Ben:

”Indeed,” agrees Ben, distracted by the box with the crank on it.  He almost heads over to turn the crank, faint colors beginning to race along the nearly-forgotten wings on his back under his cloak.  Then, with his sense of wonder still missing, he instead sighs and takes a seat at the table laid out for tea service, his mind already back on the task at hand.  The wings fall back into a matte gray color and await the next opportunity.

A fair amount of time passes; your impatience begins to grow.

Finally, the door creaks open, and a little old woman totters forward. She wears a grimy, old-fashioned shawl, and her skin looks like gnarled bark. A large iron key extends from her back, ticking rhythmically as it rotates.

“Sit down, children,” she says in a voice reminiscent of crunching leaves. “Let’s have some tea.”

Ben:

Already seated, Ben stands up as their host enters, then sits back down as he is invited to do so.  He studies her with both his divine and mundane senses.

Insight:  5

Divine Sense:  

As an action, you can open your awareness to detect such forces. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the type (celestial, fiend, or undead) of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity (the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, for instance). Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated, as with the hallow spell.

Ben senses little of Skabatha's intent, but he does conclude that she is neither celestial, fiend, nor undead (nor do his senses pick up anything of this sort nearby.)

Granny pours tea into filthy cups and stirs the liquid with a chicken bone. "Drink up!" she insists as she passes them around. Then, she reaches around with one arm and winds up her key, before sitting down heavily in one of the bulky armchairs. She appears to be a short, thin, gnarled woman swathed in a tattered dress with petticoats. Cracked white face paint plasters her features, with crimson splotches on her cheeks and thick mascara coating her sparse eyelashes.

"Why oh why have you paid me a visit this fine day?" she asks with a polite smile, with a voice like tree branches against a glass pane.

Matilda grips the arms of her chair forcefully, any bravado has long fled....she is face to face with another Hag......the last time.....she died....she didn't want to die.....she started shaking slightly...

Ben:

     Not yet taking a sip out of the dirty cup, Ben responds, “When we came to this realm, we saw a poster for someone who stole from you—this Will fellow.  What did he steal from you?”

Persuasion if needed:  8

Titaani shakes with fear from her vantage point on the arm of Ben's chair, where Tiny had placed her. Hiding her face behind the teacup given to her, she whispers to her familiar in gnomish: "Read her heart, Tiny."

Tiny will then go to rub his head against Skabatha in a fake show of affection, and use his heart sight to try and learn her emotional state and her alignment.

Deception for Tiny if needed: 3

(on mobile, so no fonts I'm afraid)

Granny silently pushes Tiny back with a long, thin finger tipped with a filthy cracked fingernail.

"That boy steals children," she replies to Ben. "My children. He’s hiding somewhere in the forest. Bring me that impetuous brat to me alive, and I’ll bury you up to your neck in silver.”

She leans forward, "...unless you need another favor? What is it you seek, children?"

Underneath her makeup, you can see that her flesh is textured like rotten bark and infested with wood lice and fungus.

Ben:

”Why, that’s terrible!  He is a boy himself!  He should know better than to steal children away from their loving home,” responds Ben.  “I suppose he must take them somewhere unfamiliar and use them for some selfish purpose as well, holding them against their will and preventing them from returning to their true family,” he adds.

”As to the matter of being buried in silver, that seems quite uncomfortable to me.  I cannot speak for the others, but I desire something returned to me that was lost.  I cannot put precise words to it, but I lost part of myself years ago at a wondrous carnival.  You see, I had gone in without paying for a ticket—wrong of me, but I was very young.  Have you heard of the Witchlight Carnival?” he asks.

Looking to the others, Ben asks, “What do you guys think?  Should we perhaps inspect the scene of the crime where these children were taken and see what clues we might find?      I feel we are honor-bound to return these children to their rightful home, but we must be sure of ourselves first.”

