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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Paka" data-source="post: 1006332" data-attributes="member: 100">Story Post #20Epilogue #3 - The SphinxThere is a land so baked by the sun, so pale and sun-drenched that it seemed to some folk that the Shadow could have no foothold there.  Those folk were wrong.The Clanless were leading a doomed existence.  The surface was cruel to the Dwarves and their numbers were dwindling.  Many in their community were calling out for drastic measures.  Some wanted to build ships and go overseas to old Pelluria.  Some wished to assault Theros Obsidia itself in an act of suicidal desperation that might spark Eredane into action.  Others wished to move the entire people to the White Desert.Karul was the last scout left in the party gathered to scout out the White Desert.  Half had been killed in an Orcish ambush, just three leagues outside of their home encampment.  The rest had been done in by thirst, hunger and the White Desert’s cruel way of misleading even the trail-wisest of Wildlanders.Karul’s brown beard has been bleached into a bright red by the sun and most of his armor had been stored near an oasis that he was going to return to after scouting the area.  He had told himself that little lie three days ago.  The oasis seemed to disappeare since being entrusted with the heavier parts of his kit.This should be easy, Karul thought, the bloody ocean is to the east and the blessed mountains are to the west.  How can I be lost?He crested a hill and saw a statue.  It was hard to tell what it represented with the sand whipping about on the wind but he’d know soon enough.  Stones are home, he thought, and maybe a sign-post of some kind.The statue seemed to be of a mixture of a woman and a lion, like the Chimera that had been plaguing the Dwarfholdts of late or the Manticore who hunted along the northern Pellurian.  Karul approached the statue carefully, wary of traps the Shadow might have left here in the desert.  The woman’s top half was humanoid and bare.  The bottom half was like a lion’s, curled underneath her.  Feathery wings were curled on her back.  The Dwarf did not realize they were like giant eagles wings but caked with sand.The Sphinx spoke, “Do you come to riddle me, Dwarf?”“I’ve come for reasons that are none of your concern, construct.  I’ll take your leave, if ye will.  My apologies for having disturbed ye.”“Construct?  Turning one’s back on me is always a mistake,” the Sphinx explained, opening her eyes.  Sand still encrusted her skin, leading Karul to mistake her for a statue.  She asked again, “Riddle?”Karul slowly moved his hands towards a handaxe on a sash around his waist but stopped when he saw her eyes follow his hand.  “Yes, m’lady, a riddle.”“Riddles are an ancient sport of the mind.  The best riddlemasters can make up their own Riddles.  Mine own riddle is based on a riddlegame from antiquity.  It was told by one of my kind in old Pelluria.  Are you ready to hear it?  If you fail to answer the riddle to satisfaction, this desert will be your grave, the sky your tomb and the sandstorm’s wind your only mourner.  Ready?”Karul nodded, sun-weary and heat-exhausted.“What has four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and seven legs at night?”Karul’s eyes squinted when he asked, “Seven?”The Sphinx nodded, more movement than she had taken since she had begun her desert meditations, ten years ago.Karul asked again, “Are ye sure it is seven at night?  Sure it isn’t three?”“Do you think I don’t know the riddle, Dwarf?”The Dwarf stroked his beard, thinking and from within his beard he produced a throwing dagger.  He hurled it at the Sphinx with all of his might and in one fluid action drew his hand-axe.  The dagger hit her in the shoulder.  Red blood leaked through the sand, showing her for a creature of flesh.  The pain made her roar and the sandstorm seemed to increase with her roar.  Karul quaked, wanting to run over dunes and under cliffs to get away from this roaring beast but he gripped his axe white-knuckle tight, put his other hand up to compensate for the sun’s glare and awaited the beast’s charge.  The dagger hidden in his beard was the only missile weapon he had left.The Sphinx a symbol into the sand with her sharp claws.  The symbol pacified Karul.  When the Sphinx asked him to drop his axe, his brow furrowed, but he did it.  He had a nice chat with her while she flew him to an oasis.  He drank and told her about the Kaladrun’s plans.  She smiled, understanding, making helpful comments and mentioning how she knew the way out of the desert and she would be glad to show him.When he had wetted his parched throat he looked down and there was another symbol, carved into the sands by his new friend.  This one put him into a deep slumber.  She stood over him, her wings offering him shade.“Sleep well, little Dwarf.  When you awake you will be well on your way to being my slave.  I will need you to go out into the world.  I need to find out who killed my brother.”In his sleep he mumbled, “Riddle…what did it..?”She laughed, “Riddles?  The world is riddle enough without fools going and making them up.  Don’t be naïve.”Troubled, Karul slept.</blockquote>

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