chapter seven - brain & brawn

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The hall is gorgeous, with gold and marble decorated throughout. The walls were painted a topaz with perfectly carved molding. Beautiful, intricate furniture and paintings give life to the room. The marble floor and velvet carpet showed no sign of age whatsoever.

"Look at this place..." You were awed while you admired the stunning decor.

"Don't get too attached," Leon remarked. "The ballroom should be just ahead,"

You noticed that when the hall reached its end, there was an unfinished statue of an unknown creature up a flight of wide bifurcated stairs. Attached to those stairs were more staircases going in the opposite direction on either side of the hall. Leon, following his map, rushed over to the door that exited the hall beside the statue. "This is starting to get on my nerves," he mumbles as the door is barricaded with a gate. One thing after another, everything is a puzzle.

You examined the gate and noticed a symbol engraved on it. It was a creature with three heads of three different animals. You then turned to examine the statue that stood behind you.

"Leon," you call and as you figure out the puzzle. He looks to your direction and immediately understands the objective. "We need to find the heads," you say.

"They should be close then. Maybe in one of these rooms." Leon puts the pieces together.

"We should split up. Cover more area," you suggest, and check your mag just in case. Leon tilts his head - he doesn't like that idea. And you had a feeling he wouldn't.

"Is that right?" he says smugly and shakes his head. "No way. It's too much of a risk."

"It'll save time if we both look," you argue.

"Sorry. You can't get rid of me that easily." Leon declares and walks to enter the first room. You roll you're eyes and still believe your plan will work, but he doesn't trust you enough to split up just yet.

So far...nothing out of the norm. It's just as a castle should be...except for the extensive puzzles put together...

As you enter the first room, you look at the crimson decoration of the walls and the long table with polished dinnerware.

"A statute of some...snakes." Leon makes note and bends down to examine them.

"That must be one of them!" you say and examine its entrapment. A golden snake's head is trapped within a golden cage. It didn't look like the cage was the puzzle itself, so you both continued to look throughout the room.

This is all too confusing....what are we supposed to do?

"Hey...look at this..." Leon says as he studies, two paintings hung up at the end of the room. One of them was a woman, and the other a man dressed extravagantly sitting in front of dinnerware.

"The king and queen, you think?" you ask and tilt your head towards him as you scrutinize them.

I don't even want to imagine what could've happened to them...

"Most likely," he speaks lightly. You could feel his eyes glaze at you momentarily, and then he turns towards the table. "I got it...sit here," he instructs and pulls out a chair. You don't question it and sit down. He pushes in your chair, scans the table thoroughly, and sits down himself.

Then you realize what he's doing.

He's brilliant! The paintings...the plateware. We have to match them.

A moment goes by, and you hear him groan in frustration. "This was supposed to work.." he murmurs.

Then you look at the plateware in front of you.

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