Beginner's Luck: 32

"Crabs?" The Librarian put a disgusted and disappointed face. Fluke, Q, the Librarian were standing at the mouth of the river that divided the islands. This location was directly underneath the symbol that was indicated in Fluke's mask. Both sides of the river were still the sandy beaches that had existed prior to the migration. From their position they could see evidence of one of the now empty villages. Suddenly, a slight audible pop rang out.

"Spiders of the ocean! Armored crustaceans with appendages capable of dismembering flesh and bone alike! Swarming! Scuttling! Scavenging for any scrap of nutrients, they will devour anything they deem edible!" Jinx suddenly appeared beside them shouting the information with all the zeal of a child at a zoo. Her sudden appearance with accompanied shouting made the Librarian jump in surprise and Fluke flinch.

"You're not going to make a habit of appearing like that... are you?" The Librarian asked trying to calm his adrenaline spike.

"No promises." Jinx shrugged and then grinned with a mischievous glint in her eyes. She then cartwheeled away from them down towards the water's edge, giggling like a mad woman. They had little over an hour to prepare for the incoming wave, but neither of them truly knew what they were going to be up against. A sudden unexpected new voice came from behind them.

"Are you all here for the crab harvest?!"

Fluke and the Librarian jumped again turning to see who it was. It was the Fisherman that had left the enchanted fishing net behind the first day. The Librarian sighed and relaxed again before speaking.

"Yes Fisk. This area might get dangerous though. Maybe you best take the day off."

Fisk, the fisherman, began shaking his head before the village chieftain finished his suggestion.

"No can do! Today I have to catch as many of these delicious little beasts while I can! If you both help me, I'll happily give you a reward and share some of the delicious meal I have got planned!" Fisk smiled and raised his eyebrow at the two men in masks.

Another announcement appeared in Fluke's mask, and the Librarian shook his head again to look at Fluke.

"Strange... I've never had a villager reject a request before. Do you know what's going on?"

New Quest: Help Fisk gather crabs for a feast! 0/50

Fluke nodded and explained his experience with Mason, including how he had gotten extra rewards by going above and beyond.

"We will help you Fisk!" Fluke responded. Fisk handed both of them pointy sticks just slightly taller than Fluke, then proceeded to walk towards the water and peer out towards the ocean.

"Well, on the bright side- I like that he seems confident in the ability of these sharp sticks. But I don't like that the number is 50 crabs as a minimum... What's the worst that could happen?" Fluke said this part hopefully, when another audible popping noise occurred and Jinx was by their side again.

"Oh, just you wait and see what's coming! Heh heh heh..." She was rubbing her hands excitedly but provided no other information.

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When the countdown finally dropped to zero, everything went silent for a moment. Then gradually the water began to churn and bubble. A mountain of crabs came scurrying out of the water, the chaotic mess of entangled critters would have been comedic if the numbers had been anything less than apocalyptic. Each were about the size of a cat or medium dog, each with a mess of spiny, lanky legs that truly made them appear spider like. Within moments, the pointy sticks were useless or broken after futile attempts at stabbing at the masses yielded little to no results. Fisk laughed as the crabs crawled up him, but then the laughter turned to screams for help and yelling as they began to claw at him.

"Q! Rescue Fisk! Get him out of here!" Fluke yelled as he too was overwhelmed and began back peddling up the shore.

Q started wading through the horde, lunging his arms now spear like in every direction as quickly as possible. The overwhelming din of scuttling creatures, cracking exoskeletons, and crushing noise made it hard for any of them to coordinate any kind of strategy. Q made it to the non-sentient and split his two arms into four, each of his fingers now more pointed than before. Q hoisted the bleeding terrified man up onto his shoulders and rocketed away.

The Librarian was backing up as fast as he could, he had brought out the magical harpoon he had used in his fight with the Derboul. Unfortunately, he was forced to swing it like a club to fend off the mass of armored creatures. In response, they seemed to churn as a hivemind in reaction to his attacks. Fluke had nothing that fit this scenario, the pickaxe he had in his bag would have been unwieldy and clumsy. The axe he had used to chop the trees was back in the village. With no other options Fluke ran up to the edge of the forest and summoned a Cobalt shard into his hand.

Manipulating his resonant energy, the shard hovered above his right shoulder as he focused on the chaotic frenzy in front of him. The shard glowed a brilliant blue, began to spin rapidly, and with a wink of his eye- shot away from him. The power of the single shard blasted through the crabs, carving a hole straight through most of the beasts before it shattered in a small burst of energy. Tiny crystal shards glinted on the beach like broken glass. All of the crabs that had been struck were either dismembered or killed, which yielded a different surprising result: the crabs began feasting on their own dead. The sudden cannibalism caused a lull in the surge up the beach.

Jinx popped in front of Fluke and yelled at him over the grinding and squealing feeding frenzy, "FLIP THE COIN!" Her head nodded in the affirmative, giving him a thumbs up.

Fluke in a panic did as he was told and summoned his talisman. Flipping the coin he yelled "HEADS!" It was tails. Dread filled the boys heart wondering what would happen next. The crabs now battled and tore themselves apart in a tumbleweed of frenzy, eating their own and fighting over limbs, eyes, and entrails. The smell of raw fish invaded their eyes, mouths and nostrils. Q suddenly returned to their side, landing heavily beside Fluke and Jinx, just as the Librarian ran up to them, now without a harpoon in his hands.

"We need to keep wounding and killing them in groups, so they don't swarm and overwhelm us!" The Librarian spoke loudly now that the crabs were back down by the water. The arrival of a new problem caused all of them to go silent. In eerie silence, yellow-white orbs began to float up out of the ocean around the crabs. As they moved closer to the humans, climbing up onto the sandy shore, was where it became clear what they were: human skulls. Hundreds of human skulls moved as a pack; each one being piloted by a hermit crab.