6. Romani Ranch
Table of Contents
Retrieving Epona
After resetting to the dawn of the first day once more, Your next challenge awaits you to the west, on the shores of Great Bay, but if you try to go that direction, you’ll find that you won’t be able to make it past a high fence in Termina Field. To overcome this obstacle, Link will need to retrieve his lost friend, Epona. The upcoming quest is highly dependent on set times and must be completed in a certain order, keep that in mind while adventuring onwards.
Your horse is being held at Romani Ranch, which is in the southwest corner of Termina Field. However, for the first two days, there’s a large boulder blocking your path – luckily, you now have access to Powder Kegs! After withdrawing some cash from the Clock Town bank or opening some nearby chests, Link can purchase a Powder Keg either from Medigoron in the Goron Village or from a friendly Goron in the bomb shop in West Clock Town.
Once you’ve got one, head towards the entrance to Milk Road. As you approach the corner of the field, stay on your toes – a new enemy patrols this area called the Takkuri bird. This flying menace can steal your items, such as Empty Bottles or even your Sword. Its high health and quick swoops make it tough to defeat without a powerful weapon, so evading its claws is a wise decision for the moment. If you choose to battle the Takkuri, stay at a distance and utilize Fire and/or Ice arrows to attack as it swoops. Managing to defeat the Takkuri will net you a hefty reward of 200 rupees, making it a convenient late-game money-making strategy.
Once you leave Termina Field, you’ll see the gigantic boulder up ahead, and a worker there is slowly picking away at it, hoping to remove it from the path to continue the flow of premium milk from Romani Ranch. Drop the Powder Keg right in front of it and shoot an arrow to detonate the explosive quickly. While you are here, shoot Tingle down and purchase the local map of Romani Ranch. An owl statue can be struck here too, for a useful warp point to Milk Road. After that, proceed into Romani Ranch.
Head to the homestead in the distance, where Tatl will alert you to Epona’s distress. Talk to the nearby girl, Romani, to learn about how to rescue Epona from the stable. This conversation has to take place before 2 am of the first night. Romani will explain that she is practicing to protect the ranch from alien attackers that will visit that night to abduct her precious cows. Agree to help her out, and she will offer a fun minigame in preparation for the attack.
Romani sets up 10 ghost-shaped balloons all over the ranch, and it’s your job to shoot them while on horseback with your bow within two minutes. The balloons will appear on your map, so attack the targets in a wide sweep of the ranch. The game shouldn’t pose too much of a challenge, especially with the use of the 3DS gyroscopic aiming capabilities.
If you manage to snag all the balloons within two minutes, Romani will comment that you and Epona work well together. She will teach you Epona’s Song, allowing you to summon your horse anywhere in Termina Field. Importantly, you now have the means to jump high fences and explore new areas of Termina that were previously barred. Handy!
Stopping the Alien Invasion
You can leave the ranch and do whatever you like, but it is imperative to return at 2 am on the first night. Speak to Romani and she will explain the details of the attack and offer a plan to defend her cows. At precisely 2.30 am, the aliens will arrive, spread around the area. They will slowly move towards the barn and attempt to phase through the walls to reach Romani and her cows inside. Your job is to prevent them from doing just that – if even a single alien reaches the barn, you will fail the quest and will have to try again in a new cycle.
The only way to stop the aliens is with the Hero’s Bow – one well-placed arrow will destroy the invaders. You can either run around on foot, shooting the aliens as they draw closer in endless waves, or ride around on Epona, sniping them in the same fashion as Romani’s balloons. The latter is slightly more difficult but can add a fun layer of challenge to the invasion. The ghosts move slowly enough that defending the barn on foot is manageable without Epona’s speed.
Make sure you occasionally check behind the barn, as one pesky alien will try to sneak around while you are occupied. Using the minimap is extremely helpful during this quest, aliens will show up as white dots so you can keep track of any that get a little too close to the barn. Arrows can be found all around the ranch, in grass patches and crates – loot them to replenish your supply if you are running low.
If you struggle with keeping the aliens at bay, playing the Inverted Song of Time to slow down time can be useful, as the aliens move at a crawl, barely advancing towards the barn at all. However, using this technique makes the invasion last a lot longer.
It’ll all be over at dawn. Once that time arrives, the aliens will retreat back to the stars. Romani will thank you profusely and reward you with an Empty Bottle filled with delicious milk!
Protecting the Milk Delivery
You can assist the ranch owners further after helping Romani with the invasion. Speak to Romani’s older sister Cremia on the night of the Second Day. You will find her readying a wagon with a shipment of milk near the barn at 6 pm – she will request that you tag along on her delivery to Clock Town. What could go wrong?
After a brief conversation, the mood will darken. Someone has decided to close the road back to Termina Field. Cremia suspects an ambush, and she tells you to get ready because she suspects that her neighbors, the Gorman Brothers, are up to no good.
