The Jorge-Kshabdalim Saga (RP)

The Jorge-Kshabdalim Saga was a very long - the absolute longest -, semi-aborted roleplaying session on the FRPG, the phpBB2 version. In reality, it was technically three separate roleplaying sessions, but each three tie into each other and are connected, which effectively makes a single, continuous story arc or saga - hence their recaps being unified into a single article. The full Hungarian-language logs can be read at RPG:Archive Hun 11, RPG:Archive Hun 16 and RPG:Archive Hun 17.

To Go Underground
The story begins in the Black Finger, in Grandfolk, where Manuel Comnenos, Tepirm Quatl and Ypsel are looking for work, albeit the earlier two arrive earlier. The three of them run into an eccentric and nervuous merchant named Jorge Justian, who has plans to trade illegal goods with the Dhaeraow Loomin clan, and get very rich from it. He quickly hires those three as his bodyguards. The mood of the tavern turns sour, as a man throws a bottle to Manuel, they start hurling racist slurs at Tepirm and mysoginistic remarks at Ypsel, putting into words what kind of sexual things they'd love to do to her. The quadro escapes from the tavern, but not without Ypsel killing someone standing in her way, to make an example.

Afterwards, they are taken to a cart, where Jorge tells all of them to get in - it's a rather big cart, with place for all four, plus some empty barrels. They ride to Dracfold, where Vidiorta Amard joins their team, and Jorge acquires the goods he intends to trade with the Dark Elves later on. Afterwards, they ride to Zorod Naugi im Pkhaur, at which they incapaciate three guards at a checkpoint, try to check on the goods being transported - Tepirm creates a distraction, which Manuel and Vidiorta use to kill two of them, while the third is non-lethally stunned and incapaciated by Tepirm. Jorge then intentionally strips the stunned guard naked, so that he will freeze to death before he even has a chance to wake up. Afterwards, they ride to the territory of the Dhaeraow Loomin clan, underground.

While underground, every member of the party are met with racist remarks from the Dark Elves, as all of them are outlanders. Out of thme, only Jorge speaks the Dark Elven language, in spite of being a human. Jorge takes the goods to the local Thieves Guild, not knowing that he is going straight to his own doom - he is welcomed by Kshab'dalim Darkkat, who makes him sit down, introduces himself before raising his hand out of the blue, signalling to a hidden assassin to shoot Jorge in the head with a crossbow, with a poisoned bolt. Jorge immediately dies,, everyone in the team gets tense immediately, but Kshab'dalim brings out the team the same rewards that Jorge promised - 100 golden coins for everyone, plus a golden necklace and a golden ring for each. Ypsel begins looting Jorge's corpse, then Kshabdalim offers everyone a chance to work for him, claiming that he never broke a promise before. Everyone accepts. Just in the nick of time, Orikexir Spaendjekkel appears, but he is too late - the merchant he was hired to protect, Jorge has already died. Tepirm has a change of heart, he gives back the money he got and leaves to The Poisoned Sword Inn.

At the same time, Stephánus Tavilrond and Scatama Salorium were scouting the same area that the guards were killed at. They quickly find the corpses, give them the closest equivalent to a proper burial, and begin following the trails to the underground. They too arrive to Dark Elven territory, and their first route leads them to The Poisoned Sword Inn, where both take a room for the night. Manuel and Tepirm were also in the inn at the same time, and Tepirm asks the bartender who were those two strange-looking fellows, to which the bartender replies, that they must have been a human knight from Etrand and some lizardman mage. Manuel overhears this conversation, and immediately hurries back to the Thieves Guild, while Tepirm stays. Scatama comes downstairs, and has a discussion with Tepirm, his fellow lizardman, who quickly remembers what happened before they arrived underground. Tepirm quickly and correctly deduces, that someone is snooping after him and his team - something that Manuel figured out somewhat earlier - and he gets nervous, trying his best to hide it and seem accomodating to his fellow lizardman. Stephanus also comes downstairs, unable to sleep, deciding to sit at the same table as Tepirm and Saló. Manuel also decides to come back, and sits at the same table. The discussion turns somewhat tense pretty quickly, with both the Stephanus-Salorium duo and the Tepirm-Manuel due going to the toilet to whisper something to each other's ears before coming back. Stephanus tells Saló that he thinks these two are suspicious, while Tepirm tells Manuel that he is no longer in his team and no longer wants to be in his team - to which Manuel responds by threatening Tepirm, telling him not to be rude next time they meet.

