===== December 9, 2022 - Floor 3: Hateno Town =====
Link awoke to delicious smells and sounds coming from the kitchen. He sat up in bed with a mighty yawn, which drew Zelda's attention from the stove for a moment.
"Good morning," she said with a smile in a cute, almost pixie-ish voice.
"Mmm... good morning, baby." Link rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and got a good look at Zelda for the first time on this particular morning. She was doing her thing over the stove, with her raven-black hair in a single braid down to her waist, tied back in various places with the strings of the frilly blue apron she wore.
An apron she wore with absolutely nothing else, as it were.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked as she returned to her tasks.
"Well enough... but forget about that for a moment; what are you cooking? It smells amazing."
"Well, you seemed a little bothered last night, so I thought a nice breakfast would cheer you up. I'm making your favorite: a broccoli and cheddar omelette, bacon, and a bowl of fruit. Hope you enjoy it."
"Thank you, that's very sweet of you," Link said with a smile.
"Well, come on... hurry up and eat before it gets cold," Zelda urged, herding Link into a chair and setting his plate in front of him.
"All right, all right... but wait a sec: didn't you cook something for yourself as well?"
"Oh, don't worry... I have my own breakfast planned out already," she said as she disappeared below the table.
"Okay... if you say s-s-sss-ooooohhh…"
The two finished their breakfast, got dressed, and were out exploring Hateno Town by about 8 o'clock in the morning. They found a dye shop that could color entire outfits for a couple hundred Col and a few materials, depending on the color one wanted. There was also a general store that sold a few local cooking materials they hadn't found in the game yet. There was also armor, weapons, everything typical about a town in Aincrad. But what really caught Link's eye was a wedding chapel.
"Hey, Zelda, I just had an idea."
"What's that?"
"What say... you and I... get married?"
Zelda stopped dead in her tracks. "Whaaaaaaaaaat?"
"Marriage in this game has some interesting benefits. One, our inventories become shared. Two, we can see each other's status information at all times. Three, we can talk to each other in real time no matter how far apart we are."
"When would we ever be that far apart?"
"Hmm... when we're trying to surprise a really strong monster? Like that Guardian on Floor 1? You have to admit, it would have been a lot easier than trying to message back and forth. Or when we're trying to surround one the way we fought King Bulblin? Would've been nice to be able to speak instead of shout, don't you think?"
Zelda facepalmed. "Once again, you have managed to take an absolute clusterfuck of an idea and make it sound halfway reasonable."
"So... is that a yes?"
"Yes, you idiot, I'll marry you."
"Okay." Link went through the menu and sent Zelda a marriage request. She accepted, and a shiny silver ring appeared on each of their left hands. Zelda couldn't hide the disgust on her face as she looked at hers. "That's it? Certainly not how I envisioned getting married... you know you owe me for this, right?"
Link tilted her chin up and took her hands in his. "I tell you what: when we clear Floor 99, we are gonna have the absolute biggest wedding the world has ever seen."
Zelda's blue eyes sparkled at the word wedding. "Really? You mean that? You're not just saying that because I'm about three seconds away from testing if this town is a safe zone, are you?"
"No, I really mean it. I'm talking dress, tux, music, the whole deal. We'll invite literally everyone in the game, the reception will last for days... what do you say?"
Zelda was now grinning in spite of herself. "Okay, you got a deal. I guess I'll let you keep your legs in the meantime... you'll need them to walk down the aisle," she said with a smirk.
"Love you too, sweetheart," Link chuckled.
They made their way through the streets of Hateno Town, toward the Ancient Laboratory the Sheikah Slate indicated was near the outskirts. They found a pattern outside the front door similar to the shrines they had visited, only it seemed to be inactive. They went inside the small building and saw a small child standing on a chair in the middle of the room, and an older gentleman looking over a shelf of books in the back of the room. Both were dressed similarly to Lady Impa, which meant they must be Sheikah tribesmen as well.
The child spoke first. "Hello... this is the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab. Do you have some business with the director?"
"That's right," Zelda answered, not really knowing who else they should possibly be looking for.
"The director is in the back," the child replied. "A terribly busy person, that one. Please try to keep it brief."
Seeing only the one other person in the room, Link and Zelda approached the man poring over the bookshelves. "Hello, sir?"
"Hello," the man replied as he turned away from the bookshelves to face them. "This is the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab. We've gathered all known literature on Aincrad's ancient civilizations here. As for the actual number of books, well-"
He stopped short, something about Link having caught his eye. "Is that... that thing on your waist - is that a Sheikah..."
The director's eyes got big. "There's no mistaking it - that's a real Sheikah Slate, isn't it? I've never actually seen one in person! If you could just show me the runes on it, I'd be most appreciative."
Sure, anything to shut you up for a moment. Link took the Sheikah Slate from its hooks on his belt and showed the man the runes he had unlocked in the shrine on the first floor.
