Early rummaging through the charred corpse of the Gorging Trough yielded a good few handfuls of salvaged goods, but the Maneater chefs' luck did not last. Though the larder of the guild's grand restaurant had been extravagantly furnished, little remained after the manic session of meal preparation that filled the banquet hall, and less still after the all-consuming inferno. It was hard to put aside the thought that if only Lord Sugi didn't order that grand send-off feast, the Gorging Trough would still be in pristine condition, but not a soul voiced that insubordinate notion aloud.

For her part, Mae dedicated herself to the task assigned to her with what supplies came her way. Pickings, however, were scarce. After the gains from her staff's initial search and rescue petered out, made into flavorful but nutritious hard tack, cured meats, and dried fruit or vegetable snack bags, Mae started finding herself with more and more free time. Whenever Cyber Skeletons entered her blindsight from the direction of the condemned facilities they invariably carried inorganic materials for the restoration of the Gorging Trough's structure. Organic materials were harder to come by. Mae's cursory knowledge of the other guild factories led her to believe that only Gammaton's might be able to offer her living matter, Hivehill was not on the chopping block. "Shame we didn't have some plant-lovin' druid or livestock-keepin' blood mage..." the headless horror muttered.

As she sat, parked on a hunk of scrap that served as an ample benched, she considered what to do. Lady Fatalis' order to her had been to process every organic thing that came her way into victuals made to last. That did not, however, mean she had to rely on the scrappers alone. She cast her blindsight over her kitchen staff, getting a sense for their mood. If the current situation concerned her, it distressed her underlings. Like her, they needed something to do while the others were all off being useful. Mae made up her mind. "Hey!" she rumbled. "Gather 'round! I've gotta new job for ya!" Her Maneaters hastened to assemble. If she had a head, her wealth of culinary expertise would be running through it, and she hastened to spill the beans. "Listen up. We need ingredients, and there ain't any more to be pulled outta the wreckage. But the others said we're on a mountain, and wherever there's land, there's food, if ya know where to look for it. I want you all to scrape the mountainside. Look for berries--black, huckle, mul. Grab some nice young needles from pine trees I can make tea with, or wintergreen! Pull up daylilies, dandelions, chicory, wood sorrel, scallion! If you're feelin' frisky take down some rabbits 'n squirrels. But listen..." Mae's guttural tone took on a sense of urgency. "Keep a low profile. If we ain't alone out here, we can't get discovered while we're still lickin' our wounds. So if you see anything suspicious, cheese it. Got it?"

Her sous chef bowed his head while the girls talked among themselves, excited to be given such an important task. "Certainly, ma'am. Your faithful chefs will not let you down." Unable to nod, Mae gave him a thumbs-up. With her stationed here, she would be relying on her subordinate to manage the willful -and not exactly physically gifted- crew. She watched the Maneaters as they went until they left the range of her blindsight, headed off to forage in the unseen unknown. Then she gave a great, guttural sigh, and tended to her stew.

It was a while until the first cooks returned, but they carried armfuls of mountain greens, and their colleagues followed with a steady stream of foraged offerings. After Rib lumbered up in her Jubiliant form, a number of rotund rodents impaled on his rib blades, Mae was regaled with a story of clever cooperation that saw multiple Jubiliant Maneaters uproot a sheltered section of loose stone, sending the little beasts nested their to their doom. Round returned carrying the carcass of a mountain goat that Shank managed to catch and kill, and the others followed suit with more greens, flowers, mushrooms, and roots. Mae's makeshift eatery was back in business. The abomination kicked herself into overdrive, processing and preparing the bevy of new ingredients with the help of her minions, but even still it took a while to get through it all. In the end the refugees of the Gorging Trough managed to produce a smorgasbord of dry salads, jerkies, and teas. As the shadows of evening stretched across the land, the staff gathered together around Mae's cooking fire to eat their fill. After sampling her handiwork Mae couldn't help but clap a flabby arm around the shoulders of the nearest Maneaters and exclaim, "I tell ya, in all my days, a meal's never moved me as much as this! This here feast's a testament to the soul of the Trough, and where it is: not in some buildin', but in each and every one of ya!" She raised her half-melted cup of wintergreen tea. "To the cooks!"

"To the cooks!" Her staff echoed, clanging their various containers together before they drank deep. If today proved anything, it was that everything tasted better with company.

As the toast turned to general chatter, Mae lounged in contentment until Head approached and tapped her shoulder. "Ma'am. Lady Fatalis has returned."

"Oh. Guess I oughta see her." With a groan Mae heaved her bulk onto her feet. She bade farewell to her crew and hurried off to where a few of the other Overseers had already accosted the Supreme One. "Lady Fatalis! Good evenin'!" she resounded as she stomped over. As she drew near she struggled to put together her report. She'd done her job in the time that Fatalis was away, but the Trough still lay in shambles. Mae elected not to mention that part, since she both figured that prioritizing strategic guild facilities instead would be obvious, and that one or both of the workmen might think she was being passive-aggressive. "I've got food aplenty, ma'am. Anyone who needs a meal is more'n welcome to come by the, uh, Trough 'n grab a bite of what we've scrabbled together." Compared to the achievements of the others it wasn't much, but it was what she got, and she hoped it satisfied.