Lord: Starting from a Goblin Nest

”Let’s just forget it,” Ron said, glancing at a somewhat shocked Andre. ”It wasn’t easy for them to dig a well. We shouldn’t cause trouble.”

”Since that thing said it will come out at night—Andre, go and inform the villagers not to wander around tonight. Tell them to stay home and rest.”

”As you command.” Andre bowed hastily and left with his companion.

Ron and the others went back to attend to their own business or to rest. There was still a long time until nightfall, and it was pointless to wait around.

Soon, after the setting sun had retracted its last ray of twilight, Ron and his group returned to the well. Andre lit and secured torches along the well’s edge, illuminating the surroundings and the depths of the well as clearly as if it were day.

Ron once again prepared to cast Strike Undead into the bottom of the well to ”summon” the Ghost Fire.

”Don’t hit me, don’t hit me! I’m coming out!”

Before Ron could even speak, a blue light suddenly flared from the bottom of the well. A sphere of light, devoid of any heat, broke through the water’s surface and floated above the well’s opening, level with Ron’s head.

”Why are you so violent? Didn’t I say I’d come out after nightfall?”

Within the pale blue flames, a smooth-surfaced skull bobbed up and down. As its jawbone moved, a clear voice emerged.

”Do you have any idea how much that spell hurts when it hits you?!”

”I don’t,” Ron answered honestly. ”I’m not an Undead Creature.”

”You!”

”Judging by the shape of your skull, were you female when you were alive?” Ron asked, sizing it up. ”How did you end up like this?”

”I—” The Ghost Fire was just about to answer when a massive burst of sparks and electricity erupted from its body. ”AHHHH!”

”What’s going on?” Ron was startled and prepared to cast Strike Undead, but he held back when he saw it showed no signs of aggression.

”I... sigh... the content of my speech is restricted. I can’t talk about this subject!” The Ghost Fire sighed, its bones making a CLATTERING sound.

”Whenever I try to talk about it, that Magic activates and causes me excruciating pain!”

”It sounds like you’re being controlled by a more powerful creature,” Victoria said. ”But why did you show up in this well? There aren’t supposed to be any powerful Magic Creatures around here.”

They had already cleared out the Lizardmen and Mad Frogmen; there wasn’t even a single Priest.

”This well connects to the underground waterways,” the Ghost Fire said, floating erratically above the opening. ”Even though these people lined the area with stone, I’m a Ghost Fire! That can’t stop me!”

”Victoria was asking *why* you’re here,” Ron said, looking at the somewhat unreliable creature. ”Since you have such a strict master, why aren’t you serving at its side instead of running over here to play pranks on the villagers?”

”But I *am* serving it!” the Ghost Fire said, full of confidence. ”I’m carrying out my master’s will: to scare you! To scare you all away!”

Ron: ”?”

”Generally speaking, your job should be to lure us to your master’s lair, not scare us away. Do you have free will?”

Ghost Fires are a type of relatively fragile Undead Creature. Although their various Traits make them very hard to kill (immune to lightning and poison, and resistant to Strong Acid, cold, fire, necrotic, thunder, and non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing attacks), this doesn’t change the essence of their being.

They are merely lingering spirits that cannot dissipate, acting on instinct and the commands of their master.

”I don’t have free will! This is my master’s command!” The Ghost Fire’s flames trembled. ”Recently, a very terrifying creature appeared in my master’s territory. Ve—ry, ve—ry ter—ri—fy—ing!”

”So my master ordered me to frighten the nearby residents and drive you away, so you can avoid the danger!”

”Then what about your master?” Aive asked curiously. ”Is it some Ghost Witch who’s unusually fond of humanoids?”

”That’s like describing ’a very fragrant pile of shit’,” Sera retorted. ”Even I know that most Ghost Witches are creatures that detest humanity and revel in watching us become depraved and twisted!”

”No, my master isn’t a Ghost Witch.” The Ghost Fire bobbed at the well’s opening. ”But my master was once just as evil as a Ghost Witch!”

”’Once?’” Ron seized on the keyword.

Generally, Ghost Fires are the product of dark Magic or a twisted fate. Their alignment is immutably evil, and their partners are usually creatures like Ghost Witches, fiends, Black Dragons, and Cultists. A real den of vipers, so to speak.

’But it said, ’once’?’

”Yes!” The Ghost Fire’s voice was filled with adoration for its master. ”My master was once a very evil being, and it was destined to be just as evil as its predecessors!”

”I was its evil and humble servant, wandering the lands to lure Lizardmen and other creatures into its traps to become its next meal. And I could be by its side, stealing the last, struggling breaths of its victims, reveling in the pleasure of watching the final spark of life fade from their eyes.”

As the Ghost Fire spoke, a brilliant light flared within its empty eye sockets, proving its words were true. Stemming from its evil nature, it truly enjoyed those moments and willingly dedicated itself to the cause of its terrifying master.

Until that day...

”So, when exactly did your master begin to change?”

”Did it grow a conscience? Reach enlightenment? Or was there some other special reason?”

Ron had only asked the first two questions casually. For some creatures, evil is their very nature, an instinct, even a necessity for survival. It was almost unheard of for such a being to abandon its nature and turn toward the light.

Delaford was a case in point; he had only changed because he followed Ron. In truth, his fundamental nature hadn’t changed much—he just reined it in when they were working together.

”No conscience and no enlightenment!” the Ghost Fire shrieked. ”It was because a Canary flew into the jungle that day!”

”A Canary?”

”My master wanted to eat it!”

”And then?”

”It got beaten up by the Canary!”

”Huh?”

”And then it started to worship a silver portrait of a dragon’s head in profile! After it encountered that dangerous being, it began to contend with it and ordered me to cause trouble on your end to force you all to leave this place!”