Desairn Valley, Day 8, Early afternoon
You pass the growing pillar of smoke and continue on to the town. The smoke clearly making the escapees nervous, but it doesn't slow them down.
The first signs of the town are empty fields, separated by thick hedges, on both sides of the road. Before long a large stone structure looms ahead. This large stone structure proves to be The Watchful Knight, a fortified inn and tavern, that appears far larger than a town of this size would require. At the far end of the town is a fortified country lodge, with a number of squat, sturdy buildings in between. The town itself lacks walls, but the hedges dividing the fields do almost as good a job, and attackers caught between the inn and the lodge would have a very short life expectancy.
In front of the inn is a gathering of people looking up at some watchmen on the top of the inn's tower. The watchmen are looking to the rising column of smoke you've just passed, and it takes a while for the crowd to notice your arrival.