Creeeeeak. The doors stubbornly open at Titaani's mage-hand-sceptered push. (The scepter does indeed have a magical aura to it, one which indeed suggests it could be used for opening, or for passage. But Titaani's use of it here seemed less arcane and more mechanical.)

Scores of wooden marionettes hang from the ceiling of this oddly shaped room at the end of the short hallway, the floor of which is strewn with handwritten pages. Near the entrance are two alcoves, one containing a bare table, the other holding a wooden chest with tiny, clawed feet. Deeper in the room, you see a wicker basket surrounded by miniature toy birds.

Scores of hourglasses are fixed to the walls. Whenever the sand of an hourglass runs out, the mechanism that attaches the hourglass to the wall causes it to flip over. The steady hiss of all those falling grains of sand can be heard throughout the room.

A large, glass-doored wardrobe with a jade eye embedded in its cornice stands on the far side of the room in a wide alcove.

" Oh look.....you found an even creepier room....what is this stuff?"

Ben:

”Well, I suppose we should go in and investigate,” says Ben, carefully approaching the open door, ready to brace himself if another telekinetic blast comes his way.

”Should we disable the orrery, as it may be a key to the hag’s power?” asks Ben quietly as he moves in.  He doesn’t go far at first, stopping to read a random page on the floor to see what it may be about.

"Guys...wait."

Pud move to block the group from going in. He whistles and Rizzo comes fluttering from the theatre. He places up hand and she perches on his index finger. He looks at his little friend, leans in and whispers "Hey, Riz. I need you're help. Fly in there and bump into a few things. Hit anything that looks interesting." He leans in and kisses the little clockwork bird on its head, before it flutters off into the room and it proceeds to bump and poke objects in the room. Rizzo will hit the table, the chest, it will fly by the mechanical birds and then it will bump into the glass doored wardrobe. 

"I don't know, I think these marionettes are more cute than creepy," Titaani says cheerfully, moving into the room after Rizzo is finished. She immediately goes over to the bunny marionette (from the left half of the illustration) and attempts to use it as a ventriloquist's puppet, putting on a comically deep voice. "Hello! Did you hear the good news? Two of the evil hags of the hourglass coven have been defeated! We shall have a great celebration in puppet land!" 

Her playful tone turns thoughtful at Ben's question, however. "I'm not sure I know how to disable the orrery. But Pud was investigating it earlier, right? Pud, do you know how to destroy it?"

" Probably we should destroy those tower things on the mountain like that old guy said to get rid of the whirly death machine."

Ben steps into the hallway, gingerly picking up one of the many pages scattered on the floor. It's a handwritten page from an old play script.

Rizzo begins to flutter quietly through the room, bumping into a few things, and then returns. As it bumps into the glass wardrobe, the jade eye adorning the wardrobe’s cornice slowly opens.

As Titaani begins to play with the bunny marionette, it begins to scream. Then all the marionettes scream.

“Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders!"

Horatio yells in a booming voice, "SILENCE! THE HAG IS DEAD!" In a calmer tone he adds, "There is no one to warn, so instead of yelling why don't you let us help you?"

Pud snap his finger and Rizzo flutters back to him. "Good girl. Go stand watch outside the door. Come get me if anyone approaches." Rizzo flies off and perches just outside the doorway and stands watch.

RIzzo's perception check: 12

"Yeah, I think we gotta take out those towers. I didn't see any vulnerabilities with that thing down there. That thing is way above my skillset.

Let's check this place out, see if we can find and move on."

Quote from cbaer8 >>

The little marionette hops up and down excitedly. 

"Well, um... I know Endelyn wrote a secret about her sister, Skabatha, on a piece of invisible parchment that she keeps in the oracular library. That's on the Stage Level, just up the stairs off the Amphitheater."

 
Ben:

Going over to the closest marionette, Ben says, “Yes, we can free you like we freed the skeleton doll down below, if you’d like.”

At the memory of that marionette, Ben asks the others, “Hey, did anyone happen to find that invisible parchment in the library the skeleton doll told us about?”

“Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders!" shriek the dangling marionettes, ignoring Horatio and Ben. “Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders!"

Rizzo flies outside to stand guard over the Viewing Gallery.

Ben:

”Can anyone fly up there and cut them down?” asks Ben, adding, “Maybe if we set them free they will calm down.”

" I can try and climb up.", Matilda ventured.

As the marionette begins to scream, Titaani drops it in fright. "Aah!"

"I take back what I said, they are creepy," the little gnome shivers, backing away. As she does, she catches sight of the wardrobe with its open eye. "Oh! What's this?"

Stepping forward, Titaani tries to draw on her knowledge of magic to determine what enchantment (if any) was responsible for creating the eye. Arcana: 21

The ceiling is 15 feet high, but the wooden marionettes hang mostly within reach. There are dozens if not hundreds of them.

Titaani examines the glass-doored wardrobe. It appears to be empty. There is a wooden drawer below the main compartment. The eye does seem to be magical, but Titaani cannot work out the purpose or origin of the enchantment.

Matilda begins cutting strings and dropping marionettes to the floor, " Anyone who doesn't shut up is going into the whirly machine of death!"

Ben:

Also cutting down the puppets, Ben is careful to not hurt them.  He is hopeful that if they are freed they will stop caterwauling.

“Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders!" 

The marionettes – inert except for their actively screaming mouths – ignore Matilda's threats. Cutting them down does not pause their shouting. They lay limply on the floor, still screaming.

“Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders! Intruders!"

"This is kind of annoying," Titaani complains, gesturing to the marionettes. "I'm going to try and get them to be quiet. Please don't attack the net person who comes in here." 

The warlock ducks outside of the room for a moment, hiding behind the door so that the puppets won't see her. She then uses mask of many faces to disguise herself as Stagefright, and walks back in. 

'Puppets! I demand you stop this behaviour at once!" She declares angrily. "These people are not intruders! They are our friends! Enough screaming already!"

Deception: 21