The man had been walking for several hours, and fatigue could be seen in his gait. The sun was nearing its peak by this point, and he thought to himself that he should begin to start looking for a place to take a break. He had to stop a few times to heal his feet as travelled along the faded road, and his skin had started to become slightly pink. Occasionally he'd swing wildly at a flying insect, while cursing quietly. He could no longer see or hear the river and was grateful for the magic that allowed him to drink when he was thirsty.
A clearing began to show itself in the forest ahead. The closer he got to it, the wider it seemed to be as he couldn't see any trees on the far side. He stepped out onto the field that spread out before him. The forest line continued north and south of him, but everything else was a grassland. Green and golden grasses could be seen stretching out to the horizon, with patches of color painted in.
Looking to the south, he could see in the distance where the grasses dropped off, picking up some distance away, and assumed that was the river. He followed the river westward with his eyes, seeking signs of civilization as he panned from left to right. He finished without finding anything. Seeing that the sun had passed its peak, he decided to take a break in the shade of one of the trees before moving on.
He sat with his back to the tree and removed his last piece of cooked snake, pondering whether to eat it, or save it. Finally making up his mind, he put the wrapped meat back into his basket and settled with a few handfuls of summoned water.
"New body aside, I'd been living too much of a sedentary life. You know, before I died. Ha ha! Who am I talking to?" He bowed his head down shaking it from side to side, "I'm going to have to start exercising when I find a place to settle in for a while. It'll be nice to be able to move my body around again, and I need to get used to these shorter limbs."
"Ok, so a review so far. I got summoned to a new world, with a new body. No, why am I saying that? Hmm, I've got a knife, a spear, and a hatchet. I've got a large chunk of obsidian in a basket with one chunk of cooked snake remaining. I'm getting a sunburn and eaten alive by bugs. And to top it all off, I'm wearing snakeskin undies."
The man took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Ok Evren, get off your ass and quit complaining. If you don't find something soon, you're going to die out here before you know it." He stood and turned back to the west. Taking another deep breath, he stepped out of the forest, heading west.
He wanted to keep following the tracks for as far as he could, so he stayed between the ruts, adjusting his course as needed. When the sun reached halfway between setting and noon, he finally saw something to the south ahead of him. It looked rundown, but there was a wall covered in vegetation with a gate leaning sideways by the entrance. As he approached, he slung his basket across his back, and held the spear with both hands, wary of anything.
He approached slowly, changing his view from the entrance to the town, to the ground around him. It wasn't until he was close to the gate that he finally saw something that gave evidence of the previous occupants; several bones lay on the ground forming incomplete skeletons.
He could now see the walls, and a bit of the buildings inside the gate. There were obvious signs of siege damage, such as rocks near some damaged portions of the wall, and an abandoned battering ram near the fallen gate. He made a mental note some rusted bands around the ram. If he can find away to process them, he'll be back for them later.
He stepped into the entrance to the town and noticed the gatehouse to his right. When he looked inside, he found some badly rusted weapons half buried into the ground, along with some broken furniture. As he went deeper into the gatehouse, he found what appeared to be an office, and a holding cell. The holding cell had a bucket in a surprisingly good condition, which he left alone. In the office, he didn't find anything of note besides some weathered and unreadable paper and books that crumbled at a touch.
"At first glance, things don't look so good. There's a roof here, and a stove, so if I don't find anything better, this should suffice."
Evren made his way through the town, occasionally peeking into houses or buildings along the way. He made note of some usable raw materials from time to time, and even found a shirt in not terrible condition in one house, and some rough pants in the back of a store. Slowly he made his way towards the center of the town. A large building sat in the center of the town and appeared to be some sort of town hall, or administration building. From that building he managed to find a pen, and a stoppered bottle of ink.
From the second floor of the building, he could see a large house to the northwest, he assumed belonged to the leader of this town. "If anything, there should be some higher quality stuff there that may be able to withstand the test of time."
As he made his way to the large house, he noticed a building with a very large chimney comparable to the other buildings. He detoured to this building to look inside and just as he had hoped, it was a place filled with tools, many of which were in a good enough condition to use immediately. He took the obsidian out of his basket and set it down on a bench in there, no longer wanting to carry the extra weight around. He set his hand upon the obsidian and said, "Don't be sad, baby. I'll be back."
Along the way towards the large house, he found the same as he found elsewhere in the town. Signs of fighting, the occasional skeleton, and everything in a state of decay where it isn't usable.
When he reached the entrance to the large house, he found the door open, with three skeletons just inside the entrance. One appearing to be the size of a child. A silver tray lay on the floor closer in with a broken tea set on the floor near it. He found some silver utensils and some salvageable pots and pans in the kitchen, along with some unbroken cups, plates, and bowls. He knew his basket wouldn't hold the weight of them, so he gathered them up in a single place on a sturdy table and left them for later.
In what appeared to be the servants' quarters, he found plenty of clothes, but all of them had been afflicted with rot, and infested with bugs that ate through the cloth. Continuing onward, he would occasionally find something of value and place it into his basket if it was light enough or brought to the kitchen if it wasn't.
Taking the staircase to the second floor was an adventure. Twice the step he was putting pressure on broke, and the banister itself collapsed as he neared the second floor. In the master bedroom, he found a set of soft boots in a suspiciously good condition. He first checked to see that there was nothing inside of them, then tried to slip one on his foot. At first it seemed a bit tight, but after he put the second one on and walked around a bit, they instead appeared to fit him almost perfectly.
Searching more around the master bedroom, he found some silk shirts that were in good condition, only needing buttons to be sewn on them, some leather pants wrapped in some wax paper that were too big for him, but he took anyway.
On one of the dressers was a box containing a hairbrush, a hand mirror, some sewing needles with silk thread, scissors, and dried out makeup in a tin container. There was also a makeup brush and a charcoal pencil inside that had crumbled when he tried to pick them up.
His search through the large house yielded other usable discoveries, which he gathered up in the kitchen with the other items he had collected. He exited through the kitchen door to the overgrown backyard. From there he found a couple mostly usable carts that he could piece together to make one single usable cart. He also found a usable pitchfork in the stables, which he added to his collection.
For the moment, however, he only took his basket packed with some clothing, the oversized leather pants, and the box found in the bedroom with him back towards the workshop he had stopped by earlier.