Why Can't Fighters Have Nice Hobgoblins? Ironfang Invasion

Game Master Stalwart

Amélie tries to follow up Jie's shot with one of her own.

Ranged, deadly aim: 1d20 + 8 - 1 ⇒ (10) + 8 - 1 = 17
Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 1 + 2 = 4

Her arrow is on target, but it only adds another wound to the leader and fails to drop him.

Benedict moves up, drawing his scimitar. He uses Total Defense as a standard action (+6 AC for a total of 28 vs hobgoblins).

Amkarang drops his sling and runs forward, drawing his meteor hammer as he goes, holding it in meteor style. He stops next to Benedict and yells, "Come on you ugly bastards. I haven't got all day, by Lao Shu Po's teeth!"

The leader hobgoblin sends an arrow back toward Amélie, then hustles out of her line of sight.
Ranged: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Amélie cries out as the arrow strikes her thigh and leaves a bloody wound.

The Ironfang recruits accept Amkarang's and Benedict's challenge, dropping their bows and drawing swords as they move up to engage.

I believe Amkarang gets an attack of opportunity? Then the two hobgoblins attack him.

Melee: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Melee: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
One manages to get his blade past his defenses, and draws blood from the Unsinkable.

Two more attack Benedict.
Melee: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

Melee: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Neither are able to get past his defensive stance.

Party is up!

Hit: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Damage: 2d4 + 10 ⇒ (3, 3) + 10 = 16

Confirmation: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19
Damage: 2d4 + 10 ⇒ (4, 1) + 10 = 15

Grum went straight for the leader of the hobgoblins (if he can reach him, otherwise a recruit). With a wordless battle cry on his lips, he swung his blade perfectly at the foe’s neck. The blade, unnaturally sharp due to his innate magic, held the promise of a quick death from decapitation.

Grum, I'm pretty sure your speed is 20' so I moved you to a recruit. If I'm missing something, let me know and I'll shift you to the leader.

Grum's target dies messily, in a single stroke of his falchion.

Jie continues to shoot at the lead hobgolin as she charges Feng towards him.
Bow Attack, PBS: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 8 + 1 = 12
Bow Damage,PBS: 1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 2 + 1 = 11
Feng Hoof Attack, Charge: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 3 + 2 = 15
Hoof Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Amkarang lashes out with his meteor hammer, trying to wrap the chain around the ankle of one of the hobgoblins and trip it.

Trip Attempt: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

Grum, I'm pretty sure your speed is 20' so I moved you to a recruit. If I'm missing something, let me know and I'll shift you to the leader.

Grum's target dies messily, in a single stroke of his falchion.

Boots of springing give +10 movement

D'oh! I should have remembered that. My bad. Here's the thing: you could finish off a full health recruit or the leader who's hanging on by a string (which Feng just took care of). My screw up actually works out better for the party, but I'll switch everything back if you want.

In that case let’s keep things as they are :)

Amélie limps out from her cover to try to get a good shot on the next Ironfang recruit.

Ranged, deadly aim pbs: 1d20 + 9 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 9 - 1 + 1 = 18
Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 1 + 2 = 4

Her arrow strikes true, but only wounds the hobgoblin.

Going with the presumption that Amkarang uses his AoO to trip one of the hobgoblins coming toward him.

Amkarang trips one of the two hobgoblins rushing toward him. 1d2 ⇒ 2
One falls, but the other manages to strike him.

Amkarang can take his regular action, and Benedict can go!

Benedict slices at the hobgoblin Northwest of him.
Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Then he steps North so he can also threaten the one that Amkarang tripped.

Amkarang shifts his grip on the meteor hammer and attacks the hobgoblin nearest to him.

Attack 1: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Attack 2: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15
Damage 1: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Damage 2: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Also a note, I have a +1 shield bonus to my AC with the double weapon stance.

Benedict manages to strike the one sporting an arrow wound from Amelie. Amkarang just barely misses with his two strikes. The hobgoblins shift into flanking positions. The one Amkarang tripped stands up cautiously, eschewing any opportunity for attack.

The wounded one steps in between Grum and Benedict, taking a swing at the flanked warrior.

