The Great Glass Mountain - Session Six

The three Knights of the Company arrived at the Funeral Plain at the end of Spring, on Tax Day. The Green Season drew to a close as the days got shorter and the Great Glass Mountain sent its heralds to collect a share of coins from those of appropriate social standing to trade in currency. The Chain, Horn and Salt Knights would worry about that later. They had a funeral to attend.

They were not the only guests on the funeral plain. They heard it before they saw it. A man screaming. He knelt in front of a half-finished mausoleum, next to the one where the mourners interred the Pearl Knight. He slashed his arms with a flint knife and screamed. Two servitors stood by, wearing coats and trousers but no tunics. They had seen this all before.

 

The mourners emerged from the tombs and flower fields to take Reme's body off the Salt Knight's horse. They unwrapped the chains holding the shroud over him. The Knights saw that the half-finished tomb was roofed with sod atop the stone, in which the mourners planted seeds and bulbs. They had not delivered news of the squire's death but already the tomb was half finished.

 

One of the screaming man's servants handed Tiber a note, scribbled on birch bark paper.

He liked flowers. 

With his newfound clarity and his memories of what came before he emerged from the sea, Tiber recalled that Reme had been raised by the Screaming Seer.

The Screaming Seer collapsed and the knife fell out of his hand. For Valenta, another scroll.

I know it is hard for you to live when so many died to protect you. I know because I sent them there.

The mourners heaped wood and laid Reme's body atop the pile. They cast flowers over the corpse. For Auckland, a third message.

 

Seek the Crown. North of the Glass Mountain. 

The mourners lit the heap. The bloodhound wheezed and trundled toward the bonfire to pull Reme out of the fire. Valenta picked up the animal and it began to howl.

Tiber donated his wave bladed sword and dagger to be placed in his squire's tomb. The javelin and the barbed sword taken from the Legion better reflected his internal mental state. The Company gave the mourners one of the spare horses taken from the mercenaries.

The Screaming Seer rose with difficulty, aided by his servants. They bound his wounds and helped him as he stumbled away onto the plain of flowers. Valenta tried to follow him and tripped over a piece of wood dropped amid the heather. It was a scroll case with another piece of bark inside.

Not you.

She handed it to Tiber, who was having trouble dealing with the situation. He didn't know what to say to the Screaming Seer, who had been a father to the squire. He read the scroll.

He was yours too.

The mourners gathered a bundle of blue flowers for the Knights. They would be rarer in autumn, gone in the winter. 

Then they left.

On the instructions of the Seer the Knights ranged north of the capitol in search of the Crown. They had to ford the river that flowed to the Glass Mountain, and the river had overflowed its banks and turned the land into a marsh. Fortunately there was enough sediment built up that they found a shallow spot to cross, though they had to dismount the horses at one point and slosh through the mud to avoid sinking. They spotted a river boat heading north toward the lake, but decided to keep their search for the Crown secret rather than begging for a ride. They made it to the opposite side and up onto a rise where they could dry off and make camp.

That night they dreamed of a white flower on the ground, filling their field of vision as they were powerless to move their bodies. Something attacked them from behind, shouting as it stabbed them repeatedly. The white rose was stained red and they woke.
 

The marsh gave way to forest. Oak and ash, thicker than the sparse pine from their earlier mission pursuing the balloon. They heard the same horn from the woods ahead. Auckland blew his hunting horn in response. The herald's horn blasted again, then went silent. The Company rode forward and briefly spotted the old man. He was stuck in a tree, swinging his mace at a horrible beast as it leaped from branch to branch. Another monster tackled him from above and he fell out of sight.

The Knights kicked their horses and surged forward to meet the foe and rescue the herald. They found him insensate as five enormous spiders swarmed his prone body, while a sixth sank its fangs into what was left of his horse. Tiber drew the monsters' attention with a taunt while Valenta and Auckland rode them down, slashing and stabbing and scattering the monsters. The surviving beasts scampered up trees and rained acid spit down on the Company, joined by a second pack of monsters which had hidden out of sight. Tiber's taunts demoralized them, Valenta swung her chain, Auckland fired his bow and reached with his poleax like coppicing a tree. The Knights' armor was damaged by the acid and Valenta received a nasty burn, but the beasts were driven off and the herald saved.

Douglas Armitage

The herald gasped as the Knights tended him. He rasped out that the crown was north, across the river to the north. His horn was broken, his horse's saddlebags filled with coin collected from across the realm for the tax. There was parchment in the bag but it was all gibberish, no legible words. The Knights stabilized his condition, verified that he wouldn't die, gave him a horse and sent him back to the Glass Mountain. He was relieved of his duty spreading word about the Crown, Valenta told him. He had been injured on the job and he needed to go home and turn in the coins.

