The Redemption of Brynn - session 16

The Road That Remembers

If you somehow managed to miss the last episode, you can Echoes of the Past here.

Or, if you’re new to my SubStack, check the Campaign Index!

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The Road That Remembers

Art by Andy ‘onegraydot’ Gray

The forest was still, but not quiet: the trees whispered with breeze, a raven croaked overhead, the underbrush rustled with small lives... but still, in a way that pressed against the skin like damp cloth. Time felt thinner here. Even light filtered in crookedly, shadows falling in odd directions.

Brynn crouched near a warped tree, running gloved fingers along the gnarled bark. Its ridges curled like scar tissue, as if the forest had remembered pain and grown around it. Willa paced behind him, grumbling half to himself, half to no one.

“We’ve been going in circles. I swear I’ve seen that boulder twice already.”

Brynn exhaled through his nose, eyes scanning the ground. He caught the faintest break in the moss—disturbed earth, maybe a track, maybe not. Marou would have known, he tought glumly.

“Let’s find our path again,” he murmured. “Before it finds us.”

Adventure move: Gather Information (+Wits)
Strong Hit: 1 + 2 + 0 = 3 vs 1 | 2
+2 momentum = 7

Brynn brushed aside a curtain of ivy and froze. Just beyond was a half-collapsed stone outcropping, old, possibly once a shrine or watchpost. Its roof had given way long ago, but the rear wall still stood, shaped against the slope of the hill. There was a ring of stones in the dirt, blackened from ancient fires. The earth was dry. The moss grew around it. Willa stepped in behind him and blinked.

“You think this is it?” he asked, and Brynn nodded slowly.

“It’s hidden. High ground. Close enough to fresh water.” He knelt and touched the edge of the stone ring. “And it’s been used before.”

Willa sighed. “I won’t argue with shelter.”

Adventure move: Resupply (+Wits)
Strong Hit: 6 + 2 + 0 = 8 vs 7 | 2
+2 supply = 2

While Willa cleared space inside the ruined shelter, Brynn slipped into the underbrush with quiet steps and practiced eyes. The forest was dense, but no longer felt hostile—more like it had accepted their presence, at least for now. He found it not far from the camp: a cluster of wild onion, near a fallen tree. A patch of bitter greens. Further down a slope, old snare lines still hung between roots: broken, but one had caught something small, mummified by time but still usable for tinder. He even uncovered a patch of dry, resinous pine, enough to build a fire that would hold through the night.

By the time he returned, Willa was finishing a crude lean-to, muttering curses under his breath, but clearly grateful. Brynn tossed down the gathered goods.

“Dinner,” he said. “If you like it burned.”

Willa snorted. “Burned means it’s not moving.”

Adventure move: Make Camp (+Supply)
Miss: 1 + 2 + 0 = 3 vs 5 | 7

Fate move: Pay the Price
-1 spirit = 2

The campfire had burned low, casting long shadows across the moss-covered stones. Brynn stirred once in his sleep, rolling onto his side, a hand resting near his blade, a habit he’d never quite shaken. Willa snored lightly nearby, wrapped in a patched wool blanket, his breathing deep and even.

Then it changed.

A whimper, at first. A sharp exhale. Then a voice.

“No. No, Maela, wait—!”

Brynn snapped awake, heart already thudding. The shadows shifted strangely, bending away from the ruined wall like a gust had passed through without touching the air. Willa bolted upright, eyes wild, sweat streaming down his face.

He looked around in confusion, chest heaving. “She was here,” he said, his voice a hoarse whisper. “I saw her. Standing there. Like she was waiting for me.”

Brynn rose slowly, hand at the ready. He saw nothing—but felt it. The air was wrong. Still. Heavy.

“She said my name,” Willa muttered. “Like she used to. Like nothing ever happened.”

He looked at Brynn, pale and shaken. “We have to finish this. We have to get that pendant.”

Brynn nodded grimly, but inside, something coiled tight. The Griefkeeper knew they were coming.

Suffer move: Endure Stress (+Heart)
Miss: 6 + 2 + 0 = 8 vs 9 | 10
-1 momentum = 6

Brynn stood still for a long time after Willa settled back down, though neither of them truly slept again that night. The shadows loomed larger somehow, and every breeze through the trees seemed to whisper a name he hadn’t earned the right to speak. He stared at the fire until it guttered low, then into the darkness beyond it. Something was awake in these woods. Something ancient. And it remembered him.

The road to Whiterock was short now... but the weight he carried was heavier than ever.

Adventure move: Undertake a Journey (+Wits)
Miss: 2 + 2 + 0 = 4 vs 7 | 10

Fate move: Pay the Price
-1 supply = 1

They came to a shallow creek—narrow, but deceptively fast, the water slick over mossy stones. Brynn tested the edge with his boot, then turned to help Willa across. But Willa hadn’t waited. The stone gave way. Willa fell hard into the stream with a splash and a sharp curse, soaking through and flailing to grab his pack. Brynn hauled him out with a grunt, and they scrambled up the bank, dripping and cold.

By the time they’d caught their breath, a pouch of wrapped food was gone—bobbing downstream, out of reach. A cloth satchel full of firestarter herbs floated after it, vanishing beneath a knot of roots.

Willa sat down hard, scowling. “Figures.”

Brynn looked upstream, toward Whiterock’s direction.

“She’s testing us.”

