One-Shot: Hell Night!

Yesterday we did a one-shot game of Hell Night. First, some quick thoughts on the game, then, the summary!

Hell Night nails the atmosphere, I'll say that. You're playing demons brought up from Hell to hunt down the Archons of Hell before Heaven invades at dawn, because the Dark Master has fucked off somewhere to do something else (there's a table to roll on if why he did that becomes important; there's lots of tables). The game is set in and, more importantly, inspired by the 80s, so there's a lot of 80s metal and biker aesthetic. The game book itself, therefore, looks like this in places:

This is some of the easier text to read

All of that is fine, and there is a plain-text version to download, but it's a pain to find any particular thing during play. The system is pretty easy - 2d6, roll under your stat, but if you hit your stat exactly you crit! In play, however, we found that if you don't really specialize in one stat (there's only three), you fail a lot. 

The game succeeds entirely when it comes to vibe - it makes you want to play it. I think if I were going to run it again, I'd need to make some mechanical tweaks or at least clarifications. 

But never mind that! On to the story! SQUEEDLY-DOO! (Lots of squeedly guitar in this game, as Strong Bad might say.)

It's Hell Night, and four demons emerge from a long, deep tunnel where time and space cease to mean anything. They are:

• Ernest Gravely, the Reaper: Burned as a witch in the 1800s, Ernest has risen through the ranks of Hell and now brings sinful souls out of it. He wears a plague doctor's mask...actually that might just be his face. He rides Toothboiler, a Hell Ride that can take the form of a rat when it needs to.
• Raizen, the Slayer: Raizen was birthed from the decomposing remains of a dragon! It resembles a classic devil; red, pointy tail, claws, and carries a war-hammer. It also wears armor made from human windpipes and rides upon Motherfucker, a Hell Ride that whines if it's left alone (it gets lonely). Motherfucker has a sidecar, in which rides Skipper, Raizen's little imp buddy. (We're not sure where he got the sailor's hat.)
• Belphegor, the Usurper: Belphegor was a slayer at one point, but was crippled by an angel and deprived of form. Now it possesses the bodies of humans as necessary. Because of that impermanence, Belphegor doesn't have a Hell Ride of its own.
• Xul-Na'Ful, the Fallen: Once an angel in service to the First Voice, Xul-Na'Ful has Fallen to Hell. He remains completely faithful to the ineffable plan, however. Xul-Na'Ful refuses to get dirty and wears a white suit, scotch-guarded within an inch of its life. 

The demons emerge into the last light of the setting sun on a highway, and pass a sign that says "Las Vegas - 10 Miles." Belphegor seems to have jumped into the body of a man driving a white Pontiac and wearing a white suit with a fabulous hat, and a gold tooth. The four of them continue on into the city, and stop at a huge pool with jetting fountains. Belphegor hears someone whistle. He peaks into the water, and sees his own reflection - but the reflection is him as he should be, the Slayer, before his defeat. "Nope, nope, nope. Someone else look."

The others look; Ernest sees himself burning, nothing but fire and charred flesh ("that's about right."). Xul-Na'Ful sees himself in his true, angelic form ("rude"), and talks with the reflection. The reflection tells them their mission: "Find the deceiving derelict at the fortress of 10,000 illusions." Belphegor searches his host's memory for something that might qualify, and remembers that there's a casino called "Mirror, Mirror" that has a illusion/mirror theme going on. The demons head out - Xul-Na'Ful gets into the Pontiac and leaves his own vehicle, an ATV, behind. Ernest has Toothboiler shrink down to rat form and hop into his pocket, and rides along as well. Before they go Raizen looks into the water and sees...only himself, the Dragon-Born Slayer. Perfect.

The demons cruise down the Strip, but when stopped at a red light, Raizen spots a human with a leather jacket, a deathly pall, and more immediately relevant, a spiked mace approaching the Pontiac with obviously hostile intent. Raizen draws back and flings his hammer, but misses the man. The hammer sticks into the side of a bus across the street. 