She turns down an alternate path through the Gorman Racetrack and it’s not long before the fiendish brothers show up on horseback attempting to raid Cremia’s cart. Your goal during this quest is to prevent the Gorman Brothers from destroying the milk jars Cremia is transporting. You have an unlimited supply of arrows to keep them at bay, so you can fire quickly. Whenever you land a hit with an arrow, it will briefly slow the attackers and they’ll back away from the wagon. Focus on each target as they approach in turn to keep the bottles safe.
Once you make it through the racetrack, the Gorman Brothers will abandon the pursuit. If you protected the milk delivery, Cremia will reward you for your bravery and skill with Romani’s Mask. This uniquely shaped headwear will grant you access to the exclusive Latte Milk Bar in East Clock Town, which opens after 10 pm each night.
The Star-Crossed Lovers
You might have expected to get a fourth bottle with this, but no such luck. However, you need Romani’s Mask to get the fourth bottle before going to Great Bay. And unfortunately, you can’t get it on this three-day cycle. So you’ll need to play the Song of Time and reset back to Day One.
You won’t need to bother with the Song of Inverted Time this cycle; it’ll make the three days just lag on even more than usual. Instead, first head to the north part of East Clock Town outside of the Mayor’s Office. The door won’t unlock until 10 am, so you’ll need to wait a few minutes for that to happen. Once 10 am passes, go in, and then head through the door on the right. Talk to the lady on the left side of the room, and agree to look for her long-lost son. In return, she’ll give you Kafei’s Mask.
With Kafei’s Mask, your next appointment isn’t until 2 pm. You’ll want to head to the Stock Pot Inn in the center part of East Clock Town, and wait by the reception desk until the appointed time. You’ll see Anju leave her desk around 11 am, but she won’t be done with her chores until just before 2 pm. Once she finally reaches the reception desk, talk to her and tell her that you have a reservation. This will grant you the Room Key, allowing you access to one of the private rooms on the second floor.
Moments after this, the Postman will come dashing in to give Anju a letter. When the Postman is at the desk, talk to the two of them, and it will be revealed that the origin of the letter is something of a mystery. Once the Postman starts puttering away, put on Kafei’s Mask and talk to Anju. She’s on the job right at the moment, but she tells you to meet her at 11:30 pm in the Stock Pot Room kitchen. That’s still several hours away, but you can speed that up a little bit by playing the Song of Double Time to skip to 6 pm.
Technically, Anju won’t make it to the kitchen until around midnight but hang around until then. Talk to her once she stops walking after entering the kitchen. She’ll mention that she suspects that it was the missing Kafei that sent her the letter that was delivered to her several hours ago. She’ll then give you a letter addressed to Kafei and ask you to drop this into the Postbox. Once you have the letter, leave the Stock Pot in and then fast forward with the Song of Double Time until 6am on the second day.
Now that you’re on the second day, select Anju’s letter and deposit it into the mailbox right next to the Stock Pot Inn near the eastern gate. And once again, the waiting game continues. You need to wait until 3 pm for the Postman to deliver the letter you sent. You should do this waiting in Laundry Pool in the southwest of Clock Town. Wait for time to pass, and then around 3 pm, the Postman will ring the bell near the bridge. A boy will exit from the door on the far side of the canal of the Laundry Pool. You can then go inside. If you wait for a little bit, the young boy will eventually come back in, and you can talk to him; agree that you can keep a secret, and then he will reveal that he is indeed Kafei, who is an adult that was turned into a child by the Skull Kid; worse his ceremonial wedding mask was stolen. In order to snag the bottle, you don’t necessarily care about getting the mask back, but what you will need is the Pendant of Memories that Kafei is going to give you to deliver to Anju.
Quickly return back to the Stock Pot Inn in East Clock Town. If you’re quick enough, you can deliver the Pendant of Memories back to Anju. If you don’t manage to spot her, you can always wait until the morning of the third day to do this, though Anju will be upstairs in the last room on the upper floor of the inn.
At any rate, use the Song of Double Time to fast forward to the Dawn of the Final Day. With the pendant delivered, your next appointment is back at Laundry Pool at 1 pm. The door will unlock at that time, and you can go on in. Inside Kafei’s little studio, you’ll find the man from the Curiosity Shop, and he will tell Link that Kafei has left for Ikana Canyon in order to get his mask back. Again, you don’t care about the mask right this moment, but he will give you both the Keaton Mask and a Priority Mail for Madame Aroma. Take the letter, and head back over to East Clock Town.
His mother, unfortunately, won’t be in the Mayor’s Office. But you will find her in the Milk Bar. Put on Romani’s Mask to enter the Milk Bar, just next to the eastern gate, and head on in. You’ll see her down seated upon one of the barstools. Switch off Romani’s Mask for the Kafei Mask, and then talk to the mayor’s wife. Give her the priority delivery that the Curiosity Shop guy gave you when she asks for something, give her the priority mail. She’ll be ecstatic, and in return, she will give you the fourth bottle full of Chateau Romani. It’s a shame you won’t be able to use it at the moment, since time is short, and there’s a full day ahead, but a fourth bottle is better than nothing.
With that, your work here is done. Reset the clock back to the First Day, and then you can finally head out to Great Bay.
