Although the room is covered in a layer of dust, Sydra can still make out the red carpet and the decorative walls around the room with the light provided by the hole. Wiping some of the dust off of a glass case, Sydra peers in to see a glass sculpture of a fish. Turning around, Sydra sees that the group has begun to explore the room for treasures and interesting items that they can go back and sell. Deciding to find out more about the crab people, Sydra starts looking for information about the temple's history.
'There seem to be some books over there,' Sydra thinks as he walks around the room and notices three books sitting on a velvet podium. The glass box was protecting the books from the elements and also kept them clean from dirt.
"Feel free to open the glass cases if you want, just remember that anything we find has to be split seventy-thirty with the guildhall, and the rest of the items will be distributed between our group," Lorey says as she pulls off the glass case covering a shield.
Turning back to the books, Sydra opens the case and pulls out one with a red cover. The title of the book was Seasoul History, and it was written by someone named Horus. The book told Sydra of how the crabs woke up one day with humanoid bodies, and the desire to build a large city from sandstone. No one knew what had caused their change, but most of them were too focused on the city to really give it any thought. As Sydra is flipping through the pages, Haley walks up beside him and looks at the book in confusion.
"Can you really read that?" Haley asks as Sydra sets down the book and picks up the next one.
"Yeah, it seems these people called themselves the Sea's Chosen and believed that they acquired their humanoid forms from the sea. Over time they built up these temples to worship the sea and stored their most precious discoveries in this place," Sydra says as he begins reading the next book.
"Interesting, does it tell why they are no longer here?" Lorey asks as she walks up and looks at Sydra flipping through the pages quickly.
"No, but it does tell me information about most of the items in this place, and where to find more. In fact," Sydra pauses as he turns to look at the others and show them a picture in the book, " It even has a map of the entire city, and where all the buildings are located,"
"Really? Haha, this will get our group a seriously deserved promotion," Lorey says as she takes the book from Sydra's hand and looks at it closely. But before she can study the map, a loud crash coming from a room next to the one they are in startles the group.
"What was that?" Sam asks as he and Gram pull out their short swords and look in the direction of the doorway that leads to the next room. "Should we check it out?"
"Hold on, it might be something we can't handle, and I don't think it knows we are here yet. ," Lorey says as she turns to the multiple glass cases in the room. "We should first collect everything in this room before heading over, in case we need to quickly run away,"
"Allow me," Sydra says as he activates his lightning aura and turns everything around him into slow motion. Racing through the room, Sydra touches each of the glass cases and sends them into his Arbor Sanctum. After all of them are gone, Sydra deactivates his power and slides to a stop next to Haley.
"Where... where did they all go?" Lorey asks as she looks at Sydra in shock at his impressive speed.
"I put them away in a spatial storage I have, and I can take them back out later. For now, we should focus on making sure that whatever is in that room is either not hostile, or if it is that we can handle it," Sydra says as Lorey nods her head and leads the group toward the doorway.
As the group gets closer to the doorway they squat down to peer past the corner. The second room is much darker than the one they are in, but the group can still make out a large green turtle standing next to a pile of eggs.
"Holy Moly, that is a Jadeshell Turtle, known for having an incredibly tough shell. It looks like the turtle is standing guard over the eggs, which means it will be hostile against intruders," Sam says as the turtle sweeps its head back and forth.
"That's not good, the turtle is also guarding the doorway to the next room, and it seems that this room also has some interesting items inside it as well," Gram says as he points toward a statue made from a blue gemstone.
"We can't wait for the turtle to leave, as that would take too long and allow other groups to make their way over here," Haley says as she stares at the turtle with a hostile gaze. "We need to lure the turtle out of the building and then attack it together,"
'I guess this world just hates turtles,' Sydra thinks as he looks at the turtle with an unwavering gaze. He didn't mind the fact that they planned on killing the turtle as the turtle was in the way of treasure. "Can we sell the parts of the turtle later?" Sydra asks as he looks at the shell made from jade.
"Of course, the entire turtle is a jackpot if sold to the right people, and once we defeat it we'll divide the profits five ways," Lorey says as the group backs away from the doorway to come up with an idea.
"It's going to be difficult to make the turtle leave the eggs, so I think we should take one and lead it out," Sam says as Gram nods his head in agreement.
"That makes sense, but which one of us is going to go in there and take the egg?" Haley asks as she looks around the group for volunteers.
"No one will have to go in there, as I have a way to get the egg to come to us," Sydra says as he releases ten spiders.
"That is disgusting," Haley says as she backs away from the spiders in disgust, "What do you plan on doing with them?"
"I'll have them climb across the ceiling and drop down over the turtle's nest. Then they will pick up one of the eggs and carry it to us while we wait outside in ambush," Sydra says as he commands the spiders to do that. While the spiders are stealthily entering the room, the group runs outside to hide around the hole that Haley made earlier.
"Where should we hide, there aren't many places around here," Sam says as the group looks around the area outside. Most of the buildings were a few hundred meters away, and the group didn't think that was a good idea. Looking up, Sydra sees a small ledge above the hole that a few people could stand on.
"I'll fly two people up there to jump down when the turtle comes out, and then I can also hide in the sky. That leaves us with having to find two more spots," Sydra says as he grows his crystal wings.
"I can use my power to create a small hole beneath the ground, and then attack the turtle from below," Lorey says as she places her hand on the ground and uses her power of sand control to start moving the sandstone. While she was doing that, Haley was looking around for a place to hide.
"Can you create a wall of sandstone for Haley to hide behind?" Sam asks as Lorey creates a small pile of sandstone blocks. Nodding her head, Sam and Gram grab some of the sandstone blocks and start stacking them off on the side. Once the wall was high enough, Lorey placed her hand on the blocks and melded them together for stability.
"Perfect, let's get in our spots now," Lorey says as she hops down in the small hole she made and covers it with a sandstone trap door. While Haley runs and hides behind the wall, Sydra grabs Sam and Gram and carries them to the ledge before hovering in the air off to the side. As everyone becomes still and silent, Sydra senses that his spiders are hurting towards the hole.
"Here it comes," Sydra says as the spiders rush out of the hole, carrying a large white egg between them. As they run by, the group feels the ground begin to tremble as the turtle chases after them. "Now!" Sydra yells as the giant turtle breaks through the wall, sending several large chunks of sandstone through the air.