(( LOL - an 11 - just barely! ))

Yes, I think we'll follow Will's plan. Also, Tiny is going to continue to escort the children to safety. 

Matilda is getting increasingly frustrated at Will but hasn't stabbed him yet as she follows....

Horatio rushes up to the others before they get too far off, a tad out of breath from the run. "Naal had a key impression.." <panting> "...for the kitchen..." <panting> "..I can use my tools to make a simple key if you just wait a little bit."

Ben:

Skidding to a halt, Ben responds, “Unless someone can pick locks, that sounds like our best bet.  What do you need from me?”

" I can try.....", said Matilda without much hope.

Horatio pulls out his largest carpenter's mallet, then his finest smith's hammer and files. He digs a round depression into the dirt and slides one end of the mallet head into the ground. A stable but small table to work from, he pulls out his personal eating spoon and holds it up to the mold, eyeing the shape, size, and design. He uses the fine hammer to cold shape the metal, then the file to make the details. He will check it against the mold depression every few minutes until they match both sides. "Gods I hope this works..." He mutters as he works.

(( @DM - Which stat do I apply to the tool roll here? Dex, Int... something else? ))

(Horatio: you're hammering a new key out of a cold spoon using the mold as a reference? Hmm. I'll say you can choose either DEX or INT and add your proficiency bonus. We'll see what happens! There's no firm DC - a mediocre roll will potentially mean a lot more fiddling time at the door.)

(Is everyone pausing to let Horatio try this? It may take a little time...)

( Matilda wants to try and get people out now before the Hag returns, she'll try and use her dagger and a hair-pin as improvised thieves tools if allowed.)

(If Matilda is leaving for the kitchen, Titaani will follow) 

As Tiny and Squirt accompany the three rescued kids back to Little Oak's glade, the party has followed Will into a dark pathless grove off the main track. The trees are rotten and ominous here, with a smell of decay. (Just off the map to the south.)

While Horatio and Ben hunch over the beginnings of a counterfeit kitchen door key, Matilda and Titaani begin to scout ahead with Will. The path Will suggests (and recently traversed) takes you down a steep, rooty slope, across a muck-filled gorge and over a thin rivulet full of large-eyed frogs, up the other side, through the scrubby wilderness out of eyeshot of the goblins, and into the edges of another, broader bog. (i.e. along right side of map.) There are no visible guards on this side of the giant fallen log that is Loomlurch, but Matilda and Titaani should make a stealth or survival check if they wish to continue following Will's path in advance of the others, toward the kitchen door. (Top-right door, nearest the bog.)

Stealth check: 8

Stealth: 18

Will Stealth: 2

Titaani and Will crunch loudly through the underbrush while Matilda carefully picks her way through the tangled fey wilds. Horatio and Ben continue to work on the key. 

Matilda gets a distant glimpse of Chucklehead at the goblin market, shading his oversized toffee apple eyes with his goblin hand, peering in your direction, and you wonder if you've been spotted.

But eventually, the advance party makes its way through the edges of the bog, where you enter a grove of bearded willows on the bank of the murky woodland pond. A patch of tilled earth spreads beneath their boughs. The caps of several red toadstools are just beginning to emerge from the loam. "Redcaps," whispers Will. "Don't touch 'em!"

You can see on side of the giant, toppled tree that is Loomlurch, the closed kitchen door. "Mishka might be able to open th' door if we get her attention, but if Cradlefall's still sleeping there, we don't wanna wake him."

~~

Meanwhile, with Ben's help, Horatio invokes a glowing red rune upon his smith's tools. His craftsmanship enhanced by the arcane fire rune, magically channeling master smiths of yore, Horatio manages to quickly produce a surprisingly close imitation of the key, using only the negative copy in the bar of soap. Unless the door holds surprises, the key might actually work. (Horatio rolled a 16+6 = 22) Packing up your tools, you're ready to track the advance party (Horatio and/or Ben roll a Survival check), or you can choose to wait for them to return.

( What are Matildas chances with only improvised lockpicks?)

Quote from Damian_May >>

( What are Matildas chances with only improvised lockpicks?)

(One way to find out!  Roll a Dex check with disadvantage, but Matilda is proficient, so you can add her proficiency bonus.)

Back Door team: 17

( Well...it was worth a try...)

Ben:

Once the key is ready, Ben moves after Will and the others towards the kitchen.  He tries to remember the instructions and be careful as they go.

Survival with Advantage:  17