Adventure of Averil

Boots hammer the marked road behind Averil. A broad-shouldered young adult man, with a square jaw, close-cropped brown hair, and a scar through one eyebrow, in a russet cloak and iron cap pushes through the trees, sword belted at his side, with watchmen fanning behind him.

The road drops ahead toward Tashagond’s distant gates, already crowded with travelers and guards. Behind her, the family watchmen spread across the trees, closing the open ground.

The giant spider rises beside Averil, violet markings bright beneath the leaves, and angles its body toward the approaching line. Its fangs remain hidden, but its legs tense.

The opened message hangs in Averil’s hand, its noble crest visible to both sides. Her bruised knee will hinder a desperate run, while the descending road offers only distance and witnesses.

Averil runs downhill toward Tashagond, the giant spider pacing her through the trees. Her bruised knee protests, but the city gates widen ahead as watchmen surge behind.

She twists while moving and looses an arrow into the road behind her. It strikes the dirt before the foremost watchmen, forcing the line to break around it.

A second arrow cuts low across the marked road and pins a watchman’s cloak to a nearby sapling without touching flesh. The remaining watchmen halt, tangled in their own sudden caution.

Averil and the giant spider burst from the trees onto the crowded approach. City guards turn toward the commotion as the open gates receive them, while the stalled watchmen remain behind.

Averil and the giant spider rush through Tashagond’s open gates amid startled travelers. The bruised knee slows her stride, but the crowd and gatehouse shadows break the watchmen’s view.

She cuts between a loaded handcart and a spice stall, guiding the giant spider beneath hanging awnings. A guard glimpses violet legs, and a dropped basket clatters behind them.

Averil slips into the indicated alley, and the giant spider folds her broad body behind stacked rain barrels. The passage winds between plaster walls, hidden from the road and its witnesses.

Their flight leaves a bright green thread from Averil’s torn cloak snagged on the stall’s iron hook. Outside, boots thunder through the gate, searching the crowded approach.

The giant spider settles silently beside Averil in the shadowed alley. Beyond the entrance, city guards question merchants while the family watchmen spill into Tashagond too late to see where she went.