The Redemption of Brynn - session 32
Written in the Stars
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Written in the Stars
Fate move: Ask the Oracle - does Merialeth offer a replacement container? (Almost certain)
41 - YesAfter they had eaten, Seleeku came again, soundlessly as before and put their plates on the tray and left to presumably clean them. As she was in the doorway, Merialeth stopped her.
“Seleeku, would you bring the vessel?”
She nodded almost imperceptibly, then vanished. After a while, she came back, holding something wrapped in black silk. She offered it to Merialeth, who took it, and without haste, untied the knot of what turned out to be a bag. After untying it, she fished out an object from it. It was a small vial, blown from translucent black glass, veined with thin threads of molten silver. She turned out in her hands, looking at it, before offering it to Brynn.
“I believe you said you needed a new container.” She smiled at him. “Will this do?”
Brynn’s eyes widened as he took it in his hands. There was only one word to describe it, and even that did not make it justice—it was beautiful.
“I... this must have cost a fortune!” Brynn protested. “A simple glass vial would do.”
“If it weren’t for the Faithless savior, there would be no riches left to give, nor a Seeress to present them.” Her voice did not give any room for objections. “You will accept my gift, Brynn, as thanks for saving Vaelthamar from the Crimson Cinders.”
“About those Cinders... who are they, anyway? Why did they attack? What do they want?”
Adventure move: Gather Information (+Wits)
Miss: 2 + 2 + 0 = 4 vs 5 | 10Merialeth frowned, her gaze distant.
“They came for the Emberwake, same as you,” she said. Then quieter: “But they were a lot bolder than I’d foreseen.”
She looked at him, and for the first time, she didn’t seem like a Seeress—she seemed lost. “There was a gap, like the pause between breaths. I could not see the Cinders coming until their fire already touched our gates. And that should not have been possible.”
Brynn’s voice was low. “What could block a Seeress from seeing her own future?”
Her silence said it all—she didn’t know.
Fate move: Ask the Oracle - Do the Crimson Cinders have powerful allies? (Likely)
78 - Yes“Let me show you something,” Merialeth suddenly said, getting up and motioning for Brynn to follow her.
They exited her chambers and walked to the winding stairs leading to the terrace carved into the rock. The sun was beginning to set, and the silver veined cracks in the cliff face seemed to shimmer brighter in the gloom.
At the edge of the terrace stood the great telescope—a massive golden tube with etchings that shimmered faintly in the waning light. Merialeth touched it affectionately, almost as if caressing a child. Beneath it, Brynn saw a low stone altar with small hollowed-out grooves, filled with vials, acorns, stones, a feather and a ring of bone.
“This is how I See,” she said. “I align the stars, the pulse of the Emberwake, the signs in the ash and the sky. But lately, my visions have been... muddy. Signs conflict. The horizon has blurred.”
She stepped aside.
“Tonight is the Emberwake. You can already smell the smoke. Its a rare window—one I use to peer deeper. Look. Tell me what you see.”
Brynn hesitated. “I don’t know anything about reading star patterns.”
“That’s exactly why it has to be you. You won’t expect to see something that’s not there.”
Brynn shrugged, walked to the telescope. He leaned forward, placing his hand on the smooth brass rim of the lens. He pressed his eye against the eyepiece, closing the other, and concentrated. At first, he saw nothing, but then, as if on cue, the sun vanished behind the horizon and the early night sky lit up. Brynn awkwardly turned the telescope, searching for something. Anything. Suddenly, something caught his eye—a bright speck—much brighter than anything else he had witnessed so far. He centered the view on it, and noticed that it was growing rapidly, inhumanly fast. Within seconds of spotting it, it filled the entire view.
Brynn flinched and stumbled away from the telescope, heart thudding. The image still burned behind his eyelids—like staring into a bonfire for too long. He wiped at his face, unsure why his hands were shaking. He looked at the sky, but there was nothing resembling what he saw through the telescope.
Merialeth looked at him, concern in her eyes. “You saw something.”
Brynn nodded. “A light, brighter than anything I’ve ever witnessed. I only looked at for a second, and then it... it filled everything.”
Her face went pale.
“That’s not... it can’t be,” she whispered, mostly to herself.
“Care to fill me in?”
She didn’t answer him right away. Instead, she stared past him, towards the horizon, but she wasn’t seeing the sky. Marou, who had been mostly quiet until know, crept up to her and poked her wet nose into her hand, waking her from her dysphoria.
“There is a tale,” she started, voice low. “From before the circles. Before Vaelthamar, the celestarium... It was said a star would fall through the sky. Not from it, but through it. And when it falls, it will burn not what is, but what will be. The future itself will unravel itself.”
She turned to face Brynn.
“But it was just a myth. A teaching story that was passed down for generations from masters to apprentices. No one ever thought it was real, that it would actually happen.”
Brynn looked at her, confused. “So... what does it all mean?”
“It means that the attack of the Cinders was but the beginning.”
“What do you mean? Is there more to this prophecy of yours?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“’When ash fills the air and the stars burn bright
When the Faithless arrives and the crow takes flight
The slumber disturbed of a being of ice
His wrath will drown the highest of cries
The future foreseen will be no more
The ember extinguished by endless war’”
“We thought it was symbolic... never could I have imagined someone like you would appear, much less on the eve of Emberwake.”
She paused, choosing her next words carefully.
“I can’t See what comes next, Brynn. Only that you were never supposed to exist in this story. And now... you are the story.”
She turned away from Brynn and walked slowly toward the edge of the terrace. A lone crow was sitting on the railing, watching them with it’s beady, black eyes, tilting it’s head left and right as if listening to what they had to say.
Wind tugged at her crimson sash, and for a long moment, she said nothing. When she finally spoke, her voice was taut—like a bowstring drawn too tight.
“I don’t know how much agenda we have in the events that are about to unravel, but I guess you have a choice to make, Faithless.”
Brynn joined her at the railing, watching as the first flames of the Emberwake started licking the iron pillar at the center of the city. People from all over were gathering around it to watch.
“And what’s that?”
“Will you collect the ash and take your leave, or will you stay to fight with us?”
Afterthoughts
After a few weeks of hiatus, I finally got inspired to continue Brynn’s story. I was not sure in what direction to steer the story, but the dice helped me make that decision. I didn’t want the Crimson Cinders to be just a gang of bandits, it would not have made sense, and so when Brynn got around to ask about them, I thought I’d roll for it instead of roleplay it and lo and behold, I got a miss, which, according to the rules, “unearths a dire threat” so… yeah. It was a this point I figured, they’re probably not working alone, and the dice confirmed that indeed, they don’t. From there, I just coasted, as now I have a direction again. And it seems that Brynn is going from one pickle to the other… poor guy, does he ever get a break? I guess we’ll see in the next session, which you can read here: The Gathering Flame.