Horatio looks at the structure, then back at the others. "We know she has great strength, and can open her maw so wide as to be able to bite a person probably in half. If we can entangle her in rope or perhaps grapple her from behind... I could become larger again, and Ben and I could hold her still while everyone else strikes at her. I think we can hold against her unnatural strength now, and while immobilizing her, someone can shove something into her mouth to keep her from casting magic upon us. What do you all think, it'd be an ugly melee?" 

" Me or Titaani might be able to get swallowed whole and do some stabbing from the inside!"

"Yeah, I hope she's doing okay." Pud looks about the area. "So, what happened last time? She beat you guys up pretty good? Did y'all fight in there or out here?"

Looking up, you can see that the wooden steps lead upward over four rickety flights, ending at a trapdoor in the underside of the suspended cottage above you.

Ben:

”Well, if we have something we can disguise as a chest of skins, that was something we were supposed to deliver.  I also remember what I think was an external staircase to an upper level—that may give us unexpected access,” suggests Ben as he leads his horse up the steps and out of the water.

Pud looks around. "Heh, no chest of skins here. And I don't really have a way to make somethin' like that up. I can make someone invisible if one of you guys wanna sneak in and look around...or we can go with Matilda's plan."

All is quiet as you pull yourselves up onto the low wooden platform. The rowers have moved on. The sentient tree has evidently moved back, as the dripping clothesline has lifted itself up out of the water and over your head to the floor above. Morgort points up at the underside of the large foggy cottage suspended above you on long wooden stilts, where you can just make out the trapdoor some 35 feet above you, at the top of the rickety wooden staircase. Most of you remember visiting this place before.

" I'm pretty sure I can get up there....with a boost.  But I'm open to all options."

Ben:

”I don’t have any other options,” says Ben.  “Let’s get up there and see what we can find out.  I’d rather not split up unless someone thinks they can be a really sneaky scout and stay safe that way.”

Ben prepares to go up the steps, settling his horse as best he can on a convenient platform.

Ben's horse secured on the rickety wooden dock-like platform, the party carefully climbs the stairs. The stairway has no railing as it rises from the lake, circling around the stone well as it climbs to the wooden trapdoor above.

Matilda pushes open the trap door made of moldy wooden planks, many of which are swollen and warped. (Matilda: roll a Stealth check.)

Within, she sees a large square room. Taking up most of the room is a recessed pool lined with moldy clay tiles, filled with about three feet of reasonable clean-looking water Rising from the pool’s center is the head of a stone well. In one corner of the pool stands a tall, dirty, freestanding mirror in an oval frame, badly cracked, and floating on the water is a large lily pad. Creaky wooden floorboards are arranged in a ten-foot-wide raised walkway around the pool. This walkway is crowded with shelves, tables, and stools in all shapes and styles. Almost every available surface is littered with stacks of dirty plates, scraps of food, and old junk. Dressing dummies are pushed together in one corner, and a wooden staircase spirals up from another corner. Five doors lead from the room; four are closed, one is ajar.

Most of you recognize this place immediately: Bavlorna's cottage. You defeated a nasty jelly in this room, and cleared that well. Matilda broke that mirror.

"Matilda!" A disembodied voice calls out from the corner of the room. "It's me! Your sister, Titaani! I'm just invisible at the moment!" 

Rizzo flies over to Matilda and perches on her shoulder. Titaani follows, and Matilda feels a hand squeeze hers. "Did everyone get here safely? Where are the others? What's the plan?"

Pud walks up only to see Rizzo flutter up and perch on Matida's shoulder. He smiles a huge toothy smile and breathes a sigh of relief. Pud whispers aloud "I don't think we have a plan. But I think Matilda wants to stick someone. Did you find anything cool?"

Matilda stifles a scream before she recognises her sisters voice, " Everyones below.....no real plan.....any sign of her?"

"Sadly I didn't see anything cool. I came in by way of the closet," Titaani replies to Pud first, completely forgetting about her invisibility and pointing at the door she came from. "As for Bavlorna, there's a creepy cushion that looks like her in the closet, but I haven't heard a peep from the real hag. Do you think she heard about the fate of the rest of the coven and ran away? That would be good! It would definitely make our job easier."

"By the way, is Tiny alright?" the little gnome pokes her head down the hole, looking out for her familiar. 

"Yeah, the little fur ball is fine. Might be a little mucky and stinky from swimming in the swamp."

He turns and motions for Tiny to flop on in.

"Anyone gettin' a feeling like what you lost is  somewhere near? I...I uh...I don't feel nothin really."

Hey, Horatio. When you found your reflection...how did it feel? Not after, but just before. Did you feel anything funny about the area?"

Unless you have further business out on the stairwell, the party quietly climbs through the trap door and into the dim interior of the pool room. It smells better than the last time you were here, but it doesn't smell good. Morgort's eyes open wide. "I've never been in here before," she whispers. "Not what I expected."

What do you do next?

Ben:

As he moves into the strange but oddly familiar room, Ben ruminates on all that has transpired since his last visit here.  He tries to sense whether whatever it is he has lost is somewhere nearby.

Insight:  23

If he senses what he lost, he will gravitate that direction—if not, he will suggests they try the first of the three doors on their right.

" Last time the things we had lost felt like they were upstairs.........I think.....but we couldn't get through the door.  Or am I misremembering?", Matilda scrunched up her face in concentration.

"Hmm...maybe we can try coming in from above? Maybe there's a window or something? I gots a flying potion. And I can make someone climb like a spider."

Ben tries to reach out with his senses, but he cannot pinpoint this feeling he has in the back of his mind, like an itch he cannot scratch. He's felt it ever since returning to this splinter realm of Hither. It's an itch that they all share, except Horatio (who felt it in the forests of Thither and in Skabatha's log home, until he finally found what he had lost.) But this feeling lacks direction or proximity – it's not a beacon to follow, just a vague discomfort that follows you around this foreboding swampland.

Ben carefully opens the first door off the Pool room. It creaks loudly as he opens it. Inside this dark room stands a large cupboard. Fine scrollwork frames the cupboard’s two doors, which are bridged by a circular panel of dark wood. The panel is inlaid with a silver hourglass sigil. Ben remembers this cupboard, which had been filled with trinkets. Matilda had filled her pockets with them, last time. There is nothing in this room other than the cupboard.