Adventure move: Undertake a Journey (+Wits)
Weak Hit: 6 + 2 + 0 = 8 vs 9 | 5
-1 supply = 0
Return to Whiterock Ruin: 3/10

The ground changed beneath their boots: more stone than loam now, and the trees thinned to skeletal birches twisted by wind. In the distance, jagged white stones jutted from the earth like broken teeth. Willa pointed ahead.

“That ridge... Those are the rocks you mentioned?”

Brynn nodded. “Whiterock. We’re getting closer.”

But the air felt thin. Both men moved slower now, not from caution, but exhaustion. Every step required effort. Their packs were light, not from good planning, but because there was almost nothing left to carry. The ruin was near. But so was the edge of what they could endure.

Adventure move: Secure an Advantage (+Wits)
Miss: 1 + 2 + 0 = 3 vs 7 | 4

Brynn scanned the landscape. Too much shadow, too much guesswork. They needed height.

“Give me a moment,” he muttered, moving toward a nearby boulder half-choked in roots. It sloped upward toward a twisted birch, offering a modest vantage over the ruined treetops. He started to climb. Willa muttered something behind him—a warning or a prayer—but Brynn didn’t hear it. He reached the top just as the bark cracked beneath his boot. A branch gave way. His center of gravity tilted. The ground lurched upward to meet him.

Adventure move: Face Danger (+Edge)
Weak Hit: 2 + 1 + 0 = 3 vs 8 | 1
-1 health = 3

Suffer move: Endure Harm (+Iron)
Miss: 2 + 3 + 0 = 5 vs 5 | 9
-1 momentum = 5

Brynn twisted midair, trying to catch the drop. His boots hit first—one slipped. His knee crunched awkwardly beneath him as he rolled through a half-rotted log and came to rest in a bed of damp leaves. Pain flared sharp in his ankle. Willa rushed over.

“Iron’s teeth, are you trying to kill yourself before we even get there?”

Brynn grunted, already half up. “Just trying to see the path.” He pointed with a grimace toward a ridge further on. “Whiterock’s that way. I saw it... just before the Hollow punched back.”

Adventure move: Undertake a Journey (+Wits)
Weak Hit: 2 + 2 + 0 = 4 vs 3 | 7
Suffer -1 momentum since Supply is already 0
-1 momentum = 4
Return to Whiterock Ruin: 6/10

They climbed through the shale-laced slope in silence, each footfall sending loose rock clattering downslope. Brynn’s ankle throbbed with every step. Willa kept glancing back at him, but said nothing—the forge-born kind of silence that means: I know you’re hurting, but you’re still moving.

Just as the sun touched the trees behind them, they reached the crest of a hill, and there it was: Whiterock Ruin lay ahead. The remnants of walls, more bone than stone now. The wind cut sharper here, not colder, but emptier. Brynn felt it in his gut. They were near.

Adventure move: Undertake a Journey (+Wits)
Miss: 1 + 2 + 0 = 3 vs 10 | 9

Fate move: Pay the Price
-1 momentum = 3

They pushed forward, sliding down a narrow ravine and up the far side. But when Brynn crested the next hill, he froze. The ruin was gone. No. Not gone—shifted. The broken silhouette was now visible on the next ridge over, just barely. As if the terrain had stretched itself while they weren’t looking. Brynn swore softly under his breath.

“I saw it,” he said. “It was right here.”

Willa just stared ahead. “So we keep walking.”

Brynn nodded once and limped forward, teeth clenched.

Adventure move: Undertake a Journey (+Wits)
Strong Hit: 2 + 2 + 0 = 4 vs 1 | 3
Return to Whiterock Ruin: 9/10

They crested the final ridge in silence. This time, the ruin didn’t vanish. No illusion. No warping of space. It just sat there.

Whiterock Ruin.

Bleached bone walls. Splintered beams. The scent of ash and time. The same narrow path between cairns where ghosts whispered in dreams. And above it all, the silence, deep and reverent.

Willa stood beside Brynn, his jaw set. “You really came back here?” he asked.

Brynn didn’t answer. He just walked forward.

Adventure move: Reach Your Destination
Weak Hit: 9 vs 4 | 10
Track: Return to Whiterock Ruin (completed)

Brynn stepped into the clearing, heart already bracing for what waited.

They were there—as before. The Griefkeeper. Cloaked in shades of ash and dusk, skin pale and stretched tight over bones, iron rings and charms clicking softly as she moved. Eyes like hollow moons, watching. Waiting.

But this time, they weren’t alone. A second figure stood at the base of the stone circle—a girl, no older than twelve. Her outline flickered faintly in the air, like heat off stone. Her features were soft, unfinished, but there was no mistaking the connection.

Willa stopped cold beside Brynn. He couldn’t move. Could barely breathe.

“That’s...” His voice broke. “That’s my Maela.”

The Griefkeeper lifted their hand, a single finger extended.

“So, Willa of Hollowmere. You have finally mustered enough courage to face your grief.”

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Afterthougts

As a rules lawyer, I noticed after this session that I had made a mistake - you can't actually Resupply if you've marked Unprepared - that only goes away with a Sojourn, which, frankly, does not make a whole lot of sense to me, but yeah. What's done's done. Brynn and Willa didn't really benefit from the Strong hit on the Resupply anyway, as it turned out. It's now acknowledged and I'll be mindful of that in the future.

I am also slightly starting to regret this journey at this point... I should have figured that the route back to Whiterock Ruin was not going to be any easier than the first time around. It took plenty more rolls than I had expected to get up there, and whatever meager supplies Brynn had managed to get for himself are dwindling again.

Thanks again ever so much for reading, I hope you liked this session and the direction it has taken!

Click here to read the next session: The Shape of Her Silence