This does, however, given the demons in the car enough of a heads-up. The man smashes through the window at Xul-Na'Ful, who puts the seat back and dodges. The demons get out and Ernest attempts to throw chains at the dude, but can't quite manage to hit. Xul-Na'Ful yoinks the mace out of his hand and tries to reason with him; the man responds, but in a language Xul-Na'Ful has never heard (which is weird, because as an angel he speaks all the tongues of Babel). 

Raizen pulls his Hell Ride around and yanks his hammer out of the bus, and then rolls up and swings on the guy. Ernest uses his power to rot the man's flesh, but only succeeds in rotting his jacket ("at least we know it's real leather"). Raizen manages to get himself centered enough to hit with his hammer and knocks the guy down, and stabs him in the chest with the pointy bit on the end of the hammer.

He's expecting to be rewarded with a shower of blood, but instead there's just a little ploop. This guy was dead to begin with. Belphegor thinks about this, and recalls that some demons can pull a bit of their power into corpses in order to create minions, but can't recall any specific Archon that has a propensity for this. Xul-Na'Ful tries to heal the guy, but only manages to revive him momentarily before his chest implodes again. He does, however, figure out the language - it's English, but backwards! Searching his body, they find a bit of cash and a $5 chip from Mirror, Mirror. They're on the right track!

Weird. And also, violence on the streets. They hear a siren behind them (Belphegor: "The constabulary!") and head on to Mirror, Mirror.

Belphegor gives the valet a hundred to park the car, Raizen has Skipper handle Motherfucker, Xul-Na'Ful takes a flyer from an old hobo handing them out ("you could win! You could win!") and the four of them head into the casino. Belphegor heads to a lounge to listen for gossip, while Ernest goes to the bar and starts drinking. Skipper scampers off to the slot machines, and Raizen follows, yanking a bucket of nickels out of some old lady's hands and giving it to the imp.

Xul-Na'Ful watches a blackjack table for a while, then sits down, puts down the chip, and buys into the game. He immediately wins (he can count cards like crazy), and keeps winning. Eventually this does have the intended effect - a very large man approaches him and tells him he can play at other tables, but no more blackjack. Xul-Na'Ful doesn't argue, but does watch where the man goes. He looks back at a man standing and watching the casino, clearly a pit boss. When he sees Xul-Na'Ful, he goes through a door. 

The Fallen finds the other three - Belphegor hasn't managed to learn anything of interest ("these humans are boring"), while Skipper has moved on from slots to the buffet and eaten all the shrimp. Xul-Na'Ful tells them what he's learned, and lifts the keys to the door off one of the guards. The demons go through it, go down a hall, and emerge into a locker room.

Three large dudes, one still wearing a towel, and a few less-large employees stare at them. There's some tension - the demons try and bribe them with drugs (turns out Belphegor's host is carrying a bunch of coke), but it doesn't work and fight is on! This turns out to be...not great for them.

Ernest unleashes the vermintide! Rats stream in from the corners and start nibbling on everything in the room. The dude in the towel takes a swing on Xul-Na'Ful, who grabs his towel and yanks, hoping to put him on his ass. It doesn't work (the guy isn't modest), and the two square off. The third guy runs for his locker, and Raizen follows. He manages to get his locker open before Raizen reaches him.

Raizen is here to Slay, and has had enough of Not Slaying. He emasculates the man with one yank, and then wrenches his hand off and tosses it (it bounces off the head of the guy trying to beat rats with a stick). Belphegor drops a bag of coke to the rats, and Ernest delightedly tells them to snort it up! Now a horde of cocaine rats nibbles on the guards! 

Belphegor realizes he has a gun, and shoots the guy whacking rats in the arm. His arm explodes and he drops to the ground, screaming in pain, while the naked guy attempts to fight Xul-Na'Ful but isn't really getting anywhere (Xul-Na'Ful is far too fast). The Fallen reaches down and heals the man's arm, and then tells them both to get out of here before anything else happens to them. They agree, and run.

