(missed:) The dead green hag has a necklace that matches the others, and 25 in gold.  Mixed in with the coins you find a tiny, rolled-up note in Elvish saying only: Keep me informed, you will not regret it - RR

When we get to compare notes, as it were Do we remember an RR? Del will cast Comprehend Languages to examine the journal. Otherwise, He is ready to make camp by the tree and learn what Q learns from the big Z, and settle down Is anyone saving for anything specific? I feel like  the soldiers, knights, fools, tree defenders and such could split the coin, my share at least. These past weeks have put plenty in my bank account.

(He will do mid-air first)

The small booklet Del finds seems to be filled with some sort of alchemical notes, as if someone was trying to create or re-create various potions and/or formulas.  There are very few explanatory notes, and those that exist or short or apocryphal. There are untitled recipes with half the items scratched out or overwritten, pages of lists of equipment and ingredients with no context, and little side notes which make no sense on their own...like 'bent spoon' or 'Ask Gladys about feathers.'

Quentin guides Flying Mindartis against the trunk of the great oak, and presses the Z medallion against the bark.  A portal opens, a great hole forming in the trunk, but haltingly.  Beyond you can see what looks like a library with comfortable chairs and large, delightfully imagined woodcarvings of forest creatures.

"Guys.....I made a portal to see Zanderfell!" Quentin calls down to the group. 

"Zanderfell?" thought Elwin; he realized he must have forgotten the name.

Finishing the search of the hags, he placed the emerald pendants, the strange ring, the snakeskin headband with the beryls, and the vials of liquid into his sack, wrapping them as gently as he could in the burlap folds; he'd have to see if Quentin could detect anything magical about them. The gold he pocketed, making a mental note to see if it was even worth divvying up later.

Afterwards, the warlock looked the hags over again, and decided to gag them as well as leave them tied, using strips of their own clothing to do so. He knew a bit about magic now; even mere words were enough to invoke devestating spells. The situation was beginning to make him feel uneasy; if Del was going to chat with these hags, he should do so soon, Elwin thought. To his mind, leaving them simply tied up was madness.

"Yes, I can see that," Mindartis says, "would you like me to land or throw you in there?"

“I can walk in by myself. Should I go alone? Do you think Zanderfell will mind if I bring friends?” It is clear that Quentin is nervous about meeting his wizard idol and is stalling for time 

Mindartis answers Quentin's question about bringing friends for him by landing (or at least attempting to land) inside the portal.

Mindartis and Quentin enter a short tunnel into the tree and come out into a large and beautiful library.  The bookshelves, the ornaments, the frames of the furniture, all is carved from or otherwise formed out of wood.  The rounded walls are covered with carvings of trees and leaves. Some of the birds fly in through the portal after you, and perch on a life-sized wooden stag, on antlers so conveniently angled that you have to suspect they were designed to be bird perches.  Spotted forest cats make themselves at home on the cushions of the many comfortable-looking chairs and sofas.  The floor is polished wood, dotted with expertly woven rugs. Not only is it beautiful and luxurious, it is very neat.  Not even a book seems to have fallen off its shelf in the bitter battle.  The only sign that this place has been at the center of a war is the pervasive smell of pitch and smoke. 

At the center of the room, an ornate spiral staircase that goes both up and down.  You can see that the lower floor seems similar to this one, filled with bookshelves and wooden figures.

Mindartis looks to Quentin, "Want me to step out?"

"I uhhh...****y if you want to." Quentin says looking around at everything.

Raven would take her cut of the coins and pack away the jewlry to be sold when they get back to town.

She then would settle back to wait to see what is found out inside the tree.

Mindartis nods and also starts looking around, "So... are we looking for an elf? Cat? Bird? You wizard folk can turn into a bunch of strange things from what I've heard... no offense."

While Q and M try and meet the Z, Del tries to get info out of the hags, assuming they wake up. First - time check - is it still within an hour of the start of the attack? if so, Del has the owls help surround the hags, if not he'll have thanked them for their service and let them go.

Second, he positions and gets ready so if they start to fade to invisibility, he will cast Shatter - they should be in the 10foot radius even if they start to move. Of course they are still bound so I do not expect they could do so, but better safe.

As soon as they wake, Del starts with Anything funny, or lapse of cooperation, and you die. You've been left behind. The night hags and the grey elf left you. The fangs and your sister are dead. Your battle is lost.

Did you know your sister was informing to some third party? Del says holding up the RR note still rolled up Seems like you've been being used. No surprise - when we shut down the operation at the Great Pixie Tree, and at the Archwitch's old summer house, the letters we keep finding tell the story: hags being threatened into this conspiracy, Greyelf killing anyone with an independent idea, yadda yadda. Does not sound like the sort of outfit you need to be loyal to.

If you'd rather die than betray those that betray you, I can oblige. Or you can help...we want to rescue the kids

Del tries to keep them talking finding out about "the splinters" or where the kids are being kept; about Red Sails' and Akwot's part; where the hoops we just got go and how to navigate; what the vials and the notebook are; how to get at or defend against Greyelf. If things are going well, maybe even flash a look at the strange circuit diagram map.

Obviously there is threat behind it, but Del is playing up their being betrayed and left and that it is in their interest to cooperate

Persuasion 27  Insight 15  and he can through in a Cutting Word to lower their checks by 1 if they seem to be resisting

*throw

"He's appeared to me as a bird every time." Quentin says as with awe he approaches the bookshelf and begins to pursue through its contents

The hags sneer.  Hag one says, "If we die, we will be martyrs to the revival of the Archwitch, and our shades will rise when she does to bring glory and terror to the Westwoods!"

"Of course we know about Bertha's notes, you cretin," the second snorts. "The grey elf is only a tool to weed out the traitors and the unfaithful. There are far more important players in this game, and Upstart Annie has no idea what forces are lurking in the background.  But we do!  We do!" She cackles insanely. "Have you forgotten who the Archwitch is?  Who her family is?  Poke your greasy little sunburned nose out of this, while you still have the chance. Go sing your foolish little songs of hope and heroism in some bright and happy corner before SHE arises to snuff it all out once and for all."

They only smile smugly at your attempts to question them about Akwot and Red Sails and the Splinters.  When you show them the map, Hag One chortles. "The Crystal Maze. Yes, do go there.  You will find your lost children there...and more. So much more."

--------------

Quentin pokes around at the bookshelves.  This floor of the library seems dedicated to crafts and skills, and he finds books on forestry, smithing, architecture, baking, hunting, weaving, farming, dog training, and pretty much every imaginable practical subject.

Martyrhood it is then Del says, giving everyone a chance to get their words in before...

releasing Shatter for 8 thunder damage, half on DC 17 CON save; and we can finish them off with Sacred Flame or whatever

Quentin is grinning like a kid in the candy store about to grab a book about home decorating when he stops himself and says, “I’m exploring.” Quickly moving to the stairs and deciding to ascend them 

"You sound so sure of yourselves," sneered Elwin toward the hags, disgusted by their demeanor. At least they were willing to talk, even if it was more like bragging... and assuming they weren't lying. Not for the first time in his life, the warlock wondered if someone somewhere could bind a Zone of Truth spell to some object to prevent anyone in contact with it from telling falsehoods. If only....

Painfully putting on a false smile, he knelt beside the hags. "Well... since your eventual victory is assured, why not go all in? We can't stop you all, right? So tell us about the children... are they safe, or will we need to free them from sugar crystals, like the others? And what else is it that's there in the maze? Again, it's not like we'll be able to handle it anyway, right?"

(( Persuasion Check to convince the hags to talk: 18 ))