Gathox Session #6 Play Report: Kill All Kermen!!!!!!

Having regrouped at the Bar With No Name, the team decided to make a surgical strike on the Kermen safehouse where the Huttimer holy book was purported to be located.

Making a cautious approach, the team scouted the area. Guards and watchmen abounded, and with no obvious entrance, the party took to the sewers. Locating a sub-floor entrance and avoiding traps, the team entered the basement of the safehouse.

Just in time, too, as the Kermen were reenacting a perilous sex magic ritual from the book. Defeating the Screaming Bog-Hazz guardian, they snatched the book and made for the tunnel exit.

A dozen or more Kermen swarmed them, chasing them into a tight, compact tunnel. With Steve the Psychic near death, Brother Saget made the only play he could and cast "Summons From Beyond The Seven Pillars of Earth."

A lake of blood erupted from the earth below, shattering the bedrock and rending reality. A great firebreathing beast burst forth, destroying the safehouse and leveling a city block in its attempt to locate the caster. Luckily, the team was already moving through the sewers and across the city.

The PCs managed to return the book and collect their hard-earned reward with 3.5 hours to spare. The Kermen have vowed vengeance, although they likely don't know the identities of the perpetrators.

Highlights:

*Steve  "The Manglefaced Psychic" and Brother Saget continuing a long-standing tradition of improvised arson.

*Amadeus Marmaduke's stealthy recon resulting in solid intel.

*Mutant Thla's teleportation of the book mid-ritual, halting the dangerous and sexy magic in progress.

*Brother Saget's Hail Mary spellcasting resulting in both the destruction of a block of Kermen territory as well as the replacement of his head with a giant black widow.

The Defeated:

1 Screaming Bog-Hazz
10 Kermen mooks
1 Kermen Lieutenant

The Take:

520 gp each
675 xp each

*Congratulations! Everyone except Brother Sagett has reached 2nd level!

The Analysis:

Here we begin to see the players choose sides in the inherent conflict of the city. They'll work for the conservative Huttimer when the price is right, and they begin to show a bias toward the one-eyed Kermen. This is really the first seed of an ongoing war between the PCs and the Kermen, which reaches a devastating peak around Session #18 (no spoilers, but there are car-sized piles of burning human waste). Of course, being that the Kermen were merely standing between the players and their goal was sufficient cause for animosity. What surprised me was the extent to which that animosity expressed itself - spectacular public displays of violence and degradation.