The Ice Lich sat in his freezing home, and sulked.

He hadn’t done ANYTHING to those adventurers – he’d just been working on ways to bring the heat of the lava into his home! What was the crime in that??? And yet, they showed up, completely uninvited, stomping all over his petunias, and accusing him of trying to level Ice Dungeon. Why would he even want to set foot in Ice Dungeon? Nasty, cold place!

Then there was the vet’s bill. The things those horrid Britannians had done to poor little Thermostat! He couldn’t help being a dragon! His species didn’t give them the right to beat him senseless! He wrote a quick letter to the Britannian Animal Cruelty Society, tied it to a frost parrot’s leg, and sent it soaring towards the central mail drop.

Anyway, how to keep those adventurers away, while he worked on his research?

Maybe some illusions?

Gazing into a crystal ball that he’d taken from a hapless mage, he saw festivities under way in Britain. Young couples were laughing together, walking through the stalls and games, hand in hand. Most of them were fairly glowing with happiness, love, and other emotions. Hmm. Glowing. “I wonder…” said the lich, again to nobody in particular. “You! Researcher! Get in here! Do you see this? Can we use this energy?”

“Hmm. Interesting.” Boomed the giant in the lab coat. “I believe we can. I do believe we can…”

Several more people in Britain shuddered involuntarily, and it began to snow…