The Redemption of Brynn - session 20

The Hollow Eyes

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The Hollow Eyes

Art by Andy ‘onegraydot’ Gray

After coming to Bleakbarrow, Asha and Brynn headed straight for the barracks, where Asha collapsed on her bed, and fell asleep almost immediately. Brynn sat on the bedside for a moment, watching her breaths get deeper, slower. He rose carefully to not wake her up, and left to find a place to rest his own weary bones.

Relationship move: Sojourn (+Heart)
Weak Hit: 6 + 2 + 0 = 8 vs 3 | 9
Consort
+1 spirit = 5

The door creaked open without resistance. The chapel was dim—only a few candles burned near the iron pillar at its center. The rest of the room was in shadow, cool and still.

Brynn didn’t kneel. He didn’t pray, exactly. But he sat near the back, arms resting on his knees, head bowed. The iron scent of blood and rust still clung to him, but he made no move to clean it. He wasn’t here to be clean.

“I didn’t do it perfectly,” he murmured to the empty air. “But the road is safe now. I tried.”

He didn’t ask for forgiveness. But he did ask for strength. And maybe that was enough.

Quest move: Reach a Milestone
I will prove myself worthy of the iron, and reclaim the right to swear an oath upon a pillar: 1,5/10

Brynn had no idea how long it had been, when he heard the voice of Sarria:

“I thought I heard someone enter.” He eyed Brynn with with curiosity. “Did I wake you?”

Brynn raised his head and the stiffness in his neck filled in the gaps—he had been out cold for some time already. He got up from the bench and stretched. “Don’t worry. About time to get moving again anyway.” He yawned. “How’s Keelan doing?”

And as if on queue, a smaller figure emerged from behind Sarria—a boy with black hair.

Keelan.

“My father said you saved my life,” he said shyly, looking down at his feet. “Thank you.”

Brynn studied the boy—more color in his cheeks now, but a strange distance behind the eyes. Whatever Thorne had done, it had worked. But it had changed him too.

“I only did what I thought was right.” Brynn paused, glancing again at Keelan before turning to Sarria. “Asha said the cure’s had some kind of... side effects?”

Sarria sighed, bringing both hands to his temples. He looked older in that moment—worn down by more than grief.

“I’ve tried not to make more of it than it is,” he said quietly, “but he sees things. Talks in his sleep—about people who died before he was born. About the Tangle. The Hollow.”

A silence stretched between them.

“I think he’s dreaming someone else’s dreams.” Then Sarria looked at Brynn, not as a priest looking at a heretic, but as a father looking for help. “I don’t know if he’s... cursed. Touched. Or just changed forever. But if there’s something to be done...” He swallowed. “I think it has to be you.”

Brynn studied the boy. Alive, yes, but tormented. The work wasn’t done. He couldn’t walk away from it. “What are you asking of me?”

Sarria walked over to Keelan and pulled him into a tight hug.

“He’s better. But he can barely sleep. Doesn’t want to.”

“I see people I don’t know meet their end. Over and over.” His eyes welled with tears. “I just want it to stop.”

Brynn saw the agony in Keelan’s eyes—the fear, the exhaustion, the quiet plea for mercy no child should ever have to speak.

He knelt before him. With one hand, he touched the old scar on his shoulder: the mark he carried for the oath he’d once failed to uphold. His voice was low and steady.

“I swear on my mark of failure, that I will do everything I can to help you. To find a way to end this.” He didn’t speak as a warrior. Or even as a follower of the Iron. He spoke as a man who had once turned away, and would not do so again.

Quest move: Swear an Iron Vow (+Heart)
Miss: 1 + 2 + 0 = 3 vs 9 | 9
-2 momentum = 0

New track: Help Keelan

As Brynn knelt and spoke the words, his hand resting on his scar... Something shifted beneath his skin. Not pain exactly, but a pressure. A dull pulse. As if the mark remembered something he didn’t. As if it recognized the weight of the vow, and disapproved. And then Keelan looked up, his face pale.

“He heard you,” the boy whispered. “The one behind the hollow eyes.”

Sarria froze. “Keelan—what did you say?” Keelan just stared past them, unblinking.

