Hateno Fort

There is only one road leading to Hateno and it will take about a week to get there.

At Hateno there is a laboratory where I can upgrade the functions on the Sheikah Slate, like Remote Bombs and Stasis.

Instead of riding down the main road, I wanted to pass by Ash Swamp. The ground is muddy and littered with decaying guardians. Thankfully most of them are dormant, using Cryonis, I tipped the metal bodies over and looted the undersides.

I wanted to rip the armor off and expose all the inner workings of the machine. The tough armor was impossible to hack off, even after exposure to the elements for a century, the armor hasn't rusted.

There were a few active guardians but defeating them was easy, as long as it was a one on one that is. I stood there with my shield out waiting for it to shoot, when it did, I parried with my shield redirecting the shot back at it.

How I am able to deflect a beam of plasma is beyond me.

Shronia was quite surprised.

I managed to collect quite the number of guardian parts. I'm sure they'll sell well at Akkala.

After a few more days of traveling, we neared Fort Hateno. In the game the fort is abandoned, the only resident was a local scholar. The scholar would lead the way to the shrine, but it isn't necessary to speak to him. Unlike the Lakna Rokee shrine, I don't need to interact with an NPC to begin the shrine quest.

Unlike in the game, this fort is alive and functioning.

The fort is built into a valley, large mountains stood on either side. The only way in and out of Hateno is through these gates.

At the gates, several Hylian guards asked for identification. We both showed them our cards, after confirming that we weren't fugitives they asked us if we would like to pay the toll fee in rupees or goods.

"How much?" (Link)

"2,000 rupees" (Guard)

2,000! I could pay that but that is still a large sum. Hateno is built around fertile soil, there is also a tech lab. Besides agriculture, there is practically no other industry in the area. So why is the toll price so high.

If they want more tourism, they should lower the fee.

I was about to hand them the rupees when I remembered something, showing him the metal card I received in Outskirt, the guards let us in for free.

"Forgive me, sir, right this way" (Guard)

He must think I'm some sort of nobleman.

This card is probably as useful as my Sheikah Slate.

Inside the fort, soldiers were training and sparring. After reaching a curve on the road, we broke to the left. We entered an enclosed area, there are several small statues with sinister faces on them.

In the game, you waited until nightfall, then one of the statue's eyes would light up purple. You would then shoot an arrow into the eye.

Waiting until nightfall isn't a stipulation. I already knew which statue to shoot, piercing the eye of the correct statue it rumbled before shattering into pieces. Then the shrine rose up from the ground.

Down the shrine elevator we went.

There is a long pathway leading to a giant rotating wheel, the wheel is hollow and has giant metal spiked balls tumbling around. Using Magnesis, I picked up the metal balls and dropped them into the void.

There are four platforms rotating around a giant gear. After waiting for a bit, a platform came. We pressed our backs onto the platform, the platform continued to rotate bringing us with it. After it was flat enough to stand on, we stood up.

At the exact center of the wheel is the gear that controlled the whole contraption, after the platform was horizontal with the gear, I froze the gear using Stasis and we jumped onto it.

"Link look, a chest" (Shronia)

To our right is a shrine chest.

"Leave it, it's not worth our time" (Link)

There are 2 chests in this shrine, but they aren't worth the effort to get. Also the loot inside is mediocre at best.

I unfroze the gear bringing the machine back to life. We waited for the platform that we jumped off of to rotate to the other side. Once it was on the opposite side, I once again froze the gear and we jumped onto the platform. To the left is a small platform that isn't connected to the gear. We hopped over to that platform.

Near the small platform is a gear that controls the central gear, we used that as an escalator and made our way up to yet another platform.

In front of us is an incomplete staircase, there is a gap in the middle. After a few seconds, a stair piece filled the gap. Quickly we raced up the stairs.

Awaiting us at the top is the wrinkled being.

After receiving the Spirit Orb, we left the shrine.

We rode till we hit a fork in the road, we took the right road since that will lead us to Hateno Tower.

We arrived at the tower not long after. The base of the tower is surrounded by thorny spikes, normally in the game you would use a fire arrow or a flame weapon and burn the thorns away. In my case, I have a walking flamethrower.

"Shronia, could you burn these thorns away" (Link)

"Sure Link" (Shronia)

She cupped her hands like you would do when you are hiding a bug inside your hands. She opened her hands a little for a strong blast of fire to come gushing out.

The flame was huge, it was at least 15 feet long and the heat was immense. She must've condensed the flames inside her palms before releasing it.

"Shronia, where did you learn to do that?" (Link)

"Remember that time I burned my house down, well I didn't know that I was an elementalist at the time. Anyways, I was playing around with my fire when I decided to cup my hands and see what would happen. The flames inside got stronger and stronger until I couldn't contain it anymore. Well, you know the rest" (Shronia)

If she can condense her flames, could she fly like Iron Man?

I put that thought aside as we ascend the tower. Once at the top, I placed the Sheikah Slate in the pedestal, and after a few seconds I got an area map of this region.

"Do you want to glide down or climb down? "(Link)

"Let's glide down" (Shronia)

And so we glided down onto our horses and rode the rest of the way to Hateno without any troubles.

****************************************************

During the time it took Link and Shronia to travel to Hateno, Kilton had rendezvoused with Ganon and Hatsotan.

"...And then a Yiga Blademaster was in the forest, Link came and defeated him. He was incredibly fast, he was like a blur. His skills in the sword are nothing to fret over. He was also very quiet, I didn't know he was there until the Yiga Blademaster pointed it out. There was also a Sheikah elementalist, he has the fire affinity" (Kilton)

"Exactly how fast is Link?" (Hatsotan)

"I'd say he's 5 or six times faster than a regular person. He is also strong enough to leap 10 feet in the air" (Kilton)

"I see" (Hatsotan)

Hatsotan stood there in thought.

"Can we defeat him?" (Hatsotan)

Hatsotan spoke to Ganon.

"Perhaps. However that is not needed, as long as we can stall him from freeing Vah Ruta we can win this" (Ganon)

Hatsotan nodded.

"Did you figure out any weaknesses?" (Hatsotan)

Hatsotan turned back to Kilton.

"No, he seems to have none. Strangely enough, he uses a lynel sword instead of the Master Sword" (Kilton)

"If the Master Sword is as powerful as you say it is, the lynel sword should be inferior. I'm guessing that Link has an over exaggerated ego, we could use that to our advantage" (Hatsotan)

The group believes that Link is overconfident in his abilities and chooses to wield a weaker sword.

In truth, Link hasn't awakened the Master Sword.

They might have been able to beat Link a few months prior when he was arrogant, but after the event at Dueling Peaks, Link became a different person.

"Did you round up all the elementalists?" (Kilton)

During this time Ganon and Hatsotan had been backtracking and reaping their rewards. They started at Hateno, if they had started at Riverside city, information about missing elementalists would leak to the neighboring cities.

Hateno is isolated with only one road in and out of the area. Hateno would eventually alert other cities that their elementalists are missing but due to the location and geography, the only other city would be Dueling Peaks.

By the time the news reached Dueling Peaks, their elementalists would have already been gone.

Currently the trio are at Lanayru Great Spring, the blood moon is only 2 months away.

"Let us speak to Ploymus" (Ganon)