A Quick Temple Exploration with Three Ladies

Ulnarka led the twins around through the jungle to a clearing with a very clear lagoon, complete with a waterfall, that had a structure that looked like a blend of Mesoamerican and Polynesian architecture at the edge of the water that stood a little over two stories high. The twins were more surprised by the sight. “This,” said Ulnarka is one of the better-condition temples on the island; it actually happens to hold chambers for the worship of two deities.”

“Prima, the first goddess, and Aquaria, goddess of the seas. Last I checked, the temple doesn’t have much else.”

“Okay,” said Marsha, “the goddess of the sea having a vestige on an island, I can understand, but why the other one? She sounds important, but not enough to warrant having an idol on the island.”

“What is this place actually called,” inquired Trisha.

“This is one of the islands of the Primaria Archipelago,” said Ulnarka, “it’s named for the goddess Prima because it’s near the center of the world and believed to be where all races originated from. I’m surprised it took you this long to make that sort of inquiry.”

“We’re still trying to catch up on things,” said Trisha, “transitioning between realities is more disorienting than typically presented.”

“And can give you headaches that flash in and out at irregular intervals,” said Marsha in a half-joking manner.

“Follow me,” said Ulnarka, “it would probably be in your best interest to at least pay your respects to Aquaria, seeing as it seems to have been her power that brought you here.” She led the way to the temple, and the twins followed carefully.

“Why are bugs not trying to eat us,” inquired Marsha as they drew closer to the ancient temple, “where we’re from, a place like this would be swarming with insects and bugs.”

“Half of which would be trying to feed on our blood,” chimed in Trisha.

“I don’t know the details,” said Ulnarka, “maybe Molsalkisa can inform you about that.” A moment later, all three were in front of the structure. “Do your best to be respectful; offending any deity is usually a quick way to a bad life.” With that, she led them inside.

Inside the structure, it looked more like the architectural stylings of the Mayans and Hawaiians; there was a wall with a stairway in front of them about seventeen in front of them on the right, and to the left side of the wall had a twenty-foot high that was seven feet wide. The twins elected to go to the upper floor first. After climbing the stairs, the three were in the upper chamber and saw a statue of a charming motherly woman with generous proportions in her figure holding a pair of spheres. Both the twins suddenly felt lacking for a moment when they got a proper look at the idol dominating the upper chamber.

“Well, she definitely sets a trend for motherly figures,” said Trisha with reverence.

“Prima, the first goddess,” said Ulnarka with a respectful voice. The twins both took a praying stance and gave the statue a respectful bow.

“Hopefully,” said Trisha, “we’ll be back with some appropriate offerings for both of the goddesses represented here. Both of us haven’t been all that religious; we got out of that when we became disillusioned with the faith our family had been in for generations. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be respectful to other faiths and religions.”

The trio then headed down the stairs, and through the door to the chamber beyond. The room was dominated by a statue made from sea stone of a woman with a sailor’s build, bountiful bosom, and staff made of coral in sailing attire that was on brand for this world. Like with the other statue, the twins made a praying motion and took a respectful bow. Then Marsha suddenly thought she caught something in the corner of her eye.

Marsha got up and moved over to a section of the wall closest to the staff and started feeling around the wall and floor; after a moment of searching about, Marsha found a hidden switch that caused the section of the floor next to her on the side of the statue to lower down and lock in place. Trisha and Ulnarka stared at the development in surprise for a moment before heading over to join Marsha at the top of the hidden stairs that had just been revealed.

“We didn’t find this when we visited before,” said Ulnarka, “and Molsalkisa and I have visited this site a half-dozen times already; I guess we just weren’t looking the right way.”

“Given how dark it is,” said Marsha, “we’ll probably need to come back with a light of some kind.”

Practically by instinct, Trisha reached into her component pouch and pulled out what looked like the twig of an elm tree that had been knocked off the tree via a lightning strike. “I think I have a way around that,” said Trisha; she then made some gestures and made some kind of primordial chant that Marsha was surprised by. After Trisha finished the quick motion and chant with the twig, what looked like a small collection of fairy lights appeared before her, which she motioned into the darkness ahead of them. The lights bounced around ahead of the trio as they descended into the lower chambers.

“Think of what the report will look like,” said Marsha as the party wandered a six-foot corridor they found a moment prior.

The trio went down the corridor for a minute or two before coming to a T-intersection and also found a door on their left that looked like it was barely big enough for Ulnarka. “So,” said Trisha, “which way now?”

“Let’s check the door here,” said Ulnarka, “we can return to investigate the rest later, but we still need to bring back proof of our discovery.” She then motioned for the twins to get behind her and readied her war hammer; as she stepped back with Marsha, Trisha moved half of her magical dancing lights up near Ulnarka. Ulnarka checked to see if the door was locked; it was not, and she then opened the door with her readied weapon. The magical dancing lights next to Ulnarka floated out a foot or two ahead of Ulnarka as she entered the chamber; she looked around and see any immediate threats.

Ulnarka spotted a chest in the far right corner in the back of the room and pulled out her shield with her offhand, and readied her weapon shield as she slowly approached the chest and tapped it with her hammer a few times before feeling satisfied it wasn’t a monster pretending to be something else entirely. She then carefully opened the chest to reveal a large leaf green shoulder bag covered in some kind of bland goop; inside the bag was a surprisingly well-quality diamond; it looked like it was likely of considerable worth. Also in the bag was pair of pinkish liquids in vials. She brought her discovery to the two and showed them off.

“What are those,” asked Marsha eying the vials, “health potions?”

“Yes,” said Ulnarka as she put the items back in the shoulder bag, “but they seem to be so old they’ve probably lost effectiveness.” She then handed the bag to Trisha, “There’s something in there you find useful later.”

Trisha took the bag with a word of thanks to the dinosaur woman; when she took the bag, a quick jolt of electricity went through the bag and the slime on it, which Trisha felt, but Ulnarka did not, so she thought it was just some kind of static shock. The three ladies made decided to make their way back to their lodging. It took them a few minutes to get back out of the hidden chambers. After this, Marsha rediscovered the switch and caused the door to close behind them; she then was surprised when a lightning bolt-shaped scratch appeared on the wall next to the switch; she looked back to her sister, who gave her a little wink.

As her companions made their way out of the chamber, Trisha turned her attention to the statue and expressed her apologies for leaving a mark on the temple’s walls before heading out behind her sister and Ulnarka. It took almost as long to get back to their lodging facility as it did to reach the temple.

“How was the outing,” inquired Molsalkisa; the ceratopsian woman was by the door with a small stack of books near her feet that were likely being stored at the facility’s library until a moment ago.

“We found a hidden chamber in the neighboring temple,” said Ulnarka with a gesture toward the bag; Trisha reached in and handed the vials of pink liquid to the ceratopsian mage, “I’m sure you’ll have some fun with that investigation in the meantime,” continued Ulnarka.