...And continue it here. Entering the dungeon, I see that it's called "Gnarled Root Dungeon". Well, it's appropriate, I guess. As I walk through the entrance, several... statues, I guess, are watching me. That is, their eyes are moving to where I'm at the moment. Spooky.
In the first room, I encounter one of these "push the right block" "riddles". Finding out which is the right one, I open doors to all directions, except for left (where I need a small key).
Walking to the right, I meet some stalfos (skeletons) similar to the jumping ones in LA. Except those don't jump and are killed easily. Doing so, earns me a key. The path upwards is still blocked by a door and there doesn't seem to be a way to open it, so I go back to the crossroad and up. There, I meet an old guy, oddly reminiscent of the old (and because of bad translation, rather unhelpful) guys in the first Zelda. He tells me to "Return light to unlit torches!" Well, I guess I get magic powder or some other light-making thingy here.
That reminds me, I read that the oracle games have many similarities with the first Zelda, due to their roots as remake. The first oracle dungeon is apparently a very accurate copy of the first dungeon of the first Zelda. However, since I tend to forget dungeon layouts all the time (and indeed can only barely the layout of said dungeon), I'll probably won't notice it. Well, maybe I'll get a dejá vù or something.
Turning right at the crossroad and unlocking the door, I enter a room similar to the right one. Killing the stalfos, the door upwards opens and a chest with a map appears.
Going further, I come to a room with a mine cart, whose tracks lead through a door. There is another door, surrounded by two unlit torches (or at least, what game calls torches). I guess lighting them opens the door. Since I don't have the item to do that, I enter the cart and am led to another room, with some moblins with boomerangs and two blade traps. A screen further, I come to a room, that I passed when riding the cart, with a compass, a switch to change the tracks for the cart and many keese. I switch the tracks and continue the ride, meet much more keese (which soon meet a wooden blade) and get some bombs, which I promptly use on a nearby wall.
Through the wall, I enter a room which has quite a number of blade traps (some of them really fast) and a chaser. However, it was for nothing since the only other exit is through a locked door and I don't have any keys. Walking back...
...I nearly die! Fucking chaser...
Anyway, I heard a acoustic signal before. Like in LA, it indicates that a key is in that room. So I go the room, avoid another chaser (thankfully easier this time) and activate a switch, which summons the chest with the key. Going back to the locked door, I find a heart and a fairy (or whatever that is, looks more like an insect to me) and so get my full health back.
"Growrrr! You cannot pass!" Ah, it's mini-boss time. Actually, it's just two moblins (although, as I read, they aren't moblins but Goriya Bros., goriya being normally the enemies who use boomerangs), which are quicker and tougher than the normal variant, but still easy. On top of that, they share the same health, so I only have to attack one of them to kill both.
Then, a very familiar room. multiple blocks arranged in a diamond shape with stairs in the middle and blade traps on each corner of the room. I have to push the block on the left side away to gain access to the stairs, avoiding the blade traps. That shape gets reused quite some times and considering the "replica of the first Zelda 1 dungeon" thing, it's no surprise to find it here. And indeed, the room below is nearly identical to the room in said dungeon (the only thing I really remember from it), where you find the boomerang. Here, I find the "Seed Satchel" instead, which looks exactly like the magic powder of Link's Awakening. And like that item, you can make fire with this. However, there are different seeds with different effects, so it's a bit more. For now, I only have Ember Seeds.
I take the teleporter in the cleared mini-boss room to the entrance. Except that it doesn't take me to the entrance, like in LA, but to the room with the cart. Considering that it also has a door with torches, it's still convenient. Going through hit and killing some moblins nets me the boss key. Before I go to the boss, I search another room for a treasure (as I can see with the map that there is one, since I have the compass) and get... Gasha Seeds. Yeah, awesome...
The way to the boss is near the beginning, through the room, where I first met stalfos. I couldn't go through the door at first, but it has torches and since I have ember seeds now, I can enter it. However, I encounter some of the most feared enemies. Wallmasters. Basically, they are big hands, that come out of the wall, which, when they catch Link, send him back to the beginning of the dungeons. Yeah, they are fucking annoying and should be disposed quickly. The fact that they spawn endlessly certainly don't make them more bearable. Strangely enough, there only seems to be a limited number in this room, so I can calmly get a ring out of a chest and go to the boss.
This one is actually very similar (but not identical) to the first Zelda boss. It's a dragon, who fires three projectiles. Different from it's predecessor, it doesn't just move up and down, but across the room and always fires in Link's direction. Also, it can only be wounded on it's head. It's resistant against bombs, but not against wood and I can kill it rather quickly.
Doing so earns me, true to the tradition, a heart container and the first MacGuffin (or Essence of Nature). It's the Fertile Soil. "Seeds scattered across bountiful lands are nourished in this Fertile Soil."
As typical, after finding the soil, I get teleported to the outside. Also, leaves pass by and I hear a voice.
Voice: "Hwaaah... It's me, the Maku Tree. Some of the Fertile Soil has come to me, too. I already feel stronger. Oh, in my dreams, I saw the Temple of Seasons in a strange land I do not know. There I saw a precious item that will aid you, Link. That is all I can see now..."
So, I have to go underground, to a land named "Subrosia", which sounds weird but still better than "Holodrum" and get... some item there. I guess, that's what I'll do next...
