The Great Glass Mountain Masterpost

Shishkin

 

...euhemeristic view that the Myths are exaggerations of real historical events. The Beast began as a real animal, a boar or bear or auroch that achieved local notoriety by killing a warchief. The Goblin was an outlaw or social bandit with a physical deformity. The countervailing view holds that the myths are allegories for societal ills or vehicles for moral lessons, with each chronicler adding successive reinterpretations according to the social mores of their age. In this view the mysterious arrival of the Legion late in the tale smacks of an early modern poet inserting their caricature of man under protoindustrial capitalism into the mythic setting: the herd of identical semislaves who speak only in obedient grunts and trudge forward to hack away at their foes with mass produced weaponry.

The paucity of written sources from the period when the events in question allegedly took place makes archaeological evidence difficult to interpret. The chained effigy in the chapel at Widowsgrove, which Lazenby initially believed was the actual resting place of the character from the tale, may postdate the earliest versions of the story. A tomb decorated with images of by-then already mythical heroes every child grew up idolizing and every ruler wished to emulate. The image of the Horned Knight likewise appears in later manuscript illustrations but primary source carvings are difficult to disentangle from similar images of...

-Seekers of Seekers of Myths. Messer, Ishizaka, Kadminion et al. The Archaeological Survey, vol. 55 

The Great Glass Mountain - Music Post

 

Lacombe

 

The Great Glass Mountain was named after the song of the same name from Judero. I don't usually use music with lyrics but I got to deploy that one in-game and I really liked the way it turned out. 

The Great Glass Mountain - Session Fifteen

 

Schreyer

 

Queen Valenta the Chain Knight rode north out of the capitol. She rode hard and when she crossed the river to reach the woods where the Company found the Crown, she made a rough crossing that left her horse shivering so she had to dismount and wipe him down. As she toweled the beast it occurred to her that this might be the last time she did this. Anything she did now, she might never do again.

 

The Great Glass Mountain - Session Fourteen

Friedrich

 

Outside the Great Glass Mountain, the Glass Knight asked his wife Valenta how many of Alexander's men she let into the castle with him. Two bands of mountaineers, all of whom were allowed to keep their weapons. The King nodded. He could work with this. He told the others to follow his lead, except for Valenta who wouldn't be part of the deception. The important thing, if things got violent (and it wasn't guaranteed that they would), was to never present Alexander with more than two opponents at once. That would keep his War Knight powers from kicking in. The War Knight knew that, and would try to fight his way out and engage the whole group. That was why Shoat was in charge of the entrance. In his Siege Plate nothing could move a door if he braced it. 

 

With the plan figured out, he entered the Great Hall with his entourage, stopping only to give instructions to Charcabol's men at arms.

 

The Great Glass Mountain - Session Thirteen

 

The balloon sailed overhead and the Company turned to pursue it along with the Companion Cavalry. They rode west out of the grasslands and into the forest. Autolykos and the Horn Knight loosed arrows at the envelope, hoping to hole it. A howl of rage came from the basket. It sounded like the Glass Knight. The Flying Swords shouted down that the pursuers ought to hold their fire, lest they kill the hostage.

As night fell they came to the base of a cliff that divided the forest, which the Flying Swords sailed over. The balloon was losing altitude but Autolykos' pony could gallop no further. The Knights left their mounts with him and scaled the cliff on foot while the Companions galloped north around the obstacle.

The Great Glass Mountain - Session Twelve

The Company sailed west out of the Screaming Seer's sanctum. They moved thrice as fast as they did on land and by midday they had circled the shining tower in the center of the inlet. Further west a monumental arch emerged from the beach, green and shining where the patina hadn't covered the silver beneath. They came upon a narrow boat carrying a scribe and his assistant. 