Ernest dismisses the rats ("you guys know about anything else going on? 'Cause I'm still ready to party!"). Xul-Na'Ful finds a sawed-off shotgun in the locker and gives it to Raizen, and the four of them head on to the pit boss's office. They find it, and him, and, figuring he's probably the Archon they came for, threaten him to get him back to Hell. He refuses, however, and produces a very large gun.

The demons square off, but this fight goes pretty quickly - a few gun shots, a bit of magic, and Angelo (the pit boss) slumps dead to the floor (I honestly don't remember the blow-by-blow). But when he does, his flesh just melts away and flows to the corners of the room. The demons realize it's going to Limbo - but that's weird, normally a human's body doesn't go there, and a demon's form certainly wouldn't.

This isn't over, they realize. Ernest asks Toothboiler to find the Archon, and it scampers down the hall to an exterior door. The door puts them out into an alley. They start thinking about their assignment - a deceiving derelict? Xul-Na'Ful remembers the bum that handed him the flyer - standing right outside Mirror, Mirror. 

They head down the alley and see the bum again, and surround him. The bum is actually willing to talk with them, but he's not very helpful - he refuses to go back to Hell, and reminds that Heaven is going to invade don't seem to matter much. They ask his name and he tells them "Olegna", which isn't a name they recognize, but of course, it could be an alias. Raizen isn't really interested in dicking around, and squares up with his hammer. Xul-Na'Ful uses his power of Splendor to make the citizenry form a rough circle so no bystanders get hurt, and Belphegor quietly gives the valet his ticket and tells him to bring the Pontiac around. Olegna whistles...and a bunch of those pallid, backwards-speaking punks emerge from the darkened alley. 

But Belphegor was ready for this! He guns the engine and floors it, hopping the curb and slamming into the Netherpunks! He knocks them all down like bowling pins, but also slams his head against the windshield and knocks his host's brain loose. Unable to remember anything that happened tonight, he gets out of the car just as it explodes.

Ernest summons up the cocaine rats again and they start nibbling on everyone in the area, sending the crowds scattering. Raizen calls up Motherfucker and has it breathe fire, but it doesn't bother Olegna, who scoops up a bat that one of the Netherpunks dropped and cracks Ernest across the head. Ernest drops, dying, but manages to rot Olegna's clothes away. 

Olegna is a very dirty individual (which makes Xul-Na'Ful blanche a bit), but he's also got what appears to be a vestigial head emerging from his shoulder. The demons aren't sure what the make of that. Belphegor swirls around a bit and possesses one of the security guards from the casino, who happens to be carrying a hand grenade! He runs over, pulls the pin, and tosses it at Olegna's feet.

It explodes, but Olegna is unhurt. He swings the bat on Raizen and wounds the Slayer; Raizen retaliates with the warhammer and breaks Olegna's ribs. Apparently he can be hurt - but will Raizen last long enough to finish the job?

Meanwhile, in Limbo, Ernest has finished the "return to Earth" paperwork and is wandering. He sees what looks like Angelo, the pit boss from earlier, sitting there as a lifeless husk, reforming itself. This is weird - if humans go to Limbo, they go to Limbo, but they don't do this. Ernest pokes at this thing a bit, and then consumes it, trying to get a sense of what it really is.

And back on Earth, Olegna gets a horrified look. He pulls on the vestigial head as though trying to speed something up, but it doesn't seem to work, and Raizen swings the hammer and breaks his leg! He grabs the head and rips it off, and Olegna surrenders - "Fine! You win! I'll go back to Hell!"

The group of them escort him to a nearby gate, and they begin the walk back to Hell. As they do, they watch Olegna's arms lengthen, his snout grow, until he is a baboon with a second head on his shoulder - the second head rots and putrefies as they watch. And they recognize him as Burzuth, Ruler of the Circle of Lies.

One Archon down, who knows how many to go before this Hell Night can end!