This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Elspeth is doing her best to help support the weaker prisoners as they climb the cliff, (str check: 1) providing a shoulder to lean against and gently murmuring encouragement where necessary. She's also going to cast guidance on two or three of the weaker prisoners as they go up the cliffs.
Soar will try to inspire the escapees to take heart and push through, and she will also use her physical strength get them up the rope.
At the bottom, she huddles close to the group and puts her arms around the closest ones. Her cultist robes are now nearly falling off of her, and you can see the doomguide-styled tabard underneath with skulls and severe-looking death imagery on equally-scary armor -- which makes her ebullient personality that much more surprising for those who don't know her.
She speaks again in a whisper, but more of a stage whisper, the kind where even in absolute darkness, you can tell she's smiling. "You have all impressed me so much. We've already done the impossible: you're free, and there's no alarm! Yet. Let's be as quiet as we can and get up this rope. It's not a hard climb. No harder than what you've already surmounted."
She's making eye contact with each one of the ex-prisoners. It'd seem overwrought if she weren't so sincere. She'll accept help from Elspeth or anyone else in her effort here. (Persuasion: 6; Performance: 16)
"We can get you out of here. My good friend Breena with the shortbow is at the top. You'll love her. I know you can do this. You're going to be amazing. Let's go!"
She suggests to Elspeth that scuffing out any tracks might be a good idea, if at all possible. Then she ascends the rope about halfway to where she can find some kind of outcropping to rest herself against and clambers over a couple feet. She looks back down and reaches her hand down with another smile. "Come on! I've got you!" is what her expression says. She'll help people midway up the rock scramble, just at the point where it sinks in that 20-30 feet is not nothing and they start to look down and get scared on the rope. She'll help steady people's nerves, steady people's hands, grab the collar of anyone who's looking like they might lose their grip, and lift them up higher toward the top. (Athletics: 18)
If she's close enough to Breena for her to hear a whisper, she gives her details about the group they're looking at, and suggests that if at all possible, she ask her animal friends to get a message to Jalt to ready the cart. She also quietly wonders aloud if it would make sense for one or two of them, perhaps Elspeth with her bonfires or Breena with her shortbow and some kind of arcane flame, to scurry about 200 feet deeper along the ridgeline/cliff edge toward the back of the canyon and setting some fires in the opposite direction to which the group is headed to make their escape [From what I understand of the geography, they are pretty close to the apex of the canyon, the deepest part, if the canyon's kind of shaped like this caret ^ and the top is north. Was thinking they're on the northwest side, and escape is toward the south.]. So the distraction could scurry to the north, even curving around to the east a hundred feet, and light a fire of some kind to take attention away from the prisoners. They'd scurry back to meet up with the rest of the group, which would be more slowly heading south under cover of darkness. Only an option for if it seems like they're about to be found out.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Nate huddles in with Soar, now seeing her true form underneath the disguise. so that's how they did it He is straight up shocked by her stature and beastly skull laced armor, making Nate feel quite feeble in comparison. He can see how how she was able to swing the war hammer with such skill as to just KO the guard. she should've killed him. I would've.
When Soar looks directly into Nate's eyes, she sees a very young man who's been through a lifetime (albiet a human lifetime haha) of pain and suffering and has endured. There is a strange darkness to his eye that at first moment may initially startle her, not that she'd be afraid or anything, but just the fact that this odd darkness even exists in a human's eye to begin with.
Nate is too exhausted to try and help anyone, let alone get up the cliff himself. So, he's not going to help anyone, but he's also not going to take any help from Soar or Elspeth. "Help the others! I should be able to manage..." He's going to try his best to get up this rope. When it is his turn, he grips the rope with all of this might, and starts to make the climb. come on... you can do this...
Athletics (dis): 3
If Nate fails and falls, hopefully someone strong catches him, if he fails and just can't climb, he will take help from Soar.
If he succeeds, at the top, if he hears Soar mention animal friends to Breena, he will say "What?! Animal friends? Where?!" You can see the excitement in Nate's eyes as he says this.
