Grian's POV-

Grian awoke to the sun shining through his window. Stretching, he drowsily threw his arms out as he sat up. He jolted up in his bed as he heard the crash of a piece of wood falling onto the floor. Peering over the edge of his bed, the brit noticed neat, almost blocky handwriting written in dark ink. Grabbing it as he stood up to get ready for the day, he skimmed the words written. 

"'Come to the barge asap'," he read aloud. He looked up, then back down, frowning slightly. Thinking aloud, he said, "The barge? Why?" Sitting back down on his bed, he grabbed a piece of bread out of his inventorial pouch and began to gnaw on it as he thought about who could've written it. The handwriting didn't match the handwriting of any Hermit he knew. The vagueness could've implied that it was one of those Hermit Challenges, but this didn't match Mumbo's handwriting at all. 

Eh, oh well. He'd figure it out soon enough. Did Grian have anything to do today? He couldn't think of anything off the top of his head, other than checking in on his robot son. So, he decided, he'd go visit Grumbot, then head over to the barge to see what was up. 

Soon enough, he had made it to Grumbot's platform, on which stood a familiar figure. The admin himself stood, staring up at Grumbot, clutching a piece of paper tightly. From what Grian could see, X seemed almost concerned. Before Grian could call out to him, though, X shot himself into the air and disappeared into the clouds, not noticing Grian in the slightest. Grian frowned slightly. It wasn't like Xisuma to be that oblivious, and what was he doing asking Grumbot a question anyways? Grian looked up at Grumbot's screen, whose eyes were slightly narrowed, watching X fly away. 

Grian was immensely confused. What had just happened? Xisuma had clearly come to ask a question, and evidently did not get a desirable answer. And Grumbot seemed almost mad? Grian shook his head out and walked in front of Grumbot's screen, stepping back a few steps so he didn't have to crane his neck. He waved, and Grumbot's screen flickered as He looked down at His dad-creator, His eyes tilting in assumed happiness. Grian blinked. Since when- He shook his head and smiled. His robot child was pretty much sentient at this point and he couldn't be happier.

It was almost enough to make him completely forget about the Xisuma incident just a moment before. 

Pulling out a diamond, he scribbled the words, "How are you doing today, Grumbot?" After adding a smiley for good measure, he placed the diamond in the depositor and pressed the buttons accordingly. After a moment, Grumbot smiled again and out shot a small piece of paper that read, "I AM DOING WELL." 

I? Grumbot usually spoke in the third person, but apparently not today. No matter, his robot son was doing well, despite the events of just a few moments before, and that was really all that mattered. He grinned, placing the paper in his pouch. "I'm glad," he said aloud, and Grumbot's screen seemed to flicker happily before returning to its neutral state.

But Grian did have to get going soon, to his barge. He pulled out his rockets and prepared to take off, but then a thought crossed his mind. Mumbo would probably want to know about Grumbot's advancements, if he didn't already. Maybe he could find him real quick before he stopped by his barge. 

He pulled up his communicator to message Mumbo, but slowly put it away as he looked back up to Grumbot. Maybe he could just ask Him instead where his friend was. If anything, it'd at least just be interacting with his robot more, if it was little less convenient. And who knows, maybe Grumbot liked the diamonds. Feeling a wave of déjà vu, he pulled out a diamond and scribbled on a very familiar question.

"Do you know where Mumbo is?"

He pressed the buttons and inserted the diamond into Grumbot's system. A single paper shot out. As Grian looked up from collecting the paper, he was taken aback slightly by Grumbot's screen. His 'face' flickered darkly, and His eyes were narrowed slightly as He stared right down as Grian. 

"I DO NOT KNOW WHERE DAD #2 IS."

Grian gulped. That was.. ominous, to say the least. What was up with that? He chuckled nervously. "Ah- okay, thanks for trying- Bye, Grum-" Waving 'goodbye' to his robot, the brit took off into the sky as Grumbot's featured returned to normal. He could always just message his friend. Typing out a message to Mumbo while he flew, the shopping district came into view below him. Making an executive decision, Grian dived down to right outside his barge. He'd talk to Mumbo after he talked to whomever wanted to meet up here. Besides, for all he knew it could be Mumbo himself who wanted to chat, and Grian didn't even have to send a message at all.