Stephanus decides to go after Manuel, who is leaving the inn, while Saló stays in the inn to deal with Tepirm - he interrogates him, and since Lizardmen make really bad liars, Tepirm spills all the beans to Saló, telling him the names of everyone involved. Manuel succesfully runs away from Stephánus, but ends up running into the Green Sister - Stephánus on the other hand reunites with Saló and Tepirm, who tell him everything. Stephánus concocts a plan to expose the clan for its deeds, for killing so many humans, so that the Kingdom of Etrand may put pressure on it. Eventually, the two opposing teams collide again, in front of the Thieves Guild, with Tepirm, Saló and Stephanus, versus Manuel and the Green Sister. Eventually, they stop fighting, and enter the Thieves Guild, where they begin looking for the killers. Manuel tries to attack Stephanus, so the two of begin fighting again, outside the Thieves Guild, while Tepirm, Saló and the Green Sister remain. Tepirm concocts a plan, pretending that he took captured spies to the guild - sadly, we never learn what comes out of it, as that thread got aborted for some reason.

Meanwhile Stephánus and Manuel are caught by Dark Elven guards, and put into temporary holding in jail. Both escape succesfully later on, both become wanted figures. After the incident, Stephánus, Manuel, Tepirm and Saló all become wanted figures by the Dhaeraow Loomin clan.

Assassins for hire
Ypsel and Nilaradra Snécsír were in Edhel Yára, at the marketplace - Nila was scouting the place for things to buy, while Ypsel just came out of a tavern after failing to find a job. A human merchant mistakes Nila for an orphan beggar, and gives her bread, which she greedily takes, asking for water, even after telling him, that she was simply on a trip - the man had no water, but offered her some wine, which she drank, despite being a child. At the same time, a Dark Elf also appeared, approaching Ypsel and asking her if she is willing to take a job. Nila, overhearing his conversation with Ypsel, decided to approach them, asking if he had a job for her too.

At first, the dark elf wanted to have Ypsel kill some white-cloaked man in broad daylight, but that man ran away quickly. So he tells Nilaradra and Ypsel to come with him, and he takes them to the Mori Templa Mellon clan's territory. The Dark Elf then goes into the House of Darkness, coming back at least fifteen minutes later - plenty of time for Nila and Ypsel to notice how people were looking at them. Since Nilaradra was also fluent in the Dark Elven language, she understood their remarks: they made perverted remarks about Ypsel, about wanting to do things to her, and also made remarks about wanting to keep Nila as a slave or brainwash her. A drunken Dark Elf even groped Ypsel's buttocks, to which she responded by kicking him so hard, that he flew back two-three metres.

Eventually, the Dark Elf came back, and told them what were the assignments: Nila had a choice between teaching children Light Magic, treating the wounded, or going with Ypsel to aid her in her mission. Ypsel was tasked with assassinating four specific individuals: The Dark Elf explained, that these four were considered wanted criminals by the Dhaeraow Loomin clan, and the Mori Templa Mellon clan decided to try to gain their favour by offering 800 golden coins to anyone who assassinates these four wanted people, plus a bonus of local citizenship and right to purchase property on the clan's territory. Nila decides to stick with Ypsel. Sadly, this arc was aborted, so we never knew what came out of it.
 * A Human Knight with brown hair, a member of the Knights of the Blood Red Light good with magic, very dangerous (Stephánus Tavilrond)
 * A Warrior whose face wasan't seen, as he wore a helmet, but also wore his family's insigma on his armour, which was red. (Manuel Comnenos)
 * Two lizardmen. (Tepirm Quatl and Scatama Salorium)

