RayClubs

A Journey Of Recovery

The stranger’s apology stung, although no part of the knight’s bitterness showed in his expression, impeccably neutral and still obscured by the visor. Feeling regretful upon finding Tenth amidst the ruins could only mean he was hoping to find someone else instead, and if another knight’s strengths and talents were more suited to his needs, then so be it. There was only so much Tenth could offer, only so much trust he could earn after failing once already – he couldn’t possibly fault the stranger for something as natural as that.

He was about to open his mouth to protest, but then the stranger requested to help him, and something inside him… twitched. Like a nerve struck, a string plucked to produce a trill, his vision turned dull and clouded, sounds drowned in indiscernible noise, his body tensed, and before he could realize what he was doing, his mouth was already forming familiar words.

“As you wish.”

Then, just as suddenly, everything was back – the vibrant head-splitting colors, the ear-piercing sounds, the burning in his throat and lungs, the ache in his ribs he was sure he hadn’t noticed before… Gods, he wished all of it gone, at least for a short time, at least for a night – half a night, a third, a quarter of peaceful slumber – but wishes were for those he served, and whatever mess of dignity and tissue filled the suit of armor, it did not, in his mind, constitute a person.

He agreed to fulfill the request on instinct alone, but wished he was sure how to go about it, too. The stranger didn’t frighten him, but the thought of the mere possibility of failing again turned his blood cold.

Perhaps an explanation would suffice. If he took a deep breath and clutched the sword handle as tight as he could, leaning on the blade with as much weight as it could support without showing signs of strain, he was certain he could manage at least that much.

“I have no task for which to require aid or assistance,” he said, and if it was clear in the way he spoke that the words completely drained him of whatever energy was left in him after more than a day without food or water, he hoped the stranger would not acknowledge it. “I am not under any orders that my injuries would… prevent me from executing. I don’t… know how you could… I–I…”

He trailed off, trying to take a deep breath and feeling like it wasn’t reaching his lungs at all. Between such simple acts as standing up, bowing in greeting, and speaking at length, neither should have exhausted him so much, but a combination in quick succession must have taken its toll.

The air was still heavy with traces of smoke and dust. His left hand slid out of the gauntlet, the sword falling loudly, clattering down the stone steps, and reached behind his helmet, where a strap of leather was holding down the visor. He unbuckled it in one quick motion, though, had it not been so well-practiced, he feared the numbness in his fingers would have failed him. His other hand was already tugging at the chin of the armor piece, prying the visor open with a loud metallic pop.

He had a gentle face, though sweat and grime coated it in equal measure, and many of his features were still partially obscured by the helmet and the strands of short brown hair that clung to his forehead. His eyes were shut against the momentary lightheadedness that threatened to overwhelm him. Even so, between the creases of his thick eyebrows and behind the frown that pulled the corners of his mouth down, there were hints of smiles that never blossomed and kindness that hadn’t yet found a way to express itself.

The wind cooled the light red burn that began above his right cheek and ended where it met his stubble. The relief was immediate, clearing his head enough to speak again.

“F-forgive me,” he breathed out, feeling color drain from his face, “I’m… finding it hard to… think at the moment…”

A Journey Of Recovery

The arcane light reminded the knight of the raging fires that claimed the castle, though he hardly had it in him to feel frightened. The horizontal slit in the steel visor barely let in any of the eye-straining brightness, and when it dimmed to a gentle moonlike glow, a mere tilt of the head was enough to force it out of view completely. The knight closed his eyes for a moment, but snapped them open quickly, startled by the vibrant images that clung to the back of his eyelids, disturbingly fresh in his otherwise clouded memory.

He couldn’t find the remains of His Lordship, nor those of his closest servants. The only bodies still at least partially intact belonged to his personal steel-clad guard – the knight counted each and every one of them dutifully, as though the mere act of recognition would give valor to their gruesome demise.

The first one lay crushed beneath the collapsed ruins of the northern tower. The second suffocated, the smoke forcing air out of his lungs – the knight knew the feeling well, his own chest tight, unable to breathe in full no matter how hard he struggled. The third and the fourth perished together, their molten breastplates fused into a grotesque lump. Natural fires weren’t meant to burn that hot. Whatever destroyed the castle had not come from this world. Perhaps that was why the knight’s memories of it were so… disjointed.

