Horatio does a double take, "Wait... that's not a chicken?.. I thought you had bought it from someone for dinner or found it..." He looks sidelong at the small bird in its cage. 

"Yeah, she told me about Elidon," Will responds soberly to Ben. "...But a chicken...?" He scrunched up his face in confusion. 

There's a long awkward pause as Titaani addresses the tree, but then there is a long, slow groan, as of a bending, creaking bough. Then the groan turns to words, as you realize that a fold in the gnarled trunk is actually a mouth. "I am... Little Oak," it replies.

The chicken runs in a tight circle within the small cage and clucks.

"Nice to meet you, Little oak! Perhaps you should be called big oak instead, I mean, you're so tall..." Titaani replies, looking up into the branches of Little Oak wondrously. "Have you been here long?"

"A month... maybe a year... maybe a week..." says Little Oak, hesitantly. "This is my favorite glade to rest. ...Are you here to help the children?"

 Still keeping an eye on the chicken Matilda came forward, " Little Oak, do you know where we might find Squirt?"

Ben:

Realizing that the chicken may be about ready to transform back, Ben puts the cage down at the edge of the clearing and says, “The pixie magic keeping the assassin in chicken form is fading!  Be prepared for his transformation.  What should we do with him?”

" Stab him like he stabbed the unicorn.", Matilda mumbled.

Horatio cracks his knuckles, then steps to within five feet of the cage. "Up to him."

(( Prepared action, if the cage breaks Horatio will attack with a grapple. ))

"Squirt? Squirt's feeling a little empty right now. It's resting in the treehouse," replies Little Oak.

The chicken becomes even more manic as Ben places the ornate cage upon the ground. As they watch and contemplate their next actions, the chicken undergoes a sudden and explosive transformation, followed by a horrible shriek.

"Owwwww! Aiiiii! Get me out!!!!" squeals a contorted Zarak, mangled within the small cage, which signs no sign of strain itself. His wheezing screams of pain begin to subside as the cage gently and magically expands to a slightly less constrictive size. (He takes 6 bludgeoning damage before it does so, however.) "What have you done?? Get me out!!"

"Don't worry, we are here to help, always," Titaani smiles and pets the tree, before walking over to Zarak, her smile turning into a scowl. "Listen here, buddy. We trapped you in that cage for your own good. You are a menace to society and a danger to the whole of the Feywild and yourself. Shame on you, attacking a heartbroken unicorn." 

Persuasion to make him feel bad: 13

Matilda stabs him in the leg......she's not sure she meant to carry through with it......but its done now...

Attack: 21 Damage: 6

Zarak nearly gets through rolling his eyes at Titaani when Matilda's blade glances off Zarak's knee and sinks into his neck, instead.

He screams in pain. "Ahgh! Get me out!..." followed by a long stream of foul Orcish swears. The cage, you notice, has magically enlarged to – barely – contain his medium-sized body (albeit unusually short of stature for someone of orcish heritage).

Will opens his eyes wide at the spectacle. "What're you going to do with him?"

Horatio begins dragging the cage back away from the children and toward the trail. He'll carry it if he can. "Hey, sorry for bringing this guy around. We're just going to havea talk with him by the water. Shouldn't take long." He looks at Matilda with a scold, whispering admonishingly, "In front of kids?" He shakes his head as he moves the Orc away. 

Ben:

Somewhat shocked by the violent transformation and Matilda’s attack, Ben reaches over and touches the orc, letting just enough healing flow into him to stop his neck from bleeding (1 hp lay on hands).

”We are not like them,” he says to Matilda, “though I understand your wish to protect Lamorna.”

Turning to the orc, he says, “There are those who would execute you for your attempt on the unicorn’s life, Zarak from the League of Malevolence.  I, personally, would rather you tell us everything you can about this Granny Nightshade and her prisoners, then leave to start a new life elsewhere, far removed from the League.  Make better choices, atone for your misdeeds and such.  For that to work, though, I need excellent information and ironclad assurances.  Can you deliver such?”

Persuasion:  20

"Bah!" spits Zarak. "I will tell you nothing."

But then, as he tries to reconfigure his body within the tight cage, he seems to reconsider. "She'll pay you for that boy, you know," glancing briefly at Will.

Matilda shoved her dagger into the ground so she wasn't tempted to repeat her stabbing....

She glowered at the trapped killer.

"We don't want any money!" Titaani explodes, stomping her feet angrily. "Why can't you understand? We want to help these people!" 

As she gets more and more frustrated, her crystal seems to glow brighter and brighter. Unbeknownst to her, her eyes go completely purple as her magic seems to take control. 

"Do you think we don't know what you are, Zarak?" She asks, her voice not quite her own. "We see through your confident facade, you're nothing but a tiny, little man who fools himself into believing he is anything more than the pathetic coward he always has been. What do you wish to gain by lying? You will rot in this cage until you learn to cooperate and find it in your cold, miserable heart to be empathetic."

Titaani's power fades as she finishes in her own voice - "So can't you tell us a little about granny nightshade?"

(Fey presence to try to invoke the charmed condition on the orc - wisdom saving throw needed) 

The caged assassin studies Titaani silently for a moment. DC13 Wisdom Saving throw: 6 

He chuckles and shakes his head. "You know, if you try to go up against Nightshade, she's going to enslave that one," he nods at Matilda, "and turn th' rest of you into slugs, as her tin soldiers pour salt upon you. You can't win."

(( Horatio is still dragging or carrying the cage away from the clearing of children and towards the water this whole conversation... ))