Two days had passed since Sam escaped the cell and he'd already convinced five people that Grian was evil. Most didn't believe him at first, but after seeing Ren so serious, they immediately joined the team, helping Sam with his cunning plan.

The first person to join was Doc, who had no problem building gadgets for Sam. He was also a supplier of weapons, including netherite swords and tridents. After Doc joined, they traveled down to Cleo, who declined at first but after a day of contemplation, took them up on the offer and became a guard for the team. After seeing her fellow friend, False soon joined the few Hermits. Last to join the group was Etho, who only joined because he needed a new project to focus on, and after hearing Sam's story, he felt that it was the right thing to do. Despite Iskall's warnings, Etho left to join the group.
And just like that, Sam had an entire team of warriors and geniuses.

Xisuma, on the other hand, was panicking. He'd heard from Hermits that Sam had tried recruiting them. He'd also heard that a few had joined. This was concerning, because it meant that the world was divided. Split between good and evil. Another problem was Mumbo. He'd been anxious for his best friend's return and had once asked X to go to Void, just to check whether Grian was alright. Everyone had tried calming Mumbo down, even if their attempt was in vain. Fortunately, other Hermits had come to Stress' base after hearing the recent news. All of the Boatem Crew arrived, which definitely calmed Mumbo down much more. Joe once visit to tell Xisuma how much Cleo had changed since joining Sam. Apparently she seemed like a 'mindless henchperson'.

"X! I got a message from Ren!" Tango shouted from the other side of the room, staring down at his communicator.

"What does it say?" Xisuma ran over to Tango and peered over the demon's shoulder.

'Meet us tomorrow evening at the Boatem Pole. Bring everyone and leave your weapons behind. We won't be taking weapons either.'

"Message them back and tell them 'We will set off in due time'" X smiled, immediately thinking of plans to imprison Sam once again.

The rest of that day was spent alerting everyone about the meeting and collecting supplies for their long journey. They would have to travel by land due to their amount of luggage, which would be too heavy for a boat or elytra.
As they were setting off, they met Impulse, who looked even more tired than usual. His clothes were dirty, wet and had more rips than before.

"Hey, Impulse. Are you alright? You look a bit... Tired." Scar said, trying not to offend the usually friendly man.

"I've been to every corner of this world and I still can't find Doc! We had organised a competition to see who's better at redstone and he didn't show up. He won't answer his communicator either." Impulse explained, brushing some dust off of his lab coat.

"You can join us if you'd like! Were on our way to meet him, Sam and some others now." Bdubs suggested.

"Sam? What's he doing with Doc? Last time I checked, Sam was harassing Grian when we first saw him."

"A lot has happened. We'll all stay at Stress' for a little longer so you can get ready. And on the way there, we can fill you in on everything that has happened. It's a very long story." Xisuma said, gesturing for everyone to turn back to the base behind them.