First Duelist Assembly

A new duelist arrived each day over the past fourteen days. Yet none dueled, and none died. All remain. They include, by order of appearance, the following:

Engineer
Engraver
Enologist
Entertainer
Entomologist
Entrepreneur
Entropologist
Environmental Lobbyist
Environmental Scientist
Epidemiologist
Ergonomist
Escort
Estate Agent
Esthetician

Today they live in a settlement described by its occupants as everything from a hilltop township (Entrepreneur) to an internment camp (Ergonomist). The muddy paths and beige canvas tents are reminiscent to some (Engineer, Entomologist, Environmental Scientist) of civil war campsites.

During the two weeks minor discoveries are made. The Engraver, for example, identifies the patterns worked into the brass pistol shells as hand-crafted, from several different people - not one man chosen exclusively for the task.

But this is the exception. Most of the interaction between the duelists is unimportant and easily overlooked; their conversations are predictable.

They have two main points of concern, namely:

1. The lack of dueling.
2. The quality of care provided by the Grave Digger and his obese daughter, the Employment Officer.

With regard to point of concern, the second:

Though the father and daughter, through exchange of the Krugerrands recovered, provided camping equipment, accouterments of all variety, and fair rations of fresh and canned food - the latter prepared thrice daily by the daughter - it in no way lives up to the combined standard of living expected from the growing number of professionals contained within the dueling grounds. The very fact that they are contained - not by force, but by a grudging sense of duty to the unspoken rules and an innate feeling of mutual competitiveness - also hinders efforts, in that they lack the liberty to purchase or seek the purchase of unnecessary items. The Entropologist, for example, would not let go of his desire to set up and organize a croquet tournament; this being impossible due to the lack of croquet equipment.

Thus resentment built. Blame was aimed squarely at the Grave Digger, whose promise of better provisions was believed to be as suspect as his sincerity in locating bullets to match the .455 caliber of two Webley revolvers. It didn't help that neither he nor his daughter reigned in Rhetoric, whose nightly vigil of the grounds - being the stalwart dog that he was - was enthusiastic to the extreme, full of mad barking and snarling often until daybreak.

With animosity growing in pitch with each new addition, with each passing day, in-fighting broke out within the camp. Duelists began forming petty alliances based largely on occupational lines: scientists congregated with scientists; artists with artists; businesspeople with businesspeople; and the escort with all and no one, each man vying for her attention regardless of his self-perceived station. She alone, it seemed, was content.

With regard to point of concern, the first:

Here two sides form. One half of the duelists believe that dueling should start immediately upon supply of ammunition, continuing throughout day and night until the duels are settled equally. The second believes that the duels should be spaced out in time. These sides aren't based along lines of occupation, but temperament.

Thus people argue and complain.

It's the Environmental Lobbyist (of all people) who finally rallies everyone together. In secret, he proposes the First Duelist Assembly. At the appointed time (noon, after lunch), the duelists quietly assemble apart from the Grave Digger and his daughter. After an hour, just before the Ethnologist arrives, they unanimously decide to hold a Second Duelist Assembly tomorrow.

The first order of business:

The delivery of speeches on whether or not to end Rhetoric.

The second order of business:

Petition for the purchase of croquet equipment.