The little skeleton marionette lies in a heap, its strings in disarray and its limbs jumbled. Titaani tries to untangle its strings and properly orient its limbs.

Titaani: Make a DC 14 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check, freeing the marionette on a successful check.

"Thank you so much!" rasps the little doll. "I dearly want to escape this horrid place! Before you finish blocking up that wall, may I strike off that way from wherever it is you came from?"

Horatio senses honesty in the marionette's demeanor. "I was Endelyn’s first experiment with living puppetry. But I guess I didn't have the sadistic streak she wanted, so she discarded me here."

Slightly disconcerted Matilda nonetheless Helps Titaani.

Ben:

Pausing in his rebuild, Ben concludes that sending the creature back wolf be preferable to having it stay here and possibly inform on them.

He leaves an opening and asks as the skeleton is untangled, “What can you tell us of this place?  What do you know of prisoners kept here, and perhaps jesters?”

As Matilda helps Titaani untangle its strings, the marionette responds to Ben, its little skeletal jaw moving up and down as it talks. 

"Well... I guess I know Motherhorn pretty well... A jester? Well, I suppose Stagefright dresses that way..." The doll tries to point upwards in a vague direction. "Prisoners? Well, there's a Prison. It's up in the tower, off the Orrery of Tragedies. I don't know who's in there. I think Golmo is here against his will, too. Skylla – excuse me, 'Charmay' – locks him in his lantern when he’s not working." 

Elkhorn wrinkles his old brow.

Ben:

"You know, we are trying to help people here...There are quite a few who have been taken by the hags and are in need of rescue.  Would you want to be our guide, help us save people?" asks Ben.

Persuasion:  13

Pud hobbles over next to Ben hoping lend a hand and help with his attempt at persuasion.

"My friend is right. We sure could use your help. We're up against a lot here. Heck, we've already been up against a lot. These guys here busted me outta Granny Nightshade's house, saved a bunch of kids and then kicked granny outta Loomlurch! But they didn't do it on their own. They've been helped out by a buncha brave people along the way. I know these hags and their goons are scary. But we've shown we can beat them. Whaddya say? Wanna help us?" 

Sleight of hand: 19

Titaani successfully untangles and frees the marionette. It springs to its feet and shakes each of you by the finger. 

"I want to help but I don't want to go back in there. I can answer your questions and I will tell you three secrets, if you let me out your secret passage!"

"Oooh, secrets! I love secrets! Even if I can never remember them," Titaani says excitedly. "What secrets have you got to tell us, little guy?"

"Ooh! Well... Do you promise to let me escape?"

"Well I want to, but..." Titaani turns and looks imploringly at her other party members. "Guys, can we let him escape? He's just a little guy...and he's so scared!" 

Ben:

”I would be willing to make that promise if we get a promise in return that you will keep the passage and its destination secret from Endelyn and all her allies.  That promise should serve your own interests as well, but we have friends we must protect at the other end of that tunnel…” suggests Ben.

Insight to see if this creature might be a secret ally of the Hag:  7

Horatio nods his approval, "I think its okay. Hey buddy, it is a secret passage, so even if you get caught again don't tell anyone and we can use it to free you again. Sound good?"

Matilda nodded along with the two old mens statements.

"Sure, sure, buddies!" rasps the puppet skeleton cheerily to both Ben and Horatio. Its head can rotate 360 degrees, and the marionette always turns its head to face whomever it is speaking to. It's hard to tell for sure, but Ben detects no obvious deception. 

"Okay. Here's one secret." It lowers its voice to a whisper, barely audible over the clacking of its wooden jaws. "If the lightning rods atop Motherhorn are destroyed, or stolen, Endelyn can’t operate her arcane contraptions." He holds up one finger in front of its skeletal mouth in the universal symbol for "shhh". "Yeah? Yeah? Pretty good one!"

Matilda looked at the others, " Sounds good....I'm all in for fighting a Hag without actually having to....fight a Hag."

Pud leans in closer to listen to what they have to say. His eyes widen as the marionette reveals the first secret. He looks back at Matilda with a head nod and smirk. Pud motions for Rizzo to come on over and he whispers in her ear. "Fly up high and scout the entrance. Let us know if anyone is coming."

Perception check for Rizzo: 20 (16+4)

"Matilda is right. I think we should go up on top of the mountain as soon as we are done here, and steal those lightning rods," Titaani asserts, banging her fist into her open hand excitedly. "Alright! What's the second secret, little guy?" 

The little marionette hops up and down excitedly. 

"Well, um... I know Endelyn wrote a secret about her sister, Skabatha, on a piece of invisible parchment that she keeps in the oracular library. That's on the Stage Level, just up the stairs off the Amphitheater."

In a hushed yet excited whisper Pud remarks "Letters kept by hags about other hags might have some useful information."

"Little friend, is there anything you can tell us about this oracular library? Is it locked, guarded, maybe how many entrances there might be? Anything helpful in case we wanna visit this place?"