Five items from Link’s Awakening that could lead to the location of a missing archaeologist.
Letter: A love letter written by a goat pretending to be a beautiful woman. That sentence is why I enjoy soft fantasy as a genre. A millennia of established world building isn’t needed to have a Goat live in Animal Village.
A letter from the archaeologist Dr. Colleen Tannis has arrived requesting funds for her next expedition. Dr.Tannis has a reputation for pursuing forbidden histories and secrets better left forgotten. For the last few years, Dr. Tannis has been searching for the lost city of Inan. Legends speak of the fateful night when the many sages of Inan sought to elevate one of their own to godhood using a long lost ritual. The stories do not agree whether the ritual was a success, but they do all agree that every inhabitant of Inan and those in the surrounding area were killed in an instant. Few in academic circles truly believe the infamous city ever existed, but Dr. Tannis is undeterred. Since this letter was postmarked almost four months ago and no one in the academic world has heard from Colleen in almost six months, Dr. Tannis is probably obsessing over artifacts uncovered in some far-flung dig site after securing funding from some private source.
Piece of Power: A rare drop that appears after Link defeats many enemies. After picking up the piece of power, Link is able to strike with devastating force. His blows quickly dispatch enemies and send them flying from the impact.
After months with no contact, Dr. Tannis sent a small crystal fragment along with a hastily scrawled letter back to the research institute. In her letter, Dr. Tannis explained she discovered the crystals have the ability to amplify a person’s innate abilities. It could be the crystallized residue of the apotheosis ritual that the stages of Inan attempted millennial ago. She discovered a small cache of the crystals at her dig site and believes that there may be a larger vault filled with these crystals as well as clues to the lost location of Inan. Dr. Tannis said she will be attempting to work her way through the trap laden corridors with the help of the power stones. The university is now organizing an expedition to the dig site. Ostensibly, the expedition is to ensure Dr.Tannis’ safety in the trap filled dungeon below the dig site but many members of the expedition believe the university is only concerned with securing the reservoir of power stones before anyone else can.
Ocarina: Link’s trusty instrument used to play magical songs that can teleport him to previously discovered locations, wake the sleeping, raise the recently deceased, and even rouse the mighty Windfish.
Personal friends of Colleen Tannis will tell you of her two passions, archaeology and music. While she is an exceptional researcher, she is an adombinable musician. During her few hours not spent pouring through untranslated tablets or hunting for some lost city, Colleen Tannis practices her flute. All that hear her playing will marvel that she has not improved at all after all the hours practicing. When the university expedition sent to assist Dr. Tannis arrived at her dig site, they found it hastily abandoned. A expeditious departure from a dig site is not unusual so the expedition did not worry until they found most of Dr. Tannis’ personal belongs strewn about her tent. Search parties have been sent out, but no one has a solid clue to the archaeologist’s location since her journals are missing as well. The only clue is a fragment of a large stone tablet inscribed with ancient text. Hopefully the text of the tablet can lead the researchers to Dr. Tannis, as long as someone can translate the text.
Stone Slab: Every dungeon Link explores in Link’s Awakening contains a wall containing a hint that Link can learn if he is able to locate and return the missing piece of the wall. When I saw the game art for the stone slab I immediately thought of the rosetta stone so that is the direction I went. I would update this drawing if I was to do it again now, but I think it effectively depicts what I was going for.
An examination of the dig site revealed a trap filled passage leading to a vault. The traps had all been sprung or deactivated and the vault had been emptied or whatever it may have once held. Even a large section of a wall had been torn from the vault. This stone slab appears to be the last thing Dr. Colleen Tannis was investigating before her sudden disappearance from her dig site. The wall fragment contains text in three languages. The section of text most closely related to any modern language can be translated as a warning. It speaks of a thrice damned kingdom, where fools claiming to be wise sages sought to steal the power of the gods for their own. The passage then goes on to forbid any from visiting the lost land. The land is described as being beyond where the dragon swallows the sun, in the shadow of the world spire. It concludes with a warning that any foolish enough to consider searching out the fallen kingdom deserve their fate. Could the text speak of local landmarks that guide travelers to the kingdom, and what of the dire warning? Is this where Dr. Tannis as gone?
Magnifying lens: This lens allows link to see things as they truly are. Really it helps him see invisible things and read the fine print in books.
The leaders of the expedition sent the most loyal and trusted members of their party to scout possible locations that match the descriptions in the stone tablet. After the scouts had left, a friend thought to get a better look at the vault chamber to see if anything had been missed. In their thorough examination of the vault, they stumbled upon a secret passage leading to a spherical room inscribed with hieroglyphics. At the bottom of the room are the burnt remnants of a journal, clothes stained with dirt and sweat, and Dr. Tannis’ reading lens. With Dr. Tannis missing, many would wonder is it safe to examine these inscriptions closely? Did Dr. Tannis learn something here that led her elsewhere or did she leave the dig site through altogether less mundane means?
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Sorry no links today. I have had a busy weekend and am barely scraping this post together on time. I hope you enjoyed the little story woven with the items. Maybe someday we will find out the fate of Dr. Colleen Tannis, action archaeologist.
Edit: I added some links.
I feel it is easier to be creative within an established framework so once I establish the theme of a post, the ideas really start flowing.
Thanks you for taking the time to read through. Feel free to use this personally as you see fit but please do not profit from my work without my consent.
Go out there and have some fun. While you are doing that, don’t forget to be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph
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