Well - that town looked a lot more lively than anything I had seen in years. A sprawling little patch of humanity spread across the landscape, claiming it from the wilderness - but with a live, bustling population who actually seemed happy to see one another. I had seen grand cities spread across mountains, ancient keeps trapped within rotting, fetid swamps - but none of them had really had that busy of a population. Not that was sane anyway. I always seemed to find those remnants of civilization when all that remained of them were a few tired and worn out people hiding within the reaches of the places, trying not to be noticed by the creatures that had once been their friends. It was really fucking depressing in truth.

So to see a large crowd of people, laughing, talking, and having fun, was throwing me for a right damn loop. I was sitting against a tree a short distance from the town gates, trying to steady myself from the shock, truthfully. It was just so bizarre to see dozens of people interacting with each other - I had only ever met around fifteen people at once, and even then that had been an extreme anomaly. Not for the first time, I cursed the cycle that my land was trapped in - look what the mortals had accomplished here, when life was truly allowed to find its own way? Of course - of course, the humans back home had these civilizations too. I was just forever condemned there to never actually meet them until it was far too late to do anything about it.

I stood up slowly, gripping the unstrung haft of my bow tightly. This would be an interesting endeavour. Even back in that tiny village in the Tular plains, there hadn't been this many people around. I drew my hood up around my head and began walking into town - surely, someone here needed help. And who better to offer that help than a man who literally could die and keep trying? A slight sardonic grin stretched my lips for a moment as I joined the throng of people entering the town - I felt like one of the Pilgrims, come to see a holy city or some such nonsense. The guards at the gate waved me through without even checking me, or asking me to put my hood back. Sweet Flame, this land was peaceful. A result, perhaps, of not having to worry about Hollows wandering in?

-----

I finally found what I was looking for after half an hour of wandering through this little metropolis. The place was astounding to me - multiple blacksmiths and armories, food shops of various kinds. This, this is what humans were supposed to be like, living together and advancing together, not bound under the heel of a false Cycle propped up by a terrified God. I couldn't help the smile on my face as I watched people - there were actual children here, young ones! Aside from the girl in that village, I couldn't even remember the last time I had seen a child - and I truly could not remember the last time I had seen a happy one. It was actually enough to bring warmth to my old, cold heart. But - what I had been looking for. A tavern - one with a help request board. I had seen one before once, but it had been ancient, rotted with time, the words barely legible. I was pleased to see that the tradition existed here in this world as well.

Blue eyes scanned the board, searching for anything that seemed dangerous, or out of place. Ah, there was one that seemed rather distressing - and might every well be to these people, for whom life was so precious, and so damn short. Man-eating trolls had been spotted, a pair of them moving through the nearby woods, and the guard wanted someone to go investigate, and make sure there wasn't a full pack moving in to the forest. I grinned savagely for a moment before calming my expression. For me, bastards that decided they wanted to nibble on my damn giblets were a walk in the park. Even if they succeeded and killed me - well, I would just come back and kick their asses while they were unexpecting. Good, good. I noted the direction that these things had been spotted in, and headed out of town. I did stop by a bowyer store long enough to pick up more arrows - or, well. Place an order for appropriately sized arrows for my bow. My shield had been repaired, but I wanted to try to make my good iron arrows last for as long as I could.

-----

The forest was dark and quiet as I slipped through the trees, bow in hand. Angling the body-length bow was almost as much work as getting myself through the trees - but I refused to let these cannibal pigmen get the drop on me. If I found them, I was going to put an arrow so far up their ass that they could pick their teeth on it. I took a deep breath and grinned hungrily. These things would be a good test for myself in this land, I was sure of it.