Hot Pursuit
Stephánus Tavilrond and Gzaxia Nolánó - strangers to each other at the time - meet in the Finger of Fire Inn, in Yanus. Both of them buy red wine, with Stephanus also asking for bread and cooked beef, Gzaxaia on the other hand complaining that she thinks the wine is worth a quarter of its price. The two decide to take a seat at the same table, introduce themselves to each other, and are almost immediately attracted to each other. Stephánus is on a mission to find a stolen artifact, stolen by a group that goes by the name "The Blue Leaf's Bell". Gzaxaia agrees to help Stephánus, first by telling him what she knows about the group (Stephanus only knew, that they were responsible for a recent massacre in Etrand, and their leader is still free), then by accompanying him the next day, after they spend the night in a room.

The next day, on the streets of Yanus, the two of them are assaulted by five Dark Elven Assassins, but they kill four of them without much issue, interrogating the fifth, who - after being asked who sent him - only says "My master lives in the shadows" and "The bull, the bull, the bull!". Stephanus deduces, that the assassins were sent to kill him by the Dhaeraow Loomin clan, and that this group he is chasing must be connected to them. They see a group of 20-30 Dark Elven warriors being chased by the city guards, which prompts the duo to flee the scene and go to a local bathhouse, where they take a bath together, engage in a chat about each other, Stephanus reveals his origins in details to her, they joke a lot, they splash water at each other, and Stephánus ends up kissing Gzaxia's neck - ironic, given how she's the vampire (he doesn't know). She firsts resists the neck-kiss, but then accepts a forehead-kiss. Afterwards, they return to the inn to drink white wine - the "Snow-White Sugary", supposedly the sweetest white wine ever. Afterwards, they spend another night at the inn room, where they chat, where Gzaxia is a bit more inquisitive than ever about Stephanus's origins and his order - so Stephanus explains quite a bit about the expectations, the fact that the order is one big family to him, and that his dead master Hlaford Paratus was like a brother to him. The inn room is where they share their first kiss.

The next day, they stop in Zorod Koldo im Neuna, with the full intent to going underground the following day. They take a room in the Fiery Steed Inn, where they talk about the relationship between each other, share a kiss, and conclude that they should focus on their mission. Nevertheless, after another kiss, they sleep while in the arms of each other - Gzaxia exploits the opportunity to feed on Stephánus, but uses her healing magic to hide the bite marks on his neck. The morning, they continue their route to the territory of the Dhaeraow Loomin clan, where they are immediately "welcomed" by six asasssins trying to kill them. Gzaxia sights, asking herself if everyone is suicidally stupid that they want to die by standing in the way of her and Stephánus.

Stephánus and Gzaxia kill the assassins, and loot their bodies for anything suspicious, like papers. All of them each had two letters with them, orders by Kshab'dalim Darkkat, orders to kill a knight fitting the description of Stephánus (as well as two Lizardmen - Scatama Salorium and Tepirm Quatl), and a Dark Elf fitting the description of Gzaxia - it seems that Kshabdalim had spies, and now added Gzaxia to the list of people he wanted dead, in addition to Stephánus, Saló, Tepirm and Manuel Comnenos. Noticing a lot of fighting in the streets, Stephánus and Gzaxia conclude that the Dhaeraow Loomin clan must be in a state of civil war, with Kshabdalim potentially trying to launch a coup. The two of them agree to be "like ghosts" and covertly infiltrate the local Thieves Guild using an illusion spell that Gzaxia casts on both of them. The building seems completely abandoned first - only that Kshabdalim is there.