Elspeth, your physical efforts to help the prisoners don't achieve much. Your guidance has a greater effect, but it does slow proceedings down as the prisoners must climb one by one, each waiting for the one before to reach the top before starting their own climb.
Soar, though your efforts to persuade fall flat, one of the gnome prisoners does take notice of the grim trappings of the Doomguide and your sunny disposition, and looking incredulously at you, slowly starts to laugh. The others look askance at her, and she covers her mouth to prevent making noise, but her laughter only intensifies. However did we come to this absurd place, she snorts. The mood proves infectious; the others begin to laugh at the motley band of escapees and rescuers, and somehow it improves everyone's mood. There's a bit more energy in the prisoners as they climb.
Nate, as you speak, one of the prisoners looks at you and tries to shush you. Please, please don't speak so loudly. She looks over at the tents in fear, and begins to climb the rope. When it comes to your turn, you begin to climb, but immediately fall. Luckily, Leosin and Soar are standing at the bottom to catch you, and you hadn't made it far up, so you don't suffer any damage. You climb again, this time with Leosin and the kobold helping as best they can. It's slow, though.
Eventually, all the prisoners are crouching in the shadows at the top of the cliff, and Breena slowly and silently pulls up the rope. She shakes her head Soar, and then shushes Nate. No point warning Jalt. He can't see in this darkness, and I expect we'll have to abandon the cart if we're being chased. We'll see. She looks at the camp. A fire might be nice, but I've no flaming arrows or means to make them. I'm open to suggestions. She creeps over to the other side of the rocky cliff, and lowers the longer rope about a hundred feet to the ground. The depths below are too far to see clearly, so you hope the rope reaches the bottom, as Breena ties the rope to a rock as securely as she can.
You're now huddling with the prisoners at the top of the external cliff face. This one is sheer and drops a hundred feet or more to the ground below the camp where Jalt is presumably hiding and waiting. The prisoners, looking down at the gaping emptiness beneath them, start to lose a little of the cheer and morale they had gained previously. Breena has loops of rope that she begins to tie to the prisoners to help secure them to the main rope, but it will still be a perilous climb down, especially for the weaker ones.
As Soar and Breena mention Jalt, the kobold looks up and gives a small smile. Jalt is there, I think, and he points as he whispers. He is waiting for you. You are his brave friends, yes? He smiles sadly, and looks back towards the camp, but doesn't speak more.
Please describe how you are going to get yourselves and the prisoners down the 100-foot climb, who will go first, and what you will do to make this successful. If you are taking any action such as setting fires in the camp, please also describe that and make the appropriate rolls.
Nate tries to muffle himself as much as possible as he takes the fall basically into Soar's arms. He silently nods at Soar, Leosin and the Kobold, kind of thanking them with his eyes, and takes the help this time to get up the cliff. Once on the cliff, he acknowledges Breena's shush as he sees her starting to plan for the next descent. He figures he will ask about the animal friends comment later and actually stays quiet while the others start to talk about the next plan.
He will take a look down the external cliff... and then will mention to the others at some point during their planning "My spider form can easily get down this cliff... I know it doesn't help anyone else though. If you want, I could go down there first to check things out... and see what might be waiting for us at the bottom. Make sure your friend Jalt is down there. I mean it's the least I could do... I owe you my life now."
"I can also help with fire..."
Nate's going to then snap his fingers and make the small flame appear in his hand. Produce Flame"This should be enough fire to light up your arrows.. if you wish" He's going to keep the flame in his hand until the others decide what to do.
"Spider form?"Soar says in response. "Nate, you said, didn't you? Tell me more about that! Do you mean a little spider or a big spider? A big spider might be able to carry someone or even make a big web to help us down. Elspeth over here was a smaller spider for most of our scouting mission. Maybe you two can collaborate."
She looks up and down the cliffside, ranging a bit to one side and the other, trying to get a sense of, on one side, it looks like the drop is as sheer and as high as it is where they are... and on the other side, if it looks like there is any activity in the camp.
