Chapter 7

Fright at the Museum

Almost a week had passed since the team's encounter with the lone Ghostbreaker, and they were all grateful for the downtime they had been given, even though they were starting to get a little restless. After a few days however, they had found an old TV that still worked, and many had gotten caught up in a number of late-night soap operas. Josette wasn't sure what the allure was, but then again, the soaps reminded her about many political and family based intrigues from when she was still alive, some of which she had experienced first hand.

As she floated through the Ghoul Room, trying to decide which Haunters to spend the Gold Plasm on, she saw Nereid outside the building, looking up into the sky. Curious, Josette decided to join the mermaid.

"Mind if I join you, Nereid?" she asked.

"Oh, Josette, I did not hear you." the surprised spirit said. "If you want to, you may."

"How are you feeling?"

"Remarkably well, though to be honest, I never expected to stay in this city after I had been freed."

"You can return to the ocean at any time, there is nothing stopping you, I least of all."

"I know, and while I still yearn for the sea, I am still connected to it, thanks to you and your team. Those efforts have earned you my loyalty and I shall aid you to the best of my abilities. And should I miss my home too much, I can always look at the moon."

Following Nereid's gaze, Josette saw the moon in the sky.

"It is almost full." said Nereid. "Only a few more days, and it will shine in the sky like a giant pearl. The moon and the tides are linked, you know, that is why I like looking at the moon, it is connected to the sea, it is part of it."

"I used to look up at the moon when I was still alive, it always gave me peace. So I guess that we have that in common." Josette said with a smile.

"I guess we do." said Nereid, smiling back at Josette. For a short while, the two spirits just looked at each other, both enjoying the company of the other, until another spirit arrived.

"Excuse me, I'm not disturbing anything am I?" asked the Fire Elemental.

"Not at all, Firecracker. We were just enjoying the view." said Josette. "Is there something that I can help you with?"

"Not exactly, but a new building just popped up on the map. Seems like we got another mission." said the salamander happily.

"I see, thank you for telling me."

"No problem, chief. I'll get the gang together and meet you by the map." Firecracker said and quickly darted away.

"A new mission, does it usually take this long for you to get new missions?" Nereid asked.

"It can, depends on a lot of things, but I do agree that this has been a quite long wait. Let us see what they have in store for us."


With the team assembled, Josette took a closer look at the new building. It looked an awful lot like many of the larger mansions and palaces that she had visited back in 1700th century Europe, especially in France. Touching the small paper construct, Charles' briefing started.

"My apologies for taking such time, Ghost Master, but I had to make sure that the Ghostbreakers wasn't too active after your encounter with them. Luckily, they appear to be biding their time for now, so you have the chance to act.

This time you will be heading to the Sunny Halls Museum of History. While there are only a handful of night-guards there after closing, they are not of interest, in fact, it would be best if you didn't scare any of them away, as they will have to be a very limited source of Plasm for you and your team.

Your mission, much like your previous one, will be to recruit more ghosts for your team, and with so many objects from times past, you are sure to find some interesting ones. You may bring six Haunters with you, pick wisely."

"Hmm… this will require a very tactically chosen team, rather than one for scaring. I will have to think hard on this." said Josette.

After a few minutes, the Ghost Master came to a decision.

"I will need Bedrock, Jabu and Chuckles. And I think I will bring Soar, Clarence and… Firecracker as well. And before we leave, we have acquired a good amount of Gold Plasm, I say that we use some of it for new powers for a few of you."


Several hours later, a portal opened over the Museum and the ghosts emerged, ready for their mission. Spreading out to search for the trapped spirits, they couldn't help but examine everything in the museum, occasionally recognizing a few things, but what really caught Josette's attention were the dinosaur skeletons.

She had never seen such creatures before and was really awestruck with how large many of them were, and how terrifying some of them seemed to have been. Being a ghost, she could actually feel just how ancient the remains were, far beyond even the oldest spirits she had encountered. And there was also something almost… unsettling about the bones.

"Boss! We found one!" Firecracker called out as he entered the doorway to the exhibit, bringing the Ghost Master out of her thoughts. Josette hurried after the Elemental.

Arriving in a room with items from the two World Wars, she saw a spirit tethered to an old biplane wearing German markings from the first war. The ghost was that of a male pilot, still wearing an old aviator uniform consisting of a brown leather jacket, a pair of light brown trousers, high boots and a cap with goggles. The left sleeve was missing, as was most of the trousers' right leg, and the goggles were cracked, though the pilot himself didn't look much better, the left half of his face was missing and where his clothes were torn, only his bones were left. He was looking at the old plane with a sad face, or what was left of it.