The Vampire Battlemage and the Human Knight struggle hard against the Dark Elven Guildmaster, with Stephánus coming dangerously close to being killed several times. Kshabdalim was no ordinary Assassin, as he was also competent at magic, using telekinssis to push away Stephánus every time he stab a downed Kshabdalim. In the end, Gzaxia succesfully backstabs Kshabdalim, who collapses and dies, but Gzaxia gets wounded in the process, as a struggling Kshabdalim managed to slice her arm. Stephánus immediately hurries to help Gzaxia, using healing magic on her arm and kissing her forehead. Then the duo loots Kshabdalim's corpse, finding several magical scrolls. They also find a key, which opens a chest, containing a fire sword, an iron bow, icy arrows, earth armour, and several more magical scrolls. One of them is an orange-coloured papyrus, with blood red letters, opening the gates to Nortiimus, the realm of the Demons. They take the loot to a container carried by Stephanus's horse, then ride back to Zorod Koldo im Neuna, to Fiery Steed Inn, where they once again spend a night, kissing.

The following day, they ride to Fort Redlight, where Stephánus takes all the artifacts to his superiors, and is rewarded 500 gold coins for it - or rather, Gzaxia is rewarded for it for helping Stephánus, as Stephánus did it for free. While Stephánus was away talking to his superiors, Gzaxia basically talks to his horse, asking what should she do with him. When Stephánus came back, he caressed her head, and even though Gzaxia wanted to cut a clear line, a border between herself and the knight, his kindness towards her felt good. Still unable to truly decide what their relationship status is - whether they're lovers or just friends - the duo nevertheless agrees to celebrate their success by getting wasted on beer in The Rusty Battleaxe Tavern in Yrvháven.

Their celebration is interrupted, when someone - namely, Lumina Hwisberis - bumps into Gzaxia, and accidentally grabs a scroll she gained. When trying to retrieve it, she is stopped by Ithric Drakrumhal, who wants to know why is Gzaxia trying to hurt his adopted sister of sorts. Gzaxia explains, that Lumina stole something that belongs to her. Ithric first jokingly pretends to be a thug who demands money for giving it back to Gzaxia, but then gives it back to her, telling her that he'd gladly borrow it, and then instructs Lumina to apologize to Gzaxia. Then they both go back to the tavern, where Stephánus and Ithric introduce themselves to each other. Tepirm Quatl makes an appearence too, entertaining the guests with acrobatic moves and some quasi-magic tricks, and then introduces himself to Gzaxia and Ithric, telling them about how he recently punished some thieves by depriving them of their ill-gotten wealth. Tepirm then tells everyone the whole story of this saga, about how he and some others were hired to protect a merchant named Jorge Justian, who got betrayed and killed by Kshabdalim - the very same Kshabdalim whom Stephánus and Gzaxia killed.

As they all re-tell each other their stories and recap what hapened so far, the celebration turns somewhat sour, with them all realizing the implications of a Dark Elven - Demonic conspiracy. They eventually agree to re-visit Zorod Koldó im Neuna with the intent of going underground once again, where they will do more investigating. The four-member team gets augmented by Gzaxia's son Rael Nolánó, with all of them - save for Tepirm - travelling on horseback, while Tepirm rides atop a basilisk. They have discussions while on the way, with Ithric and Rael asking Stephánus why doesn't he have an apprentice yet, Stephánus answering that he does not feel ready to teach yet, and he feels he still has much to learn.

Lilith makes her appearence as well, pretending to be a little girl who got lost. Sadly, at this point, the RP got aborted.