"If they still have no idea there's been an escape, then it might not be a good idea to start a fire and wake everyone up. If we can tell they have sussed us out, then a fire further away would be good to distract them."(Is there a way for Soar to get any sense from the camp about its activity level? Perception: 14)
When the little kobold speaks up, Soar gets excited. "You know Jalt?" Where did he point? Is it nearby? "How? Do you know where he is now? How did you get taken?"
Especially if there is an easier way down, and even if there isn't, Soar will suggest they move down the ridge toward the opening of canyon to get away from where anyone finding the empty prison is and not make it easy for them to just look up/climb up and immediately see the group in the middle of climbing down the other side.
Once they find what Soar is hoping could be an easier route, she'll help Breena tie the rope securely, and she will suggest an alternative to just having everyone climb 100 feet down a stationary rope. Before throwing the rope down, someone like Breena steps into one of the loops she'd tied at the bottom of the rope, and then Soar will help her rappel down, with Soar (and a few others who still have strength backing her up) lowering the rope down hand by hand. Once Breena reaches the bottom, she'd shake the rope twice to let them know she'd made it, and Soar would pull the rope back up and repeat the process. It might be slower, but less terrifying than climbing down hand by hand 100 feet into the darkness. The spiders could potentially climb down midway to serve as spotters.
Nate's eyes widen with excitement as he looks to Soar "Yeah! A big one! Or a little one. Whatever you think is best. Some spider webs might come in handy so maybe the bigger one would be best. Actually... we could make a web-slide..."
Nate then will blow out his flame he created. "Yeah... makes sense about the fire."
Nate then looks to Elspeth " So you're a druid too! Maybe the webs is the answer! Maybe we can both become big spiders and then make a giant web slide? Or at least maybe make some web nets just in case as the others make the climb."
OOC: If Nate and Elspeth became giant spiders (Nate becoming giant Wolf Spider), would they have enough web to make a 100-ish foot web-slide? If not, they can crawl down together and potentially make web footings, and worst case catch anyone who falls in a web.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Two giant spiders could create a web covering the side of the cliff in about thirty minutes. It would be sticky, so not a slide, but the prisoners could climb down it more easily. A web hammock might work but there would be a lot of swinging and possibly bashing into the cliff, unless you moved really slowly.
Soar can tell that the nearby camp is quiet and there's not much change in the overall noise level from the rest of the camp. However, the limit to darkvision prevents her seeing much beyond the immediate area.
The kobold shakes his head, and mouths the word Later, looking worriedly back at the camp.
Breena shrugs and whispers: It will take a long time, but if you think that's the best approach. She starts pulling the rope up. Who's going first?
Elspeth's eyes light up as she hears the idea of a spiderweb slide, and she turns to Nate, her face quickly morphs into a thoughtful expression,
"That's a fantastic idea, Nate, and I did spend a lot of time as a spider recently. It'll certainly make the trip down safer and easier for everyone, although I'm worried that if we take too long proofing the cliffs someone in the camp will find out about the prisoners and sound the alarm. If I change into a giant spider I could carry people down, then climb up again, or perhaps we can make some harnesses to attach to the cliff or perhaps one of us, which would take less time."
She glances around, then adds, addressing Breena. "Breena, have you seen how far the cliffs go on? Is there some sort of gentler incline that will be easier to climb down? Perhaps while Nate and I make the web you could look around a little for an easier way to get down from here."
((out of character, would it be feasible to carry riders down the cliff as a giant spider, perhaps with straps to make sure they don't fall down? if so, would it decrease the giant spider's speed?))
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
I think as level two druids, you and Nate are both limited to wildshaping into creatures that are CR rating of 1/4 only. So not a Giant Spider, unless you have a special feature that allows it.
Sure. So Elspeth can become a Giant Spider, but Nate (Circle of the Land) cannot.
I would say a Giant Spider could carry one medium creature (human or half-elf) or two small creatures (gnome or kobold). Your movement speed as a Giant Spider would be 30 feet, so you could dash 60 feet. Reasonably this means that you could get down to the bottom and back up in 30 seconds, allowing time for boarding and disembarkation, so to speak.