"It is a pity, is it not, fräulein." he said with a clear German accent. "This beautiful flying machine once ruled the air. We were almost unbeatable, she and I, but then we were shot down over the channel. For decades, we lay at the bottom before being found and salvaged, and I thought that my Helga would finally fly again, but no such luck. Now she hangs here, pristine and all, but never shall she feel the strong winds under her wings again."

"Winds, huh?" Josette thought out aloud, a plan forming in her mind. "I think I know just who can help you. Just give us a little time, and we will be back."

Getting an affirmative nod from the pilot, Josette and Firecracker left to continue the scouting. Josette knew how to free the ghost, but at the moment the plasm level was too low, and with only a few night guards around, the team had to be very strategic.

As they continued, they ran into Clarence in a large room dedicated to the old wild west era, as well as the gold rush.

"Ah, there you are, Ghost Master. I was just about to contact you. There are two spirits in this room, I think you will find them… interesting to say the least."

"Thank you, Clarence."

Approaching the first of the two spirits, bound to either a boulder or the old pickaxe wedged in it. It was a ghost of an old gold digger, wearing old worn and patched clothes consisting of blue pants with a rope for a belt, a pair of leather boots, a red shirt and a big hat, he also carried a pickaxe, a big backpack and a corn-pipe. His eyes and skin were gold in colour, while his hair and long beard were silver.

"Well tarnation, a visitor! And I haven't had a bath since… ehm… 1799? I think. Doesn't really matter, but you see, I was so close to hit the mother lode, but then the entire mine decided to collapse on top of me. If only I could have cracked open that last boulder before I died, now me trusty old pickaxe is stuck in it."

Josette examined the nearby boulder with said pickaxe, it was large and the axe securely wedged in it. That was going to be a tough obstacle.

"My team and I will see what we can do. Have you seen another spirit trapped in this room?"

"You mean like the fellow over yonder?" the miner said and pointed to the far side of the room, an area dedicated to the time of the wild west. And there was the other spirit.

He was some form of cowboy, wearing the characteristic boots and hat of the time, both in brown leather, just like his vest, and he wore a revolver in his holster on his belt. He also had blue pants and shirt as well as a red bandanna or scarf covering the lower half of his face. His skin was sickly green and his eyes were completely white.

"Evening, ma'am." he said with a tip of the hat when Josette reached him, it seemed that he was bound to an old safe in the display. "Have you ever worked really hard to earn something, only for someone else to steal it all? I haven't, but I did steal what others had worked for. But now all I had is locked inside this here safe, and no one remembers the combination, except me. Problem is, I can't really do anything about it. Think you can bust it open for me?"

"I'll see what we can do." said Josette, but looking at the safe, she wasn't sure what to do, it looked very sturdy, even more so than the boulder. Overall, the problems seemed to simple in nature, but still required special thought as it didn't seem like the appropriate fetters were available where she needed them, also, the plasm supply was too low for the powers required. As she thought, the remainder of her team arrived, having found no other spirits, much to everyone's surprise.

"Jabu, Firecracker. Head to the guardroom, use your powers to generate some plasm for us, but only of your lower tiers. We do not want to scare the mortals away, at least not yet."

"Will do, boss mon."

"You can count on us."

As the two spirits headed off, Josette turned to the rest of her team, specifically the Earth Elemental.

"Bedrock, can your Tremor split that rock?"

"Yes, but I need to use it more than once. And it takes a while to recharge."

"I suppose that can not be helped. Bind yourself to the boulder and wait for my signal, then try and try again until it breaks."

The Elemental nodded and moved to the big boulder, awaiting orders. Meanwhile, the remaining ghosts left the room for the time being, as Josette wanted to investigate the fossilised dinosaurs again. There was something strange about them.


In the guardroom, things were quiet, just like most nights, but that soon changed. The lights flickered before going out, and it got strangely warm.

"What's going on? And why did it get so hot?" a guard in his late thirties asked.

"I don't know. It can't be the power, since the monitors are still working, but then what-"

Suddenly there was a loud moan, and the four guards nervously looked around.

"Okay, who was that? Because it's not funny."

"It's not one of us, chief."

"Someone must have sneaked in and is messing with us. Sweeping patrols, people, I don't take kindly to pranksters."


Back at the dinosaur exhibit, Josette had just received an update from Jabu and Firecracker, and she was a little annoyed that that mortals had left the room so quickly, but then again, they were guards, it was their job to investigate the area. Jabu was ordered to follow them and continue to work on them as best he could. At least they had managed to generate some plasm in that short while, and it was just enough for their first task.

"Bedrock, you should have enough plasm now, please begin." Josette said telepathically, and not long after, the entire building shook slightly from the Earth Elemental's power, but not enough to really cause any damage to anything else than the boulder. Aside from one other object, the skeleton of a so called Utahraptor, the largest of all raptors, collapsed from the quake.

