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Wikerus tentatively extends a suited-arm into the portal. He feels a slight coolness, but remains comfortable. When he retracts his arm, frost collects on it. He then joins the others, ready to help tip statues.

If the party wishes to continue, Jake can roll DEX for each of the three remaining statues.
Lust
Gluttony
Greed
Sloth
Wrath
Envy
Pride

Basil Day takes a nap. A brightly-colored cocoon hardens around him. Light snoring can be heard from within.

Deet helps tie a rope around Horton's waist. There is about forty feet of rope to play out.
Is Horton going void-diving, or helping tip statues? Is Deet hollding the other end of the rope, or tying it to something?

The Princess, torch in one hand, wand in the other, begins to make a circuit of the tower room, inspecting the walls. The wand turns each great block of black stone transparent, revealing more black stone behind it. In the time it takes Deet to tie Horton in securely, Princess Dormillon inspects a 15 degree arc of the tower.

Actions!
More Wednesday!

With a metallic clunk, Flintlock slumps against the stone dais, a smile on his face. He rests while the others tip the statues into the void, enjoying the show.

Just in case the void does anything that invigorates the statues, let me explore out there before we toss any more in. On the small chance we may all go this route, we don't want any more obstacles than necessary. So I'll go explore the void for about forty feet and see if there is anything promising for us. Then I'll jerk twice on the rope to signal pulling me back in. It may be an emergency when I do so please reel me in fast. Horton is now ready for certain death in the freezing void.

"Good news, Horton," says Wikerus, "This fancy suit seems to be protection against the chill. I tested it by sticking my mitt in. I'll go with you! Tie me to the rope, will you, fellas?"

Flintlock wonders what would happen to a metal man in the abyss. He creeps to the edge and puts his hand in a moment, quickly withdrawing it.

Horton nods at the man in appreciation. It will be more dangerous for you, Wickerus. You don't need to do this. But I will appreciate the help. So when we get out there we will be looking in all directions of course but I want to specifically look in the exact direction the canoe was pointing in case there is a straight path to something specific.

The librarian smacks his wooden forehead with a sudden, sinking thought. Did we change where we will emerge by moving the tapestry portal? Let me check something.

Horton will stick his head through the portal (holding onto the edge in a deathgrip to make sure he is not pulled in) and takes a look while the tapestry is still on the floor. He wants to try and memorize the star patterns in this location. He is also curious to see what happened to the statue they pushed in. Once that is done the group can replace the tapestry back on the wall right where they found it and he will repeat the experiment and see if the star patterns still look the same.

Horton, Wikerus, and Flintlock each take turns exploring the void beyond the portal.

You find a deep abyss of blackness marbled with distant smears of faintly luminescent color. It is not the darkness of the night sky—there are no stars. Well, maybe one. There is a faint pinprick of something twinkling far off in the distance. The statue of Gluttony, still inanimate, is slowly tumbling away from the location of the portal.

Those who go so far as to tie a rope and plunge into the void find a curious buoyancy. It is not as supportive as floating in water. The strange medium (or lack thereof) make it difficult to coordinate one's actions—sometimes your limbs move faster than you expect them to, sometimes slower.

Upon emerging from the void, each is covered in frost, but between metal, wood, and peculiar attire, no one suffers from the cold.

Horton drags the portal to another area and inspects it again. It opens upon the same abyss, but it is hard to tell if the point of entry on it has changed—the points of reference are so vastly distant that a shift of several dozen, even a hundred, feet makes no discernible difference.

What dread mysteries await —BEYOND THE VOID?!
More on Friday!

The Princess Dormillon continues to circle the room, checking for secret passages, while the others experiment with the ether. She hums a tune to herself as she goes, long remembered from distant childhood, occasionally voicing snippets of the lyrics:

"Day after day unto her feet, / She lying on her couch alone,
Across the purple coverlet, / The maiden’s jet-black hair has grown;
On either side her trancèd form / Forth streaming from a braid of pearl;
The slumberous light is rich and warm, / And moves not on the rounded curl."

Deet mumbles "over, turn, under, through, turn..." to himself as he binds the rope with a solid teammaster's hitch around Horton's waist, then holds up what's left, "we don't have much... maybe if you all hold onto Horton, you can go furthest?"

After hearing what everyone saw through the portal (assuming they've told) he looks around, obviously thinking, "um, the boat probably goes to that light, dontcha think? So maybe we should tie off the boat instead? And maybe with another length of rope? Or two? It sounds like it's farrrrr..."

So we can get on with it, feel free to assume the rope's tied to either Horton or the boat, and if we've got it, Deet's tied 3 lengths of rope together. Either way, once someone enters, Deet will brace himself against the wall beside the portal and keep a good hold on the rope.

Before anyone enters the portal, Deet, unable to master his curiosity, shyly approaches the portal and sticks just his little finger in... Schroff shifts from paw to paw, whining softly.

Deet's finger blazes with pain from the intense cold. Snatching it back, he finds it blue and covered with frost.

Horton scrutinizes the boat (inside and out) for any signs of how to direct the boat (command words, symbols, etc.). He also checks the room and the cold suit as well. What if there is some way to command the boat into action? I imagine it would travel the distance quickly. Would a wizard settle for anything less?

Deet snatches his hand back, waving it in the air, "Ow! Ow! Owie!" He shakes his head at the portal, "not for people! Nopenope!"

Squinting and scratching his head for a minute, he removes the cold-suit from the boat, and ties the loose end of the three-length rope to a statue pedestal, then stands ready to push off the boat (or Horton) when his cold-proof, portal-faring colleagues are ready.

Hearing ideas of a boat ride, Flintlock is excited. If the magician is there, he might be fooled by the appearance by the wooden boys. They're his soldiers, right? That would give time for me to ferry the boat back for more of you fleshy people. Who wanted to come first with us?

"Let's not tarry any longer! There's void to explore!" says Wikerus as he climbs in. He then looks in the bottom of the boat in case there's anything he missed regarding its steering or operation.

Basil Day hears muffled talk of voids of space and boats and strange suits and dreams.... it's all very brief but very influential.

When the cocoon cracks and the paint falls away the old man has been replaced by a tall gaunt young man with hair painted firey red, wearing a very sparkly glittery silver painted tight fitting jump suit; the initials MT are on his chest.

"I dreamed I could float through this space I heard you talk about... Odd though, I do not recognize this character I now portray...", Basil looks somewhat disturbed by that.

Basil has dreamed he could survive and that he has become an 'astronaut'. Lets see how this goes for the painted man.

I'll go with out this first foray...and hope we come back. The wizard has already betrayed the soldiers so seeing us will not do much good I'm afraid though it might stay his hand a few moments out of curiosity. But I think if he sees anyone approaching they're cooked so I just hope no one sees us coming. Horton will get in the boat if his search did not reveal anything useful.

Is there an oar or rudder? Either of those may be magical to allow steering as well as locomotion.

Jake

Jake joins Deet, ready to belay the rope. He's really not wild about this idea, but hasn't got a better one.