 

The Learned Numerator Alfger ceased his observations of nature and hailed the Knights. He told them to rejoice because the time of order was close at hand. The Apparatus was nearing completion and once it was done the Knights would be liberated from the Seers and their nonsense. The Knights were skeptical that a machine would provide better instructions than the Seers. The Numerator told them they were welcome to visit the spire where the Apparatus was under construction. He knew they were busy burying their friend and didn't want to bounce from quest to quest until they had completed the one.

 

By night they set down the anchor off the coast and dreamed of a war in the shadows, lit only by the clash of weapons against an unseen foe.

 

The Great Glass Mountain - Session Eleven

The Company traveled east from the Screaming Seer's Sanctum and followed the river into the mountains. Their quest was for the Beast but to reach it they had to travel up treacherous mountain paths and places where there was no path. There were places a man could jump but a horse could not be induced to leap and land safely on the other side. Autolykos led them through places that looked impassible and turned them back when it looked safe but really wasn't.

 

In the mountains the water pooled at the bottom of a waterfall. Bones whirled in the water and hogs dragged the corpse of a mountain lion ashore to gnaw it. Whatever killed it was at the top of the waterfall, so that's where the Company went.

 

At the top, the opening in the rock face was large enough for a bear and then some. Auckland recognized it from his dreams. He was used to seeing it from the other side, looking out. The Knights didn't want to enter the cave and fight the monster on its own turf, so Tiber taunted it to draw it out.

 

The beast leaped from atop the cliff and fell on top of the Salt Knight. It had been waiting for the Company to go inside so it could trap them. 

 

The Great Glass Mountain - Session Ten

Tiber the Salt Knight stood outside the grotto at Eldermass, the Conclave of Seers. The Screaming Seer leaned against the cave entrance, not screaming. It looked like he was crying but when he saw the Salt Knight he got it together and passed him a note.

 

The Great Glass Mountain - Session Nine

 

The Company recovered from injuries sustained in the tournament. They noted a strange woman who treated Tiber's wounds. They couldn't get a good look at her face and said something that convinced Tiber to leave with her. 

Per tradition the Glass Knight opened the Feast of the Stars by distributing accolades to those who had best served the realm. For retrieving the Crown and restoring his faculties, the Glass Knight promoted Tiber and Auckland to his council. He thanked Ada for taking care of him for many years but couldn't promote her because she was already his right hand. He also thanked the deceased Pearl Knight Lauder for saving his wife from the Underworld and his daughter Gert for taking over the holding at Cuganscove. 

 

The Great Glass Mountain - Session Eight

The Knights made the most of the time between summer and autumn. 

• Auckland explored the southeast of the realm in search of the beast. He found no tracks but knew it was around somewhere, dormant for the time being. He did find the abode of the Screaming Seer, a shepherd's hut and a dune full of quicksand. 
• Tiber got lots in the woods to find the Goblin and his apprentice Kemp. The Goblin forgot how much energy twelve year olds had. Kemp could already be in two places at once and used this power to regale the Salt Knight from both sides with a list of lost items he collected. He could visit his family any time he wanted but was distracted with the new powers of Goblinhood. The Goblin admitted he would have tried to kidnap Valenta next, but didn't have to worry about that now. He had his succession secured and soon he would go down into the earth never to be seen again.
• Valenta went to Cuganscove in the Southwest and asked her daughter Gert to send caravans to Sparenot's orchard to buy her cider. When she visited the orchard she found the remaining family clearing the last fruit off the trees. A pear fell down and scared a kitten who was hiding among the roots. The animal assumed the green fruit was a snake. 

With all that handled they arrived at the Glass Mountain the night before the Feast of the Stars. Valenta remembered a patch of exterior wall that concealed a sally port. She hammered on it with the secret knock and a servant let her in. She asked him to take their horses around to the main gate while the Company went to talk with the King.

 

The Great Glass Mountain - Session Seven

Seghers

 

The Company ate with Boar, his wife Muriel and her bodyservant Glorietta at the great hall of Bravecrossing. It looked like the interior of a tavern, where Boar had spent most of his life drinking, with the addition of wood floors. The food was campaign fare with a few flourishes added by the kitchen servants. Simple ingredients stewed or pan fried with lots of salt. 

