7.1 Spring

NOTE: Much of this entire chapter is completely optional. However, there is so much optional content intertwined within the main quest material, it has been lumped together. IF you are only looking to complete the main quest of the game, the only things that are required in this section are acquiring the Powder Keg Certificate from the Big Goron in section 7.1. Then, revert back in time, and purchase a Powder Keg from the Bomb Shop in Clocktown. From there you can explode the rock in Milk Road, allowing you to reach Romani Ranch on Day 1, where you can then learn Epona’s Song.

Section 7.3 covers Ikana Graveyard, and while some of the content will eventually be required, none of it needs to be done before heading to the Great Bay region to the west. You will need to get the Captain’s Hat and the Song of Storms eventually, but if you’d like, you can wait until those items are necessary in Chapter 10.

Great Fairy Fountain

Because you defeated Goht, the snow has now melted and Goron Village is saved. Hooray! You will appear in Mountain Village in front of the small lake. You’ll see there’s one frog here, (which you can speak to using the Don Gero Mask) but there’s nothing to do with it at the moment. If you have collected all 15 Stray Fairies within the Snowhead Temple, you should soar on over to Snowhead and enter the cave along the backside of the spire. The Great Fairy of Power will give you a wonderful enhancement that allows you to perform an upgraded spin attack. NOTE: In the Nintendo 64 version, this will be the Great Fairy of Wisdom and instead will upgrade your magic meter. In the 3DS version, the Woodfall and Snowhead Great Fairies have been switched.

Razor Sword (READ, IMPORTANT!!!!!)

At this point, there’s a wonderful upgrade for the sword which you can get. Here are the requirements:

  • Sharpen your sword into the Razor Sword (MUST BE FIRST DAY OR FIRST NIGHT)
  • Get a Powder Keg from Goron Village (Spring or Fire Arrows)
  • Complete the Goron Racetrack (Spring) to win the Gold Dust
  • Sharpen your sword further into the Gilded Sword (MUST BE SECOND DAY OR SECOND NIGHT)

If you used the Inverted Song of Time to complete the Snowhead Temple without using a lot of time, and it’s still the First Day or the wee hours of the First Night, you should have plenty of time for this upgrade. If you don’t have that much time, but want to do this, you’ll have to put your remaining Rupees in the Bank, play the Song of Time, then return to the Snowhead Temple and skip ahead to Goht to defeat him again. It’s a real pain… But that’s what’s gotta happen…

If you’re willing to do this, you’re going to need 100 Rupees. If you only need a bit more (you likely have at least 60 after completing the temple) then you can simply open the invisible chest (Lens of Truth) behind the waterfall for 20 rupees or Fire Punch the red boulders underneath the steps of the Mountain Smithy (also 20 rupees). If that’s still not enough, either slash some of the bushes around or warp to Clock Town and grab some quickly. Enter the lone building in the Mountain Village and fork over your Kokiri Sword to Gabora and Zubora, who will work on it through the night. In the meantime, you can use the Goron and Deku Masks to defend yourself.

Powder Keg Certification

In the northern part of Goron Village, there’s a cave-like entrance to the Goron Powder Keg Shop. It was frozen over before, but now that it’s spring, the ice has melted. Go down to the bottom and speak with Medigoron while wearing the Goron Mask. He sells Powder Kegs, but first he must certify you with a little test. He’ll give you a free one with a long wick that’s already lit. You have about two minutes to get it where it needs to go, then it’ll explode. Good thing you’re wearing gloves!

Toss it up each ledge, then roll up and repeat. Once you get to the exit, take it to the wooden ramp and walk it all the way to the exit of Goron Village. Now you’re on the Road To Goron Village (between Goron Village itself and Mountain Village where the Smithies are) and if you look to the north, there’s a giant boulder on an upper ledge. Walk the Powder Keg across the bridges, ignoring the Wolfos and Guay. Be very careful not to fall in the water.

Once you get to the other side, veer right and toss the Keg up the ledges, rolling up again as you did earlier. At the top, you’ll find the Goron Elder’s Son along with the giant boulder blocking the Goron Racetrack. Set the Powder Keg next to the boulder and wait for the fireworks (or shoot it with an arrow if you’re impatient). Once it explodes, the Goron Elder’s Son will run in excitedly.

