You reached into your backpack and pulled out your good old axe. Ah, how many memories it brings! It's the first thing you want to see early in the morning, the first thing you would grab upon and huddle up for another day's work.

But now, it no longer serves its original purpose. You don't know what you could do with it now, and you even feel a little foolish for hiding this tool away from being confiscated by the Crimson Order. According to the law, any gremlins who would rebel against the king must be punished, like facing a death sentence. Many managed to escape from this dreadful fate, including you.

Like many other gremlins, you know it's not worthy to serve that mad king. You would rather help the knights to reach the Core than to imprison them cruelly and watch them die from hunger.

Speaking of hunger, you haven't fed on anything for days. You leave behind your axe to ask for food. You see a hooded gremlin standing behind a countertop, appearing to be some sort of vendor. He must be Gracken, whose name has been mentioned to you before. You have heard that he helps out any knights who reaches this subtown before venturing deeper into the Clockworks.

You also see a gremlin Knocker sitting nearby, sniffing back tears once in a while. He appears to be holding only one wand; a Knocker always carries a pair of them. Maybe he could share his meal with you if you offered him some help.

To whom would you seek?
A- Gracken the vendor
B- The Knocker

You approach the poor Knocker and greet him warmly. He doesn't seem to hear you and continues to mumble by himself. "Oh my... sniff... how would I survive... sniff... without... my wand.... sniff... Curse those gremlins..." You gently pat his shoulder, only then he turns to look at you. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you calling." he hastily wipes back the last drop of tear, "Can I help you?"

You state that you need some food, and you would help him to find his missing wand. "Sure, here you go, I don't mind to share." the Knocker handed you a small wrapping. "Well, actually it didn't go missing exactly. When I was escaping from a gremlin guard, he tried to snatch away my wand. I refused to give it up, and we tugged on it back and forth... until he gave a mighty pull. Both of us lost our grip, and one of the wands was sent flying in the air. It fell down depth after depth, but I'm not sure where it landed..."

You asked whether the wand can be obtained from crafting. The Knocker look all the more disappointed, "That thing is exceptionally hard to make, you have to use very rare materials and definite tools. Besides, I only received my wands from the Crimson Order. I have no idea how to duplicate another one."

You had promised to help the Knocker out, but what would you do?
A- You tell him you can search for the missing wand with him.
B- You convince him that you will go back to the Crimson Order's base and steal another wand for him.
C- You insist you can help to craft the wand for him.

You told the Knocker that he can bring you along to find his missing wand. "Thanks for your help," he answers, "but as I said before, I'm not completely sure where it landed. Still, I think it's directly right below us." He points down below.

You look over at the depth below Emberlight, and you can barely recognize a few landmarks gleaming amidst the darkness. One particular place seems to be full of graves and tombstones. That must be the Graveyard, not to mention the phantoms who stalk any trespassers, including the gremlins.

You also see a dome, but you can see a little piece of sky and sunlight in there... and many, many minerals and treasure boxes. Lots of them! The Treasure Vault it is!

You look harder into the darkness and see a floating castle illuminated by candle flames. The Candlestick Keep. You heard of creatures stumbling upon the castle, never to return again. Some gremlins even say that they are unusually terrifed at the sight of horrible Grimalkins roaming in the darkess, waiting to hunt on another prey...

Suddenly, you see a red sparkle somewhere in another location. It was merely part of the skeleton of Cradle, the Deconstruction Zone. You glance at the blue wand clutched tightly in the Knocker's hands. So, he must have lost a red wand, and it could be in there! But as you look again, you can't see it anymore. You could have seen it wrongly, you thought. There may be other Knockers patrolling in there. Furthermore, you don't want other gremlins to recognize your pressence. That only means trouble...

Maybe it's too hard to search around without any clue, and it could be easier if you do it the other way. Still, there isn't a guarantee you could succeed.

Where do you choose to search for the wand?
A- The Graveyard
B- The Treasure Vault
C- The Candlestick Keep
D- The Deconstruction Zone
E- Give up searching and choose another way

D gets the most votes!

[Here's an all new bonus round... which I call as "Do or Die"! In this round, there are only two decisions available. One is certainly the good one, the other is... well, the other way round! So choose wisely, because it will decide if you can succeed smooth as silk, or end up in a very sticky situation, even a dead end!]

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

The elevator reached the Deconstruction Zone, where most of the gremlins get to work; work as in fixing some problematic rivets and enslaving knights. You recall working in here with some other fellow gremlins, repairing gun puppies and smashing open unused scaffolding endlessly. Time seemed to go slow-motion, and the next thing you would seek to do was to throw off your axe and simply rest your exhausted hands. But those days are way over, besides you have a matter at hand for now.

Garren walks to your side and taps on your shoulder, "Listen, Harry and I decide to do our usual 'routine' in here, so meanwhile while the gremlins are distracted, you and your little Knocker can go and find his missing wand. Is that clear? Good, now split up."

The knights head off to another direction while you and Kevier sneak away. You look hard for any sparkling-red object, but it isn't in plain sight.

"Maybe the gremlins found it and hid it away in a store." Kevier says, "If that's the case, we would still need to find the key. Umm I think you know where the key is; it's located in another store, where you need another key, which is in another store, which needs another key..." He starts to tremble, "Oh I don't know if we can find it here!"

You try to calm him down, telling him everything will be fine. "Sorry," he says, "I was just scared. I don't want to be caught again. We have to be careful if another gremlin-"

Suddenly, you hear footsteps nearby, and it's closing in very, very quickly. You reach for your axe, but it's too late. A patrolling gremlin has just stumbled upon your hiding place, and he also appears to be shocked by your pressence. React quickly before he catches you!

A- Act normal and pretend to chip off a piece of rusted metal. He may not have recognised you.
B- Give him a big thwack before he does!