Tarja snaps out of her meditation, looking at the boxes that she mostly failed to make progress with.

Oi, maybe next time I should think a bit more and haul a bit less! When I need brute strength, I should call upon the wilds, not on my scrawny little arms.

She shakes her head.

I bet I can can be of more help hauling this stuff back to the wagons, though. As we head out, I can spend an hour as a draft horse and help haul things, now that we're out of the cave. The break cleared my mind and recharged my nature connection.

Let's press on to Phandalin and see whether we can get there before nightfall.

She picks out the boots and the tankard from among the magic items.

Sometimes forest animals get spooked by dwarf tracks, you see. Not all dwarves get along so well in the woods. And I don't spend too much time in the villages, but maybe when I do this mug will help me keep my head a bit better... 

She glances over to the potions.

I can give 'em a quick taste once we're safely on the wagons back. Would be nice to know if they're helpful.

Ethan places the necklace around his neck and tucks it away under his armour.

Ethan puts Arvel's old armour away in his gauntlet for later resale or use.

At Arvel's suggestion and Tarja's talk about turning into a horse, Ethan remarks.

"If I had my old carpenters tools I could chop down some small trees and we could rig up a makeshift travois, using the ropes."

Ethan has a thought, and turns to Zeke,

"Zeke, you have axe's don't you? Any chance you could find and cut down a couple of young trees?"

"We would want trunks about 5 to 7 inches in diameter and they need to be 10 to 15 feet long."

Ethan turns back to Tarja,

"Then we can rig up a makeshift harness and bind the crates to the travios, so you can drag a lot more, in your horse form that is."

(DM if we are making a travios for Tarja to drag, what rolls would you like us to make?)

OOC:

Let's see, I suppose I'm less well versed in exactly how lots of engineering and tools checks are supposed to work, but let's do what we did before and do an INT based check with possible tools proficiency, artificer bonuses, etc. added as you did before Paradox.  As you said I can just ignore an pluses that I think are bogus, haha.  (Not that I did on the previous roll.)  Help, and thus Advantage, from someone else, especially Fae are her own recent brilliance is also more than appropriate here.

(I think you got this one.  Making a sled is easy compared to the previous task!)

Anything else we need to resolve before heading back to the wagons gang?

Zeke simply nods in response to Ethan's request and stalks off into the woods looking for suitable saplings to chop down

Elra slips the pearl and Vincent's feather into a pouch on her hip. "Anything I can do to help?" Elra asks as she watches the rest of the group. "And trying a sip of a potion might not be the best idea. I should be able to identify them like the rest of these items. I can wait till we get back to the cart though."

Fae would essentially follow behind Ethan, shadowing him as he tinkers and engineers all while sporting her new dagger on her hip. She’d offer it any time anything might need to be cut or sliced, even though he has plenty of his own to use. Fae would offer help with theory, holding materials and handing off tools, eagerly wanting to help in any way she can. She enjoyed shadowing Ethan and watching how he worked with his hands.

Ethan nods back to Zeke as he strides off into the surrounding forest to look for the right trees.

Ethan turns to Tarja,

"Maybe go with him? You know the forest better than any of us."

Ethan turns to find Fae and Elra ready and eager to help, so Ethan starts extracting his tools and the materials he will need for the travios, handing them to the two ladies.

"Right, we're going to use the rope and some of these leather armours to make the travios, when Zeke and Tarja return with the wood."

Ethan lays out the plan, and what needs to be put together, and Fae and Elra lend their help and insight as they all put the items together.

Engineering check to make a travios: 22 (advantage for help, +3 INT, +2 for proficiency in Leatherworker's Tools and Tinker's Tools, +1 for luck charm, +1d4 for Artisan’s Intuition)

Arvel sits on a crate and rests his hands on his walking stick and then rests his chin on his hands as he watches the construction.

Each time Fae offers the dagger to help, the charlatan feels a small sense of pride...

...followed by an odd sense of guilt. Though not much shows on his face, he's a bit conflicted about his unintended actions.

Ethan smiles at Fae and Elra,

"I've not had enthusiastic and competent help for my crafting, since, well, since leaving the university."

"Its really great, thank you both."

Ethan looks almost overwhelmed with emotion for a moment, before regaining control, still smiling at the others.

"This is what I wanted, when I set out, to make use of my skills to help others."

"I feel like I'm finally being useful."

