Steady Gaze said:
Go to the carpenter’s workshop to create a boat so we can enter the miniature boat race in the evening.
Now that you have enchanted trinkets of your own, your party decides to follow up with the Carpenter’s Workshop in order to enter the miniature boat race later on. After giving some farewell nuzzles to Crystal Charm, you begin to follow the roads west and north to the sawmill.
On the way there, you cross a bridge over a stream, along which a few ponies are playing with their small floating woodcrafts. Meanwhile, you spot Monsoon flying some loops and eights overhead, retrieving a few stray balloons among the sunlit clouds.
When you arrive at the woodside factory, you join the growing gathering there, and take a moment to look around. On one side of the yard, logs are piled up next to a large wheel-operated saw. On the other, planks and boards of all sizes are neatly stacked under a shelter, organized by size.
Deep-voiced mare: “Welcome, everyone! Welcome.”
Soon, your attention gets caught by the source of an unexpectedly husky voice: a strongly built earth pony mare with a cream-coloured coat and a medium-cut apple green mane over dark orchid eyes. At the sight of the log cutie mark on her toned flanks, an inappropriate wood joke nearly flies out of your mouth, but you manage to keep it inside somehow.
Deep-voiced mare: “The name’s Stable Timber. Just Timber’s fine. This is the Carpenter’s Workshop; our goal for the hour is to build some riverworthy miniature boats, anywhere from one to two hooves long. To do that, we’ll be using boards like these.”
Stable Timber gestures to a prepared stack of thin and wide pieces of lumber nearby.
Stable Timber: “You can each make your own boat, or work in teams of two or three. Either way, I’ll be here to walk through every step of the way, from marking to cutting, bending, nailing and sealing.
If that sounds like something you’d like to try, then come grab a board, and bring it over to a workbench.”
As participants begin to form a line, Moonflower turns to your party.
Moonflower: “Ooh! Should we make three lil’ boats, or work together on a big one?”
Apple Basket: “Heh, well, I’ve already done some woodworkin’ before, so… I wouldn’t wanna risk takin’ away any learnin’ experiences. What do y’all think?”