The greeting startled him. The stranger before him was hard to look at, his hair – a snap of silver, his cloak – a whirlpool of colors. There was an air of fortitude about him, of knowledge and power of a different kind to that of a mere armored fighter, but it didn’t frighten the knight, nor was it what made him avert his eyes and turn his gaze to the dust-covered ground, bleak and dull.

Before the fall of the castle, for as far back as the knight could remember, the world had always been… dim. Drained of the radiance of color and sharpness of sound. The stranger spoke in a calm, level voice, but it fell harsh on the knight’s ears. The light from the decorated staff was gentle, but the knight’s eyes still couldn’t bear it.

He stood up with a soft grunt, swaying only once before regaining his composure. He was tall even for a knight, the pommel on the longsword barely coming near his waist, and his shoulders were broad, bearing the weight of armor with practiced ease. With his right hand pressed horizontally against his abdomen, he bowed slowly, the movement small and dignified even though his left hand clutched the sword handle for support as the tip of the blade scraped the stone floor.

“Hail, stranger,” rough, toneless voice boomed from inside the closed helmet, the echo of it grating on the knight’s ears, nearly making him flinch.

He wondered if the man before him had seen the others like him. The fifth was at the stables when the disaster hit – there was hardly anything left to identify him by, save for a torn edge of his surcoat with a gold-embroidered inscription. The sixth fell from the top floor when it gave out under his feet, the body left intact, the neck angled unnaturally, suggesting a quick and certain death. The seventh and the eighth succumbed to madness, turning their blades on each other and eventually proving a match in every skill. The ninth ran a dagger through his stomach to escape the carnage around him, unable to resist the overwhelming pull of despair.

“There are no survivors,” the voice in the armor suit went on, flat and detached, the weight of the tragedy that surrounded the castle too great to even acknowledge. “Tenth of knights, at your service.”

Gay Knight with Trauma up for Adoption

The knight searches the ruins of his castle, gauntlets stained with ash and dust. The fire still smolders beneath the desolate wreckage. There is nothing to find among the silk scraps and glass shards. The liege lord is dead.

The knight curls in on himself like dog that’s been kicked in the ribs. The rubble still burns but the spark in his heart has gone out. He wants to cry but can’t trust his voice to sound human. In the mirror of a rain puddle, all he sees is the steel scowl of a visor, and behind it – a darkness as empty and bitter as the guilt he’s left to drown in.

Longsword in hand, the knight kneels where the stairs to the castle once were. The wind blows the smoke away. The rain comes and goes. He can’t bring himself to move without a destination, to act without purpose. He waits for someone to give his life the worth it once had and knows deep down that nobody will come.

When a pair of keen eyes spot the hunched figure, they mistake it for an empty suit of armor. It doesn’t speak when they ask it a question. It no longer believes there is a person inside.

***​

Hello, thanks for checking out my search thread! My name is Ray, he/they/it. I’m 24 years old. My posts are usually around 500 words in length, I write in third person, past tense. I can send a sample on request and will probably ask that you send one too before we start the RP.

This is a story about a knight who’s been mistreated for a very long time and yearns for a sense of purpose and belonging. Whoever finds him at his lowest amidst the ruins he once called home is requested to be gentle and kind, as it will surely take no small amount of time to coax this metal shell of a man into regaining his sense of personhood and self-worth.

I have some suggestions for the kind of character I’d like you to write. Please don’t feel constrained by these, you can message me with your own ideas too, I’m not particularly picky. As for my concepts:

• The romantic kind: I only write queer romance, and my knight is in his thirties, so his love interest would have to be of appropriate age and also a man. Preferably not someone, uh, evil. There’s a place for malicious characters, but this story isn’t one. Someone with depth and a multitude of issues of their own is very much welcome.
• The platonic kind: my knight could use a friend, too. Someone to take him on adventures and help him learn to appreciate the world around him and find his own place in it. A bard who will teach him to play the lute, a mage who will heal his old scars, a farmer with a cart of fresh fruit to deliver to a nearby town – anyone who wouldn’t mind a knight for company!
• The family kind: my knight has a soft spot for children. Perhaps a little one wandered a little too far from their home? Perhaps they, too, no longer have a home to speak of? Whatever they seek, be it guidance, protection, or simply a fellow lost soul to share the burden of loneliness with – my knight will try to provide for them to the best of his ability and perhaps find a new purpose in life in the process.
• A combination of the above? I’m no stranger to writing more than one character, and my knight will certainly appreciate a bigger company. Perhaps two fellow adventurers could take on a parental role together? Or a small group could attempt to form a community of their own?

