They were about to rotate a second group off the line when the signal was given that the monsters had been defeated, and a temporary stand down order was in place.
That meant that while they were relieved of the official need to fight, everyone should remain nearby and prepared to fight, even if they weren’t on shift.
So, Karl moved his group back, as they were in the third group, which would go on shift in half an hour, and lay down against Thor for a quick nap.
There were still a few monsters coming their way, and Remi still had her [Thunderstorm] up at further reduced capacity, but what made it past the storm was nothing that a small group of warriors and mages couldn’t handle.
The rest of the line was slowly managing to chase off the flying creatures, but Karl could sense the envious eyes cast in their direction. The storm and Hawk were enough to chase off all of the flying monsters at their end of the line, so the right flank was just resting while everyone else finished the fight.
Karl’s team took over their shift right on schedule, but there wasn’t anything to do with Hawk already clearing out the monsters from above once they left the storm.
The smart ones had already died or run away, so now it was mostly just the slower moving rodents and scavengers who didn’t have the brain power to realize that it was the water causing them damage.
[So many dumb mice. They just keep running back into the rain.] Hawk complained, unwilling to chase them into the storm.
[You have a fire barrier, you won’t really get wet.] Thor reminded him.
[Not the point.]
Despite his complaints, Karl could tell that the Hawk was actually having fun, circling around the edge of the storm and chasing the rodents back in to their deaths. Once the storm ended, they would all be freshly washed and ready for him to collect, so it was better that they stopped in the rain than running out through the mud.
After another hour, even that had stopped. There was nothing coming out of the storm anymore, and only a few stragglers were still being found by the rest of the defensive line.
That was when Karl fully expected the Hill Giants to attack, and thanked his luck that he was on shift for it.
Remi dropped the storm so that Hawk could clean up the beasts that he wanted, and the Academy started to send teams forward to gather beasts to be butchered for the kitchens.
“Do they have a trailer for the meat?” Karl asked Morgana as he watched the recovery teams work.
“They will in an hour. It’s on its way here now. Well, more than one. They’re assigning teams everywhere that got hit with beasts today to gather meat to help reduce the load on the supply convoys.
The less that they have to send to us, the better. We have also taken low casualties lately, so the clerics have been going all out with the rice and beans, which cuts down on the requirement for shelf stable rations even further.
I know it’s a bit dull for most of the Elites, but it’s free and plentiful, so the supply staff loves it.”
Karl chuckled at Morgana’s description. “It’s actually better than a lot of the things that they serve in the cafeteria. I’ve grown quite fond of the rice and beans base for dinners with the Nature Priest grown fruits and vegetables plus monster meat.
We eat better in the field than we do in camp.”
Morgana sighed. “Well, hopefully this conflict will be sorted sooner than expected. The Frost Giants are already in bad shape, and with one border only needing minimal forces, the army has managed to transfer more to the other lines.”
Karl shrugged. “It doesn’t look like the Hill Giants are going to give up so soon. But you never know what they are actually thinking. It could all be over tomorrow, but it could run until one side completely collapses. I don’t pretend to understand what the Giants were thinking with this invasion.”
The Witch Doctor nodded. “There has to be some reason for the Giants to start working together. They hate each other, but they’re all forming a coordinated offensive against us, when they don’t even want the territory.
So, it has to be about something else, and nobody really knows what. But should we really be worrying about that right now?”
“Why not? It’s not like I’ve got anything else to do. Unless they’re going to let me take a team to go scout behind the lines, all we can do is gossip and speculate while we sit here.” Karl reminded her.
Dana laughed and poked him in the side. “You’re as bad as an old woman, looking for gossip.”
“Inquiring minds need to know.”
Tessa looked over at them from on top of Thor’s head. “Yeah, if we don’t get to do fun stuff, at least give us something to think about. Like, do you think that unique scent that Hill Giants have is natural, or is it some sort of soap?
They kind of smell like dirt and plants, not sweaty like Ogres or Goblins, so I’ve been wondering.”
That was an excellent question.
Everyone quietly pondered it for a while, and even Hawk began to wonder.
None of them had never found signs of soap in their belongings, but they all smelled the same, so it was possible that it could go either way.
Hawk had a small mountain of corpses in his space now, and then a large mountain built off to one side.
[What’s with the segregated piles?] Karl asked as he inspected the rapidly filling space.
[This is the really good stuff I want to keep, and that is the good enough to eat stuff that I’m willing to part with. We can put it in the Morgana’s trailer once it arrives.]
Karl laughed at how Hawk still didn’t get the concept of names. He treated everyone as a separate species. So it was The Dana Mage, The Morgana, and so on. Rae got names a bit better, but it was hit or miss who she considered worthy of a name.
“What’s the good word?” Dana asked once Karl was paying full attention to his surroundings again.
“Hawk has separated the piles into things he likes to eat, and things he thinks that humans will like to eat. So, he’s got a massive pile of beasts in stasis, waiting for the personnel to be available to butcher them after the trailer arrives.
But looking at it, we might need more trailers. There is a mountain of beasts in there, and that’s just the good tasting ones.” Karl explained.
Dana laughed. “That sounds like Hawk. Let me guess, there are no pigs in the pile for the humans?”
Karl looked at the pile and found a few of them that had been scorched and damaged in the mountain of donations.
“I wouldn’t say that there are none, but none of the ones that died cleanly are in that pile. He’s got years worth of food in the other pile though, so once we start running low, I will have him start sorting it out. He’s not going to need most of that once he makes it to Royal Rank, so he will be able to part with the vast majority.” Karl explained.
Morgana gave Karl a curious look. “Sometimes I wonder just what all you have hidden in those spaces. You’ve pulled out all sorts of natural resources so far, and some truly rare ones as well. So what all can go in those spaces?”
Karl shrugged. “Anything the beasts see as a resource. So food, shiny objects, broken magical weapons but not intact ones. However, they can take gems, plants, and those sorts of things.”
“So, the stones and feathers in your fort are all things that someone thought would be useful?” Morgana asked.
“They were on bodies that Rae collected. She likes using them as decorations, but she will take them with her when we leave. The silk is free, her treasures are not.” Karl explained.
Morgana nodded. “And some of those stones are actually valuable magical resources. They’re just not useful to any of your beasts. If we could convince her to part with a few of them, we might actually be able to make some new resources for specific warriors.”
