Major Story Beats
- Agora of Thebes. Nikias hires at the civic hub inside the Seven Gates; writ + 1,200 gp on return; rumor of a nest-treasure on Phikion. Leave by the North Gate. Map:
images/maps/Thebes.png (map-thebes).
- Enc. 1 — Road of Four Riddles. Goat-road up Mount Phikion. Four adolescent sphinxes. Answer for hints; fail and that one attacks.
- Enc. 2 — Trapped Ascent. Stair and halls: plates, darts, false floors, crush-ceiling, riddle-door.
- Enc. 3 — Summit cavern-temple. Six altars, six armor-gems, end-of-round riddles, cipher thirds. Shout the hidden name → Seal → central altar (or present Seal to Savano — Broken Form, p. 2 / p. 4).
- Resolution / Epilogue. Patron goddess arrives; Savano stands down; brood flees; Thebes pays in full and throws a banquet. Blessing: inspiration + one Int/Wis reroll before next dawn.
Thebes & Phikion
Thebes sits on the Cadmea in the Boeotian plain, seven gates in its circle of walls. To the north the road climbs Mount Phikion — the Sphinx Mountain of the old stories, the peak from which a riddling lion-woman once taxed every traveler bound for the city. Helicon and the Muses lie west; Cithaeron closes the south. Three nights ago Phikion roared. The North Gate road is empty. Shepherds swear an abandoned temple in the summit cave holds a nest the size of a dragon, and that something in it is worth a city’s ransom.
Rumors (red herrings): some say it was a temple to Apollo, but the schools of art and knowledge moved into the city long ago; others claim Ares, who helped found Thebes — yet Thebes has not seen war in generations. Merchants mutter an Egyptian god, “Amara” or “A-man-raw” (Amun-Ra), patron of a different Thebes. APOLLO and AMUN-RA both have six letters. None is the answer.
Magistrate Nikias of Thebes hires the party in the agora: rid Phikion of the Ancient Sphinx, and protect the unnamed treasure within. Late 60s, missing two fingers; once a caravan-captain on this road. He climbed two years ago and came back alive. Secret: the Great Sphinx spared him for a half-clever answer and took the fingers as tuition. He is ashamed. He does not know her name.
“She will ask you something. Answer well — or don’t come back to make me bury you inside seven walls.”
Theban Writ — read in the agora
By order of the council of Thebes: the North Gate road and the peak of Phikion are closed. The Ancient has woken in the cave-temple on the Sphinx Mountain. Bring her to peace — by wit, not by a war seven gates cannot win — and guard the treasure she nests upon until the council can claim it. Do not let the brood eat the road.
— Wax-sealed writ, pressed into a PC’s hand by Nikias
Enc. 1 — Road of Four Riddles
The party leaves Thebes by the North Gate. The Phikion road switchbacks above olive terraces; the Cadmea shrinks behind them, Helicon a blue mass to the west. Four winged shapes drop onto the stones ahead — lion-bodies, human faces, not yet the size of the thing that roared. Three males, one female. They have been waiting for travelers on the Sphinx Mountain.
“The Ancient yawned,” says the largest, Kleitos. “So we came to eat whoever tries her game. Or — if you are amusing — we will tell you what the mountain already knows.”
If all four hints are earned, Ismene adds: “She is bored. Be interesting.”
Enc. 1 — Engagement
Each sphinx poses one Level 1 riddle (pick 4 of 8; p. 3). ~60 seconds. Party may confer. Correct: satisfied, gives its hint, does not attack. Wrong/refuse: only that sphinx attacks; others lounge. Party attacks first → all four join (Hard/Deadly — warn them). 0 HP: flees or yields. Killing them costs later hints and Savano’s respect (Insight DC 14: she will know).
Hints if correct: Kleitos — six altars want deeds, not only words. Phaedros — path and halls are trapped; watch the floor. Orthos — keep a reaction for the Ancient’s end-of-round question. Ismene — the last word that ends the game has six letters.
Terrain: switchback 15 ft. wide, 80 ft. long; 40-ft. drop (3d6). Boulders: half cover. Sphinxes start 40 ft. ahead, flying available. 1 fight ≈ Easy; 2 ≈ Medium; all 4 ≈ Hard for 6×L11. Four hints: short rest on the road. Two+ fights: Enc. 2 without a short rest.
