>>6070067Re-entering town resulted in an assault to your senses.
The chaos that had engulfed the town when last you were there had abated, somewhat, but the people remained in turmoil and you could hardly hear yourself think over all the noise.
Men were already chipping in to help rebuild fallen storefronts and crumpled houses. You could see teams of workers handling lumber, stone, various tools. Women were taking over operation of the stores that were still working. You counted a textile store, a restaurant, and a general goods among those still in operation. Not a single mouth was silent among them-- workers shouted orders to other workers who shouted affirmations back, while their wives complained of their husbands' duties and gossipped about all the children, drawing comparison between how loud they and the men were, giggling amongst themselves as if they were in on some joke you couldn't quite parse, taking the orders of customers too weak or small to help with rebuilding.
Of the demons-- you could see few. Those that remained in the town didn't seem to be doing nearly as much terrorizing as previous. The metallic rhino creatures you'd seen break you out of prison seemed determined to devour any metal they could find and appeared to be the greatest nuisances, traveling in packs and gleefully headbutting any human they found with metal in their arms so as to knock them down and steal their supplies. The large metallic birds would circle people for some time, their shadows creating ominous "stars of death" above those who caught their interest, but you didn't see them doing much other than scaring the living daylights out of people or fighting with the local vultures. (The metallic birds would always win-- in rather brutal fashions.)
Turning south, you pondered that the greater threats would be the occasional visitors from down south, those descending from the great mountain. You thought yourself crazy, at first, upon seeing a dark mist envelop the area after such a thought. No-one else seemed to react to it nor notice the difference in shade. You alone, too, were greeted by the sight of an enormous and frightening skull mere inches from your face, seemingly ethereal and unable to be touched-- the moment you tried, the entire apparition fled and life returned to normal. Small versions of this enormous apparition seemed to dot the path to the peak.
Furthermore, the massive snake you had seen previous could be seen forever in that direction, lingering near the base of the mountain, its destructive size making sure the town hardly went an hour without seeing a tree or bird collapse near it. The remnants of a rock slide buried a small field that you remembered seeing at the edges of town earlier.
All these sights and sounds seemed to distract from the incessant snapping you soon heard from something in front of you. "Mister? Hello? Mister!!"