Tarja heads out with Zeke to find the right trees, to help find the right ones and bring them back and thank them for their help. (Checks: INT/nature 8 , STR 14 )

Led by Ethan, and powered by Tarja of course, the group displays excellent ingenuity in hauling all of the crates back to the main road.  The travois is a bit overloaded and had to be built longer than most to fit all of the crates, but it holds together all the same.   It's a bit awkward as the path is narrow at times and they have to circle through the woods when it passes between larger trees that are too close and to get around the pit trap they had discovered earlier, but Zeke and others are able to easily hack smaller saplings out of the way to keep their route clear.

The sun is still visible in the sky as the party reaches the road, although it has long since descended from it's zenith.  All is quiet back at the site of the goblin ambush earlier and the party easily spots where the wagons are hidden amongst the brush.  When they go to check on Finnan and Farnin, however, they are met with a curious site.  The twins are standing over a tall, thin elf who is seated leaning against the wagon and bound at the wrists with rope.  Farnin seems to be pressing the man for practical information such as "who are you?" and "how did you find us here?" and "what do you want?"  The more belligerent Finnan is pointing his shortbow at the elf demanding to know "who do you work for?" and "are you with those goblins?" while occasionally kicking his prisoner.  As the party draws closer they witness the elf reply quietly and calmly "I'm afraid I won't be able to count you as a good friend for much longer if you insist on striking me, Finnan, is it?"  The elf seems to have a slight grin as he says it, but Finnan of course responds with a frustrated "you're not my friend, pal!"  The elf raises an eyebrow at the world 'pal' and Finnan replies angrily "you know what I mean!".

As the group draws close they see that the elf seems mostly amused despite his bonds and he smiles up at the new arrivals,"greetings!"  Finnan scowls at him and kicks him once again, turning to the party and saying "we caught this ruffian trying to steal our supplies".  Farnin just chimes in with "well, not really..." but is met with a look from his brother.

Perception check for any who wish to pick up on any smaller details.

OOC: Inspiration to Ethan and Fae for their engineering, and Tarja for a more humble use of wild shape.  Always open to giving it to others if their peers think we should!

"I'm sure there is a better way to handle this situation than just tying him up and trying to aggresivly threaten answers out of him," Elra replies.

Zeke bristles at the treatment of the prisoner - 'I'm quite sure we can sort this out without any unneeded violence, now can't we my halfling friends?'

As he says this he extends his blade to it's full length and flares his wings. 

'Now, Farnin, let's start slowly and from the beginning - tell me what happened and how you came to apprehend this elf.'

Arvel uses Zeke's outburst as a distraction to shift to Maxie, armor and all, and check the scene for details.

Perception: 7

The elf does not seem to recognize anyone in particular, yet also seems almost as if he was expecting you.  Everyone notices that the elf is curiously dressed with an eclectic mix of fine elven boots, light but studded leather armor, various belts, sheaths and pouches for weapons and supplies and is adorned with a variety of mismatches feathers, braids, beads, tattoos and other bobbles.  Not much of it is flashy despite the finely made elven wear, however, as he seems to be some sort of wanderer, ranger, hunter, adventurer or something else of the sort, a curious character to be sure.

A few (those rolling 10+ perception) notice items atop the wagon that are not familiar, including a longbow and a backpack with a quiver, a sword, and both a red piece of cloth and a bed roll or something of the sort sticking out.  Only Fae and Arvel notice that several of these items seem to be of particularly high quality and do not seem to have a spec of grime or wear despite the potential for rough living the elf otherwise displays.

Finnan is about to kick the elf again when Zeke speaks up, the halfing quickly taking a step away instead.  The less brash Farnin gestures deeper into the woods away from the road and says "well, he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and asked what we were doing and if we needed assistance."  Finnan interrupts to say "yeah, he was eyeing our stuff".  Farnin continues however and simply states "well, um, yeah, so we drew our bows and made him drop his weapons, and here we are."  The prisoner chimes in with a smile to say "they were really quite intimidating.  What else was I to do?"

"Well, let us ease zee tension by at least introducing ourselves."

"Bonjour, mon ami! I am Maximillion du Champris! Call me Maxie, S'il vous plaît! Quel est votre nom?

Maxie offers his hand to shake.

Ethan takes it in stride, that Arvel is now Maxie again.

"Wait, so he didn't do anything wrong, and you made him drop his stuff and tied him up?"

Ethan looks at Farnin and Finian with a mildly disapproving look.

"That's not very nice, guys."

Ethan turns to the elf, as Maxie introduces himself.

Ethan follows Maxie with his own introduction.

"My names Ethan, its a pleasure to meet you."