The Barns

"Final evacuation is in the stadium."

- Nick

The Barns is the fourth chapter in Dark Carnival.

Walkthrough
Thanks to its Gauntlet Crescendo event, this chapter is widely regarded as one of the most difficult in the game. The importance of keeping at least one Pipe Bomb or Bile Jar in reserve for this event cannot be over-emphasized: refer the following walk through narrative.

Two things can happen at the start: either there will be a barricade across a shorter route that forces players to proceed directly through a cluster of small fairground tents to Mistachio's Strength Tester and the Bumper Cars, or the fences will be arranged in such a way that players are obliged to take a longer route going left. It does not matter very much which route has been set up by The Director since players soon end up in the same locations.

If there is a barricade, players are directed to the right through an avenue leading to a seating area which usually contains a Melee Weapon, Pistol, Grenade or, very rarely, Adrenaline.

In all instances, the next area is Mistacho's strength machine that grants an achievement (Gong Show) if the equipment is struck with a melee weapon whilst under the influence of Adrenaline. Players should check out the aforementioned seating area for supplies before heading through the Bumper Cars to the next segment.

Once in the next area the Peach Pit Stadium looms large behind a fence. Players may wish to shoot through gaps in the fence and clean out any Common Infected seen down below near the two stadium entrances and use this opportunity to get orientated - this is going to be the venue for the up-coming Gauntlet Crescendo. A passive Witch will sometimes spawn in the stadium entrance area, if so, take her out now to avoid having to deal with her in the next chapter. When looking at the stadium entrances, it is crucial that players recognize the importance of heading for the left entrance: but refer to the next chapter's walk through for advice on this.

On approaching The Barns, players need to go into high alert since occasionally a Tank will spawn either right outside them or partway inside this structure - although a passive Witch is more likely.

Those players seeking an achievement should use this opportunity to participate in the Stache Wacker game: 42 points earns the achievement (Stache Wacker) by shooting the requisite nuts. Opposite the entrance to The Barns is a single roomed office building with a blank blue sign on its facade that usually holds at least one useful supply item. This area's resident passive Witch will often be nearby and in the worst case she will be right outside The Barns entrance.

The Barns usually involve little more than mopping up a few random Common Inflected - although a mini-horde may spawn if a team is taking its time. The wooden ladder to the right on entering leads up to a small loft containing some hay bails and nothing else. (When playing Single Player, a glitch results in Coach's AI Bot occasionally getting stuck halfway up this ladder. In which case break his labor strike by putting a few rounds into him.)

The third barn's tables will usually display a health kit, two or so Tier 2 weapons or Pipe bombs.

Exiting the barn complex brings players to an outside area with some indeterminate oblong blocks stacked against the wall, at which point one character will drop a heavy suggestion to climb up on the barn roofs. Players jump up on the roof using these objects and thereafter traverse the barn roof following the obvious visual clues provided by conveniently located extension ladders.

The barn roof ends with players overlooking a two tiered plaza leading up to the Peach Pit stadium. This plaza will contain a small number of Common Inflected who will have to be mopped up. At the same time it is not unknown for a Smoker or Boomer to be in the neighborhood.

Players jump down and explore the plaza. They should look for two things: Gas Cans and a scaffolding structure down opposite the Peach Pit turnstile gates. The team is now on the verge of the Gauntlet Crescendo Event.

This event is a game of two halves. The first half involves fighting a Horde next to the aforementioned gate. The second half involves battling down a narrow pathway against a constantly spawning Horde comprising Common Infected intermingled with at least one Special Infected (most commonly a Spitter).

Players get ready by placing any Gas Cans in front of the portable toilets next to the gates, healing and visiting the ammo pile on the scaffolding structure.

Operating the gate control triggers the first half of the finale. (Note that the gates do not open immediately.) Common Inflected will usually attack from as many as three directions: they always jump over the wall behind the portable toilets (and thus into the gasoline fire trap laid for them), from the Barn side (again - the gasoline fire awaits them) and occasionally from over the fence behind the scaffolding structure. A good team will close ranks in the corner next to the gate and defend from there. This can be quite intense but it is nothing that a good team has not encountered many times before - pick the shots and reload often.

A sudden announcement that the gates are open will appear and the true Gauntlet Crescendo now begins. The goal is to get down the walkway, turn left and then get into a safe room located just inside the Peach Pit stadium on the left hand side. The detail of how individual teams play this obviously depends on their experience and the resources they have in any given game. Without detracting from the more detailed excellent strategy guide featured below, here is the gist of a generic but sure-fire way of surviving this challenge:

1. Keep the team together - this is essential. Anyone who goes down, gets timid or hung up is going to be very difficult to save without putting the entire team at risk.

