The conversation between Overlord Leafa and the Oracle quickly spread through the ranks of the Council members, who had been spread through the region all morning, frequently crossing paths.
Many of them agreed with Leafa’s assessment. If they had been somehow marked by the opening of the Dungeon, it was better that they just go away and take the troubles to someone else.
The Mountain Giants, for example.
However, there was another thought on the matter, shared by Sslyth of the Naga and Tink, the Faerie Overlord.
“What if we take him back to where he started. Tell him to stay next to the Dungeon until the incidents calm? Then we would be able to prove if they were centred on him or just expanding in a shockwave pattern away from the dungeon.
This last incident suggests that they are not all going to be milder aftershocks of the event, so controlling the location seems like the best option.” Tink explained.
“And what would a bunch of rural farmers out in the western lands do about Royal and Monarch Ranked monsters appearing in their area?” Council Head Arnold asked.
His trolls were the predominant people in the region, and he didn’t want them obliterated.
“The same thing that my Minotaurs did. They can call for help.” Morrisa grumbled.
They had all been in the field for the morning, going from hotspot to hotspot, rescuing who they could. Now, the magic users in the Fortress were too exhausted to open another portal, and they had all had to make their own way back to the fortress, or to the city of Mitford.
That was where Overlord Thrax, the Chimera, and Sslyth the Naga were right now. They had been too far off on their last deployment to return to the Fortress, so they went to get a start on clearing out the devastated city and helping get the fires put out.
Both of them had water magic, though Thrax couldn’t do much more than make it rain.
In this case, that was precisely what they needed. A good rainfall would put out many of the lingering fires, started when lamps and fireplaces were knocked over by Giant Boars rampaging in the city.
“Do we have any word on how much of Mitford is still standing?” Arnold asked, while slumping down into one of the padded chairs of the council room.
“The Temple still stands. Mitford had a combined temple, an ancient one where our people could go to worship freely, with statues of most known gods present.
That served as a disaster shelter for the people, and the guard gathered there, along with the clerics, who used their magic to support the people willing to fight.
So, that building still stands, and most of the governor’s mansion still stands, though the town’s governor is dead. He was found beside the bodies of a pair of Monarch Rank Cyclops, an apparent mutual destruction.” The Oracle explained.
The Troll sighed and shook his head. “No wonder it went so poorly for them. With the Governor under attack the moment the battle started, there was no time for him to relieve anywhere else.
I will call the advisors to start on a plan to repair the farms, send out aid and collect casualty numbers.
Were there any areas in the fighting that took light enough damage that we might be able to stage soldiers there for the relief effort? I would like to set a temporary portal circle, to be kept open to move supplies.”
The Oracle’s eyes went white, and he frowned at the vision.
“There is an area roughly five kilometres in radius where none of the farm houses were too heavily damaged. It appears that they mostly evacuated early in the battle, so the monsters followed them to a well defended position and left the houses alone.
From what I can tell, the largest damage is to homes that had large food supplies inside, or whose residents didn’t get any warning. Those with underground pantries were largely undamaged, though there are still giant beasts foraging in their fields.
Roughly one quarter of the number of Cyclops and Giant Boar teams are still active. The rest have been defeated or are missing.” He informed the group.
“You look much less happy than I had expected, given the news that such a large area was saved from devastation.” Arnold noted.
“Right in the middle of that space, surrounded by farmers and their families, is a very familiar black Cerro and a half troll holding a pig roast on an improvised spit.”
Overlord Leafa began to giggle, pale blue smoke puffing from her mouth and retracting as she drew breath.
“Of course he would be fine and taunting them with a cookout. The Karl Troll isn’t wired right in the head. Everyone else might be terrified of them, but don’t forget that he is a system enhanced War Champion from the last resurgence.
Nothing that a Royal Rank Cyclops could do to him could even scratch his armour if he has the usual set of warrior skills and Limited Invulnerability along with Trollish Regeneration.
For all we know, he might be fireproof as well.”
Arnold began to laugh at that. A Troll that was fireproof really was immortal. Burning their body was the only way to stop them from regenerating. Even if you put them through a wood chipper, they would eventually come back to life. If he could keep himself from being burned in combat, he would be a juggernaut.
If any of them knew that Karl could grant that level of regeneration to all of the beasts under his control, or even that he had such a team under his control, they would have been terrified.
“So, we send an army unit to his location to work on stabilizing the situation? He’s two thirds of the way to Mitford, so it’s not a bad spot. When the others finish in the city the portal there will be set up again, and then we can start bringing soldiers in to deal with the issue.” Arnold asked.
A wave of panic flowed over the Oracle.
“NO!” He shouted, startling everyone.
“We must not bring anyone else in. I know what happened, I can see it. The shockwaves of the Anomaly are following the ancient lines of power. The Fortress is built on one, which explains why it happened near us. But the actual intersection of the lines is under that farm house.
It is the number of powerful people in the area that is making the situation worse. If we call in reinforcements, we will trigger another incident, even stronger than this one. The best thing that we can do is spread the council out.
It is too dangerous to leave that Bad Omen group unattended, but we can’t all be in the same spot until this anomaly settles.”
Arnold frowned. “So, it will happen again? Or only if we call for more soldiers?”
“It will happen again for the next two nights. But the strength will go down, now that most of Mitford is dead. I can’t see the exact location, only the aftermath. But if we spread the Overlords out, so we’re not all in one spot at midnight, it will make the attack less intense.” The Oracle clarified.
Arnold nodded. “I will go to the source, to the Dungeon. That will put me away from tonight’s incident, but close enough to an existing portal that you can call for me if you need it.”
Tink flitted around the room. “The two in Mitford can stay, they won’t fully offset the casualties there, and the survivors need them. I will fly north past the edge of last night’s incident. I can cross the whole journey from here to Mitford in under two hours on my wings, and I’ve already marked all the locations I was at this morning, so I will know if they’re in trouble.”
Morrisa nodded. “I will stay here with the Oracle and command the Fortress Guard. What are you doing, Leafa?”
The Haint’s wooden face twisted up in a gleeful grin. “I am going to go visit our lucky visitor. I suspect that he has more surprises for me than ancient snacks. He’s in the middle of the fight anyhow.”
She didn’t wait for anyone to say anything, she simply turned to smoke and vanished, a species exclusive version of [Shadow Step] that could bring her anywhere she knew, and she knew every farm in the region after three hundred years living in the Fortress.
