From the Darkness Beyond the Gate

In a medieval town, Skid has driven himself mad with his ideas and philosophies, precipitating his decline in society. Now he lives under a skidway and spends his days trifling. His behavior has never caused any real problems, and the townspeople tolerate him for pity’s sake, but his most recent fantasy sees a conspiracy to kill him forming among certain townspeople. No one would believe him. He needs proof.

We meet Skid in prison. What has he done?

Enter sunrise a week earlier.

Skid is woken under his skidway shelter on the wharf. He moves into town.

He emerges from an alleyway and continues until he sees Sofia soliciting herself outside the Tipsy Laird Inn & Public House. They enter.

At a distance from the western gatehouse, Avaritias, a personification of the seven deadly sins, approaches. He parks his carriage, and Emma moves past him in the direction of the apple orchards in the distance.

He becomes Lust. He follows and watches her for much of the morning, until his stomach growls.

Avaritias fetches his saddlebags, laden with coin, and moves through town. He comes to the Tipsy Laird and enters.

At the bar, he orders a drink. He becomes Sloth. He settles into a booth. He likes to recline when he eats.

He becomes Pride. His talk is more important than others’, and he refrains from asking questions, always assuming he’s right.

He becomes Gluttony. He orders an inordinate amount of food.

Meanwhile, Skid is upstairs with Sofia. They come down, following a conversation. Sofia shares words with the innkeep, Skid with Avaritias. Skid wants Avaritias for a job, but doesn’t want to talk at the Inn. He tells Avaritias to meet him on the wharf come nightfall.

The innkeep sends Sofia to fetch a loaf of bread for Avaritias. Avaritias tells her to fetch cheese for the bread. But her service comes at a price.

Next we find Avaritias and Sofia upstairs having sex. But Avaritias can’t get Skid’s job offer out of his head. He becomes Greed. Despite his great amount of money, he wants more. He leaves for the wharf.

It’s well dark. Avaritias is waiting on the wharf. His money is stolen, then Skid arrives.

He accepts Skid’s job; detect the old man who owns the apple orchards. Skid suspects him a member of a conspiracy to kill him.
Avaritias well knows by now that Skid’s mind is broken, but he wants the payment, more now than ever.

Back at the Tipsy Laird, Avaritias drinks and seethes with anger at his circumstance. He goes upstairs. He becomes Wrath. He rapes and kills Sofia.

Next we find Avaritias walking the streets to clear his mind and think. By chance, he sees Emma acting suspiciously and sneaking out of town. She works in the apple orchards, the apple orchards the old man owns. He follows her.

Under an apple tree, a handsome young man has set a picnic. Avaritias watches the young couple cavort. He becomes Envy. He wants what this young man has. If he can’t, neither will the young man.

When they finish, Emma moves back toward town and the young man the opposite direction. Avaritias follows him.

The young man leads Avaritias to an estate-house guarded by walls, and the family is hosting a dinner party in the yard. How to take the young man out of the picture? He hurries back to the wharf.

When he finally finds Skid back on the wharf, he manifests an elaborate lie in order to inflate Skid’s delusions to murderous panic. It is then that we discover that it was in fact Skid who stole Avaritias’ money. Avaritias grabs him, but before he can raise objection, Skid cuts his throat and rushes off to the estate-house.

We next find Skid being tried in a courtroom by the magistrate for the murder of Younger Newenham, and the suspected murders of Avaritias and Sofia. He is sentenced to hang until dead, and a week later, he is hanged.