Zedaph burst into Grian's starter base, shouting something unintelligible about Sherlock. Grian took this in stride, as such things were not entirely uncommon in Hermitcraft. He put down the shulker box he'd been filling with sand for some unimaginable purpose, and zipped over to the doorless entryway in which Zed stood. Zed had regained some of his composure by that point, and explained the situation in more detail: 

"Impy's been acting weird for the past week or so, and Tangy's been missing in action for five days! Naturally, as a close friend to both of them, I have, um... well.... if we're being honest, I've been quietly freaking out in my base. But I figure it's time for a rescue mission! Now, I've actually seen horror movies, so I don't wanna go in there alone. And I was wondering who could help me solve this case... when I realised!" He pointed at Grian. "Sherlock Grian!"

It was at this point that Grian remebered that he, in fact, did not have any of his detective stuff with him, as he'd left it all with Cub at the end of the last season. But on the other hand, Zed's story sounded a lot more concerning than Zed had made it out to be, and Grian didn't want to turn him away. Well. Time to improvise.

"Sorry Zed." Grian shrugged, "Sherlock's on a case right now. However! He's been teaching me a few... uh... tricks of the trade, so maybe I could help?"

Zed stared blankly at Grian for a moment, then started giggling uncontrollably at Grian's absurd claim. Grian joined in with Zed's infectious laughter, slightly confused, and the two giggled away for a minute or so.

"Grian..." Zed gasped, once he'd giggled himself out, "Why didn't you just TELL me you'd lost the outfit!?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." Grian denied, stomping his foot. And with that, the two finally got serious, and started planning an investigation into what the hell was up with Impulse and Tango.

-Jack of Spades, Jack of Diamonds-

Impulse kicked and screamed in his mind, trying to resist every movement his body made, but to no avail. He kept fighting, he had to keep fighting, he had to break free. Of course, absolutely no progress was being made, but it was a valiant effort on Impulse's part.

He was walking down the underwater corridor, trying to make his legs stop moving, when he suddenly stopped, receiving new instructions. Someone was here. Tango seemed to sense it too, as he started screaming for the person to run, to get away, to get to safety. Impulse went to his cell, and rattled the bars.

"Shut up, demon." His voice hissed. Tango turned to look at him, a mixture of sadness and pity in his eyes. Impulse turned coldly away, and continued up the stairs to his main base.

"Hey Impulse!" Zed's voice called out, and Impulse felt the pit of his stomach drop. No. Zed couldn't be here. He didn't want to subject Zed to this hell, too. Tango was right. Zed had to run. Impulse put all of his effort into slowing himself down, stopping himself, and most importantly keeping Zed safe. He tripped over his own feet, but fell into a pair of arms. Zed.

"Hey Impy! You alright? I've been kinda worried." Zed asked, smiling and sunny and oh so innocent. Impulse could hardly watch.

"Yeah! I'm fine!" Impulse's voice assured Zed, despite the fact that Impulse was very much not fine and Zed very much needed to run. The two continued a friendly conversation, Impulse trying to choke back his words, give Zed some sign that something was wrong. Eventually, he felt his hand reaching out for Zed's wrist, to keep him here so that monster could get him. Thankfully, Zed dodged it. He bade Impulse a quick goodbye, and flew off.

-Jack of Spades, Ace of Spades-

"Assessment?" Zed asked.

"Impulse-ter." Grian replied.

"Time for Stage two?" Zed contiinued.

"Check out where he went." Grian nodded. Zed handed Grian two invisibility and two water breathing potions, keeping two of each for himself. The two dove into the water underneath Impulse's base, and began looking for a way into the underwater level.

Five minutes later, Zed was having absolutely no luck whatsoever in finding an entrance. His first invisibility and water breathing potions were running out, and the clock was ticking. He got the next couple potions ready in his hotbar, and continued swimming. However, before he could decide the next place to look, he noticed something about the room he was currently drifting next to.

Through the blue glass of the window, he could see a room that was almost entirely empty. It had iron bars around an iron door on the side opposite to where Zed was — clearly some kind of cell. And inside? Well, Tango was inside, slumped against the wall and staring blankly into space, tracing a line on the floor with his claws.

