Ah, I go to the north one and do not coincide with him, then. I want to check if the aura reaches up to the border of the cliff (I guess so, but to be sure) and in general overview the area north AND south of the hill.
I am climbing mundanely. Otherwise I would have said flying 
I will carry out my previous plan minus speaking to Japik. It will take a while to do all that and rest in the interim to recover from the diverse efforts, but life is tough when you are a journeyman 
((Just asking, because your magus knows Rise of the Feathery Body, which could certainly assist you in climbing the hill... Although, something I had not noticed at character creation, your version is D:Diam instead of the standard D:Conc. So, less useful in this case. You should change the name of the spell, as this is not the standard version.))
[i]Ah, I had not thought about this particular spell helping in climbing since it explicitly forbids moving anything that is not vertically. If you think it useful for climbing, I will use it, yes.
Changed the duration of RotFB to Conc. since we are only allowed 2 custom spells and I already have them (mature tree + wood golem). In my troupe we tend to use RotFB as D:Diameter (we maintain control of the spell for the duration, even if we do not concentrate on it constantly) and forgot about that not being the standard version. [/i]
Japik doesn't give up that easily. He will try and stand up and look around until the dizzying feeling is under control.
((By the way, I first wrote that he was climbing the northern hill then you changed it to the southern. It doesn't really matter but is there any reason for the change?))
((Sorry, I missed that it was the northern hill and though you hadn't specified it, which is why I did when I wrote my description. I'll update my posts to reflect the northern hill. This means that Quercus can render assistance when he joins you there.))
((Make a roll for Qik + Athletics. Ease factor of 6 to avoid tumbling down the hill, 9 to be able to resist the effects of vertigo and stand up. On a roll of 12+, the vertigo dissipates.))
The edge looks to be crumbling in places, but after a while Pytheas notices a place that looks safer. From his days in Fudarus, he knows that this is never quite safe...
He doesn't get a complete view view of either the cliff itself nor the shore, but what he can see is a tumble of rocks at the bottom of the cliff, upon which the sea is beating its waves. Many birds seem to nest on narrow ridges, flying out and around in a cacophony of screeches. Gulls, murres, solans and various smaller birds like blackcaps and chiffchaffs, all form a diffuse cloud in the air and dot the sea. There are no caves oin evidence from where Pytheas is.
Prochorus returns and asks whoever is listening:
How are we doing this? Hire someone to build a house or a few next to the hills there? Maybe a wall later when we get around to it, a nice watchtower on the hill? We had best try to keep close to the tree in any case, lest a greedy fool comes knocking.
Pytheas comes back toward the tree.
Well, I suppose a house would be a start. I for one would love to have a laboratory on the cliff eventually, preferably down at the sea level, and I expect Japik would like a sea access too, but that would probably take a lot of resources we don't have yet. A house, on the other hand, should be well within our means, and we can always turn it into grog quarters later on when we have our own sancta and laboratories.
Let's see, there are five of us, and eight grogs, so we need a fairly large house. I wonder if we could acquire title to this end of the plateau ? The locals don't like it anyway, and those cliffs on three sides not only make for nice boundaries, but they'll hide us from prying eyes. If we built the house besides the southern hill, on an East-West line, perhaps later extend it with a barn or something, we would have pretty good privacy even from casual visitors.
((Rolled a 6 for a total of 6 with Qik + Athletics))
Japik tries to rise to standing but immediately realizes he will get dizzy again so sits down quickly to shift balance and avoid falling down the rocky hill. He decides the hill is done for today and starts climbing back down again taking his time and being careful not to look out over the sea.
When he is down on flat ground again close to the tree he approaches Prochorus and Pytheas, smiling and looking unaffected.
I would like to approach that cliff from the sea to see what it looks like from below. Did you see anything interesting Pytheas when you leaned over the edge? I'm thinking if it would it be possible to construct something to help transportation between the levels here. Then we could perhaps build a small docks or jetty down there to keep our ships. Then we need to talk to the people in the village here and try to get a friendly deal with them. We probably also need to clear our presence with the local lord but I'm thinking we should start with say the village elder here and see what kind of relation he has with the lord. Maybe we could go that way indirectly. What do you think?
I didn't see much. Lots of birds nesting, so there must be plenty of crags and cracks, perhaps if we are lucky there are some larger caves. We'll need to see what it looks like from the sea. After that, I expect the best way to build something on the cliff will be magic, even if there are no useful caves we should be able to excavate what we need.
For right now, I suppose speaking with the villagers will be a good first step, then maybe the lord. We'll need to have a good cover story in place.
((You moved a bit fast there, as Quercus was coming up the hill as you were feeling dizzy. Let's just say you didn't notice him -- you were concentrating on the surface beneath you so as not to get dizzy again -- and moved down on a different trajectory than he was using.))
