"-Topmass, Unhost, Sokar, Zueljin... I think that's it," Xisuma said. He, Impulse, Mumbo, Stress, Biffa, Iskall and Jevin were all sitting inside the skull at Stress's base, and had all been discussing the recent events as a part of their own secret society. Based upon the events of the past week, the group had geared themselves toward finding out what was going on.

"I don't think any of us have seen any of the inactive guys, but other hermits may have. I think that we should ask around,, see what other people have seen," Jevin said. The group had been formed by Mumbo, Stress and Iskall, after the events of the night before last. X had been recruited for his knowledge of the group, and his computer access. Biffa seemed to know a lot about the former hermits, and had firsthand experience at the End prison thing. Impulse and Jevin had overheard Stress and Mumbo talking about Iskall and False's return, and rather than try to keep it a secret (They hadn't told anyone else of their return), they invited them into the group.

"Agreed," the others said.

"Okay, this will be how it works: We'll be in teams of two: I'll take Stress," Mumbo stated. Iskall looked slightly abashed. "Iskall, nobody knows you're back, so if you could stay around here and keep an eye on False, that'd be great." Iskall looked confused and somewhat hurt. He didn't say anything, but merely slid back into the darkness. "Biffa and Xisuma, you make a pretty good team, so you'll go together, and that leaves Jevin and Impulse."

"Okay, I've worked it out so we'll all be at our home region," Iskall yelled from the back of the room, where he brought out a map of the entire region. "Biffa and X, you'll be going to a bit before your region, and then work your way towards: Bdubs, Doc, Keralis, Welsknight, Beef and Etho's base would be there too, it wouldn't hurt to look around. Impulse and Jevin, you'll be working around the shopping area, so you'll be speaking with Tango, Zedaph, TFC, Cleo, Joe, Cub, and False's and Hypno's bases are over there, go and see if they've been hiding anything, and maybe try finding Sl1pg8r. Mumbo and Stress, I'd like to keep an eye on you, but at the same time, I don't want to see you, so you'll be around here first, going to Ren, Grian, Scar, and I think Python's settled somewhere around here. Then, you'll go out to Xb. On foot. In the overworked, because we've been having portal trouble.

It wasn't a hard task, going around and talking to the hermits. For X and Biffa, some things were easier than others. Bdubs, Wels and Keralis were more than happy to let them in on what they'd seen, which actually wasn't much. Doc was a bit harder to negotiate with, and they couldn't find Beef. Etho's base contained everything out of the ordinary, but that was just how he designed it, nothing looked too suspicious.

For Jevin and Impulse, things went a bit harder. They didn't get much from Cleo or Tango; Zedaph refused to let them into his cave, insisting that there were several construction errors and that it was too dangerous, which made them think that he was hiding something. Cub gave a useful bit of information, that he had spotted what looked like Zueljin from a distance. TFC was much less helpful, stating that he didn't go to the meeting. Joe wasn't home. Upon investigating False and Hypno's bases, they found them exactly as they had seemingly been left, except with a layer of dust covering everything. They were looking for Sl1pg8r in the shopping district, when they saw someone lying in Xb's medical area. Joe Hills was unconscious, on the the ground, next to a cot fitted with a green sleeping bag.

Mumbo and Stress had found next to nothing with Grian, Python gave details of the End area and how he and Biffa had escaped (which biffa had neglected to explain). Scar was tired, and believed that what he saw (an ape-like man wearing a straw hat) was merely a hallucination from many sleepless nights. However, when interviewing Ren, they struck gold.

"I've been taking orders from a mysterious overlord, calling himself the Emperor. He's the one who made me build all this-" He pointed around to his base. "I had nothing to do with it except its construction."