"Stasis, ah... Magnesis, yes, yes... the Remote Bomb and Cryonis... and what else? Let's see... that's it for the runes, but... strange. It doesn't seem like you have the basic runes. I don't understand why they're missing. There must be some reason..."
"That explains the blank squares in the grid," Link thought out loud.
"Ah, where are my manners? I nearly forgot to introduce myself," the man said. "My name is Symin. And you are... Link and Zelda, right?"
"Yes, that's right." Of course an NPC would 'know' our names; chalk it up to video game logic and think nothing else of it.
"Lady Impa caught me up to speed. We were told, "A young man holding a Shiekah Slate will appear, and you must do all you can to help him. His name will be Link."
Before Link could say anything, Symin continued on, "Oh dear! I forgot to tell you something very important."
He looked over Link's shoulder. "Director! Listen, Ms. Director! This is a real Sheikah Slate!"
"Director?" Link and Zelda groaned simultaneously, looking with disbelief back to the center of the room.
Symin continued, "Oh, that's right... I haven't introduced our director. Ms. Purah happens to be right over there. As the director of the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, she is the world's foremost authority on ancient culture."
Link and Zelda's eyes met, saying what they chose not to say with their words.
The only other person in the building... this child... was apparently the director of this lab. More weirdness to stack onto their already substantial pile of weird things about Aincrad.
"Check it!" Purah said, flashing a childlike pose.
"I have the utmost respect for Ms. Purah and all she's accomplished," Symin continued in the background. "I'm honored to be her assistant. On that note, the director may look like a young girl, but... well, maybe it's not my place to be telling you these things. You should speak to the director herself if you want to learn more."
Finally free of Symin's useless droning, Link and Zelda turned their attention to Purah herself.
"Heyyyy! Are you surprised? The director of this laboratory is not Symin. It's me!" Purah chirped, clearly impressed with herself for putting one over on the two players. "So, do you have any questions for me?"
Zelda blurted out what the two of them had been thinking for the past several minutes. "I have one: how is a child the director of an ancient tech lab?"
"How very rude!" Purah snapped. "Hmm... or perhaps it's not rude at all. I suppose that's actually a rather logical conclusion to jump to. The truth is, I look this way because of a failed experiment. Actually, I say 'failed,' but... in some ways, it was a success. I documented the full affair in my diary upstairs. BUT! The whole thing is embarrassing, so I insist you refrain from reading it!"
Yeah, okay... then why the hell did you even tell us about it?! Link silently fumed, drawing a slight chuckle from Zelda. Apparently his facial expressions told the entire story.
"Anyway... enough about that! Back to the matter at hand!" Purah squeaked. "Here you are, to defeat the Calamity and rescue everyone! That is, if you've got the courage to try."
"And to help the true hero, I, the one and only Purah, will restore the basic functions missing from the Sheikah Slate! However..."
And the penny drops, Zelda groaned. This time Link chuckled as if he could read her thoughts.
"...I need you to run an errand for me. You know the unlit furnace on the wall just outside this laboratory? Could you please light it using the blue flame from the ancient furnace in town? This sweet little Guidance Stone will start working once you do that, allowing us to restore your missing runes!"
Behind Link and Zelda was a pedestal with a stone hanging above it, identical to the ones they had encountered in the Lakebed Shrine. Apparently, it was officially called a 'Guidance Stone.'
"Okay then, I'm counting on you to get that blue flame!" Purah finally stopped talking, and Link and Zelda's quest logs updated, leaving them free to grab a torch go about their errand. The task was simplicity itself; the furnace was within the town, meaning there were no monsters to impede them in its completion. They did make a point of lighting all the lanterns in the town, hoping it would be better lit at night. Eventually they made their way back to the furnace and lit it, and the pattern in front of the door lit up. A message flashed briefly in both players' HUD:
Hateno Ancient Tech Lab is now set as a travel gate.
"So, another spot we can warp to... that's always convenient," Link observed. "That's two on this floor, plus the five on the first floor." He pulled up a map of the first floor on his Sheikah Slate and counted the travel gates for Winds' Respite in the north, Wild's Cradle in the south, Twilight's Dusk in the west, Time's Dawn in the east, and Maz Koshia's Shrine in the center of the lake. "None on the second floor, though... that's kind of odd."
"Well, there wasn't much of anything noteworthy on Floor 2, just a giant plain with a few stables here and there."
"True enough... anyway, let's go find out what else this thing is supposed to do." The two entered the lab again to find Purah jumping gleefully. "Check it out! The Guidance Stone is starting to react! There's nothing mysterious about it - this is pure science!"
"Well then, let's go ahead and restore these missing runes..." Link mused as he stepped up to the pedestal and inserted the Sheikah Slate. The Guidance Stone 'spoke' as it powered up:
Sheikah Slate authenticated.
Camera and Hyrule Compendium confirmed.
Starting repair.
The stone finished its operations, and Link saw two new icons on the main screen: one for the Camera rune, and one for something called the Sheikah Sensor. The empty grids were now organized in the Compendium under tabs labeled Creatures, Monsters, Materials, Equipment, and Treasure.
