Round 6: Pyramid of Sphinx. Let’s proceed!
The first area is a series of platforms over spikes. The same pattern of platforms pretty much repeats four times. The first time you go low, the second time a convenient spring takes you high.
The third platform pits you against a new enemy: MINI-DEATH MASTERS (a mistranslation of the original ORGASM MASTERS). They’re a lot like the DEATH MASTER in the first level, except they’re smaller and take two hits from the third-best sword to kill instead of two hits from the weakest sword. They tend to drop large amounts of cash, 36G in this case. Somehow I missed it jumping over, so I had to brave the spikes, costing me a whole heart.
I manage to repeat this with the second MINI-DEATH MASTER.
In the great tradition of video games, these red platforms sink when you stand upon them.
There’s a hidden magic shop up top, but I don’t bother getting any.
These blue snakes are PYTHONs. Just an obstacle, really. They don’t move and they die in one hit. The blue mouse on the lower floor is a MASTER RAT. By standing where I am in the last shots, I cause three bags of gold to appear.
I get 47G from the three of them, then kill the green ANACONDA for another 5.
I believe that this ROHPAH is guarding a hospital, but sadly it knocked me away before I could find out. If only I’d had some magic, I could’ve fought it from the platform on the left. Oh well. As I fell I uncovered a hidden coin! What the heck is a ROHPAH, you ask? I don’t know, but according to a quick google search “La ropa” is Spanish for “clothing” (second result: “kEE-tah-meh lah roh-pah. Take your clothes off.”). Another possibility is that it’s a mistranslation of the D&D monster “Roper”. It’s got the tentacles and the mouth, anyway.
I go back over to the left, under where I entered this area. There’s a hidden armor shop, and I take the chance to get the Armor of Legend, the strongest in the game. Notice that I’ve been doing pretty badly this level, so I can use some extra protection. I am now all but broke.
I manage to get hit by the MASTER RAT, but with my new gear I only lose a quarter heart. I drop through the hole in the floor to move on.
I head off to the left initially, and knock on another door.
It’s a bar! I’m pretty short on health, so I could use some booze to restore me. I buy two rounds of ale, and find out that the sphinx likes to ask questions. You know, this must be Betty, the girlfriend of Jack from round 5. In my bar run Jack gave me a letter to give to her, but in this run I’m not carrying it. But if I were:
If you buy the mead, the response is the same whether you’ve got the letter or not. Betty doesn’t help cheapskates.
Buying two drinks of ale is the trick. The first gets you some thanks, the second lets you know what’s been happening lately. So that’s 30G here, plus 56G in round 5 to get the letter, all so you can find out there’s a chicken thief about. What’s the point of that?
It’s another door like in Round 3. Incidentally, that platform to the left of the door has a hidden shoe shop on it. I didn’t bother because: A) I can’t afford new shoes; and B) I wanted to get to the bar and get some health, pronto.
Inside is the Sphinx. He seems like a nice guy.
Y’wha?
Y’wha? I guess After Burner?
Annoyingly I missed the end of the screenshot. I’m “ALLOWED TO GO OUT OF THE PYRAMID.”
Then he kills himself. Wierdo. So what’s the deal with the missing chicken? Well, let’s see what happened during my bar run:
There’s a few different questions, and I think the answers are randomised. I’m pretty sure he can also ask about his hobby (one of the answers is golf). If you get it wrong you have to fight him. He stands at the edge of the screen and throws lightning at you, then teleports to the other side of the screen when you get close. It’s nice to avoid the fight, but in my opinion it’s not worth 86G, especially when you’ve got one chance in three to avoid the fight anyway. That said, if I’d had to fight him I probably would have lost my revival potion in the process, and that’s worth 100G.
No boss fight .gif this time, ‘cause there was no fight. Here’s the level, though:
There's at least two mistakes in that map. Can you spot them? This handy annotated version has them corrected (sort of).
We're half way through the game now, with six out of twelve rounds completed.
TL,DR:
Next: Round 7
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