The Redemption of Brynn - session 38

A Ritual in Ash

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A Ritual in Ash

Art by Andy ‘onegraydot’ Gray

Thorne ordered everyone to help moving furniture and stuff out of the way, to make a somewhat large, empty space in the middle of his hideout. Then, he prodded Keelan to sit on the floor in the middle of the space.

“To get rid of the unwanted... parasite inside of the boy, I’ll need to perform a smoke purification ritual,” he explained, while searching frantically through a stack of books. “Aha, here,” he said, pulling out a thick tome, blowing dust and cobwebs off of it before carefully opening it.

“Father, is this safe?” Keelan ask, voice trembling.

“I have full faith in uncle Thorne,” Sarria said with what he hoped was a reassuring tone.

Fate move: Ask the Oracle
Flora (Iron Atlas)
Prefix: 29 - Roll on Location =>
Location: 89 - Mountain
Suffix: 60 - Nettle
Type: 43 - Herb

Flora
Prefix: 31 - Blood
Suffix: 16 - Claw/Fang
Type: 4 - Berry

“Sarria, I need some help here,” Thorne said. He had flipped through the pages quickly, apparently finding what he was looking for. “Over there, above my desk, in those jars,” he pointed towards a row of glass jars with various herbs, dried mushrooms, berries and others, “if you could find me the ground Mountain Nettle herbs and the dried Blood Fang berries. They should still be in usable shape...”

Brynn couldn’t do much more than watch helplessly, as Thorne and Sarria prepared for the ritual. Sarria rummaged through the jars, looking at the contents, sometimes opening a jar to sniff them if a mere look didn’t tell him whether it was the right thing or not.

“Is this the nettles?” he asked, passing a jar to Thorne, who took a quick whiff of the contents.

“No, it looks like it but it has too sweet a smell. You’re looking for the one that smells acrid.”

Brynn stole a glance at Asha, raising his eyebrows and nodding towards Thorne, as if asking, is he okay? No gloating comments? No snarky remarks? Asha just smiled and shrugged.

After another few minutes of searching, Sarria located the correct jars and handed them to Thorne, who poured the contents into a large clay pot together with the Emberwake ash, though Brynn noted Thorne set some of the ash aside, as if saving it for something else. He mixed them together, then rummaged in his desk drawer for something. As he found it, he handed it over to Sarria. It was a wicked looking knife with a blade dark as night.

“What’s this for?” Sarria asked.

“We need a drop of his blood to mix in before lighting the mixture on fire,” Thorne explained calmly. He turned to look at Brynn and Asha. “Whatever happens from here on, you do NOT interfere. Do you understand?”

Both Asha and Brynn nodded reluctantly.

“Good. I still need another vessel. The spirit will try to move to another host once the boy inhales the smoke and it gets unbearable for it. We don’t want that to happen, so we trap it in an inanimate object.”

“Then what?” Brynn asked.

“Then we throw it off the cliff. Or you take it with you and bury it somewhere deep where no-one can dig it up.”

“Father, I’m scared,” Keelan whimpered as tears started welling from the corners of his eyes.

To Brynn’s surprise, Thorne was the one comforting him.

“It’ll be over before you know it. Now, give your hand to Sarria, so he can draw the blood.”

Thorne placed the clay pot on the floor. Sarria knelt beside his son, mouthed a silent prayer, and with a trembling hand, made an incision with the blade in Keelan’s palm. As the blood started to trickle, Thorne moved the pot to gather it.

“We have to leave the wound open for now—that’s where the spirit will escape from. Now, Keelan, we need to put your scent in this vessel, too, to lure the spirit in there. A couple of drops should do the trick...” He rose, and produced a small, wooden box from the drawer.

“You can’t be serious? Tell me you’re not planning on capturing the spirit in that flimsy, wooden box?”

Thorne chuckled at Brynn’s question. “Of course not.” He opened the box and poured the remaining ashes from Merialeth’s glass container into the box. “This, on the other hand... this will make a fine prison from which that thing will never escape. A shame, it is, to waste such a fine piece, but alas, I don’t have anything else that will suffice.”

He knelt again, took Keelan’s hand in his, and gathered a few drops of Keelan’s blood in the glass container, then smeared some of the Emberwake ash from the box into the wound. “The host needs to feel tainted for the spirit. We’ll clean it up and bind it after the ritual is complete.”

Thorne looked at all the others in the little hideout with a serious, almost solemn expression on his face.

“Are you ready? If so, I’ll ignite this. And Keelan—be ready. As soon as it is lit, it will start smoking, and you’ll have to inhale as deep as you can. And whatever you do, try to resist coughing. Every second counts.” He looked at Brynn, Asha, Sarria and finally Keelan, and one by one, they nodded.

“Okay, here goes. Brynn, hold the vessel. Seal it when I tell you to.”

He grabbed a stick that he’d prepared, and lit it in the hearth, then touched the bloody mush in the clay pot with the burning end. At first, it looked like it wouldn’t catch, but then, the contents of the pot hissed like an angry viper and burst into flames, filling the air with a thick, black smoke. Sarria’s eyes started to water from the acrid smell of the smoke which had intensified tenfold compared to the dry nettles. Marou started to whine softly and pressed herself to the floor as low as possible.

“Ready, Brynn! Keelan, now it’s you!” Thorne shouted as he almost threw the pot in front of the crying boy.

“I can’t!” he screamed and shoved the pot away from him, but Sarria knelt in front of him, took the pot and held it in his face.