That’s all from me! My DMs are always open to anyone interested.

Something's Wrong in Sunnydale | A horror mystery

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Something's Wrong in Sunnydale | A horror mystery

Something is undeniably, unmistakably, unimaginably wrong in Sunnydale. From the fog in the shape of listless roadside souls to the leaden sky aglow with mysterious lights, to the grim dead-end alleyways swallowing pedestrians without a trace, to the subconscious pull that simply will not let you leave. Something is wrong, and you’re ready to search, to prod, to pry answers from the blood-covered claws of things that go bump in the night.

Sunnydale is in danger, and it does not frighten you. You’ve been drawn to all things strange ever since you were little. Sunnydale breathes strangeness, bursts at the seams with it, spills over through every crack in the old concrete wall, every tooth chipped in a bar fight, every glass knocked off the dinner table. Its secrets excite you, its streets beckon you, its residents are dear to your heart, however different, odd, or non-human they may be. Sunnydale is your home now, by your own choice, and you will not let it come to harm.

***

Hello there! I’m glad my search thread caught your eye. My name is Ray, I’m 24 years old, my pronouns are he/they/it, and I have a horror mystery in mind for you.

Sunnydale is a gloomy but cozy seaside town filled with a great number of mysterious happenings, all tied in an overarching plot. It’s a fully original setting, somewhat inspired by Welcome to Night Vale and a wide variety of other horror-themed media.

Your character, having heard of these happenings and being interested in the supernatural, arrived here with the intent to settle down – to study, to find a job, to move away from their old life, the specifics are up to you. They are fascinated by the mysteries and very eager to investigate every strange occurrence they come across.

I don’t have a preference for who your character is, what they’re like, or why they’re so interested in the paranormal. Feel free to decide how many characters you want to write, too – it can be a pair, a trio, a family, whichever you find the most interesting. My only request is that they’re proactive, not merely reacting to the occurrences around them but attempting to interfere as well.

Your character is free to explore the town but not leave it. The story will take place in an ambiguous recent past, where such luxuries as the internet are not available. Sunnydale is a fairly isolated town, so let it remain this way, at least until the mysteries are somewhat solved.

Your character is also free to interact with the residents of Sunnydale, and I’ll do my best to provide many colorful, fun characters for you to interact with. Feel free to make friends, help people out, invite them to come along on your investigations, and generally just form connections, turning your character from a new arrival to a beloved part of the local community. Some of the characters may not be human, so bear that in mind.

The intended genre for this story is a horror mystery, however, depending on the kind of character you write, I am not opposed to elements of romance. “Queer Horror” is its own genre for a reason. The only kind of romance I will definitely not write is straight.

This is not a quest. Generally speaking, I poured a lot of time and effort into this setting and characters, but I want a partner, not just a player. Talk to me! Let me know what you like, discuss our characters with me, help me build a cool story that both of us will enjoy! I may have more control over the environment here, but I’m not going to, like, kill characters off if you don’t solve a puzzle or whatever. I just don’t find that fun at all.

That’s about it! Let me know if you have any questions! My DMs are always open. Cheers!

Original Plots Interest Check

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Looking for Three People to Embark on a Fantasy Adventure with!

Giving this another try, let's go!

Original Plots Interest Check

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Original Plots Interest Check

Bump!

Looking for Three People to Embark on a Fantasy Adventure with!

Winter came to Faygrove shortly after the crops were sown. Thinly thatched roofs bent under the weight. The city council directed two urgent letters to be sent by the spell of Reappearance at the cost of the reverend father’s gold-plated scepter and the mercenary guildmaster’s ornate throwing spear: one to the royal court and one to the overseeing temple, requesting caravans to be dispatched with felts for the blankets and wood for the furnaces, but the roads were snowed in, and the aid never came.

The river froze over too firmly to cut through the ice. Men swapped fishing rods for hunting bows and ventured into the woods in search of the wretched abomination that turned the sky leaden. A snowstorm took one of them. Sickness took two. The bodies lay untouched by rot. The shovels couldn’t pierce the ground to bury them.