2. The moment the gates open, everyone moves fast. Speed is of the very essence. Forget about any last Infected in the plaza-gate area - get through the gates! If everyone in the team has Adrenaline, now is a good time for a synchronized communal shot to be administered.

3. The designated Pipe Bomb or Bile Jar grenadier selects this weapon and gets ready. Assault riflers or melee weapon carriers take point (this a moment the Chainsaw comes into its own). The point players start clearing the way. About one third along the walkway, the grenadier throws a Pipe Bomb or Bile Jar (trying not to make this too early as the aim is to clear as much of the walkway as possible) and then everyone charges hard - really leaning on that explosion. If a Spitter pops up and lets fly, do not hesitate - run through the acid goo.

4. At the end of the walkway, the route takes a sharp left turn and looks at two entrances to the Peach Pit. Keep left and aim for the left entrance! Under no circumstances should the right entrance be attempted. Another Pipe Bomb or Bile Jar (if the team has one) gets posted at this juncture. Point players will have a hard slog as Common Inflected are usually solidly packed in the entrance area - they must shoot, hack and shove to clear a path to the safe room. Happily, once the first player is in the room, the Horde's spawn rate seems to thin out and slow, so this is an opportunity for first arrivals to reload, pop some Pills and hang in the doorway providing covering fire for any tail-enders.

Campaign
The Survivors must pass through Whispering Oaks' exhibition barns and livestock pens to get to the next safe house, located inside the stadium. Before that, they must activate the gates, which causes a crescendo event holding out near the entrance. Then when the gates open, they must run for the safe room through more hordes of Infected.

In this chapter, The Survivors can win the two Moustachio achievements. To get "Gong Show", the player must break the strength tester sideshow near the beginning. The player's health has to be green and must use an Adrenaline injector. Hit the red block with a melee weapon until the machine explodes at the top. Only the player who makes the winning hit gets the achievement. To get 'Stache Whacker', find the whack-a-mole like sideshow. Press the button and hit or shoot every Moustachio that pops. If time runs out, hit the button again. At 42 points the machine will malfunction, start ringing, and everyone who has hit a Moustachio will get the achievement. Both achievements will activate a horde.

Melee weapons can often be found in the small picnic area that can be accessed be going to the left after leaving the saferoom, or entering by going forward then left. If adreniline doesn't spawn in there along with the melee weapon, go into the Stache Whacker area, there will be a melee weapon (Or perhaps a Magnum) on a bench and adrenaline should be found around that area.

There is only ONE respawn closet in this chapter, which is the portapotties near the Strength Tester.

The final Crescendo Event is less of a horde of zombies and more of a tide of zombies, each horde automatically being respawned until you take the LEFT gate and duck into the safe room. This event is widely considered to be much more difficult then the Finale, and much planning is required just to pass this Crescendo. (In Expert mode this can take several retries) A good tactic is to save as many Bile bombs and Pipe bombs as possible prior to crescendo, and then use them to distract the horde without killing them (as there is a limit of how many Infected may be alive on the map). The one who leads the group should carry chainsaw or heavy automatic weaponry (the AKM works well for this). Chainsaws throughout the campaign should be kept just for this crescendo. A Grenade Launcher should be treated as precious gold, as well. As you approach the Safe House, all the Common Infected will spawn behind the pillar. Lob a grenade near there, and dash into the safe house to prevent them from spawning in your path, or you can try to max out the zombie limit on the map by having 3 Survivors hide in a corner near the saferoom (Near the portapotties) and having one Survivor in the saferoom atracting all the zombies he can. Once there is a huge mob at the saferoom, have the three leave and continue to level, (Bots will not work on this glitch) If done correctly, the zombie limit will all be at the saferoom and so no zombies can spawn during the crescendo event.

This is probably the most difficult crescendo event in the game. Although a chainsaw or Grenade Launcher would be good, they're too rare to count on.

Here's a step-by-step method that usually ensures at least one Survivor getting through. It's based off SPEED. Going slowly or poor communication (people getting left behind) will cripple the plan.

Before the crescendo: When you're progressing through the carnival and you can see through a fence the exit, pay attention. The Director, with his nasty sense of humor, can sometimes spawn a Witch or a Tank right at the end. Here's a tip: Go to options then make all subtitles on. You can obviously hear a Witch, but there have been some reports of a Tank. If this happens, the music won't play, but in the subtitles it will say "Tank growls". If you can even see an arm, shoot it or throw a Molotov. It will then attack you and the music will play, but this is much better than discovering it at the very end of the Crescendo.


