Five items from Ocarina of Time you could find in a curious shop.
Lens of truth: In Ocarina of Time, Link can recover the lens of truth from Dead Hand’s cold dead hands. The glass allows Link to discern illusions, perceive the invisible, and gaze inside sealed chests.
Having gotten turned around walking the city at night, you find yourself on an unfamiliar street. It is lined with small shops offering all sorts of wares. Without realizing it, you find yourself drawn to Lil’s Trinkets, an outdated store with a cat sleeping in the window. The shop is illuminated by an army of candles that can only manage to make the interior dim at best. A disembodied hand covered in wax stands on a shelf with a small flickering flame hovering above each finger. The tag reads, “Glorious Hand, a guiding light against the darkness of ignorance.” You can’t seem to find the price on the tag.
Din’s Fire: One of three spells Link can learn in Ocarina of Time, Din’s Fire summons a sphere of flame that burns ignites torches, burns flammable materials, and harms enemies. Link learns these spells from the Great Fairies of Magic hidden in shrines throughout the world.
After spending a few minutes inspecting various preserved body parts, you hear movement coming from deeper in the shop. A gregarious looking woman of about forty enters from the back, apologizing for keeping you waiting. Before you have time to respond, the woman says a curse you don’t recognize, and demands to know who turned out the lights. After a moment of silence, the woman walks reaches for a dull orange gem resting among other colorful gems in a display case. After spinning the gem in her hands three times, the candles in the shop glow brighter, banishing the darkness into deep shadows along the fringes of the room.
Farore’s Wind: This spell is a game designer’s gift to players. It is a teleport, allowing Link to return to the entrance of any dungeon with a map. Not punishing players by having to work backtrack through the entire dungeon they just cleared is a time saving measure. Games like the later Elder Scrolls games as well as Diablo 3 all have fairly contrive mechanics for rapidly returning players to the start of the dungeon once they have finished. I don’t want to make it sound like I don’t appreciate my time being considered, but it does stretch believability at times.
Trying to make polite excuses about entering her shop by mistake and not needing anything, you find yourself instead saying, “What does that do?” Following your gaze to a pale blue glass cube flecked with white, she explains, “Once upon a time, the right wind could change the course of a person’s life. You wouldn’t believe what some people were willing to give just to have the wind with them. That’s not what you’re here for though, is it?”
Nayru’s Love: Encased in a diamond shaped barrier, Link is protected from harm during the duration of this spell. I appreciate that love is the ultimate protection. Maybe Lily was channeling Nayru’s Love when Voldemort attacked Harry. To learn this spell, Link must journey deep into the desert. Chasing rumors of a colossal statue that sits atop the entrance to a lost temple of the goddesses.
Handing you a small quartz pyramid, she asks, “Are you looking for something to keep your loved ones absolutely safe from harm?” With the stone in hand, the aching in your feet eases and the scent of incense fades. You also no longer feel the damp of the evening fog or the coarse fibers of your heavy coat. You send your senses searching out, but they return nothing. Just as you are about to succumb to panic, the shopkeeper plucks the stone from your hand saying, “No that’s not it either.” For a brief moment you are thankful for your aching feet and coarse overcoat.
Magic Beans: These beans take advantage of Link’s traveling through time. Young Link can plant beans in fertile soil so that adult Link can return to and find a stout vine that can be climbed to access a previously inaccessible area. These are clearly in reference to Jack’s magic beans.
The store owner startles you when she loudly proclaims, “I know exactly what you need!” as she disappears into the depths of the store. After a few moments alone, you begin to browse the trinkets with your hands. You quickly put an engraved mug back where you found it, finding it much too cold to hold with bare hands. Leafing through a book entitled Objects and Experiences Incapable of Being Explained with Words, you find a small unlabeled envelope containing hard brown seeds. You almost succeed in convincing yourself that the seeds were left in the book by the previous owner, and that you have every right to keep them since you found them. As the storeowner returns, you slip the seeds hoping she doesn't notice. The guilt you feel is the only reason you spend the money on the small package the store owner insists is simply perfect for you. You open the package as you wander back toward a street you recognize. Wrapped in brown paper, you find an antique watering can and a thin book entitled On the Cultivation of Exotic Plants.
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Sorry for another late-ish post. Life remains crazy.
Shout out to my amazing girlfriend for graduating with her Masters of Nursing this weekend. Spending time with you was more important than writing this blog post.
I hope you enjoyed the single narrative between the items. I don’t think it really counts as adventure seeds per se, but there does seem to be an adventure concerning seeds in your future.
Remember kids, always make impulse purchases from oddities shops that you find for the first time on a moonless night.
Please, do not profit off my work without my consent, but feel free to use my work personally however you see fit.
Make sure you remember to be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph
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