The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

Dungeon Chapter 22 - Mansion Ruins

...that housed the Water Temple, even if the building had long since been abandoned. He slid for a moment over the icy floor, before stumbling onto a carpeted surface as he passed through the entryway. Mansion was fitting, hallways broke off in every direction. It was almost as impressive as the castle. Except, well, the disrepair.

Bruce, Frostbar, and Freya walked in behind him not long after, followed by Yore swooping into the building. The hawk landed on a rafter and looked down at them. "Would you like me to scout the area, or do you trust that your abilities with what you will face?"

Frostbar said, "I don't know much about the creatures that would reside here, other than any wolfos that may be lurking here still. What do you know about the monsters we may find here?"

"From the scouting my people have done in the past, Freezards, of various sizes. They can freeze you on touch, and if they are large enough, their breath is enough to chill blood. I am not sure, but they very well may be some Chilfos, knights made from ice. Ice keese and bubbles, most likely. I would not be surprised if there is some other kind of creature in here that I do not know about yet, either."

Bruce looked up as something caught his attention. Link followed the glance, watching as a patch of snow crashed in from the empty spaces of the roof. The building was falling apart. Huge gaps in the upper floors were missing. Parts of the roof were gone. The tiled floor was cracked and crumbling. Definitely disrepair.

There were several locked doors around them, mostly on the upper floors. Link asked, "Do you really think there are that many keys hidden in here?"

"I doubt it. Most of those doors are probably fake. They could not hope to acquire that much metal here."

Frostbar shook his head. "I doubt it. This was a big building, built to house a lot of people. I wouldn't be surprised if they could all open."

"There weren't that many rooms in the Deku Fortress," Bruce pointed out as he scanned the area ahead of them. "Why would this place be bigger than a temple for a Goddess?"

"The temples for the Goddesses are sacred halls, but they were built to be shrines and alters, not living quarters. Once a Sage comes to their temple, they are expected to live there, and the temples crafted for the Goddesses would not be strong enough to protect the Sages. Thus, these halls are bigger and crafted to comfort the Sage who would dwell there."

Pointing up to an aged painting, Frostbar added, "The first Water Sage to live here was a Zora, same as tradition goes. He built this mansion to keep the cold out and the firelight in. Cold didn't quite suit him."

"Then this place is like the Sunken City?" Link asked.

"This fortress stood long before the Zora sent that city down to the bottom of their lake," Frostbar replied. The yeti walked further into the building. Freya hopped down off his back, looking around at the ruins herself at her own level. She seemed...familiar with the place, but only distantly. She seemed surprised by that too.

No reason to stay in the cold, Link looked around for an open door. He wasn't sure if anything was hidden behind these doors or not, but there was only one way to find out. He heard the sound of ice sliding and he looked up. A trio of red eyes looked down at him. Link stepped out of the way as a boulder of ice came crashing down from the ceiling to the parlor.

Pulling his sword and shield out, Link took a few jumps back from the creature. The boots from his new mountain gear helped him keep his balance as he moved, something he couldn't have done in his regular boots. He raised his sword to swing at monster when Frostbar shouted, "Don't!"