NPF Avatars IV, Chapter III: The Sphinx on the Doorstep

[Arhra]

The sphinx, perched above the massive, vine thread, obdurate structure of the temple's gate, openly sighed at the various speaking going on. "They really don't pay me enough for this crap." she muttered to herself.

Straightening, she replied to Flare's query, "I was hired here to act as gatekeeper to the Earth Temple by the Concordant Sodality. Those who wish to enter the temple are asked my riddle. Any attempt to answer the riddle constitutes a verbal contract that you understand and accept the outcomes of failure, which were stated at that time. Should you refuse to comply, the Sevenfold Compact empowers me to enforce the contractual obligations imposed by said verbal agreement by any means I deem necessary." The slightly glazed look the sphinx had and smooth monotone definitely suggested it was a rote phrase that she had just rattled off.

Pausing to consider Phoenix's statement and subsequent threat, the sphinx seemed to stare into space, as if reading something off an invisible screen. "On closer inspection of the contract, you are correct. As the correct response to the riddle was given before you answered, your words were of no consequence. However, I am obliged to follow through with the enforcement of the riddle's failure clause on your companion. I'll keep to my previous offer of just a mauling though. Hand the green skinned one over," the sphinx indicated Newb just to be clear, "and you're all free to enter."

What was Arhra doing during this important decision making time you ask? Why, aside from trying to decide if 'feet' was a valid answer to the riddle as well as parallel speculation on whether 'teeth' really had been the right thing to say, given the sphinx's cryptic statement, she was doing nothing at all.

[Dragonsbane]

Dragonsbane levitated Stylugg into the air, placed him down before the sphinx, and marched through the door with a swish of black robes, humming softly.

"Mauve, what do you know of this Earth Temple?" he looked back at the other mage as he spoke.

[Tarrin]

"Oh" Tarrin looked a little abashed at his actions, Fear wasnt one of his normal reactions, However seeing a sphinx wasn't a normal day in his life either.
Sure some of the NPFer's could take some awe inspiring forms, But this was a living breathing creature of legend and that took some getting used to.

Tarrin did take something away from the encounter however and he couldn't wait to see if it would work.

[mauve]

Mauve prepared for the fight that was bound to ensue.... At least, she did until she noticed the sphinx's pearly white, very pointy teeth and crescent-moon shaped retracting claws. She looked over at her companions, but they were already drifting inside. Fight the sphinx alone..? The stories of the sphinx's annoying habit of eating young women and unfortunate adventurers popped into her mind.

"Well, have fun, New Treefolk!" Mauve chirped to Syttulg. "I have the utmost faith in your abilities to kick her ass. I'd help but... ummmm... Dragonsbane is calling me, and you know what happens when you ignore an Archmage with violent tendencies." She waved a hand apologetically, as though she had no control over the situation.

Thus saying, she jogged over to the Archmage who was already halfway through the door.

"Mauve, what do you know of this Earth Temple?" he looked back at the other mage as he spoke.

"This particular Earth Temple?" Mauve echoed. She chewed her lower lip for a moment, thinking. "Not much, I'll admit. I certainly didn't expect sphinxes to be involved. I'd always heard it was more of a 'populated by living statues and golems and spiders crafted of rock and lava' sort of place."

She smiled grimly, thinking about this.

"Speaking of which," she said, "I've been trying to figure out what spells would be effective against a stone creature. You wouldn't happen to have any suggestions, would you?"

[The Wizard Who Did It]

A hand, black with dirt and soot, reached out and grabbed the shoulder of the blond haired Mauve Mage.

“Well, stone creatures are fickle little things. There‘s many things that you can use to kill them, such as water spells, possibly by freezing the water as it seeps into the crack and crevices to break the monster‘s body, wind, and possibly even gravity. But I‘ve found one method that works the best. Simply put, pure and point blank annihilation.”

The man now standing behind Mauve was the Wizard Who Did It, of course. However, he was almost unrecognizable. Blood drenched his once fine brown cloak and dripped down his light brown hair, washing away the soot and filth that covered his face, hands, and angelic wings. His garment also had burn marks here and there, as well as small bullet sized holes here and there. Overall, he looked like he just got back from a war.

“So, it seems that you all have started the slaughter without me.”

[Toastburner B]

"Something that involved not killing everyone in 300 square miles would be a nice bonus, DB." Toastburner added dryly, walking quickly away from Newb. Toast was digging around in the pockets of his lab coat, trying to find anything he could pass off as a weapon. "Blast it, I could of sworn I left at least one death ray in this coat." TB muttered, keeping an eye on Raiden who had, in the past, had killed Toast in the hopes that he would respond as a more helpful form.

His search proving fruitless, TB sighed, and pulled out a roll of duct tape and a pocket knife. "Fine, I guess I'll just have to improvise a weapon. Does anyone have a ballpoint pen?"

Then Twiddy appeared, and did, if TB's experience with the two was any indication, a nigh suicidal act.

"Hiya, Twiddy. Would you mind standing over that so that when Mauve goes ballistic on you, I don't get caught in the shockwave? Thanks."

[mauve]

The mage spun as the hand grabbed her shoulder. She half-expected it to be the sphinx, or some denizen of the Earth Temple, but instead she found herself staring at a ragged-looking Wizard.

"Sheez, you scared me!" Mauve scolded him. She looked him up and down, her dark blonde eyebrows raising.

"Man, what happened to you?" she asked. She stared at him again, and after a moment a wry smile spread across her face.

"This isn't the result of a failed 'dropping-bridges-on-ladies'-houses' stunt, is it?"

[Fenris]

Fenris looked at the Sphinx.

He gulped audibly; thinking games were never his forte. He decided to step back, and let them do the thinking.

