Pawn shop in space

In the wider world of space discovering a temple in an ancient civilization sets of a few red flags. Prime among them being the many races of the galaxy who have had access to space travel and associated technological marvels for centuries. While propagation of this technology is heavily regulated and universally frowned upon. Space is very large, and a few individuals very strange. Of this special brand of deviants are a few with lots of advanced technology and very little sense. When faced with the option of a lifetime of trans dimensional trucking or becoming a God in an energy low or tech dead planet, the choice is easy. And really, if your friend packs up a bunch of weather technology for research or a ‘delivery' the first thought is probably not "their going deity posing on another planet". With this guide I can teach you how to safely traverse ancient temples and tombs on any undiscovered planet, and how to safely ‘recover’ any of the loot hidden away inside!

(Frank does not legally condone ‘temple hunting’ or any related ventures and is not responsible for any treasure hunting related injuries or deaths individuals accumulate of their own accord)

-Expert from Roving Frank’s Guide to antiquarianism

Arkostatosh continued to narrate their journey and Jim took a mental note that they appeared to be a woman. He could honestly never tell out here and was pretty sure he had met one alien who reproduced on their own like a plant.

"We're gonna need Glosh" I told Yil as we stared up at the grand stonework that composed the temple. The steps were painfully smooth and uniform, the firm rock sculpted with machine efficiency. This of course could be because this temple was made from machines. It could also be the result of exacting back breaking labour from a feverish workforce determined to build the perfect hall of worship to their precious God. This was bad either way. The first option would mean that the so called deity hadn't been stingy with their applications of technology- meaning the traps inside were no doubt elaborate and very lethal. The second option was definitely worse because it meant that this nutjob was an absolute egomaniac: Someone willing to fully lean into a heavenly persona and gleefully participate in the role of godly dictator. Someone who delighted in convince backwater civilizations to glorify their name. They almost certainly will have encouraged their peoples to create idols in their honor and fill their halls with gifts, then they would have roped them into creating hugely improbable traps to guard them. Everyone knows the bigger the ego the more dangerous the temple. Regardless of the scenario awaiting us it was clear we needed back up, and fortunately we had someone on hand to help. That person unfortunately happened to be Glosh. Signaling our location with a pulse and a flare we waited for Glosh to travel to our postition. Soon enough we heard the loud crashing of felled trees as Glosh flew straight through the canopy. Arriving at a leisurely pace Glosh set the ship down with a thud before calling down to us in the valley. After some back and forth he agreed to traverse down the valley, asking us some questions to make sure it was safe to float down a platform.

It took a few minutes for sure but soon enough Glosh descended on a large flat platform we keep stored in the ship. It spluttered as it descend and soon came to rest level with the floor of the cave we were on, revealing it to be covered in stacked crates of different sizes. Glosh short figure greeted us as the platform came to a shaky holt. He was a Glameshian and his bright orange body was crocked over due to his continuous terrible posture. I shouted him to stop hovering over the canyon like an idiot and he maneuvered the platform to enter the tunnel without even the good grace to look chagrinned, somehow managing not to fall flailing into the abyss despite his oversized load. His head was the same size as his torso and his legs and arms seemed just a little too thin to be proportionate. Glosh was the first Glameshian we had met, and he was not the greatest ambassador for the race. 'Come on then Yil is waiting at the Temple' Suddenly Glosh seemed a bit less carefree than before. 'Is it really a temple?' I remember Greed and fear warred in his eyes, fighting to motivate him. 'Yes, a big one' Greed won out and Glosh followed me, not getting off the platform to walk or offering me to join him. I chuffed out a laugh and Glosh smiled in response, his laziness a known factor to us all. It wasn't long before the tunnel began to brighten. Yil had used the time I'd been signaling Glosh effectively. Two wellsources now lay close to the bottom corners of the steps and two close to the top, placed strategically to keep the room light with peak efficiency. Together the wellsources harmonized to fill the space with a comfortable amount of ambient lighting. In the middle of the staircase a pole lay, adorned with four charging sticks of light.

'Finally' Yil moaned at us, urging us to hurry like he always did."

Yil rolled his eyes expressively upon hearing this, the action very pronounced with his anatomy.

"The transporting platform beeped before lowering itself to the floor, its cells drained after lugging all the packaged machinery, and lowered itself to the floor. It would take it some time to recharge as the wellsources continued to lap up most of the energy in the area. The low concentration was biting us in the tush once again. It was clear that if we tried to send up a distress signal from here it wouldn't go out much further than the planets atmosphere. But all the way out there in random space, who would have received one anyways?

