Unfortunately, 3 of the 4 players playing are typically late arrivers so we got to a slow start.  Brian had placed a lot of information on the message of the day about the system and the setting but I don’t think many had a chance to read it.  We dove into building characters.  Everyone seemed to have used the online character builder to project out their intentions into the higher levels so it was a matter of transferring that into FGU.  FGU provided a template for character building which worked okay.  It was still a struggle and a couple had to start over because there were some things you could not undo.  But we managed to get 3 characters made.  Brian started the background/town tie in discussion when Dave arrived so we waited for him to catch up.  Here are the characters, as I can remember them.

Dan has a gnome Sorcerer named Clarissa.  I think she’s a dragon blood.  Her magic manifested in an uncontrollable manner at a young age.  So much so that she and her mother were “asked” to leave.  The only relative (distant cousin) they knew of with magic experience was the Druid that lives just outside of Otari but she couldn’t do much for a Sorcerer.  However, the Wizard that operates a book shop in town offered to help.  So, they live in a tiny shack near the docks and her mom cleans the shop.  Clarissa sometimes helps, gets some training and as long as she doesn’t burn anything down, can read all the books she wants.

Paul has a full Orc Fighter named Tar Somethingornother with the intent of picking up the Marshal archetype at 2^nd and the Bard multiclass at 8^th.  18 STR and plenty of Fighter skills and 16 CHR and plenty of Bard skills.  It took some negotiation between Brian and Paul to find a character history with more hooks into the town beyond his original wayward orphan.  So, he was “saved” as a baby after his tribe had been eliminated in retaliation for raids on the town lumber interests.  The baby was given over to the only orc in town, a former gladiator half Orc who works as a guard at the Menhemes lumber mill.  Tar sometimes helps out and in general tries to be an upstanding citizen despite the inevitable prejudices against him.

Dave ended up with a Halfling Leaf Druid named Brisco Bramblemire after Dave Green vacated it.  He started with a Leafy familiar and talked of picking up a second Druid subclass (Wild shape) at 2^nd.  His background also took some work.  He is the son of the owners of the local herbalist shop.  He had a skill with herbs and would go out to gather raw materials.  When he started manifesting Druid powers, he was sent to the Gnome Druid that lives just outside of town for training.  How a Druid, especially a Leaf one, works in a lumber town is a little dicey.  It was suggested he was a re-forester but he could also end up an ecoterrorist.   

Dave Green ended up with a half Elf STR based Monk with a Bo Staff named Oakwood.  He is the middle child of Mayor Menhemes however when he came out as a half Elf, there was quite the scandal.  Evidently a handsome Elf came through town.  The wife claims she was magically charmed but the husband is not so sure.  But that was 17 years ago.  However Osgood is a bit of a sore spot in the family.  As a bastard and smaller than the average human, he took a lot of abuse as a child.  So, he began training with an Oaken staff (thus the nickname Oakwood) to toughen up.  He maintains that training discipline.  He goes out with the work crews as a “foreman” in training but prefers to scout for new groves.

With that taken care of, we started an encounter.  The Menhemes Fishery turns into the teen hang out after hours.  Some of the popular teens challenged our misfit teens to a battle of capture the flag.  The losers would lose Fishery rights for two weeks.  Brian came up with a bunch of rules but it didn’t quite work out as he’d hoped.  It was 4 on 4 in a designated area.  No damaging each other and no TK to grab a flag.  The goal was to get both flags, ours and theirs onto ours.  But without damage, it became a skill challenge with Athletics based maneuvers like Shove, Grapple, Trip and Disarm being at a premium.  There was some success with some CHR based Intimidation “attacks” but they didn’t have much of an impact.  We started with doing the DC’s wrong.  For example, Trip is a Reflex DC so we were rolling Athletics and Brian was rolling a Reflex save.  But we eventually realized the Reflex DC was a flat 10 plus their save.  I think that’s tougher.  Historically if you’re fighting a tough dragon, you cast a bunch of spells and hope it rolls a 1 at some point.  With a flat 10, there is no chance of a 1. 

What happened was that Carissa grabbed our flag and Oakwood’s older sister grabbed theirs.  (There was a brief opportunity where Oakwood managed to get near enough to his sister to attempt to trip her off the tower (cheating?) before she got it but got a critical failure.)  Generally, Brian rolled well and the players rolled not so good.  And two of them were superior to us so our target DCs were tough.  However, it came down to the Disarm rules.  You needed a critical success (i.e. more than 10 over) to get someone to drop something.  With a Reflex DC of 10+10 flat+10 over, you needed a 30 to succeed over their flag holder.  Clarissia wasn’t that good but she had players with her doing CHR skills to impede them.  A normal success gave a +2 until their next round so in theory, with an army of attempts, those +2 might add up to make it possible but still not likely.  It was a stalemate.  I went to bed.  I assume it ended in a draw?  

Character Histories:

Clarisa (Dan)-Clarisa is a young female gnome.  When she was barely a toddler the magic in her blood flared uncontrollably.  Her mother, unable to deal with the havoc chaotic flashes of magic brought on, sought help from her estranged cousin Worliwynn.  They mostly settled their difference but there wasn't much the druid could do for a budding sorcerer except suggesting meditation.  Lots of meditation.  As much as she wanted to help, the grove isn't a place to raise a child.  A druid can live in wilds quite comfortably but a family with a child can't live in a tent forever.  So, while Clarisa attempted to calm her blood, her mother found a job sweeping the floor of the Dawnflower Library and rented a tiny house on the edge of town, just where the path winds down into the cove.  Once they settled in she split her time bothering her aunt and her apprentice (Dave) and trying to stay out of the way of her mother's work at the Library.  Fortunately, Vandy Banderdash doesn't mind her presence and allows her to read the books as long as she wears gloves and puts them away afterword.  When her friends are busy and she's feeling curious she'll either be here or "Odd Stories"

There isn't much to do in a small town for children except cause trouble and the Clarissa and her druid apprentice friend, along with several other village children like Oakwood and Tar with time on their hands and parents that weren't too strict, caused their share of trouble.  Nothing malicious but children will be children.  They have had their share of trouble with Lardus Longsaddle and behind his back he has naturally earned the title "Lard Ass".  But only when he isn't there.  There have been a few times they have been "scared straight", spending the night in the jail before her mother or comes to pick them up.  It's not common but once Vandy actually had to intercede.  Lard Ass does earn his name.  They haven't stopped causing trouble but as they get older they certainly have gotten better about not getting caught.