Pocket Dungeon, page 22
“The hole?” I repeated. I turned my attention back to the door and studied it carefully. It only took me a moment to realize what exactly Trog was referring to.
Just below my own eye level, there was a small, warped knot in the wood. It had created a tiny pinprick of a hole that probably wasn’t good for anything other than looking through.
Well, wasn’t that just my luck?
Trog’s warnings played on loop in my head as I cleared the small distance between me and the door. As I got closer, it felt like there was some sort of change in the energy in the air around me.
It very well might have been my imagination or the scary stories the demon behind me had already planted in my head, or it could have been whatever was lurking behind the door.
I heard a soft snarling sound coming from behind the half-rotted wood, and the noise chilled me to my core. Then I took a deep breath before I leaned forward and pressed my eye to the tiny pinprick of a hole.
Trog hadn’t been exaggerating the monster’s size. I could barely see the entire creature through the little hole in the door because of how large it was.
Unlike Trog, however, I did recognize the creature inside the room.
It had the massive, feline body of a lion, a set of gigantic, feathered wings, and the disconcerting face of a human woman.
It was a sphinx.
Behind the gigantic, mythological creature were three identical doors.
I realized this might be some sort of puzzle, rather than a fight.
“I don’t know if we have to fight it,” I said as I stepped back from the door.
Trog made a face at me, and it took me a moment to realize his scaled brow was furrowing.
“THIS IS A DUNGEON,” he said, as if I could have forgotten. “WE MUST FIGHT.”
“No, no,” I quickly said. “I recognize the creature. It’s called a sphinx. It’s something from my world’s mythology.”
“SPHINX,” Trog’thukaz repeated the word.
“Exactly,” I said. “I’m a little rusty on my myths, but I’m pretty sure she asks you a riddle, and if you know the answer, she lets you pass.”
“WHAT A STRANGE WAY OF DOING BATTLE,” Trog mused. “YOUR WORLD IS AN ODD ONE, WES.”
That was beginning to feel like an absolute understatement.
“Right, well, I think I should go in first.” As much as I didn’t really want to go face to face with a monster the size of an actual car, I also didn’t want to go in with our metaphorical guns blazing and make things worse. This seemed like it was going to take some sort of finessing.
“LEAD ON, BRAVE WARRIOR,” Trog said. He bowed his head in my direction, and I decided to take that as a respectful gesture.
I never would have guessed that I’d be at a place in my life where I had to try and decipher the gestures of a demon, but then again, I also never thought I’d have sex with a woman who was part fox. I was having all sorts of new experiences.
I sucked in a deep breath and tightened my grip on my sword before I reached out with my free hand. I didn’t give myself a chance to second-guess my decision before I pushed open the door into the next room and stepped inside.
The sphinx whipped her head around to face me as soon as I stepped over the perimeter into what was clearly her domain. Her human features were sharp and almost cat-like in their own way. If her head wasn’t attached to the neck of a fucking lion, she actually would have been quite pretty. Her golden wings folded back against her sleek, muscular body as she stepped toward me.
My attention was drawn to her massive claws as they clicked across the stone tile floor until the sphinx stood a mere few yards in front of me. I felt like I might piss myself, but I just hoped the fear didn’t show on my face as she stared at me.
The sphinx looked at me as if she was wondering how I tasted as I heard Trog shuffle into the room behind me. The demon’s mere presence increased the temperature in the cool stone room by at least twenty degrees.
Could this get any weirder?
“Speak,” the sphinx demanded. She hadn’t even opened her mouth, but the command had been as clear as day.
Yep. Things could in fact get weirder.
It was like her words had been beamed directly into my mind. Her voice had a warm, pleasant timbre with a sort of dangerous threat just barely concealed underneath.
“Uh,” I spoke. “We would like to pass.”
“Yes,” the sphinx said into my mind again. “You all want to pass, always want to pass. But there are rules.”
“What are the rules?” It felt wrong to speak out loud after nothing but silence, but unlike the sphinx, I didn’t know how to communicate using my brain only.
“You must answer the riddle correctly,” she said. “And I will tell you the door that will let you continue on. If you do not answer the riddle correctly, your fate is sealed. Or you may choose not to answer the riddle at all and select your own door. But once you make your choice, you must stick to it.”
My brow furrowed. “That’s it?”
It felt like some sort of trick. There were only three doors behind her, and in theory, I could open all three of them and explore whatever laid behind them myself. Was there something dangerous behind one of the doors? Would they just take too much time to navigate and leave me trapped in the dungeon?
I hesitated as my mind spun. “Can we hear the riddle first and then choose?”
The sphinx cocked her giant head to the side and studied me.
“You are the first to ask that,” she said. “And so it amuses me. I shall give you the chance to hear the riddle before deciding what way to seal your fate.”
“Thank you, that’s very considerate of you,” I said.
I figured a little flattery never hurt in cases like this.
The sphinx cleared her throat. “What can run, but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?”
I played the sphinx’s words over in my head again. What can run, but never walk, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?
It felt too easy, but maybe it was just because I’d always liked riddles?
“We’ll take the riddle,” I decided. “And the answer is a river.”
The sphinx seemed to smirk at me. “Very good. And now for the next riddle–”
“Wait,” I held my hands up. “You didn’t say anything about any more riddles!”
“You did not ask.” The sphinx seemed bothered by my complaint, but I could already see where this exchange was rapidly leading.
I sighed. “Fine, I will accept another riddle.”
“Delightful,” the sphinx practically purred. “I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?”
“An echo,” I answered without hesitation. “Which is the correct door?”
“Not yet,” she corrected again. “Another riddle.”
“What!” I shouted. “We had a deal. I’ll just find the right door myself.”
I took a step to move past the sphinx, but the large creature in front of me moved as quickly as lightning as she jumped into my path.
“That is not going to happen,” she growled. “You made your choice, you must stick to it.”
It was a trap. It didn’t matter how many riddles I answered correctly, the sphinx was never going to let us through.
I sighed. “Trog, I think we might have to go with your plan after all.”
“DELIGHTFUL!” Trog exclaimed. He whipped his massive ax from his belt just in time for the sphinx to leap back with a mighty yowl as she seemed to realize what our next plan was.
“You focus on her,” I shouted. “I’ll look at the doors.”
I didn’t have to wait for Trog to leap into action. He swung his axe with a giant, threatening arc toward the sphinx’s head, but the mythological creature jumped back too quickly to be struck. It at least got her out of the way of the three doors, and I darted forward to have a look at them.
I wanted to make sure nothing was going to burst out of the doors and attack me and Trog while we took on the sphinx. I had a feeling there was more to the doors than initially appeared, and I wasn’t going to get caught off guard.
Trog was handling the sphinx well enough for now, and as soon as I was certain that the doors wouldn’t unleash a horde of monsters onto us right away, I would join Trog in the real fight.
Up close, all three of the doors looked identical, but I knew this couldn’t be the case. I pulled The Oculus from my belt and began to examine each of the doors in intense detail. The last thing I wanted was to go through all of this hassle and still choose wrong.
I peered through the crystal pommel of my blade at the door on the left first. It didn’t even appear to be a door at all. When I looked through The Oculus, it became clear that it was just wood paneling on top of a wall, with paint added around the border to make it look real. The sphinx probably would have eaten me as soon as I tried to pull the handle.
I moved on to the door in the middle, and this time, I didn’t see anything blatantly off about it. But I didn’t go ahead and open it just yet. I moved over to look at the final door on the right first.
I let out a soft huff of annoyance under my breath. The middle and right-hand door were identical in every way. I couldn’t see any sort of issue or difference in the wood at all.
This choice was going to be harder than I had anticipated. I played the sphinx’s words over again about danger lurking behind the wrong door. I had no idea how dangerous the wrong choice might be, but I wasn’t about to be the idiot that made a quick, rushed decision.
Behind me, Trog let out a loud, bellowing cry as he swung the axe down at the sphinx again. Despite the creature being about a head taller than the demon, he seemed to be having no problems holding his own.
Her health bar had already dropped by a third, and golden blood was splattered all over the stone tiles that made up the floor.
Nothing had jumped out to attack me while I stood literally right in front of the doors, though, so I figured they could wait for now. It didn’t look like there was any pressing threat on that front at least. I could help Trog take care of the sphinx, and then we could sort out our exit from the room.
I brandished Golen’s sword in one hand with The Oculus in the other as I lunged at the sphinx. Her back was to me, so I was able to land a vicious strike with both of my blades against one of her flanks.
The creature let out an enraged snarl and whipped around so quickly that her tail nearly swept me off of my feet.
I jumped to avoid getting knocked over and stumbled backward out of range of her claws.
My hit had knocked another five or so percent from her health bar, and now it was my turn to act as a distraction while Trog dealt more damage.
The sphinx lunged at me with a terrible snarl and swiped her sharp, massive claws in my direction. I practically threw myself into one of the walls of the room as I leapt back and out of range.
Trog brought his axe down again, but this time, he managed to lop off one of the creature’s gigantic wings.
The sphinx yowled so loudly that I could feel the sound vibrating my brain from the inside out. I had to fight the urge to reach up and cover my ears as I reared back from the monster.
Then I took advantage of her moment of weakness and drove the tip of my sword down into one of her giant paws. More golden blood began to gush out as her health bar dropped steadily.
Despite her massive size, it seemed like the sphinx wasn’t used to people attempting to fight back against her, which meant Trog and I had an extreme advantage in this fight.
All it took was one final blow from the massive demon’s axe to fell the creature. The sphinx dropped onto the bloodstained tiles with a heavy thunk that shook the room around us. The silence that followed was practically deafening, and I let out a heavy sigh of relief.
“Well,” I said. “I think that went better than anticipated.”
“YES,” Trog announced. “I AGREE.”
I watched as a giant treasure chest spawned over the creature’s now-dead body, but I could feel the demon’s eyes on me the entire time. I swallowed thickly as his focus on me only seemed to increase.
I took a hesitant step back and discreetly tried to raise my sword up.
I liked Trog. Well, I thought I liked Trog, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t worried about him trying to eat me. I barely knew him, and for all I knew, maybe he was also a monster in the dungeon and not actually somebody who needed help.
“NOW,” Trog said, and was I insane or did his tone get a little more menacing? “THE FUN MAY BEGIN.”
Chapter 16
“Fun?” I tried not to squeak.
Then I tightened my grip on my sword as I took a hesitant step backward from Trog. But there really wasn’t anywhere that I could feasibly go to escape him if he decided to attack.
“YES,” Trog continued and matched my step backward with a forward movement of his own.
Oh, he was definitely going to try and kill me.
The giant demon extended his arm toward me, and just as I braced myself for the fight of my life, I realized what he was doing. He was extending his hand to me so I could shake it.
“THANK YOU, BRAVE WES,” Trog announced. “I DO NOT THINK I COULD HAVE FOUGHT HER WITHOUT YOUR HELP. NOW, WE MAY HAVE THE FUN OF COLLECTING THE TREASURE TOGETHER, MY NEW COMRADE. IT IS MY FAVORITE PART. IT GIVES ME SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO WHEN I HAVE SAFELY FINISHED THE DUNGEON.”
My heart rate dropped back down to normal. I had definitely misread the situation, but in my defense, that sort of thing was what would keep me alive in the dungeons. I couldn’t be too trusting.
“I mean, I didn’t really do much,” I pointed out. I still hadn’t dared lower my sword much more, but the demon in front of me didn’t seem to mind my hesitance.
