damned_institute | Night 45: Sphinx's Chamber

HK was just about to snipe back with something biting and incredibly witty (just as soon as he thought of what it might be), when the doors opened, revealing...

...What? HK tilted his head quizzically, looking at the... thing. Was this a 'sfinks', whatever that was supposed to mean? "Statement: I'll try to break my programming and not call it m--...that thing that I'm required to say."

[ Sorry for the hold-up, guys! Since notifs have been wonky lately, please e-mail/PM me when it's my turn so I don't keep you waiting. :> ]

The sphinx watched the three adventurers with eyes filled with disdain and more than a little irritation. It seemed that the beast was feeling less benevolent than usual; perhaps it was tired of its master's orders or of its inability to sink its claws into anybody that came into the room. Either way, it gave out a long yawn of a sigh and waved a large paw at the man at the woman who had spoken.

"Yes, do be careful," he said in something of a grumble. "A wrong word and you might break the rules and receive a penalization, which, while amusing wouldn't help your searching very much, I assure you."

He paused, as if realizing he was getting ahead of himself, and shook his massive head.

"I suppose you'll be needing some rules first, though?" it said dryly.

[will do!]

Beatrix moved to the side, away from her companions. Should this creature decide to attack, it would be best if they were not all grouped together. Especially given 'Lance' and his less-then-affective combat capacity.

"Yes," the Bride replied. "Rules would be appreciated. If you'll, please?"

Even though Lance had expected the thing to talk to them (how else could it ask riddles, after all?), the sight of the thing talking still made his eyes slightly widen in surprise.

He'd gone from a horror movie to a warped version of a Discovery Channel program. This sucked.

HK literally had to bite down on his tongue to keep from saying anything. Normally, violence would be what he would want out of any situation.

But if he said anything now, it would likely lead to violence that would lead to the female meatbag making his heart explode. He didn't want that at all. So instead, he just nodded dumbly, possibly by either definition of the word.

The sphinx nodded a little wearily and sighed as he settled on his haunches, looking almost bored. It definitely seemed as if his last encounter with adventurers had been the last straw on the camel's back of his enthusiasm.

"Yes, I'll please," he muttered to himself before taking in a breath and reciting:

"Here, you have the option of being asked a riddle for a very worthy prize. Once I have given the question, you will have five minutes to think and one chance to answer correctly; should any one of you address me with a wrong answer or should you find yourselves unable to respond within five minutes' time, you will be forced to best me in a wholly different way.

"Choose wisely. Should you turn down my challenge, you will be free to return the way you came. Should you choose to stay, the doors behind you will shut and only a correct response will get you out with the prize."

The sphinx stopped, giving some sort of bored gesture with its paw as it arched an eyebrow at this new band of adventurers. He regarded them blankly.

"So? Which will it be?"

Without hesitation, the Bride looked at HK-47. "You will inform us when our five minute time is almost up," she said to him.

Regarding the Sphinx once again, Beatrix met its eyes. She was not going to be deterred. She was not going to be stopped at this stage. She wished she had SubZero with them, the man was of quick wit, but she would have to make due with these two. And should any of them address the Sphinx and cause them to have to deal with the second option, she may just kill them.

"We accept."

Wait, on top of everything else they had a time limit? Samurai-woman had better have enough riddle-solving powers for the three of them. He really didn't wanna get torn limb from limb by that thing.

HK nodded, still somehow managing to keep silent. It was rather difficult when it wasn't in the name of sneaking up on something and introducing it to a knife through the brain, the stopping power of a good rifle, or the mechanics of nearly spontaneous combustion.

The sphinx's face twisted into a grim smile as he received the near-immediate reply from the woman.

"Of course you do," he said.

The doors shut behind the three patients and the sphinx cleared his throat before staring straight ahead and reciting its riddle.

"With thieves I consort; with the vilest, in short; I'm quite at ease in depravity; yet all divines use me, and savants can't lose me, for I am the center of gravity."

The sphinx bowed his head with a long exhale.

"You have five minutes."

Beatrix listened to the riddle and was immediately baffled. The first third seemed to fit together, as did the second third, yet the two did not mesh. And then there was the part about the center of gravity that turned anything the Bride was able to put together meaningless.

Her brows drawn down in thought, Beatrix moved back to the other two men. Keeping her back to the Sphinx so the beast did not mistake her words to be directed at it, something she was loathe to do on principle, she asked HK-47, "Repeat that verbatim for me."

What the fuck did that mean? That made no fucking sense. Thieves, divines, and being the center of gravity? How were they suppossed to guess that?

Blondie and the Star Wars droid had better have enough riddle-solving powers for the three of them, or else Lance would be pissed. If he died because of these two, he'd spend his last breath telling them "Fuck you all".