DO NOT FALL FOR THIS CUTE DISTRACTION! RETURN TO GORON VILLAGE BEFORE YOU FORGET!!!

Enter the Powder Keg Shop and speak with Medigoron again. He’ll apologize for giving you such a dangerous test and certify you, allowing you to purchase Powder Kegs from now on. As a token of goodwill, he’ll give you another one (unlit) for free!

Going For The Gold

Now that you’ve been certified, return to the Goron Racetrack on the Road To Goron Village. IT MUST BE SPRING (Goht defeated) or there will not be any Gorons in here. Speak with the Goron Elder’s Son to start the race. It’s a rather difficult mini-game, and in some ways, it’s a little hard to predict what will happen.

If you know what you’re doing, however, this game is pretty simple, and your opponents will get stupid and slow if you slow down yourself or get knocked down, so don’t worry TOO much about how fast you go. It takes everyone several tries, so don’t feel too bad if you don’t make it the first… ten… times….

Here’s the basics of how it works:

  • You get hit, you blink
  • Get hit while blinking, you stop rolling
  • Use the green jars to restore magic
  • Knock into other Gorons to make them fall back
  • Avoid Bomb Flowers

There are two play styles for this: Avoid other Gorons at all costs, or ram into them then avoid while you’re blinking. A mixture of the two is what will guarantee you success. This game will use up a lot of your magic, so it is recommended that you have the magic meter upgrade from the Great Fairy at Woodfall (or Snowhead in the Nintendo 64 version of the game).

Strategy that works:

– If you have the Magic Meter upgrade, ignore the jars for the most part. A single jar will restore your magic completely, so you only need about one in every four jars. This means the rest of the time, you can be cutting corners to get ahead.

– When you get to the ramps, avoid the ones on the left side as the Gorons tend to knock you out in a single hit if you go up them.

– At the end, cut corners (stay along the right at the very end) to get ahead and bonk into any Gorons that come up alongside you, knocking them back. Remember that the Gorons have faster top speed and acceleration than you do, so put the stomp on them before they get ahead (at the end)!

When you finally come in first, you’ll receive a new Bottle as well as some valuable Gold Dust!

Gilded Sword

Next, you can go upgrade your sword again. Soar back to Mountain Village and if you had them working on your Kokiri Sword as directed earlier (scroll up a little ways if you missed it), play the Song of Double Time until it’s the Second Day (or Second Night). Enter the Mountain Smithy and receive the Razor Sword (which looks awesome). Play with it for a bit if you’d like, then speak with them again. Hand over the bottle of Gold Dust and they’ll forge your sword yet again. Go outside and play the Song of Double Time until it’s the Dawn of the Final Day. Go back inside and receive the Gilded Sword. While this thing doesn’t look as cool as the Razor Sword, it still does double damage and has even further range! Isn’t that just splendid?

That’s it for now, folks! Put your remaining rupees in the bank and call it a (third) night…. Okay, that was a bad pun!

7.2 Romani Ranch

Quick And Easy Rupees In Clock Town

Your next destination is Great Bay to the west. Before you can even go there, however, you’re going to need to have a reunion with an old friend of yours. Your first task is to run around and gather 50 rupees (either collect some in Termina Field or just pull it out of the bank). There’s two Silver Rupees (worth 100 each) you can get in Clock Town at the moment as well.

The first one is in the waterway (sewer system) under Clock Town that leads to the Astral Observatory. Speak with the orange’ish-yellow capped kid in East Clock Town and use the password you wrote down earlier to get in, then take a left as soon as you enter. Jump into the water and swim along the wall to avoid the Skulltula part way. At the end, climb onto the ledge and use either a Bomb or Blast Mask to blow up the wall and unveil a chest with a Silver Rupee (100) inside.

Also in East Clock Town, stand next to the same orange’ish-yellow capped kid and face south. Run along the wall and jump across using the Bunny Hood. Jump along the targets and basket of the Honey & Darling Shop and get behind the Town Shooting Gallery, then go west to find another chest containing a Silver Rupee (100).

