Floating. That feeling of being suspended, high up in the air. That tingling feeling you get in your legs when your feet are expecting something but are only met with loose air.

You awake to a headache thumping against your head. Your ears ringing, and your eyes squinting from the inundation of mid-day light. Slowly, the ringing fades away, slowly your vision comes into focus. Looking back at you is a forest floor bobbing back and forth tens of meters away. Coming to your senses, you try wiggling in place but, you find yourself entirely bound from your mouth to your toes. You try scrunching up and flailing to free yourself from whatever has entangled you, but the restraints are too thick to buck off.

A soft, but stern, voice whispers in your ear, "Careful. Try not to move."

You freeze from the sudden realization someone is right next to you.

"I'm going to cut you free, but I need you to be still. I don't want to cut you."

From your limited viewpoint you see two hands on either side of you wearing leather, fingerless gloves. One hand brandishes a sizable knife with green slime dripping from its blade.

"I'm going to free your mouth now, but you cannot make any noise. Do you understand?" the whisper asks you. You nod in acknowledgement. The hand with the knife moves to the left of your face and you feel a slow sawing motion in the material covering your mouth. A white rope breaks free from your face, giving your head the freedom to look down at yourself. You can see now that the material binding you is more white rope stickily wrapped over and over your body. Spider webs.

The knife continues to work it's way down your body with slow, but determined strokes. Movement draws your eyes to a stony clearing some ways before you. A monstrous spider the size of a boulder is facing a group of humanoids. Red and brown prickly hairs are scattered along his black body and stalky legs. His eight eyes, black as obsidian, are staring at a tall, regal looking man whose back is facing you. Strands of spit droop and fling from the spider's pincers clasping open and closed as if he is talking.

"That," says the voice, "is Ruz-kul, a cave spider who makes his living selling to any slave trader in the area. His webs are all over the south side of the forest, ensnaring any unlucky soul who takes a wrong turn. He must have picked you up two to three days ago."

The anonymous hand has made its way past your shoulders now. As the cut webbing dangles free, more of your bare flesh is revealed. You see strands of the remnants of your clothes sticking to the ropes, the last remaining bits still dissolving into the acidic arachnid material.

The regal man down below waves his hand at two laborers to the left of him. At his command, they lift a large, dark brown chest from a cart and place it in front of the spider. Ruz-kul approaches the chest and props it open with his front legs. Large turquoise balls are stacked on the inside. He picks one up and holds it in the light, revealing a cloudy outer wall surrounding an opaque center. Ruz-kul gently places the egg back in the chest. Pleased with the payment, he thumps his back thorax against the ground. At the second cue, the laborers begin hauling fully-bound bodies from a pile on the ground to the back of their cart.

The voice continues to narrate the transaction to you, "That stiff looking dark elf is an ambassador for the Hespian Empire. They are a cruel and ruthless people with only the desire to subjugate the lesser races to their rule. Lucky for our spider friend, they are also incredibly wealthy. Although it is strange...a Hespian wouldn't dare travel this far North in the past, less they wanted to be trampled by Fordian horsemen."

After loading their cargo, the dark elves hop on their carriage and ride into the forest out of sight. Ruz-kul closes the chest and carries it deep into a rocky hole in the ground. The knife, having made its way to your calves, makes a final swish and cuts you free. You tumble out of your cocoon, but just as you begin to fall, the man grabs you around the midsection and pulls you in tight. He shimmies his way down the tree he was using for support with a rope tied around his waist. At the forest floor he sets you down gently and unties himself.

"Here, put this on." He takes off the hooded cloak he was wearing and extends it to your naked self. Crouching down, he beckons you to follow him through the undergrowth. You make it little ways from the tree when a crashing sound erupts from overhead and the giant spider, Ruz-kul, lands before the two of you with a tremendous thud.

A grotesque voice bursts out of his pincers, "Eren. I always knew you were a slimly thief. What's wrong? Were you not satisfied with your last purchase?"

The man, Eren, positions himself between you and the spider as your captor circles around. He slyly slides his hand in his pocket and fingers something inside.

"Ruz-kul. I didn't think something like you would care about a thing like thievery." Like a whip, his hand throws two small stones from his pocket. In mid-air, they snap to each other and twirl around before exploding into green smoke. Without missing a beat, vines jump alive from below the spider and quickly wrap their way around his hairy legs. "Run," the man says to you and grabs you by the hand as he takes off in a sprint.

Ruz-kul, ripping himself free from the vines, shouts after you, "You think your little magic tricks can save you, boy?!" Without looking behind you, you can hear him giving chase, like the sound of a dozen horses trampling through the forest.

As twigs and branches slap across your face and rough rocks cut into your feet you can feel the spider's presence getting closer, his pincers jutting out and clicking mere feet away from you. The man throws another trinket behind him, this time a cascade of white phosphorous flashes fill the space behind you, followed by the scream of Ruz-kul. But before you have time to think, both you and the man find the ground unexpectedly stopping. And before you have time to stop, you are both leaping off a cliff.

Floating. That feeling of being suspended, high up in the air.

You watch as the man beside you flails his arms and legs before straightening into a line as the two of you plunge into roaring water below.

​

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Hello! This was my very long intro to a dark fantasy romantic slow-burn. Obviously this was written in your perspective, but for the actual RP we will be taking on our respective first person views. In truth, I don't really have a planned direction with this and I am looking for a collaborative partner to figure out the storyline and some worldbuilding. I can imagine this as perhaps two separate chats, one about the meta plot and ideas, and the other as the actual RP unfolding. But I am open to suggestions!

If this interests you feel free to message me as long as this post is live! When you reach out, here are some questions you could potentially answer: Who are you? What do you look like? How did you get trapped by the spider? What is your goal? Why are the Hespians moving so far North? As well as what NSFW elements are you looking for?

Looking forward to some creative responses,

~Toothpicks