My group stay out.
Well, in my last session, two people didn't show but I ran a short solo session for them on Monday to make up for it. I wasn't quite sure what to do so I did some brief research into local myths, and found the Dogwood People. The description I found said they were "Little People" of Cherokee myth, somewhat in the middle between the carefree child-loving Laurel People and the grim, territorial Stone People. They can be somewhat serious and reserved, is what the description I found said. I decided to use the stats for Elves, as they seem a close analogue, and made the Dogwood People resemble tiny albino Cherokee with patches of red body paint. Not bad for about 20 minutes of research.
So, for the plot, I had my PCs stumble into a grove of theirs in the Nevernever while fleeing from failed negotiations with Ulsi Dolsa. It was a beautiful thicket of tangled trees bearing pure white flowers. Close examination revealed that the characteristic red-brown stain on real-world dogwood flowers was here actually caused by a tiny drop of blood on each petal. This never truly came into play, just some flavor for the ever-strange Nevernever.
Soon they were assaulted by arrows the size of pencils which pinned them to trees. Negotiations followed, and long story short negotiations broke down. Due to the scene aspects of "dense forest" making running difficult, difficulty in the wizard applying her aspects, and the fact that apparently elf stats are a lot more badass than I thought, soon both PCs had taken Consequences and did not look like they were going to get out of this mess alive. So, they conceded, and I decided to make it so each PC owed the Dogwood People one favor for forgiving this trespass and being allowed to escape with their lives. Since the Dogwood People are clearly allied with Spring, while two other PCs are strongly associated with Autumn, this is actually a pretty awesome plot hook that will be very useful later.
What's important is that this was a learning experience, for both me and my players. Going to be adjusting some things on their character sheets to hopefully make them less comically inept next time, and in the future I will be more careful about the opposition. Elves are badass.
Now here's where parking at Wrigley comes into play. I did a bit more research, and turns out my initial information was inaccurate. Not only are they generally very kind, they actually hate being owed favors. They do tend to be more serious, but they are also almost completely benevolent. Oops. So now I have to find a way to patch my portrayal with the actual mythology. How would you reconcile it?
Also, I need something to represent the mostly benevolent Dogwood People in the future that is not based on the Elf, because man, those little guys are powerful.
