When Curses Clash

When Curses Clash is an encounter in Muri Mortuorum.
==Enemies==
*Zombie Torso (1235 Gold, 152 XP, 95 Energy, 7 HP)
* Cursed Mummy (1235 Gold, 152 XP, 95 Energy, 7 HP)
==Transcript==
===Introduction===
The bandaged creature was different from the others. Its wrappings were emblazed with hundreds and hundreds of glowing pink characters, symbols the likes of which Rina had never seen. She sensed both antiquity and exoticness in them, the magic of ancient times and a faraway place. And they spoke to her.
Rina's people were known for their curses, denounced for them both justly and unjustly. Not all gypsies possessed the gift, or could claim the mastery to achieve the destructive curses for which her kind were hanged in town squares or murdered by mobs. But she came from such stock. She understood curses as well as any woman of the Balbal Churi.
Thus when she looked upon the lumbering undead thing's glyphs she read meaning in them despite their alienness. Instinct and blood supplied what she needed.
Rina was no witch. She hadn't lied when she told Commander Ludwig so. A gypsy's curse wasn't like a mage's spells, ready to be hurled at enemies at a moment's notice. They required painstaking preparation, the gathering of the right materials... But not when such potent materials were right before her eyes, ready to be exploited...
The creature approached her with slow, ponderous steps, its arms outstretched to take hold of her throat.
She murmured words in the old language of her people.
===Conclusion===
Curses are powerful. But they can be as dangerous to those who wield them as to their intended victims. One flaw, one misstep, and the invoker may bring about their destruction. So it was with the creature and its pink glyphs.
The symbols must have taken many hours to apply, an arduous labor to fulfill whatever ancient duty had demanded their placement. And the hand which applied them had erred. One of the glyphs, just one among hundreds, had been drawn in error. The flaw in the curse sang to Rina and drew her mind towards it.
Her own curse was far simpler. The gypsy's tongue shaped each syllable. Then she darted forward, under the creature's clumsy grasp, and stabbed the imperfect symbol with her dagger. The wound completed her work.
Rina withdrew the dagger and slipped away. A smile crossed the gypsy's lips as hundreds of pink glyphs began to burn.
Category:Muri Mortuorum