*snore*

"Rabbits? Sure! And such a well-behaved rabbit at that! The stew is safe for all!"

Time passes, together with a pleasant luncheon. Everyone may receive the benefits of a Short Rest. In addition, anyone who drank both the tea and the soup gains 10 temporary hit points. The unicorn's Pass Without Trace spell fades, however.

The castle remains quiet. What next?

Ben:

”A sumptuous repast, Demitasse,” says Ben, “Can you tell us where the kitchen is, and perhaps what is behind the doorways nearby?”

“Do we have a rough map of the castle we can update?” Ben asks his friends.  “We should write down that rhyme for Thinnings, too,” he adds.

"I can make an illusionary map," Titaani offers, summoning the minor illusion of a purple piece of paper, the room they are in the only thing on it. "Just remind me of the layout of the rest of the rooms, and I'll add them in!"

"Oh, I'm not good with maps, and I'm afraid I'm not well-traveled, as I presume you are. But I can tell you that the door to your left goes into the kitchen. Past that you can find the old tower – a bit of a mess right now – and the Servants’ Quarters, where I expect Thinnings will be. Past that, well, I apologize, but as I said I'm not much of a traveler. The guest wing is upstairs somewhere, I'm told, and above the banquet hall somewhere to the north you'll find the glass statues – I saw those myself, once."

Ben:

"Thank you very much, Demitasse.  I didn't realize how hungry I was until i smelled the food, and now I feel much better," says Ben gratefully.

To his friends, he says, "Shall we proceed to the kitchen, then perhaps the servant's quarters?  I am hoping Thinnings can help us with the door so we can go to the room we skipped without risking waking the Jabberwocky."

Unless you have further business with Demitasse or on the Dining Terrace, Ben leads the party to the kitchen door, and opens it

An eight-foot-tall, three-foot-diameter, multitiered cake rests on a large round table in this kitchen, which also contains a stove and an assortment of mismatched cupboards and worktables. Eight pixies are suspended in midair around the cake, each wearing a chef’s hat and a flour-stained apron. Six of the pixies squeeze cloth tubes that have icing coming out of them. The other two hold armfuls of tiny crimson candles.

Thick creepers with broad leaves encroach on the kitchen through a partially open door in the middle of a concave wall. The roots stretch across the floor and coil around the large table, but not around a smaller, rectangular wheeled table that has three trussed-up giant rats on it.

Ben:

”Hello, chefs,” says Ben in Sylvan, “The cake is beautiful—I commend your craftsmanship.”

Looking at the vines, he gestures and asks, “Can you tell me what happened here?”

Titaani is so busy trying to fill out rooms on her illusionary map that she bumps into Ben. "Woah! What's going on here? Are these guys frozen as well?"

Ben:

Smiling at his own inattentiveness, Ben says, “Thank you, Titaani, it would appear that they are.  Let’s check out that door on the northern wall and see if it gets us to the servant’s quarters where Thinnings is or maybe allows us access to the stairs leading to another one of the Queen’s gems.”

Moving carefully into the room, Ben heads that way and checks the door on the northern wall.  He spares a glance for the vine-broken gap in the wall as he goes.

Matilda woke with a start to find herself alone, after querying the spoon she headed into the kitchen and stared at the huge plant....

" I reckon we can climb this."

Ben gets no response; the pixies are indeed time-frozen, as are the rats. Nothing moves.

Peering through the smashed doorway leading from the kitchen with thick creepers spreading through it, Ben and Matilda can see that part of the palace has been torn asunder by the growth of an enormous beanstalk that has lifted one of its towers high into the air. The open doorway is choked with rubble and the thick roots that form the beanstalk’s base. Matilda judges the beanstalk to be climbable, but not necessarily easily (anyone trying to climb it will need to make an Athletics check.)

Ben opens the door to the north. It leads to a long marble hallway.

Ben:

”I think I see another one of those staircases up ahead.  Shall we see if there is another important gem at the top?,” asks Ben, heading to the base of the stairs.

Giving the beanstalk a wistful look Matilda followed Ben....

Ben:

”Let’s cover the rooms we bypassed first, Matilda, then we can come back to the vines,” says Ben, seeing her hesitancy.

"Climbing the washing line to Bavlorna's hut was one thing, those vines are another entirely," Titaani murmers nervously under her breath, following Ben and Matilda. "At least there's no water at the bottom, I suppose..."

Pud squeezes by Titaani and heads towards Ben. He takes a peek over the vine stalk and checks out the circular object.

Ben advances north up the hallway as far as the stairwell – it climbs up to the top of a tower identical to the others you explored earlier.

Pud examines the large cylindrical object, which is in fact the cake, half-decorated, upon a large round table – a perfectly preserved birthday cake made of cream, sponge, fruit, and white icing. The cake has eight tiers and must weigh at least 100 pounds. It is eight feet tall, three feet in diameter, multitiered, and resting upon a large round table. The roots of the giant beanstalk stretch across the floor and coil around the whole table.

Ben:

“I can watch from here if you like,” says Ben, “I am hopeful if we get all the gems associated with the aspects of the Queen’s personality, it might prove useful in freeing her.”

"Sounds good to me!" Titaani responds, running down the stairs. "Come on, sis, I'll race you there!"