The void is cold. The boat seems to offer some protection—it is noticeably less bitter than when one stuck an appendage or two through the portal on one's own. But it is still cold enough that Wikerus is glad of the protection of his strange garb, and the party congratulates themselves on staging the transportation of their flesh-and blood comrades.
The voyage is steady, but slow. At least two hours pass as the boat draws nearer the distant star. Everything is silent and still. There is a beauty to the color-streaked emptiness around you, but it is a cold beauty that serves only to make you feel smaller and more vulnerable.
After your time among the titanic proportions of the Castle Gargantua, this room seems impossibly small and cramped. Sandstone walls slope up to mere 18' tall ceilings. Small marine shells are imbedded in the walls and floor. Mud and mildew are caked in the corners, and there is a pervasive smell of soot and seawater. A very dim light emanates from the walls—no brighter than what is shed by a crescent moon at night. The embedded shells twinkle in the gloom.There is nothing else in the room.
The reed boat slides to a stop, having passed through a portal exactly like the one you entered.
Leaving Wikerus and Horton behind, Flintlock and Basil return for Jake, then Deet and Schroff (who must share the strange garment), and, finally, Splinters and the Princess Dormillon—who finds the garment now now home a fog of uncouth smells.
It takes a long time to shuttle back and forth, but, finally the party is reunited.
The long voyages gave everyone plenty of time to tend to anything anyone wished to do before leaving Drosselmeyer's Tower. Let me know if there's any business you want to wrap up, there.
For convenience sake, we'll pretend no one explored past the new portal's room while waiting for the ferry.
The Crooked Theodolite: The room is 20' x 30' and has one wooden door in the center of one of the 30' walls.
While waiting, Horton and Wikerus twice hear traffic pass by the other side of the closed door. The first time, there are several light feet accompanied by low, sibilant voices. The second time, considerably later, it is a single, heavy, ponderous tread.
Actions!
More on Monday!