The forbidden dead wood forest, was a safe hold for many dark beasts. A sort of unspoken truce had settled between the humans and the beings within. As long as they staid to the confines of the woods they were relatively safe. Save for a few hunters brave and stupid enough to try to collect the trophies within. Living on the edge of the forest was a creature. Centuries of isolation had eroded her mind save a few simple words taught to her by a human that can only be considered a friend. A lone injured knight whom had wondered into the cannon. Sir. Edmond was appointed on a near suicide mission to hunt down a pack of werewolves with a small group of soldiers. He had successfully succeeded in his mission, but the ordeal had left him bloodied with gaping wounds and a broken shoulder when he was swiped against a tree. He had wondered for hours, dripping blood lost in the darkness of the forest. Eerie shadows played with with the trees and his mind, the only relief being that of the pale moonlight. The forest was dangerous he knew, but what choice did he have? He wouldn't last till morning. The man had unknowing stepped on a guide wire of web that was laced throughout the cannon and the entrance along the wood. This would prove a near fatal mistake, but also his saving grace. The Arachne's keen senses picked up the vibrations that trickled along the threads, she would ascend with wrath and furry upon the knight and would have killed him then if not for satiated hunger. At that moment the for the need for vengeance for the cruelty his race had shown her was her ambition. She paused her forward leg which resembled the shape of a serrated arrow head resting against his heart. She was in fact not hungry yet, but a single bite from her would preserve him and keep him frozen from actually dying for days, onward of a week. Her fangs glistened as she looked upon the man.
Dark orbs peered daggers into his soul. She craved the hunt. She craved the chaos, but more then anything she craved the sounds of his screams. He did not grant her that however, instead his icy blues met her chaotic black and softened. Because as a knight he knew this day was inevitable. The moment he had joined the guild he was destined to die. It was a fitting fate he thought. In a world where no one understood his internal struggle, or even the acceptance he had settled with. He didn't wish for death, he didn't crave it. He wasn't suicidal, but he knew, that each day he was more likely then not to die then to live. A calmness was washed over him, and he seen something familiar in the beasts human face. That same acceptance. The same feeling of being lost in a world well known. So instead of a scream, he gave a soft weak smile, and reached out to touch the creatures hand. She had let out a sharp hiss at the contact jumping away from the man. Tilting her head to the side confused with her fangs still barred. He collapsed forward into her and she caught him. Pushing him off suddenly, he landed on his back. Bending her knees and torso down to look at him, noting the lifeblood draining from him already. she removed his helm and nearly granted him that fatal bite of hers. Her maw open inches from the exposed flesh. But something.. something inside her didn't want to. She gave a shake of her head, raven locks flying in her frustration. She circled his body and leaned in again, using her digits to pry his lid open to look into the eyes of the man. If only to confirm what had happened. She didn't understand. She couldn't possibly understand. She huffed and kicked him with an appendage, bending once more looking for answers. He only replied with a strained groan in which she jumped back again. She had stood over him but knew by the light of the moon morning was almost upon her.
She needed to make a decision quick. The sun burned her eyes, and humans ventured out in daylight. She didn't want them to find her. There was no worse pain then the bites of their sticks. And their flying twigs of fire. The only way she could justify what she was about to do was to think of the human in a concept akin to a pet. She wrapped him quickly in silken thread unknowingly compressing the wounds and saving his life. She threw the rather large man onto her back and carried him back to her den. It was a couple of moons before he awoke. When he did she hissed baring her teeth and looking into his eyes again. Her confusion matching his. Why was this human different from the rest? Their first challenge was getting him water. He licked his lips and struggled against the thick hold of her web. She knew only what she needed to survive, as time had corrupted even the basic knowledge of life outside of herself. She cut him free, watching him closely as he groaned and tried to sit. The voice hoarse as he spoke the word. "Water." She didn't understand the odd sounds coming from his mouth. But knew she required life blood to live. She walked to the corner of her lair reaching down to pluck the heart out of the wolf of her recent kill. Returning to him tentatively reaching out to give it. He shook his head and repeated the strange sounds again "Water." The creature had taken the heart to her lips gnashing her teeth above it and moving only half a step closer to outreach her hand. It was after all the best part! But the man just shook his head and repeated the odd sounds. Infuriated with frustration she hurled it at him hitting him in the chest, the force of which causing the heart to splatter against him. Eventually he had gotten through to her when he had tried to spit into a drawn out creek. Through time he had healed, crude drawings in the earth had helped them communicate. Eventually she allowed him to leave as trust was built. He had taught her a few basic words.
