Tarja is comfortably in her element among the trees, happy to be away from the road. She thanks Zeke for helping her avoid the rattlesnake - wouldn't want to disturb the little guy - and continues watching for the path.

She leaves Arvel and Elra to their discussion, but does comment on Ethan's admiration of the world around them.

It's so much more peaceful out here. The earth is both the workshop and the resources, the forest is both the resources and the result. It's all one cycle. The forest has been here long before I was born, and will stay here long after I'm gone.

In cities or crowds... you're never quite sure where you stand, or where you're going, there.

Ethan nods along as Tarja talks, but at the mention of workshops and resources, he stops nodding.

"Well, I mean, sure there are a lot of natural resources, but they are all still, you know, in the ground."

"I wouldn't like to have to manually collect everything I need from mining and forestry all the time."

"And cities aren't so bad, if you keep to yourself more, like in a cool, dark and quiet workshop."

Ethan looks around at the forest again.

"But I will agree strongly about the peace. If I could have a workshop out here, but with a magical door that connected me to the city, for when I needed stuff, well, that would be amazing."

"Hhmmm..."

Ethan opens his gauntlet and pulls out his designs book, and mumbling to himself, quickly writes out a note.

"Note to self: investigate permanent, long range, spatial portals."

Zeke keeps quiet during the interplay, smiling to himself at his comrades' relaxed banter.  The fact they felt comfortable enough to chat and flirt and dream while walking through goblin-infest woods gave the hulking barbarian a strange sort of professional pride. 

He continued to trail just behind the diminutive druid, watching for any signs of danger as she navigated the party towards their missing sponsor.

OOC: To be clear, did you mean that Krikket is flying overhead above the trees?  I'll assume so for now.

The party continues on while enjoying what has become a peaceful day after several challenging ones.  Krikket eventually reports seeing a winding line through the wood, likely a consistent break in the trees formed by the river Tarja is looking for, along with slightly more rocky, mountainous terrain several miles beyond.  Soon the party notices a slight decline in the terrain and half a mile or so later they hear the low roar of a river.  Moments later Tarja passes through the last stand of trees onto the boulder strewn banks of a swiftly flowing river that is roughly fifty feet wide.

Zeke and Elra survey the scene and notice not only the potential challenge in crossing what is sure to be a powerful current but a few large spiderwebs high in the trees a few hundred feet into the woods beyond.

(OOC: Trying to honor those previously rolled and excellent Perception checks for as long as seems appropriate during the journey.)

'Spiderwebs.  That doesn't bode well.' the tiefling looks from the trees to his druid comrade 'I'm hoping you can talk them into leaving us alone.'

Zeke walks to the edge of the riverbank and surveys the rushing water.  Seeing the powerful current, he turns back to the party, 'We're going to need to run a rope across this stream, otherwise, I'm afraid we'll lose someone or something important.  I'm happy to ford the stream to get the rope to the other side, unless anyone has any better ideas?'

Quote from Hexblade37 >>

OOC: To be clear, did you mean that Krikket is flying overhead above the trees?  I'll assume so for now.

 

 (Yes. As far as 100' will allow. He's also invisible.)

Ethan assesses the river before speaking.

"I have an idea for making the crossing a little easier and safer."

Ethan turns to Arvel,

"Arvel, is your little friend still available?"

Ethan then addresses everyone,

"Also, who has rope?"

Ethan looks back over the river before continuing,

"We will probably need 4, 50ft ropes, to make my idea work."

Arvel begins digging through his pack.

"Let's see. Crowbar...tinderbox...sorry, I haven't used much of this stuff since I bought it. Still new to the whole 'become an adventurer' thing. Ah! Here we go. Rope!"

"Krikket! Help the artificer with whatever he needs."

The sprite appears before Ethan.

"How may I serve you?"

Zeke volunteers his rope as well. 

"Hello Krikket, we are going to need your particular capabilities to get us safely over this river."

Ethan takes the first two ropes and starts showing Krikket what he will need to do.

"So, we will need you to carry this rope over and loop it around one of the sturdy trees, on the far bank."

"Then we will need you to drag the end of this rope over and secure it using this knot."

Ethan demonstrates the knot, that will secure to the rope over the river, with an easy release mechanism in its design.

