Requiem: How do you even know she was a sorceress?
Walrus: She had a pointy hat!! And a broom!!!
Avalon: I'm pretty sure that's a witch.
Captain Walrus doesn't know the difference between a sorceress and a witch.
A group of adventurers, Captain Walrus, Master Avalon, Requeim Noctem and Mogarth the Unbreakable travel across the super-continent of Centra to cure Walrus of his curse and also to take down the evil ruler of the Land of Avalon.
This fantasy comedy webcomic pokes fun at various little things from other fantasy stories and games, in particular Dungeons and Dragons. The webcomic updates occasionally on fridays, and is still in its first chapter.
This is the first webcomic created by John Vanegas and David Faz of Sci-Star Entertainment, the idea came about after they learned how to play the game Dungeons and Dragons, and wanted to expand on the campaign they were playing.
The comic made its first appearance on the Comicfury website on December 21, 2013 but eventually rebooted on March 20th, 2015. It eventually started updating on their own site, Sci-Star Entertainment.[1]
Curse Quest contains examples of the following tropes:
- Aborted Arc: "The Kobold's Dungeon" was the original chapter beginning in 2013 with much of the main cast already working together. The comic rebooted in 2015 to allow the story to progress differently.
- Admiring the Abomination: An owl-bear hybrid (ulvorn) attacks Walrus, and Avalon seems to be excited to see the fight. After the Owl Hunter kills the ulvorn, Avalon can visibly be seen crying. In a similar fashion he cheers on the ulvorn creatures at the end of the chapter that fight Mogarth.
- Art Evolution: Being a webcomic, this was inevitable. The quality changes drastically from the original to the reboot, then again after page 15, where the artist decided to go and redo the first 14 pages to match the new updated style.
- Awesome Aussie: Parodied with the Owl Hunter. He shows much bravado and pride of himself, wrestling an owl-bear when Walrus is in danger. He proves to be quite scrawny and incompetent however.
- Badass Bookworm: Minerva Wiseclaw, one of the few competent characters is a skilled shot being able to take down an owl-bear in a few seconds. She is very passionate about law and is currently on a quest to save a small village's government from falling apart.
- Big Bad: It is still vague right now, but there is a suggestion that there are two. The first is Imperius, whose name is dropped by the girls trying to kill Avalon. The task the team was given by curse quest is to kill the evil ruler of the Land of Avalon, who the ruler is is still unknown, it may be Imperius, but it has not been confirmed yet.
- The Big Guy: Mogarth the Unbreakable. He towers over Captain Walrus significantly and is definitely the strongest of the team being able to take on three owl-bears single-handedly.
- Continuity Reboot: Curse Quest rebooted in 2015. The original story established that all the main characters already knew each other, but the reboot seems to move the timeline back as the group is currently missing two of the original main cast. The character of Mogarth has considerably changed personality.
- Double-Meaning Title: Walrus is on a quest to remove his curse. A curse quest also appears to be an actual thing in-universe, being a quest so deadly that no sane adventurer dares go on them.
- Dumb Muscle: Averted somewhat with Mogarth, in his original depiction in "The Kobold's Dungeon" he definitely fit the bill, smashing through doors without regards of what is on the other side. However in his updated version he seems to be more socially awkward and inattentive, but not outright stupid.
- Evil Overlord: According to the curse quest scroll that Avalon picked up, the Land of Avalon is currently being ruled by one of these guys. The name or appearance of which has not been revealed, but can be implied to be Imperius, since it is clear that Imperius' minions are trying to kill Avalon.
- Failure Hero: Implied with the Owl Hunter, he doesn't seem competent enough to actually take down the owl-bear he was wrestling, and is openly seen crying at the convention after failing to do so. Walrus also gives off similar vibes, considering he didn't do anything to hurt the owl-bear despite trying to fight it and getting launched at a tree.
- Freudian Trio:
- Id: Captain Walrus — Walrus is quick to act and impulsively moves the plot forward.
- Ego: Avalon — Avalon remains mostly calm and makes snarky remarks whenever something occurs, he is the one who chooses their quest.
