| Session Date | October 19, 2019 |
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| Base XP Gained | Carry Over |
Back in the weird area of stairs that never seemed to go anywhere, the party tried a new door that led them into a stone room about 30' square. There were two doors in the space and a spiral staircase going both up and down. They took the door opposite and came into a large with stairs leading up to four dark areas at the cardinal directions (more or less), four descending in the corners to dark areas, and a number of other doors. They took one staircase up and suddenly found themselves in the midst of a thick, steamy jungle shrouded in half-light. In the center was a great cookpot over a fire, with some sort of heady, fragrant seafood soup or stew cooking and a ladle and several bowls around to eat with. Odd jungle sounds are all around, of animals and other, unidentified things. Cadwallider carefully tried the stew, found it good, and ate a bowl. The rest of the party followed suit and found the meal to be delightful. Indeed, a voice from a tree above them asked that very question. It told them they were welcome to eat their fill of its food. The voice was hard to pin down but eventually they saw a dimly lit spider watching them from the tree. It named itself Anansi and seemed peaceable enough despite its appearance. After a little chat, it asked the party why they were there, and Iban proceeded to relate their story, which the creature seemed to relish. Indeed, when he had finished, Anansi proceeded to "give his blessing" to Iban, whatever that meant. After a time, the party decided to move on.
They began to explore the dark areas beyond the stairs in counterclockwise fashion. The next one found them suddenly in a weird shrine with pagoda features, elaborate carvings, colorful dragon motifs, furnishings, fragrant incense, the periodic pealing of distant bells and gongs, and the like. At the center of what appears to be an open-air courtyard was a great, stone statue of a monkey with a roguish smile. In fact, some of the party thought it winked at them. They departed this one and the next found them in a meadow, lit as if sunrise were near. In the cool mist, they could see a large but silent figure moving about. not wishing to see what this large thing was up close, they returned to the center room only to run into a group of men seemingly passing through. Some tense words were spoken and the party determined they were priests of chaos of some sort, perhaps even pilgrims to this place. No blows were struck but no friendliness was to be had, either.
The next shrine found the party in a cold, northern forest of pine and birch. Thunder and lightning crashed at times as a light snow fell, and among the trees the party could see furtive movements of an giant humanoid with horned head. (my notes on this one are sparse, but I think you communicated with the figure, Veles, but he was rather neutral to you). The next place was a place of white marble under a deep blue sky with puffy clouds. It was a place of grandeur and elegance, with statues of nymphs and perfect human specimens (but not petrification victims), and everywhere the symbols of a winged sandal and a snake-entwined staff. At times, the air in places seemed to vibrate or buzz, but nothing was quite visible. Scattered about were many plates of figs, grapes, good meats, flagons of wine, and many other delicacies known and unknown. The party felt at once peaceful here, and felt it safe to rest and partake of this feast, though they could not say why. This they did, and found the food and wine even better than it looked. Indeed, the party decided to rest here for a goodly sleep; they awoke to find that their wounds and weariness had healed at a remarkable rate, and the healing spells of the clerics particularly efficacious.
They moved on to explore the rest of the spaces. The next found them in a reddish desert at night, though the heat of a recent day remained. nearby they found a fragrant mesquite-wood fire burning and an old man there smoking a pipe. he offered them a place at his fire but said nothing, merely waving towards dried peppers, meats, and a jug of water (again, minimal notes; not sure what more happened with this guy). The next place found the party in a dark forest under a heavy grey sky. The air was quite chilly Nearby was a circle of standing stones carved with many runes, which Dimbul was unable to translate. At the center of the stones was a pool with a huge salmon within it. but, at times, there would be a moment when a party member would think they saw a young, mad man tied to a stone with his own entrails, a great serpent perched above him watching. Not liking this, the party continued to explore, finding the next area merely a bare stone room with no strange effects or setting.
The party now took a door from the main room and found themselves in a 70x70 foot room with dead black walls, rounded corners, and numerous doors; the room was dim and their light did not travel, so this extent took a little time to note. A menace of evil filled the air, which was also cold and clammy. They tried one room and found a smaller room beyond, also empty. Backing out, Cadwallider told the others that a voice had offered to steal some power (i.e. a point of a stat) from one of his companions and give to him. Needless to say he refused to rob his fellows, but then noted that if something bad happened to him there would be hell to pay. The rest of the party all claimed they had received no such offer. Not liking this place, they retreated back to the place with many godlings. They tried a new door, found themselves back in the endless stair place, and decided to try another door off the room of the godlings.
The area they now found themselves in proved to be a large hall and series of rooms used for summoning. They thoroughly explored this area, finding several secret doors in the process. Iban and Cadwallider also tried to summon Trickster form one of the locations, but without success. Also while here, Cadwalldier was robbed of several scrolls by an invisible creature, who he managed to successfully detect. The creature, a small man with a green waistcoat and many, many buttons, seemed most angry to have been caught and simply vanished. The party rested roughly a night in one of the side chambers here without incident.
They now came through a door to a new area, which proved to be a very long loop of 20' wide corridor. Along the outside of the loop (as Cadwallider noted) were many doors of metal each set with a small round window. Beyond each was another world that varied immensely in character. Some were wilderness, some urban of many types, and some plain weird (not going to list them all as there were so many!). Two doors proved to be linked to one another - stepping through one led the party to another party of the loop. The only other one the party walked through also appeared to lead back to where they started. This seemed innocuous enough, but that very fact made the party think that they ought to go back through the doorway lest something bad result from it. The doors on the inside of the loop did not have windows and proved to lead to yet more parts of the Temple of Deeper Chaos.
The party tried one and came into a great hall (70' high) with light gray stone walls and doors of dark gray metal. In the center was a vast pile of emblems, standards, pennants, flags and other trophies. Others adorned the walls, many torn and bloodied, clearly the booty of countless victories in war. Four statues of unknown personages stood at the four corners, gloating over the captured prizes. There was a hole in the floor with a wooden pole sticking up in one place and the party took a look. Far below, they could see the deck of a ship tossed on a stormy sea; the pole was the top of its mainmast. They debated for a short time, then decided to try their luck climbing down to the ship below...