The Sphinx's Nose
Rumours
They say a stone Sphinx lies by an old tomb in the sands, buried to his chin and grumbling under the sand. Look by a tomb's gateway, where a head in a striped headcloth sticks out of a dune.
Who: The Sphinx
Hints
Open them one at a time — from a gentle nudge to plain advice. "Good to know" is about what might trip you up.
Hint 1
The Sphinx loves riddles, and every answer is a thing to bring him. The first one: "no legs, yet it runs across the desert".
Hint 2
A tumbleweed can be cut with a sword while it's still rooted in the sand. A broom is made from it at the workbench.
Hint 3
The second riddle is about "sweet fingers on a palm". The Sphinx wants three of them, and a palm can be shaken.
Hint 4
The Sphinx's nose isn't lying outside: it's in the tomb behind his tail, in the farthest hall.
Hint 5
The best glue in the desert is acacia gum. Cut an acacia's bark with a sword and wait for a golden drop.
Good to know
- Each acacia gives only one drop of gum a day, and a shaken palm bears dates again only the next day.
- In a world with other players, only one of you helps the Sphinx at a time: if another player is already on it, or someone already helped him today, come back tomorrow.
Full solution
Show the whole solution
This is the whole story of the quest, to the very end.
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Find the Sphinx: by an old tomb's gateway, a stone head in a striped headcloth sticks out of a dune. Walk up and press E (on a phone, the glowing action button) to talk. He asks a riddle: no legs, yet it runs across the desert. That's a tumbleweed, and he wants a broom made of it.
From Cubby's diary
Met the Sphinx, buried in sand up to his chin! Ages ago he sneezed his nose clean off, and without a nose you can't sneeze. His riddle: no legs, yet it runs across the desert. A tumbleweed! I'm to make a broom of it.
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Find a tumbleweed that's still rooted in the sand. Hold a sword and swing it right by the tumbleweed (click, or the action button on a phone): it goes into your bag. No sword? Make one at the workbench.
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At the workbench make a Broom: two sticks in a column for the handle with the tumbleweed under them. Or simpler: the tumbleweed over a single stick.
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Hold the broom, stand by the Sphinx and sweep: each press of E or click (the action button on a phone) is one stroke. After four strokes he's free, has a good stretch and asks his second riddle: sweet fingers on a palm. Dates!
From Cubby's diary
Swept the Sphinx free - four strokes, and he giggled: "That tickles!" He stretched till the stone creaked and asked another riddle: sweet fingers on a palm. Dates! No breakfast for three thousand years.
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Find a date palm (they also grow around your house). Stand by the trunk and press E (the action button on a phone) to shake it: two or three dates fall, and you pick them up by walking over them. You need three; if the palm is bare, the dates ripen by tomorrow.
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Go back to the Sphinx with three dates and press E (the action button on a phone). He eats his breakfast and tells you his nose is in the tomb behind his tail, on the coffin lid in the farthest hall.
From Cubby's diary
Fed the Sphinx three dates - "Yum! What a breakfast!" And his nose, it turns out, lies in the tomb behind his tail, on the coffin lid in the farthest hall. Stone paws - he can't reach it himself.
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The tomb's gateway is right behind the Sphinx's tail; if it's buried, dig it out with the drill. Go down the stairs to the farthest hall, stand by the coffin and press E (the action button on a phone) to take the Sphinx's Nose.
From Cubby's diary
Went down into the tomb, to the farthest hall - and on the coffin lid lay a stone nose! Dusty, heavy, but whole. Now to take it to the Sphinx and find a way to stick it on.
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Now you need Acacia Gum. Find an acacia (the tree with a flat, umbrella-like crown) and strike its trunk with a sword. A golden drop oozes out of the cut, runs down and falls: walk over it to pick it up.
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Bring the nose and the gum to the Sphinx and press E (the action button on a phone). He bows his head, you press the nose on, and what a sneeze! From now on, every dawn he sneezes at the nearest hidden tomb: where the dust goes up in a pillar, there's the gateway.
From Cubby's diary
Glued the Sphinx's nose on with acacia gum - and what a sneeze! Nearly blew me away. Now every dawn he sneezes at a hidden tomb: where dust rises in a pillar, there's the gate.
Reward
Every dawn the Sphinx sneezes at the nearest hidden tomb: the sand is blown off down to its gateway, and a pillar of dust goes up over it, seen from far away. Over a tomb too deep for that he sets a stele: dig here, deep.