Satisfied with the slate's new functions, Link stashed it away on his belt and noticed his quest log update yet again, suggesting the pair return to Impa. They warped back to the Monument of Heroes in Kakariko Village, and made their way down the hills to Impa's house. She received them kindly once again, and both players received sizable rewards for completing her quest.
As they turned to leave, however, Paya burst in behind them. "Thank Hylia I've found you," she panted, clearly out of breath for whatever reason. "I desperately need your help!"
"Calm yourself, child," Impa chided. "These heroes have been working hard and need their rest. What could possibly be so important to trouble them so?"
The normally stoic warrior had a look of sheer panic in her eyes. "It's Kiwi!"
The little girl, Zelda recalled.
"We were scouting the bulblin camps to the southwest, when suddenly several of their larger soldiers began to chase after us. I held them off, and she ran into the Kokiri Forest nearby. Once I had dealt with the monsters, I went in after her. But the entire forest is now overrun with monsters, more than I could deal with on my own. So I came back to town to find you two."
Paya was clearly holding back tears now. "I'm begging you... please, help me save my sister!"
A quest dialog opened, but both Link and Zelda hit 'Accept' without bothering to read it. A notification flashed:
Paya has joined your party!
A third status bar appeared right below theirs, with the name 'Paya' attached to it. Both players were odd at an NPC being integrated into their party, but they pushed it aside for the moment.
"We'll help you," Zelda confirmed. "How do we get to these woods?"
"We can ride west by south. It's rough terrain, but we can avoid the bulblins that way."
"What if we went through the camp?"
"It's a shorter distance, but you'd have to defeat an entire camp of monsters."
Zelda looked up to Link. Link looked back at Impa. "Lady Impa, you said those bulblins have been a problem as of late?"
"They've always been a problem, but now more so than usual, it seems."
"I see... and something about a 'dark force' seems to merit further investigation. Paya, not only are we going to help you save Kiwi, we're gonna smash that bulblin camp on the way."
"Thank you... the entire region would be in your debt. There is a stable just beyond the north ridge of the village hills."
"I say we go on foot," Link ordered.
"Very well, then. The sooner we leave, the better. Meet me at the village gates when you're ready to leave."
Link and Zelda wasted no time going over their inventory and restocking their supplies at the shops in the village. They met up with Paya and all set out together to the southwest, where the bulblin camp and the Kokiri Forest lay according to Paya's recon. It didn't take them long to run into monsters, and the challenge of a new party member - one they couldn't even be sure would listen to their commands - presented itself once again. However, Paya seemed to not only obey their commands, but somehow began to anticipate them over time as well. She was talented with her weapon, which obviously wasn't for show despite its flashy appearance.
The enemies in the field were challenging but not overwhelming, as well as decently rewarding which justified Link's decision to fight through the enemies rather than ride on horseback around them. Eventually they reached a rise a safe distance from the bulblin camp and used the scope function on Link's Sheikah Slate to observe the camp from a distance. The trio lay prone, with Link in the middle and Zelda and Paya on his left and right flanks.
"How many do you count?" Zelda asked.
"Hmm... about forty from what I can see from here. They don't have much in the way of walls, so getting in won't be a problem."
"Should be manageable enough."
"They do have watchtowers," Paya contributed. "And if they sound any alarms, it will summon their stronger units."
"So getting into the camp won't be a problem-"
"But getting in unseen might."
"Not necessarily... Paya, which side has the fewest guards? There might be a lot of them, but they're not that smart. If we can pick them off from a distance, we might be able to do some real damage and thin their numbers out before the big boys come to play."
Paya thought for a moment. "If we're going for the element of surprise, I would suggest attacking from the east. For whatever reason, they seem to like following the sun."
"Okay, I like the sound of - oh, wow... Link, don't you think we're a little busy for this now?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You rubbing your leg on top of mine."
"What are you talking about? My legs are straight out behind me."
"Stop playing around!"
Link rolled to his right and over Paya. "There, is that better?"
Zelda looked at Link in complete shock. "No, it's not. I still feel it." She looked down and saw a snake crawling its way up her leg underneath her skirt.
The more some things change, the more others stay the same. Lanay Runazaki had never been afraid of much in life, but at the top of that very short list sat snakes. Becoming Zelda had done nothing to quell those fears, as evidenced by the shriek she let out as she thrashed about trying to get the snake off of her, tumbling over the rise in the process. Link and Paya snickered briefly, cut off by a horn blast. They looked down at the camp and saw a couple of guards on watchtowers blaring away on horns.
Zelda had given their position away.
She composed himself and saw monsters streaming out of the camp towards her. Link and Paya slid down the rise to join her and quickly drew their weapons. "So much for the element of surprise," said Link.
"Oh well, stealth hasn't really been our style up to this point."
"Now what do we do?" Paya asked.
Zelda grinned as she drew her own sword.
"What heroes do best."