Melee, flanking: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 2 = 14
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Then the one that sidestepped takes a swing at Amkarang, also using his allies presence behind his foe to gain an advantage.
Melee, flanking: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 4 + 2 = 23
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Benedict is again missed, but Amkarang, despite using his weapon as a partial shield, is struck with a vicious blow.

Everyone's up again!

Benedict attacks the one that was foolish enough to step between him and Grum.
Attack, Flanking: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 7 + 2 = 15
Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Hit: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
Damage: 2d4 + 10 ⇒ (3, 4) + 10 = 17

Confirm: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Damage: 2d4 + 10 ⇒ (1, 3) + 10 = 14

Following up his decapitating blow, Grum swung at the next recruit, eager to down another untouched foe. He would teach them to ignore him!

2 Crits in a row...what the...?

Jie moves Feng to try and cut off the hobgoblin's line of retreat and lets an arrow fly into the one fighting Amkarang.
Bow Attack, PBS: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 8 + 1 = 29
Bow Damage, PBS: 1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 = 4
Crit Bow Attack, PBS: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 8 + 1 = 23
Crit Bow Damage, PBS: 2d8 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (5, 4) + 4 + 2 = 15

Grum and Jie are wrecking them!

Amélie targets the last hobgoblin, after Grum and Jie drop two more foes.

Ranged, pbs, da: 1d20 + 9 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (18) + 9 + 1 - 1 = 27
Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 1 + 1 + 2 = 11

Impressive! Most impressive!

Grum moved to attack a fresh warrior and cut him down in a single slice. Jie's arrow punches through the hobgoblin's armor to find his heart.

With a twang from Amélie's bow, the last hobgoblin falls.

A tense quiet descends upon the cabin. Aubrin speaks first. "Well done!"

She moves up and channels healing energy across the wounded.

Channel: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 6) = 12

”Haha! Blood and glory! Well done everyone! Let’s loot the corpses and head for the caves before more come.” Grum was glowing with happiness. This was his kind of battle. Swift, bloody, and profitable. Truly, his hedgehog brought good fortune.

Benedict adds his voice to the chorus of cheers. "Well done indeed! Is everybody okay? Let's get a head count."
Looks like Amkarang and Amélie are back to full after that excellent Channel. All refugees accounted for?
Satisfied that the group is intact, Benedict replies to Grum. "It's getting late now, and not everybody can see in the dark. Let's find what we can from the hobgoblins, like you said, then rest up and head for the caves tomorrow morning."
Benedict volunteers to take the middle watch.

"Magnifique!" Amélie cheers, both at their victory and the able healing she received.

"Zhat would have been hard, killing all of zhem myself," she says with a grin as she surveys the carnage. "And I think you would have been upset zhat I left none for you? You came at ze right time."

She and Aubrin make a swift check of the perimeter to make sure there are no more hobgoblins on their way.

They come back reporting all's clear.

A search of the hobgoblins yields:
studded leather armor (6)
light steel shields (4)
long swords (4)
long bows (4)
arrows (104)
composite longbow (+2 Str)(2)
mwk battleaxe (2)
handaxe (2)
potions (4)
alchemist's fire (2)
backpack (6)
bedroll (6)
blanket (6)
mess kit (6)
small tent (6)
spyglass
50 ft hemp rope and grappling hook
fine woolen cloak
provision points (16)
76 gp

Each member of this expedition force carried a battered notebook with rough maps, noting locations of game trails, water sources and ideal locations for marching large groups of troops (all in Goblin).

The two leaders each carry a copy of a notice.

Amkarang thanks Aubrin warmly before picking up the logbook. He flips through it and nods thoughtfully. He then closes it and says, ”This means nothing to me. Benedict, you can read their language, yes?”

"Oh, yes. Hmm. There's a bounty for information on all of us refugees. Doubled for just our heads, doubled again for the 'ringleaders', so that's 100 gold bounty on you, Amkarang. Is that it? Surely they must not know who you are!
Information, or our heads, are to be delivered to a Sergeant Scarvinious. Maybe something in these maps tells us where this Sergeant is?
Well, that's a nice haul of gear. Bows, rations, tents.
Rhyna, can you tell if anything here is magical? The potions, I expect. And maybe this feather the troglodytes were carrying?"

