You notify the Riposte of your intention to go in from the top, and Melville lands the Wasp on top of the small building on the upper branch. The tow lines are tied off and secured. There is a ladder leading down at the opposite end of the building from the tree, or you could drop down from one of the other sides.
Other than an occasional soft creak of the midnight black branches above you, little noise iminates from the tree. The only entrance to the tree on this level does not face in the direction of the landing building, so the only lighting around you is the rainbow swirl of the phlogiston and what lights you carry yourself. Now that you are closer, you can see that what appeared to be planking at a distance are actually specialized branches that have grow flat on one side and in relatively tight, plank like fashion. Those of you with casting experience immediately recognize this as a very long term druidcrafting process.
This close the air carries faint hints of cedar and an odd patchouli funk that seeps directly from the tree.
As you all survey the tree from this new vantage point, the black wood creaking around you but no other signs of movement or shifts in the soft light pouring from the various entrances, everyone's anxiety slowly mounts. Anders asks, "This is a different approach than the Wasp was. How do we want to move in? Are we searching each room fully before moving on like we did with the Wasp, or just doing a quick sweep and then a more detailed search once we've eliminated any obvious threats?"
"LETS DO A DETAILED SEARCH, SO WE ARE NOT SURPRISED BY ANYTHING", suggests Rupert.
Anders nods at Rupert's response, and drops the boarding ladder over the side of the Wasp. He glances to Bazz and says, "You want to go check on Melville and we can get this started?" Without waiting for a response, the dwarf begins to descend the ladder to the top of the landing building.
Rupert will immediately mount the ladder and descend down it, right behind Anders in order to provide him backup should it be needed!
[[bump for Bazz and Melville. will give it another couple days and then assume that the group will advance down the ladder and into the landing building]]
Melliville is on a bit of a hiatus due to power problems at his pad.
Melville makes sure the wasp is settled and not going to suddenly shift, before disengaging from the helm and climbing down/up through the hatch onto the foredeck. He waits until the giff signals all clear before moving to the ropeladder and climbing down.
Finally moved back into my house, still getting trouble with having posting time, but I am catching up.
[OoC: Sorry for not posting. ]
Bazz was not schooled in Spelljammering but he was an eager learner. For a large portion of his life he'd studied under the sage, but sailing, especially in Space was not one of the subjects. When Bazz was done his studies the Sage sent him out here through a strange portal. He had to have his reasons for sending the Satyr here and apparently decided that either SpellJamming wouldn't be a useful skill or decide he couldn't teach him everything and Bazz needed to learn to sail on his own. So basically, the Sage was being his typically, frustrating self. Now here in this strange space he'd been trying to absorb everything he could learn from the seasoned sailors on the ship and offering suggestions when he thought he had something to contribute.
Bazz will descend the ladder after Melville while wondering if he should have chose his whip for its reach for his Hex Warrior feature rather than his longsword because of its superior damage. He'll slowly step off the ladder to test the ground with a hoof and then steps onto the tree. The Satyr taps the wood beneath his hooves...
Insight [1d20+3]=14+3=17
and takes a look around from his new vantage point.
Perception: [1d20+3]=19+3=22