Horatio, wide eyes upon the key, says delicately, "Uh... thank you... for the tea..." He takes the offered cup. "For my part, I seek armor."

Horatio notices that the clockwork key embedded in Skabatha’s back is rotating very quickly.  Occasionally, the hag reaches around to wind it up.

"Oh, yes, the Carnival! Witch and Light have done some good things with it, I hear, since they took it over from Isolde. I haven't been, myself. And yes, they still do punish children without tickets, I understand," she replies to Ben with a laugh.

"You look familiar. What is your name?" she asks Horatio, turning toward him and winding herself up again. "I have no armor, I'm afraid, but I do have my Tin Soldiers, which are almost like walking suits of armor. Too small for you, though."

"But if you can bring that ragamuffin 'Will' to me alive and unharmed, I can grant you your own loyal servant,” she adds.

"But there is nothing to examine here," she continues, turning back toward Ben. "That ragamuffin is off galavanting in the forest somewhere. Go find him."  She waves her fingers in the direction you arrived from.

Matilda looked about at the room, anywhere other than the hag, " Where did he snatch the kids from, I imagine with the tales we have heard that your kind eyes are almost everywhere keeping watch so that no harm may come to them?"

(Since heartsight is activated by touch, would Skabatha's action of pushing Tiny away still allow Tiny to read her heart?)

(Sorry - I missed your intent. Granny seems chipper and buoyant. DC10 Charisma Save: 18)

(No problem)

"We all lost something at the carnival," Titaani says sadly. "And we all want to get those things back."

"Yes, I keep a close eye on the children. It's dangerous out there. Children are better off working for me than picking up lots of bad habits," she tells Matilda, twirling her long fingers in the air. "But I'm just a poor old toymaker. So I have my friends about to help me keep watch. That wisp of a thief will kidnap no more of my children."

"Yes, we all want our lost things, now don't we," she replies to miniature Titaani. "My sister lost a unicorn horn, she tells me. Maybe you can help find it! Not that I want to do favors for that warty old toad. Still, sometimes lost things beget lost things."

Just then the lid of the large painted box pops open with a jarring cacophony of tones, giving everyone but Granny a jump. A green dragon the size of a large dog sticks its snout out and whispers something to Granny. Matilda can just make out a few words in Sylvan ("intruders in the garden") before Granny scratches it fondly upon its green scaly head and the thing disappears back into the box with a bang of the lid.

"I have to go now, children. Come see me again when you have that rapscallion in tow, and I'll have presents for each of you." She stands up from her armchair and turns to leave the parlor.

Ben:

”Wait, are they working for you, or are they your children?  Did this Will person kidnap them against their will, deceive  them into running away, or did he actually free them from forced labor?  I need to know who has the best interest of the children at heart—and who plans to return them to their loving families,” says Ben, trying to delay her.

”And we all haven’t told you what payment we want…Surely you need to know that ahead of time,” he adds.

Matilda looked deeply worried when Ben spoke but simply dug claw-like fingernails into the arms of her chair....

"They are both my children and working for me. 'The fruits of labor are sweeter than the finest candy,' as they say."

Her face grows a bit darker and her key turns a bit slower. She opens the door, and you can hear distant screaming beyond. Through the door, you can glimpse a cluttered workshop, with toy parts heaped on a bench. A grinning girl of about nine suddenly wipes the smirk from her face and returns to work as she sees Granny open the door to enter. But Granny turns to you once again, the door still ajar.

"Payment. Yes, yes. Out with it. What do you want for the boy? I'm in a bit of a rush here. That one," she points to Horatio impatiently, "wants a friend or something. Or a suit of armor. What do you want?"

Ben:

”Right, right, quickly then.  I would like that which was stolen from me at the Witchlight Carnival returned, though I cannot put a name to it.  He would like some armor, as you said.  My other friends, what would you have returned to you?” replies Ben, hoping to give Will as much extra time as possible to carry out his portion of the plan…