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Night 59: The Sphinx's Chamber
> Rose: ExploreThe purpose of this room went without saying. Its mythological inspiration was evident in every minute detail, from the smallest carving to its denizen, who sat imperiously on what passed for a throne for a quadrupedalian creature
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Children, again. The Sphinx had been growing increasingly weary of those, as of late. The small trace of pity he held for the youths that risked their lives before him was waning fast.
It seemed that one among the humans was somewhat informed about the task before them, but as the Sphinx opened his mouth to respond, a half-eaten slab of meat was shoved before it. Rather than speaking, the first sound the beast made was a heavy sigh.
"Though it has been some time since my last meal, I'm not yet desperate enough to resort to eating your... leftovers." There was derision in his tone and face, a clear sign that he had been insulted. The expression soon returned to a neutral state, however, as it was a waste of energy to give the gesture any more attention than it deserved. "Besides," he continued, folding his paws before himself, "my time to eat will come only should you fail my trial."
The warning was clear, he presumed. Anyone who couldn't understand basic implications was as good as dinner in this chamber of his.
With the distraction sufficiently dismissed, the Sphinx turned his attention to the small female that had addressed him. "It seems one of you is aware of the trial I am to give you, but before we can begin, you must agree to my terms." He shifted where he sat, raising his chin as he began to recite the rules he had explained many times before. "You have the option of being asked a riddle for a very worthy prize. Once you are given the question, you will have five minutes to think and one chance to answer correctly; should you address me with a wrong answer or should you find yourselves unable to respond within five minutes' time, you will be forced to best me in a wholly different way." As he implied earlier.
"Should you turn down my challenge, you will be free to return the way you came. Should you choose to stay, the doors behind you will shut and only a correct response will get you out with the prize." His speech complete, he eyed the group with an appraising look. "What is your choice?"
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"Well? I think we should enter this little contest of wits." She flicked a glance at Gamzee, whose contributions would hopefully not be needed, as she had to assume he was a better fighter than strategist. Or merely lucky, in a game where luck was a thing that could be earned.
"If we decline, we'll just end up back here on another night. But that doesn't decrease the possibility of the threat." The Sphinx was large, and while Rose's confidence in her intelligence was a defining character trait, so too was the recognition that it was not infinite.
They could procure -- or manufacture -- a compendium of riddles, and return, but Rose doubted the wisdom of such an endeavor. The contents, after all, would be readable, and thus evadable. Foresight and quasi-omniscience always had loopholes.
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Watching Gamzee offer the ham and reading the reaction in the Sphinx's face caused Ilia to stiffen, then she dropped her head into her hand as she listened to the creature list his terms. They were all going to die at this rate. At least Rose had the decency to extend a chance to back out, but her words held true. They would just have to come back again in the future.
"I'm... Fine. I don't mind staying but..." she glanced to Gamzee along with Rose, offering him small quirk of her lips, "but if you aren't up to it, let us know now. We only have this one chance to turn back." If they failed and the Sphinx had to be dealt with through other means then perhaps their combined strength could tackle it. Ilia doubted it, but there was little else she could count on should they fail.
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He wasn't really sure what the problem was here. They'd come all this way and it seemed silly to just turn right back around. He'd fought creatures larger than this one, and maybe one of them would be smart enough to answer the question and avoid that anyway.
Ilia looked hesitant, so the troll smiled to show her he was alright with everything. She didn't have to worry about it. "It's chill. Let's give it our best motherfuckin' try."
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Gamzee was an unexpected support. She hadn't even been sure if he was paying attention. If the riddle involved troll logic, they were surely over-endowed with representation. Though a Troll Sphinx would undoubtedly have three eyes or tentacles or something else as ill-fitting a human encampment.
"Yes. We agree to your terms." The die was cast; now they awaited only the riddle, and subsequently their prize. "You may proceed."
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"... Very well." As soon as those words were uttered, the doors to the chamber slammed shut behind the patients, sealing them inside and binding them to their agreement. Raising his chin, the beast began to recite the riddle in a clear voice: "You saw me where I never was and where I could not be. And yet within that very place, my face you often see. What am I?"
A pause, and he lowered his head.
"You have five minutes."
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Rose communicated their willingness and it took every scrap of willpower for Ilia not to wince when she heard that door slam shut behind them. There went their last chance out of this.
She listened to the Sphinx's riddle with her brows drawn in concentration. Not there but seen. The face is seen. Not there but still visible, just the face. At least the face. Ilia spun the words around in her head as she paced in a circle. The reminder that they had a time limit unfortunately only served to set her mind on the edge of panic.
Breathe, Ilia, ol' girl! Just breathe and think! Should she have known this riddle before now? Should she have heard it in some story? Oh, this was just so frustrating. She bit at the tip of her thumb, yanking a little on the gloved tip. Her eyes darted to the kids. "A-any ideas yet?"
Sometimes a little talking was all that was needed for a riddle's answer to come to light. And sometimes hours of contemplation. They didn't have hours. They had... maybe four minutes left. Talk about hot under the collar.
