FSE

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“I tell you, it was a magical evening. Another conquest to add to the notches on my belt, you know?" Adaeze says this to the bartender at the Adventurer's Guildhall.

“Oh, I'd imagine," the tender says, “if you're talking about it a month later."

“Yeah," Adaeze says, tapping a folded-up paper on the table. “Damn shame that none of us can make out this note she left behind." She barks this out louder, much to the chuckles and jeers of her fellow adventurers and bounty hunters."

“The translator is supposed to come in today, isn't he?" the tender says. “That will be exciting."

“Yeah, it's why I'm here early," Adaeze says, spinning around in her seat and resting her shoulders on the bar. “Makes me wonder what the hell is taking so long. I could have sworn he'd be here sometime in the daytime, not the middle of the night-"

She stops and sniffs the air, jumping up to her feet. “No way…" She rushes out of the bar area, nearly bumping into a figure about to enter. She looks down to the smaller, thin form—someone with long and straight black hair and with delicate features, but that scent… it smells like… Riddles!

“My apologies the man speaks, adjusting his glasses. “You must be Adaeze, yes?"

The gnoll blinks down at him, her muzzle turned down into a frown.

“I'm Syros… the guild translator."

“Have we… met?"

The man sighs and holds out his hand. “The document, if you'd please, Miss."

“Uh… r-right." She says, holding the folded-up paper in her hand. He takes it in his much smaller hand and unfolds it, looking It over quickly before handing it back to her. He quirks his eye up at her. “You can't read gnoll script?"

“I… I didn't know gnolls had a writing system."

Syros's frown increases at that. He hands it back to her and says. “It's a riddle."

Adaeze snorts, folding her hands over her chest. “Huh… well, isn't that perfect? What's it say?"

“Well, the nuances may be missed on a non-native speaker, but it reads something like “When does the hunter gain a heart?"

She snickers at that. “Well, I may not be able to answer that question, but that sounds less like a riddle and more like words to remember her by. Guess I'll keep it in mind."

“Well, I suppose," he says, a smile forming on his face, “that words do hold meaning as far as we understand them. Keep that to heart and move on." He bows and turns, exiting the building.

Adaeze looks to the note again but then snaps out of her stupor, only to rush out, calling for him, but getting no response.

—

The adventurers ride out in the fading sunlight, with Adaeze bringing up the rear of the party. To the edge of the desert and into the mountains they go, where only one trail allows for contact to the supply trades beyond.

“Well, here we are," their leader says.

“This is where the others saw the Hermaphrosphinx. Be on the lookout for-."

Under the sand erupts a leonine figure, spreading wings and chomping onto the adventurer with a massive jaw. The beast flies up into the air and drops the man, sending him screaming into the ground below and tumbling down the last of the dunes before rocky earth takes its place.

The mage and Adaeze are all that's left, and Adaeze pulls out her sap, her tail blade also gleaming in the setting sun.

Their mage fires off a cold burst, but the sphinx speaks arcane words, its crimson eyes glowing with a yellow light. The ice shoots back at the adventurer, knocking her down against the ground.

Adaeze runs over towards her companion, who shouts. “Dammit, don't worry about me, get the thing!"

The sphinx lands on the hill in front of Adaeze, narrowing its eyes.

“Come here, you!" Adaeze roars, but the sphinx stares her down, the look in its eyes sending a jumble of thoughts and feelings in Adaeze's mind. The gnoll falls to her knees, clutching her head as the sphinx flies off to the mountains.

It takes a few moments to regain herself, and she beckons her steed with a whistle, giving chase.

The hunt leads her up into the mountain pass, where she can find a cave entrance thanks to her gnoll eyes. She hops off of her steed and rushes towards the cave, only to be hit by a strong, familiar smell.

A figure in scholarly robes fit loose over a naked but definitely feminine body out from the cave. “When does the hunter gain a heart?"

Adaeze frowns, lowering her knife. “I… wait… you're… Syros, but… Riddles...??"

“A true riddle," the woman, Syros, says. She shrugs off of her robes, showing off her naked form. “I am Syros, yet I am the one you call “Riddlest." I am the one you adore and the one you abhor."

The moonless night bathes both of them. Syros raises her hand up over her head, and golden energy coalesces over her palm, forming a globe of brilliant light that fires off into the air.

Adaeze winces at the sudden brightness, like that of a full moon.

With that lunar light in the sky, Synos falls to her hands, arching her back, a sneer upon her face, her eyes red. “After months of work!" she growls. “I'm finally free to be me!"

Gasps of delight fill the air as she arches her back and throws her head back, her mouth lined with sharp fangs and erupting into a furry muzzle. Wings burst from her shoulders, and her body shifts and morphs right before Adaeze's eyes until suddenly, standing before her with those crimson and domineering eyes, is the very monster she was hunting—Syros the Hermpahrosphinx.