Accursed Companions

When a character calls upon the aid and companionship of one of nature’s children, she forges a sacred pact to care for and cherish that creature. In exchange, the animal companion serves as her guide and guardian.

The bond between the two strengthens, and the animal companion moves beyond its primal instincts and its soul blossoms. This transcendence is both beautiful and wondrous, but as with all magic, there is always a cost.

As an animal companion’s consciousness grows, it can sometimes attract the attention of the spiritual energies that hide in plain sight everywhere. While some of these forces are good or indifferent, others lurk in the void, in the deepest shadows where death waits. When the right moment comes, these darker entities latch onto these proud companions with a vicious hunger. Should the character fail to protect her companion, corruption ebbs forth and fills the once-magnificent creatures with vile intent. Cursed and corrupted, these companions return to their masters broken, scarred, and distraught. Theirs is a curse they are bound to share, for when mortals fail to protect their bonded companions, so too shall those mortals suffer.

When a cavalier, druid, hunter, ranger, or other character loses an animal companion to a disturbingly gruesome death, particularly if that fate could have been avoided through an act the character chose not to or was unable to take, the soul of the slain animal companion sometimes remains bound to the character. In such cases, this scarred soul infests the next companion the character takes.