Soul Merger

Monsterpedia

Sphinx

Monster Level - V

Soul Type - Composite

Intelligence - High Humanoid

Strength - High

Magic - High

Rarity - Very Rare

A strange creature with the head of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle, Sphinx are infamous for their unique properties among monsters. They're one of the few monsters that appear outside standard Layers, and they mostly appear in 'quiz' labyrinths or guarding treasure rooms. They also don't follow usual monster rules, in that they're always hostile to humans, but don't pursue them. Some scholars consider them more of a trap then a monster, however we know they're capable of merges.

An encounter with a sphinx always starts the same way. The first human to get within 10 feet or interact with the creature is considered their 'prey.' The sphinx will then give their 'prey' a riddle or puzzle to solve. The 'prey' gets three chances to answer correctly. If they answer correctly the sphinx will scream and then keel over dead. If they fail, if they try to flee, or if the sphinx is attacked, the monster will devour the 'prey' before attacking the rest of nearby humans with spell and claw.

It is very important to state that the sphinx seems completely immune to damage until after the 'prey' completes the challenge. Trying to kill a sphinx from a distance makes the attacker the 'prey' and triggers the instant death attack. Similarly there seems to be no defense against the devouring technique. The sphinx will teleport if needed to reach its prey, and its bites will sheer through any material.

After slaying the 'prey' the sphinx isn't that hard to defeat, having only basic spells and the strength of a lion without the bite. But that requires the death of a party member. It's better to just help the 'prey' with the answer.

Don't waste your three answers on random guesses. Sphinx riddles can be very intricate, or a dumb joke. You may find your complex deduction on why someone was buried in a golden tomb is deemed 'incorrect.' If you saved your answers you can try 'because he's dead.'

Merge

Benefits : Bursts of knowledge

Weaknesses : Headaches

Sphinx merges are very obvious. They get a light coat of fur on their bodies matching a lion, their legs warp to become digitigrade, and they gain small wings. In addition they get flashes of knowledge seemingly at random. Facts, pulled from their merge that have universally proven true. In return they also get nasty headaches as information gets forcefully inserted in their brain.

An important thing to know is that when a sphinx dies because you solve their riddle, that's considered a suicide. So merges are, as you might guess, incredibly rare. Finding a sphinx is hard enough, then someone has to die failing the riddle challenge, and then an unmerged human needs to land the killing blow. And because ending hostilities 'resets' the sphinx, capturing one then dragging it to the surface just starts the process again.

This didn't stop some rich people with terrible morals from using human sacrifices and hired goons to set up situations in order to gain a sphinx merge. However because of those practices the merge has a terrible stigma, and is out of favor. It's also not exactly a power merge. The few modern sphinx merges tend to be tower students who had a bad training labyrinth run.

I've been lucky enough to meet the one known sphinx merge in the city. They're not dissatisfied with their merge, but they say it's not the path to unlimited knowledge like some claim. For every time you get inspiration about something no human has learned before, you get a hundred factoids about what cuts of meat goblins prefer.