It’s time to get back to work, so I headed down to Eldin Volcano. A Goron greeted me there, talking about goddess cubes in the area. Those are those squares that I have to hit with a charged-up sword to make something change up in the sky. Usually it’s a treasure chest that appears. Anyway, Smurf-Fi tells me that I can now dowse for goddess cubes. I was actually doing just that when I accidentally stumbled onto the spot for the third trial. I played my harp there.
I then had to thrust my sword into the symbol on the ground and I was transported to the third trial, Din’s Silent Realm. As in the other trials, I have to find 15 tears to fill up my spirit vessel without getting hit even once. Collecting each one freezes most enemies for 90 seconds, but when time is up, they are brutal in attacking you. Those times are as intense as you’ll find in a Zelda game. You feel like you’re really running for your life when they start coming after you.
This third trial was the hardest one yet. It took me a few tries, but I did get through it. My reward was the fireshield earrings, which protect me from intense heat. I’m not sure exactly how earrings can protect your whole body from the heat, but okay.
I’m now looking for the third and final sacred flame. I solved a couple puzzles involving thirsty frogs and putting fires out to advance.
But I ended up at another fire obstacle that couldn’t be solved the same way. I apparently have to go back to Lake Floria and talk to the water dragon. I will do that next time.
Since I needed to find the party wheel for the guy on that island anyway, I decided to go look for that. So I went down to the desert and dowsed for the party wheel. Once I found it, Smurf-Fi telepathically called for the robot, who came and took it back up into the sky. Before heading up, I tried out the treasure dowsing and found a few things. Then I headed back to that island and we gave the guy (a freaky clown) his wheel.
He gave me 5 gratitude crystals and told me Fun Fun Island is now open for business. He runs a game that’s basically like the skydiving in a Pilotwings game (just without a parachute). You want to fly through rings, avoid his Dodoh balls, and land on a spinning wheel of various rupee amounts. It normally costs 20 rupees to play, but he gave me one game free. I didn’t do very well my first couple tries, but eventually I was winning some money.
After I had enough, I went island hopping. On one other island, I played a bamboo chopping game.
On some other islands, I found various treasures. I eventually went back to Skyloft. It seemed that many of the tasks needed to be done at night, so I slept until night. I cleaned Pipit’s house (I did it once before). I helped Fledge work out and gain some confidence (though it took several nights).
I also helped out this mysterious and spooky Thing in the toilet.
Each of those things netted me some gratitude crystals…in the end. I eventually went back out and found the guy’s sister. I didn’t realize it was that girl, or else I would have helped sooner. 😉
Her bird was injured, so I had to get some bird medicine. Fortunately, her brother had some, so I just had to fly back to Skyloft to get the medicine (mushroom spores). I returned to her and gave her the spores. She used them to heal her bird, and I got to keep the bottle the spores came in. Sweet!
I am not sure what to make of that, and I’m wondering if I did the right thing earlier on. But regardless, that is just weird.
After that, Smurf-Fi informed me that I could now dowse for gratitude crystals. While briefly testing it out (and using my beetle to explore), I discovered an area I don’t know how to reach just yet. I’ll have to explore further in the future, but I was done for the night. I had fun spending a couple hours just doing miscellaneous things tonight, but I think I’m ready to get back to work next time. The third trial awaits!
Once outside, the boss revealed himself: Tentalus.
I gave him a haircut so everyone could see his beautiful face.
After defeating him, I struck the Quake logo and the blue flame erupted and went into my sword.
It gave Smurf-Fi additional dowsing abilities. I can now dowse for more things, including treasure. Smurf-Fi told me I need to return to the Isle of Songs so I can learn a new song on my harp. But I wasn’t quite ready for that. First, I went back to the Sandship (it’s repaired already, imagine that) to get a treasure chest that I didn’t get to before. It contained a piece of heart.
I then went on to the Isle of Songs and learned my new song, Din’s Power. It will open up a trial at Eldin Volcano. I’ll save that for another day.