>Several tries. Bah. We're Nazrin. We'll get it in one.
>Let's start with making that shot.
>Feeling a bout of irritated confidence - you don't have time to be flummoxed by a river! - you produce your grappling hook once more, choose a suitable target on the opposite side - a nice stout oak with a few good protruding branches - move to somewhere with a clear shot, take aim, and fire! Sadly, this soon gives way to just plain irritation.
>Your first shot doesn't even reach the tree, instead clattering against the side of the rock face and tumbling down to the shore. You reel the rope back through the river and take a second shot, spray flying off the rope as it sails over the water again. Your aim is fair, but the grapple is a lot less aerodynamic than what you're used to throwing, and also heavier - particularly with so much rope trailing it. You put a bit more muscle into it and try a higher arc and this time it
does come pretty close to the mark, but fails to catch on anything. You try a third time. There is a bit of hope on the fourth, but whatever purchase the grapple found in the oak branches gives way once you try throwing your weight against the rope - from the safety of the shore, at least. With a grumble, you press on.
>Possibly the worst part of all this is the utterly vexing tendency for the grapple to get caught on scrub on its way back - far too tenuous a grip to hold your body weight, but bloody well enough to be insufferable. Thus every second toss is followed by a wrestling match against ungainly plant life too far away to even see properly, letting go of the grapple only to grab it again a few inches later. It would almost be enough to make you quit if you hadn't nearly nail it last time. C'mon... just one more...
>Success! Tentative success. Need to really throw your weight against it first, you remind yourself - can't declare victory just yet. You bear against the rope as much as you can without actually being suspended in the air, and it holds fast. There is a slight rustle of leaves from the accommodating tree which you've been battering at for the last few minutes, but nothing gives the slightest inch and the branch itself looks sturdy enough to hoist a pair of oni, let alone you. You think you did it.