Matilda watches Pud with amusement, confident she could get up there easily but in no rush to offer her services.....

Pud looks about the room. "Hey, uh, Matilda. Can you see invisible stuff? I think there's something magical up there. I dunno if its invisible, but Rizzo couldn't see it. So I'm guessing it is. Let's check it out."

Pud runs and grabs one of the library ladders and brings it over to the spot where he sees the magical signature.

IF Matilda CAN see invisible items, he will ask Matilda to head up and check it out. 

OTHERWISE Pud will climb up himself. Though he can't see invisible items, he will try and grab whatever is giving off the magical signature.

" Nope. But I can climb."

" But I reckon you can too."

Pud climbs up the delicate latter. Using his still-active spell, he is soon able to locate what seems to be a scrap of invisible paper. 

"I would like to continue on to Zybilna’s Palace," announces Elkhorn. "Valor’s Call was there last I saw them, and we may need their help. Although I expect the League of Malevolence may also be there. It is comforting to know that two of them are slain now. Perhaps they all are. Strongheart is a mighty warrior, after all."

"I disagree," Titaani shakes her head resolutely at Elkhorn's suggestion. "We have...what's that phrase again...um...oh yes! We have unfinished business in Hither. It's important that we go back. But if the others want to go to the palace, that's fine too, I guess. What do you think, Ben and Horatio? Should we go to the palace or to Hither?"

Ben:

Thinking over it thoroughly, Ben says, "There should be a hidden room from the north turret that can transport us to the palace, though as Titaani says, we have unfinished business in Hither.  We also have allies we can gather--the lost children at Little Oak's glen, and the unicorns at the Wayward Pool.  I am inclined to retrace our steps and finish our business--though the frogs may be still a challenge to our combat abilities."

"We did make some friends with the frog people we saved from the fire, though--Horatio, didn't you have one of them who wanted to meet you?" asks Ben.

"I can indeed lead you to that foreboding swamp, where daylight never fully penetrates the dank mist that hangs over the land, where life and decay walk hand in hand," declares Amidor with a flourish of his rapier. "If Hither is where you yearn to venture, I am your unveering guide!"

Pud descends the ladder holding the invisible piece of paper.

"Guys! I got it!" Pud delicately waves the invisible piece of parchment. "Uh...I know you can't see anything, but trust me, it got it here!. I can't see invisible stuff right now, but I do have some notes on the spell. If I can study up on it I can read what it says.

For now I'll tuck it into that frog skinned book for safe keeping."

Pud digs out the book with the stubborn glass vial in the spine and placed the invisible paper inside the book.

" To the swamp!  Maybe we can burn down that house as well?"

"Yeah! Then we won't even have to face the hag!" Titaani says ecitedly in response to Matilda. "But even if we did, we're more powerful, right? I mean, we have new stuff, more friends, and - Oh! That reminds me!"

Titaani walks a little out of the way of the group and takes off her crystal. "Now that this place is no longer dangerous, I'm going to fetch Tiny! If we're going back to the swamp, I'll definitely need him by my side." As she speaks, she dismisses Tiny. Then, she uses her crystal to draw arcane circles in the air as she begins to cast find familiar as a ritual to summon him to her side again. 

"To the swamp!" repeats Amidor with a flourish, as Tiny quietly rejoins the group. "Follow me! I shall deliver you to the fetid waters of Hither!" Amidor begins to march toward the exit to the amphitheater. "To the soggy landscape of squelching mud and skeletal mangrove roots we go!" he crows, swinging his rapier over his petalled head.

"Uh," he pauses. "How do we exit this foul citadel? Back through the hole in the wall? Does this place have a door? Anybody know how to get out of here?"

" I guess we go back through the mountain.....unless any of the theatre folks still here know of a quicker path..."

" I still kinda want to smash those towers before we go though..."

Ben:

”Destroying the orrery should deactivate all of of Creeping Lyn’s arcane devices.  I don’t know if that means the masks will revert to people or that the way to change them back will be lost,” says Ben uncertainly, “But it will likely make the ornithopter useless.”

As Tiny rejoins the group, Titaani lets out a squeal of joy. She wraps her arms around his fluffy neck and buries her face in his white fur. "Aw, Tiny! I missed you!" 

Tiny rubs his head affectionally against her's in greeting, and the two rejoin the group. Titaani nods at Ben's suggestion. "That's worth a shot, those poor mask people deserve to be freed! At least if we destroy the lightning thing we can walk out of here knowing we did all we could to save them."

Quote from Scott_R_Simmons >>

Ben:

”Destroying the orrery should deactivate all of of Creeping Lyn’s arcane devices.  I don’t know if that means the masks will revert to people or that the way to change them back will be lost,” says Ben uncertainly, “But it will likely make the ornithopter useless.”

 " I already kicked that off the balcony, don't know if it broke though."

Ben:

”I am no expert in the mystic arts, but if you think disabling the lightning rods will save those who were transformed, we should at least give it a try,” replies Ben hopefully.

Looking meaningfully at the dark fey, he adds, “And it would prevent the mask making from being used again as well.

"The ornithopter is still quite effective. Why, I rode it singlehandedly all the way back from the beacons just now. It is a foul thing, but it flies rather well!" replies Amidor. "Your little kick didn't seem to damage it in the slightest!" 

Matilda bristled more than a little at that, though she sensed the flower-knight didn't mean it as a slight.

Horatio lets out an involuntary laugh at the exchange between Amidor and Matilda, then rubs the back of his head awkwardly as he says, "Can you teach me?"

"How to fly? Or how to kick?" responds Amidor. "Or shall we depart this dangerous theater, first?"