Olya hid a bemused smirk beneath her red mask as she watched her target stumble down the filth-strewn alley. The man was quick, especially considering how drunk and scared he was; not quick enough, of course, but quick.
Olya had a good view from her perch atop the tavern, the full moon let her see like it was day, and there was no one about in the pre-dawn hours. She was alone, just her and the man who was too slow.
She gathered his magic and launched herself from the roof, focusing on the small of the man’s back as she began to fall. Before she hit the ground, she transformed. Her human form vanished completely and her new form was almost invisible, a shadowy cloud in the night air. This new form rushed forward, crossing the alley in an instant.
There was no sound warning the man of Olya’s approach save for the squishing of bodily fluid as her cursed dagger, angry and red, found its way into the man’s back.
Olya returned to her corporeal form and placed a red, gloved hand across the man’s mouth.
“The manifest you’re with, where did he go?” Olya asked politely as she dug the cursed dagger a bit further into the man’s side.
Already, she could see the veins on the man’s neck begin to glow red as the curse within her blade worked its way through her target. This one was especially potent, altering the victim’s perception of the world until it turned into an inescapable nightmare.
She could hear the panicked whimpers squeeze their way through her hand, but not the words he needed.
“Don’t make me ask again, where is the manifest?”
This time, the sounds were muffled words. Olya lifted her hand from the man’s mouth and shifted the dagger slightly, eliciting a sharp yelp.
“Into the woods, he fled into the woods!” the man craned his neck to look Olya in the eyes. “Please, make it stop.”
Olya removed her dagger from the man’s back and slid it across his throat. The serrated edges scraped bone and the man fell. She was thankful she wore red gloves.
Once again, she turned to shadowstuff and raced through the trees, following the broken branches and crushed plants. A blast of white energy sailed past her, and she rushed into the treetops as her true target entered her sight. Olya became flesh and blood once more, bounding off the branch and lunging towards her target. A second blast blew a hole in a nearby tree trunk.
There wasn’t a third.
Curseblades are a Red and Black Specialization. They are Witches who search for the hidden knowledge of the Wintersea, so that they may rescue the spirits there from their fate or harness the power for themselves. Curseblades have discarded their cursetomes in exchange for blades made of Winter Crystal. They use this blade as a focus for their power and imbue it with their curses, a process that corrupts the normally white-blue crystal into a blood red color.
Curseblades are a nimble specialization that wants to get in close and deliver death by a thousand cuts, favoring rapidly dealing smaller amounts of damage over one or two large attacks. A single cut from a cursed dagger can allow a Curseblade to channel their curses into their enemy, and as a specialization, they have several curses unique to them.
One of the primary mechanics of Curseblade is attaching powerful auras to your enemies to debilitate them. Many of the Curseblade curses are expensive cards that have very powerful effects, but their cursed dagger allows them to play them using less resources than they normally would. In the case of Curse of Hysteria it turns cards that would simply hinder your opponents into deadly attacks, but removes your ability to control them.
The secondary focus of Curseblade is Breach, but the more unique focus is their ability to use their ultimate more than once in a turn. They have several cards which allow you to use cursed dagger an additional time and play even more cards for a reduced cost.
Strike from the shadows as the Curseblade!
Grab a copy of Winterstorm to play as this Specialization!