Blowing Up The Boulder: Powder Keg

Go to West Clock Town and enter the Bomb Shop. Now that you’ve been certified by the Powder Keg Shopkeeper in Goron Village (see the end of the last section if not) you can wear the Goron Mask and purchase Powder Kegs from the Goron here. For some reason, he offers them for a cheaper price than Medigoron (who makes the darn things). Put your remaining rupees in the bank, as you won’t be needing any for a little while.

If you activated the Owl Statue in Milk Road, soar over there. If not, roll out the west exit of Clock Town and go to the southwest corner of your map (where there’s a red dot on the map). At all costs, DO NOT let the Takkuri bird (red dot) touch you!!! Go to that same area and pass through into Milk Road. Hit the Owl Statue with your sword and slash the bushes here to get some arrows. Shoot down Tingle and purchase a Map of Milk Road if you don’t already have one. At the end of the area is one of Mutoh’s Carpenters picking away at a boulder (apparently one of them knows how to work and isn’t running around). Use the Goron Mask to lay down the Powder Keg, then shoot it with an arrow if you’re impatient. Enter Romani Ranch.

Epona’s Song

If you don’t have the Bunny Hood yet, it is highly recommended that you go get it now (check out the Masks section for more details). Run towards the buildings ahead and once you get close, you’ll witness a joyous scene in which Link will see his trusty steed, Epona, who is still alive! Yippee! Speak with the little girl who scuttles around like a character from Peanuts. Hear her plight, one of the strangest predicaments in Zelda history. Every year, aliens come and abduct cows, but Romani plans to stop them. She’ll ask you to help her fend off the vile fiends, but she wants you to practice with her first.

Ride Epona by steering with the Analog Stick and speeding up with A. Press B to start using your Bow and press A to go back to riding. There are 10 practice balloons (which look like Poes) that you need to shoot down. It is best to circle around the ranch either clockwise or counter-clockwise, shooting at one at a time. It’s not very hard and it’s just for practice, so there’s no pressure. You don’t have to beat Romani’s Record of one minute, but you should if you intend on helping her with the aliens.

If you can successfully complete the game in under two minutes, Romani will congratulate you and teach you a familiar tune from the last game: Epona’s Song. With this nifty melody, you’ll be able to summon Epona anytime! She’ll then ask you to help later on tonight. Say yes and just make sure you’re back here by 2:00 AM. In the meantime, you can begin to work towards another goal.

Waiting: Collecting Rupees

One of the trickier objectives in the game is to get 5,000 Rupees in the bank in order to receive a Piece of Heart. Since you should have about 6-12 hours until your alien-slaying-date with Romani, there are a few different options to grind for rupees:

  • On the Road To Southern Swamp (between Southern Swamp and Termina Field) is the Swamp Shooting Gallery off to the East. Just outside the door are some patches of grass that drop 25-40 rupees. You can enter the shop and come back out again repeatedly to make the bushes reappear. This makes for an excellent way to get cash without much risk.
  • In northern Termina Field, there are Dodongos (day only). These things take quite a few hits but they drop 50 Rupees when defeated. Now that you have the Gilded Sword (see last section for details), this is a legitimate option.
  • Kill the Takkuri bird in Termina Field, just outside the entrance to Milk Road (red dot on your mini-map) for 200 Rupees.

Out of those options, the Takkuri is definitely the fastest. This thing is absolutely EVIL, however, because it will steal your rupees and even your items! Be very careful not to let it touch you, or else you could lose a Bottle or even your Sword! If this does happen, you’ll have to purchase it back from the Curiosity Shop in East Clock Town.

To fight it, you can use R to defend and let it hit your Shield on purpose, then use a short ranged attack, such as your Gilded Sword. Otherwise, you could it with Fire Arrows, which do additional damage and allow you to keep your distance. Once you defeat it and collect your rupees, use the Goron Mask to roll back to East Clock Town, rolling through grass along the way to fill up on arrows and magic. Deposit the rupees in the bank, roll back (through bushes along the way) and repeat. This simple, but effective way to get rupees will add up quickly. In the 8’ish hours you have to burn, you can easily make a ton of money. Doesn’t that feel good? Don’t worry about collecting more just yet (unless you really want to).