So after unpacking all of the boxes and telling Glosh we weren't waiting hours for the platform to recharge so he could bring all his crap in, we were ready to go. Well, ready after agreeing to each carry backpacks full of machine parts and waiting for Glosh to assemble three robots to come with us. We were exploring a temple after all and precautions were necessary- Glosh's robots were most of the reason we brought him. After the necessary delay we trudged up the temple steps. We each grabbed a light stick and I grabbed two, shoving one down the back of Yil's armor after heavily dimming it. The backup was secured to Yil due to our suits molding properties. Together we approached the lip of the monument. Towards the top the steps receded heavily inward eventually forming a small square that gave birth to an opening. The other side of the Temple contuined into the carven in the same way as the first, leaving us in ignorance to the rooms true size. Four stubby walls rose up out of the top square, made of a darker stone material. From each corner of the walls a little rod extended, holding up an awning made of the same material. Faint carvings were visible on the recessed steps and on the darker stone the images were more heavily ingrained. The imagery showed spiked figures bowed over in reverence surrounded by leaning trees and plant organisms as if the natural world was performing bows of its own towards some type of floating man thing. The hovering being wore a spiked mask over their face and spikes covered their arms and shins. Their body was covered in spots of spikes and scales carved as if they were in motion. The effect was created by the raised and recessed portions of the stone and the bobbing of your head combined with whatever moving lightsource you had ahold of. Your moving view creating a powerful optical illusion only worsened by the strange light drinking properties of the stone. The clear patches of skin on the man thing seemed to shine with radiance despite the pitch black stone the tapestry was carved from. It was that these channels of 'light' emanating from the man's clear patches of skin were carved to be so dark that the brightness in the room fought to try and illuminate them, thus giving them a startling gleam. The clever play of the antithesis of light making the man the shining centerpiece of the image and naturally drawing your gaze to fall upon his splendor- just as the light was drawn to fuel it.

'I don't know what technology that guy used but he defiantly brushed up these carvings. Don't care how good the natives were at carving stuff there's no way this could have been made by the hands of even the most extreme sculpture hobbyist.' Leave it to Glosh to brake the silence. 'Honestly don't even blame the guys for falling hook, line and sinker. If I was a back water peasant I'd probably have fallen for this ruse too.' His interjections ruined any reverence we had felt in the moment and for maybe the first time I was thankful for his endless chatter.Yil and I shared a look over what we'd just witnessed.

'Well lucky for you Glosh you are a front water peasant, I suppose the same as we' Yil's attempt to briefly relate to Glosh was ruined by his thorough sigh. But the insult of calling us peasants came through."

"I merely meant that would he have been born in a different environment, Glosh may have well become some tech possessing cultists lackey."

"Yes and you subtly hinted that you and I-but mainly you-were too distinguished to become the same"

"Well are we not?"

"I think if the so called deity was instead some sort of noble you'd certainly have to think thrice about it."

Yilllititytgkgfdfdsugsofsg huffed, unimpressed.

"So the temple?" Jim prompted.

"Yes the temple." Arkostatosh continued and the rich timbre of her voice sounded out once again. Despite her clumsiness, Jim was struck by Arkostatosh's air of dignity. She had an undeniable sense of quiet nobility about her. Her words, voice, manner and cultivation of the blade. It was no wonder the haughty green alien had gravitated towards her. Together their attitudes meshed quite amicably and whatever arguments they had with each over seemed to rest upon a deeper understanding, one flavored by the strange air of nobility they both cultivated.

"shining a light over the small walls revealed a drop beneath.The floor was about fifteen feet down and without being asked Glosh dropped down a weighted bag, explaining to Yil the differences between him and a peasant and how they were much larger than those between a peasant and Yil. The bag's drop did nothing more than kick up settled dust inside the temple and upon seeing the large cloud of it that almost exited the hole we were about to jump through each member of the troope reached to their belts and pulled on a mask helmet. The new models we picked up for this venture had an inbuilt communications feature and would allow us to avoid inhaling dust while we explored- although it's protection from toxins was not as absolute it was still necessary. Dust you see is just the dead skin of the people who had come before, but when those people were all aliens there was a good chance that dust could kill you. Disease eliminates as many tomb hunters a year as traps do in ten. That's what roving Frank said anyway."

Ironically, Jim thought that was the whole plot of the latest tomb hunter movie.

"First room supposedly, safe we jumped down the shaft. Yil went in first with his sword drawn, his boots allowing him safe decent and potential escape. When he landed we followed. Glosh dropped a pink glowstone at the entrance and the exit was lit up in magenta light. 'Pink?' Yil idly asked. Glosh just shrugged before moving to one of the rooms corners. four identical passages awaited us in the middle of each of the four walls. The stone here was the same black as the entrance and the images carved in the wall were very similar. This time though there were added scenes of both the figure smiting and regrowing masses of wildlife. Some of the creatures we'd fought earlier were also present in the tapestries. Whenever the rays falling from the man met them their skin boiled off and revealed skeletal structure beneath. Whenever the light moved off a section of their skin the creatures bodies returned to normal before sloughing off again as the mans light shifted and caused them to remelt. The weird design of the stone made it seem like destruction and restoration were happening before us as we stared. The devouring nature of the rock tapestries became even more sinister in the more poorly lit room and our feelings of unease and wrongness grew. Thankfully the pink glowstone in the room made all the scenes a little less serious. Hard to be intimidating when your self portrait is eagerly sucking up magenta light to try give off a greater sense of power. Mentally I thanked Glosh for the choice. 'So shall we split up?' I asked them while eyeing up one of the open pathways.

"Of course we don't split up!"

"I don't advise that we-"

I laughed as the two reacted poorly to my question, having made it in jest. I was thankful you and Glosh didn't take me up on the offer though and were reassured by the fact you were both as nervous as I was.

"Of course Ak. Despite appearing otherwise Glosh certainly wasn't stupid and I try not to be whenever possible, although I'm not always successful" Yilllititytgkgfdfdsugsofsg smiled, a bit self recriminating, letting his Bravado start to fade as he sunk deeper into the story "More successful than you though."

Arkosh snorted "Sure you are." Grinning (the expression actually quite frightening with that many teeth) she went on "So with us agreeing to move down one path together we quickly picked the door west, across from where we entered the cave at the start. The path sloped down before doubling back and sloping down in the other direction. This continued once more until the next west doorway led into a room. In there was where the first trials began.