Ethan look up at the others,

"Any more rope before Krikket starts his part? We need at least one more, like these other three."

Ethan goes back to showing Krikket the knot, getting him to practice it a couple of times.

Tarja has a lot of rope, and volunteers it. (250 ft - she bought a lot back in town!)

“I don’t think I can cross this on my own! I don’t have enough control over my animal forms to swim well... But I can turn in to something small so Krikket, Vincent, Edgar, or Zeke can carry me across, and I can help set up pulleys our devices on that side.”

Ethan collects the last needed rope,

"Thanks. Oh, you want to use your ability to turn into an animal, to go over?"

"Ok, here let me show you the knots as well then, Krikket can take you over first and then you can help him tie the ropes on the far side. That will make things easier I think."

Ethan shows Tarja the same knots he was showing Krikket.

"Ok then, I will leave it to you both, to get over and handle the other side."

Ethan turns to Zeke,

"Zeke, could I get you to hold his end of the rope, while Krikket carries the other end over? If he drops it due to the water pulling on it, you can pull it back and he can try again."

Ethan hands the second rope to Zeke to look after, while Krikket and Tarja get the first rope over to the far bank.

Ethan turns to Fae,

"Hmm, Fae do you think your little friend could help Krikket with the second rope? If they can hold the middle of the rope up, that might stop the water from pulling too hard on it."

Ethan turns to Elra,

"Elra, could you loop this rope around that tree over there?"

Ethan indicates a sturdy tree, while handing Elra the third rope.

Ethan then forms the fourth rope into a harness, and gets out one of his pulleys.

"Once Krikket and Tarja have secured the other side, we will attach the pulley and then tie of our side."

Ethan puts the harness on to show how it is worn and how it hooks onto the pulley.

"So you wear it like his and it kind of makes a seat to hold you, so your hands are free to pull yourself along the rope."

Ethan takes the harness off and waits for the rope to be secured at the far bank of the river.

Arvel walks over and puts a hand on Ethan's shoulder.

"Brilliant plan, Etan. Just brilliant. Flawless, really. I do have one concern, though."

The charlatan leans closer to the artificer to say in a low voice.

"Is there any way to do this without getting wet? I mean, I just had these pants mended and have you ever had to wear wet skivvies? Let me tell you, when they dry out? Tasha's Hideous Wedgie. I speak from experience."

"Huh," Elra looks at the rope in her hand and then to the tree Ethan pointed out. "Oh ya. Sure." She walks over to the tree and loops the rope around it as best she can. She looks around to see if there was anything else she could help with.

Fae would nod to Ethan. She'd call Edgar down from the skies to assist Krikket with the rope as per Ethan's instructions.

Ethan indicates to Elra,

"Bring the two ends over to where Zeke is. Once the other end is secure, we will finish off this side."

Ethan answers Arvel,

"Well it depends on how high and how taut we can get the rope. But it is, unfortunately, very likely that we will get wet crossing the river, sorry."

Ethan nods his thanks, as Edgar swoops down to help.

Intelligence check to adequately teach everyone whats needed: 22

“Relax, Etan. I was trying to lighten the tension.”

Tarja nods along as Ethan demonstrates the procedures.

Krikket, could you give me a lift over to the other side?

Tarja curls up and shrinks down in to the form of a small Rat. Once on the other side, she quickly scurries to a spot about a meter from the riverbank, hopefully out of biting range from both any big fish in the water but not yet close to any larger animals in the forest.

Before growing back in to Druid form, she takes a sniff with the rat's keen nose. Are there any smelly goblins/orcs/worgs/bugbears nearby, or are there just the smells of the forest and the spiders?

After that check, she quickly transforms back into Dwarf form, and sets out, with Krikket and Edgar, to follow the instructions from Ethan in setting up the pulley system on this side.

 A bit dangerous to stay that small for too long around here. Bite-size, for some of the spiders in the area. Edgar and Krikket, watch out for webs, the spiders don't know they should leave you alone.

Ethan looks at Arvel,

"Oh, was I getting carried away? People have told me i can get that way when working, sorry."

"Not away. But I could tell you were headed that way. Besides, I'm more than certain you have something up your sleeve..."

The charlatan taps Ethan's gauntlet.

"...that'll dry us off in a jiffy."