Although Japik tries to look unaffected by his ordeal on the hill, he still looks a bit pale and shaken when he joins Pytheas. ((Pre + Guile + die roll of 0.))
By the time Quercus makes it to the top of the hill, through a combination of floating and pulling himself along the surface, he sees that Japik is already making his way down the hill.
Sponting his sight-based detection spell successfully ((die roll of 6 for a total of exactly 20)), his sight fills with sparkles for a moment as he detects the presence of the magical aura. Unfortunately, as he is still inside the aura, the sparkles are all around him. So he is unable to clearly see where the aura ends, only that he is still inside of it and that it extends for some distance.
((Imagine standing inside a fog bank and trying to determine its boundaries. It's much easier to do when you are outside... 
))
A better look at the cliffside? I can arrange that.
Tuli sotka, suora lintu; lenteä lekuttelevi
etsien pesän sijoa, asuinmaata arvaellen.
Prochorus puts down his things, looks around to make sure no stranger sees him, mutters something no one can understand under his breath (neither can he, really) and shapeshifts into a scaup. He takes to the air, flies around a little while first, getting a feel for the winds, and then flies over the cliff's edge to take a closer look. He looks for caves, beaches, ledges, anything that might help with building the things Japik mentioned.
OK, not what I expected, but hey. Will work around it by casting fatigueless level 1 spells around the island during downtime, then)
Quercus looks at Japik going down. He decides that this is not going to work given the presence of the aura all around him, so he summons a walking oak staff to help himself* climb down, and goes back down using his feet and magics until he reaches the position of the others.
The dock idea and building up labs sounds great, and I fully support them, but we might be overreaching here. As Pytheas pointed out, we still have to secure this location for our use. I agree that this would be a good one. Still, we need to ensure that it has a source of fresh water available (or Rego ourselves one) and ensure that the mundane overlord of this place has no strong objections to our plan. Silver, resources and not making trouble goes a long way towards that last target, but we still need to identify him and convince him to let us build in this spot.I think we can achieve this, but I have already found a few less than welcoming nobles in my life to fully trust that we will achieve everything so easily.
In any case we will need mundane help building the dwellings, yes. I have minimal carpentry notions, but nothing that compares to what skilled workers can achieve.
*Summon oak staff: B2, +1 touch +2 sun. CrHe total = 2+7+9(+6)+3 = 27
Prochorus' clothes collapse in a heap as a changes shape, and the scaup comes out of the pile to take flight. He has to be careful to avoid collisions with other birds when he gets close to the cliff, and scouts out the area. A few minutes later he has surveyed the area.
He saw no caves worth the name close the this end of the island -- a few crevices and hollows, but none that seemed to go any depth. He's noticed a few areas where the cliff seem to have collapsed a little recently, forming new piles of rocks at its base and into the sea. Those scars are still raw but even now birds have begun making nests in the newly-exposed rock.
A little distance north of the tip of the plateau, the ground of the lowland is different -- much more sandy in nature. The are a few beaches there, although in many cases these are surrounded by higher ground.
(A few pictures)
((Need to add a magnitude for treated Herbam product -- a branch that is cut down, trimmed and without bark -- to have a proper walking staff. Other wise all you get as an oak branch. So this would need to be with Fatigue.))
One thing that Quercus notices as he stands on top of the hill is that while he can see much of Oberland from here (even the top of the village's houses), he is also quite visible to the shepherds and farmers there also. And probably to some of the fishing boats down on the sea, although to a lesser extent due to distance.
Still, this is not exactly an unconspicuous place to be.
((I got a little confused over the amount of time passing there from our arrival to the tree until now. By the way what time of the day is it? How long until sunset?))
Japik sits down on the ground for a while after Prochorus leaves them in his birdform.
Aren't nobles interested in getting taxes paid to them? We could make him an offer to pay an annual tax in silver in exchange for holding this piece of land that no one wants. And perhaps we can find something else he wants that we can provide him with. That's why I think we need to learn more about him before we send someone to talk to him. Maybe it's time for us to get back down and gather our people. Japik seems a bit eager to get away from the area but waits until Prochorus is back.
((It is late morning. You've been at the site for about an hour, and it's been about two hours since you've docked.))
[i]Base 2 is already processed plant product. Base 1 would be a branch; base 2 is a staff. Base 2 can be up to a seasoned plank of wood (the example in the book), so a staff is extremely easy for a base 2 spell. So I did it right 
It is CrHe5 for sure so I can spont the walking staff without problems.
[/i]
I have seen that the north hill seems to make an excellent spot to observe both the sea and the Oberland. It will certainly be a good location to put a lookout of we think it is necessary.
((I missed the Base 2. Good. ))