I’ve been grinding along, writing lots of Encounters. I now have 51 Encounters written for the first act, so I’m halfway to my goal of 100 Encounters for Act I. I’ve had no problem writing encounters; fresh ideas pop into my mind every day, and my list of Encounters-to-write still has about 40 unused titles. Here is a list of one-line synopses of some of the Encounters:
Fifteenth Anniversary of the victory at Mount Badon. A big feast full of reminiscing.
Ater dinner, Lancelot relates his experiences at the Battle of Cotyaeum with the Roman army.
The Christian priest objects to the celebration of the Celtic festival of Beltane.
Arthur pauses to watch some boys playing a kind of soccer game.
Arthur goes hunting with just his dog Cutana.
Tristram shows Arthur a strange sword called a falcata.
A big festival at Camelot centered on a horse race.
Arthur must judge a murder case.
The latrine hasn’t been maintained properly.
A little girl dies of disease.
The Great Hall thatch roof is leaking on a rainy day.
A bully pesters the local simpleton.
A Greek merchant arrives with lots of exotic merchandise.
Here’s one of the Encounters:
A pair of wolves scattered a flock of sheep southwest of Camelot and Senecio the head shepherd has requested the aid of the horsemen in rounding up all the sheep before nightfall. If you don’t get them all together before nightfall, the wolves will pick off the stragglers. You assign different sections of ground for each of your men to scout, while you pick one of the steeper sections for yourself; Invictus has more strength than the regular-sized horses the other soldiers have and he can handle the workload more easily.
You wander through mixed terrain: copses interspersed among open areas. None of this land is being used; it’s too remote from anybody’s house to be useful. It was probably farmed back in Roman days, when there were more people, more wagons and more horses to transport things. But now it’s empty.
You enter a more densely wooded area and slowly pick your way through the trees. Then you see them: two people sitting under a tree. It’s certainly strange to find people this far away from any houses; perhaps they’re lost. Perhaps they’re bandits. You start to call out to them but stifle yourself when another possibility pops into your head. You stare long and hard and confirm your guess: it’s a boy and a girl sitting together, kissing.
Old, warm feelings well up in your heart. You remember doing the same thing with a girl (not Guenevere) many years ago. You reminisce about that joyous romance. She was so beautiful! The two of you were wildly, gayly, ecstatically in love. Everything else in life diminished to insignificance; you thought about her constantly and resented anything that called you away from her. God, the intensity of that young love was so intoxicating! You’re not young anymore, and you know that you could not feel any emotion that intensely now—but, oh! it was so good back then.
Her father decided to flee Britain for Armorica, and the two of you were torn apart. You never heard anything more about her; you hope that she’s happy in Armorica.
You pull out of your reverie and realize that you should do something. Sunset will be upon you soon; the two lovers are too deep in their love to realize the danger that will soon beset them. But is it right to interrupt such a beautiful moment?
1. I turn Invictus around and quietly depart.
2. I snap a branch to alert the two lovers to my presence, then act as if I don’t see them and wander away.
3. I approach them and warn them that they must get indoors before it grows dark.