This game can be REALLY hard, especially if you are new to the game. Here are a few tips to make it easier for you:

  • USE YOUR MINI-MAP. White dots are Aliens.
  • The little dog will run to the closest alien and bark at it. Keep this in mind and follow your ears if they get close!
  • Do NOT try to kill all 10 aliens each time you pass through. Focus on just the closest ones. Because “They” appear at different points, the ones that are far off have quite a bit of time before they even get CLOSE to the barn, so don’t worry about them until they are!
  • If you have a hard time with this, you can use the Inverted Song of Time to slow down the passage of time (thus slowing the aliens).
  • There are more arrows in the grass and they also appear after defeating each alien.

Oh, one more thing: don’t use Epona.

It’s hard enough shooting the Bow at moving targets, let alone doing so while moving yourself as well. Just use the mini-map, listen for the dog, wear the Bunny Hood and aim carefully. Hold out until 5:15 AM and they’ll die with the morning light. Good luck!

When you’ve successfully defended the barn until morning, Romani will thank you by giving you something precious indeed! No, not the Milk, the Bottle! At this point, you can enter the barn and speak with her older sister, Cremia, who could use an escort later on tonight. Agree to help her out, then head outside and play the Song of Double Time to take you to the second night.

Speak with Cremia, who is waiting on the wagon and about to make her delivery to Clock Town. She’ll lament about what’s going on lately, and inform you of her friendship and worries about her good friend, Anju (whom you’ll meet later on in your adventures).As you leave the ranch, things go wrong and you’ll have to protect the wagon from bandits. An alien invasion is typically followed by milk raiders, is it not?

Aim at whichever ugly donkey-riding thief (Gorman Brother) you wish and shoot them with your Bow to prevent them from attacking the jars of milk. If they hit each jar twice, it’ll break. It’s incredibly easy, and you can just rapidly press the B button to shoot like crazy. In fact, the only way you can lose is if you never manage to hit them at all, since it’s only at the very end that they break all of the jars.

Interesting fact: if you wear the Circus Leader’s Mask, the bandits will not assault the wagon. Unfortunately, you cannot acquire the Circus Leader’s Mask until AFTER you get the Romani’s Mask, which you are rewarded with for completing this quest….

After you’ve shown your valor, Cremia will thank you by giving you the Romani’s Mask, which allows you to enter the Latte Milk Bar in East Clock Town. That’s all for now, so put your remaining rupees in the bank and play the Song of Time.

7.3 Ikana Graveyard

NOTE: This section does not need to be completed at this time. You could instead head straight for Great Bay. Getting the Captain’s Hat and learning the Song of Storms will be required later in the quest. This section is found here because in the Nintendo 64 version of the game, you will get an Empty Bottle, which is very valuable in the Gerudo Fortress of the Great Bay. However, in the Nintendo 3DS version of this game, you already got an extra bottle earlier in Southern Swamp, so you don’t necessarily need to do this now as you have enough bottles to progress.

Ikana Canyon (Stone Mask) – Nintendo 64 Version Only

NOTE: The Stone Mask is only available in Ikana Canyon in the Nintendo 64 version. In the Nintendo 3DS version, it is located in the Pirate’s Fortress and it will be covered in the next chapter. If playing the 3DS version, continue with the next section below dealing with the Graveyard.

First you’re going to need a Red Potion. You can soar to Southern Swamp and head to Kotake’s Magic Hags’ Potion Shop to purchase one for 20 rupees, or you can buy one in West Clock Town at the Trading Post for 30 rupees. Whichever you choose, head to Termina Field, play Epona’s Song and ride her through the east exit (dirt packed area with all the pillars).

This place is filled with Real Bombchus, but they can’t hurt you while you’re riding Epona. Ignore them and use Epona to jump the fences up ahead. At the end (once the Real Bombchus have all exploded) get off Epona near the circle of stones on the right. There’s not much to do here yet, but if Shiro_(Majora%27s_Mask)”]invisible soldier[/wiki]. Speak with him to learn that he’s been waiting for someone to come along that could see and hopefully heal him. Fork over a Red Potion to cure him and receive the Stone Mask as thanks.

