[Monster Wheel] Cursecore - CR 7 Large Elemental

Force, Swamp, Elemental, None

“It’s not a coven meeting, Mags—it’s an intervention. I don’t care if the rabbits have been eating your herbs—you have to stop hexing them! That’s the fourth cursecore we’ve had this month!“

— Auntie Flora of the Greenwart Sisters

A true curse is never fully extinguished. When one is broken, either by restorative magic or the destruction of its host, remnants of its foul essence seep into the land. In swamps and forests where evil spellcasters lurk—especially near the lairs of hags—fragments of many curses coalesce into writhing nexuses of corruption. These vile anomalies mix with peat and swamp gas until they take form as cursecores, malevolent Elementals of earth and water, fueled by cursed energy and bent on causing as much misery as possible.

Stalkers in the Bog. Cursecores avoid direct confrontation, preferring to stalk their victims across the swamp, all while slowly weaving hexes upon them. Victims may be plagued by unlikely streaks of bad luck or sudden surges of rage or despair—all potential signs of a cursecore’s presence. Feeding off of the unravelling remnants of its own curses, the cursecore grows more powerful, inching toward a critical mass, at which point killing it causes it to detonate in a violent burst of volatile gas and cursed energy that taints the land for years to come.

Erratic Magic. The twisted magic at the heart of a cursecore distorts the Weave itself. In its presence, spells devoid of the same malignant energy burst like bubbles of swamp gas, often right in the caster’s face, or simply fail to work. Ironically, this makes these Elementals veritable nightmares for the very mages that unwittingly create them. Experienced hag covens are known to employ various rituals and charms to prevent the formation of cursecores—or to swiftly eliminate them when they emerge.

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• Get the stats for this fearsome foe HERE;

• Enjoy the gorgeous rendered art for it HERE;

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