Josette thought that it was a shame, but she wasn't prepared for what happened next. Her eyes widened when she saw the black mass of shadows pour out from the pile of bones, coalescing over them. Shortly after, the mass had taken the form of the now ruined skeleton, all bones being completely black and the eye-sockets filled filled with red light. Standing in front of the young Ghost Master was now a beyond ancient ghost, easily two feet taller than her and savage in nature.

Setting its eyes on Josette, its two giant claws on its hind legs twitching slightly, it let out a terrifying shriek of a roar and charged right towards Josette.

Terrified, she flew through the room and walls as fast as she could, but the skeletal spirit was hot on her trail. Josette wasn't sure if a ghost could kill another ghost, since they were already dead, but it was possible for a ghost to be destroyed, even if it was incredibly difficult, so she didn't want to find out.

As the chase continued, both spirits passed through the outer walls of the museum, the distance between them shrinking with each passing second, soon the chase would be over. But it would be sooner than expected, for as Josette neared the edge of the museum's courtyard, she hit something solid that prevented her from going any further. That's when she remembered, when a haunting is started, a Spectral Zone is created by the portal, it is that which allow them to truly draw upon the plasm generated by the mortals, but she and her team couldn't leave in any other way than either succeeding their mission and returning home, or failing it and be cast out. And that also meant that she couldn't flee any further.

With another shriek, the dinosaur ghost leaped through the air, and Josette prepared herself for the worst, but it never happened. Standing over Josette, the spirit started nuzzling her face rather eagerly with its snout while wagging its tail. It took a while before Josette had been able to process the sudden events, and then she got back up, the dinosaur ghost still behaving like a playful dog towards her.

"You gave me quite the scare." she said, cautiously petting the skeleton on its skull. "I do not think I have ever been that scared before, not even when I faced my father. But you do not seem like such a bad spirit, how would you like to come along with us?"

It gave an affirmative and happy, almost bark like sound, wagging its tail even more.

"Boss! You alright?" Jabu could be heard shouting as he and the rest of the Haunters, save for Bedrock, arrived, worried about their leader.

"I am fine, Jabu, if a little shaken. Our new team member here was very playful."

"What is he? I've never seen anything like him before." said Firecracker.

"He seems to be ghost of a dinosaur, a raptor to be more precise, but I didn't know that there even existed such spirits." said Clarence.

"I do not think anyone knows about his kind." said Josette. "Regardless, he needs a name."

"I say we call 'im… Skelesaurus!" said Jabu, feeling proud about the name, but the newly named spirit snapped its jaws at the Spook, causing him to hide behind Chuckles. "Oi! Ease up, mon!"

"Please hide behind someone else!" Chuckles complained.

"I think that he likes it, and the name does suit him." said Josette. She then looked back to the museum. "But now we should return to our mission, there are still three more spirits in need of help."


Returning to the room with the two spirits, they found Bedrock still fettered to the boulder, still waiting for his Tremor to recharge. And it didn't take more than a few moments for that to occur, and another powerful quake shook the room, widening the already enlarged crack on the boulder, but it was still not enough.

"One more should do it." Josette thought out aloud, then turned her attention to the cowboy's problem, but was interrupted when two of the night guards walked in, and that gave her an idea. She quickly searched the surroundings for an emotional fetter.

"Chuckles, use that bar counter over there, then try your new power on one of the guards."

Doing as told, the clown ghost bound himself to the old bar counter, then he targeted the closest of the guards and used Possess. With a twirl of his umbrella, Chuckles sent a powerful force against the guard and was forcefully pulled towards him, gaining almost complete control of the mortal while using him as a mobile fetter.

"Hey, you okay?" his colleague asked as he twitched from becoming a host for a ghost.

"Um… yeah, just had a shiver go down my spine, that's all."

Suddenly, there was a loud moan coming from the hallway that the mortals had just come through.

"You go and check that out, I'll search this room for this culprit." the possessed night guard said, and his colleague did as asked. As soon as the other guard had left the room, Chuckles moved the possessed mortal to the safe.

"Alright, partner, now turn that dial first right, then left, and keep doing that every number I tell you." the cowboy ghost instructed. "24, 35, 10, 19, 32, 54, 2 and 34."

With a click, the safe was unlocked and the door swung open, revealing the riches within, a lot of water and droves of moldy paper bills falling out on the floor.

"Well, at least the safe was waterproof from the inside and out, should have known better than to buy the cheapest stuff, like the food. Got no reason to stick around here then, got space on your team for this old Desperado?"

"Of course, you are most welcome with us." said Josette.

"Then let's ride, boss."

