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"Right, you're always so busy; I know." Gina smirks, "Go ahead and leave me alone here, I'll be fine. Just remember to bring a broom along when you come back, then you can help sweep off all the cobwebs around here later." She turns her head away from you, keeping her cuffed arms crossed.

You have no choice but to say goodbye and dash to the Spiral HQ meeting room. Along the way, you notice some knights heading towards the same direction, and they're wearing the same navy uniform as you. That's a good sign that you're not late for the meeting just yet, thanks to Gina.

You locate the entrance of the meeting room, noticing that it's nearly overloaded with all sorts of knights squeezing past through the door. As you try to push yourself past among sweaty Guardians, you catch a glimpse of some of the respected knights of the Spiral Order sitting right at the end.

Both of the lieutenants, Feron and Vaelyn are present, even Recon Ranger Desna is there beside them. Two separate monitors are turned on at the end of the room. Intel agent Kora appears in one, and Wegner in the other. You know that the lieutenants never attend such a meeting unless there is a dire situation at hand, not to mention packing every single Spiral HQ agent into a room. You figure that this is probably one of the worst case scenario the knights have ever encountered.

After everyone is being seated, Feron clears his throat gently to catch everyone's attention. "Good morning, my fellow comrades. I apologise if we've cut into you activities, but right now we have disclosed a situation, something that has probably never occurred before. I'll let Kora brief you with that."

Feron nods at Kora, who immediately starts speaking through the monitor. "Thanks Feron. Now, as all of you may know, we've encountered several cases of increased Fiend activity in the Clockworks. Some of you might recall the happening in Amu-Sol. This time, it's something similar, but possibly worse. According to Wegner, we've detected several Trojans spawning all at once, especially where they are most unlikely to appear."

"Yes indeed." Wegner says, currently on the other screen. "I've received a detailed report from one of the researchers, and I can conclude that this confirms the strange phenomena. I've collected enough evidence to find out that the Trojans appeared most frequently in the Dark Cities and Haunted Passage, which is rather peculiar. We've never encountered any Trojans, much less their statues, inside regular Clockwork passages."

"That alone is already threatening," Kora continues, "and apparently we've found out another information from this. Knights who ventured in the Clockworks suddenly disappear at the exact same time we get a report of Trojan groups spawning. We assumed it was purely coincidental. However, this happened more than a dozen times, and we're getting suspicious; these events might have a strong relation to each other. We must investigate and identify this link, and put this double-threat to a stop."

Vaelyn shuffles a little in her seat, speaking for the first time in the meeting, "Therefore, we are all gathered here to assign squadrons for that purpose. As Wegner stated, we are going to infiltrate the Scarlet Fortress, that's where the most recent reporting came in this morning. There will be two task forces, each will be assigned to move to separate wings of the fortress, West and East. The Western force will head to the ancient archives, while the Eastern force will have to sneak past the heavily guarded area and try to tackle the Trojans. Hopefully, one of these groups will discover the missing knights' fate on time.

Feron glances back at the rest of the attendees, staring deep into everyone's eyes before he speaks again, "Now, who shall volunteer for this mission? You get to choose which task force to join. Remember, we are in a desperate situation. Code Amber. You know what that means."

A. Volunteer to join the Western force.
B. Volunteer to join the Eastern force.
C. Pull back from this mission.

Basically, all you need is to simply cast a vote. One point is rewarded for each vote. Bonus rounds can give extra points, depending on various factors.

There is a Main Compendium for your reference, you can find everything there.

Thanks for saying the special mentions for me, Shotjeer!

A receives the most votes!

If you want to know how much points you've earned, remember that you can visit first page of this forum post to check on the point scoreboard.

(Sorry for letting this story slip past the forums. Sometimes when I notice some regulars aren't posting yet, I'll delay the next chapter, until they hopefully make their votes in time. Things do happen once in a while, so I thought it is better to give a chance rather than skipping ahead cruelly.)

[In this bonus 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!]

After much hassle and tussle, the whole squadron of the Spiral HQ finally breaches through the entrance of the grand Scarlet Fortress.

You can sense that amidst the ruins, the restless dead are still lingering around the corridors, mixed with the living who found its way behind the stone walls. As though if there are mysterious forces working through the fortress, the details of the tapestries clung on the walls and the ancient bricks built into it are amazingly well-preserved. Some say the Spookats around here love cleanliness so much, they lick off everything filthy so they can settle in forever till time's end. A ridiculous claim said that a Spiral Knight whose occupation was a lowly janitor died inside this horrible manor, and his soul resolved to resume his work forever, dusting off the tapestries and cleaning the cobwebs from old books. Of course, none of these are proven real. In fact, rumours are often false and fabricated from the imaginative mind, which might even include Gina as well. Could she be lying all this time?

"Hey there, you're okay? You look rather quiet today." Someone nudges your shoulder, interrupting your train of thought. The voice sounded familiar to you, and you turn around to see Terrin looking down towards you (he seems so tall even when squatting down). You noticed earlier that the Guardian was also assigned to the same task force as you, and he even came forward to give a salute. While the squadron was working hard to push past the entrance, you've seen him on the front-line, charging through all the monsters without fear. Despite of all the tiring work, he simply shook it all off and continued further. Above all else, he was always there to protect every member. You consider him as the only Guardian knight you've truly come to such a close contact.

"Hello? Are you alright?" Terrin shakes your shoulder again. You imply that you feel perfectly fine. "OK then, I was a little worried when I saw you walking without looking where you're headed to. Well, speaking of which, we've already spit into our respective teams earlier. So, I think we're going to need some direction any moment soon. You might want to prepare for that."

Right after Terrin finishes his sentence, Lieutenant Vaelyn gives her first order, "We've reached the archives library now. Geo Knights, will you mind showing us the way?"

Immediately, you pull out your scanning apparatus, and a couple of other knights did the same. You briefly glance around your surroundings, and you realise that instead of brick walls, there are tall bookshelves on your left and right, extending to all directions. Indeed, Wegner's predictions can be dead accurate.

You and the team of Geo Knights succeed to map out the library's inner bearings within a few minutes, much to everyone's delight. "Good, now tell us if you see the knights anywhere around here." Vaelyn orders.

You look through the map quickly, but you can't find anything vital. However, you do notice some strange readings. First of all, there is a void area at the end of one passage, which means the scan was somehow blocked off by something inside that spot, leaving behind a blank area in your map. Secondly, you see a dead end at the other passage, with no knights there nonetheless. However, there is a hidden tunnel underneath the ground nearby. It is still unknown where the tunnel leads to, so you will have to travel there in order to uncover its secret location.

"There is a void area at our left, I suggest we go look beyond that point." One of the Geo Knights voices his opinion.

"No, that is way too risky. On our right, there is a secret hideout, like some sort of basement. The knights could be in there." says the second Geo Knight.

Vaelyn shifts her attention towards you, "Well, what else do you find? Do we have any other way?"

A. Suggest to travel into the void area.
B. Move to the secret tunnel.