It falls again in the oil, to the delight of the hiding boggles, but gets up again.

Meanwhile, the kids try to make it past the soldiers and over the pool of oil. Acrobatics: 20, 12, 3.

Two make it. One falls into the oil next to the soldier and Matilda.

Everyone may act!

Ben:

Looking at girl, Ben mouths the words, “Do you know where the key is?” to her as he looks back at Horatio for his thoughts.

Casting around the room for something with really good leverage—best case it would be hot too, like a poker in the fire glowing red—Ben considers that even if they don’t have a key, heat-weakened metal may give way to a good lever arm or his masonry tools.

(Based on what he finds, he will try to weaken the metal at the shackle attachment point to the table (away from the girl’s skin, of course) and at the lock on the grate in the floor.  Right now he is moving quietly, but he knows that breaking open the lock will make lots of noise…Of course, a key would be better, but they don’t have a lot of time…)

Matilda filed away Wills prodigious strength and penchant for violence away and tried to assist the kids, those that had fallen in their attempts to cross she gave a solid shove ( Help) across the slick before attempting to leap it herself ( Athletics- 13 ).

Stealth: 11

Horatio stealth: 7
Matilda's owlbear peeks its head in, also: 10

Even Horatio's loud entrance doesn't wake the dragon, although it stirs for a moment.
The cauldron is hot, but massive and full of liquid. The huge iron door to the hot oven is closed – the whole thing is large enough to cook a Medium creature whole – but opening the oven door to look inside would risk waking the dragon (a new stealth check would be required.)

The key to the girl's shackles looks similar in size to the locks in all three kitchen doors (two of which are now ajar), but the keyhole to the grate is smaller. The girls shrugs at Ben's question. "Granny," she mouths.

Matilda helps the third child try to get past the oil slick and the remaining tin soldier. 
Will tries to clobber the second soldier:
Stick Whack Attack #1: 19. Hit: 10 slashing damage
Stick Whack Attack #2: 17. Hit: 6 slashing damage

The soldier tries to whack him back, even as it continues to slip and fall repeatedly in the oil slick.
Slam Attack #1 vs. Will: 22. Hit: 3 bludgeoning damage.
Slam Attack #2 vs. Will: 16. Hit: 7 bludgeoning damage.

The first two kids clamber out the window onto the branches. 
The third child tries to get by with Matilda's help. Acrobatics: 12

Everyone may act!

Will puts a formidable dent in the tin soldier's head; the soldier gives Will a nasty black eye.
The child - a male forest gnome, maybe 9 years old (human equivalent) - nimbly slips through to the storeroom, and begins to climb out the window to join his friends.

Meanwhile, Ben finds no hot pokers or other tools in immediate sight, although there are plenty of metal tools and kitchen implements here that could be heated up if they get the oven door open.

Ben:

Seeing the similarity in locks, Ben motions at Horatio to come over and try the kitchen key on the girl’s shackles.

Realizing that there are no convenient slots or holes in the oven structure through which to stick in a poker, Ben changes tactics and waves Titaani over.  Pulling out the tiny magic sword, Ben looks at the small hole in the grate lock, hoping it might be something simple that could be actuated by the blade’s needle-like tip (if the point is too thick, he can fish around in his mason tools for a small and sharp implement, perhaps).

Suspecting Titaani may be more nimble with her small hands for this kind of slight of hand than he, Ben hands the blade to her and tries to Help as best he can with whatever she might need to spring the lock.

" Will! Lets go!", Matilda yelled....glancing at her knife unhappily as it was too high for her to retrieve in the short time they had.  She headed for the window.

Horatio makes his way over to help Ben as quietly as he can. 

(( Stealth = 6 ))

Matilda climbs out the window after the children. 

The young goblin turns and whispers back to Matilda. Pointing ahead across the tenous tangle of dead branches, she says, "That's a secret route into Granny's bedroom. You can hop onto her windowsill there..."

The kids try to climb down the branches toward the kitchen door. Acrobatics checks: 13, 2, 14. (Matilda should also roll a DC8 Acrobatics check.)

Will tries to hold off the remaining tin soldier with his trusty stick:
Stick Whack Attack #1: 17. Hit: 13 slashing damage
Stick Whack Attack #2:18. Hit: 6 slashing damage

---

Meanwhile, Ben examines the lock to the cell in the floor. It looks like a solid, professional-grade lock – not one you are likely to spring with a dagger. But the whole door might possibly be wrenched free by a very strong person. 

As he looks in, he sees a deep clay brick cell below. A bedraggled dwarf in chain mail looks back up at him. He stands up to his chest in dirty water. "Who are you?" he asks with grumpy suspicion.

Whump! Whump! Two children slip and fall, crashing onto the roof of the kitchen. (Bludgeoning damage: 2, 4) 

Cradlefall the wyrmling awakens with a snort. It sits up on its haunches, taking in the kitchen scene. "Who are you and why shouldn't we cook and eat you?" it hisses.

4 Acrobatics.

Ben:

”The altruistic sap who frees you, if we are both lucky,” responds Ben, noticing that the the need for stealth in the room had passed.  “Push as hard as you can on the count of three,” he adds.

Grabbing the longest kitchen implement with a narrow tip, Ben jams it into the gap at the grate’s latch and counts to three, then cranks it over with as much leverage as he can muster!

Athletics:  25

Titaani distractedly plays with the sword. "Oh! Did you want me to do something with this?"

Noticing that Ben has a new plan, Titaani turns to the wyrmling. "Hi! We're not very tasty, trust me. I taste too sweet! Horatio is too salty, and Ben tastes like the stone he works with," she babbles. "I bet you we could offer you a better life than the one you have here, though. What do you say?"

Persausion: 20

Whump! Matilda slips and falls out of the branches, landing on the roof of the kitchen and taking 6 bludgeoning damage. The two injured children are nearby; one is unconscious and bleeding. The gnome boy clambers down onto the roof, safely. 

Above, the tin soldier continues to batter Will even as he backs toward the window:
Slam Attack #1: 22. Hit: 7 bludgeoning damage.
Slam Attack #2: 20. Hit: 6 bludgeoning damage.

---

Meanwhile, Ben pulls as hard as he can with the oversized metal ladle. The dwarf below finds a toehold in the soggy walls of his cell and pushes up. STR check: 7
But neither can budge the heavy grate. (The DC is quite high!)

Cradefall is distracted by Ben's antics, and the repeated thumps, above. 
He responds to Titaani with a hiss: "I expect you're right. You all look too bitter and bony. But you have fine hands, my dear. I bet you would work wonders at the loom." He sizes up Titaani's hands with approval, and slinks around her as he speaks. "Now, we could do this a couple of ways. We could gas the rest of you all right here and throw your bodies in the bog. Or, we could have you join Smellhorn down there and let Granny sort you out. I don't know. Shall we take a vote?"    

"Elkhorn!" corrects the dwarf from below, a hint of cheer in his voice.

Everyone may act.

Ben:

Realizing this isn't working quite yet, Ben drops the kitchen implement tip-first through the grate, saying, "Try wedging this under the grate and using your body weight on the end of the lever to pry it up while I grab a different tool and help from up here!"

(Idea is that if Elkhorn can slide the kitchen tool under the edge of the grate from inside, he can just hang from the end of the lever arm and provide a substantial prying torque on the inside of the grate at the latch.  Ben can do the same with a new tool wedged in at the latch location from the outside.)

"On three...one, two, THREE!"

Athletics:  10

Matilda hustled the concious child off the roof and scooped up the unconcious one over her shoulder as she jumped down.

Athletics: 2