dog days are over

I used to hold your haunted neck; I know I'll miss you if I close my eyes

The things they do for their goddess and the good of their region, amirite?

It has taken some time to get down to the shrine in the Black Lake - all afternoon, if the Maverick is honest. Trudging through the snow is no easy feat as an Ancient, especially when travelling down into the bowels of an underground lake in the cold and the dark. And that's without having to ferry all manner of void creatures to the shrine, to boot.

Still, he's managed it at last, and Danta has also set up a few torches and fires to make the place more warm and inviting (i.e. and less deadly to his kind). Now he's finally ready to approach their dark lady.

"Dygra," he murmurs, his voice echoing softly in the cave, "we've done as you asked. The Inner Quarter is prepared, and would be honoured to receive your blessing." Opening a small cut over his heart with a pocketknife, Danta places his hand to the blood that oozes to the surface, then presses it to the cluster of rubies.

---

RQ turn-in given in little birds tell me

1. A thread of at least 3 Grounders gathering stones from the shores of the Black Lake - {RQ} The rest is still unwritten - Danta, Maea, Ophelia
2. A PQ placing those stones all around the borders of the Inner Quarter. Must have 8 rounds. - {PQ} {RQ} let's get hammered and stoned - Danta, Astaroth, Edmund, Maea
3. A thread with at least 1 Grounder, capturing a void Flora or Fauna from every major region (SB, TL, H, HG, GW, KE), kept alive and brought at the time of turn-in.
SB: (RQ) get me golden Kiada & Fox collect a Void Messenger
TL: {RQ} This is fine Fox & Talyson collect an Abyssal Geckoloth
H: (RQ) white night Kiada & Deimos collect an Ethereal Frostbloom
HG: Webs of Delight Danta & Ophelia collect a Voidweaver Spider
GW: {RQ} Vested interest Maea & Noah collect a Void Viper
KE: {RQ} Raindrops keep falling on my head Maea & Ophelia collect Cursed Daisies

Dantalion

Edmund eagerly follows Danta to the shrine, giddy over seeing Mother again. She hadn't answered his prayer last season, but he imagines she was simply too busy then. Perhaps he'll ask again in the future. Today was about the Grounds and protecting his kin. Hopefully, Mother will be pleased to see that he followed her words and has sought to further integrate with and aid his fellow Ancients.

They arrive and Danta calls their Goddess, offering his blood. Once he falls silent, Edmund tightly grasps one of the sharper rubies along the wall and lets the gemstone dig into and pierce his skin. Letting his blood drip onto the cavern floor, "Hello, Mother. I hope that you've been well."

Edmund

Come dance in the shadows

i don't belong among the angels // and baby that's just fine with me

He’s sore, and traversing into the bowels of this cavern isn’t an easy one. But he manages it with a torch joining the outfit he sports, that fur lined red coat along with gloves snug, and a fur scarf that’s wrapped around his neck a few too many times (tight enough to hide whatever hides beneath it). It’s a warm… enough trek. But one that’s important if he’s to retrace these steps this season to seek out a quest of his own with Dygra.

He isn’t too late, slipping into the cavern and adding his torch amongst the others – letting Danta take the lead as he sidles up beside Edmund to offer him a smirk and a whispered greeting. “Hello again, Edmund.” He doesn’t need to announce his presence to Danta, but he does straighten up to look amongst the rubies and the scent of blood that fills the cavern, sighing contently as his tail swishes, lifting his hand to his mouth to slice the pad of his thumb open on one of his sharp fangs, adding it to one of the rubies.

“The utmost honor.” Astaroth hums in agreement to Danta’s prayer, dipping his chin a little in his own as he steps back and out of the way, back into the shadows as he had always once been.

Astaroth

the things i did up there were high school // but now i'm going for my degree

Maea

My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on the limb

As she had been involved every step of the way, Maea was eager to see the project of safeguarding the Grounds come to fruition. Vacating Danta's office and transporting the void horrors to the shrine was an unpleasant task, but one the was happy to help with all the same. It was the last time she had to get near them. One final time was nothing to whine about.

It did feel strange to be surrounded by others down by the shrine. Very aware of being the freshest of the Ancients present, she kept reassuring herself that it didn't make her any less - the goddess had assured her, hadn't she, that Maea was as fully Ancient as any of the others. So she cut her palm on the ruby same as the others, and offered a quiet prayer of her own. "As you please, Lady."

Red about the cheeks she stood back, waiting to see what would happen.

And I remember thinking — I want to be like them

gently she leads you out into the darkness //

After having collected two of the awful creatures, the Harpy also helps corral the awful beasts toward the cavern, nose wrinkling at the sensation from the void raven in particular, recalling the awful trek home with it that it had sparked. Ah well, at least the cage had helped keep it contained, a blanket covering it to hide most of its awfulness.

Still didn’t make it any easier, though.

With everything collected and brought, hearing Danta’s prayer and nodding to the rest that have gathered, Kiada slices her arm, collecting a little bit of blood to add to the rubies as well, before she settles back, admiring the glimmer of rubies amongst the diamond sat upon her finger, saying nothing but keeping her head bowed and wrapped in her red coat, comfortable against the cold as she waits to see their deity, proud of the work they’d all accomplished here.

KIADA

\\ and makes you drink rain

totally sniped from odd ilu

Fox wouldn't normally brave the dark and cold of the Black Lake in this weather - or at all, in truth, since he's quite happy to live his life without any god's influence over it - but this does seem important. And, more to the point, his fiance is in attendance, and so he dutifully follows at her heels.

Lingering by the fire to thaw out his fingers while the others gather and pray, Fox does spill blood over one of the rubies as a show of respect, though he doesn't say anything. Instead, sidling up next to Kiada to slip an arm around her, he frowns warily at the void creatures and noses against her hair.

"At least you won't have to spend any more time around that raven," he whispers to her.

fox

i'm a pagan of the good times

Dygra

Wherever blood spills, crimson light erupts in its place, twinkling amongst the rubies in the cavern where Dygra's children gather. And although the goddess still remains unseen for now, the warmth that suffuses the air and the vibration in the bones of all who stand before the shrine gives away her presence easily enough.

Before the group, the gathered void flora and fauna will seem to spontaneously expire; withering plants and spilled blood soon replace the once dread-filled entities. A sigh, audible and sensual, ripples across the walls of the cave. "Very well done, my children," Dygra purrs. "The Inner Quarter is protected from any flora and fauna infected by the void."

And what they do with that from here is up to them.

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Dygra's Barrier | A faintly visible crimson barrier covers all of the Inner Quarter and its boards. Void flora and fauna cannot enter the area.

Table coding by Sky <3