Disguise Self can cover that once we see how the locals dress.

<Oh, that works fine. We can hover lower in the shuttle, or I suppose we can just disembark a little outside the city and find somewhere out of sight to observe.> Or they could cast Invisibility, but it seems probably not worth using as their first choice when there are other options.  

Once they get a good image off the ship cameras she can disguise herself as a local, outfit and all.

The other advantage of this is that they can take a Dracon beam, which shouldn't be detectable even if they locals have their own version of Detect Magic. Probably their magic items would be but he's not about to suggest they remove them. They can wear a concealed microphone to communicate back and forth with the shuttle. 

On the northern side, the city trails off quite sharply into a swampy tangle of very tall rushes, which present a good spot for a concealed landing as long as they're willing to get slightly wet feet. 

Wet feet are fine.

(This is fun, to the extent it is not scary, but it's mostly scary.)

Mhalir isn't very scared. They're taking a lot of precautions and taking care not to draw attention to themselves and there's no reason to think this city is especially dangerous. There are still unknown unknowns, so he's tense, but there's not really anything else to be done, here.

They have a map of the city as recorded from above on a small portable tablet, which can be hidden once they're interacting with people. He examines it. 

<I think we should approach cautiously and stay out of sight, and read some minds to determine that there is not some kind of invisible danger that all the locals know to watch out for, and then we can talk to people.> 

If we're not going to be explaining Yeerks we probably shouldn't alternate piloting that much - do you want to do it because you are more paranoid or do you want me to do it because I walk like a normal person.

<You can do it - I think you also talk more like a normal human and are better at lying. And I can be more attentive to signs of danger if I am not also making conversation.> 

Okay. And she crouches under cover and listens to peoples' thoughts and comes up with a story for if anyone sees her and is suspicious. She's looking for a coin she dropped.

Mhalir watches everything. 

Most of the thoughts they pick up on are very mundane ones. This woman is worrying about their daughter's illness and listing in her head the groceries they need from the market. This young man is wondering if his sweetheart will like the scarf he bought for her. This woman is worrying that her husband's ship is late to port, and trying to reassure herself that it's probably fine, lots of delays this time of year. This boy is hungry and hoping there's dockwork to be had today so he can eat tonight. This older man is fretting that he was cheated by the mage who sold him the amulet, which supposedly protects against catching fevers, but his sister-in-law thinks it's more likely a fraud. This elderly woman is upset at the raucous youngsters who've moved into the apartment under hers, no respect or decorum at all, what's the world coming to. 

Some people are worrying about pickpockets, and the ones riding donkeys or camels are definitely thinking to keep a close eye on their animals at the market, but no one seems very worried about violence and certainly they don't have war on their minds. 

Seems promising.

<All right, we should go talk to people. You can say that you arrived on a ship, from - very far to the east.>

Based on the thought-snippets, the ships sail in along the coast both from east to west, but the west seems to mostly belong to some major empire which has a lot of trade back and forth, so it might be suspicious for Carissa to be arriving not knowing anything. The east is less known.

<Possibly you could say you are looking for work as a wizard - or mage, they seem to call it, though that might be specifically sorcerers, I cannot tell. It would draw more attention but it would also give you a pretext to ask about the local magic.> 

She picks someone who looks not particularly likely to know anything but also not particularly likely to think much of any mistakes she makes, she can do that for a first practice run.

"Hello. Is there a guild for mages in this city?"

The woman blinks at her. "- What're you looking for, miss? A teacher, or a job? Dunno about teaching, but old Firo at the docks is looking for mage-guards, I heard, if you can stomach that sort of work."

She is vaguely aware of the concept of guilds, her brother-in-law is in the blacksmiths' guild, but the question isn't parsing clearly for her when it comes to mages specifically. 

"Thank you, I'll talk to him."

"You're welcome." The woman scurries off, not paying her any further attention; she's thinking about how she's running late to get to the market and back in time to have all the chores done and supper cooked by sundown and they can't afford more lamp-oil. 

<...Did you want to go to the docks, or ask other people?>

Ask other people, I think, we're presumably not actually looking for mage-work? I guess it's a way to earn money we can counterfeit.

<It could be worth considering later. We could perhaps ask other people if they know any mages, say that we may want to hire them for a job, that could be another avenue.> 

Sure! She'll ask the next person if they know where someone goes to hire a mage around here, she's hiring for a job.

It's an older woman carrying a basket of textiles to the market. "Oh! Hmm. If I were you I'd try Jiav's tavern, uh, sorry, think it's called the Nail and Anchor these days. That's where the mages tend to go, so if you don't have friends here already I think it'd be the place to start." 

"Thank you."

I guess we could go do that? Hang around and listen and learn what they can do?

<That seems reasonable. Even if we do not actively start conversations, there will probably be informative conversations and thoughts to listen in on. ...We should consider changing our appearance again for it.> 

Yep. She picks a different but equally nondescript local face and heads off in what she hopes is the right direction, though she's going to get hopelessly lost probably.

They have the city map on their tablet, which Mhalir prompts her to glance at when they're out of sight of anyone else, and they can head in the direction of the docks.