A twin pair of blue wings were spotted soaring through the clouds, arcane chains binding the nimble reptilian form as it perched itself upon the overhanging cliff up northwest. Dragons never ventured so far down the mountain. A deviant sorcerer of great power must have summoned it for their sinister purposes, Faygrove falling a mere accidental casualty to the creature’s magical influence.

Muse A is a knight in the king’s service. The royal court never responded to the city council letter, so they took it upon themselves to retrieve the hunters who had not returned from their expedition. They are an ambitious and skilled soldier, but their naïve, idealistic trust in the ruling order gets in the way of realizing that the world isn’t quite as black and white as they’d like to believe.

Muse B is a magister of the Arcane Arts Academy. They’re young for their title, known for their energetic enthusiasm and relentless curiosity, not deterred even by mortal danger. They took great interest in what’s become known as the Faygrove Frost and set out to investigate the matter personally. They’re an apt spellcaster and an educated scholar, but their eager disregard for personal safety inadvertently puts everyone around them in harm’s way.

Muse C is a mercenary who specializes in assassination. Their moral code is lax and personal, their methods are secretive and unfair, and their loyalty belongs to the highest bidder. They’ve been contracted by the Faygrove guildmaster to murder the sorcerer that sicced a dragon upon the land, and they have little interest in anything besides the job. Their skills are sharp and versatile, but their callous demeanor and reluctance to trust others make them vulnerable in the face of obstacles that the efforts of one person, however capable, aren’t enough to overcome.

Muse D is a forest dweller, a creature of magic that has no desire to ever speak with humans but feels a certain kinship with the enslaved dragon and wants to free it. They’re naturally talented in ways of defense and healing, but their arrogant attitude, born of hurt and alienation from the so-called civilized world, makes them reluctant to extend their benevolence to those around them. Their outward appearance, strange and different from that of regular humans, makes them come across as frightening, aggressive, and even dangerous, regardless of their true intentions.

The four heroes will have to put their differences aside in the face of a force far greater than their own. To cross the frozen forest, climb the overhanging cliff, and put an end to the deadly winter however they see fit, they’ll need the strength of a warrior, the wits of a mage, the resourcefulness of a rogue, the benevolence of a healer, and a generous sprinkle of friendship along the way.

***

Hi! Thanks for reading this far, I hope you like my idea! I’m Ray, he/they/it. I’ll put some notes about myself and the kind of players I’m hoping to find in the bulleted list below. As the title says, I’m looking for three players to take on the roles of Muses A-D, and I’ll take the remaining one. I’ll also gladly act as a DM of sorts, providing challenges and NPCs for you to interact with, though I’m mainly looking for a more… collaborative effort. Briefly, then:
• I’m 24 years old. I’d like the other players to be adults as well. The story won’t necessarily feature an excessive amount of gore or sex, but I’d still rather talk with and befriend someone closer to my age or older.
• I write long posts, around five-seven paragraphs on average, longer when starting or scene-setting. I can go shorter for dialogue. I’d like my partners to be wordy as well, so if you tend to struggle with padding the length of your posts, this is probably not the best group for you.
• We’ll write in a thread and use a Discord server for OOC and info storage, I’ll set it up once I find some players. It’s not terribly important or anything, I’m just telling you this right away to segway into the fact that I like to chat out of character, and I’d love to find some chatty partners to exchange memes with!
• Please be able to post at least once every few days. We’ll take turns, and, this being a four-person RP, I don’t expect it to be especially fast-paced, but I don’t want it to stagnate either. Of course, if something urgent comes up and you give a warning for the delay, that’s no problem, but please try to consider your schedule beforehand and don’t join if you expect it to be especially busy.
• This is a queer-friendly RP. Queer players and queer characters are more than welcome.
• This is a romance-friendly, though not romance-oriented RP.
I think that’s it! I tried to be as concise and clear as I could, so let me know if I forgot something important or phrased something incomprehensibly. If you like this idea and think you fit the requirements, feel free to DM me, and mention which character you’d like to take the role of! I’ll also most likely ask for a writing sample, just to make sure that our styles match, and I can provide a sample in return. Thanks again for reading. Really excited for this. Cheers!