NPF Avatars IV, Chapter II: The Doom That Came to Earth Temple

[PyrosNine]

Pyros's eyes glowed red at Garud, then patted him on the shoulder and made a small prayer for his soul. When Dragonsbane rubbed his bloodied hands upon Pyros's clothes, the blood immediately burst into flame and dirtied the fine thread of his armor no more.

"Ing, I shall definitely call thee."

Originally Posted by Sphinx

What may be born from a fiery womb or have a thousand, thousand parents? What may find new form in the burning, crushing depths? What may be the sound of awesome?" The words rolled off the sphinx's tongue as she sat there reciting her puzzle, tawny eyes half closed. Finished, she blinked, yawned and added, "You can discuss your answer amongst yourselves. If you get it wrong, I eat you."

"Beware. I know not the rules of this world, but in all things there is a force known as 'the narrative' that gives these creatures special powers. While it may not seem to pose a threat, usually the laws of the world make it so that if one were to fail the riddle, for some reason or another he loses the will or the ability to fight in the face of the sphinx."

Pyros's hand twitched as caught a glance of Dragonsbane's wicked smile, and momentarily rubbed against the hilt of his sword before he continued.

"While the 'phoenix' answer seems right, however, I have heard tales of another method in which one avoids answering the question entirely, and tricks the Sphinx. There once was a pharaoh by the name of Teppic you see, who managed to use the fact that the Sphinx is, by nature, not very social and therefore not so skilled at dealing with people and their lies. The sphinx itself is an overendowed creature anyway to do much damage or put up much of a chase. Also, as Teppic put it, it's bosom will get in the way, even if it's brain doesn't."

At that last comment Pyros blushed. "Notably, Teppic was a chauvanistic pharaoh with 130 wives, and was around before Sexism was invented..." He apologized to the female party members.