Enc. 2 — The Trapped Ascent
Near the summit the Phikion road pinches into a stair cut from living rock, then a colonnade that should not exist this high — a hallway into the peak. Bronze nails in the lintel still hold faded Theban ribbon and a worn stamp (owl-shaped, meaning long forgotten). Something has been maintaining this place. The last door opens onto a vast dark that smells of old incense and lion.
Gauntlet of five stations (+ optional 6th). Each is one spotlight “round.” Phaedros’s hint: adv. on the first Perception/Investigation to spot a trigger. 3+ trap hits = Enc. 3 starts without a short rest. Clean run = 1 minute to bind wounds (Hit Die as an action) in the cave mouth.
Trap Stations
| # | Station | Spot / Disarm | On Failure |
|---|
| 1 | Goat-stair plates | Perc 15; tools or Ath 14 (wedge) | Darts +8, 14 (4d6) poison; Con 15 or poisoned 1 min |
| 2 | False ledge | Survival or Inv 14 | 10-ft. slide, 3d6 bludgeoning, prone; Dex 13 half |
| 3 | Hall of hollow tiles | Inv 16 (13 w/ 10-ft. pole) | Fall 20 ft. onto spikes, 4d6 piercing; Ath 14 climb out (action) |
| 4 | Crush ceiling | Perc 15 (hairline); Ath 16 brace or Mage Hand on pin | 8d10 bludgeoning, Dex 16 half, 10-ft. square |
| 5 | Riddle-locked bronze door | Speak any used Enc. 1 answer, or knock / tools 16, or Str 20 | Glyph: 6d8 thunder, Con 15 half; door still shut |
| 6* | Optional bronze net alcove | Stealth 14 past tripwire | Restrained, escape 14; 2d6 piercing as barbs close |
Enc. 3 room traps (optional): two sand-sink tiles (Dex 15 or restrained, escape 14) between platforms 2–3 and 5–6; one dart slit on the north wall (same as station 1) if a PC sprints the straight line.
Enc. 2 / Enc. 3 — Summit cavern-temple (entry)
The summit cave is a cathedral in the peak of Phikion. A crack in the roof shows open Boeotian sky — wind, not a cellar. Columns like tree-trunks hold a ceiling lost in smoke-stained dark. Six raised platforms ring a sand floor. On each, a stone altar wears a bronze plaque. At the far end a wall of living rock has been carved into a sleeping lion the size of a dragon — until the lion opens its eyes.
The Great Sphinx unfolds. Gargantuan. The roar you heard in town was her stretching. Call her only the Ancient / Great Sphinx until midway Enc. 3 (p. 4). Bored, proud, willing to play. Secret: she does not want mortal flesh. She wants the game finished so her patron will visit. The hidden name opens the door; the seal is the invitation. Her name is Savano — a red herring (Greek η≈v, ν≈n, θ≈o).
“Four centuries,” she says, almost kindly. “Play my game. Fail, and I remember I am hungry.”
Balancing / Suggestions
As written ★ — 6×L11. Enc. 1 Hard if 3–4 brood fight; Enc. 2 Hard traps; Enc. 3 Deadly CR 22 puzzle-race. XP: L11 Hard 3,600 / Deadly 5,100 per PC (6× = 21,600 / 30,600). Savano alone is 41,000 — not a fair fight. Gems are the stall: AC 17, HP 54, cracked at 30 HP. Intended: 2–3 PCs on gems, rest on altars. Body slugfest is a losing clock.
Library Standard — 6×L8. Brood HP −25%; trap DCs −2; Savano HP 360, AC 20, save DC 18; gems AC 15, HP 36, cracked at 20; patience 12 rounds; only 4 required altars (drop decoy + one).
Easier (APL 9–10). Library Standard, then Ismene does not fight; crush ceiling is 4d10; cipher third #2 already visible on a History DC 12 glance.
Harder (APL 12–13). +1 brood cub round 2; altar activations provoke OAs from her reach 15; patience 8 rounds; gems AC 18, HP 66, cracked at 36; wrong combat answer also 4d8 psychic (Int DC 18 half) to the speaker.
City help (Enc. 1 peaceful + Enc. 2 clean): shrine acolyte at cave mouth on round 4 with a torch, a key, a hammer, 1 gp, and polished bronze — one free tool delivery, then they hide.
Name (DM): Reveal Savano after 2–3 letters or Inv/Arcana 16, Hist 15, Pers/Intim 17 — she offers it as if vital. Do not say the patron goddess’s name before the puzzle is solved.