Hexblade's Lost Mine of Phandelver - Main Thread

Shadows grow long as the sun gets lower in the sky while the party works together to set up Ethan's vision.  The ropes sag a bit and everyone with any weight to them gets wet, Ethan surely pondering ways to make the ropes tighter next time he has to try something like this.  A short while later everyone is safely across and when Ethan gives the word Krikket helps untie the ropes from the far side again.  Soon everyone is also dry thanks to liberal castings of Prestidigitation, a good thing as the air grows increasingly cold without direct sunlight.

Tarja does not pick up on any strange smells beyond the expected hints of spiders and their webs and nests, BUT she does notice a distinct absence of smells she might otherwise expect just about anywhere in the forest such as those of squirrels, birds and other small creatures never mind bears, wolves and the like.

Zeke spreads out as soon as he hits the ground on the far side of the bank, looking for any signs of trouble in the woods.

Zeke does not spot any trouble in the form of movement or sound, but does still see large spider webs.  The more one moves away from the roar of the river the more they realized that things are eerily quiet save the occasional breeze through the trees.

Elra approaches the spider webs to get a better look at them, having never seen any so big. "How big does a spider need to get to make webs this large?" she asks, shivering.

'Eyes up and blades out everyone, Tarja, will you take point?'  the barbarian leans into the dwarf and speaks softly to her 'I'll follow your lead on how to handle any creatures we encounter, but you know I can't let them hurt any of you...'

With that, he sweeps out his blade and slides his shield down into place on his arm, walking a wide circle around the party as they fall into their usual marching order.   

The scene has rapidly grown more ominous as the sun continues to fade, no creatures make a sound, the air grows cold and large spiderwebs bigger than a man consistently decorate the trees.  Tarja estimates several more hours to their destination, forcing the group to push on into the darkness if they do indeed continue.

Anyone who has not already since crossing the river can make a Perception check.

Perception: 19

Perception: 19

Arvel and Elra (and anyone else rolling a 15+ or with a passive to match) do spot a few spiders almost the size of a man moving amongst the webs high in the tree tops, although they appear to only be startled, or at worst, watching.

Ethan thanks Krikket, as the last of the ropes is brought over the river.

"Thank you Kikket, that would have been a lot harder and more dangerous without your help."

Ethan pulls out his pocketwatch like device and uses it to create small semitransparent discs. (the discs look like Aerogel)

Placing the discs on peoples cloths causes them to absorb into the clothing, then causes about a cubic foot of water and dirt to leave there clothing and equipment.

Once everyone is clean and dry, Ethan pulls out his designs book and makes some quick notes about what was done, and some ideas for a device to improve the process in the future.

Putting his book away, Ethan finally looks up at the forest ahead of the group.

"Oh wow, that does look ominous doesn't it."

At Elra's remark about the spiders probable size, Ethan silently nods his agreement.

As Zeke calls out weapons ready, Ethan activates his gauntlet, causing his shield to shoot out and lock into place with a clang.

Ethan advances to stand near the others, attempting to place himself between the less armoured of the group, and the ominous forest ahead.

Perception check: 15

At the sight of the spiders, Elra gets rather pale and pulls up the hood of her cloak, trying her best to cover up everything that isn't her eyes so she could still see. "How much longer?" she eventually asks, voice barely loud enough for the people nearest her to hear.

Ethan notices the spiders,

"Wow, those are big!"

Ethan holds his shield up more in front of him, looking over to Zeke and Tarja, for direction.

Fae would walk along with the others, doodling in her journal every once and a while to document what she sees. She was quite intrigued by the intricacies of their webs and found beauty in their delicate shapes.

Perception: 3

Hearing of the spiders the wizard would squint, peering as hard as she could hoping to spot a spider. She thought she MAY have seen one, but maybe it was just a shadow. "Maybe I should look into getting those glasses..." Fae'd mumble to herself.

Arvel holds his walking stick in front of him, vaguely waving it in the air as he walks.

"Ugh. Walking into spider webs is the worst. Nice spideys, good spideys. Just passing through..."

"Anyone care to wax eloquent about the idyllic nature of the forest now?"

"Yeah no, not really. This part of the forest is not nearly as nice as the part back there."

Ethan follows Zeke and Tarja, while keeping a watch on Fae, Arvel and Elra, with his shield held defensively.

Ethan is starting to look as concerned as Zeke always seems to be.

"Um, is this going to take a long time to get through? Because its getting darker, and its hard enough to see the spiders in what light we have now."

"I really don't want to be setting up camp around here. I don't think I would sleep a wink."

Fae would reach into her pockets for her light pebbles, holding them in her fist to filter the light and direct it mostly to the forest floor. "I would hate to invade their area with excessive light. If they're already uneasy from our intrusion, it could be more offensive to blind them with light pollution on top of it." She'd focus on a dim light, trying to replicate more of a glow stone hue than a flash light beam.

Elra keeps looks for the spiders with trepidation. "I... can we keep going? I just want to get out of here."

"Yes. Let's press on."

Arvel smiles reassuringly at Elra.

"Don't worry. We'll all get through this together."

Let's press onwards. Hopefully we can find someplace that's less covered with spiders to rest for the night. The spiders seem to have eaten everything else around here, and if we stop, we'd be next on the menu.

Zeke leaves Tarja to take point and lead the party through the forest while he falls into a rearguard position.  Watching the spiders carefully, the barbarian speaks up to agree with Ethan 'We should pick up the pace - camping here isn't really an option.'