”Really?!” Grum grinned. ”Am I on there? Do they have a description of me? Tell! Sir Kingston wants to hear too!”

"No, it just says 'fugitive human-likes'. The nerve! Nothing more specific, other than doubled rewards for 'the ringleaders'. They do not yet seem to be aware of Sir Kingston. He is a secret weapon."

”Truly, clever you are. It shall be their downfall.”

Jie seems pretty happy about everyone's performance including herself. She feeds Feng an apple as a reward. She joins the celebration and the healing.

Rhyna identifies the potions as simple cure light wounds.

Her brow furrows when she identifies the feather. "It is magical. It's a feather token, that's for sure. Snap it, and it'll bring forth a small bird that can carry a message to a location. So the troglodytes had this, not the hobgoblins? Interesting."

Amkarang chuckles at Benedict's remark, "I believe we are all the ringleaders. I'd think it best we keep our heads away from them. Don't want those hobs getting any rewards at our expense."

"Activate the token, then follow the bird? We can try that tomorrow, see where it goes. If to this Scarvinous, we can scout out what forces he has. If to the caves, even better."

"That's a great idea." Jie says, agreeing with Benedict. "I think it will lead to the troglodytes, though. Unless you think that the two groups are aligned."

"You're probably right, they would be unlikely to work together.
When we go to the caves, is there any sort of protection against the stench?"
Antitoxin works, of which we have 2, but don't know if Benedict knows that. Would a good Knowledge (Local) give enough info about troglodytes to tell that? Jie has that, and some of the NPCs.

K/Local for Troglodytes: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12
Probably not high enough

Jie looks over the spoils of war. She asks Amélie for her advice about the bows. They have just a little to strong a pull. She does take one for practice. She then seeks out Minshiel and asks the elf if he/she can make barding for Feng out of the studded leather armor available.

With the battle won and the sun sinking beneath the horizon, it's time for the refugees to get ready for night.

The sick have been tended continuously while the heroes were away.
Fort (Rori): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Dex: 1d3 ⇒ 2 Con: 1d3 ⇒ 3
Fort (Theros): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

While Theros appears to have fully recovered, Rori is getting worse and worse. Unless he manages a turnaround, he'll likely not survive.

Rori has both the Aegis of Recovery and the healers' attention, but with the progression of the disease the man is finding it harder and harder to recover. Benedict says a prayer for him, thanks the healers for their efforts, thanks the gods for Theros's recovery, then turns in for the night (ready to take a midnight watch again).

Clouds arrived over the course of the night, and the sky is dark and overcast in the morning. A light drizzle of rain and patchy fog makes the Fangwood a damp and chilly place.

Aubrin joins you at breakfast. "As much as I hate the thought of eating hobgoblin food, it's better than starving. They did us a favor by being so well-provisioned. We didn't have a lot of success foraging yesterday, and I'll want everyone to stay close with this rain and fog," she says.

Stirring the thin soup around in her bowl, she looks concerned. "The hobgoblins haven't forgotten about us, that's for sure. Hopefully that was the entire scouting force that you slaughtered last night. Because if they sent a messenger back to their leaders, we may be in for a much bigger fight. Call it a hunch, but I think we need to find those caves soon."

Before the breakfast is done, Rhyna and Jet approach the group with a number of the refugees behind them.

Rhyna looks a bit nervous and wrings her hands, but she seems to be speaking for the group. "Um, hey. I-- I mean, we," she glances behind her, "we wanted you to know, we wouldn't have made it this far without you. Everyone wants you to know how much we appreciate what you've done for us. And how you fought and killed those hobgoblins last night -- it made us feel like we really have a chance. We're going to keep pulling together with you until we find a place to call home. In the meantime, we've got something to show you."

A staff is passed up from the crowd. Rhyna and Jet hold it upright in their hands, planting the end in the ground. A crossbeam has been tied to the top of the staff and a green scarf hangs down like a banner. Two bristly pine branches lie across the top, tied down to the crossbeam with twine. "We decided we needed a symbol," she says proudly. "We call it the Hemlock Banner. Something to rally us. What do you think?"

