Alas, Ben has no such capability, though he will try and position himself to catch Pud if possible...or at least move that direction if it is too far.

Pud had made little progress upward before he fell, so now he has tumbled below Ben's level – catching him will be impossible without teleportation or similar magic.

Ringlerun, mid-concentration keeping Titaani afloat, drops his spell, hoping that Titaani is now on firm ground, and tries to recast it on Pud before he hits the floor below.

But can he do it fast enough?

We'll give Ringlerun a DC15 Dex check to Levitate Pud, otherwise he takes 9 bludgeoning damage. Ringlerun Dex check: 20

Wham! Pud finds himself prone and rather banged up in the rubble and the thick roots that form the beanstalk’s base, outside the Palace Kitchen, below.

Horatio, meanwhile, has arrived at the top, peering into the tower near Matilda. (Check DMs.)

Pud falls and lands with a heavy thud. He groans in pain and sits up, rubbing his back in agony. 

“Oh man, my back is not good. What the heck did I land on?”

Pud reachs back and finds that he landed on a length of rope that he forgot he had.

”What the? I’m such a dummy! Guys I got some rope!”

Pud looks towards Horatio and attempts to send him a message.

Message: “Hey, I found some rope! Can I send up Rizzo with the rope and you two can help us get up there?”

Horatio replies to Pud in his mind, "Sure."

(The broken tower is 80 feet above Pud's head, but fifty feet of rope will reach Ben and Valor's Call. If strung from the suspended tower.)

Rizzo begins to rise slowly with Pud's coil of rope.

"Need a lift, boy?" calls down Ringlerun, finally pointing his staff at Pud. "That look like it hurt!"

Ben and Pud can see that Horatio and Matilda have now disappeared into the tower.

Ben:

”Don’t worry, Pud, I will follow you up,” says Ben.  He waits for Pud and then climbs up the rope behind him when it is secure.

Pud stretches his back, cracks his knuckles and climbs the rope. 

Unless Pud has more than 50 feet of rope, there is no rope for him to climb - just beanstalk. But Ringlerun belatedly comes to his rescue. Unless he resists, Pud begins to slowly levitate upward, thanks to Ringlerun's magic staff.

Rizzo begins to tie off the rope for Ben.



.

Pud arrives at the broken tower on Ringlerun's invisible elevator and peers within. (See DMs.)

Ben begins to climb up the rope tied by Rizzo. Ringlerun continues to point his staff at Pud, concentrating. The rest of Valor's Call watch, making no move to climb yet.

Still climbing, almost at the top, Ben sees a bat wearing a tiny wizard’s cape fly out of a hole, circle the tower once, and then dive down toward the garden.

Posted in the group chat. 

Ben reaches the top.  He peers into the tower to see a ruined interior – a mess of broken furniture and grasping vines. Amid the ruins is an open treasure chest that has slid into a wall and become surrounded by junk. Titaani is giving Pud a pair of boots.

(Now that everyone is present, let's move all activity back here in the main forum.)

Ben:

"What's up with the bat in the cape?" asks Ben as he pulls himself into the room.

“Heck if I know. Matilda called it Iggwilv and the frog bat thing didn’t even flinch. Isn’t Iggwilv that the witch Queen person? Maybe the frog didn’t hear. Maybe it didn’t.”

Pud looks to Titaani, Matilda and Horatio. 

“What happened before i arrived? What’d you guys talk about?”

"We know the queen's true name!" Titaani bounces up and down excitedly. "It's Natasha!"

Ben:

”That’s amazing!  The name from the child’s cape? How do you know for sure now?” asks Ben excitedly.

"The bat told us," Titaani responds. "Say, are there stairs down or do we have to climb down the rope to get back?"

Ringlerun continues to point his staff at Pud, still mid-concentration (although Pud has some shiny new winged boots now at his disposal.)

The rest of you will have to wait your turn shimmying down the rope (no check required) or climbing down the beanstalk (Athletics check required, with chance of 80' plummet.) You're now 20' above the roof of the body of the palace, although outside the gaping tear below you see nothing but a sea of tiles punctuated by slender towers silhouetted against the twilight. 



.

Ben:

"Oh, nice boots, Pud," remarks Ben offhandedly.  

"Let's head back down.  We can either go to Zybilina directly and free her, or try and use her truename to get into the top floor of the central tower," suggests Ben.  

"I would rather go free her now, but I understand if there is still some reluctance and we may want to learn more about her from that locked room before we do so," he adds.  "What do you guys think?" he says, starting to head back down the rope.