The Redemption of Brynn - session 36

To Keep Us Busy

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To Keep Us Busy

Art by Andy ‘onegraydot’ Gray

Contrary to Brynn’s expections, the following days went by in a blur. He slept longer than he had in a long while, and the sun was already up far over the horizon when he stumbled out from the Celestarium to take a closer look at Vaelthamar in daylight. First snow was slowly starting to fall, but it was not close enough yet to leave the ground white.

“Let’s find some breakfast, huh?” he said to Marou, squinting his eyes in the bright sunshine.

Marou barked in excitement, then darted forward. They walked past the Emberwake pillar, where the fire was still going. It seemed to Brynn like the interest in Emberwake waned as it went on, as there were only a few onlookers left, compared to the night before when there’d been dozens.

“Excuse me,” he said to an older man. “I’d like to get something to eat.”

The man looked at Brynn, then warily shifted his gaze to Marou.

“Don’t worry about her, she’s not as ferocious as she looks. Unless I tell her to be.”

“You are the man from the gates,” the man finally said.

Not a question, but a statement. Brynn just nodded. The man seemed to relax a bit.

“What do you call her?” he asked, offering his hand to Marou to sniff.

“She’s Marou. Best companion a man could ask for.”

“Like the wolf people?”

Brynn was confused for a second, then realization hit. “Ah, yes, you’re thinking of the varou.”

The man chuckled. “I thought I’d heard it before.” He crouched down, clearly warming to Marou’s charm, and scratched her sides. “The butcher ought to have something to fill your bellies.”

“Where can I find him?”

“Her. She’s set up shop in the north-western part of the city. Just walk that way,” he pointed, “and ask for Rhendona.”

Brynn thanked him and started heading in the direction given by the man. The air was fresh, and biting gusts of wind tore at the hem of his coat. He barely noticed, already imagining the smell of roasted meat. The mere thought of it made his mouth water.

Soon enough they found the place, and as Brynn stepped inside, he was met by a burly woman with short, brown hair. She was more than a head shorter than Brynn, and looked to be in her forties. The way she grunted when he asked for a meal told him she’d gutted more pigs than she’d had conversations.

“You here to eat or flap your gums, darling?”

Brynn cracked a tired smile. “If it smells half as good as it did outside, I’ll keep my gums to myself.”

Rhendona returned the smile, and threw a large bone in the general direction of Marou, who trembled with anticipation, tail wagging like a war drum, overwhelmed by the dense fog of blood and brine hanging in the air.

“That’s on the house, I heard she saved us from the Cinders,” she explained, while she started preparing Brynn’s portion.

Brynn tried to spark some small conversation, but Rhendona only offered clipped, held back answers of one or two words, and eventually he settled with listening to the whining of the wind outside. After a while, she produced a bowl of emberroot stew—deep red in color, with chunks of spiced meat and flame-touched root vegetables that stained the broth like coals left too long in the fire.

Fate move: Ask the Oracle
Did the Crimson Cinders attack again during this time? (+76 Unlikely)
87: Yes

Is Ayda among the attackers? (50/50)
1: No

Just as Brynn had finished slurping the last of the stew from the bowl, he heard shouts from outside. A moment later, Sariandri burst inside, cheeks flushed. Marou’s ears perked immediately as she watched the new arrival.

“You two, come! Quickly!”

Brynn rose from the chair he’d been sitting on. “What’s going on?”

“The gate! The Cinders are back!”

Brynn, who hadn’t paid for his meal yet, shot a glance at Rhendona, who shrugged.

“Go. They need your help.”

Sariandri had already left and started running back towards the gates. Brynn barked for Marou to follow, which, for once, she was reluctant to, as she hadn’t gotten all of the marrow from the bone yet. Brynn palmed the newly acquired sword in hand while he was running, barely keeping up with her.

As he neared the gate, he could hear more shouting and the sound of fighting—swords and axes clashing against metal shields and body armors, or clattering to the ground when someone got fatally wounded.

“Sariandri!” Brynn yelled. “Let’s try to capture at least one of them alive!”

If she heard his request, she didn’t acknowledge it, and Brynn felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He pushed the feeling down and continued running. Upon arrival, he scanned the field of battle and noticed that the attack force was much smaller this time around. The Vaelthamarians, together with all the other Seer’s fighters, had no issues pushing the attackers back.

Suddenly, Brynn saw movement in the corner of his eye—a figure stumbling away from the tumult, clutching his side. Instinctively, he darted towards the figure. He saw someone else do the same. Sariandri.

