House of Hell - Attempt 1

Taking refuge in the infamous House of Hell has to be the worst mistake of your life!  The dangers of the torrential storm outside are nothing compared to the blood-curdling adventures that await you inside.  Who knows how many hapless wanderers like yourself have perished within its gruesome walls?  Be warned!  Tonight is going to be a night to remember...

House of Hell, written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by Tim Sell, is book 10 in the Fighting Fantasy series (and the first main series book I've covered since way back in March, which is somewhat startling).  If it feels like the blog's already spent the last 8 months covering this adventure, that's because it has, in the form of the Warlock Magazine preview.  Thankfully that version is different enough to the book to make playing both worthwhile, even if I'm a little unenthusiastic about tackling them so close together.  Still, it's a favourite of mine,and I'm interested to remind myself just how the book expands on the preview.

I should do a quick reminder of the adventure background.  House of Hell is set in "the present day", or at least it was when the book was published in 1984.  Does it qualify as a period piece now?  The hero is on their way to an appointment, and has been misdirected by a strange old man down a dirt track.  Now, driving through a terrible storm, the hero crashes into a ditch, not far from a creepy mansion.  With no other recourse, he heads off to the house to use the phone, little suspecting the horrible, traumatic, messed up stuff he's going to have to deal with when he gets there.  (I wonder how many kids reading the Scholastic version in 2017 have wondered why the hero doesn't just call on a mobile phone.  It wouldn't have been too hard for Steve to cover it with a paragraph about there being no signal, but I'm glad it was left untouched.  Unless it was changed?  I'm making assumptions here.)

The rules use Skill, Stamina and Luck as is standard for the series, although Skill starts with a 3 point penalty because people from 1984 don't wander around with broadswords strapped to their back.  In fact, you begin with no equipment at all, which means no provisions and no potions.  The other big addition is the Fear score, which starts at 0 and climbs whenever you experience something frightening or unnerving.  A roll of 1d6+6 determines the maximum number of Fear points you can have before you drop dead.

For my first attempt I rolled a Skill of 10, a Stamina of 18, a Luck of 10, and a maximum Fear of 11.  Very good scores, all told, and I felt like I had a decent shot at winning provided I could remember the path to victory.  That wasn't guaranteed: it's been a decade or so since I last played this book, and I was concerned that my recent play-through of the preview version might be a negative influence.  Still, I have a memory of the basic shape of what I need to get done.  The trick will be choosing the right doors, and not being scared to death.

THE ADVENTURE

Like the preview version, I began the adventure standing at the front door of the house, with the option to knock or pull the bell-cord.  There was a new option to creep around behind the house, where there was a light coming from a window.  I chose to investigate the light rather than attempting to enter the house unseen.  The light was coming from the kitchen, where two people were talking excitedly about their Master, and some event that would be happening that night.  One of them was expressing doubts, and mentioned the involvement of a young, innocent girl.  It all sounded very much like some sort of cult gathering, or perhaps a bondage party, and anyone with sense at all would get the hell out of there right away.  I had nowhere to go, though, and I didn't relish a night spent sleeping in my car, so I headed back to the front of the house and knocked on the door.

A not particularly Hellish kitchen

The butler answered my knock, and led me into a reception hall.  While I was waiting I examined the paintings, and one of a young woman spoke to me, warning me of the evil Lord Kelnor, and to avoid drinking his white wine.  (This increased my Fear to 1.)

Lord Kelnor, the Earl of Drumer soon arrived, and we relaxed and drank brandy while he told me about the past of his family.  (This set my Fear back to 0.)  After that we ate together, and I avoided the white wine, and also eschewed the cheese.  After the meal, the butler led me to the 'Erasmus Room', where I would be able to sleep the night.  (Obviously I'm skimming this stuff because I played through it a million times before in the magazine, and it's no different than before.)

I chose to go to bed rather than leave the room, and was soon asleep.  (Unlike the preview, the bed-sheets didn't come alive and try to smother me.)  A noise startled me awake, and I saw that a glass of clear liquid had been left beside my bed.  (Someone has brought you a bedtime drink! the book exclaims, complete with italics.)  The bedroom door was locked.  Things were looking even more suspicious, and I wasn't about to drink any strange liquids, so instead I tried to batter down the door.  I bounced off unsuccessfully (reducing my Stamina to 16), so I gave up, but the noise had attracted someone to investigate.  I hid behind the door, ready to spring on whoever entered.

I'm not accepting a drink from anyone with those fingernails.

