Curse of KublaCon (5/23/2026)

GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Alex Zisch, Jon-Paul Dumont, Matthew Bahls, Ryan Rivers
System: Spell and Blade by Stras Acimovic

Your oathbound adventurers defeated Nor’Razki Blackpool, leader of the Cult of Storms, and cast him into shark-infested waters—offering him as a sacrifice just as he had done to so many innocent Mkeshi children. Lighting struck and thunder rumbled as he died, and the God of Sharks and Storms levied a curse against the hero who vanquished his mortal servant…which one of you was it?

Since that day, you cannot pass an hour without vomiting up foul sea water, your skin has taken the sallow color of sharks, and you hunger for blood. But there is hope yet! Your band met a Seasinger who told you of the Blue Quay, an island temple where your curse might be removed. You journey there even now aboard the Candlelight, a ship in the Stardancer fleet!

Spell and Blade is a game of pulp fantasy adventurers getting tied up in larger-than life problems, and trying to make ends meet while being swept up in journeys, curses, powerful monster attacks, and problems left by the Ancients and powerful wizards. We play to find out you oath-bound adventurers will survive the dangers—and what sort of legacy and legend they will leave behind.

Here were our oathbound adventurers:

• Sodrin the Ozhen caravan guard who had tried to defeat Nor’Razki on his own and was captured, only to be smuggled out
• Bir’Kadrin Icebreaker, a Tkat sailor banished from his fleet in the north after killing the captain of his ship, the Aurora.
• Zodri Wat, the Reef Breaker, a Tkat Watcher who hoped to one day find his childhood friend and and become her protector and companion once more.
• Mizra Whip, a Stoneform Guardian that was repenting for a life of crime by protecting others.

Some of my favorite moments aboard the Candlelight:

• Kadrin watching the ship at all times to find ways to not only help, but prove that despite being a smuggler, despite being banished from the Aurora, and despite bearing the Curse of Storms and transforming into shark, the sign of their greatest foe…he was on their side. With his eye for devices he watched all the rigging and whenever there was a need, he was there. This did something, at least, to win the favor of First Mate Trinia.
• At Wat’s Bounty, named after Zodri’s own family, he challenged Apa’Lana to find the largest bounty of them all. Beyond the schools of gold-kissed kingfish and emerald tilapia, he dove deeper still [thanks to the Sailor trait] to find a massive ocean perch. Recovering his harpoon, he realized it was stuck in the back of a crab the size of the ship itself! Best not to wake this monster just yet, he had a friend to help.
• Traveling through shipbreaker reef, when the storm knocked Captain Nor’Fari from the wheel, Sodrin leapt in to help. He was a caravan driver, but in this moment he understood that he just needed to hold the wheel steady till the captain could return. Later he found a package in his quarters with a fish lung and other supplies.
• Mizra Whip standing at the fore of the Candlelight like a figurehead warding off evil saw the source of the storms, a giant tower in the distance. One that Yaka Lanaforge (the sorcerer traveling on the Candlelight) warned him was a place were any sound would bring death…it was also the source of the storm.

On the Blue Quay:

• Bir’Kadrin burying their goods in the sand and finding the rock crabs that would have stolen away with their treasures!
• Mizra Whip using claws and halberd to carve a path through the jungle, then turning at the last moment and catching a giant viper in mid strike before it sunk venomous fangs into Sodrin.
• After making friends and camp with the Fearsome Three, and sharing some stories, Sodrin followed Aya into the woods as darkness fell. She told him of her curse, the wraithlike form she takes at night, and how she is haunted by her father. Sodrin tried to reassure her that home offered solace as well, but it only made her remember pain. Still, she thanked him for the kind words and later, before they delved into the waters, offered her blacksilver blade…for him to borrow. “You must return this to be by nightfall. If I don’t have it when my father returns, there will be hell to pay.”
• At the water’s edge Zodri diving in to see both the guardian drillhorns and the horrible Stonebreaker. With is keen knowledge of Sea Monsters, he realized the creature was brought form the dead once, but the stitching that held it together was fraying as the beast was slowly tearing itself apart.

At the Temple of Kahainu:

• Mizra Whip swearing an oath to Kahainu that he would protect her temple from Stonebreaker, even if it meant staying there to guard it forever. Her in turn, teaching him how to to exorcise the curse. When he sang, the grating of his shale body traveled through the water not unlike whale song.
• Bir’Kadrin, riding astride a guardian whale, luring Stonebreaker down among the silver chains.
• Sodrin slowing him down by stabbing him over and over with the blacksilver blade, then being thrown to the rocks, breaking his ribs.
• Zodri wrapping wrapping the great silver chains around Stonebreaker, trapping him so long as they can hold!