Valrieth laughs and hops a bit in place at the sight of all of the fireflies.  She says, "Oooh!  It's like being surrounded by stars!"  Val reaches out to let one of the fireflies land on her hand.  She cups her hands slightly so that she can watch it glow for a moment, and then she opens her hands and waits for it to fly back toward Lerak.  She stares at Lerak for a moment with a blank expression, thinking.  Then she says, dreamily, "I guess you won't need a candle or torch to see by tonight.  It's just a good thing that we weren't planning to play hide-and-seek."  (Val places emphasis on the word hide.)

“The lights remind me of some of th’ magic ye can do, Val!” Finley grins.

Valrieth smiles at Finley.  Then she asks Chucklehead, "Excuse me.  You said something about scheduling a meeting with Granny Nightshade, but I know that it's getting late.  What time does Granny Nightshade go to sleep?"  It had suddenly occurred to Val that they might be able to get into Loomlurch to sneak around while the hag sleeps like they did in Bavlorna's house.  That might permit them to get the portrait and do some more reconnaissance before they attempt to rescue all of the children later.

Of course, in Hither, Bavlorna was actually having tea quite late and caught them in her bedroom!

Chucklehead remarks "I believe around 1AM as I do see the lights go out though I am not sure if she is sleeping."

Valrieth thanks Chucklehead and then tries to step a little away from the goblins so that they won't overhear the party's conversation.  She asks, "What do you think?  Should we just go with Will's original plan?  Or should we try sneaking around or maybe even inside to get a better look first?  From what W. said, it sounds like there two areas where there are children are kept: the workshop that Ilifir saw and a textile mill somewhere else in the building, maybe over on the north side or up in one of the towers.  We could use Ilifir's flight to peek in every window and look at what's on the west side of the house first.  Or we could go with Will's plan soon, and if the diversion works, we could enter from three directions: three of us go through the parlor, Ilifir goes through a door on one of the balconies before his flight wears off, and W. through the door he planned to use."  Val is up for anything, but she's not sure whether it's better to meet the hag and then rely on the children's diversion or to wait for her to go to sleep and then try sneaking everyone out in the middle of the night. 

If they're going with the latter, then they could just use Ilifir's flight to do some scouting and then go back to wait until 1 AM with Will and the children.  But maybe Loomlurch is magically sealed against intrusion like Bavlorna's house was.  They barely got the doors open there, and if they fail to get in to Loomlurch tonight, then they'll have wasted another day of the deadline.

If they're going with Will's plan, Val thinks that they should start sooner rather than later, especially if they want Ilifir to enter through an upstairs balcony door.

"i could send spike" ilifir considers aloud "he could maybe get in there safe enough, and if he dies its kinda temporary, how big is this painting of yours?"

The painting is quite large needing 2 hands to carry it. 

Quote from willow_ivyleaf >>

"i could send spike" ilifir considers aloud "he could maybe get in there safe enough, and if he dies its kinda temporary, how big is this painting of yours?"

Valrieth says, "I got the impression that the portrait was quite large, like a life-sized painting in a big frame.  I hoped that Lerak or Finley would be there to take it down and put it in the [Tooltip Not Found].  But worse than that, we have no idea where the hag keeps the portrait.  If we haven't been discovered, I thought that we could explore her house under the cover of magic first, finding and releasing the children.  If we still haven't found the painting after that, I prepared another spell to help us find the portrait.  But if Spike can explore on his own, then that may help us cover all of Loomlurch more quickly.  Of course, it's possible that the painting is in some secret room.  In Bad B's house, there was a secret door that required a password to open it."

But Val brings it back to the same question.  Should they just tell Will to go ahead and set his plan in motion and tell Chucklehead that they want to meet with Granny Nightshade now?  Or now that they've seen Loomlurch up close, does anyone have a better plan?  

Val suggested maybe doing more (aerial) reconnaissance along the east or west sides of Loomlurch first.  Or the party could try to sneak inside Loomlurch without telling Granny Nightshade.  For example, they could set up a signal with Will's gang.  The party could try to sneak inside and find / free the children.  If they are discovered by Granny Nightshade or run into problems with her guards, they could give Will's gang the signal (via Spike? or something else that the kids could see/hear from out in the gardens?) to set off the warning scarecrows, hopefully dividing Granny Nightshade's attention and guards.

"alright then, spike. better get going. keep in touch" he says outloud, mainly for the benefit of the rest of the group, nothing visibly changes but spike, still invisible. flies off to sneak into the house "if someone can guide me i want to try something" he requests

Check the map and let me know how Spike plans to enter and where. None of the windows are open.

unless theres some semi-obvious way a flying centipede or toad could get in: then probably l13. he would probably shift back into a quasit and try to get the window open

is there anyone going in or out? if so he can just slip by them as they enter

Quote from Weathervision >>

Check the map and let me know how Spike plans to enter and where. None of the windows are open.

(OOC: @Weathervision - Two questions.

The vine bridges at L1 cross a creek bed of some sort.  How high are they above the ground?  I don't think that was clear when we crossed them the first time.

There's clearly a stairway that leads up to L8 from the grounds on the west side of Loomlurch, but is that area through the western door to L9 also a stairway?  Or it just one of the balconies manned by tin soldiers?  If it's a balcony off the first floor, how high above the ground did Ilifir think it was?  Thinking about both ways into Loomlurch for the non-fliers and alternate exits in case we run into trouble.)

the vine bridge is 10ft above the dried-up riverbed. 

That area next to L9 is a balcony that is 5 ft above the ground. There are Tin soldiers there, but the party may be able to distract them or send them on a wild goose chase. 

The door to L13 is locked and no one is seen coming or going from L13. If Spike wants to listen at the door, please roll perception for Spike. 

From the sky Ilifir can seen the Tin Soldiers 

ilifir lands, and stands still, staring blankly at the ground, looking almost despondent as he latches onto spikes senses

meanwhile, spike is trying to listen in through the door. (perception 3)

Spike hears mournful sobbing from a young girl and the clinking sound of a chain. In a gruff male voice Spike hears "Is that potatoes I smell?" The clinking of chains stops and the sound of crying stops for a moment. There is no answer from the young girl and after a moment the young girl goes about her business. Spike can surmise from the sound of chopping and of bubbling water that L13 may be a kitchen. 

in that case he moves on to checking l8 and l11

There are Tin Soldiers patrolling the balcony at L8

L11 door is firmly locked. To get to L11 Spike would have passed L6

L6

Creaking softly, a rocking horse moves back and forth near the door. Peeling paint covers its limbs, and its rocker is thick with moss. A rictus grin is painted on its face. Near a protruding root is a painted wooden box three feet on a side. A crank protrudes from one side of it, causing it to resemble an oversized jack-in-the-box.

Quote from Ben_Evolent >>

Valrieth laughs and hops a bit in place at the sight of all of the fireflies.  She says, "Oooh!  It's like being surrounded by stars!"  Val reaches out to let one of the fireflies land on her hand.  She cups her hands slightly so that she can watch it glow for a moment, and then she opens her hands and waits for it to fly back toward Lerak.  She stares at Lerak for a moment with a blank expression, thinking.  Then she says, dreamily, "I guess you won't need a candle or torch to see by tonight.  It's just a good thing that we weren't planning to play hide-and-seek."  (Val places emphasis on the word hide.)

Lerak is mesmerised by the light but  then realise it might be a problem for their plan. « I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tasted one. I’m a bit bright to sneak inside the house. Should we wait a bit till the effect is gone ? »

he then will try to weight in the discussion about the different plan but he always considered plan boring and time consuming. Sometime just going ahead is better.