That person was a hunchback, carrying yet another glass of liquid.  (Why would he bring me a second one?  Did he think I was trying to batter the door down due to extreme thirst?)  It was time to get some answers, so I leapt upon the man and tried to beat him senseless.  With the aid of surprise I knocked him down (reducing his Stamina to 4 without taking any blows myself), and when the wretch pleaded for mercy I spared him.  I asked him what was going on in the house, and this made the fellow very confused; he obviously thought that I should already know.  Apparently someone named Isaacson was to receive the Master's blessing.  I got no further information, though, as the hunchback tried to escape.  Rather than let him go, I sprang out of the room and locked him inside.

(I'm pretty sure that I messed this encounter up.  If memory serves, I needed to somehow get the hunchback's name, so that I can have a friendly conversation with him later on.  There are a few different questions that can be asked of him, so I'll have to try them next time.)

I was on a landing overlooking the entrance hall, and I chose to go right.  The corridor soon ended at a door, but before I could enter I was beckoned inside by the ghost of a young bride (which raised by Fear to 1).  I followed her in, and she explained a little more about Kelnor, and that his only weakness is the Kris knife.  Before she could finish, a pair of ghostly great danes entered the room and attacked her.  I couldn't touch them, and had to watch as they overpowered her, and all three disappeared.

I decided to help the ghost bride rather than escape the house, and began my search for the Kris knife. Walking around the landing, I came to two rooms with name-plates: the Azazel Room and the Mephisto Room.  I entered the Azazel Room to find a crude, cluttered laboratory.

Hey look! Australia!

I decided to search further, despite being startled by some lab rats in a cage.  There were some cupboards, as well as some vials of bubbling liquid, but I ignored those and rifled through the drawers.  Inside I found a letter opener, which I took to use as a weapon (allowing me to fight at my Initial Skill score of 10).

I heard some footsteps from outside, and hid in the shadows as a pair of cultists passed by the room, talking about something to do with the Master's permission and light sources.  As soon as they were gone, I ducked out of the room and moved away from them.

(At this point, the book asks which direction you approached the room from, left or right.  It's kind of irritating.  First off, it makes no sense, as the direction I came from should have no bearing on the direction the cultists came from.  It's not like they were looking for me or anything.  Second, how the hell would I even remember which direction I came from, unless I was mapping?  Third, left and right are different depending on which way you're facing through the doorway, so it could be either one.  It's a confusing choice all round.  I just checked both entries and chose the one that made the most sense (which was the right).)

A little further along the landing I entered the Mephisto Room.  The door caught on something, but I forced it open.  Inside the room was bare, except for a broken window (the glass of which had obstructed the door) and some knotted rope.  I took the rope and left.

At the corner of the landing there were two doors, one named the Balthus Room and the other unmarked.  Unable to resist such a rad name (and a bit of self-referential FF trivia) I entered the Balthus Room.  It contained a hearth, with a wooden box on the mantelpiece.  Nearby there were some curtains that bulged strangely.  I tore one of them down, only to reveal a barred window.  I was about to tear down the second when something struck me from behind it (reducing my Stamina to 16, and raising my Fear to 3).  It was a Zombie!

The zombie wounded me once (reducing my Stamina to 14), but it wasn't able to stand for long against the might of my letter opener.  The door out of the room was now locked somehow, so I opened the box on the mantelpiece.  It contained a key, which allowed me to leave the room.

I tried the unmarked door, which opened into a narrow passageway ending at a window.  There was also a door marked as the Diabolus Room, but I decided to investigate the window first.  It was barred like the others, and gave an ominous view of the thunderstorm outside.  I noticed that the rain was avoiding a particular section of the glass, however, and had a closer look.  There was a message written in the condensation on the window: 'Mordana in Abbadon'.  I made a mental note if this before moving on (also noting that to use this clue, I would need to turn to paragraph 88 at the appropriate time).

Apparently I forgot all about the Diabolus Room, because I found myself back on the landing, at the top of a staircase leading down.  There was also an unmarked door behind me, which I chose to investigate rather than than the stairs.  It opened into a storeroom, with shelves holding various household items.  Amidst some crockery, utensils and food I found a sharp meat-knife (another weapon to add to my arsenal of murder) and some cloves of garlic.  There was also a bottle of white liquid, which I decided not to drink.  (I'm pretty sure that this is meant to be white wine, but as most of you probably know white wine is not actually white in colour.  Do you think Steve Jackson has ever seen a glass of white wine?)

On the opposite door of the storeroom was another door, but I decided instead to return to the landing.  As with the Diabolus Room, it seems that I forgot about the stairs, as I found myself further along the landing, in front of another unmarked door.  With a shrug of the shoulders I opened it, only for the dead body of an old man to sprawl on top of me (raising my Fear to 6).

