Most of the shadow boxes contain mummified pixies pinned to boards like a collection of butterflies. The glass on one of the shadow boxes has been broken, and its contents are missing.

Titaani stifles a shriek as she uncovers the mummified pixies pinned to boards. She drops them immediately and leaves the room, meeting back up with Ben and Matilda in the hallway.

"I swear on the powers of the arch fey, every room I go into there's something horrible waiting for me there!" She complains to them, Tiny following close behind. "In her bedroom, Bavlorna keeps little fey beings - actually, you know what? I'm not even going to talk about it. Whatever. While I was gone, did you guys found anything of interest?"

" Secret door, but we can't open it. "

" Is there another floor above this one?"

(There is at least one more floor above this one – some of you noticed a staircase that leads up from the southwest corner of Bavlorna's study, near the door. Cad also detected at least two clusters of arcana from somewhere at the top of the house, above this floor.)

Ben:

"Well, "can't" may be an overstatement, but I will try quietly first with my masonry tools," says Ben, "and maybe you can check the door on the other side of the hallway.  Remind me, did that exterior staircase go all the way up past this level?  Maybe that is a way around."

Ben pulls out a chisel from his masonry tools and tried to wedge it under the sealed doorway in a location that seems likely to pop it loose, somewhat gently.  He foregoes using the hammer or anything else that will make a big noise, but he will try and quietly work the tool around and break the seal if he can.

Masonry Tools w/Strength:  19

Titaani bites her lip nervously before nodding, reluctantly moving into the room on the other side of the hallway. She looks around for anything of interest, keeping an eye out for any kind of danger as well. 

Investigation: 15

Ben pries with all his strength, but even with his tools he can't seem to budge the door hidden in the wall behind the mirror.

Meanwhile, Titaani peeks into the room across the hall. This room is a dining room with two exits (including the one Titaani entered through.) Above each door, mounted on a wooden plaque, is a severed goblin head with its mouth agape. Other furnishings include a sideboard, two cupboards with doors made of wood-framed glass, and a large banquet table covered with plates of half-eaten food and a swarm of feasting flies. A chandelier hangs above the table, its tallow candles filling the room with dim, flickering light. Six mismatched chairs flank the table—three chairs per side.

Ben:

Putting away his tools, Ben shrugs and says, "Hopefully we can find another entrance.  I can stand up here and keep watch while you guys continue to scout if you like, but if someone doesn't head down the stairs soon, Bavlorna may get suspicious."

" Can you get me to a window? I want to try and climb up to the next floor..."

(There are no windows in the hallway, but Titaani has spotted some filthy, closed windows in both the bedroom and the dining room. While the architecture of this place is a bit haphazard, the ceiling above the beams here shows the bottom of a thatched and angled ceiling which suggests a potentially climbable roof and a suggestion of a smallish third floor over the center of the building.)

(Meanwhile, the door to Bavlorna's study is still open, although she has vanished from immediate view. You can hear her muttering to her lornlings.)

"Yep, there it is. This place sucks,'" Titaani chokes out, gagging at the goblin heads, though this time she forces herself to continue further into the room. "Ah well, they're still better than what was downstairs. I wonder if these ones talk as well. Um...how are you this evening?" She aims her last comment at one of the heads, and as she does, she opens the cupboard closest to her, inspecting its contents. 

Meanwhile, Tiny goes over to the food, not actively investigating anything but more so looking to see if he could eat any of it. 

Investigation for Titaani: 3  Perception for Tiny: 16

"Stomach ache! Stomach ache!" shrieks the goblin. "Change the candles!"

Meanwhile, Titaani had opened a cupboard to find nothing but moldering, chipped china. She turns with alarm to see that one of Bavlorna’s lornlings is hiding in the mouth of one of the severed goblin heads mounted above the doors. (It was not the goblin who responded to her, she sees, but the lornling.)

Tiny finds the remains on the table far from appealing and turns up his nose at the rotten food.

Titaani jumps out of her skin, not expecting a reply. She angrily turns to the lornling hiding in the head. 

"What do you think you're doing? The inside of a head is no place to be," She scolds, completely forgetting the cupboard of china. "And what do you mean, change the candles? What's wrong with them?"

Ben:

Closing the door to Bavlorna’s study once he realizes it is still open, Ben looks around for evidence of candles—in need of replacing or not.  He then moves over to a likely window and looks at it dubiously, asking, “Are you sure about this Matilda?  Perhaps the exterior staircase instead.”

Quote from Scott_R_Simmons >>

Ben:

Closing the door to Bavlorna’s study once he realizes it is still open, Ben looks around for evidence of candles—in need of replacing or not.  He then moves over to a likely window and looks at it dubiously, asking, “Are you sure about this Matilda?  Perhaps the exterior staircase instead.”

Ben recognised the frustration beginning to boil up in Matilda again, " Whatever....I just want to check who.....whats up there."

Horatio muses, "Were those things in the heads along the causeway?.. Is she powerful, or just good at tricking folks?"

"They're too short! Too short! Time to change them!" cries the lornling inside the goblin mouth. "Why are you here? Are you having dinner? Cleaning up? Doing chores? Why are you here?"

The only windows nearby are the two in the dining room – they flank a decorative door west that must lead outside – and the one over the bed in the bedroom across the hall. The windows are hinged to be openable but are latched shut from the inside and covered with enough grime to render them opaque. 

The only candles you've seen are in the chandelier above the dining room table. They are currently lit, and do look rather short. A couple are out, and others are beginning to gutter.

Ben:

”The air is quite musty in here, let’s clean up and get some fresh air in here,” says Ben, heading over to a window.  Looking at the frog, he encourages, “Make yourself useful and go get some spare candles, or at least show us where they are. And we’ll need either a stepladder or a way to lower that chandelier so we don’t get burned by dripping wax.  Hop to it!”

Ben starts cleaning the window mechanism with whatever suitable fabric he can find, preparing to open it soon.

Persuasion if needed for the frog:  12

"Why should we change the candles?" Titaani moans, collapsing into one of the chairs. "We shouldn't have to do Bavlorna's chores! I'm sick of chores! If I wanted to do chores I would have stayed at home! Home...I miss home..."

Tiny lays his head in Titaani's lap, attempting to make her feel better. He is unsuccessful, however, as Titaani moodily looks back up at her friends who are in the dining room. "The creature in the head has asked us, 'why are we here.' We are here to reclaim what we've lost. We can't lose sight of that, not when we're so close."

The window mechanism clearly hasn't been used in a long time. Ben unlatches it and wrenches it open. It looks out on a bright little balcony.

The little lornling – a miniature version of Bavlorna – leaps out of the mouth of the goblin with alarming suddenness.

"Candles! Candles! Candles!" it shrieks with urgency, bouncing off the dining room table, upsetting a filthy plate with a clatter. It opens a drawer in a cabinet and pulls out an armful. "Change the candles!"