- Superego — Requiem Noctem. Requiem does not trust Avalon at all.
- Genre Blindness: Hinted at for Capatin Walrus. He doesn't seem to know the difference between a witch and a sorceress, despite clearly living in a fantasy world.
- Gentle Giant: Mogarth, when not in battle, is very much this. In his first conversation with Walrus and Requiem he zoned out and acted like a dork.
- Hunter of Monsters: Unsurprisingly, the Owl Hunter and probably more appropriately also his apprentice Minerva. The Owl Hunter claims to hunt ulvorn owl-bear hybrids. His method of fighting is wrestling, which sounds awesome but proves impractical considering Minerva one shots an ulvorn on her own.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Minerva to the Owl Hunter. Minerva seems to be much more capable than the Hunter, but is still considered his apprentice.
- Idiot Hero: Considering Captain Walrus acts as the leader of the team, he definitely fits the bill. He can't tell apart a witch from a sorceress, was tricked into eating slugs and doesn't realize the obvious red flag of Avalon wanting to return to the Land of Avalon to kill the evil ruler of the Land of Avalon. The Owl Hunter is no better a hero than he is. Also during Quest-Con, all the heroes that are at the tavern don't realize that they are being attacked by actual owl-bears, which is partially affected by their drunkenness, but Avalon is quick to point out that alcohol is not the only culprit.Requiem: They don't realize those ulvorn are real? Are they just too drunk? Or stupid?Avalon: Some are both. (Glaring judgingly at Walrus.)Requiem and Avalon after the owl-bears break into the tavern.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The Owl Hunter looks eerily similar to Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter, right down to the accent that's implied and his shorts. The Owl Hunter tracks down ulvorn instead of crocodiles and acts like a parody of the original.
- Nominal Hero: It is unclear why Avalon is even in the group considering he cheers on monsters trying to kill his teammates and pretending to be someone else when he needed to provide identification in the International Heroes Guild book. He does get excited about getting a quest to the Land of Avalon, so it can be assumed he has ulterior motives and is simply siding with the heroes as a cover.
- Nonindicative Name: Quite a few.
- As far as we know Captain Walrus is not a captain nor a walrus.
- Mogarth the Unbreakable doesn't seem to have any qualities indicating being unbreakable. He is a big soft marshmallow personality-wise and takes a huge stabbing from an owl-bear bleeding profusely.
- "The Kobold's Dungeon" didn't feature a single kobold at all.
- Odd-Shaped Panel: When Requiem and Avalon find Walrus at the convention he is drunk and the panel surrounding him also bubbles up.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Mogarth, says "Good night, little bear" before he kills the ulvorn trio.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Not much is known for how the main group met, but it is clear that their goals are quite different. Walrus clearly just wants to get his curse removed, and Avalon seems to have ulterior motives selecting his curse quest for unclear reasons. Mogarth seemingly joins the group because he was looking for a job and his personality is drastically different from Walrus and Avalon. The original version of the comic had all six of the adventurers constantly bickering as they progressed in the dungeon. One can only assume what it will be like in the reboot.
- Socially Awkward Hero: Mogarth, the orc in the group has difficulty talking to Walrus upon meeting him. However when the owl-bear monsters attack the tavern Mogarth flips his switch and goes full on badass,taking on the three monsters single-handedly without a second thought.
- Title Drop: Avalon picks up a curse quest at the convention. Evidently a curse quest is a quest so deadly that no sane adventurer dares go on one. Avalon soon asks for twelve. Unlike other quest scrolls, a curse quest seems to be on fire, but that may just be an effect and not actual fire.
- Token Evil Teammate: Avalon is a dead ringer for this. He appears to be inactive and sidelines with the heroes at the moment. However, considering he doesn't give his real name and also using an alias when signing up for the curse quest, it can be assumed he doesn't want to be discovered by the International Guild of Heroes. He cheers on enemies trying to kill his teammates and demands being called Master Avalon.
- Wildlife Commentary Spoof: The Owl Hunter talks directly to the reader as he explains he has been tracking the ulvorn owl-bear all day.