Graveyard (Captain’s Hat)

Run all the way to the north of this area and climb up the ledge, then run on through to enter the Ikana Graveyard. You’ll see a short clip that gives you an overview of the area, showing all the Bad Bats that fill the place. Run forward and avoid the enemies. You’ll probably bump into Dampé, the undead-phobic Gravekeeper. He really needs a new career!

Run up to the second half of this area and turn right. You’ll see a circle of stones here where you can use a Bomb or the Blast Mask in the center to reveal a hole. This is entirely optional, but you can drop down and kill the Minibabas and Withered Deku Babas for Deku Nuts and Deku Sticks for the battle up ahead, as well as open the chest for some Bombchus.

Run all the way up to the house, where you’ll find a giant skeleton curled under the bridge. If you read the inscription next to it, you’ll find that the skeleton is awaiting someone to challenge it by waking it from its slumber. Stand next to it and play the Sonata of Awakening, thus beginning the battle with Skull Keeta (and causing Dampe to run and hide, of course).

After being awoken, Skull Keeta will begin running away. If he gets to the end of the track before you can hit him with your sword, he’ll disappear and you’ll have to go back in time to fight him again. Every few yards, there’s a wall of fire that will come up along with two Stalchildren, skeletal enemies that try to impede your progress. Defeat them to go forward.

In order to catch up to Skull Keeta, you’ll want to Z target him and shoot him with arrows. This will stun him temporarily, giving you a chance to get closer. Keep him targeted the entire time, back up and slash Stalchildren when they appear, then continue to run forward, shooting arrows each time the stun wears off. You’ll easily be able to close the distance this way.

Once you’re close, hit him with your sword to initiate the second phase of the battle. Skull Keeta will attack you directly and do quite a bit more damage than his mini counterparts. You can use your Shield to get close and hit him, but he can occasionally hit over it because he’s so tall. Instead, shoot him with arrows to stun him, then run in and hit him (or whip out your sword and use a Jump Attack to do double damage).

After you’ve hurt him sufficiently, he’ll counterattack by jumping into the air and landing on you. Run when you see the shadow and quickly turn to face him, hitting him just after he lands. You can easily do this several times in a row and finish the battle in no time.

Once he’s been defeated, he’ll take you over to the chest and explain a bit about what’s going on. He was the captain of the army of Ikana, a now dead kingdom up on the hilltop (which you will visit later on). Because of his shame from being defeated in life, his soul has stayed here in the Graveyard, but now he can rest in peace since you’ve…defeated him again…? Video game logic. After a final salute, the skeleton man will disappear along with the flames surrounding the chest.

If you already grabbed the Hookshot in Great Bay (which will be covered next chapter) then you can just grapple onto the chest. If not, simply climb onto either the left or right wall and jump across. Open the chest to receive the Captain’s Hat, which contains the spirit of Skull Keeta! This is pretty cool, as people will mistake you for him when you wear it. As a test run, you can hop down and speak with Dampe while wearing it for a humorous scene, scaring him half to death – fitting, being in a Graveyard and all. Anyway, if you had spoken to Dampe without wearing the mask, he’d say that the undead come out at night. Time to test out the new mask!

First Night – Song of Storms

Play the Song of Double Time to go to the First Night. Stalchildren (dead soldiers of Ikana) roam the Graveyard at night and guard the graves. Run over to the three that are circling the tombstone and speak with one of them while wearing the Captain’s Hat. After he’s done rambling, order him to open the grave and hop on in.

Jump across the little island and enter the next area where there are many Bad Bats. To defeat them, you can stand in the middle and use the Blast Mask, then switch to the Deku Mask and spin back and forth until they’re all dead. Once all of them are taken care of, a large chest will appear containing a purple rupee (50). At this point, you will need to light all the torches to open the door. If you have a Deku Stick (unlikely) you can simply light it on the lit torch in the previous area. Otherwise, just use three Fire Arrows to light all three torches.