While it is true that Nate is restricted to morphing into creatures with a challenge rating of 1/4 right now, a Giant Wolf Spider fits that criteria, and Nate is especially akin to this specific creature as he's used it a few times before.
Nate is excited (well, excited as he can be in this situation and his condition) to hear and meet someone who has the same powers as him. He's never met a druid before... so this is exciting for him. To Elspeth: "We will have to share secrets once we are out of this! I have only begun to start figuring this whole shape changing thing out... "Then Nate says, in Druidic "Good Luck"
Nate then looks to the party "Ok, I am ready. Let's do this. Let's morph into Giant Spiders and carry the prisoners down one by one. The two of us should be able to do it real quick while Soar and whoever else is able can go themselves without trouble." Nate looks to Soar, hoping that she accepts the plan and hopes more that he is earning her respect.
"Leosin, hop on."
Nate can't contain his excitement and adrenaline with all of this, and he all of a sudden flickers and then changes instantly into a Giant Wolf Spider and starts slinking around like a Wolf Spider does. Like Tarantula-ish. Waiting for Leosin to jump on his thorax.
A Giant Wolf Spider will work, but as it's a medium creature, Nate in that form can carry one gnome or kobold per trip, not a medium-sized creature. It is, however, slightly faster than the regular Giant Spider.
Okay, so having explained the plan, Nate transforms. Breena leaves the rope where it is, as a backup, and focuses on helping to secure each creature to the spiders. This will reduce the time needed to secure each passenger.
Leosin shakes his head and suggests that one of the gnomes approach the spider. She is extremely nervous about doing so, and watches the spider warily.
Elspeth, can you confirm you're going ahead with this plan?
Please describe, and make what you think is the most logical skill or ability check.
Elspeth is doing her best to help support the weaker prisoners as they climb the cliff, (str check: 1) providing a shoulder to lean against and gently murmuring encouragement where necessary. She's also going to cast guidance on two or three of the weaker prisoners as they go up the cliffs.
Soar will try to inspire the escapees to take heart and push through, and she will also use her physical strength get them up the rope.
At the bottom, she huddles close to the group and puts her arms around the closest ones. Her cultist robes are now nearly falling off of her, and you can see the doomguide-styled tabard underneath with skulls and severe-looking death imagery on equally-scary armor -- which makes her ebullient personality that much more surprising for those who don't know her.
She speaks again in a whisper, but more of a stage whisper, the kind where even in absolute darkness, you can tell she's smiling. "You have all impressed me so much. We've already done the impossible: you're free, and there's no alarm! Yet. Let's be as quiet as we can and get up this rope. It's not a hard climb. No harder than what you've already surmounted."
She's making eye contact with each one of the ex-prisoners. It'd seem overwrought if she weren't so sincere. She'll accept help from Elspeth or anyone else in her effort here. (Persuasion: 6; Performance: 16)
"We can get you out of here. My good friend Breena with the shortbow is at the top. You'll love her. I know you can do this. You're going to be amazing. Let's go!"
She suggests to Elspeth that scuffing out any tracks might be a good idea, if at all possible. Then she ascends the rope about halfway to where she can find some kind of outcropping to rest herself against and clambers over a couple feet. She looks back down and reaches her hand down with another smile. "Come on! I've got you!" is what her expression says. She'll help people midway up the rock scramble, just at the point where it sinks in that 20-30 feet is not nothing and they start to look down and get scared on the rope. She'll help steady people's nerves, steady people's hands, grab the collar of anyone who's looking like they might lose their grip, and lift them up higher toward the top. (Athletics: 18)
If she's close enough to Breena for her to hear a whisper, she gives her details about the group they're looking at, and suggests that if at all possible, she ask her animal friends to get a message to Jalt to ready the cart. She also quietly wonders aloud if it would make sense for one or two of them, perhaps Elspeth with her bonfires or Breena with her shortbow and some kind of arcane flame, to scurry about 200 feet deeper along the ridgeline/cliff edge toward the back of the canyon and setting some fires in the opposite direction to which the group is headed to make their escape [From what I understand of the geography, they are pretty close to the apex of the canyon, the deepest part, if the canyon's kind of shaped like this caret ^ and the top is north. Was thinking they're on the northwest side, and escape is toward the south.]. So the distraction could scurry to the north, even curving around to the east a hundred feet, and light a fire of some kind to take attention away from the prisoners. They'd scurry back to meet up with the rest of the group, which would be more slowly heading south under cover of darkness. Only an option for if it seems like they're about to be found out.