The Company turned west and headed deeper into the forest. Toward Bravecrossing, the castle on the river held by the mercenary Boar. There they could repair their armor, heal their injuries, cross the river (again) and find the Crown. They made camp in a broad clearing so the spiders couldn't climb above them if they attacked again. By night they heard the sound of a duck, quacking somewhere beyond the treeline. It sounded again, probably a hunter with an artificial call. Auckland tried to duplicate the cry but just made an awkward croak. The sound from the trees stopped. Valenta walked out and told them everything was okay. The hunters recognized the Queen of the realm and emerged from hiding. They didn't recognize her at first and thought her a mercenary because of the red mail she donned after her oubliete mail was ruined. They begged her forgiveness for poaching, they didn't realize the forest belonged to her and would return the wood duck they slew immediately. She told them it was okay and invited them to share her fire.

Arabelle and her daughter Julienne joined the knights for a late dinner of duck, pemmican, pickles, dried fruit and bread. They expertly plucked, dressed and fried the beast in suet while the Knights poured fruit brandy. The hunters explained that they took the ducks by night because the beasts had been behaving strangely, lining up in odd formations and allowing themselves to be slain. The child pointed up at the stars, which had arranged themselves into arrows pointed south. Auckland realized they were pointed toward the island at the end of the inlet, the one the Glass Knight was obsessed with.

The Knights gave the hunters a ride home the next day. It was the first time either of them had ever sat a horse, and the child was delighted after the initial rush of fear. The hunters' cabin was a treehouse, of the type forest dwellers constructed out of fear that an enormous flood would someday reclaim the land again. The Knights decided to gallop the rest of the way in hopes of reaching Boar's keep by nightfall. They kept to the forest rather than riding along the river as they traveled west.

The woods opened up to a clearing, planted with hay and hops and vines. As the Knights emerged from the treeline the flying tent from the previous quest rose up out of the field. They urged their horses forward to catch it before it flew away, but they were too late to stop it attaining the sky. The Knights shouted and waved to the armored warriors inside. The warriors stopped their complex dance, moving bags from one side of the basket to the other in an attempt to steer the balloon. One of them waved back and unfurled a tapestry to hang below.

THE FAITHFUL FIVE

HIGH HEARTED, FIERCE FIGHTING WIND WARRIORS

The Knights laughed a the mercenaries' novel form of advertising. The farmer and his family were not amused. He came forth and begged the Knights for help. The "flying swords" had taken all the straw! In exchange they gave him naught but a strange seashell, which he turned over to the Knights for examination. Tiber depressed a catch on the side of the object and a blade sprang out. A magical folding Seax was all well and good, said the farmer, but he couldn't feed his animals with it. The Knights offered to get straw from Bravecrossing for him. They couldn't get it back from the balloonists as they would likely have burned it all by the time they were caught. The farmer thanked them profusely and the Knights went on their way.

Thomas Cole

The Knights emerged from the forest on a bluff overlooking the river valley. Below them was Bravecrossing, a mated pair of stone keeps connected by a bridge over the river. The bridge was much repaired, spans replaced with wood where the original stone structure had fallen away. 

They turned to descend the switchback that led down into the valley. A squad of armored horsemen came round the bend, weapons clattering. The leader shouted through his close helm. Brigands! Bastard, red mailed mercenaries scourging the land! Valenta tried to explain that she was the Queen, clad in armor taken from a slain bandit. This only further enraged the horsemaster. He'd smash their skulls for impersonating the lost Chain Knight. To arms! He laughed and raised his visor. It was Boar, the warty mercenary ruler of Bravecrossing, who the Knights had met previously at the feast of Sceptremass. 

Boar was patrolling the realm for signs of Veyril's Vanguard, the red armored host of sellswords plaguing his land. He thought they were on the level at first, bearing a royal writ. But they'd most likely robbed the Glass Knight's herald of his papers and falsified their credentials, because they were wreaking havoc in the name of the realm. The Company had rescued the herald and slain five of the mercenaries, including their Captain, which delighted Boar. Land bandits, flying bandits, giant spiders, it was a good thing the Knights had arrived. But enough patrols for the day, it was getting dark. He invited them back to his castle for dinner.

The castle was well defended despite the apparent decrepitude of the bridge. The walls were as sturdy as ever and Boar's soldiers were well armed and armored. He gave Valenta to his little wife Muriel for medical care, who stayed quiet and let the Queen do the talking. He told Tiber and Auckland that they must seek the Crown, northeast of the crossing. The Tangled Seer had declared it so, and while he was often incoherent he was never wrong. It would restore the Glass Knight's spirit, which the old worm's poison had damaged more than his body.