[center][color=lightsteelblue][h3][i]Shiara Cazarin, bone mage[/i][/h3][/color][/center]

The change was sudden, and freakish.  Shiara fell back a step in sheer horror at the sight.  Something was gravely wrong, and not just because it was attacking the fourth member of their little band.  The knight and his apprentice seemed to know what they were about, so she stayed back and let them do their work, even as more of the things emerged from the darkness ahead.  "Kem, do you have the shape of them?" she murmured, opening herself further to the plane of spirits, until together they identified the emptiness that marked where the Cursed lacked any spirit at all.

"Yes, there.  And--!"

They sensed it behind them, and even before the knight called his warning Shiara was in motion, gathering her will into a command.  She lifted a hand.  [i]"Back,"[/i] she said, thrusting it forward, a dim shimmer of air spreading out from her spread fingers to create a barrier a short distance before her.  The thing was harder to turn than a simple lingering spirit, but she'd faced down stubborn ghosts.  It wasn't so different.  The light on her bracelet brightened as the bone mage called on her spirits for support to enforce her will.  "Back, I say!"

And the inhuman beast stopped mere inches from her fingertips, snarling and straining to push forward but unable to do more than shriek its indignation.