Nate huddles in with Soar, now seeing her true form underneath the disguise. so that's how they did it He is straight up shocked by her stature and beastly skull laced armor, making Nate feel quite feeble in comparison. He can see how how she was able to swing the war hammer with such skill as to just KO the guard. she should've killed him. I would've.
When Soar looks directly into Nate's eyes, she sees a very young man who's been through a lifetime (albiet a human lifetime haha) of pain and suffering and has endured. There is a strange darkness to his eye that at first moment may initially startle her, not that she'd be afraid or anything, but just the fact that this odd darkness even exists in a human's eye to begin with.
Nate is too exhausted to try and help anyone, let alone get up the cliff himself. So, he's not going to help anyone, but he's also not going to take any help from Soar or Elspeth. "Help the others! I should be able to manage..." He's going to try his best to get up this rope. When it is his turn, he grips the rope with all of this might, and starts to make the climb. come on... you can do this...
Athletics (dis): 3
If Nate fails and falls, hopefully someone strong catches him, if he fails and just can't climb, he will take help from Soar.
If he succeeds, at the top, if he hears Soar mention animal friends to Breena, he will say "What?! Animal friends? Where?!" You can see the excitement in Nate's eyes as he says this.
Elspeth, your physical efforts to help the prisoners don't achieve much. Your guidance has a greater effect, but it does slow proceedings down as the prisoners must climb one by one, each waiting for the one before to reach the top before starting their own climb.
Soar, though your efforts to persuade fall flat, one of the gnome prisoners does take notice of the grim trappings of the Doomguide and your sunny disposition, and looking incredulously at you, slowly starts to laugh. The others look askance at her, and she covers her mouth to prevent making noise, but her laughter only intensifies. However did we come to this absurd place, she snorts. The mood proves infectious; the others begin to laugh at the motley band of escapees and rescuers, and somehow it improves everyone's mood. There's a bit more energy in the prisoners as they climb.
Nate, as you speak, one of the prisoners looks at you and tries to shush you. Please, please don't speak so loudly. She looks over at the tents in fear, and begins to climb the rope. When it comes to your turn, you begin to climb, but immediately fall. Luckily, Leosin and Soar are standing at the bottom to catch you, and you hadn't made it far up, so you don't suffer any damage. You climb again, this time with Leosin and the kobold helping as best they can. It's slow, though.
Eventually, all the prisoners are crouching in the shadows at the top of the cliff, and Breena slowly and silently pulls up the rope. She shakes her head Soar, and then shushes Nate. No point warning Jalt. He can't see in this darkness, and I expect we'll have to abandon the cart if we're being chased. We'll see. She looks at the camp. A fire might be nice, but I've no flaming arrows or means to make them. I'm open to suggestions. She creeps over to the other side of the rocky cliff, and lowers the longer rope about a hundred feet to the ground. The depths below are too far to see clearly, so you hope the rope reaches the bottom, as Breena ties the rope to a rock as securely as she can.
You're now huddling with the prisoners at the top of the external cliff face. This one is sheer and drops a hundred feet or more to the ground below the camp where Jalt is presumably hiding and waiting. The prisoners, looking down at the gaping emptiness beneath them, start to lose a little of the cheer and morale they had gained previously. Breena has loops of rope that she begins to tie to the prisoners to help secure them to the main rope, but it will still be a perilous climb down, especially for the weaker ones.
As Soar and Breena mention Jalt, the kobold looks up and gives a small smile. Jalt is there, I think, and he points as he whispers. He is waiting for you. You are his brave friends, yes? He smiles sadly, and looks back towards the camp, but doesn't speak more.