 * 1) Stand on the planks near the ammo before the gate opens, leave a gas tank on the floor in the center but don't shoot it. If you have an extra one or two place them on the steps leading down or in the corner behind the scaffolding platform to burn zombies spawning in.
 * 2) As soon as the gate opens EVERYONE should drop down and run through the gate, the last one through shooting the gas tank to prevent extra damage to the team if they get stuck on a Special Infected.
 * 3) Make sure to use the right hand door on the gate; Special Infected tend to hide in the left hand blind spot, if this is a Boomer then most of the team will get slimed. Enter from the right and use automatic shotgun fire to waste anything lying in wait.
 * 4) As you run up the passageway ONE player should throw a Pipe Bomb to the far end, careful that it doesn't bounce off anything and hit the team. The idea of this bomb is not to wait until it kills anything, it's just a distraction. The rest of the team should be using Melee - the volume of zombies means there's no time to reload and the close confines means shooting will just kill your team mates.
 * 5) Upon reaching the open area before the entrance to the Safe Room there's two things that you should do - throw a Molotov at the right hand entrance (which you don't want to use) and jab an Adrenaline. Here you can also switch from melee to auto shotgun which can help take down Special Infected blocking the way.
 * 6) If you've taken Adrenaline then jump over the fence and charge into the Safe Room, leaving anyone stuck on a Special Infected to their fate. Grim, but it works.

Other tips:

The end molotov is very useful, but also dangerous. If it bounces off something then it can spell doom for the attempt and is quite capable of killing the whole team if badly thrown.

A Spitter is lethal here, able to stop the team from advancing and allow a fresh wave of Infected to spawn. If you absolutely have to advance, are sure you can make it with the health you have, and there is space beyond any pool of acid then simply charge / jump through it. As long as there are no zombies on the other side you can pass through quick enough not to take too much damage.

Sometimes a Witch can spawn in the entrance to the safe room - this is a cruel spot in that she seems to spawn after all the Survivors have dropped down from the barn, meaning you must kill her during the Crescendo.

Rescuing Gnome Chompski is difficult to say the least. One way to make it easier is to throw him over the fence (the same one from which Witches can be killed, described above) which will allow you to complete half the map without having to carry the piece of useless plastic. You still have to scoop him up when nearing the open area though, so throw the Molotov / take Adrenaline before doing that.

This place is good for getting certain achievements (Such as HEAD HONCHO) as you can just stay in the saferoom entrance (Bots will stay behind you) and attack until you run out of bullets or your achievement is satisfied.

When you enter the first barn, there is a ladder to your right. Climb it and there is usually some item up there.

Auto shotguns are, surprisingly enough, of limited use during the crescendo. While it is true that during the final rush to the safe room it's the best firearm you can have, since for the majority of the "running" part of the event the Infected are coming at you from a distance, the shotgun user would be better off simply covering the team's back or side while the players with long ranged weapons (The G3 with its large magazine size, damage, and extremely high penetration is a good choice for this, although having a melee weapon with it is a must during this Gauntlet Crescendo) take them out from a distance.

