Count Bastia's annexation of Hamlet holds certain positive significance; even if he's just maintaining surface order, it still provides ordinary people some respite.
Most directly, in the areas controlled by Bastia, although much of it is mountainous, the density of villages and towns is greater. In contrast, much of Hamlet, despite being flat, is swallowed by wild-growing wilderness, with dense forests obscuring human settlements.
These mobs had never been to Hamlet, so when they broke away from the refugees, they wandered aimlessly through the vast wilderness like headless flies.
Eventually, by chance, in the evening twilight, they noticed smoke rising in the sky and found a small village they might never have otherwise discovered.
The mundane presence of humanity is the most comforting to the heart of a mob.
And thus, the Looters attacked the small village without hesitation, turning it from a peaceful settlement into Hell in an instant with rape, plunder, and pillage.