Please describe how you are going to get yourselves and the prisoners down the 100-foot climb, who will go first, and what you will do to make this successful. If you are taking any action such as setting fires in the camp, please also describe that and make the appropriate rolls.
"Ouff!!"
Nate tries to muffle himself as much as possible as he takes the fall basically into Soar's arms. He silently nods at Soar, Leosin and the Kobold, kind of thanking them with his eyes, and takes the help this time to get up the cliff. Once on the cliff, he acknowledges Breena's shush as he sees her starting to plan for the next descent. He figures he will ask about the animal friends comment later and actually stays quiet while the others start to talk about the next plan.
He will take a look down the external cliff... and then will mention to the others at some point during their planning "My spider form can easily get down this cliff... I know it doesn't help anyone else though. If you want, I could go down there first to check things out... and see what might be waiting for us at the bottom. Make sure your friend Jalt is down there. I mean it's the least I could do... I owe you my life now."
"I can also help with fire..."
Nate's going to then snap his fingers and make the small flame appear in his hand. Produce Flame "This should be enough fire to light up your arrows.. if you wish" He's going to keep the flame in his hand until the others decide what to do.
"Spider form?" Soar says in response. "Nate, you said, didn't you? Tell me more about that! Do you mean a little spider or a big spider? A big spider might be able to carry someone or even make a big web to help us down. Elspeth over here was a smaller spider for most of our scouting mission. Maybe you two can collaborate."
She looks up and down the cliffside, ranging a bit to one side and the other, trying to get a sense of, on one side, it looks like the drop is as sheer and as high as it is where they are... and on the other side, if it looks like there is any activity in the camp.
"If they still have no idea there's been an escape, then it might not be a good idea to start a fire and wake everyone up. If we can tell they have sussed us out, then a fire further away would be good to distract them." (Is there a way for Soar to get any sense from the camp about its activity level? Perception: 14)
When the little kobold speaks up, Soar gets excited. "You know Jalt?" Where did he point? Is it nearby? "How? Do you know where he is now? How did you get taken?"
Especially if there is an easier way down, and even if there isn't, Soar will suggest they move down the ridge toward the opening of canyon to get away from where anyone finding the empty prison is and not make it easy for them to just look up/climb up and immediately see the group in the middle of climbing down the other side.
Once they find what Soar is hoping could be an easier route, she'll help Breena tie the rope securely, and she will suggest an alternative to just having everyone climb 100 feet down a stationary rope. Before throwing the rope down, someone like Breena steps into one of the loops she'd tied at the bottom of the rope, and then Soar will help her rappel down, with Soar (and a few others who still have strength backing her up) lowering the rope down hand by hand. Once Breena reaches the bottom, she'd shake the rope twice to let them know she'd made it, and Soar would pull the rope back up and repeat the process. It might be slower, but less terrifying than climbing down hand by hand 100 feet into the darkness. The spiders could potentially climb down midway to serve as spotters.
Nate's eyes widen with excitement as he looks to Soar "Yeah! A big one! Or a little one. Whatever you think is best. Some spider webs might come in handy so maybe the bigger one would be best. Actually... we could make a web-slide..."
Nate then will blow out his flame he created. "Yeah... makes sense about the fire."
Nate then looks to Elspeth " So you're a druid too! Maybe the webs is the answer! Maybe we can both become big spiders and then make a giant web slide? Or at least maybe make some web nets just in case as the others make the climb."
OOC: If Nate and Elspeth became giant spiders (Nate becoming giant Wolf Spider), would they have enough web to make a 100-ish foot web-slide? If not, they can crawl down together and potentially make web footings, and worst case catch anyone who falls in a web.
OOC: or two spiders with a web hammock suspended between them crawling up and down like an arachnid funicular! Druids are awesome.
Two giant spiders could create a web covering the side of the cliff in about thirty minutes. It would be sticky, so not a slide, but the prisoners could climb down it more easily. A web hammock might work but there would be a lot of swinging and possibly bashing into the cliff, unless you moved really slowly.
