Spook Central

Reflections of home

Home, street for street, except the dead never left, and a firehouse full of untested equipment is hiring.

At a glance

Kind of world	Reflections of home
Serum in the arrival Box	2 ampoules
Native Serum stand-in	Ectoplasm Residue
Quests	Yes: see your Traveler's Guide

Screenshot comingspook-central-firehouse

The firehouse at dusk with SPOOK BUSTERS painted over the door, Ecto-Uno parked out front, green haze in the street

What happens when you arrive

It is home, street for street: the same corner, the same tower, the buildings you built. But it is always just after sunset, a sickly green haze hangs low in the streets, and somewhere down the block a rotary phone is ringing and ringing. In this city the dead never left. Ghosts drift between the buildings, and nobody believes in them except three disgraced scientists who have just leased the firehouse and painted SPOOK BUSTERS over the door. Go and see Dr. Pete Venkmon: he will hire you on the spot.

The rule: ghosts instead of monsters

What changes	How it plays
Endless dusk	The streetlights are always on, and it never gets darker or lighter.
No zombies or creepers	Home's night-time monsters don't spawn here. Instead, stray Wisps (and now and then a Wailer) drift in around anyone out in the streets.
Ghosts can't be killed	Swords and arrows go straight through them. The only way to be rid of one is the Proton Pak and a Ghost Trap.
Beds	Don't work: nobody sleeps in a haunted city.
The city keeps up	The copy of home follows what changes at home.

The ghosts

Ghosts float and drift through walls. Each one has a will that drains while your beam holds it and creeps back when you let go. Once it is worn out, a trap can take it.

Ghost	What it does	Notes
Wisp	A small, quick, giggling scrap of a ghost. Darts away from anyone who gets close and chills whoever it brushes past.	The first thing every new Buster catches. Wears out fast. Sometimes leaves ectoplasm on the floor.
The Librarian	A shushing grey lady drifting between the shelves. Stand too close for too long, or put a beam on her, and she turns into a screaming horror that throws everyone back, darkens their eyes and chases them.	Back off and leave her alone a while, and she calms down.
Slymer	A round, green, greedy glutton, all mouth. Eats any food lying about and swoops at people to slime them (no harm done). Leaves ectoplasm everywhere.	The crew's first big catch.
Wailer	A tall, hollow-eyed thing that screams in shockwaves, throwing back everyone nearby and shattering the glass around it.	Only the copy's windows break, never your real ones.

Screenshot comingspook-central-wrangle

A Buster holding a thrashing Wailer in a crackling proton beam above an open Ghost Trap

Your gear

Venkmon's hire hands you the full kit: a Proton Pak, a Proton Wand, a Ghost Trap, a PK Meter and the Ecto-Uno Keys. All of it works in every world, not just this one.

Gear	How to use it
PK Meter	Hold it. The arms rise and the whine climbs the closer something is. It reads hostile mobs and ghosts through walls within 24 blocks (ghosts loudest), and hidden containers within 12.
Proton Pak + Proton Wand	Wear the Pak on your back (use it, or put it in the chest slot). Hold use with the wand to fire. The first mob the beam touches within 16 blocks is caught and dragged wherever you look. Sneak to reel it in; flick and let go to throw it. Anything pulled more than 6 blocks off your aim slips free, so follow it with the mouse.
Ghost Trap	Use it on the floor to set it down. Right-click it to stomp the pedal: it snaps open in a cone of light and sucks in the first worn-out hostile mob or ghost above it. Pick it back up (right-click when full, or sneak-right-click) to carry it. One mob at a time, reusable forever.
Ecto-Uno	The Busters' white 1959 ambulance. W and S are throttle and brake (then reverse), A and D steer. It climbs a block without slowing and seats four. Y winds the siren and the roof beacons. Call it from the Garage ring of your Companion Wheel, or with the keys. Only you can drive it; anyone can ride.

The Pak's limits:

• It heats up while the beam is on. About 10 seconds of steady beam and it overheats and vents for 4 seconds, firing nothing.
• It can't hold bosses, players, or anything with more than 50 hearts of health.
• Don't cross the beams. If two beams touch there is a bang where they meet, and both Paks vent at once.

The Pak and the trap work on ordinary mobs too: drag a skeleton off a ledge, or trap a worn-out creeper and let it out somewhere else.

Your quest: Join the Spook Busters

1. Talk to Dr. Venkmon and join up. You get the gear and the car.
2. Janeen at the front desk takes the calls. Ask her for one ("Get a call").
3. Find the ghost with the PK Meter, wear it down with the Proton Pak, and trap it.
4. Carry the full trap to the Containment Grid in the firehouse basement and empty it in. The fee goes into the business account.

The first three calls are the story, always in this order. After that, Janeen picks from the rest at random.

Call	Ghost	Where	Fee
A Giggle in the Lobby	Wisp	The Stevens Hotel lobby, by the piano	$100
The Grey Lady	The Librarian	The Stevens' gallery	$500
Something Ate the Kitchen	Slymer	The Grill kitchen	$1,000
Wisps in the Pastry Case	Wisp	The coffee counter	$150
The Foam Thief	Wisp	The lounge bar	$150
Screams Over the Pool	Wailer	The pool deck	$400
Howling in the Mirrors	Wailer	The barber's chair	$350
Lights on the Mezzanine	Wisp	The mezzanine	$200
The Coat Check Lady	The Librarian	The coat check	$600

A job's ghost only appears once you come within 64 blocks of its spot. A stray ghost you trap and store pays a flat $25: Janeen bills somebody anyway. You can drop a job with Janeen if you want a different one.