HK started counting the time, sighing just slightly. Riddles were the sorts of things Jedi loved, not assassin droids.

"Repetition: With thieves I consort; with the vilest, in short; I'm quite at ease in depravity; yet all divines use me, and savants can't lose me, for I am the center of gravity." He didn't really need to do it using the odd meatbag's own voice, but he copied that too, anyway.

He decided immediately that looking for symbolism was not the approach that was best suited to him. This was Earth, the most insular, self-centered little mudball he'd ever seen, after all. He had to focus on the wording...

Aaah. He had it. He also knew how much time they had left. ...He'd wait and see if the meatbags would figure it out. Of course by doing so, he was really giving them a vote of no confidence. He'd never give up the chance to show how superior droids were to meatbags.

[We are to skip the Sphinx until we address it.]

Beatrix cocked her head as she listened to HK-47 repeat the riddle. It still didn't make sense. She didn't see the correlation between all those things. What did they have in common. Vile theieves, depravity, divines, savants and gravity. Gavity? That still threw her.

There was a solution. There had to be one and she would figure it out. She repeated the riddle in her mind. No, that wasn't good enough. She needed to see it.

"Again," she said to HK-47, retrieving her journal from where she'd had it in her waistband against her back so she could write it down.

Lance was still mulling the riddle over when the other two started yapping. Oh, so HK thought he had a solution?

He whispered at the younger man, "It better be good, or else I might kill ya' before that thing does."

Alright, that was enough waiting. HK could be exceedingly patient while sitting on a tiny ledge on the outside of a luxury high rise, waiting for a clean shot, but he had no such incentive here.

"Statement: Unnecessary. I determined the answer within the first twenty-three point two seconds, including the time it took to repeat the thing for you the first time. It is the letter 'V'. Query: Can we answer it now?"

As if 'Lance' could kill HK-47. That would be amusing to watch for the few seconds it would take for the droid to turn him inside out.

Beatrix was a little irritated when HK-47 refused to repeat the riddle, proclaiming to know the answer. And then when he said it, the Bride turned the solution over in her head - the letter v - and went over the riddle in her mind. She wanted to make sure the answer was the correct one before presenting it to the Sphinx.

The center of gravity. V. Yes, it was what they all had in common. She would have solved it had she been able to write them down. Seeing it would have made it click without the prompting.

"As I thought," she replied. "Good job."

Turning to the Sphinx, Beatrix addressed it directly, stepping close enough to be just out of the beast's range. "The answer to your riddle is the letter V."

The letter V? That's what the little fucker came up with?

Lance went over the riddle in his mind again, and realized that HK actually might have been right. All those words had the letter V in them, and gravity had a V in the middle. It made sense now. HK had better be right about that.

He looked up at the Sphinx, waiting for it to tell them if they got it right or not.

"Oh, my," the sphinx intoned dryly, looking up at the adventurers with a deadpan expression. "You guessed right. How unexpected."

The creature didn't even try to go back to its usual regal demeanor as it groped backwards for its usual prize and shoved it toward the patients. It was a miniature shield made of silver and engraved with unknown markings.

"This is the Coliseum Shield," the sphinx said, and though his tone probably should have been solemn, it instead came off as a sarcastic recitation. "I have handed out many, 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.

"There is nothing evil about the artifact itself, but where it will take you is certainly a place of death and despair. Of course, I'm sure you'll go there anyway, so here are your directions:

"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 Institute. And, perhaps, bother other creations of the man upstairs."

The sphinx sighed as he settled back down again, obviously making a conscious effort to calm himself.

"Hmph. That's all."

He closed his eyes and went still.

Well, that was a cheerful and not at all melodramatic prize. However, HK was in possession of a great deal of morbid curiosity, and the description of the Coliseum was not at all off-putting to him. It just sounded like a normal day at work for the Sith, really.

But if he had to give up killing things as a sacrifice, then he was not going to be happy.

Ah, so that is what the warlord had been hiding. Coliseum. How fitting.

Without hesitation, Beatrix took the shield and turned away from the Sphinx. They had the two items now. Well, SubZero had the one from the weapon range. She was going to have to find him.

If not, then she knew what to do this next night. "Let's go," she said, ready to leave the room.

So HK was right after all. He honestly wouldn't have guessed that answer in a million years. The shield was kind of cool, but seemed like kind of a jip after all that shit.

He also hadn't been expecting there to be a friggin' coliseum. What kind of nuthouse was this? Kids shooting themselves and making monsters, cat-human things asking riddles, ballrooms and now this.

"Yeah, let's go," Lance murmered.

Night 45: Sphinx's Chamber

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject