text: [Themes: fantasy, puzzle, action]
  
  > The Riddles of the Guardian
  With a sigh, you look down towards the small coin pouch in your palm. You knew the reward for driving out those wolves would be small, but this will only last for about two more days at the inn. This is not what you had in mind as you left Barthville with your two best friends to become adventurers. You were dreaming of glory and a luxury lifestyle, not a meager existence of driving away wild animals to barely make ends meet.
  
  You start your usual trot from the guard post to the Rusty Tankard, the small and quite poor inn you're staying at in Galenwall with Rowan and Isolda. As usual, you take the route across the marketplace in hopes of picking up on some rumors or problems from the locals you could earn some money from. You walk by a hunter who is selling a bunch of large rodents, with long, mottled, ochercolored fur. You think they are called Duneskewers, from the desert Shayu. Listening to him you happen to hear their conversation with the merchant he is selling them to.
  
  "This is even worse than the last catch you wanted to sell me. Why all of the bad luck lately?" the dwarven merchant with a rather fat belly asks.
  
  "Bah, don't even ask. Since that stupid pyramid rose up from the sand again, these little buggers hide. And I'm not going near that thing," the dark skinned elven hunter remarks.
  
  "A pyramid you say? Wouldn't that mean there is a load of treasure in there? Those are known to hold gold and all sort of trinkets."
  
  "Even if it does, it's not worth for me to risking my life. I'm a bloody hunter, not some adventurer."
  
  At this point, you interrupt and ask them for directions to the pyramid. The hunter tells you where it is, but also that you should stay away. You don't listen to that part. All you know is that this could be your opportunity to solve your financial problems for good.
  
  As you open the door to the Rusty Tankard, you immediately spot Isolda. Not only is she the only elf in the inn, but you also can not miss her wild, flowing, fire-red hair, and her colorful robes. Her pale skin and innocent blue eyes give her a childlike sweetness, but boy can this girl have a temper when anyone disrespects her or her friends. Her nature towards you and Rowan is always caring though. It fits, given she is the healer of your group and your only mage.
  
  Spotting Rowan is not that easy. First, he's a dwarf and therefore not the tallest guy. Second, he does not dress as vibrantlyl as Isolda. His dark-gray Stetson hat is laying on the table in front of him. His head with the bushy black beard is resting on his arm, seemingly bored from having to wait for his dinner. As always, his black and gray clothing is sat neat, and his massive crossbow is resting against the wall.
  
  As you stride over, both their heads perk up. "Someone seems to be in a good mood," Isolda points out in her soft, calm voice. You are surprised to hear her lack of emotion sometimes. She always told you that's quite normal for an elf though.
  
  "Better because our payment was so high," Rowan snorts, a little agitated. His rough voice is in stark contrast to Isolda's. His heavy dwarven accent is clear as day. Also, the fact that he tends to swallow the first word of his sentences makes him sound like he is always drunk.
  
  "Even better, my friends. I found our next great opportunity," you happily tell them, leaning in on the table.
  
  "Great opportunity?" Isolda seems to be quite suspicious of that. "You always tell us they are great and then they end up just enough to keep ourselves going."
  
  "I had one silver for every time you told us that, I would not have to sit here right now," Rowan grumbles.
  
  "Look, I know we did not have the best run up until now but hear me out. This time I have something big." You then explain them what you overheard at the market. You also tell them that your payment from the last job could be just enough to get you the gear to go through with this adventure.
  
  "I'm not sure that's a good idea. I mean you were warned by everyone knowing of it to stay away. What if that place is too dangerous for us?" Isolda states her concern.
  
  "Please, I can't do this without you guys. It could be our only chance to achieve something great," you start pleading with them. Isolda looks you deep in your eyes and seems to realize the desperation you have inside you.
  
  "Well fine."
  
  "Better be worth it mates," Rowan says standing up to shoulder his crossbow. With a look of determination and your two best friends, you stride out of the tavern towards your adventure.
  
  > Entering the Tomb
  You look upwards just to barely make out the tip of the giant pyramid in front of you. The walls of the sandstone structure are smooth to the touch, and even though it was buried, the pyramid shows no sign of aging on the outside. The pitch black entrance is right before you, like a gaping mouth trying to swallow you whole. Your friends and you all stand before it speechless, not sure of how to comprehend the fact that you're truly about to enter that massive structure.
  
  "Can't fucking believe it. That mad hunter did speak the truth," Rowan suddenly blurts out.
  
  "Did I promise too much now?" your eyes widen in excitement. You stretch out your arms and give a hearty laugh.
  
  "Well, there is still no prove of any riches in there. We should be careful and try not to disturb things too much in there. Who knows what creatures dwell through that," Isolda calmly states.
  
  "Only one way to find out," you say with a shrug and get a torch out of your pack. After lighting it and drawing your sword, you start marching into the ancient stone structure. Rowan follows with his crossbow loaded and pointed forward at an angle, so he can shoot whatever could come up in front of you. Isolda lights her staff and walks behind the both of you.
  
  After a while of walking forward and lighting up the wall sconces as you go so the path becomes more lit, you enter a round room. In the center of the room is a fountain with a big statue of a muscular man. The man is wearing robes and ornate armor. His head is clad in a helmet with a feather crown. In his right hand he is holding a scepter towards the ceiling, while his left hand seems to be holding an imperial orb. While you walk around lighting up the wall sconces with your torch, Isolda inspects the statue.
  
  "This seems to be a depiction of the first emperor of Shayu. Sadly, I only recognize the name, but I can't read the whole script," she states with a slight scowl on her face.
  
  "Guess there is no reason for sightseeing," Rowan says towards you. "Two ways out of here it seems. Which one you wanna try?"
  
  Rowan always was quite straight forward and seemed to be a go-with-the-flow kind of guy. Isolda on the other hand always tried her hardest to find out as much as possible about what was before her, sometimes getting lost in details. Oh, the memories that's bringing back. It reminds you of the day when you first set out from Barthville.
  
  Thinking about which way to go you examine the paths more closely. The left path is completely pitch black, while the right one seems to have a faint green light at the end.
  
  > The left Path
  Let's try the left one," you decide and head over to the opening in the wall. Your friends following behind closely as you carefully tread forward.
  
  The path leads you down a narrow stone corridor. The walls, the floor, and even the ceiling seem to be made from the same stone blocks. A few of them show slight cracks but other than that there are no signs of aging in this place. As you keep moving the corridor becomes slightly wider and the walls before you are now intersected with vertical slits that seem to be made from iron. You slow down a little with your free hand on the hilt of your sword, ready to face any upcoming enemy. You keep your gaze focused on the front nearly overhearing the sound of stone grinding on stone. Purely by reflex, you take a step back just in time to dodge a blade swinging like an axe from the slit to your left and then vanishing in the one to your right. After a heartbeat it reappears from the left, seemingly circling now.
  
  "Shit that was close!" You exclaim with a slight panic of just having avoided near death.
  
  "Was indeed, and now this thing just keeps swinging and blocking the way," Rowan grumbles annoyed. As if those were some magical command words, you start hearing more grinding as one blade appears after the other from every slot in the wall.
  
  "Now that's just great. How do we go on here then?" Isolda asks looking down the corridor.
  
  "Are just axes. Could try and hack away at their handles. Bound to disable them isn't it?" Rowan suggests with a shrug while leaning his crossbow against the wall and pulling his handaxe from his hip.
  
  "Destroy them? Are you mad? We should not go close to them and remain there. I suggest we try to time it one at a time. There is enough space between them to stay for a while before proceeding," Isolda claims with a face lost in thought.
  
  Again you are left with a decision about how to move on. Funny how you became the leader of those two when you left Barthville.
  
  > Destroying the blades
  As you watch the blades swinging left and right at different intervals, you also notice something else. The walls in between the blades sometimes have other, smaller metal openings. You recon if you stay in the spaces between the blades to long something will shoot out of there. "Have you noticed those?" you ask your friends while pointing out the opening in the walls.
  
  "Shit. No I haven't till now. Guess that means running through won't work," Isolda admits.
  
  "Guess my plan does not sound all that bad doesn't it elf?" Rowan states proudly while smirking at Isolda. Isolda on the other hand just rolls her eyes at the cocky dwarf.
  
  You pull your sword and step closer to the first blade, waiting for it to swing by. As you feel safe with knowing the rhythm of how it swings, you start hacking away at the blade trap. Rowan soon joins in with his hand axe and you both keep hacking at it. It takes you several minutes before the blade gets hacked loose and clatters to the floor. Only some part of the wooden stump still swings by, but short enough to pass by over your heads if you duck a little.
  
  After repeating this tedious process on several blades you reach the first place where there is a opening in between them. Using one of the destroyed blades to prod the ground you find a stone that gives way slightly. After a sound of metal scraping on metal a spear at about shoulder height stabs out of the wall and pierces into the one on the other side, again confirming your first thought.
  
  Knowing about the full extend of the traps now, you hack off the rest of the blades and avoid the pressure plate stones till you reach the door on the end of the corridor. With enough space to not be in reach of the spears, or swinging parts of wood that previously had the blades attached to them, you and Rowan sink to the floor exhausted.
  
  "Was ... was quite some work eh?" Rowan wheezes out between taking two breaths. You silently nod and take the flask of water Isolda hands to you to take a long sip.
  
  "I guess we should take some time and rest. Who knows what's in this next room? You will need your strength," she says. "And yes Rowan I do have to admit your idea was good," she continues interrupting Rowan who was about to say something.
  
  > Continue
  After taking your time to catch your breath, you stand up an examine the door to make sure there aren't any traps on it. After confirming it to be safe, you open up the door to the next room.
  
  Behind the door is a new corridor splitting off into two directions. You send one questioning look to your friends. Isolda's head suddenly turns to the left, "Can you hear that?"
  
  "Hear what exactly, Isolda?" you ask her kind of dumbfounded.
  
  She looks at you and seems irritated, "It sounds like music coming from that direction," She points down the corridor to the left.
  
  "Music? Sure someones down there playing the lute," Rowan snorts with sarcasm.
  
  Isolda looks like she is quite serious about it so you sigh and start to head down that way. After a few steps, you turn your head, "Are you two coming with me or not?" They look at each other and then follow you down the corridor with their weapons ready to fight. The further you move forward the louder the eerie music becomes, now clearly heard by everyone.
  
  The corridor leads to a huge circular room. There are rows of seats in a semicircle lined up towards the far end of the room. Some skeletons are sitting on them in a few places, or better said laying on the ground around some places. On the other side of the room you see a stage set up. Huge and heavy looking purple curtains hang from the ceiling high above, covering up most of it. Right in the middle though a single figure sits in front of what looks like an organ made from a strange white material and plays the haunting music. Only a few wax candles that flicker with purple flames are providing light to the room.
  
  "The hell is this room?" Rowan asks and looks at you both. You simply shrug and start approaching the stage.
  
  "Be careful!" Isolda screams as you start to hear the figure cackle.
  
  Then a old and withered sounding voice echoes through the room, "Who is alive there in the realm of the dead?" The figure turns around i's head and looks right at you. "Ah! Another one for my collection. Hahahahaha," The skeleton man starts laughing maniacally and starts playing faster. The curtains blow open wider and some purple mist escapes from the pipes of the organ.
  
  "What's going on?" Isolda screams as the skeletons touched by the mist start to reassemble themselves. They draw various weapons out from their ribcage, reaching from swords and axes to some rusted spear tips and start advancing at the three of you.
  
  You pull your sword starting to slash at every enemy coming into reach. Rowan instantly starts firing his crossbow and reloading it as fast as he can, while Isolda gets behind you to swing her staff at them while muttering her protective spells. The skeleton at the organ cackles again. "Let's see how you keep up with this rhythm." He starts playing faster and faster, and the bones of the skeletons you have slain start forming something else. Something much bigger.
  
  "We need to stop the music!" Rowan shouts while firing two crossbow bolts into the bone monstrosity forming in front of him.
  
  > attack the organ
  You rush up the stage with your sword drawn trying to reach the organ in the middle. As you reach it you notice the hands of the organ player being shrouded in the same kind of purple mist and hesitate to attack for a second. If the organ is what contains the magic, maybe attacking it will prove more efficient than attacking the one playing it.
  
  You hear Rowan screaming in agony behind you and without thinking twice you slash your sword downwards at the organ. The false tune breaks the rhythm and then skeleton man screams out, "What the heck are you doing!? You are ruining my song!" Looking back you see Rowan crumpled to the ground but the bone creature stumbles and parts fall out of it.
  
  Seeing that Isolda is already on her way to try and save Rowan you turn again and start hacking at the organ with your blade. As you do so, more and more false tunes ring out, and the organ's keys begin to crack more and more. Every time you hit it the skeleton man curses you and desperately tries to find a way to keep playing. With a roar of fury you swing down at the organ and it breaks the keyboard in half. "NO! Why? How can I play now? How can I further my collection?" the man screams standing up from his broken instrument.
  
  You notice the purple mist dissipate and with a scream of victory you behead the organ player. Afterwards the room is silent. You look around noticing Isolda still leaning over the crumpled form of Rowan. You hastly make your way over to them.
  
  "It does not look good. I think his spine is shattered in several places and he does not stop bleeding. I'm afraid I can't help him," Isolda states and starts sobbing.
  
  Rowan suddenly clasps her hand, "Bah, stop worrying about it Isolda. You did your best. Maybe it was just my time to go" He starts coughing up blood and then wipes his mouth. "Will miss to argue with you though. Has always been fun to have someone not back down from me," he then turns his head to look at you. "Take good care of Isolda you hear me?" He gives you a weak punch to the chest.
  
  You take his arm in a grip like your arm wrestling and look at him with a smile, "Been a pleasure to adventure with you. You stubborn bastard."
  
  "It was indeed," Rowan speaks weakly and sinks back onto the ground closing his eyes. "It was indeed."
  
  After a moment of just kneeling beside your fallen comrade you slowly stand up and start lifting his body. For someone his size it's quite heavy. You slowly carry it out to the fork in the path and lay him down. Then you sit beside him and stay silent for a moment.
  
  > The Talk
  After double checking the area to be safe, you lean back against the wall and slowly sink down towards the ground besides Isolda. With a sad expression, you stare at the body of Rowan laying on the dirty ground and leaning halfway against the wall. Isolda is sitting there in silence. Her knees are drawn towards her chest, and she is staring towards the floor.
  
  After a silence that seemed to last forever, Isolda starts to speak in a near whisper, clearly trying to hold back her tears, "I cannot believe that Rowan is dead. I mean he was a stubborn idiot but still..." her voice trails off.
  
  A small smile creeps onto your face. "I never took the both of you to be best friends. I mean, with all the arguing you did."
  
  "He always liked doing that. To be honest, I think he was appreciating me giving some backtalk towards him. Have you ever noticed that nearly no one did that?" she asks, looking at you with small tears forming in her eyes but also the hint of a smile on her lips.
  
  It breaks your heart to see her this sad. She seems to be fonder of Rowan than you ever imagined. People always show their real colors in the face of a grave situation. Maybe you could succeed in cheering her up. You are the one that lead them here though. So, isn't it basically your fault he died?
  
  > try to comfort her
  You look at Isolda, for a moment noticing the small tears that are forming in her eyes. "Have I ever told you how I even met Rowan?" you ask with a smile, hoping to cheer her up with a story from the past.
  
  She sniffs once before turning to face towards you, "No. No, you haven't." With a smile you beckon her over to sit right beside you and begin telling the tale.
  
  It was an ordinary day in Barthville. On your way to school, you notice a very small woman walking towards the building. Behind her walks an equally stocky and small child. The woman looks up and sees you walking in the same direction. Friendly as you are, you give a little wave towards her. Upon seeing this, she waves back and keeps walking.
  
  As you enter class and sit down, your teacher, Mr. Grandolf, steps in and starts addressing the class, "Today we greet a new member of our class. He is new in town with his mother and I want you to be nice, you hear me?" As he finished, the stocky boy walks in and looks around with a curious but also hostile expression. "Why don't you introduce yourself, boy?" Mr Grandolf suggests.
  
  The boy gives him a curious look and replies shortly, "Rowan." Afterwards, he walks over to a free seat and sits down.
  
  School took long enough to end, and afterwards you are on your way towards home. As you leave the building, you see Tristan standing before you with a smug smile, "Where do you think you're going?"
  
  "Home?" you reply wearily and try to push past.
  
  Tristan wants his money though and goes to push you to the floor. Rowan grabs his arm though and holds it for a moment. "He owe you money?" he asks Tristan grimly.
  
  "Why does that concern you?" Tristan exclaims while trying to shake Rowan off. Rowan just holds on and seems to press Tristan's arm harder which ends with him screaming for mercy.
  
  "Should bully someone as strong as you, if you wanna be a man," Rowan replies before giving Tristan a hard shove so he lands on the ground.
  
  "You should not get into trouble for my sake," you explain with an apologetic look on your face.
  
  "Nonsense. Been the only one that didn't look at me mum with a scowl on the face. You're nice. Will be your friend," Rowan replies with a smile and holds out his hand. You shake it and return a smile of your own.
  
  "He was always more caring than people thought," Isolda says with a smile on her face but tears running down her cheeks.
  
  "He was indeed," you reply and smile slightly. "We should take a rest so we can go on with this damn pyramid. Who knows, maybe we can pay for getting him back," you suggest. Isolda nods and lets herself lean against the wall. With a last look at the body of your dead friend, you close your eyes to sleep.
  
  > carry on with Isolda
  You awake as something starts moving beside you. You open your eyes and wake with a start as you stare right into Isolda's eyes. You both look at each other and start to blush. She then quickly gets up and says, "So umm... let's carry on, I'd say." Your eyes follow her as she starts moving towards her pack laying on the ground, to grab her rations.
  
  After you and Isolda have eaten some of your rations, you make sure Rowan's body is in a safe place, so you may pick it up on your return. You then follow down the path until you find a split in the path again. The corridor is just a simple sandstone tunnel built with a few wall torches to light the path. The floor and some stones of the wall are already slightly cracked, and a few cobwebs are in the corners of the ceiling. At one point, the corridor becomes slightly wider and you see a silver-looking door with an hourglass etched into it. On the opposing side of the corridor, you see a stairway leading downwards deeper into the pyramid.
  
  "Well that looks kinda impressive," Isolda remarks. "Should we try to go through?
  
  "Sure, why not. But check if you can find traps before trying to open it," you reply while moving closer to have a look. The door itself looks quite heavy and is most likely solid metal. You recon it alone would be likely worth more than anything else in this whole dungeon. Moving the door is out of the question though, since it's far too heavy. After checking for every kind of trap you can think of, twice to be absolutely sure, Isolda and you both take a step back. You look at her for a moment and shrug. "Here goes nothing."
  
  You slowly stretch out your hand, reaching for the door's handle. Carefully, you touch it and get a good grip. Then, you push and pull realizing it is locked.
  
  "That was very anticlimactic," Isolda states as she raises her shoulders in a shrug.
  
  "I guess we will have to try the staircase then," you remark and slowly start to descend. Every few steps, you check for traps just to find nothing.
  
  The simple stone corridor leads you down deeper and deeper, until you reach a point where two doors split off the floor into two sections. Between the two doors is an elaborate painting of a bow and arrow. Above the left door is a skull carved into the wall. The door on the right brandishes what looks like a raindrop.
  
  "Which way should we go now?" Isolda asks you. You take a moment to think about it.
  
  > The "Skull" door
  "Let's take that one," you say while pointing at the door with the skull above it.
  
  Isolda scowls while looking at the skull and says, " It does not seem inviting."
  
  You chuckle, "Never took you for a woman to be scared by architecture."
  
  "I'm not scared. Just careful. Do you remember Rowan just died back there?" she claims.
  
  Your look becomes distant and you harshly clench your fists. "No, Isolda. I can never forget that I lead him to his demise," you reply to her with anger and sadness in your voice. How could you ever forget that fact? You then feel a gentle hand resting on your shoulder as Isolda tries to comfort you.
  
  Like before, you start checking the door for traps of any kind. Isolda soon joins in to make sure. Again, you do not notice a trap on the door itself and afterwards, slowly open it to reveal the room behind.
  
  The room behind the door is decorated with banners showing some ancient family crest. It depicts an eagle with spread wings that reach for the sun, trying to catch it. The crest itself is silver on a fiery orange background. The borders of the banner are trimmed with a silver thread. The floor of the room no longer is manufactured from sandstone, but from solid marble. Four massive hourglasses act like columns to support the golden-colored roof with the picture of a grand temple-like structure painted on it.
  
  Between the pillars, a sarcophagus is placed on a slightly raised platform. The trunk of it looks like it has been carved from a solid block of marble. The lid is covered in golden and silver decorations, and carved to resemble a man with crossed arms and his body wrapped into wings that protrude from his own back. His face is covered by a beautiful and elaborate looking mask that resembles a hawk's face, but with a sun dial decorating the top of it, and four eyes instead of two.
  
  Just as you stop to take in the massive room, the door behind you slams shut and metal bars rise from the ground to prevent reopening. The torches on the walls light up with bright orange flames, and you see the four pillars start to fill with sand from above. The sarcophagus starts to rise and shift from the ground into an upright position. Then, the lid swings open, and a man steps out of it. His body is covered in bandages, and golden armor is clad around his body. The cape that falls off his shoulders is separated into different ribbons, making it look like wings. His head is dressed in the same mask that the sarcophagus depicted but behind the eyes burns a bright orange light. He slowly looks around the room before screaming out a sound that resembles that of an eagle and raises a scepter that lights up with the same orange light.
  
  Your reflexes spring to action immediately, and you dodge to the side. You see Isolda do the same out of the corner of your eye, and a blast of orange flame hits the spot the both of you were standing on before. Circling one of the pillars, you draw your sword, taking a quick swing at the creature's back. The blade bounces off his armor and does not even leave a dent. The creature quickly turns around and swings his scepter at you. As the orange flame passes, you feel the immense heat emanating from it. Before he can take a second swing, he gets hit by a medium sized fireball square in the back, which is enough time for you to dodge around the pillar again.
  
  "He seems like he can be wounded by fire quite well! Just like those mummies!" you hear Isolda scream. "Help me get closer; I have an idea!"
  
  Without thinking further about it, you dive in again and swing your sword at him desperately, trying to create an opening. You also hear Isolda starting to chant her spell and try to keep him focused on you. Unfortunately, the creature also hears her quite clearly and, with a few expertly executed attacks, sends you sprawling to the floor with your sword clattering along the ground. In horror, you watch as it sprints over and slashes one claw at Isolda. For a split second, you see her eyes shift towards you. Her lips forming words you can not make out, but then you see her breaking her own spell which results in a huge explosion. The shockwave sends her and the creature flying in different directions and slamming into the walls. You stand in shock for a second as you see the creature stirring. A moment later, it lays still on the ground, you are standing beside it with your dagger slammed into its neck.
  
  You quickly run over to Isolda to check her vitals. Her pulse is becoming weaker by the second, and you don't get any reaction from her body. You just hold her close to your chest and start to cry silently, while you feel her body growing limp as she dies in your arms.
  
  > Fond Memories
  It took a lot of convincing from Rowan to get you to actually celebrate your eighteenth birthday. You did plan on just staying at home. Your father certainly would have been happier with that, but your mother reminded him that he always celebrated his birthday too. A smile creeps on your lips when thinking about your dad actually enjoying his life and not always working.
  
  Now you're standing outside while Rowan is having a blast with some of your buddies and drinking to his heart's content.
  
  "Funny that the person actually having a reason to party is not joining in it," a soft voice comes from behind.
  
  "Isolda?" you turn around. "Did Rowan really invite you?" you ask quite skeptical.
  
  "Of course not. I simply know when your birthday is. Also, it's not like there is anywhere else to actually celebrate in this shitty little town," she replies with a smile while leaning onto the fence.
  
  "Guess I'm not really into celebrating stuff like that. It's not like I achieved something that's worthy of celebrating," you shrug.
  
  "Well, you did survive another year of Rowan's friendship. That has to count for something," Isolda suggests with a smile.
  
  You simply start laughing, "Guess you are right. So what brings you here then?"
  
  "Well, I wanted to congratulate you and also give you a small gift," Isolda remarks while searching for something in her pocket. Shortly after she hands you a scarf that is her favorite color, green, and has some small birds on it. The same kind she always feeds in front of her house. "Just something for you to remember me by," she adds while nervously looking away.
  
  "Thanks, Isolda," you bring her into a hug. "I will always hold that dearly."
  
  After breaking the hug you look her deep in the eyes. She seems to blush slightly and closes her eyes before moving ever so slightly closer.
  
  "Oy! Are ya ready to party again mate?" Rowan suddenly shouts from the entrance of the tavern, and immediately, Isolda breaks the hug, blushing brightly.
  
  "Uhhm.... shall we go in?" you ask, trying to make the situation a little less awkward.
  
  "Su... sure," she simply says before smiling at you and walking in before you.
  
  You never saw her like that before. Strange.
  
  After carefully placing Isolda in a seemingly safe place, you walk towards the door. You reach the door and take a last look back at your friend's body before walking through the door. Your mind is set. No matter what is in that vault, if you can afford it you will bring them both back. Screw the money. what would you do with it alone?
  
  With that new mindset, you walk through a rather simple sandstone corridor, again, until you see light shining around the corner at the end.
  
  > The Guardian
  You round the corner, and before you stretches out a large chamber with tiled stone walls, and six massive pillars supporting the roof. The chamber is lit quite brightly by massive chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The floor is made out of solid marble, although quite dusty from all those years no one walked upon it. Your eyes follow the red and gold carpet that leads from the entrance towards the opposite wall. The most prominent thing though is the massive, ornate steel and gold door on the other side of the room.
  
  "Finally!" you exclaim nearly shouting it into the room before you. After nearly three days of walking and crawling through dark tunnels you reached the door to the treasure chamber at last. Just thinking back to all the skeletons and mummies you had to hack down with your trusty old sword makes your skin crawl.
  
  There were a few times you nearly were killed by those monsters. You are glad you were clever enough not to fall victim to one of those poisoned arrow traps or the swinging blades. Something Rowan and Isolda were not successful in sadly.
  
  But that does not matter to you now because you finally reached the door to unknown riches and magical artifacts that was buried deep within this god forsaken tomb. If you can get to that none of it will matter since you can pay to bring them back.
  
  "Would you mind not to shout so much? I was resting quite nicely here," someone suddenly speaks from your right side. With reflexes quick as lightning you turn towards it, draw your sword and stand, ready. At first you can not believe what you see. The face of a woman with raven black hair, made into long dreadlocks falling somewhere behind her shoulders. Flawless tanned skin and two long pointed ears like those of the local elves. You can not see if her shoulders are covered by clothing though it does not seem so. Her most prominent feature though are her piercing orange eyes with very thin cat like pupils staring right into yours.
  
  "Put away that toothpick before I might see that as an invitation," she calmly exclaims. Though there is a small smile on her lips that seems to almost be predatory.
  
  > put away your sword
  The way she just calmly talks to you and has you fixated with her predatory gaze is something you find quite unnerving. The fact however that she has not outright attacked you is something that peaks your interest. You just came out of those hostile tunnels as only survivor of your three-person party, which makes you unsure if you should attack. In fact, why risk a fight when it can be solved in another way?
  
  "Very well," you answer and put your sword back into the sheath hanging at your side, still letting your hand rest on the handle though.
  
  She smiles at you, "Wise choice, human." With those words she rises and what was prior hidden from your view now shows as she rises and walks around the rocks that obstructed your vision earlier. What you thought was just a simple woman now presents itself as a huge, black furred cat of prey with two massive black wings on her back. Just the face and the neck seem to be those of a human.
  
  "From your startled expression I can tell you never saw a sphinx before," she addresses you again.
  
  "Can not say I have," you answer cautiously. Your gaze is fixed to her paws watching out for the slightest movement.
  
  She chuckles slightly, "If I did want to kill you you would not stand here still. So no reason to be nervous around me. If I was a male sphinx you should be running in fear cause they tend to enjoy combat far more. Since I am not however, I can offer you a way to enter the chamber over there and get your riches."
  
  "Where is the catch?" you ask suspicion in your eyes as you focus them on hers again.
  
  "It is simple. You can either answer my three riddles and walk out of here with your prize, or you can simply walk out of here right now with your life and never return back." She explains to you, "The choice is yours."
  
  > battle her
  "Never!" you scream and raise your sword while running towards her.
  
  She rolls her eyes and then starts moving, "As you wish." Two giant black feathered wings suddenly spread behind her and with one beat she takes into the air. You stop dead in your tracks as the massive, black furred body moves towards you through the air.
  
  At the last second you manage to do a combat roll and get out of the way of her attack. Right as she lands she already starts turning around slashing at you with one massive clawed paw. This time a little to slow with raising your sword to deflect the blow she manages to hit your chest, drawing her five claws over it, leaving a deep bleeding wound.
  
  The force of the blow sends you to the floor, and again you roll to the side purely by instinct and just fast enough to escape her downwards slash. Before you can stand however her tail swings at you hitting you with what seems to be a a golden, spiked ring that can be used like a club. The spikes sink deeply into your flesh, and you let loose a agonized scream echoing from the walls. With swift moves she puts her paws down on your legs and arms, her claws sinking in mercilessly. The pain to much to bear you drop your sword and look up to the beast towering above you, succumbing to your fate.
  
  "I did warn you, puny mortal. You should not have tried to strike me down" she speaks in a hushed tone, almost making it sound like a growl. "But now I will end your measly existence," with those words she opens her mouth and sinks her fangs into your unprotected throat.