With the so called Desperado freed from his earthly prison, Josette thanked Jabu and Chuckles for their work in the matter, and the clown ghost released his host, claiming that he was a boring fellow. The mortal on the other hand was utterly confused on what had happened, having no recollection of the past few minutes. He was however awoken from his daze mere moments later when another tremor shook the room, knocking him on his backside.

And that was not all, the quake managed to finally split the boulder in half, freeing not only the pickaxe, but also the spirit it had belonged to.

"Yeehaw! That's the right stuff, wippersnapper! Just like I used to do back in my days! Shame that it was a dud, but you can't strike gold every time. Better move on to new veins, am I right?"

Giving his spectral pickaxe a spin, the ghost known as Gravedigger joined Josette's team, leaving only one ghost still trapped in the museum, Wolfgang, the fighter pilot. But before they could move on to that objective, a telepathic message from Charles alerted them to a new event.

'A trio of burglars have broken into the museum, aiming to steal what is not theirs, but belongs to those of times past. This is something that we do not take kindly to. Deal with them in whatever way you feel fitting.'

Moving through the museum, the team soon found the three interlopers, and after only a short moment of thinking, Josette grinned as she decided on a plan of action.

"Skelesaurus… sic'em!"

With a roar of joy, the ghostly fossil swooped down on the unsuspecting mortals, unleashing a power known as Terror Incarnate, making it appear in its full, spine-chilling visage, shrieking loudly as it did.

The three burglars almost literally jumped out of their skins as Skelesaururs appeared in front of them, and it didn't even take a second for them to start running for their lives, which the undead horror enjoyed to the fullest. Unfortunately for the mortals, almost the entire museum was a thoroughfare fetter, just the kind that Skelesaurus needed, so it could hunt the mortals to no end, making full use of not only Terror Incarnate, but also Chase and Deadly Pursuit.

Their screams of terror would without a doubt attract the attention of the night guards, and they would pin the blame for everything on the intruders, which suited Josette perfectly. And while Skelesaurus played with his new playmates, the rest of the team could focus on Wolfgang, and there was no shortage of plasm any longer.


Back in the World War room, Wolfgang gave the team an amused look as they arrived.

"I have been hearing quite some commotion lately, I'm guessing that that is your work." he said.

"That is correct, and now the time has come to set you free as well." Josette responded and began surveying the area more closely.

"Clarence, can you use the small mirror on this vehicle?" she asked, pointing at the rear-view mirror of an old military car, a Dodge WC-56 from 1944.

"I am not sure, it seems like a very tight spot, but I will try." the Fetch said. It took some effort, but he managed to squeeze into the tiny mirror. "Ugh, not the form of accommodation I am accustomed to, but I can work with it."

"Good, then use Ethereal Gift so Soar can use it as a fetter. Wolfgang, according to your page in my handbook, while most of your powers are unavailable at the moment, you still have the power of Gather Winds, that will strengthen all kinds of winds. Please use that, then Soar can use her new power, Tempest."

Wolfgang's power swirled throughout the room, making even the faintest of breezes stronger, and bound to Clarence' Ethereal Gift, Soar could use her new Tempest power, creating very strong winds in the area, which was further strengthened by the already present power. Smaller objects were hurled aside from the winds, every flag and banderol whipping in the wind and not a grain of dust was left untouched.

Feeling the strong winds against his face again, and seeing the frame of his old plane vibrate in it, reminded Wolfgang of how it felt when he flew for the army, but he also knew in his heart that his beloved biplane would never fly again. He stood in attention and saluted it, not even noticing that his chain vanished.

"It has been an honour, my dear Helga." he then turned to Josette and her team. "Fräulein, you have done me a great service, and it would be my honour to aid you in your campaign."

"The honour is mine. I guess that we are done here then, the portal back home should open any minute now."

"Shouldn't we retrieve our new pet first?" Chuckles said, referring to Skelesaurus.

And after persuading the dinosaur spirit to leave his new toys behind, the group left through the portal as it opened above the museum.


Back at the Ghoul Room, the new recruits were welcomed by the rest of the team, and all found a place to call their own for the campaign. Gravedigger settled in a corner of the basement, where a couple of bags of potting soil had been left by one of the previous inhabitants. He said it felt a bit like an old mine.

Desperado headed to the old office of the café, where there was a pair of moose horns mounted on the wall. It also put him close to the old safe, and while it was empty, it still reminded him of his old work days.

Going to the roof of the building, Wolfgang found the air intake, that and the view from high above was about as close as he could get to what he used to have as a pilot.

Skelesaurus claimed the front yard, guarding the entrance like guard dog, and any mortal foolish enough to get too close, would get the scare of their life.

Phew, if you only knew the amount of work that went into this chapter. I was halfway to having to learn German for Wolfgang's sake, but I gave up on that.

But regardless, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, and more are coming, just give me some more time.