Soar can tell that the nearby camp is quiet and there's not much change in the overall noise level from the rest of the camp. However, the limit to darkvision prevents her seeing much beyond the immediate area.
The kobold shakes his head, and mouths the word Later, looking worriedly back at the camp.
Breena shrugs and whispers: It will take a long time, but if you think that's the best approach. She starts pulling the rope up. Who's going first?
4
Elspeth's eyes light up as she hears the idea of a spiderweb slide, and she turns to Nate, her face quickly morphs into a thoughtful expression,
"That's a fantastic idea, Nate, and I did spend a lot of time as a spider recently. It'll certainly make the trip down safer and easier for everyone, although I'm worried that if we take too long proofing the cliffs someone in the camp will find out about the prisoners and sound the alarm. If I change into a giant spider I could carry people down, then climb up again, or perhaps we can make some harnesses to attach to the cliff or perhaps one of us, which would take less time."
She glances around, then adds, addressing Breena. "Breena, have you seen how far the cliffs go on? Is there some sort of gentler incline that will be easier to climb down? Perhaps while Nate and I make the web you could look around a little for an easier way to get down from here."
((out of character, would it be feasible to carry riders down the cliff as a giant spider, perhaps with straps to make sure they don't fall down? if so, would it decrease the giant spider's speed?))
I think as level two druids, you and Nate are both limited to wildshaping into creatures that are CR rating of 1/4 only. So not a Giant Spider, unless you have a special feature that allows it.
8
((Elspeth is circle of the moon, which allows her to wildshape into a beast with a CR as high as 1, I believe!))
Sure. So Elspeth can become a Giant Spider, but Nate (Circle of the Land) cannot.
I would say a Giant Spider could carry one medium creature (human or half-elf) or two small creatures (gnome or kobold). Your movement speed as a Giant Spider would be 30 feet, so you could dash 60 feet. Reasonably this means that you could get down to the bottom and back up in 30 seconds, allowing time for boarding and disembarkation, so to speak.
While it is true that Nate is restricted to morphing into creatures with a challenge rating of 1/4 right now, a Giant Wolf Spider fits that criteria, and Nate is especially akin to this specific creature as he's used it a few times before.
Nate is excited (well, excited as he can be in this situation and his condition) to hear and meet someone who has the same powers as him. He's never met a druid before... so this is exciting for him. To Elspeth: "We will have to share secrets once we are out of this! I have only begun to start figuring this whole shape changing thing out... " Then Nate says, in Druidic "Good Luck"
Nate then looks to the party "Ok, I am ready. Let's do this. Let's morph into Giant Spiders and carry the prisoners down one by one. The two of us should be able to do it real quick while Soar and whoever else is able can go themselves without trouble." Nate looks to Soar, hoping that she accepts the plan and hopes more that he is earning her respect.
"Leosin, hop on."
Nate can't contain his excitement and adrenaline with all of this, and he all of a sudden flickers and then changes instantly into a Giant Wolf Spider and starts slinking around like a Wolf Spider does. Like Tarantula-ish. Waiting for Leosin to jump on his thorax.
A Giant Wolf Spider will work, but as it's a medium creature, Nate in that form can carry one gnome or kobold per trip, not a medium-sized creature. It is, however, slightly faster than the regular Giant Spider.
Okay, so having explained the plan, Nate transforms. Breena leaves the rope where it is, as a backup, and focuses on helping to secure each creature to the spiders. This will reduce the time needed to secure each passenger.
Leosin shakes his head and suggests that one of the gnomes approach the spider. She is extremely nervous about doing so, and watches the spider warily.
Elspeth, can you confirm you're going ahead with this plan?
Soar, what are you going to do to assist?
SpiderNate turns his body and eight eyes to the little gnome.
<quiet spider-like noises....>
Nate, make a Persuasion check with disadvantage.
hahaha!
<more quiet spider-like noises....> Eyes blinking, not at the same time, but all of them looking at the gnome.
5