Last Time on Ghost Game
What follows is the recap my players asked for in advance of a session of the ghost game; there had been a long game between sessions, and despite their note-taking, they felt a need to be caught up. Fair enough! See here for context.
Late in October 2024, Nadine Mercredi called her friends Pansy Hamadani and Amber Brubacher to help her look into the effects of William Joseph Candler, which she stole from the museum where she works. She had reason to believe that Candler was an occultist, and that Brian Candler had stolen some of his distant dead relatives' other effects. In Nadine's apartment, the three women did some research, discovering that Candler was some kind of eugenicist necromancer who died in a warehouse fire in the 1930s and, while living, collected mementos and recorded rituals into a separate book (not his journal), which they suspected Brian Candler must have found and taken. They also learned he was obsessed with what he'd do in the afterlife: how he could prepare himself for it, what secrets he might learn there, and how he could safeguard a way to return. They also confirmed the other artifacts were mementos and, using all three in tandem, found the unmarked grave of a missing woman, which they reported anonymously to the police.
Amber volunteered undercover in Brian's political campaign, where she learned that Brian's wife Janine Candler always had a ghost near her. On Hallowe'en, a Thursday night, they went to the museum to experiment more with the mementos, but found Brian, his wife, and his likely-fascist young nephew Elliot Stopf in the collection space, performing a ritual from a book. Nadine and Amber began filming the ritual. Amber hit Brian with the statuette and they took the fencing mask and ritual book from him. (Pansy stayed out of sight so there'd still be someone whose face Brain wouldn't recognize.) Brian then freely gave Nadine the Cold Harbor diary and offered to meet elsewhere. While this was ongoing, the ghost of William J. Candler appeared, though Brian didn't seem to notice. They retreated to the foyer, but the ghost pursued, setting fire to Pansy's coat before they fled from the building.
After dealing with the EMTs, the trio decided to experiment with the mask and the ritual book, wearing the first as part of a Hallowe'en costume at a party in a bar/restaurant, where they met the ghost of a young hippy, who answered their yes-or-no questions by nodding or shaking her detached head, which she carried in her arms. That night they all stayed together in Nadine's apartment, and William J. Candler appeared, setting Pansy on fire again; she beat him with the statuette, however, causing him to vanish in ghostly fire. He seems to be gone.
During this time, Amber, Nadine, and Pansy have made the following speculations:
- They know from his journal that William J. Candler had considered using his ritual book as an anchor in the world; they at one point wondered if performing rituals from it conjured him somehow, and if William had influence over Brian when he used the book.
- Nadine has every reason to believe Brian Candler wants to use the Remembrance Day event, which Brian has bullied the museum and its director Donna Filsinger into hosting, as a way to boost his political career; they now suspect he planned or plans to involve necromancy somehow in the ceremony.
Current occult inventory: William J. Candler's journal, his ritual book, his ghost-hunting kit (a wooden case, statuette, a lock of hair, a dancing card), a fencing mask, a Civil War diary.
It is now 1 November 2025, a Friday morning, and All Saint's Day.