The reddish creature gives a last incomprehensive shriek and flies away. The remaining paler one shouts something angrily at the leaving one.
☘️ Delta (19/19) Dazzled
☘️☘️ Simon (21/21) Dazzled
☘️☘️ Hyphy (14/14) Dazzled
☘️☘️ Shimmer (15/15); & Biscuit (5/5) Dazzled
White (-1) 15' up
☘️ Shardul (20/20) Dazzled
|
A screeching sound emits from our frenetic leshy's cap, bursting 5 feet above the flying red creature!
◆◆) Concordant Choir vs Red
◆) Strike w/ Seedpod
Distracting it's audile sensors, Hyphy lashes out with another pod of spores!
The remaining paler creature dodges Simon's attacks but that leaves it open to the other party members. Beaten by Shimmer, Delta and Hyphy, it decides to follow its companion and flies away.
Buffeting desert winds pick up and you see in the distance the escaping creatures thrown around by the gusts until they manage to land. They continue escaping from the party on foot after landing.
The wind blows sand into your eyes, which adds annoyance to the glitter effect. However, with the combat over, you quickly adjust to the wind and get your eyes clear, and the glittering dust on your clothes dims. Only Delta keeps blinking after a minute.
After a brief exploration of the surrounding area Simon spots a ruined bandit camp, Delta still distracted by the last bits of dust in his eyes. At the camp, you find scattered equipment, abandoned tents, and a sphinx lounging over a half-eaten camel. The sphinx’s tail twitches as you approach, but he doesn’t move to attack. He addresses you when you enter the camp.
"Are you here to attack me, too?" the sphinx asks sulkily. He extends his claws and plays idly with an intricately carved puzzle box. "I once dreamed of studying at the Magaambya to learn of your magic and history, but now I am close to abandoning my dreams and returning home to my mountain. Whenever I try to gift humanoids a riddle, they attack me like beasts!" From his lounging position, he narrows his eyes suspiciously at his visitors. "But are you any different?"
|
|
"Too high" Hyphy judges the mountains "No shade" doubling down on his criticism before suggeting "You should retreat to the forest. Everything green, brown, and blue lives there!" what more "And there is Magic!"
Forgetting to answer the sphinx's questions, our fungal hero introduces himself nonetheless!
|
"Of course! I love puzzles and riddles. Like that one you have there... we're looking for one just like it that was stolen by bandits. Is that your box, or did you find it there? I think you may have encountered the same bandits who attacked our client. They're bandits, they attack everybody. We can tell the people in town that you fought them off. They should love you for that!
"Also only half of us are humanoids."
"You are interested in the puzzle box? Fine, if you can solve my riddle then I can add it to the bargain. So here it is: A legend that goes... No", the Sphinx starts the riddle but stops abruptly. "I prefer not to give you my riddle so easily. You should convince me first why I should allow you this. So, what can you do, please, impress me", the sphinx demands.
|
|
"Impress you, huh? Well..."
Shimmer stows her weapon and urges Biscuit to move forward. "Can I see the puzzle box? I bet I can solve it! It's not built for hands your size--mine neither, but I think too small might be easier than too big, don't you?"
Biscuit is staring at him with his adorable corgi face--enough to soften anyone. Probably.
|
"I can change shape," Delta shows off by changing himself from a normal handsome young man into a furry vulpine humanoid creature with tail.
"Not impressive or even helpful for your case." he admits. "But I hope you can do that to get away from people that can hurt you. Or use it as disguise. But you must actually be proud of what you look, it is just that the world is somewhat cruel to those who are different," he tells the sphinx and return back into as a normal human appearance. "I am sorry to hear what people do to you."
The sphinx smiles at Shimmer. "You are right, it is a bit small for me. I'll let you have a look at it, it would be interesting to see how it works. and opens." He gives shimmer the box. "It is quite tricky."
"The gods are a riddle sometimes, aren't they?" the sphinx answers Shardul. "I am familiar with Irori, his teachings and stories about him are quite interesting. Did you hear the one about..." the sphinx continues by recollecting a zen-like story about Irori's adventures.
"I can fly", the sphinx starts answering to Simon's suggestion, but then thinks a bit, "but there have been times people have tried to ambush me when I have returned to the same water spot I used previously. Go on." He listens carefully, then thanks Simon. "Your suggestions might work, I have to try them. Thank you."
"Sadly, I do not know such magic. It is a sad thing that all intelligent beings cannot be at peace, and the abundance of prejudices just for how one looks. I find your compassion comforting", the sphinx answers Delta.
The sphinx looks at Hyphy, and smiles. "That is quite an unusual riddle. I will answer to it with this story." He continues by telling a short story about treating people nicely. The story contains a riddle-like element where the way of treating others surprisingly affects the way you get treated.
The sphinx seems content with your attempts to impress him. "You seems you are people of good character. Very well, here is my riddle:
A legend that goes untold,
A scale that weighs no gold,
The blue of fishless seas,
I offer a rose and relief.
Beyond belief, I shrink realities.
What am I?"
The sphinx considers a moment, then continues: "You have made this a better day than any for a while. I'll give you two more clues:
You carry this.
You can fold this."
"I will give you three guesses."
|
|
Simon will huddle with the others to discuss possible answers before presenting anything to the sphinx.
I think it might be a map. Maps have legends and scales of distances. Water is usually blue but has no fish. Amp usually has a Compass Rose, and a map is a scaled down version of reality. hey can be folded and carried. Thoughts?
The sphinx walks around you, taking pleasure in watching you think about his puzzle. "So, what will your first guess be?" he asks.
"Well well well, shall I take it as two answers or one?" the sphinx says, looking at Shardul. Then, he smiles. "It really doesn't matter, as 'map' is really the answer! Well done, my visitors. You may take the puzzle box as I promised", he says and nods to the box Shimmer is examining.
Shimmer has found out the basic idea, but the deeper, complex part still eludes her.
The sphinx looks over to the horizon. "Maybe you are right, and I should be proud of who and what I am, and just try again. I will head to the Magaambya and try to find a place to study there. If you happen to end there during your travels, come and give me a visit. Just ask Zanduk, or probably 'that sphinx' will go too", he says and smiles.
"The way you talked about the box hinted that you are not its owners, but are working for the owner. So, I will not hold you up for anymore, farewell and may Irori, and other gods, be with you!" he says and waves a goodbye.
You return to Tidbit Wizelboom, meeting her again at the Bent Coin. She is overjoyed when you present the puzzle box to her: "Yes that is it! My grandma's puzzle box! Great that you found it and it hadn't been broken." She takes the puzzle box and starts fiddling with it. "Hey, you got quite far in this. There's just a bit more tricks to open it, look, if you push here, and then turn this, we get this moving, and it starts to open quite easily like this." She opens the compartment of the box. "Here are my grandmother's letters, good. But there is one more trick in this thing. Look, from here, and here, the secret drawer pops open. And there's grandmother's treasure map!"
When you tell Tidbit about the sphinx and the riddle, she says, amazed: "So the answer was 'map'? And all the time you were looking for a box containing a map leading to a treasure. You know, I never dared seek it out, and after that riddle, I think you were meant to have it.” She hands the map to you. "Oh, and of course, you reward!" she happily gives everyone the gold pieces she had promised. "Well earned!"