'Heh, coward.'

'What part of leaving him alone don't you understand?'

Fenris had realized that he hadn't heard the voices with his ears, and decided to ponder the matter more.

[The Wizard Who Did It]

Oh, you think you’re so clever, don’t you, little girl? Oh hush, you inane jackass. The Wizard grinned slightly at the little joke. Sadly, the smile was quickly wiped off his face when he remembered what immediately came after the infamous bridge dropping. He coughed lightly, and then proceeded to speak,

“No, it was not because of a failed bridge dropping. It’s actually quite a long story.” Not really. “It is a tale filled with excitement.” Okay, it definitely isn’t that. “It would be quite an enjoyable tale, but it’s length begs that I do not repeat it.” Again, it really isn’t that long… unless… god no. “But, if you insist, I will with great dismay tell you the epic story.” You’re a fuggin’ liar. You know that, right?
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The room was dark. The air still. Soundless abyss in a small crevice of the world. Broken by a flash. Light streaming down toward the ground. A rush of wind, a dull thud.

Another flash of light, the arrow came down. The Wizard’s face was illuminated. His fair face, light brown hair that feel gently across his brow and illuminating blue eyes shone threw the night air. A quick movement to the left, leaving a hazardous mistake barely avoided.

More flashes. The Wizard‘s Pearly white clothing that matched his large angelic wings was clearly visible. The arrows dropped quickly toward the ground. A step forward, a jump back, a couple shifts to the sides. Barely succeeded.

The flashes were speeding up. The arrows were falling rapidly. A quick step forward, to the side, the other side, forward, back, forward… It became a dance. A merry jaunt where a single wrong move could spell absolute failure.

As the flashes sped up, the Wizard noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Fur as pale as sleet bounding across the now illuminated room. Damnit… not now… Before the Wizard could resist, could stop the oncoming attack, the canine figure had leaped into the air, pressing his minute paws on the Wizard’s chest. He quickly lost his balance, arching backward as he fell toward the ground. A flicker in his eyes told that another arrow had come down. He had missed. He had failed.

Through the still air, a voice, not unlike that of an announcer at some game in energy and echo, was heard, “I won’t forget your dancing.”

The Wizard reached up and turned off the PS2. He kicked his DDR pad out of the way, sending it flying into the plant-like wall of his house. Damn. Stupid dog, I was going for a high score. You do realize how sad that is, right? The Wizard sighed lightly, and looked at what the puppy, Charon, wanted. Clenched in the dog’s jaws was a letter, presumably mailed to the Wizard himself. He let loose another sigh, and reached for the letter. The puppy growled a little, warding off his approaching hand, when he heard a knock echo through his house. With a third sigh, the angelic figure spoke mournfully, “Damnit, hope it’s not that girl again looking for apprenticeship. I swear, if she comes around one more time…”

And with that, the Wizard arrived at the door. He opened it cautiously, carefully. He didn’t know what awaited on the outside of the door, but he was careful not to gain it’s ire. When the hatchway had finally opened, the Wizard something of interest in his eyesight. There was the usual vine-like ramp leading to his house, and the usual endless plains with a far off forest covering a far off city. The grass was green, the sky was blue, the clouds were pale, the dew was new.

Only slightly out of the ordinary was a large group of people, ranked and filed and standing at perfect attention, wearing greenish clothes and possibly have rifles in their arms. The Wizard released his fourth sigh of the morning, and called out in a slow and bored voice, “Goddamnit, this is a house in the middle of goddamn nowhere. Obviously I don’t want any solicitors.”

With that, he slammed his door shut. He crossed his opening hallway and sat himself down at his table. He wiped the parchments and spells of his table before giving a sharp whistle. An ivory bullet streaked past his eyes and again tackled him to the floor. He reached up, lightly picked up Charon and gently removed the letter from its mouth. Without getting off the floor, he read the letter slowly. “Apocalypse, huh?”

He quickly got up and assembled his gear. Walking through his armory, he swept his eyes past the rows of crimson phoenix blood, ignored the navy blue magic potions, and instead picked up his usual brown cloak and ebony black katana. He attached the katana to his side, and slung the cloak over his shoulder, heading toward the door. It was then that he heard another knock, so he sped up his pace. Te door swung open before he got to it, but he still didn’t see anybody there. Well, except for those goddamn solicitors. He called out to them while swinging the cloak over his shoulders, “Goddamnit, go home already!”

“Um, Mr. Did It, we are here-”

“I really don’t care right now. I have to be someplace real soon.”

“Uh, we have orders to-”

“1.”

“And we really need to-”

“2.”

“Why, Sir, are you counting?”

The Wizard released his fifth sigh at this moment. He didn’t know what these people wanted, and he didn’t care anymore. He had places to be, and things to do. He stood a while in concentration, his hand beneath his cloak glowing a deep blood red. He didn’t hear precisely what was said by the filthy humans in front of him, but it seemed mighty clear that their intentions weren’t good. What, with the aiming of the rifles and all. The Wizard charged forward, as the sky turned black and started raining hellfire upon the soldiers.
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“And then I proceeded to beat the crap out of the soldiers.” The Wizard ended, in a highly dramatic. No one knows how much time had passed since he began recounting the tale, but it seemed that they had made it quite a way through the entrance by the time it was over. The Wizard bowed, assuming that he had told a long epic poem of great delight to his listeners.

[Flarecobra]

I sighed. "If there's any place that I'm going to be at my weakest, it'd be here, or a water temple.....I mean, Water for the obvious fact, though Earth......it's my elemental weakness......Fire's not effective, and I can't use my Dragoon ability to Jump through Earth-element attacks......" I said, more to myself then anything.