Shrine

Terrain (Location)

**Shrines** are dangerous, but valuable, looting locations. There's always at least one shrine on every map, but some may have as many as six.

Each shrine contains valuable items, but beware - stealing from a shrine always triggers a **disaster** of variable amounts of danger, all of which have the potential to endanger your expedition, or end it completely. In addition to these disasters, looting a shrine always reduces standing by -3.

## Interacting with a Shrine

   Exploring a shrine and investigating its altar does not cost any standing.

Shrines located on hills (and sometimes those in thick jungle) require either a rope or a climbing gear to enter safely. Without these tools, the shrine can still be entered safely with a successful  roll. Failure has an 80% chance of injuring a humanoid companion (-10 health points) and a 20% chance of killing them outright. If your explorer is the only humanoid in the party, then (s)he will be injured (-10 health points; explorers are never instantly killed). Such shrines do not appear in arctic biomes.

Artists visiting the shrine can paint its exterior with no negative affect.

## Looting

   The most common items found in Shrines are cultural artifact trophies, which can be traded or exchanged for large amounts of fame or funds at the end of the expedition. All cultural artifact items with the exception of mummies and idol statues have a chance of spawning here.

Certain special-use items can be found on a shrine's altar as well, including moon stones, metal cubes, and tome pages. Very rarely, a unique/special item such as the Eye of Horus, Obsidian Mirror, Crystal Ball or the Necronomicon may be present on the altar.

Each shrine will contain either 2 or 3 unique items. Lower-value items such as goblets, earrings, and jewels may appear in stacks of 2 or more.

If playing on Tourist Trip difficulty, shrines will usually have slightly more loot but no moon stones (they are not needed on this difficulty).

## Aftermath Disasters

The description of the shrine, visible from its exterior, will always includes hints (in bold) about what kind of disaster awaits if looted. Once a shrine is looted, the only way to avoid a disaster is to leave a metal cube in place of the loot on the altar. However, this does not prevent the -3 loss of standing.

Shrine disasters typically start on the shrine itself and spread outward over time. Some have a radius of effect, while others spread continuously until the entire map is affected. Possible catastrophes include:

* If the **ground is hot** to tread upon and there is **heat** in the ambiance, **volcanoes will erupt** around the shrine, setting most nearby terrain on fire.
* If the **ground is wet** and the shrine is partially submerged in water, the shrine will be swallowed by **spreading waves of** **water** that follow the player for a few days and **form a new lake**, destroying much of the terrain and potentially blocking travel routes. If the water catches the player, they can lose equipment and even companions.
* If the shrine is **cold** to the touch, **arctic terrain** will spread from it in a wide radius for several days.
* If the shrine is **covered in** **sand**, a **change of climate** will cause **desert terrain** to spread from it in a wide radius for several days.
* If there are **fume tendrils** rising around the shrine, fumaroles will erupt around it and release poisonous **foul gas**.
* If there are **long cracks** on the structure of the shrine, **mountains will form** from the flat lands around the shrine, drastically changing the topography of the region, potentially destroying locations and even your ship if it's nearby.
* If there is a **fungal growth** over the shrine, up to three points on the map will become the source of a spreading corruption. and Giant Spider Denswill emerge across the map. The corruption will spread outward from the lairs and will continuously spawn giant spiders.
* If there are **celestial symbols**, an endless and impassable **void** will continuously spread from it, creating a large and impenetrable darkness that swallows everything and never stops growing. If it reaches your party, the game will be over. These shrines do not appear on Tourist Trip difficulty.
* If there are **heads** on sticks, the world will become **forsaken**. This renders all villages, polar stations, and possibly even missions empty and unusable. Empty villages begin spawning abominations.
* If the structure is **tilted and subsiding**, or if the text mentions **ground**, a **chasm** will develop and block travel routes.

In addition to the direct aftermaths of looting a shrine, the resulting drop in standing may trigger groups of angry natives to constantly pursue the troupe and prevent villages from being used for the remainder of the current expedition.

## Tips

* When looting a shrine, prepare to immediately flee as fast and as far away from the shrine as possible. Many of the more deadly shrine effects expand outwards in a growing area-of-effect from the shrine itself.
* Beware of **the void** from **celestial** temples, as this is the most destructive force in the game. The void will eventually consume the entire expedition map, so if the void blocks your access to a seal or the pyramid, you'll be forced to abandon the expedition. The void can even destroy your ship, leaving the hot air balloon as your only escape route.
* In the late game, the **Spider den** generated from **fungal** temples can be farmed for fame and funds if you have a powerful hunter team build (especially if you have a cook in your team), as spider dens may generate an infinite number of spiders, producing as many spider legs as possible.

## Trivia

* Earlier versions of the game had a few different disasters. For example, one of your companions could get a strange bite mark, aggresive animals could spawn and attack, or an abomination could appear, which you could then fight or recruit into your party.

Locations