"I think it is excellent," says Benedict. "and I am very proud of how well you all have done out here. This isn't easy for any of us, but we are Nirmathi and we persevere. Under the Hemlock Banner!"

Jie's eyes actually seem to fill with tears at the refugees' symbol. "Yes." she replies, full of pride. "Under the Hemlock Banner!"

Amkarang smiles widely before saying, "Ha, indeed! For the Hemlock Banner!"

"Do we need a name for our group to go with our banner? The Hemlock Brigade? The Scions of Phaendar?" Benedict ponders this for a while.
"If we make for the caves today, I think we would seek to bring everybody else along as well, the main body far enough away to be out of danger but close enough to shout for help if needed. Amélie in the vanguard with us. I wouldn't want the hobgoblins coming back and finding you all while the five of us were away."

Aubrin looks uncertain, as do several of the refugees. "Move again? Before you even find the caves, much less clear them out?" She shakes her head. "Rori's not fit to travel. And while I know I just said we need to hurry to find the caves, even if they hobgoblins sent a runner they're at least two days from marshaling a sizable force and getting them here."

"Okay. I was just concerned about the hobgoblins returning. If you think they cannot return in force today or tomorrow, then you all stay here and try to build up our food supplies. Let's try to get as many people foraging as possible." Including untrained checks.

"The Hemlock Militia perhaps? In any case, I agree with Benedict. We can scout for the caves while the rest find supplies."

Jie wants to find the caves today also. She reluctantly decides not to take Feng with her. "I don't think you will fit in the caves." she says as she gets ready to leave.

Benedict is ready to leave. "As many as needed to watch the animals given the weather. Some strong arms and sharp eyes on watch duty. Healers, do your best. Everybody else, gather what food you can, but stay near camp. We'll return by evening."
"First get to where the troglodytes were, then use the feather?"

So here we go! Please check in to confirm you got your invitation, and we'll get the party started shortly!

Checking in... curious to see what the team looks like.

Checking in

Checking in, ready to bash some hobgoblins.

Check in, I'll alias when I get to a desk.

Checking in and really looking forward to playing!!!!

Woo! We're all here!

If you guys want to check into each other's backgrounds to see about possible interactions before the game begins, please be my guest. If the site cooperates and things generally go as planned, I hope to have the first post in the game thread up tonight.

So far we have...

(1) Grum: 20ft movement speed, two handed sword power attack
- Use magic device
(2) Benedict: 20ft movement speed, shield and sword
- Face skills
(3) Lissa: 20ft movement speed, tower shield and sword
- Minor magic in forests
(4) Chang: 50ft movement mounted, shortbow
- Speed/scouting
() Amkarang? Can't find you in the recruitment thread

So what I'm seeing is a slow moving core for the party, with Chang to provide covering fire/ride down enemies we can't catch.

Though now that I see Chang's character, I'm really tempted to take mounted combat at lvl3 and become a mounted character too. Just to make up for the 20ft movement speed. So rather than being the 'weak' point in the line, I'd be a line breaker.

I'm willing to take any last-minute suggestions on Benedict. I am a little concerned at the lack of wilderness skills in this party -- only Chang has Survival. Should I put a point into it? Could shift the point from Craft, which would mean starting with scale instead of chainmail.
Benedict does keep Armor Training 1 and 2 (despite not having heavy armor proficiency), so his speed will increase in the future.

If additional Survival is desired, Lissa would be a good option too, should she be so inclined. (Observation only, not a suggestion.)

I have my character posted under my default alias. I've put my stats into my bio. As for movement and abilities, I have a 30' speed and primarily use a meteor hammer in combat, although to get the most out of the double weapon I don't move much.

Here's Lissa's alias. Her fey magic is tentatively CLW, Create Water, Detect Magic, Read Magic. Willing to swap that around if people think something else is more useful on the party healer.

Game thread is up! Feel free to start wandering around the Market Festival at your leisure!

So I did make that switch of Benedict's skill point from Craft to Survival, and the armor from chain to scale.

If additional Survival is desired, Lissa would be a good option too, should she be so inclined. (Observation only, not a suggestion.)