Before Zed could properly calculate the ramifications of this, he realised that he was getting less and less air from the water around him. Quickly, he downed his second water breathing potion, as his hands began to flash back into visibility. He took his second invisibility potion in hand, but then turned to look at Tango in the cell. He made a quick decision, one that he would never be entirely sure was the right one.

He shoved the invisibility potion into his inventory, and swam up to the window, gently knocking on the glass. Tango looked up, his eyes first clouded by fear, and then clearing as he realised that this was Zed, not whatever else he thought would be there. Zed tried his best not to think about what that "whatever else" could possibly be. Tango carefully made his way over to the window.

"Zeddy?" Tango's voice was muffled through the glass, but Zed was honestly just so glad to hear it. He nodded silently, beaming. Tango smiled back, but it was a sad kind of smile. "Zeddy, I'm-I'm so glad to see you, but... you need to leave." Zed's eyes widened in shock. He vehemently shook his head.

"Zeddy, please. It's not safe. You need to go. Please." Tango pleaded, pressing a clawed hand against the glass. Zed pressed his hand to match it, then shook his head again and began trying to break the glass. He needed to get Tango out of there.

"Zed. Go." Tango urged. "I'll be fine. I can survive this. You..." There was a weighted pause, volumes left unsaid. "You need to get to safety." Zed stopped, the cracks on the glass vanishing. He was about to send Tango a silent goodbye when Tango's eyes widened in shock. Zed turned around in the water, and saw a monster rearing over him in the water.

Zed quickly dodged to the side, narrowly evading the tentacle that lashed out at him. He turned to look Tango in the eye, and he nodded sadly. Zed swam for it. The fish-thing pursued him, eventually coiling a tentacle around his foot. Zed struggled, wriggling to break free, until he felt a strange prickling sensation at the top of his spine, spreading throughout him. He grit his teeth, trying to force the effect off, and eventually succeeding.

The creature looked surprised at this, and Zed used the opportunity to kick himself free, feeling and odd pricking pain on the sides of his neck but dismissing the feeling quickly. He swam for it, fully aware that he was still being pursued until-

"You're lucky I have higher concerns than one escaped human." A voice whispered in his head, soft and insidious, like it was trying to eat away at the crannies of his mind. "Don't worry. I will be back for you." For some reason, Zed didn't feel very assured. He swam away, trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and the monster.

After he thought he'd swam far enough, since he knew that the water breathing effect would wear off soon, Zed surfaced, gasping for breath. For some reason, however, he just couldn't get the oxygen he needed from the air. Choking and spluttering, he dove back beneath the water, instantly feeling the relief of being able to breathe. His brow furrowed in confusion. What was going on? Since when did drinking a water breathing potion mean that you couldn't breathe air?

His hand drifted the the place where he'd felt that odd pricking pain on the sides of his neck. He found, much to his horror, a set of gills sitting there. Well. That explained it. The monster had done something to him, given him gills somehow. Internally screaming, but keeping his focus on his escape, he swam onwards. He hoped the transformation wouldn't be permanent.

-Jack of Spades, Jack of Diamonds, King of Spades-

Grian quickly sent the message to Zed that he'd found an airlock, not bothering to check that the thing actually went through. He put his diamond sword in his hotbar just in case things unexpectedly took a turn for the worse, and waited for Zedaph. After a few Zedaphless minutes, Grian figured that Zed had probably just found another way in, and swam into the airlock. He forgot to drink his second invisibility potion.

He was vaguely admiring the architecture of whatever this weird underwater thing was, when he heard footsteps behind him. Checking his invisibility, he realised that it had run out long ago. Well. That wasn't good. He carefully turned around, and was greeted by Impulse standing over him.

"Grian." He greeted, cold but polite, and very un-Impulseish.

"...You're not Impulse." Grian whispered softly.

"Oh, you think that?" Impulse chuckled darkly. "I AM Impulse. And I'm so much better now. No need to think about anything." He lifted Grian by the collar of his jumper. Grian kicked and struggled, trying to get Impulse to let go. "Why don't I show you?"

"Please... no..." Grian whimpered. But it was too late. The strange shiver of being taken over ran through his body as control was wrested from him. Impulse gently set him back down. "You're right." His voice said, even as he tried to choke back the words. "This is better." His face contorted into an unnatural smile, and he walked out of Impulse's base.

-Jack of Diamonds, Ace of Spades-