Fresh out of their training, Section Unicorn gets notice that they are to be dispatched on their first mission. They report to V's sunny office for a briefing. They are to go to an elven border fort (a Daran border fort before the war) and recover the papers of an elven woman who has recently arrived there. Group 23 has seen her before, in the Darian states a little while before some serious trouble broke out. She may be some sort of advance scout for the Slych Nyialqu. The Group has plans for the fort and has arranged river and stage transport nearly all the way to the border mountains. The Section will be disguised as herb gatherers. From Roberts of Section monkey, they acquire some super-sticky arcane gloves, and a self-launching grappling hook.
In aid of the cover, Gaius sniffs about his friends to determine what herbs a rich person would want enough to make herb gatherers go up into the mountains... and determines that stag-flower is one of them. "I didn't know you had that problem" exclaims a young man at the baths. "Don't worry, I won't tell." Baba of course already knows a variety of herbs that are worth the trip. Tragically, much of Gaius's family library on this and other subjects was sold some years ago.
Their travel is uneventful, and they come to a beautiful high valley in the mountains which has the fort, a small river, and a very small settlement of trappers and hunters. Their first move is to gather herbs in the area while scouting. They note the orc guards at the fort, and see that the locals do come and go to the fort very occasionally. Lucia is able to briefly scry upon the tower using a magical ritual, and finds the elf woman in the room they expect her in, studying pinecones.
Entering the village near dinner time, they are invited to dinner by the headman. Also invited is a Daran tinker who has just arrived to sell his pots. Dinner is made more interesting as Ivar finds the tinker somehow disturbing... he smells a bit elvish. He does act pretty much as you would expect a tinker to act, however, and no one interrogates him deeply at dinner since they don't learn Ivar's suspicions until afterwards. They do learn that he's a regular on this route, but has not sold to the fort before, even though they are considered harmless by the locals. The tinker doesn't seem to make any moves that night as they both camp near the village.
The next day they and the tinker both go to the fort to barter - the tinker with his pots, they with their herbs. Baba is mostly occupied bargaining with the orcish leader, who translates the needs of the orcish cook. The others spend some time looking about. The orcs have equipment which seems irregular to Ivar - not that of a regimented orcish military unit, more like the handmade equipment of feral orcs. The others note that the tinker is also spending a lot of effort to look around while he sells his pots.
Taking their leave, Lucia attempts another scrying ritual to check out a likely insertion point into the fort (through the tower roof), but that magic does not come off. They are left considering their next move, and what exactly the statuses of the elf woman and possible half-elven spy are.