The sphinx paused, as if considering, and then gave a smile more genuine than the ones before it.
"Very good, humans. Your kind has gotten wiser... or perhaps I have gotten softer."
The creature turned its head and reached backwards with a foreleg, as if grabbing something from underneath his sizeable bulk. Once he finished, he outstretched his paw and presented to the humans their prize: A miniature shield made of silver and engraved with unknown markings.
"This is the Coliseum Shield," the sphinx said, tone somber. "I have handed out many versions of it in my long days, but I have yet to hear of a man, woman, or child for whom it has brought nothing but misery."
As if foreseeing hesitant looks from the humans, he sighed. "No, there is nothing evil about the artifact itself, but where it will take you is certainly a place of death and despair. I warn you now, humans, that I can give you directions, but their destination is not for the faint of will and heart.
"In the ballroom, you might have noticed a door to the south--one of such intricacy that it either repulses or entices all who see it. That is the door to the Coliseum, and should you find the partner to this artifact in the east end of this basement, you will find yourself able to enter so long as you are willing to make a sacrifice. Should you survive the trials within, from which many venture but few return... You will be able to proceed further into the bowels of this heinous Institute."
The sphinx bowed his head and then laid down on his haunches again, his paw still outstretched.
"That is all that I can tell you. I wish you luck."
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"Very good, humans. Your kind has gotten wiser... or perhaps I have gotten softer."
The creature turned its head and reached backwards with a foreleg, as if grabbing something from underneath his sizeable bulk. Once he finished, he outstretched his paw and presented to the humans their prize: A miniature shield made of silver and engraved with unknown markings.
"This is the Coliseum Shield," the sphinx said, tone somber. "I have handed out many versions of it in my long days, but I have yet to hear of a man, woman, or child for whom it has brought nothing but misery."
As if foreseeing hesitant looks from the humans, he sighed. "No, there is nothing evil about the artifact itself, but where it will take you is certainly a place of death and despair. I warn you now, humans, that I can give you directions, but their destination is not for the faint of will and heart.
"In the ballroom, you might have noticed a door to the south--one of such intricacy that it either repulses or entices all who see it. That is the door to the Coliseum, and should you find the partner to this artifact in the east end of this basement, you will find yourself able to enter so long as you are willing to make a sacrifice. Should you survive the trials within, from which many venture but few return... You will be able to proceed further into the bowels of this heinous Institute."
The sphinx bowed his head and then laid down on his haunches again, his paw still outstretched.
"That is all that I can tell you. I wish you luck."
He closed his eyes and went still.