The Knight of Glass

Full Description
Two centuries ago Sir Richard was a knight of Vallermoore, and when Vallermoore and Karnivhal had one of their short but nasty little wars over trading rights he became infamous amongst the vast majority of the clergy for his attacks upon them. No established Faith was safe, the worshippers of Jove, Ulmanis, Mammon and Mathom all suffered from his attacks, although those of Mathom were only mildly inconvenienced compared with the others, because most of the soldiers could not be bothered to harm them or had more important things to do.

Monasteries, nunneries, cathedrals, churches and temples were plundered of their relics and treasures and burnt to the ground. The priests and monks were enslaved or put to the sword, the nuns were raped or sold into brothels and in some cases monks and nuns were made to have sex with each other at sword point. Sir Richard encouraged them and personally beheaded a bishop, amongst other crimes. Those who escaped with their lives begged their gods and goddesses to get even with Sir Richard.

When he returned he showed his hypocrisy by donating his stolen religious icons to Vallermoore Cathedral, whose Cardinal showed his gratitude by blessing him and having an ornate stained glass window made of him. Shortly afterwards the knight fell totally and helplessly in love with Lady Eleanor of Elohaloth Province. She was tall and slightly plump with long brown hair and green eyes, and in the mind of Sir Richard, she was the perfect female for him. From when he saw her at a tournament, he decided to woo her and win her, without the sly aid of a bribe or a love potion. He wanted her love for him to be real.

Within a few weeks she was returning his love and after two years they were engaged to be married. It was then that the knight decided to swear the sacred Promise that would bind him to defend her to the death. If ever she was in danger, the magic of the Promise would alert him to it, and when she died and went to the afterlife, should she die before him, when he died his soul would end up with hers be it in Heaven or Hell. The Promise was rarely used- for a start, there was no known way of undoing it, and should the Lady Eleanor's spirit end up in Hell, then that would be where his own would end up. But he was sure that such a perfect female as her would end up in Heaven and indeed, saw it as perhaps his only way to get in there.

However, unknown to him, the priest who got him to say the Promise, for it needed to help of a priest, secretly left out a few words. Instead of promising to defend her body and soul for all eternity, he in fact promised to defend only her body for all eternity. The clerics that he had crushed with great brutality were to get their revenge after all.

A few weeks later he was returning from a hunt when he suddenly had a great feeling of fear for a few seconds. It went as quickly as it had come, but it served its purpose-it was clear that his loved one was in serious danger. Drawing his sword, he spurred his horse into a gallop, ready to cut down whoever or whatever was threatening his lady. When he got there, to his horror, he found that she was seriously ill with bubonic plague.

Despite hiring the finest doctors that existed in the region at the time, he was unable to do anything to save his loved one. His skills with the lance and sword and the many men at arms that he commanded were helpless against disease and he was unable even to stay close to her as she died screaming in pain. He made sure that she was given a decent entombment, buried in her best silk dress and her jewellery, and grave goods were lovingly buried with the body. Shortly after the funeral he was summoned to do battle once again against a royal pretender who had rallied some disaffected burgers and a few of the mountain clans against the King.

The battle was quickly won, but he was one of those who fell, having charged in the first rank and deliberately left his shield behind. Suicide was a sin but there was nothing cowardly in the culture of Vallermoore about dying bravely in battle, fighting to the last. As he was cut down, his last thoughts were of the beautiful Eleanor that he thought he would soon join in Heaven.

He awoke and found himself looking down from his stained glass window at the tomb where his dead body lay along with that of Eleanor. To his horror, he saw a couple of would be tomb robbers attempting to break into the tomb with crowbars, and he leapt down from the window. The first robber he sliced the head off from behind, and the second put up his crowbar to defend himself, and got it chopped in two before the knight's second blow sliced his throat open. The knight then tried to leave Vallermoore Cathedral but to his horror, although he could open the doors, he was unable to pass through them, as an invisible force held him back.

When he saw himself in a mirror, he was shocked, for he was now a two-dimensional stained glass image of himself, with a bloodstained glass sword. He realised to his horror what had happened. Instead of being with Eleanor's spirit, he was condemned by the magic of the Promise he had made whilst alive to defend her decomposing body for all eternity, never to be with her in Heaven, never to hear her sweet laugh or look upon her beauty or make love to her again.

Now he defends the Cathedral and all it's tombs and treasures from robbers, slicing down any who dare steal so much as a golden chalice of a bolt of silk cloth. He is not insane, but he is dreadfully upset at being parted from his loved one.

Unlike many ghosts, he is both known about and welcomed by the Cardinal and the priests. They bring him books and news about the outside world, talk with him and make offerings to him, for he is their protector and has never killed or harmed someone who has not done wrong.

Indeed, when one of the rulers of Vallermoore had a falling out with one if the Cardinals and sent four knights to slay him within the Cathedral, the knights were themselves slain by Sir Richard, which was seen as a Holy Sign that the King was wrong. The King was forced by public pressure to apologise and allow himself to be whipped with birch rods by the priests.

Because the nobles who are buried there no longer need fear grave robbers, they are willing to pay a large price to be buried there, and the Cathedral has benefited greatly from this, with new bells, no leaks in the roof and a well-paid priesthood. Sometimes at night he takes out her bones and cradles them in his arms, kissing her skull, before replacing them gently in her tomb.

Additional Information

Should the PCs get into a fight with him, he is a lot more dangerous then he seems.

He has all the swordsmanship skills that he had in life, and his weak-looking glass sword is every bit as tough and dangerous as a real sword.

He can jump and leap over their heads, and when in battle he feels no pain. It takes several blows to break one of the glass panels in his body, and then there is no effect caused by the wound.

Clerical magic will have no effect on him-Mammon will not allow His magic to be used against one of His servants, whilst no magic from one god or goddess will work in another's temple. Other types of magic will be greatly reduced in power because of the holyness of the area, and will earn bad luck for the caster for days afterword.

There are of course ways to defeat him. If his face can be smashed, he will retreat to his window for five minites in real life,whilst his face magicly heals.Any wounds he gets will heal magicly over enough time.

Unknown to his, Lady Eleanor had another knight as a lover and was unfaithful to him. If the PC's have found this out somehow and can tell him this,and back it up with historical evidence, one of two things will happen.

If he partly beleaves, he will continue to attack, and his sword will be as solid as ever, but he will be much weaker. He will not fight as hard, and his glass body will be smashed into pieces after a few blows that will *kill* him, and leave bits of glass all over the stone floor.

If he can be made to totally understand that his perfect girl cheated on him, then the Promise will no longer bind him and he will salute the PC's, shimmer, and vanish, leaving a blank bit of glass where his stained glass image was in the window.

However they defeat him, the PC's are going to be very unpopular with the Church of Mammon, as he was their protector. Normally the killers of undead are praised- in this case the City Guards will be summoned by the outraged priests and if they don't escape the PC's will be facing serious charges-sacrilage and possibly murder and tomb robbing.

Plot Hooks

A McGuffin is known to be buried within Lady Eleanor's tomb and the PC's must get it.

OR

The PC's have been paid by the Thieves Guild to slay Sir Richard so that the tombs can be looted of their contents.