...The tunnel is endlessly long and winding – time seems to flow strangely as you walk through the roughly-cut stone passage. It weaves and twists in a disorienting and seemingly impractical spiral, only to reverse and spiral back again. There are no junctions or side tunnels, nor any sign of occupancy.

Eventually, the tunnel dead-ends at a wall of loose-fitting stones. Red light shines through the cracks, and you hear the sounds of shouting and hammering coming from somewhere beyond the wall.

Before the party leaves, Titaani reaches into her bag and pulls out the sticky, gooey remains of the second ant lollipop she brought, the one she didn't eat. "Here! This is sweet. Be careful, though, you might shrink if you eat it."

As the group reaches the end of the tunnel, Titaani turns back and whispers to the others. "Ok, so what's the plan?"

Ben:

Whispering just lout enough to be heard, Ben says, “We need to get through without leaving any evidence the passage is here.”

Pud carefully approaches the wall. He peeks through one of the loose fitting stones. He then cups his hands behind his ears, closes his eyes and strains to listen to what's going on behind the wall. 

Perception check: 11

It appears as though the stones blocking the end of the tunnel can be easily moved to create a 3-foot-square opening.

Through the cracks you hear somebody distantly sawing wood, inaudible mutterings, and general sounds of work and activity. But it sounds somewhat removed from whatever chamber is on the other side of this wall. Pud gets a glimpse of something - a large painted yellow (inanimate) face?

In response to Titaani, and also whispering, Horatio points out, "It seems we're feeling out what we can, and maybe trying to rescue whomever we can as we go. We do need to be very careful though, we have no idea if the Hags have been communicating with one another. This one may be prepared for us..."

Matilda looks at the rocks, " Ben, can you, Horatio or Elkhorn move these......quietly if possible.....at least enough for me or Titaani to get through?"

Titaani nods in response to Matilda and Horatio and motions for Tiny to stay put. 

Ben:

”Sure,” says Ben, and he heads up to the front slowly, trying to keep the sounds of his armor to a minimum.

“Remember how they are stacked now so we can put them back the same way,” he requests of the others, trying to do as much himself to pull the stones out in a regular pattern so he can put them back the same way.

Horatio offers Help.

With Horatio's help, Ben begins to quietly pull stones out of the wall. 

Beyond is a rough-hewn, windowless chamber, maybe 30 or 40 feet across, with a single exit in the far wall. Crates of props are stacked here alongside wooden backdrops draped in cobwebs. An eight-foot-diameter, circular wooden disk painted to look like a smiling moon leans against one wall.

Matilda carefully crawls through regarding the moon balefully, " Another carnival?.....", she whispers angrily.

"Or a theatre," Titaani suggests curiously. Motioning for Tiny to join her, she goes up to the smiling moon disc and inspects it for magical abilities. 

Arcana: 19

Ben:

Once everyone is through the opening, Ben stacks the stones back as best he can exactly the way they were before.

Matilda Stealth-27

Matilda Perception- 11

Pud creeps in behind the girls and hides behind one of the barrels on the bottom of the map. He activates Rizzo and whispers to her "Stay close, girl. I might need you to check things out up ahead."

Everyone enters the chamber, and Ben carefully and quietly rebuilds the wall behind you.

Titaani examines the large wooden disk and determines it to be a nonmagical prop of some kind. It is painted to look like a moon, weighs maybe 50 pounds, and has a small iron ring screwed into its top so that it can be hung from a hook.

From a cluttered corner, a raspy voice says, “Psst! Over here!” Glancing in that direction, you see a wooden marionette carved and painted to look like a human skeleton. It appears to be tangled in its own strings. “I seem to have gotten myself in a wee fix.”

The sounds of work and activity continue through the opening to the east. 

Ben:

Concentrating hard on what he is doing, Ben is slow to react to the developing situation with the marionette, focusing instead on getting the wall just right to avoid putting their recent hosts in danger.  If no one else reacts before he is done, Ben will go over and examine the creature.

"Oh no! You poor thing," Leaving the prop of the moon alone, Titaani rushes over to the Marionette. "We'll help you, don't worry. Could someone give me a hand with these strings? There's so many of them..."

Horatio offers Help.

However, he is immediately suspicious of the newcomer. "Why are you down here alone?" He asks.

(( Insight = dirty 20 ))