Of all the creatures that emerge from the catacombs, the sphinx is by far the strangest. 

She speaks in no known language, but seems to squawk and babble like a bird. When she first appeared, she walked straight through the city of Solterra like a living mirage; the crowd parted for her, with shouts of terror. Although she had the head of a beautiful mare her body was that of a Sun Lion, and glowed with the feverish light of a far off, dying star. Her wings were great, broad, and terrible, like that of a desert vulture. To make matters worse, she must have been at least 20 hands. Her eyes, red as blood, stood out in a glowing gold face. They did not know if she came alive from mythology, or was simply the result of a terrible accident. 

At first, everyone believes she had walked straight into the desert. After the catacombs opened, the sphinx disappears. They might have been right, if only she had continued to walk. Instead, she found herself inside the Colosseum. There the sphinx wandered for a number of days, squawking bird-like at anyone who dared stop her. The soldiers, of course, wanted to kill her. But when they tried, she proved much more canny than initially anticipated. The strange creature led the finest warriors in Solterra on quite a merry chase within the Colosseum tunnels and promptly disappeared. There, we are rid of her.

If only it were so simple. They would be glad to be rid of her, if not for her ghastly appearance than because of her rather dimwitted behaviour. Neither horse nor Sun Lion, the woman—if one were to call her that—seemed to have the mind of a bird. Enough time had passed between her initial appearance and subsequent disappearance that any who had seen her believed her dead. It seemed a simple thing for the warped creature to disappear in the Mors and die. This is not the case. 

The aura of the arena is celebratory. The crowd cheers excitedly for the battle, as one of the first of the tournament. Thomas, a well-known and well-liked soldier, is matched against a citizen named Jask. 

It is Jask who is called to enter first, by the announcer. The gates open before him and he steps into the sands of the arena. The announcer never manages to get to Thomas, however. 

The Sphinx rises from the sand at the opposite end of the arena. The sudden surge sends a storm of sand billowing across the Colosseum pit; when it settles, she is glowing brilliantly. Her mane billows about her as if with some internal wind. It does not take the Sphinx long to turn her too-red, pupil-less eyes on Jask. She strides forward, so that the space between them is no longer so distant. The sphinx lays down before him and asks, in perfectly eligible tongue, “There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first. Who are the two sisters?”

@Jask