Matilda shook her head in frustration, " Worse than Nans room..."

" Are you friendly? Or just a light?", she said looking up.

Then almost as if by habit she began tidying the room, collecting the plates into neat piles, righting the pot plants and checking that they were actually dead ( and if still barely alive seeing if the watering can was full and watering them), beating the rugs out the open window and doing her best to spruce the place up....except the bed...she wasn't touching that.

She also used the water from the watering can to clean the plates as best she could- food scraps, detritus and broken plates went out the window.

Once she was satisfied she went over to the doors and checked them...she glanced at the chest but figured that could wait for someone more skilled than her.

Matilda begins to tidy up the bedroom. The wispy ball of light, initially floating near the 20-foot-high ceiling, doesn't answer. Instead, it begins to drift down toward Matilda. It hovers a few feet over and behind her as she works, as if providing her light (or perhaps watching her activities?)

The watering can on the chest is rusty and contains a gallon of water. The four woody, twiggy potted plants are badly dried out and leafless but not quite dead. After Matilda rights and waters each of them, they begin to wriggle a little as if stretching their limbs. One reaches into the soil of its pot with a twiggy limb and pulls out a black-enameled iron key, then offers it silently to Matilda.

The door to the east is closed. It is moldy, swollen, and warped, like much of the woodwork around here.
The door to the south has a small, opaque window built into it through which daylight weakly penetrates; it's evidently an exterior door.

The padlocked chest has clawed iron feet and the initials "B.B." crudely carved into its lid.

Matilda has a very strong but silent freak out as the plants move and even more so when one hands her a key but she takes it regardless.

She checks if the doors are locked and if they are tries the key.

Both doors are unlocked. The south door is unlocked; the east door is locked.

Matilda tries to open the doors a little and peak through each in turn ( outside first).

It opens onto a small, empty balcony that looks out over the lake (...or at least it looks out over the fog obscuring the lake.)

" Charming..."

She heads to the other door and tries the same.

This door is locked. (Sorry - my error, earlier. I will edit that post.) You try the key you were given by the plant, but it does not fit.

Meanwhile, in the dining room:

With a sudden smack and crash, a second lornling leaps out of the other goblin's mouth, onto a plate on the table, and then onto the floor. "Questions!" it shouts, "Questions! Questions! Questions!..." 

It races past Horatio and Titaani, out the door, and into the hallway, at a blazingly fast pace. (Movement speed 120'.)

Ben:

Once he is done with the candles and the room is bathed in a much brighter light, Ben gets down from the table and tries to neaten it somewhat, at least wiping up any footprints he left up there.  

He comments, “Those lornlings can sure move fast, can’t they.”  Turning to the first one, he adds, “Well, the candles are taken care of at your request…Now, I believe you said something about a stomach ache?  Are you hungry, perhaps?”

"Maybe too fast," Titaani says worriedly. "That insane frog woman probably won't be happy about us asking all those questions."

With those words, she indicates for Tiny to stay put, and then moves across the room to the other door. She checks to see if it is locked or not. 

Quote from cbaer8 >>

This door is locked. (Sorry - my error, earlier. I will edit that post.) You try the key you were given by the plant, but it does not fit.

Matilda turns and looks at the chest, " Well, guess its worth a try."

She looked up at the floating light, " Little closer, so I can see what I'm doing."

(( Nooo! Stay away from the light Matilda! ))

"Food! Food!" cries the lornling. "Bloody Toes is late!"

Titaani finds the door on the south side of the room unlocked. Peeking through, she sees a workshop of sorts. A contraption made of entangled copper tubes connects to a pot-bellied boiler and a dozen cylindrical containers, which in turn sprout even more tubes that feed into buckets. Barrels are clustered in the southeast corner, and a worktable in one corner of the room has bits of copper and metalworking tools strewn across it. Light filters in through the green, diamond-shaped panes of glass set into the window.

---

Meanwhile, upstairs, Matilda puts the key in the padlock on the chest. It fits perfectly, and the lock pops open. Opening it, Matilda finds:

• A 12-inch-tall marionette.
• A ticket.
• Three scrolls tied together with a wire or string.

The light does not seem to react, but follows Matilda carefully.

Quote from cbaer8 >>

"Food! Food!" cries the lornling. "Bloody Toes is late!"

Titaani finds the door on the south side of the room unlocked. Peeking through, she sees a workshop of sorts. A contraption made of entangled copper tubes connects to a pot-bellied boiler and a dozen cylindrical containers, which in turn sprout even more tubes that feed into buckets. Barrels are clustered in the southeast corner, and a worktable in one corner of the room has bits of copper and metalworking tools strewn across it. Light filters in through the green, diamond-shaped panes of glass set into the window.

---

Meanwhile, upstairs, Matilda puts the key in the padlock on the chest. It fits perfectly, and the lock pops open. Opening it, Matilda finds:

• A 12-inch-tall marionette.
• A ticket.
• Three scrolls tied together with a wire or string.

The light does not seem to react, but follows Matilda carefully.

 

 " Take my brother. I take your stuff."

Matilda took the contents of the chest and filled her pockets then headed back to the window.

Matilda stuffs the ticket, scrolls, and half the marionette in her pocket. With the marionette's wooden legs dangling out of her pocket, Matilda begins to climb back out the window.

"Who are you?" whispers the light, like distant bees on a breeze. "What are you doing?"

Quote from cbaer8 >>

Matilda stuffs the ticket, scrolls, and half the marionette in her pocket. With the marionette's wooden legs dangling out of her pocket, Matilda begins to climb back out the window.

"Who are you?" whispers the light, like distant bees on a breeze. "What are you doing?"

 

" Cleaning."

She thinks for a moment... " Charm. My name is Charm."

(The light is silent and remains motionless.)

Matilda climbs out the window and trys to get back down to the other.

Acrobatics:5

Sleight of Hand:7