Secure an Advantage (+Iron)
Strong hit: 5 + 3 + 0 = 8 vs 7 | 3
Prepare to act: +2 momentum = 4

As they got closer, the figure stumbled on his own feet and fell to the ground. Sariandri leapt towards the figure, ready to strike, but Brynn was faster; he threw himself on top of the man, parrying Sariandri’s blow as he did so. She looked at him, seething with rage. Marou was also there, sensing her master’s wishes, and thus guarding the bloodied, barely conscious man.

“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Trying to get answers,” Brynn said, getting up and dusting himself off. “And this one can still speak, no thanks to you.”

She shook her head, an incredulous look on her face.

“You’ve gone all soft on me,” she said, wiped her blade clean and turned away.

The rest of the battle had already been fought, and there were a dozen Crimson Cinder corpses lying around. The Vaelthamarians had not suffered any casualties this time. Merialeth came up to Brynn, asking expression painted on her face.

“I hope this isn’t becoming a habit,” Brynn said. “But I thought, maybe we could extract some information from this one.”

He turned to face the young man with blonde hair. The man’s eyes were darting wildly, as if searching for an escape. He’d lost a good amount of blood already, which paled his expression considerably.

“Relax, I’m not going to kill you,” Brynn said, forcing a smile. “As long as you tell me what I want to hear.”

Adventure move: Gather Information (+Wits)
Weak Hit: 6 + 2 + 0 = 8 vs 9 | 5
+1 momentum = 5

“Why attack again? You knew the first wave failed. A force this small had no chance of breaking through—not with all of us here.”

The man looked at Brynn with cloudy eyes, pressing his hand against the wound in his side. Blood trickled through his fingers—and from the corner of his mouth and ears.

“We were told... it didn’t matter if we succeeded or not. We just... had to keep you busy.”

“Ayda was not among the attackers,” Merialeth shot in.

Sariandri had also snuck up to listen to the interrogation. “Figures. That coward would not dare show her face here, not after all she’s done.”

Brynn frowned. “So your task was to distract us?”

The man opened his mouth to answer, but instead a large, bloody bubble formed between his lips. As it burst, the man let out a single, drawn out breath, shuddered once, then laid still as a statue.

“Rust take it!” Brynn said, as the last of the man’s life flickered from him and his eyes turned to glass.

He rose and wiped the man’s blood of his hands, then turned to Merialeth. “If they wanted us to look the other way... we must try to figure out what they didn’t want us to see.”

Merialeth just nodded.

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After a brief discussion amongst the Seers, they agreed to send out scouts to see if they could glean any new information of Ayda’s plans or whereabouts. The rest of the day was uneventful. During the next day, as they were sitting at the pond in the Celestarium, Merialeth told Brynn that the Emberwake would burn out that evening.

“It cools off rather quickly, so best grab the ash before it blows away.”

“I’ll make sure I’ll be there for it,” Brynn said. “Thanks.”

“About the other thing...” Merialeth started, letting the rest of the sentence hang in the air between them.

“You want to know if I’ve made a decision.”

Merialeth nodded.

“I’ll help you. But first, I need to go back, finish what I’ve started. In fact...” he rose, and unsheathed the sword forged by Willa.

“I believe you, Brynn. You don’t have to.”

“This is not for your sake as much as it is for mine,” Brynn said, and touched the scar on his shoulder with flat of the blade. “Upon my mark of failure, I swear to help Vaelthamar fight against Isvind.”

Quest move: Swear an Iron Vow (+Heart)
Strong Hit: 6 + 2 + 0 = 8 vs 5 | 6
+2 momentum = 7

New quest track:
Help Vaelthamar stand against Isvind (Extreme)
Progress: 0/10

Even if Merialeth had said she didn’t need him to, Brynn saw relief in the tears that were rolling down her cheeks after he’d sworn the oath.

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Afterthoughts

And there you have it. After a few sessions of few rolls, we have a bunch of them. I didn’t really know where to put the oracle questions (I played this out in advance, then narrated it later), and it doesn’t really feel natural where I placed it, but I couldn’t find where else to place it. I wanted to see if there’s anything happening at all during the days when Brynn waited for the Emberwake to end. Still, I didn’t want to give it basically any emphasis at all, so I didn’t even bother doing the Battle roll for it.

And now Brynn has a new, Extreme vow on his hands. This seems to force itself to become the focus of the campaign for a while. But next session will have us tie some loose ends together before tackling Isvind in earnest.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for you this week. I hope you enjoyed the session, and I’ll see you next Tuesday!

Should you wish to jump directly to the next session, you can do so by following this link: Ash and Oath