A Wedding
In our session of Pendragon this week we get to attend the wedding of the Boy King Arthur and the daughter of King Leodegrance Gwenivyr. There are some tournaments, strange events happening on the wedding day (at least according to Malory), and we round things off with a bit of raiding.
Once again we are beset by an overabundance of fumbles and criticals, though Sir Geoffrey has a bit more luck this week.
We have reached London, and head to White Friars to put up our horses and find the rooms where we will be staying. Having seen the stone which no longer has a sword in it, Sir Madog decides that he wants a shiny new sword. So we head into the city to try and find a swordsmith.
However, there is a long queue for new swords, and we aren’t famous enough to be able to skip the queue. So we head for a pub, and spend the evening there. Madog gets seriously drunk, but I don’t feel like drinking at all and do little more than sip a beer.
The following day, there are knights gathering outside of London for a large Tourney. Some of them are hanging up their shields, and inviting others to take them on in a fight. It all seems like very organised thuggery. The Ladies seem concerned that I might do something stupid, and insist that I check in with them and have my wound seen to. A day relaxing with Lady Petronelle and her friends isn’t too bad, and it turns out my wound isn’t doing anything stupid like getting infected.
A couple of days later, it is the start of the Wedding itself. We put on our fancy clothes, and there is a long ceremony of declarations, hymns and prayers. Afterwards, wedding gifts are presented to the married couple, including the white palfrey that we found and escorted here. That afternoon, it is the turn of the King and Queen to give out gifts to all the attendees.
We are meant to ask for a gift, and unable to think of anything else I ask for an opportunity to prove my bravery to the King and Queen. Sir Madog asks for something similar, which means my request isn’t as unique as I thought it would be. We are all granted large chargers, and I name mine Cadarn.
As his request, one old man asks for a young lad to be knighted. The young lad turns out to be Tor, the son of King Pellonor. The request is granted, though some of the knights don’t seem happy about this since they have an issue with King Pellonor in the past.
King Leodegrance presents his gift to the King, an event which is preceded by a loud scraping sound as a large wooden object is dragged across the floor into the room. He proudly declares it as the Round Table – and it is indeed a table that is round. Leodegrance wishes to found a Knightly Order of the Round Table, and he is granted permission. We are invited to join the Order, which we accept. It would have been rude not to.
During the evening feast, a white hart comes into hall, running amongst the tables. It is chased by a white hound. Then fifty black hounds come charging in, knocking some of us to the floor. A knight grabs the hound and makes off with it. This is all rather odd, and seems like something out of a story that something that actually happened.
Then a woman riding a white horse comes in, demanding the white hound back since it is hers. Then a black rider on a black horse grabs her and vanishes out of the hall. King Arthur quips that he’s glad that this is all over, but Merlin says that it is a sign that knights should attempt to do strange and noble deeds.
Several of the more famous knights (not us) are sent on Quests to retrieve the hounds, black knights and other things.
The next day, there is another tournament, which we all attend.
The first round of the tournament are single combats. It is a Tournament of Love, so we aren’t using deadly weapons. I face up to Sir Tamuran, one of the knights that accompanied us on our quest to save my Lady.
We start by charging each other (me on Cadarn), and I get a solid hit on his shield, knocking him off his horse. Wishing to give him a chance, I dismount and allow him to get to his feet. We clash swords, and I defeat him. He bravely surrenders.
Sir Lupinus and Sir Lynel have a somewhat unsuccessful fight, with both having bad luck in both their horsemanship and swordmanship attempts. Both combatants decide to call it a day.
Sir Madog and Sir Evrain face up, and Madog is knocked from his horse on the first charge. On foot, Madog isn’t able to do much better, and submits.
That afternoon, several knights return having been fighting each other over who gets to go on quests. It seems the lack of war is causing restlessness.
On day two, a knight comes in carrying a dead woman. He says that Sir Gawain slew his white hart, a gift given to him by his Lady. So he challenged Sir Gawain to a battle. Sir Gawain would have killed him, but his Lady threw herself in the way, and was slain by Sir Gawain.
Sir Gawain later returns, and gives a similar account, but says that afterwards he was accosted by many villagers and was only saved by some nuns. The Queen chastises him for having been shown mercy, when he had failed to give it himself. She follows up by saying that it should be the duty of all Knights to protect women.
For the final grand melee, I am invited to sit with the Queen. How dare I refuse?
Sir Pelonor returns with the white lady, who turns out to be the Lady of the Lake.
A Saxon herald turns up, demanding that the Welsh submit to the Saxons, otherwise there will be raiding and killing. King Arthur gives a big speech, in which he tells the Saxons basically to fuck off. Sir Madog also stands up, and demands to know why we should submit to the Saxons when they can’t even kidnap the right woman. This statement seems to go down well amongst the court.
Then the wedding is over. So it’s time to go home. Or go raiding. Since the East Saxons had sent the herald, we get together a group of like minded knights and head East to where the East Saxons are. We intent to avoid any big fortifications, but there are plenty of Saxon towns that are less well defended.
Our first round of raiding is a success, and I get a nice rouncey out of it. I’m not sure who it belonged to, but that’s the entire point of raiding.
So we do some more raiding, and this time I find a group of pissed off Saxon spearmen, and actually have to fight someone.
I get a solid strike on the unarmoured Saxon, and slay him with a single blow. So I get to loot him, and find that he has £4 in coins. My colleagues also manage to find loot, though nobody else finds any Saxons who are willing to stand up to them.
We head back home before Winter sets in.