I might pick it up at level 2 but I'm strapped for skill points as is and Lissa isn't exactly drowning in woods lore in her background.

Okay, since we have a full house (metaphorically speaking), we can start moving things forward. I need all five of you to congregate at once of these four locations: Oreld's Fine Shop, the Phaendar Trading Company, the Riverwood Shrine, or the Taproot Inn. Once all five of you have found your way to the same place, the next scene will begin!

Let's all end up in the Inn?

Seems like as good a place as any. We could quite easily be the people sleeping on the benches given that everything in town seems to be sold out.

Sounds right.

The Inn is fine by me.

Pleased to meet everyone! This looks like it will be a blast!

DM Shisumo, how much for the bag of apples and does it look like the Inn has a Stable?

The inn, alas, lacks a stable, although it does have a hitch out front. And as it is early spring still, the only apples available are ones magically preserved since last fall, and are therefore scandalously expensive at 1sp per bag.

Oh well, I promised Feng an apple and an apple he will have. Jie purchases the bag with a wry look on her face.

200 XP for each of you for this encounter.

Looting the hobgoblins turns up:
set of Medium studded leather armor (x2)
longsword (x2)
longbow (x2)
quiver with 20 arrows (x2)
light steel shield (x2)
masterwork backpack
heavy crossbow (with 20 bolts and 10 masterwork bolts)
clearly labeled potion of guidance (x8)
a wand
a scroll containing three different spells
dried goat meat, sheep’s cheese, and a jug of sheep’s milk worth a total of 5 Provision Points

(A Provision Point is enough food for one person to eat for one day - this will become much more relevant soon.)

Well...

I'd like to ask for:

(1) 1x longsword (backup weapon)
(2) 1x longbow with 10 arrows (ranged weapon)
(3) The wand and scroll (use-magic-device)

I already have a fighter's kit (This kit includes a backpack, a bedroll, a belt pouch, a flint and steel, an iron pot, a mess kit, rope, soap, torches (10), trail rations (5 days), and a waterskin) so anyone lacking this could get the nice backpack and rations.

Lissa has detect magic and read magic once we get to the woods, until then we just need to carry stuff. Grab whatever and we can, loot the town as we flee and sort out in discussion what to do with it once we get to the woods.

Sounds like we're going to be doing the live off the land and raiding farms thing, so getting out of town with as many tools provisions as we can is probably important, we likely won't be back for a while.

Lissa and Grum are both described as taking the scroll and wand, just FYI.

It looks like Grum and Benedict have claimed the hobs' swords, and Grum has also claimed one longbow. Benedict has a shield, but that leaves a shield and a longbow unclaimed, in addition to whatever you want to borrow from Aubrin (who is clearly incapable of using most of her gear and knows it).

She can hold onto the scroll and wand, as she posted first. Plus she's the only one who can read the scrolls atm.

Jie will take the remaining longbow and shield.

Too bad that Bluff didn't work. We didn't have a great opportunity to plan it in-character so I just went with what I thought best; a fairly plausible way to draw off some of the hobgoblins in a direction we weren't going. And we did learn a couple of things (that they are taking slaves rather than just killing everyone, and that there are people in the cellar).

Any thoughts on what Benedict should have said? This is certainly a ploy he will try again, it's basically what he is built for, so when there is time to talk he would welcome feedback.

Well, if you peek under the spoiler in the game, you'll see why the bluff didn't work - the dice were shockingly unfriendly to you in that moment. However, you didn't get the believability bonus you were hoping for because you actually said things that were a bit unbelievable: first, you tried giving orders to him as though you outranked him, even though your rank insignia and his were identical, and second, you questioned his looting when "loot the area for supplies" is one of the general orders the whole Legion has been given. I didn't penalize your Bluff either, but the end result is that the hob thought you were attempting to claim authority you didn't earn in order to keep him away from something valuable in the front room. This is certainly an acceptable thing to attempt in hobgoblin society, but his response - to kill the guy who hasn't proved his greater status and take his stuff - is likewise an acceptable thing to attempt. And so here you are.