Tactics

 * L4d2_0570.jpg you're on the top of the barns, watch out for Jockeys, Smokers, or Hunters. If your teammates make it down to open the gates, and you are still on the roof, you might be pulled back to where the Survivors can't see you, which means they CANNOT save you. This is because there is no way back onto the Roofs of the barns once you have dropped. So in Versus mode, it is really important to stick together on this part.
 * When playing Versus, if you're the Spitter and the Survivors just got to the Crescendo Event, wait until they climb on the ladder where the ammo is. Once they are distracted by Infected, spit on their path, and the Infected should hold the Survivors there so it will be harder for them to run to the safe room.
 * In Versus, if you are a Charger and the Survivors are coming up to the roofs above the barns before the crescendo event, if you are on the edge of the first roof and spawn, you can wait for the Survivors to walk on the roof, and charge one back down to the ground before the barns. If you can pull this off, it gives your team a fair amount of time to set up an attack, as the team will have to jump down and go through the barns again.
 * In Versus, if you are the Tank you can punch the Moustachio strength test game and alert a horde.
 * In Versus, as the tank, try to avoid using your rock throw in the areas prior to the barns unless you are absolutely positive it will net you an incap or kill. This immobilizes you, giving survivors time to throw a molotov, reload, and use quick health items and run all the way back to the starting safe room, leaving you to die a fiery and humiliating death.
 * In Versus, if you are the Hunter you can pounce in the trees and almost any Survivor will ignore you and run past, even the AI.
 * A useful reminder when playing single player expert on this level is that, chances are having made it this far, your team will not have started in the safe room with full health and be able to keep the health kits. This is one of the, if not THE only level in the game itself where you may want to favor using health packs over using your pills instead. The reason being that if you get caught up in the gauntlet event and end up getting pounded down, the most time you can afford yourself is time to gobble down pills / adrenaline to boost your mobility. Conservation of your TEMPORARY health items is absolutely essential to surviving the crescendo on this level, especially with AI teammates.
 * A good practice on single player expert is upon departing the safe room, immediately button-hook to the left around the side of the building, dispatching any infected in the immediate path to the fence (this would be near the area where the entrance to the safehouse was from the previous map). If you look to the left of the fence, there is a big hedge, and a small nook the players can fit through (closest to the fence). The survivor AI will always follow the human player to that spot. There are no AI nodes that provide for spawning infected, so the player may safely hide back there and kill all infected coming through. Usually, the AI survivors will finish all of them off before the player has any need to worry about doing it themselves.
 * On solo expert, do not be so dependent on Molotovs to bring down the tank. The layout of the level is advantageous to the solo expert runthrough, because there are so many structures one can kite the tank around whilst dealing damage to him safely. Grab any pipe bomb you see first, and if you find another before the crescendo, it would behoove you to use it. Take heed, though, as the director seems to start taking it personally when you kill tanks and witches with ease in this level. The biggest point about saving the pipe bomb is that at the gates, before pressing the button, the player is highly likely to find a molotov (sometimes in a fairly defensible spot, like right before the stairs going to the plank area) or a gas tank. The molotov can be used to stave the initial horde off and allow your team some breathing room before making a mad dash to the gates. In addition, after the fire clears, the player is free to grab his pipe bomb (which he saved earlier) and use it closer to the entrance of the stadium, where the ridiculously large mob is spawning in. Please note that it takes about 60 seconds for the gates to open and allow passage after starting the event, so it may be helpful to try to thin the horde out and buy yourself precious time before throwing the molotov or igniting the gas tank.
 * Last but not least, on solo expert, upon entering the area where the stadium entrance / safehouse doors are FIRST visible (this is after the bumper cars), when passing through the hedge entrance, there is a green fence on the player's right, and similar other fences on the way to the barns. Blast through these with the combat shotgun when it is safe to do so. The director is particularly fond of hiding the tank there, only to have him come out at the worst possible time later, or shuffle him to another spot when the whole time the team could get an easy kill. If encountering the tank inside the bumper car arena, do NOT stay and fight him inside, as he can launch the cars at you. Rather, kite him to the ramps entering the bumper car area, and try to make him climb the wooden railings over. He will frequently get stuck trying to figure out how to negotiate them, giving you a great advantage in time to unload on him with shotguns and assault rifles.
 * It is possible, even if it takes weeks (or longer) to beat this on expert in single player mode. This is the single most frustrating level to play through in terms of restarts, but eventually success will come to you. Try any of the strategies above, with a 'mid-point goal' of getting ALL of your team to the Gauntlet event with at least 60 permanent health. The director will usually have a heart and spawn 1-4 Health Packs in the areas noted above. Take advantage of them sooner, rather than later. A good setup to start yourself off when you hit the button is to toss one fuel can in front of the barricade coming in, and one near the toilets by the gates. When you hit the button, ignite them once the horde swells, hide in the corner of the barricade closest to the toilets, and do your best to protect your team. When the gates open, you'll need to balance your melee weapon attacks with some very tricky maneuvering. If you do end up taking the heat and get to Near-Death status (black and white) pull out your melee weapon, hide in the corner on the LEFT of the gate (after it opens) and draw the horde in towards you, trying to buy your teammates time to catch up. Keep an eye peeled for special infected to come towards you or otherwise attack, especially Chargers. Once your teammates have your back, heal QUICKLY, then take off toward the stadium entrance. If you feel like you're going to be overwhelmed by the horde, jump onto one of the two dumpsters on the right side (with the stairs between them) to shake off any infected that are about to land a hit. Hide inside the corner made by the barricade and the retaining wall, using your melee weapon to thin the horde down a bit and try to take the load off your AI teammates. After you get enough time to advance further, you will see dead ahead a portapotty with a small nook in it. The biggest mistake a player can make here, is to assume that they will have enough time to try the 'Hail Mary' approach and just gun for the safehouse. This will lead to controller-shattering rage as The Director will casually spawn another 50 or so zombies split both ways (splitting around the dividing wall) to smack you and your team down, in any order. Instead, go hide in the corner by the portapotty and wait for the horde to come to you, once again dispatching them with your melee weapon (of which I would recommend the katana). This time, when the horde has been dispersed, now you want to gun for it, as you will only get a few precious seconds time to get in and shut the safe room door behind you. Your teammates will almost certainly die in the process, but you will be free to advance to the finale. It should be noted that this strategy is at least as contingent on favorable circumstances as it is on the skill level required to pull it off. It is not guaranteed to work 100 (or even 50) percent of the time, but if your team is adequately prepared to handle the ridiculously large wave of zombies coming at you, you have a chance to finally beat this chapter. Good luck!