The Curse of the Shadow of the Cruel Lover

The youngest son of the Duke was struck with lovesickness of the most terrible kind, whenever he was out of sight of the young maiden, he was possessed of nothing but sighs and would not eat or drink.  Even his sleep was wreaked by visions of the woman, keeping him from sleeping and making what moments he did snatch far from restful.

Shadow of the Cruel Lover

This curse is used to summon forth love in a target, but to use a curse to do so, is a terrible thing.  The caster must hold a blessed candle behind their back and welcome their shadow with the ritual words, “Good evening, my shadow.” Then naming the victim of their desires, say “O my shadow, go forth so that he can neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep, nor stay awake for thoughts of me.  Go to his heart and so weaken him, that for love of me, he will find no rest.”  The curse is more effective if cast in the nude.

The curse is continual, wearing away at the victim, replacing all of his thoughts and desires with those of the caster.  While the caster may obtain the love of the victim, it may not be what they wish for in the end.

To end the curse, the caster must burn what is left of the candle and call back their shadow.  For another to break the curse, a blessed silver dagger must be plunged into the casters shadow at noon or midnight.

Pathfinder Game Effects:
The Curse of the Shadow of the Cruel Lover
School necrourgy (curse) [love, mind-affecting, petty]; Level curse 1, witch 1
Components V, S, M (blessed candle)
Casting Time 1 minute
Range Special (1 mile + 1 mile/ level)
Target One named target
Duration permanent (but see below)
Saving Throw See below; Spell Resistance No

See casting notes above for use by non-spell casters.  When cast by a non-spell caster, it has an effective caster level of the curse caster’s level plus their Charisma or Wisdom modifier (whichever is higher) with a minimum of 7.  Non-spell casters take 1d2 points of each Constitution and Charisma damage when casting this spell.

The description above describes the effects, mechanically the victim may attempt a Will save against the spell each morning.  If the save is failed, the target is fatigued when not in the company of the caster and suffers a -4 curse penalty to resist Charisma-based skills of the caster.

    If the Will save is failed three times in a row, the effect is permanent until broken.  Equally, if the victim resists the curse three days in a row, he breaks the worse effects, suffering only a -1 penalty to resist Charisma-based skills of the caster.

    If the caster was nude while casting this spell, the DC to resist it is increased by1.  The caster’s shadow is slightly paler and less distinct while this curse is active.

A caster can only target a person once with this spell and no one may be subject to the effect of more than one of these curses per month.

Spell-casters suffer 1 point of each Constitution and Charisma damage when casting this spell.

Notes: Inspired by actual love curses recounted in Nuns Behaving Badly: Tales of Music, Magic, Art, and Arson in the Convents of Italy which I am currently reading.