And she learned more with every visit. He came once or twice a week, staying in a nearby village. Eventually the town grew suspicious of his activities when he returned without trophies and whistling happily. A mob was grown and he was slain, the final insult being a denial of a burial his corpse laid face down at the edge of the woods he had grown so fond of. She only knew him for a year. He never returned to her, and so she searched. Following the trail he had etched inconspicuously in the deadwood. She came across his corpse and caressed his face, staring into the icy eyes of the dead man before her. The first time, since the beginning of her time she felt emotion grip her chest, her throat constricts and long drawn out screams pierced the woodlands. It was the first time she felt a strange wetness flow from her eyes and a pain more intense than any physical injury. It felt as though she was about to die as well except, she never did. Every being within a three league distance could hear her wails of agony. Every child woke up to shiver in fear. She silenced the forest that night. The humans did not even leave any of his belongings behind for her to hold dear and instead looted and defiled his corpse. Now decades have passed, she wonder's if it was a dream, a memory, or a delusion of isolation. She thinks about the human daily, clinging to the pain that she had felt. The pain, although dulled still stung with vengeance in his name, and that pain meant she wasn't mad, it was real. The Arachnid still practices the sounds he had taught her, it was all she had to remember the man by. Although coarse and barely distinguishable, the sharpness mauled by time. She soon degraded from partial many singularly spoken words to having trouble with simple words the gradual loss only served to hurt her just as deeply.
But for how much longer would she even be able to manage those words was left to be seen as it was beginning to terrify her to fall back into that feral animal like state she was in, yet there was little she could do to prevent it. Eric Noelman was born in a remote small city that neighbored the large mighty kingdom of Hailsgard. He grew up in a family of fisherman with three younger siblings. Despite their family occupation Eric always had a knack for fighting and would often go around either getting into fights just to prove himself or just for the fun of it. He wasn't mean or evil natures, he just enjoyed fighting. This tendency Eric was born with never died but instead grew more as the years passed. His family accepted the boys love for sparring and simply allowed him to flourish in it. By the time he was 13 he had sparred with countless people from his age to other adults. Eric was not only adept at physical work but was fairly smart as well. Though he was not quite on the level of those who went to the academy to study magic full time to become a scholar, he was well above average in both literacy and arcane knowledge for the people in his city. The city was not as well known as many others that littered the lands at the time however, they leaders of this city maintained a good relationship with their large neighbor. That is, until the new emperor grew too ambitious and bored of peace. One day this emperor sent a demand that the city surrendered its rights and become subjects of Hailsgard as a part of the emperors wishes to expand the borders of the kingdom. Eric was a child at the time of this conflict soon to be 14 years old. The small peaceful city fell to Hailsgard within a week. The knights at the time were even more brutal and ruthless than they were currently and killing many civilians for no reason. Including his younger brother.
Erics family was devastated much like everyone else's. However, Eric was lucky to be spared after an attempt to challenge a knight to a duel formally despite being a child. Most would have killed him at the time but this Knight in Particular imperial knight Sir Albert Weiss. The knight took him away and trained him personally to hone Erics immense talent. By the end of it Eric Noelman was formally taken in as Eric Weiss. The death of his younger brother was kept a secret from Eric as he was told if he served well his family would be taken care of considerably well. Eric became a full knight at the age of 17, making him one of the youngest in Hailsgard. Only a year after a war broke out between Hailgard and a rival nation. Eric participated in the front lines of this war where his prowess for battle truly shined. Due to his accomplishments and skills, he quickly became an elite knight. This angered many of his fellow knights as well as some government officials. The people of this nation did not take well to outsiders outdoing their own people. In addition to this the city Eric came from was known to be accepting of pagan beliefs and practices and it did not strictly follow the holy order of their nation. Some even practices dark arts such as witchcraft in that city and were accepted. Because of this some had begun to see Eric as a heathen knight that was somehow accepted by their government. It was not helped by Erics refusal to accept their holy order as well. This, over time, led the leadership to frequently send eric on assignments to have him out of the kingdom. However not everyone cared for the opinions of the senior officials and looked up to the tales of heroism about him. Years later at 27 Eric now had a small group of trainees who choose to learn from the man who they had heard about so many times who was also rumored to be the most skilled of those who ranked as an elite knight in the kingdom.
