Apocalypse Reset: My Crab Can Heal the World!

The time has finally come, and Barns finds himself on the eve of their castle raid. The leaders of Dimartino assemble together at the Adventurer's Guild to go over their final plan.

They had intended to use a conference room for the meeting, but Clancy's presence necessitated something a little larger. As such, those gathered in attendance stand around a pool table on the hotel's first floor.

"We have seventy-four signed up with the Adventurer's Guild who will participate in the battle," Yunie states. "Four of them have A Rank weapons, and several others have at least B Rank equipment."

Barns is lost in thought for a moment. He didn't have ANY equipment yet. Maybe he should do some more of Yunie's quests...

"We got the artisans ready to wallop too - we got forty explosives made, all packed up nice with that crab foam."

Barns looks over at the speaker. "Who are you?" he asks.

Yunie interjects. "This is Underhill. You and Clancy recommended him to run our economy."

Barns sticks his bottom lip out. "Oh, okay."

Underhill smiles crookedly. "That's right, hero boy. Clancy over here and I really hit it off, y'know? And not to toot my horn, but since I've been takin' charge, our productivity has doubled!"

"So, forty bombs, seventy-four Adventurers. Then me, and Clancy."

"We've also rigged and fitted a cannon for Clancy to use during the battle. We'll be launching our foam bombs from him."

Barns looks over to his crab and punches at him playfully. "Dang, Clancy, you've been busy while I've been training! Making friends, building war machines!"

"DEFEAT EVIL WOMAN. NEVER BOIL AGAIN."

"I see, you have a vendetta. Well, that's understandable."

Barns thinks about Maria for a moment. He wasn't sure if 'defeating' her was necessary - after all, she and Barns seem to have a bit of mutual attraction. Barns was still holding out hope that the Princess would join their side once they claim victory.

"She might be evil now, but I haven't lost faith in her," Barns informs the group. "If we can take her alive, then we will. Her knowledge of Dimartino and the castle should be invaluable to us."

Underhill cackles. "Yeah, I been thinkin' the same thing. Seems it's best for both of us if that Princess stays kickin', hm?"

The comment catches Barns off guard. Underhill was one of the merchants, and was resurrected after Maria left town. They shouldn't have ever come across each other.

'More like 'Underhanded',' Barns thinks to himself, watching the dark-haired young man as he plays with a gilded cane. He didn't appear too much older than Barns.

'Still, if Clancy trusts him, what can I say? King's a good judge of character.'

The only person at the pool table that hadn't yet spoken was Quinn, mayor of the town. He takes advantage of the momentary downtime to get his piece in.

"The town will be vigilantly defended while the attack force assaults the castle," Quinn smiles. "And in the case of our defeat, escape routes are already secured with a plan to fall back to the shoreline."

Barns nods, mostly ignoring him. "The main goal of this assault is for me to reach the demon Osmond. He commands all of the monsters in Dimartino, and he's in love with Maria. So we have two choices. One, I capture Maria and force Osmond to stand down with his army, or two - I kill Osmond and we isolate the horde, taking them out slow and steady."

Barns reflects on his words. Option one was his preferred, of course - but Maria was no slouch. Capturing her would be difficult, and even restrained she's dangerous.

Yunie agrees with the plan. "Our Adventurers will focus on keeping the monsters tied up at chokepoints, not to engage the horde. Clancy will create a perimeter of foam which should force the monsters to funnel elsewhere."

"INDISPENSABLE DISPENSER!" Clancy beats the top of his shell with his pincers, putting on a good show of savagery.

Underhill finds room for an underhanded comment. "Crab guy, you don't ever run out of foam, do you?"

As Clancy tries to explain to no avail, some key features of his ability become clear. Clancy can absorb and convert moisture in the atmosphere into foam. As such, anywhere with adequate 'wetness' would allow Clancy to create foam indefinitely. Dimartino was a hot, sweaty jungle - the perfect place to foam.

The group discusses some of the finer points of the strategy, and once they are all in agreement on the game plan, they leave the room and relay information to the expectant Adventurers outside.

Yunie points out a couple of Adventurers that she wants to introduce Barns to. They're standing by the Daily Quest board, having a conversation with each other.

"Hello!" Yunie says meekly, butting into their conversation. "This is the legendary hero, Barnacles. I wanted you both to meet him. Barnacles, these two will form the cornerstone of the Adventurer's Guild assault. They're highly skilled - oh! But I should let them introduce themselves."

"Sup, mate?" the first says, offering to shake Barns' hand. "Godrick. Pleasure to meetcha. Not from here meself, come all this way from Bravura. Picked a bad time to end up on holiday, ended up dead in a ditch and then I was an orc or somethin'. Saw you way back at the beachside village, I did!"

Barns smiles back at the man. In his past life, he fought alongside several warriors from Bravura. It was a fairly isolated island nation with several communities of Secret Arts users who specialized in 'Blade Dancing'. The man, Godrick, has a sword on each hip, two more on his back, and a dagger strapped to his arm. This guy knows how to Blade Dance.

His companion introduces herself next. "Hello, Mr. Barns," she says sweetly. Barns' ears perk up - finally someone was using his nickname!

"Just 'Barns' is okay. What's your name?" he asks, shaking her hand.

"Haima. I'm a Secret Arts practitioner, but..."

"But your Arts are a secret, yeah?" Barns winks. "Don't worry, I get it. I also come from a Secret Village."

She nods dutifully. "I can control monsters. Two or three at a time. I'll force them to fight each other in the siege, and cause chaos in their ranks."

"That will be a great help, Haima. Thank you."

"Of course, Mr. Barns! It will be a pleasure to fight alongside you!" She gives Barns a salute.

Barns taps her on the shoulder and addresses both Adventurers. "I'm going to rely on you both tomorrow. Try and get some rest, now. We're leaving before first light."

The two walk off happily. Haima is gushing over how cool it was to talk to the legendary hero in person.

Yunie and Barns stand side by side, watching them trot off.

"I estimate each of them could fell a hundred monsters at least. The bombs we have, another three hundred. And the rest of our Adventurers should be good for two to three hundred total as well, at minimum."

Barns bites his lip - a habit of his. "We'll be up against three thousand. But there's nothing else we can do. There's no leaving Dimartino without sieging the castle."

Yunie agrees. The only road out of the kingdom of Dimartino was north of the castle. They'd be at Osmond's mercy if they tried to sneak through - especially with a crowd of humans in tow. The rest of Dimartino was surrounded by open sea.

"I hate to say it, but the outcome of this battle rests fully on you."

Barns gulps. "I know. And that's why I'm sure we'll win!"

In typical Barns fashion, he can't leave the conversation on a dramatic high note.

"Oh, by the way. You got any equipment I can have?"

Yunie smirks. "I have just the thing, now that you mention it."