Supplies!

(I had thought that this body was in the room at the back of the storeroom, where it was in the preview from Warlock magazine. But nope, Steve pulled a fast one on me, and stuck it just a little further down the hall.  Check the illustration, though.  See those shelves full of crockery?  That fits the magazine version, but not the book version.  I would have assumed that the book was completed first, then remixed for the magazine, but from this it seems that it might have been the other way around.)

After a panicked flight around the landing, I came to a passage branching off.  I took this passage rather than continuing around the landing.  I soon came to two doors on either side: the Asmodeus Room and the Eblis Room.  I chose the Asmodeus Room, which opened into a sparsely furnished room lit by a dim candle.  As soon as I entered, a white-haired old man sprang from behind the door and attacked me (raising my Fear to 7).

What are those things breaking the page border at the bottom?

He was no match for the twin powers of my meat-knife and letter opener, but after striking the first blow I decided to spare his life.  I tried to explain that I meant him no harm, but he was convinced that I was "one of them", and insisted that he would not be punished without a fight.  I asked him to tell me how I could convince him, and at his suggestion I made the sign of the cross.  This was enough, and I proceeded to ask the man how I may defeat the Master.  He explained that I would need the Kris Knife, which was hidden downstairs in a secret room.  I would need a password to enter, but he didn't know it.  Apparently"old Mordana" once knew it, but she died some time ago.  The white-haired man then bid me farewell; he was off to seek his revenge, though he gave no explanation as to why we couldn't do it together.  (Or how he was going to do it without the Kris Knife, for that matter.  Maybe he just wanted to kill one of the other cultists?)

Before leaving the room, I made a thorough search of the room's meager furnishings.  Two crates were serving double duty as chairs, and one was heavier than the other.  I kicked it over, and out spilled the skinned and apparently non-stinking corpse of a goat (which raised my Fear to 9).

(Generally speaking, none of the corpses or zombies or severed body parts in House of Hell give off any sort of stench of blood or rot.  I can't say that I have first-hand experience, but I'd expect them to be a bit pongy.  My theory is that the stench pretty much pervades the whole house, so the bodies don't really add to it that much.  Our Hero probably just attributed it to "old person smell", a general feature of gothic mansions like this one.)

Back in the passage I checked out the Eblis Room.  Inside was a bed, and the sound of music playing.  I shut the door and headed back to the landing, where I came to the Tuttivillus Room, which I passed by.  The landing soon ended at a panelled wall, with a passage heading off to the left.  This passage led to three doors: the Belial Room to the left, the Abaddon Room to the right, and an unmarked door straight ahead.  Remembering the message on the window, I headed for the Abaddon Room.

Inside was a large, comfy looking bed, with a sleeping old lady.  I went to wake her, but she wasn't asleep SHE WAS DEAD AAAAAHHHHH.  This was such a shock that I dropped dead on the spot, and my adventure was over.

THE POST-GAME
Of course I knew the old lady was dead, and that touching her would raise my Fear or a fatal level.  It was getting late, and I already suspected that I had screwed things up, so I committed suicide by dead grandma.  It was a quick and painless way to go.

I died relatively early in the book, but it gave me some good ideas about what to do, where to go, and what to avoid.  I'm positive that I need to beat up the hunchback, and learn his real name.  I didn't accomplish that this time around, so I have to ask him some different questions.  The Azazel Room provided me with a weapon, but I'll perhaps search the liquids or the cupboards next time.  The Mephisto Room gave me some rope.  I think the Balthus Room, with the zombie behind a curtain, is pointless in this version.  All it does is increase your Fear, and give you a key that I'm pretty sure is just for escaping that room.  The window, with its 'Mordana in Abaddon' message is crucial, if memory serves.  The storeroom with its meat-knife and garlic is definitely worth entering again, and I need to check out the back room now that I know it doesn't have dead body in it.  The passage with the Asmodeus and Eblis Rooms seems to be pointless.  The white-haired man gives some useful clues, but none of them are vital to winning.  Eblis and Tuttivilus are both bedrooms, and I'm sure one of them leads down to the basement.  That's a winning path in the magazine, but a dead end in the book.  Otherwise, I know that I need to talk to Mordana in Abaddon.  Beyond that, my memory is hazy.

Overall I enjoyed revisiting this more than I expected to.  It's very different to the magazine version, even down to the layout of the house.  I definitely need to forget most of what I learned from playing that version.  Next time, stats willing, I'll do better.