“NAY,” he corrected. “YOU GOT US INTO THE ROOM WITHOUT HER FIRST ATTACKING, AND YOU SAW THROUGH HER RUSE. SHE MAY HAVE TRICKED ME HAD I COME IN HERE ALONE, EVEN IF I WAS ABLE TO DEFEAT HER IN SINGLE COMBAT.”
“Well, I’m glad you were with me, too,” I said. “Having you fight her gave me a chance to actually get a look at the doors she was guarding. The one on the left isn’t even a real door, and I think she would have used any attempts to go through that one as a chance to eat us. I’m not sure if there are traps behind the others, but I wouldn’t be surprised. I think that was part of the reason she said we would perish if we chose to open the doors on our own. For all we know, something else is in there waiting to eat us.”
“I DO NOT THINK I WOULD BE VERY PLEASANT TO CHEW,” Trog mused.
I bit back a laugh, but I didn’t argue with him. He looked like he would in fact be a bitch and a half to chew.
“The other two doors seem to be totally identical, though,” I continued on with my point. “I couldn’t see any differences between them, even with the special seeing blade I have.”
“HMM,” Trog hummed in thought. He tapped one of his large fingers against his face. “WHAT IF WE WERE TO OPEN THE DOORS AT THE SAME TIME?”
“That is what I was thinking,” I agreed. “We can both open one, and hopefully then we’ll be able to see which door is actually correct, and which one is just going to lead to us getting hurt.”
“ONCE AGAIN, YOUR PRESENCE IS COMING IN HANDY, WES,” Trog assured me.
The giant demon shuffled across the room after scooping up the treasure chest and came to stand next to me. We both faced the doors we knew had the best chance of getting us out of the room.
I took the door on the right, and Trog took the door in the middle.
“On the count of three, let’s open them,” I told him. “Ready? One… two… three.”
When I hit three, both of us yanked open the doors and quickly leapt to the side to avoid anything that might have been rigged to come our way as soon as they were opened. I waited a moment, just in case, but when nothing launched out at me, I peered around the door to study the hallway that extended out in front of me.
Trog’s door revealed the exact same thing.
I frowned.
I had expected some sort of obvious difference when I opened the door, but I brought The Oculus back up to my eye and peered through.
This time, what I saw was quite different.
The hallway on the right looked like every other hallway I’d seen inside the dungeon. The floors and walls were matching, grimy tile, and there were evenly spaced torches on the walls.
But when I looked into the middle hall, I had to suppress a shudder. Apparently, it had just been some sort of illusion. When I looked through The Oculus’ pommel, I could see that despite the fact it looked like there was a hallway just in front of us, there was nothing there at all. It was just open, black space.
If we had tried to step through that hallway, we would have dropped down into some sort of abyss and most likely died there.
“So, I definitely think we should take the door on the right since this other one is an actual abyss of death,” I announced.
“A WISE DECISION, WES,” Trog sounded thoughtful as he agreed. “I THINK YOU SHALL BE KNOWN AS WES THE WISE. TROG’THUKAZ THE ACADEMIC AND WES THE WISE. WHAT A PAIR WE HAVE MADE!”
So, I apparently had made friends with a demon and that didn’t even make the list of top five weirdest fucking things to happen to me that week. I still thought that next to the whole “interdimensional dungeon” thing, the naked gnome fight was struggling for top spot.
I suppressed a shudder at the memory.
Then I quickly sheathed The Oculus and Golen’s Sword. “Do you want to continue the rest of the dungeon together, then?”
I hadn’t really considered what we would do after we fought the monster Trog had been afraid of, but now working together seemed like the best option. We’d killed the sphinx far faster than I could have on my own, and besides, it would be sort of awkward if we didn’t. It would be like when I said goodbye to a friend I ran into on the street but then we both ended up having to go in the same direction.