It was also a rarity that an elite knight would train the young ones directly. They often saw that as grunt work for the lower ranked knights. Alice, was a prodigy of a trainee. She was by far the best of his group and other groups as well. Many wondered why she bothered working with someone with a reputation like Eric who is also an outsider when she clearly was capable of being placed in one of the much more prestigious trainers. It was in his group that Alice began a relationship with Jared. The others simply believed in the hero stories told about him from 9 years ago when they were so much younger. They worked with him on easy assignments and journeys he went on for almost a year and the young couple of the group were set to be married soon. Eric never took them on assignments that was truly dangerous despite he knew they would have to face true danger alone some day. The exception being Alice, she was the only one he took on one job that was fairly dangerous, only because he believed she was ready, and she skill was already equivalent to someone fully knighted and approved by the kingdom. The experience exposed Alice to a mild taste of what real danger was like and what the future held for them all. The duty of a knight is seen in glory when they return but the reality is blood, guts and death in the field. Eric did not flood their minds with the holy orders nonsense. They were simply skilled killers with a title and some rules. This job was to be another one that was only slightly more dangerous than the typical work they did together but not something he felt the need to worry about as they all sat around a extinguished campfire. Eric has his armor on, and his helmet tucked under his arm. He was always one to be aware even if he was a laid back and easygoing person, who seemed at first glance to not care about much at all much different than how he was as a kid.
aware even if he was a laid back and easygoing person, who seemed at first glance to not care about much at all much different than how he was as a kid. They had just finished eating a meal and were preparing to continue their journey to a town on the outskirts of the kingdom's borders. Apparently, a small group of criminals had been terrorizing people for some time out here and avoiding local justice. They were to find this group and bring them back to the kingdom or execute them on the spot. Eric did not feel the need to bring his spear and simply carried his typical short sword which was currently sheathed. His group consisted of 6 pupils. With him there they would be more than enough to deal with a small group of 6-7 criminals.
this one is not as dark and would involve you playing both the arachne and Alice however the Arachne would be the main. I have pics for both as well just have to find them. It would move towards the arachne joining MC on his jobs and adventures. each one could possibly be an entire arc as alot could be involved. This one i wrote more as a backstory and lore introduction.
some additional information for the arachne: She is not very prideful and extremely curious her nature is that of a predator and always will be no matter how much she will become civilized over time. Fire is her greatest weakness and fear, second to that is very loud noises including yelling. She is excellent at stalking and planning strategically when it comes to survival but is completely ignorant of the ways of formal warfare. She is also almost completely amoral until she learns to adapt to new ways of life. Killing is just a means to get food and or survive and she does not differentiate humans from dark beings from animals in the forest and because of this, she has killed and fed on some of them all
She lacks a lot of typical human behavior and simply goes with her experience and if she has none then her feelings. As a result she can be brutally honest and sometimes unnecessarily vulnerable. Having only experienced friendship once everything between her, Eric and Alice would be new and difficult and confusing at times especially struggling to fit in with the norms of the civilized world which many times willl directly go against everything she thinks and feels. This one starts with Eric and his trainees at the campsite before they are ambushed. They end up getting pushed back into a cave some distance away with Alice in the rear. She disappears in the darkness of the cave and they get pushed into the den of the Arachne. Seeing a dark beast and hearing the rumors, the remaining criminals attack her on sight and oddly Eric slays them with the Arachne instead of fighting her too. This leaves her interested in Eric as a human who seems to hold no ill will to her existence. She tries to convince him to stay with her very limited remaining ability to speak and when he refuses she reveals she has Alice still alive but poisoned by her bite. She attempts to use Alice as a bargaining chip but is Alice does not get help she will die. Eric convinces the Arachne that he would return as she seems to understand the idea of a promise, though he gave her a choice to accept his promise or he would have to kill her. The poison would have lingering effects on Alice and prove to be debilitating maybe even causing so much damage as to ruin her career as a knight.
Your support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)