No hotel at home?

If your home world has no Chicago city with the Stevens Hotel, each ghost haunts a fixed spot on the surface around the firehouse instead.

Slymer (spoilers)

Slymer slips straight out of the grid the moment you put him in and heads upstairs to the kitchen. He lives in the firehouse from then on as its pet: he raids whatever food you are holding and slimes you affectionately. You still get paid.

The firehouse and the crew

Who	What they do
Dr. Pete Venkmon	Hires you.
Janeen	Front desk. Hands out and cancels jobs.
Dr. Egan Spengle	At his bench. Upgrades the Pak in your main hand and sells spare gear.
Dr. Ray Stanz	In the library upstairs. Knows every legend.
Harold	A jazz trumpeter who haunts the firehouse pole.
Winston	Joins in the garage once you have caught 5 ghosts.

Grab the firehouse pole to slide down it to the basement, faster and faster. Sneak to let go early.

Screenshot comingspook-central-basement

The firehouse basement: the Containment Grid humming on the wall, a Buster emptying a smoking trap into it

Spengle's shop

Everything is paid from the business account (the fees you earn), not from your pockets.

Buy	Price
Ghost Trap	$200
PK Meter	$250
Proton Pak	$500
Pak upgrade, level 1	$300
Pak upgrade, level 2	$600
Pak upgrade, level 3	$1,000

There are two upgrade tracks, each up to level 3, and the upgrades stay on that Pak wherever it goes:

• Cooling: the beam heats up a fifth slower per level.
• Power: the beam pulls 30% harder per level and wears ghosts down 50% faster per level.

What to bring home

Find	Where	Why it's worth it
The whole kit	Venkmon, Spengle, or craft it.	Pak, wand and trap pick up and move any mob that isn't a boss, in any world.
CGContainment Grid	Craft it.	Store up to 32 trapped mobs, saved whole, last in first out.
Ectoplasm Residue	Break the glowing ectoplasm puddles ghosts leave.	Your Serum stand-in.
Firehouse decor	The firehouse.	Spook Busters signs, the No-Ghost Sign, lockers, bunks, the brass pole.

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Proton Pak (Crafting Table)

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Proton Wand (Crafting Table)

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Ghost Trap (Crafting Table)

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PK Meter (Crafting Table)

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➜CG

Containment Grid (Crafting Table)

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Ecto-Uno Keys (Crafting Table)

Serum and getting home

• The arrival Box's cache holds 2 Serum Ampoules.
• Native stand-in: Ectoplasm Residue. It takes the place of Somnium Powder in the Synthesizer. Ghosts (Wisps and Slymer especially) leave glowing puddles of ectoplasm on the floor; break one to scrape up the residue. The puddles are slippery as ice and dry up within a few minutes, so follow a fresh slime trail.

Tips

• Leave the Librarian alone until your beam is on her. Standing next to her is how she turns.
• Keep an eye on the Pak's heat. Let go for a moment before it vents, or the ghost gets its will back while you wait.
• Set the trap down before you start the wrangle, then drag the worn-out ghost over it and stomp the pedal.
• Spend the Slymer fee on a Power upgrade: every ghost after that goes down faster.
• Wailers break glass. Pull them out into the street before they scream.

Birds

Birds you can photograph for your bird log here. Open one to turn it round, watch it move and hear its call.

• Ghost Pigeon: common
• The Headless Cardinal: rare, dangerous

Everything this world adds

32 blocks and items (click to open)

CGContainment Grid

Ectoplasm

FPFirehouse Pole

RPRotary Phone

NGNo-Ghost Sign

SBSpook Busters Sign (Left)

SBSpook Busters Sign (Middle)

SBSpook Busters Sign (Right)

FPFirehouse Pole Base

BRBrass Rail

FGFirehouse Garage Door

FGFirehouse Garage Door Window

SLSteel Locker

FCFile Cabinet

PPProton Pak Rack

Television

CTComputer Terminal

ICInstrument Console

LSLeather Sofa

BBunk

SJSpecimen Jar

EUEcto-Uno Call Box

Proton Pak

Proton Wand

Ecto-Uno Keys

Ghost Trap

PK Meter

Ectoplasm Residue

WSWisp Spawn Egg

SSSlymer Spawn Egg

LSLibrarian Spawn Egg

WSWailer Spawn Egg

The traveler's tape

Every arrival Box has a chest by its door holding a cassette: the last traveler reading their journal of this world aloud. This is what they say. It gives a lot away.

Read the journal (spoilers)

A man in a rumpled suit strapped forty pounds of humming metal to my back and told me not to point it at anything I liked. It is home, the same corner and the same tower, but it is always dusk here and the air is green at the edges. The people I know are all here and most of them are frightened, and the rest are pretending not to be. There are things in the Stevens. There is something in the Grill kitchen that eats everything. The firehouse next to the brownstone has SPOOK BUSTERS painted over the door and three scientists inside who say they can catch them, and a woman at the front desk who answers the phone before it rings. The gear works. The Pak holds anything that isn't too big to hold, the trap keeps what the Pak wears out, and the meter whines when something is close. I've caught nine ghosts. The gauge in the basement is going up even when I'm not catching anything. Nobody else seems worried about the gauge. Scrape the green stuff off the walls if you need a Serum: it does what Somnium does. When you have seen enough, step back into the Box with the Serum still in you and shut the door.