore off and I had to drink my last one. That gave me just six more minutes before I would turn into a crispy sausage Link. So I began looking for leaping lizards, and my search turned a bit frantic once my elixir ran down to the last minute. But with just 30 seconds to spare, I found the tenth lizard and got my flamebreaker armor. Whew.

With that hot mess behind me, I relaxed a bit as I continued up the road to Goron City. I explored the village, chatted with Gorons, and did some shopping as well. I quickly learned that it’s so hot here, that I can cook food by just setting it on the ground! You gotta love the facial expressions of the Gorons, especially when they’re shocked.

At the armor shop, I bought some flamebreaker boots to go with my armor. That will give me an extra layer of flame resistance. The shop also had a matching helmet, but it was 2,000 rupees and I was a bit short on money.

Anyway, I soon learned that I needed to go to the north mine to look for a young Goron named Yunobo. I headed that way, but I ended up stopping at several shrines on the way. I completed two of them, but during the third one, I ran out of arrows. So I left the shrine and took a little break.

I bought some arrows, I did some cooking, I visited a fairy to enhance my new clothes, and I exchanged four spirit orbs for another heart container. When I was good and ready, I returned to the shrine and completed it.

Once I figured out how to use the cannons at the north mine, I was able to rescue Yunobo.

After making a stop back at Goron City, the two of us headed up Death Mountain towards Divine Beast Vah Rudania. On the way up, we had to sneak past (or destroy) some guardian sentries. Using my horse-calling whistle, I could call out to Yunobo to tell him when to go or stop. The system certainly wasn’t flawless. Yunobo seemed to get stuck standing on small rocks just barely a few inches off the ground.

But we eventually made our way up the mountain, firing cannons along the way to push Rudania further up. Eventually, we got Rudania to retreat into the volcano. That’s when I hopped on board. But before going inside, I wanted to try something else…

So I teleported back to the Korok Forest, where the Master Sword sleeps. I again tried to pull it out…and this time, I succeeded! I now have the Master Sword! 😀

At last, I finally have a sword that won’t break! Ahh, but sadly, there is a catch. If you use the Master Sword too much, its power will run out and you’ll need to wait ten minutes for it to recharge. So it’s still not a weapon that you can use all the time. What is with Nintendo, anyway? Why can’t we have (and keep) nice things?

After trading in some more Korok seeds with Hestu (to expand more storage slots), I returned to Rudania. When I first went inside, I was surprised to see everything turn dark! You can only see blue flames and certain enemies, and you must use a torch to spread the light to other rooms. Even though the darkness makes it hard to see, I really enjoyed the atmosphere of playing this way. Really cool!

I made my way to the control station, which gave me the map of the beast. I was legitimately disappointed when the lights then came back on. The controls allow me to rotate Rudania 90 degrees, turning the entire beast. Turning it back and forth will be required to activate all of the terminals.

Most of the terminals weren’t very hard to figure out, but one of them was a bit tricky. But I got it before too long. I think I’m getting the hang of these divine beasts now. I then went over to the main control unit; activating it caused the boss to appear.

I waled on him with my Master Sword, taking away half of his health before he even had a chance to attack! He then changed tactics so I didn’t defeat him instantly, but it was still a surprisingly quick and easy fight.

That earned me another heart container, and the Goron champion Daruk gave me a new defensive ability. There’s only one more divine beast left! I may head that way next time.