That all makes sense. I am pleased that even if the Bluff wasn't particularly credible as being true, it was fairly credible as being hobgoblin-like. The player and the character will both get better at this with experience. And, the dice will sometimes fall in Benedict's favor.

I like the explanation there. Very well thought out

Seems good!

Lissa' probably right about the maps, but there are a lot of tiny locations in this sequence, and I was hoping to avoid them. I'll see what I can do.

160xp each for the fight, and I will get you a loot list later tonight.

Also, you now have followers! While they are accompanying you, on the second or later round of any combat, you can make a Diplomacy or Intimidate check, DC 12, as a free action to get an Aid Another bonus to your AC or your next attack, to have someone hand you something, to have someone make a First Aid attempt, or to have someone drag a fallen ally away from a battle. With a DC 17 check they will make an attack for you, but even the warrior is likely to go down fast if someone actually attacks them.

Currently you have five followers: Jet (aristocrat 2), plus a warrior 1, expert 1, and two commoners 1.

Oh boy, let's keep them alive. Ap giving out followers has me thinking we'll want more than aid another out of them, eventually.

I have no idea whatsoever you might mean. *whistling*

Correction - the expert 1 is actually an aristocrat 1.

Loot from the pantry and kitchen:
Water keg (worth 3 Provision Points)
Additional foodstuffs worth another 5 Provision Points
longsword
longbow and 20 arrows
studded leather armor
light steel shield
wand
wand
elixir (x2)
set of juggling balls

Yeah! A weapon! Jie will take the longsword unless Lissa wants to claim it as spoils.

All you. Lissa wants a bow, her cold iron arrows and ???. By the time we get to the woods we'll have a bunch of stuff I think, so if you can use something between here and there go nuts. We can ID things very slowly in the woods, and sort again if needed there.

Grum will grab whatever he can carry, prioritizing wands, then scrolls and potions, and finally rations.

"Whatever you can carry" is less relevant when you have a gaggle of refugees trailing behind you.

Lissa wants a bow, her cold iron arrows and ???.

Aubrin still has all the cold iron arrows you gave her before, plus another 15 of her own. She also has five +1 arrows if anyone wants to take those.

The foodstuffs Farrow and Clidon were selling constitute an additional 10 points' worth of Provisions.

Jie has her shortbow and the longbow she looted cannot be used on horseback so if Lissa still needs a bow she'll gladly let you have that one. As to where we should go next, I guess the question is how many of these sites do we want to hit. The Smith seems like an obvious choice (We be Fighters. Need Weapons), but roleplay wise Jie really wants to visit the Shrine.

Jie's earlier suggestion of going clockwise sounded good if we can hit everything. The Trading Company/Smithy is a priority, but almost directly across the Green, so we'd pass by another location to get there if we took the alleys.
I'd like to keep trying to rescue civilians until the pressure gets too intense.

So Jie's original suggestion was to do a counterclockwise sweep around the town, meaning your next stop would be the Riverwood Shrine, then the Trading Company, and lastly the alchemist's shop before making for the bridge. That's the plan?

Jie votes for hitting the Shrine next. If Benedict can do his 'hobgoblin form' thing again, he can pretend we are prisoners / slaves, at least to the casual eye. Jie would like to at least find some bread or some sort of food that can be used to feed the birds at The Shrine before we leave, however. A loaf grabbed from a table would suit her. She would like to ask them to fly over and take a look at the bridge and then tell her what they see there. The most appropriate place to try this from a religious standpoint would be the Shrine. The most appropriate place from a tactical standpoint would be the last place we visit before going to the bridge. But Jie is going to stick to being theologically correct.

So Jie's original suggestion was to do a counterclockwise sweep around the town, meaning your next stop would be the Riverwood Shrine, then the Trading Company, and lastly the alchemist's shop before making for the bridge. That's the plan?

Yes. Onward to shrine and engage hardmode.

Sadly, Benedict's Alter Self is 1/day. He does have a mundane disguise kit and some skill at using it, though it would take 10-30 minutes.

Sadly, Benedict's Alter Self is 1/day. He does have a mundane disguise kit and some skill at using it, though it would take 10-30 minutes.

Yeah, that's probably too long. So no 'Wookie Gambit' we'll just have to stick to the back alleys.