veni vidi vino

// sun comin' up on a dream come around //

Entering the shrine barefoot as usual, Danta spends a little time ensuring the sconces and candles are all alight, igniting them by hand rather than with magic, and then kneels before the obsidian slab with his head bowed in reverence. "Dark lady," he murmurs, reaching out with one hand to slice his palm on one of the particularly jagged edges of polished stone. "The Grounds are thriving under your influence. Thank you for gracing us with a blood moon this season."

Squeezing his hand into a fist to let the blood pool onto the obsidian, the Maverick closes his eyes. "I know it isn't a typical request for Ancients, but as you might already have noticed, many of our citizens can be quite accident prone." He smirks, because when he says citizens, he of course has one particular butcher in mind. "Chaos is chaos, but it would be good to have a safeguard against more permanent consequences."

Looking up now at last, Danta lets the heat kiss his skin and focuses on the dark shimmer of blood on obsidian. "I'd like to petition your help for a healing fountain, like so many other regions have made. Not with water, though. We'd prefer wine, if it's not too much trouble."

Dantalion

// one hundred years from the empire now //

Dygra

Dygra's laughter is warm and low as it ripples through the shrine in the wake of the heat that the fire has ignited, her presence folding around the Maverick as if to clasp him close and tight in her embrace. She remains just that of course - a presence, invisibly but undoubtedly there - as she settles against the blood soaked air, her power thrumming through every flagstone and brick. "It is not a typical request, no," she agrees, voice purring through Danta's bones as if it has resided there for longer than he's even been alive. "But not unheard of."

And the wine is certaintly a decadent touch; Dygra's approval about that comes in the whispered sensation of a touch to one of the Maverick's sharp cheekbones. "Very well, sweet, dark boy. It will not be an easy task to accomplish given your nature, but I think you already know that. This is what I ask."

---

The Hollowed Grounds has received a Regional Quest!

Tasks. There is no time limit. There are currently 8 active Grounders. This means 4 unique characters have to participate. Characters can participate more than once. Dantalion must participate in at least 2 threads. Kiada must participate in at least 1 thread.

1. A PQ of 4 (or more) Grounders gathering a herd of unicorns to assist with #3. The PQ must start in The Barrows, move through the Outer Brambles and end in the Inner Quarter. The thread will be split each time they enter into a new land.

2. A Mini Event of at least 4 Grounders (with 3 posts each) discussing where the fountain should be located and what kind of wine it should contain.

3. A PQ building the fountain in its designated location.

4. 3 threads of those with healing magic, or other light-based magic purifying the fountain and the area around it.

Table coding by Sky <3

// sun comin' up on a dream come around //

As always, Danta doesn't need to see his goddess to feel that she's there with him, and he relishes every indication of her presence in the flaring of the sconces and the invisible press of her against his skin. He finds himself relaxing despite himself to hear that his request, while difficult, is not impossible, feeling some thread of tension in his body start to unravel to know that, some day soon, he might have a stash of really good wine behind his bar for emergencies.

"I will see it done," he vows; however long it takes, however much help he might have to enlist to herd unicorns or heal fountains. "As always, thank you." Bowing his head once again, Danta remains in the shrine long after Dygra's presence fades away, taking the time to properly express his gratitude in prayer and blood and silence, before he too finally steps out once more.

~FIN

Dantalion

// one hundred years from the empire now //