“You have to!” he said, and Brynn saw that he was crying, too.

Just as it seemed that he would refuse to cooperate, Asha stepped forward and struck Keelan square between the shoulder blades, sharp and sudden. He reeled—air forced from his lungs—then gasped reflexively, drawing in a lungful of smoke. The black smoke from the pot entered his mouth and his nostrils and Brynn started counting.

One, two, three...

Suddenly, an unnerving, inhuman screech emanated from Keelan’s throat, and something formless flew out from the cut in his palm. A rotten smell followed it.

“Hold the vessel out!” Thorne shouted to Brynn.

Brynn did as he was told, feeling ridiculous, but holding the vessel towards the formless mass hovering around Keelan. As soon as it caught the scent of untainted blood, it rushed into the vessel with a howl that left all their ears ringing.

“Seal it, for iron’s sake! Now!” Thorne bellowed.

Brynn sealed the vessel as best he could, waiting for whatever it was to try to break out, but it seemed to be content inside the vessel, at least for the time being.

The ringing faded. In its place, the wet, painful sound of Keelan coughing—deep and violent—echoed through the stone chamber. Brynn still held the vessel clutched tight in both hands, waiting for whatever came next.

“I-is it done?” he asked.

Thorne looked at Keelan, seemingly satisfied with the result of the ritual, and Brynn finally felt like he could relax his shoulders for a bit.

“Quick thinking there,” Thorne commented on Asha’s intervention.

Asha shrugged. “It seemed like the only option.”

“Well, it worked. Let’s clean the wound up. And Brynn—be careful not to break that vessel, now.”

They turned their attention to Keelan, whose coughing had started to cease. A rosy red had risen on his cheeks, and Sarria was holding him, like he was afraid that the boy’d vanish if he let go.

“I’m... okay... father,” he managed to croak.

Quest move: Fulfill Your Vow
Find out if there’s something that can be done to help Keelan
Progress roll: 10 vs 1 | 4
+2XP = 5

Quest move: Reach a Milestone
I will prove myself worthy of the iron, and reclaim the right to swear an oath upon a pillar: 1,75/10

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After the dust had settled, and Keelan’s wound had been tended to, Brynn told them what he learned in Vaelthamar—about the prophecy, the vision of Alyndra, and, of course, about Isvind.

“Are you familiar with Isvind, Thorne?” Brynn asked.

Fate move: Ask the Oracle
Does Thorne knwo anything about the Isvind prophecy (11+ Almost Certain)
99 - Yes

Action: 35 - Falter
Theme: 9 - Wound

“Of course,” he said. “But it’s just superstitious crap that the Seers have been spewing amongst themselves for decades.” He scoffed. “They’re telling each other stories of Isvind arriving, putting out the Emberwake. But they have it all backwards.”

“What do you mean?”

“Isvind might come, sure. But not to put out the fire. Isvind is not the reason for the end of Emberwake, but the result.”

Brynn furrowed his brow. “You’re saying... if the Emberwake fades—”

“Then he takes its place,” Thorne finished. He crossed his arms. “You ever seen what a wound looks like when it doesn’t scab? When it stays open too long?”

Brynn didn’t answer.

“Cold gets in. Infection follows. And then...” He gave a dry, humorless smile. “Rot. Slow. Inevitable.”

Asha, who had been silently listening to their conversation, intervened.

“So how do we stop it?”

Fate move: Ask the Oracle
Is Thorne willing to help? (50/50)
34 - No

Thorne looked at her like she’d gone completely mad.

“I’m not getting involved.”

“Please,” Asha said. “I don’t like to beg you for help, but we could really use it. Maybe your perspective can give the Seers food for thought.”

“Plus, you were already complaining about the cold. Would you like an eternal winter?” Brynn asked.

Relationship move: Compel (+Heart)
Weak Hit: 4 + 2 + 0 = 6 vs 7 | 4

Quest move: Reach a Milestone:
Help Vaelthamar stand against Isvind: 0,5/10

Fate move: Ask the Oracle
Action:  73 - Deliver
Theme: 11 - Leader

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about the Seers,” Thorne spat. “But you, Brynn. You make a good point... and it’s been a while since I spoke with Merialeth...”

“We will sit this one out, I’m afraid,” Sarria said suddenly. “Bleakbarrow needs their leader, we’ve been gone for too long already, and I’m afraid of what I’ll find if we linger. Well, that, and my bones won’t be able to carry me through the mountains and back.”

Brynn nodded. He’d been expecting that. “What about you, Asha?” he asked.

Fate move: Ask the Oracle
Has Asha recovered enough to be able to accompany Brynn again? (+25 Likely)
52 - Yes

“I wouldn’t dream of letting you leave alone again,” she said, smiling.

“It’s settled, then. We leave come morning.”

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Afterthoughts

Well, the Keelan quest finally came to a close. I’d lie if I said I’m not relieved. And honestly, it felt earned, like really, really earned, after all Brynn has done to help. It’s nice to finally have closure and now, Brynn, Marou and Asha can focus on this Isvind situation. Since I gave it the rank of extreme, I thought I’d be quite generous with what counts as progress, and recruiting the help of Thorne was one of those situations. I don’t know how he’ll be of help, yet, but the dice will tell me, I’m sure.

I hope you liked the session, and I’ll see you in the next one! Until then, may steel guide your steps!

A link to the next session will be updated here soon.