This next large room has a statue-looking thing in the middle. Hit it with your sword to initiate the battle with the Iron Knuckle.

This heavily armored foe has an amazing damaging attack that may even take you out in two hits if you don’t have much life at this point in the game. It takes him a moment to swing his axe, however, so take advantage of this and smack him between his swipes. Once you know how to do it, he’s not that hard.

Z target him, get close to lure him into attacking, then back up. As soon as his slash is done, run in and quickly stab him with your sword. Repeat. Halfway through the battle, he’ll lose his outer layer of armor, which makes him a bit faster (and also makes him take steps forward when he slashes with his axe). Step back further to account for this and just keep it up a little longer to defeat him.

After he’s been defeated, the curtain on the platform ahead will rise to reveal a large stone tablet. You’ll witness a short clip of Flat, one of the two Composer Brothers to the Royal Family of Ikana. He thanks you and explains that his evil brother, conveniently named Sharp, sealed him inside this tomb, but before that, they composed the song that is inscribed behind him. After he disappears, climb up the steps and check out the tablet to discover the Song of Storms, a useful melody you’ll be using a few times in your journey. It’s actually one of the songs from the previous game, Ocarina of Time, and also the same song that Guru Guru plays on his music box. That’s all there is to do here, so backtrack and exit the grave.

Second Night – Piece of Heart

Play the Song of Double Time to get to the second night, then repeat the same process, ordering the next grave to be opened. Inside, jump across to find some rupees and a jar filled with magic. This cave seems awfully suspicious. Whip out your Lens of Truth to see a door behind a fake wall.

In this room, you’ll have to work your way over to the opposite side, but there seems to be no way to do that! Use the Lens of Truth to see the invisible path. Kill the invisible Keese and Big Skulltulas by simply shooting them with arrows. At the other end of the room, you’ll find a cracked wall on the left which you can blow up with either Bombs or the Blast Mask. Enter the door to find yet another Iron Knuckle. Defeat it the same way you did the other and it’ll leave behind a large chest containing a Piece of Heart. Work your back out.

Third Night – Empty Bottle

Play the Song of Double Time until it’s the third night. Open the last grave and enter. This takes you to a very large room with several patches of soft soil. Jump down and meet up with Dampe. Apparently, he decided to go on a little treasure hunt, but his lantern went out. He’s willing to split the treasure with you if you’ll lead him to all the diggable spots. Sounds good. Use the light of Tatl to lead him around by Z targeting him and backing up. If you get too far away from him, he won’t be able to see.

There are a total of six dirt patches in this room; four down low and two up high. Lead Dampe to them to have him dig them up, potentially revealing a blue flame. The goal is to find all three blue flames. The dirt patches they’re in are random each time you play. To get Dampe to the higher dirt patches, have him stand on the dark brown panels on the floor and then step off of them. They’ll steadily rise and take him to that side of the room, so quickly climb the ladder or blocks to get to that side and be ready to lead him once the elevator arrives. Once all three flames have been found, a Big Poe will appear and Dampe will quickly disappear.

Big Poes are somewhat rare in this game and they can be defeated quite easily with the Hero’s Bow. They always appear on the opposite side of wherever your screen is facing, forcing you to turn around to see them. After it swoops past you, shoot it with an arrow to damage it. After several hits, it’ll be defeated, revealing a large chest up on the ledge. Before heading up there, however, stand next to the soul left behind by the Big Poe and swipe it with an Empty Bottle. You can sell this at the Curiosity Shop in West Clock Town later. Climb up to the ledge and open the chest to get a Piece of Heart. NOTE: If you are playing the Nintendo 64 version of the game, this will have the ever-precious Empty Bottle, which comes in handy in the next area.

Climb up the ramp and slash the jars, since one of them contains a purple rupee (50). Go up the stairs, which lead to Dampe’s House. You’ll find him hiding under the bed, unwilling to come out. That’s all there is to do here, so soar back to Clock Town, put your rupees in the bank, sell the Big Poe to the Curiosity Shop if you collected it, put THOSE rupees in the bank and play the Song of Time.