"Is there anything in that room?" Robert asked as he peered past Sydra into the dark room. The window that would usually allow the light from the torches outside to come into the room was covered by a blanket and the group couldn't see much of what the room contained. However, they were able to make out a few bookcases around the room.
"Hold on, I'll uncover the window," Sydra said as he slowly walked across the room and pulled the blanket off the window, allowing light to spill into the room. Looking around, Sydra froze as he saw that he was surrounded by four gargoyles. The gargoyles weren't moving and seemed to be in a sleep-like state, but it was still terrifying as all the gargoyles were facing in the direction of the window with their claws outstretched.
"It looks like they won't wake up unless we touch them, or whatever they are guarding. Since there are four of them, and four of us, we should each get behind one of them and crush their heart crystals at the same time," Erich said as he stepped up behind one of the gargoyles and waited for the others to do the same. Getting behind one of the gargoyles, Sydra covered his fist with thick bone armor and aimed it at the spot where the heart was. Once everyone had positioned themselves behind their respective gargoyles, they all attacked at the same time and ripped out the heart.
'Crack' The pieces of the gargoyle in front of Sydra cracked into pieces, before falling to the floor and mixing with the pieces of the other gargoyles. As Sydra ground the red crystal heart into powder, he felt a new aura enter his body and be absorbed by a new root. 'Hmm, I seem to have gained a new power, but ill have to wait until we're done with this house before I figure out what I can do with it,' Sydra thought as he let the dust in his hand fall to the floor
"If there were four gargoyles in this room, then there must be some type of good treasure for them to guard," Sydra said as he searching around the room that resembled a study. Pulling books off the shelves that covered the room, Sydra flipped them open and skimmed through them for anything interesting.
"Hey, I think I found something here," Cidre said as he opened a drawer of the desk that was situated in the middle of the room. Pulling out an old journal, Cidre walked over and handed it to Sydra to take a look at. Opening up the journal, Sydra read the name Louis Wizen written on the first page, which meant that this journal belonged to the man who lived here.
"It seems this journal was written by the man who created this castle, and it has some information on his life. It seems that his name was Louis, and he was both an inventor and a sculpted, who used his powers to manipulate crystals for these hobbies," Sydra said as he read the first few pages that went over the early life of Louis and how he came to love art and inventions. "I saw some of his sculptings earlier in a house that I explored, and he seemed to be quite good at getting the details right,"
"Does it say anything about his inventions, and where we can find them?" Robert asked as he set down the book he was looking through and walked over. Peering past Sydra's shoulder, Robert saw a picture of the crystal ball they were using earlier with a smaller ball next to it. The information written beneath it told the group that the two balls were connected by runes, and the small ball sent the larger ball a video feed of everything that was around. The larger ball was used as the control panel for the small ball, as well as the receiver for the information.
"I haven't seen any information on a room that directly holds all of the inventions, but from what I've seen so far, I believe that Louis put all his inventions in the different houses. It seems we have only found a small amount of them so far, and there are still a lot more to gather," Sydra said as he flipped through the pages and looked at all the designs of inventions inside.
"Hmm, I guess that means we have to explore the other houses more if we hope to find the rest of his inventions," Erich said as he closed a book that went over how to properly cook food. It seemed that Louis was quite interested in cooking, as most of the books on the shelves had been cookbooks.
"I could probably use these," Sydra said as he walked around the room and sent all the bookcases into his Arbor Sanctum. With all the different books and folders he had found so far, Sydra thought it might be a good idea to create a library. After emptying the room of all the books, Sydra walked over to the desk and opened a few more of its drawers before sending it in as well.
"I guess this room is complete," Erich said as he looked around the bare room, which only had shattered gargoyles laying on the floor. Nodding, the group followed Erich out of the room and headed over to the next one. The following rooms were mostly the same as each other, and most of them were filled with crystal sculptures of different creatures. Sydra ended up sending a few of the crystal creatures into his Arbor Sanctum to use as decoration around his palace.
"Why do you keep sending so many of these creatures into your Arbor Sanctum, they all look the same to me?" Code asked as Sydra sent in five deer, and went into the next room that was filled with crystal snakes.
"Because these things will add beauty to my palace, and when people walk around the garden they will be able to admire them," Sydra said as he left the crystal snake room that was now empty. "Was that the last room?" Sydra asked, slightly disappointed that there were no more creatures he could collect.
"Indeed it was, which means it is time to move up to the fifth floor and see what it has for us," Robert said as he walked back to the room they had found the staircase in. The only reason they hadn't gone up yet was because Sydra was adamant about searching every room. Heading up the stairs, the group was shocked at the sight that met their eyes. The entire fifth floor was one large room with crystal pillars that held up the ceiling and a small stream that ran through the middle of the room. At the beginning of the stream was a crystal coffin that was surrounded by nine crystal gargoyles. Each gargoyle was five meters tall, and made from pitch black crystal, with a long sword in its hands. The swords they carried were all light blue in color, and the gargoyles held them parallel over the coffin.
"What do you think is in the coffin?" Cidre asked as the group softly walked across the floor, stopping a few feet away from the gargoyles. Standing on his toes, Cidre tried to peer into the coffin, but his line of sight was blocked by one of the swords.
"I think it is Louis, he must have encased himself in the crystal when he died, and I think he took Siel's gem with him," Sydra said as he looked at the body in the coffin and noticed it holding a small dark blue crystal that was in the shape of a trident.
"Does that mean we have to fight at least five of these things?" Erich asked as he walked around the coffin and looked at all the gargoyles. Although he had already defeated two gargoyles on his own earlier, these gargoyles that we're guarding the coffin were a few feet taller than the last ones.
"I think so, so we should come up with a plan beforehand that will make it easier for us," Sydra said as he pulled out a notebook and a pen and began looking around the room. Using the pen, Sydra made a map of the room and outlined where the gargoyles were standing.
"Since we have to fight at least five of them, I think we should split them up and each of you take one. Since I can increase my speed to be faster than any of you, I will take two on while you guys defeat your opponents. Once you are done, come help me with my two, or help each other if they need it," Sydra said as he showed his plan and how they would draw the gargoyle away from one another.
"Got it, we'll be quick then," Robert said as the group walked up behind the gargoyles and prepared to destroy four of them.