Sunken Shrine

* Icon
* Map

**Sunken Shrine** is an area in The Messenger. It is a shrine that was built eons ago to worship Guardian Gods, but it eventually sank into the ocean.

The west side of Sunken Shrine is accessed from Howling Grotto's underwater maze.

## Appearance

Sunken Shrine is a blue-gray ruins with rubble and coral scattered about. The sun and moon symbols are etched into a few walls, and an orange sun symbol and a blue moon symbol rest at the top of various pillars throughout the Sunken Shrine. The shrine itself is underwater, so water pours into the shrine and floods many rooms. Clear windows with elegant frames reveal the ocean background, and unique to 16-bit are fish swimming in the ocean background.

## Items

### 8-Bit

* Ninja explores the upper half of Sunken Shrine until he reaches the Lightfoot Tabi.
* Ninja explores the lower-left section of Sunken Shrine until he reaches the Sun Crest.
* Ninja explores the lower-right section of Sunken Shrine until he reaches the Moon Crest.

### 16-Bit

* Ninja places the Sun Crest and Moon Crest on the large door in the main hub of Sunken Shrine, which leads to the Guardian Gods cutscene, where Ninja receives the Key of Love.

### Power Seal #1

In the upper-right section of the Sunken Shrine is an empty room with a shop checkpoint. Below this shop checkpoint room is a room with four rotating sawblades moving clockwise, and a Siroi. Head underwater to the lower-right corner of the room and swim right into the next room, which contains a circular time rift and two horizontally-moving vertical spike platforms. Use the time rift to change from 8-bit into 16-bit, which reveals a northern pathway into the Power Seal room. Enter the Power Seal room, and avoid moving spike platforms and a Siroi while maneuvering towards the Power Seal.

### Power Seal #2

In the lower-right section of the Sunken Shrine is a checkpoint just above an underwater spike-lined crusher block. Wait for the crusher block to retract, head underwater to the lower-right corner of the room, then swim right into the Power Seal room. Use the Lightfoot Tabi and Cloudstep the lanterns while avoiding spikes, sawblades, and the death gaps to reach the Power Seal.

### Power Seal #3

In the lower-left section of Sunken Shrine is a shop checkpoint at the very bottom of a tall room, preceded by three Bouncing Dogos. Head to the lower-left corner of the room, then crouch by holding down. The left-flowing river of water will carry Ninja left into the Power Seal room. Use the Lightfoot Tabi and Cloudstep the lanterns while avoiding various enemies to reach the Power Seal at the top of the room.

## The Shopkeeper's Dialogue

### Current area

  Shopkeeper | Crazy, right? I mean who becomes a God? It's all under the sea now anyway, but apparently their power had to do with the stars. Anyway, if our calculations are correct, you should find a Music Note somewhere in here.

## Trivia

* During the Guardian Gods cutscene where Ninja receives the Key of Love, a tiny mill with a rotating crank is seen in the background ocean, emitting salt particles. This is a reference to The Shopkeeper's story in Cloud Ruins.
* It was once possible to access the 8-bit version of the Sunken Shrine main hub area, but the Version 1.0.2 update patched this to prevent a crash that occurred when backtracking out of Sunken Shrine and into Howling Grotto.

## Gallery

### 8-Bit Rooms

Full overworld map of 8-bit Sunken Shrine.
### 16-Bit Rooms

Full overworld map of 16-bit Sunken Shrine.

## Interactive Locations Map

Ninja Village
Music Box
Autumn Hills
Rivière Turquoise
Forlorn Temple
Catacombs
Dark Cave
Tower of Time
Corrupted Future
Bamboo Creek
Howling Grotto
Elemental Skylands
Quillshroom Marsh
**Sunken Shrine**
Cloud Ruins
Glacial Peak
Searing Crags
Underworld