Fate move: Ask the Oracle
Action: 35 - Falter
Theme: 16 - Innocence
Major Plot Twist: 49 - A true identity is revealed.

Suddenly, Keelan stiffened, and his eyes rolled back, showing only the whites. His posture shifted, not dramatically, but wrongly, like a marionette twitching under foreign fingers. Then he spoke.

“You looked the other way once.” The voice was calm. Measured. Icy. And an octave too low to be his. “You’ll do it again.”

Just as suddenly, he sagged. His eyes cleared. He broke into a fit of coughing, tears streaking his cheeks. He looked at Brynn and Sarria—saw the fear, the weight in their expressions.

“What...? What happened?” he asked. But there was no memory in his voice. No echo of the one that had spoken.

Brynn was still kneeling, when he heard the chapel door creak open. Footsteps.

“Brynn?” Asha’s voice was low, unsure. She took a step inside, saw their faces—and stopped cold. “What happened?”

Brynn turned to her, silent. Sarria was holding Keelan tight, like the boy might vanish if he let go. Asha rushed to Keelan, knelt before him, grabbing his hands.

“For all things iron, tell me what’s going on? You look like you saw a ghost.”

Keelan blinked, still trembling. He looked from Asha to his father to Brynn. “I... I don’t know. I remember father talking. And then... it’s like I wasn’t in my head anymore. Like I was watching from outside.” His voice cracked. “Someone else was in there.”

Still clutching Keelan, Sarria’s knuckles had turned white. He didn’t speak at first. His eyes were locked on the boy. “It’s not the first time,” he said quietly. “But it’s never been like this.”

“He spoke to me,” Brynn said finally. “Whoever... whatever it was. It knew. It knew about before.”

Sarria let go of Keelan, and gritted his teeth. “We’ll need Thorne. He made the cure. Maybe he knows the cost.”

“Let’s return to the Spires together, then,” Asha said, looking at Brynn.

Sarria just nodded.

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The wind had picked up when Brynn and Asha left the chapel. Sarria wanted to stay, watch over Keelan, especially after what just had happened.

Asha adjusted her cloak against the wind.

“I’ll need to tell Farlen to hold the gates while I’m gone. He’ll grumble about the night shift, but he’s too proud to say no.”

Brynn didn’t respond. The exhaustion still clung to him like a second skin, and the weight of the vow he had just sworn made it feel even more suffocating.

Asha glanced sideways. “You know... you did it.” She paused. “The roads. The den. The truce in Hollowmere. You kept your vow.” Another beat passed, as if she was measuring her words. “And I haven’t forgotten that I only asked because I didn’t trust you.”

Quest move: Fulfill Your Vow
Strong Hit: 10 vs 8 | 5
Track: Help Asha drive back the varou and secure the roads to Bleakbarrow (completed)

“Whatever else is coming, I’m glad I won’t be facing it without you,” she said, before slipping inside the barracks.

Brynn went to the quartermaster, removed his bloodstained leather armor, examining the gash left by the alpha. Zoning out, he refitted and resealed the leather, this time taking the time to fit it with plates between the leathers.

“It held,” he said, more to himself than anyone else.

Quest move: Advance
Upgrade Ironclad asset: When you Clash when you are Geared for War, add +1
Mark Encumbered (Max momentum = 9, momentum reset = 1)
-2 XP = 3

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Afterthoughts

A bit of a shorter session this time. For once, Bleakbarrow allowed Brynn to Sojourn.

We also finally revisit the Weak Hit on Fulfill Your Vow from session 11 (“Bring Ashvine’s relics to Thorne of the Hollow Spires, and uncover the cure before Keelan’s time runs out”) - it suggested there was more to do still, but it made no sense to reveal it immediately. Of course, the dice chose to give a complication on the vow to make things right, and with a match to boot. I chose to roll on the Major Plot Twist Oracle to figure out the consequences of the match. Future sessions will reveal what it means, I guess.

I also chose to upgrade my Ironclad asset (which I should kick myself for not having used so far in battles really). Should come in handy, I think, with the amount of misses and thus clashes Brynn has had to make so far in the story.

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Read the next session by following this link: The White That Watches