Tropes

 * : Green Sister in, and to a lesser extent, Rael Nolánó in.
 * : The of both Orikexir Spaendjekkel and the Green Sister leads to nowhere. The results of Tepirm's trick in the end are never discussed, never resolved. The best we can do is to pretend that the first chapter . An . Play Roundabout's song Yes.
 * : The whole arc was aborted early on, so we never get to learn what happened to Ypsel and Nila, whether they even accepted the job or not. Given how Stephanus appears in the third chapter, we should assume that she did not.
 * : The story got aborted prematurely just when the party of five (Stephánus Tavilrond, Tepirm Quatl, Gzaxia Nolánó, Rael Nolánó, Ithric Drakrumhal) encountered Lilith, who joined them - we could pretend that it's an ""-ending. The romantic plot between Stephánus Tavilrond and Gzaxia Nolánó was either.
 * : In the beginning of the, Stephánus Tavilrond and Gzaxia Nolánó . Near the end, they meet in an inn , this time with two more companions (Ithric Drakrumhal and Tepirm Quatl).
 * : Stephánus Tavilrond has one, chasing after Manuel Comnenos to bring him to justice for the crimes he has commited.
 * : The mercenaries easily kill the guards who want to check their cart.
 * : Stephánus and Gzaxia easily kill the goons sent to kill them twice. The only aversion is the final fight against the antagonist Kshab'dalim.
 * : In, Jorge attempts to hide the bodies of the dead guards. It doesn't work, and Stephánus and Saló find them anyway.
 * : Ypsel, against her own will. Wherever she goes, men either oogle, make perverted or mysoginistic remarks, or even try to grope her. She usually responds by.
 * : In-universe, Ypsel is considered one.
 * : Tepirm Quatl temporarily and briefly assumes this rule in the end of the, effectivally recapping whole story to Gzaxia and Ithric.
 * : is one, mostly involving a group of mercenaries (Manuel Comnenos, Tepirm Quatl, Ypsel and Vidiorta Amard) escorting a merchant named Jorge Justian.
 * : The Lizardman Tepirm gets racist slurs hurled at him in the Black Finger.
 * : With the notable exceptions of Saló and Tepirm, all named characters that get involved in combat use a sword. The two Lizardmen instead use a.
 * : Orikexir Spaendjekkel arrives after Jorge has been already killed.
 * : Kshab'dalim Darkkat has Jorge Justian killed quickly after he delivers the goods.
 * : The romantic plot between Stephánus and Gzaxia takes up quite a bit of the, especially on the original forum posts.
 * : The whole romance between Stephánus and Gzaxia is never resolved throughout the story, at least not explicitly. After they leave Yrvháven, it's silently implied - but never stated explicitly - that they agreed to be just friends.
 *  / : Again, Stephánus and Gzaxia in the.
 * : Kshab'dalim Darkkat is the main antagonist of the whole saga.
 * : Nilaradra Snécsír in.
 * : The preferred weapon of the two Lizardmen Tepirm Quatl and Scatama Salorium.
 * : In, after the four mercenaries and Jorge make it to the territories of the Dhaeraow Loomin, the story begins to run on two threads, with Jorge's team making it to the Thieves Guild, while Stephánus Tavilrond and Scatama Salorium are on their trail, following the evidence of recent murders.
 * : Jorge Justian was first found in the Black Finger tavern, and that is the place where he first encounters and recruits Ypsel, Tepirm Quatl and Manuel Comnenos.
 * : Two examples. In the beginning, Stephánus Tavilrond and Gzaxia Nolánó meet in The Finger of Fire Inn., Gzaxia, Stephánus, Tepirm and Ithric Drakrumhal meet up in The Rusty Battleaxe Tavern. What follows
 * : Jorge Justian was first found in the Black Finger tavern, and that is the place where he first encounters and recruits Ypsel, Tepirm Quatl and Manuel Comnenos.
 * : Two examples. In the beginning, Stephánus Tavilrond and Gzaxia Nolánó meet in The Finger of Fire Inn., Gzaxia, Stephánus, Tepirm and Ithric Drakrumhal meet up in The Rusty Battleaxe Tavern. What follows
 * : Two examples. In the beginning, Stephánus Tavilrond and Gzaxia Nolánó meet in The Finger of Fire Inn., Gzaxia, Stephánus, Tepirm and Ithric Drakrumhal meet up in The Rusty Battleaxe Tavern. What follows