 

Glorietta sat away from the table and worked on a strange needlepoint design stretched across a frame while the others ate and went over what they had learned over the last week or two. The Red Mail Mercenaries were still operating in the region, though nobody knew how many were left. They used seals and sigils probably stolen from the herald to pretend royal authority, but were really after the Crown themselves. The Tangled Seer told Boar that the Crown would restore the Glass Knight's spirit. The flying swords were a rogue element, nobody knew if they were working with the mercenaries or if they were a separate group of bandits. They needed straw for their flying machine and had access to other advanced technology. 

 

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 Great Glass Mountain - Session Five

Chain Knight Valenta, Horn Knight Auckland and the Squire Reme rode back to the orchard. They got there at sunset and caught Sparenot and her kids putting away their tools for the day. She invited them inside for dinner and a drink. Valenta sent Kemp and Kana outside to go get grandpa Crucifer, what she had to say wasn't suitable for children. Sparenot wouldn't have tolerated anyone except the queen of the realm issuing direct orders to her children. She feared the worst.

The Great Glass Mountain - Session Four

 

The Company woke up atop the sea cliffs to the sound of shouting. It was audible over the sound of waves and it came from the landward side. The Company shouted back, unsure if leaving their camp was wise in the middle of the night, worried it might be another mirage out of time. Kemp shouted that the voice was his grandfather Cruicifer. The Salt Knight ran down the mountain path, Reme and Kemp following him. He rapidly lost his way in the dark, less concerned with following the path than descending quickly, but avoided injury as he hopped down the boulders and rocky slopes. 

At the bottom of the mound was an old guy dressed in nothing but a breechcloth, cloak caught on a gnarled tree root sticking out of the earth. He was trying to climb a boulder and getting nowhere. Kemp rushed past Tiber and went to help him up, but something yanked Crucifer's leg down. The Salt Knight and Reme rushed to help. A gnarled root wrapped around the old man's leg. Tiber leaped down to hack away the root and the old guy was yanked downward into the earth. The Salt Knight grabbed onto him and was pulled with him. The earth closed over them without a sound.

 

The Great Glass Mountain - Session Three

Valenta the Chain Knight, Tiber the Salt Knight and his squire Reme arrived at the Seat of Power on Sceptremas, the high holiday where the vassals of the realm renewed their loyalty oaths to the ruler. The Glass Mountain was a series of triangular spires, clad in white limestone so they shined in the summer sun. The jagged range of wavering peaks swept down to a white walled bailey overlooking a harbor at the end of a vast inlet, stretching south for leagues and widening until it was too far to see across from east to west. 

The Knights watched as ships from the Pearl Knight's domed cove tied up at the docks. The largest vessel beached itself on the pebbly beach, where teamsters waited with wooden rollers to haul it out of the water.

 

The Great Glass Mountain - Session Two

Valenta the Lost Knight and Tiber the Salt Knight tumbled down the hill, away from the shadows and away from Reme and the horses. Tiber bashed his head on a rock, leaving him addled and vulnerable. He asked Valenta if the Knight he rescued had escaped the shadows. She told him that it was so. He got up and looked around. The Squire would either double back and try to find them after losing any pursuers, or would climb to a high place to get a better view of the area. The Knights decided to do the same. Tiber was headed into the mountains anyway to find the shining thing atop the spire that he saw from the deck of the wrecked ship. The one the Pearl Knight denied was there.

The Lost Knight opened the locket she carried down the mountain with her, alongside her armor and longsword. Inside was a man she didn't recognize. Or couldn't name. The face was familiar. The white and gold clothing.

Gencon 2025 Recap: Pickup Games

I ran two pickup games at Gencon 2025 for some friends. One was a familiar game and scenario, one I had never run before.