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Gamzee put a hand to his chin, face scrunching up in deep thought. Man, this was a tough one. Faces where they couldn't be or something, right? Faces... Speaking of faces, his still felt rather naked. He missed his paint, and the nurses here had been so mean about not letting him replace it with paint from the arts and crafts room. That wasn't even real face paint there, but he would have been content to deal with subpar materials. The idea was what was important. He could really use some pie, too. He had that whole bag of food now, but none of it would replace a good pie. Though there was this sneaky suspicion that the staff was feeding him pie when he slept. Yeah, it was a silly thought, but he always woke up feeling like he'd just eaten one. It was weird.
Weird like whatever beast was giving the riddles there. It was like someone had taken a human, cut off its head and stuck it on some sort of giant purrbeast. It reminded him of some lususes he'd seen before. Maybe it was someone's lusus? Were there trolls living down here? It didn't seem like a bad habitat overall. He'd heard of plenty of trolls living underground or in caves. What if they ran into some when they were down here and none of them could tell he was a troll too? What a confusing mess that would be.
Maybe he should make himself some fake horns to wear just in case that happened. There had to be something the staff would let him do in the arts and crafts room.
Wait, what were they thinking about here again?
"Uh. Hold on. Need to reflect back on this shit..."
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She was a Seer. She shouldn't even need to think, just look, and the answer would open like a flower blooming, a mysterious harbinger at its heart. All she was coming up with was nonsense. "A computer? I could do with a little less being seen and a little more Seeing myself." She glared half-heartedly at Gamzee, though she wasn't sure he'd ever paid enough attention to anything to have stalked her. Jade might know; they'd dogged her heels more closely.
"It has to be something older. Crystal balls?" Those showed more than just people, though, and were rumored to be less than reliable. "That isn't our answer, by the way," she added, just in case the Sphinx took her statement prematurely.
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Not a computer. Even if faces could be there when they technically were not, it didn't seem to be the kind of riddle expected from a Sphinx. It was too modern. Technology and mythology did not mix, or at least not unless you were talking about some sort of video game and this was anything but fiction.
Crystal balls. Ilia couldn't help the quirk of her lips just then. Wands and now talk of crystal balls. Rose really was quite taken with the idea of magic, wasn't she? But maybe she was onto something. "Crystal. Glass...."
Ilia stopped for a moment, and then it hit her like a sucker punch to the gut. She inhaled a short gasp. "Glass! Of course! That's the key! Though I guess it doesn't have to be glass, necessarily." She glanced between Gamzee and Rose, not willing to just offer up a final answer without their unanimous approval. "You two thinking what I'm thinking?"
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They'd have to leaves a trail of bread crumbs if they wanted to find thier way out of that mess. But then that left things open for monsters to eat the aforementioned crumbs, and that wouldn't do them any good. There were giant squeakbeasts after all, and squeakbeasts would probably eat crumbs of anything. But then there were also giant purrbeasts, and those were known to eat the squeakbeasts. That begged the question of whether or not the bigger one would eat the smaller one before they could get to the breadcrumbs...
Yeah, this was starting to be too much thinking. Now Gamzee just zoned out for a few moments, staring off at nothing until Ilia asked her question. Was he thinking what she was thinking? What had he been thinking about, anyway?
"Might be, sis," he answered scratching his head, "but I don't all know where we'd go about gettin' a giant barkbeast in this place."
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"What good would that do?" she asked, briefly sidetracked. The Sphinx was like a cat, and given the usual prosody of troll nomenclature, Gamzee wanted a giant dog. The image was amusing, if not terribly useful unless he had one lurking in his sylladex. "Nevermind. I don't think that will be necessary. We have the answer."
She rolled her eyes and then tilted her head at Ilia. "So we're agreed? The answer is a reflection. Or, to be precise, a
. Which did not sound anything like saying the word backwards. That would be ludicrous. No, it just added a little reverb.
"Are we agreed?" Rose usually went ahead and just did things, but usually there wasn't time to ask. So she asked. Seeing that no one had any last-minute objections, she turned to the Sphinx.
"Our answer is a
." Then she waited.
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For the second time that night, the Sphinx let out a heavy sigh. Surely someday there would come a group that would allow him the opportunity to move freely within his chamber. Unfortunately, he was bound by the terms of his challenge, and they had passed.
"Much to my regret, your answer is correct. Your lives are safe... for now." He reached around his massive body with one paw, and retrieved a miniature shield crafted of silver and adorned with elaborate engravings. This, he presented to the victors.
"This is the Coliseum Shield. When used with another artifact, it may open a new path before you... though it will most certainly be a path of misery and despair. You may consider yourselves warned."
He shifted his body into the rigid position he had been in when the patients first entered, closed his eyes, and resumed the unmoving form of a statue. At the same moment, a click echoed in the room, signalling that the chamber door had been unlocked, and they were free to leave.
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Rose took the lead and ushered on their answer. This was it; an all-or-nothing attack! Ilia felt a moment of insecurity in the moment before the Sphinx opened its mouth to give them its response. She breathed a silent word of thanks to the heavens when the creature acquiesced to their victory.
She was wary of the Sphinx's warning, but the creature in front of them seemed more dangerous at the moment. She stepped forward and took the shield, backing away with it once it was in her hands rather than turning her back. She didn't trust it, even if these creatures were supposedly bound to their word.
"Let's go, guys." She didn't want to be stuck with that man-eating creature another moment.
[return to here]
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