"Oooh, haunted house. Awesome."

Sunny Collins giggled to herself, approaching the abandoned manor in the woods.

This world has magic. Real magic. Sunny giggled again. She was told that she could find magic in the manor, and she'd practically rushed from there to get supplies together. Of course it could be dangerous, she was told, but this was a chance to be a real wizard, like in Palace of the Argonauts or Calaminous or any of a dozen other old computer role-paying games that she loved.

She walked up to the door, wondering if it was going to be locked, or if it was going to just open as she approached. "Which cliché do I get?" she asked, and was a little disappointed to find that the door was just a door, that it just opened when she turned the knob.

"Well that's no fun," she pouted, stepping into the gloomy foyer. Several doors, a couple hallways, and a dilapidated grand staircase presented themselves as options. "Well I'm not going up there, it looks like the floor might fall out under me. If there's a final boss to the haunted house, they're definitely on the second story." She giggled to herself at the thought. "So if that's where the boss is, I should pick one of these corridors and get some clues or weapons or something."

Which is what she did.

"You must be a ghost!" Sunny said excitedly upon seeing the translucent woman in the flowing translucent dress.

The ghost seemed taken aback by the reaction. "I... yes?"

"Oh! Are you here with a challenge? Let me guess, you have some sort of unfinished business, and if I help you with it you can pass on to the next life?"

"No, I... I'm here..." The ghost paused, and started again. "I'm bound to the master of this place, and I'm here to stop you from continuing on."

Sunny beamed. "That's amazing! I guess if I get past you I get some sort of help in beating the master?"

"I... suppose?" the woman replied. "Sorry, I'm not used to this reaction."

"Well, what are you used to?"

The ghost paused again. "Hum. Uh, most people, those that don't get terrified at the sight of a ghost—a-and I'm not really a ghost—"

"You're not?" Sunny put her hand right through the other woman's torso, flowing dress and all. There was a sensation of cold and some slight resistance, like pressing her hand through very thin jelly. "What then?"

The not-really-a-ghost stepped back. "Please don't do that. It's... strange."

"Oh! sorry. It's just that I don't meet ghosts—or ghost-lke people. What are you?"

She seemed to be trying to salvage a sense of dignity. "I was once a woman like yourself, but the master has stolen my will and my physical form, and now until I capture a dozen souls for him I will be forever trapped here."

"A dozen? Am I like your tenth or something?"

The incorporeal woman sighed. "Eighth, and it'd be great if you'd just let me put you to sleep so I could get to number nine."

"To sleep?"

"Yeah, I sing, like this." She began to sing a soft, wordless lullaby. Sunny could feel her eyes growing heavy in moments.

"Oh wow," Sunny replied. "That's..." she yawned. "That's amazing, but... but I got a full night... last night." She stepped forward, right through the woman, disrupting her song. "I'm doing alright, thanks."

The music stopped, and when she looked back, the ghostly woman was gone.

Sunny grinned. "Sorry about that. Uh, let's see if there's anything here worth grabbing..."

There hadn't been anything worth grabbing in that room, or the room with the dancing spectre that want to spin her around for eternity (she tripped on the first go-round and fell through him), or in the room with the man with swinging coin ("I have friends who do this for a living, I know how to resist this stuff."). There hadn't even been anything in the room with the large buff naked man who tried to tempt her to bed, something her sister probably would have jumped at.

"Alright," Sunny said, returning to the foyer none the richer for having explored four of the main floor's rooms. "Health hazard or not, I'm going upstairs."

The stairs weren't as rickety as they looked. Sunny never felt in real danger climbing them, though she did keep a hand on the railing. Maybe it was an illusion meant to keep people on the first floor where all the traps were. Either way, she was going to see the 'master' of this place, and see what he had to offer her.

She walked into the great hall, full of atmospheric cobwebs and creepy moonlight. Sunny thrilled at the decor, using a moment to take it all in, wandering slowly through the whole place before moving towards the dais at the front.

Of course, of course there was a big gothic throne there. A big, empty, gothic throne. Sunny walked up the two steps, and heard a dramatic chuckle.

"Love it," she muttered to herself as something pressed her to take a knee.

"Welcome, honoured guest," a deep, powerful masculine voice said.

She looked up at the figure now occupying the throne, lounging casually with his legs crossed at the knee. "Ohmigod, this is too perfect," she said. "The black clothes, the silver-and-red jewels everywhere, the—are those real brass buttons? Wow, and the five o'clock shadow, the long black hair, the pale look, is that makeup or are you just, like, sick or something?" It was like something out of the Transylvania Palace series.

He blinked, taken aback, but continued on his speech. "I am The Master. You have come through my trials and know you kneel before me—"

"Oooh! You're gonna take my will and physical essence, right?"

The Master stopped. "Uh, that was the plan, yes." His dramatic tone faded significantly. "Or, uh, well should I have my guards come out and challenge you or..."

Sunny stood up. "Look, I came here to get me some magic, because magic is freakin' awesome, and I find out there's this whole haunted castle vibe going on and you have servants that do weird mind control shit and I bet you've got something that you—"

"Silence," he said. His tone was as casual as his pose, but still Sunny stopped talking. "Ten servants here attend me and guard me from intruders and all have failed me."

Sunny, unable to speak, thrilled at his words.

"You should be the eleventh," The Master continued. "But I shall offer you a way out. If you wish, you may leave, now, peacefully... if you can resist my power. What say you?"

Sunny giggled. "Too perfect. Come on, Master, I came here to get some real magic. I wanna bend minds! I wanna learn! I wanna meet all your servants and, I dunno, arrange a poker party or something!"

He just stared at her, finally sitting up straight. "... what?"

Sunny laughed again. "If you can teach me how to do this stuff? I'm in."

"You're... in." His voice was incredulous.

"Sure! Why not? It seems like your ghosts are having a lot of fun, right? Plus I wanna, like, walk through the walls and shit."

He blinked.

She nodded, wide grin on her face.

"Then... then why did you not... give in?"

"What, the lullaby? Pride, mostly. And the dance, I was just too clumsy for, and the weird carnival hypnotist, I mean, that stuff's just too cheesy, right? Plus the super hot guy was just..." she shrugged. "Sex isn't my thing, you know? So the crazy-cute lesbian girl I bet you had in backup in case I swung that way isn't for me either."

"Bi, actually," said a soft voice behind her. She turned and saw a woman as naked and as attractive as the man she'd refused earlier. He was standing beside her. "We both are."

The lullaby singer approached from the shadows. "Sorry, I'm just... I'm curious to see how this is going to go."

Sunny could feel the presence of several other spirits in the room, not malicious, just... curious. She laughed and clapped her hands. "Oh this is gonna be so much fun, right guys? I mean, you don't just haunt all the time."

"No," said the hypnotist with the funny coin. "We only do that when we have intruders, to try to catch them."

The dancer spoke up. "The rest of our days are spent... y'know, practicing, playing games, relaxing, reading..."

"Fuck yes," Sunny replied. "If you'd just said that in the first place I'd've been all up here like a shot. So whaddya need me to do? Do I have to look into your eyes or something?"

The Master stared at her. "Uh," he said. "Just. Um... don't resist, I suppose?"

"Got it!" Sunny said. "Not resisting, boss." She snapped a sharp salute, to the amusement of everyone present.

The Master stood up—he was tall, maybe six-and-a-half feet, and it fit his image perfectly. He reached towards her chest, towards her heart, Sunny realized, and she felt something pulling her towards him, drawing her in...

"I obey," she said, involuntarily. Then she laughed. "Oh, I love the dramatic effect of—"

She fell, and kept falling.