Touching ground, Grian immediately noticed something off. That something being a line of a tripwire right outside his barge. This couldn't be some sort of trap, could it? It was right there in plain sight. There was no way anyone could think he'd fall for that, right? Reaching into his pouch, the sweatered Hermit pulled out a small clump of cobblestone to chuck at the wire. Just to see what it actually did. Standing a good few feet back, he held up his arm and chucked the stone at the wire. Somehow, he managed to hit the wire and heard a click. 

He waited for a moment. Nothing happened.

Well that was... anticlimactic, to say the least.

Until suddenly the ground below Grian, suddenly opened up, sending the brit falling into a deep pit. Okay he was not expecting for the 'trap' to have been all the way where he was standing. Props. What felt like a few minutes later, he was still falling. How long was this? Soon enough, he landed in a shallow pit of water, completely unharmed. He groaned a bit, standing up. The water was up to his knees, and filling his shoes quickly. Gross.

The sweatered Hermit couldn't see past his own nose; the underground cavern was damp and musty and pitch black. Grian thrust his arm out to feel for the wall, but there seemed to be none there. Wading through the water, Grian continued swinging his arms around to find some kind of side to this pit, but he never seemed to find one. How bit was this place? Raising his arms up, he couldn't feel a ceiling either. This must've taken forever to dig out.

After a few more minutes of blindly flailing his arms around in any hope of finding a wall, Grian reached into his inventorial pouch and felt around for a torch. Lighting it, he waved it around, to little effect. He could still barely see anything, except the seemingly endless room was more clearly endless. 

Pick a direction and walk in it, he advised himself. So he did just that. Turning a random direction, Grian began walking and walking and walking, seemingly forever. At this point, he was so confused that he was becoming impressed. This must've been a lot of work. Eventually, he hit a wall. For some reason, even though there seemed to be nothing there, the builder was immensely relieved. At least there was some kind of definite end to this pathless labyrinth. 

Pressing a hand against the wall, Grian decided that he's just follow it until he got somewhere. That strategy always seemed to work in mazes did it not? Follow the left wall and eventually you'll find your way. He might as well apply it to here.

As he went, the only sounds being the soft crackling of the torch, the swishing of water, and the occasional cough, Grian had time to ponder about what exactly he was doing down here. His first guess continued to be Hermit Challenges, but the atmosphere surrounding this place was so off, it unsettled Grian. Usually Mumbo came to his base with thousands of those 'burn sticks', or dropped in suddenly to drag him to the area in the forest. The redstoner never told him to come to some underground pond. But despite this, Grian couldn't think of anything else off the top of his head. It was unnerving, but he continued to walk, keeping his hand pressed firmly against the packed dirt and rocks of the wall. 

After what seemed like hours of walking, Grian hit another wall. Wonderful, he found a corner. But he felt something else, too. Stepping back, he held his torch in front of him to reveal a lever on the wall. He sighed happily-- finally, he found something! Grasping it with his free hands and pulling it, the wall in front of him shifted aside to reveal a very narrow passageway, a stark contrast to the large room he was in before. But he didn't mind it; he seemed to be going in the right direction.

Without taking a moment to consider that maybe going into a spooky hallway while he already didn't have a clue as to what was going on was a bad idea, Grian ducked into the place. Worst comes to worst he'd die and lose his things. Oh well. He may as well see what was up.

Walking through the tunnel, he had to duck his head a bit-- the ceiling was too low for even him to stand up right. Every time he raised his head to see what was in front of him, he got showered in grains of dirt and tiny petals, causing him to cough more. Gosh, this place was starting to be more annoying than it was creepy at this point. 

Eventually, in the distance, he saw an opening, with a dim light flooding from it. The literal light at the end of the tunnel. As he raised his head, emerging from the passageway, he looked around. It was like an underground dome. The ground was grassy and large rocks stood in various places, giving it a ruined touch. It looked almost like Mumbo's base before he modernized it. Campfires stood around the room, lighting it up.

And who should stand in the center of the room but Mumbo Jumbo himself.

He waved to Grian, and Grian waved back. "Welcome to Hermit Challenges," the moustached man greeted as Grian walked up to him.

Grian was nearly speechless, admiring the room. There were so many little details, little pebbles strewn about, withered roses at the bases of the rocks. "Nice place," he said at last, looking up at Mumbo. 

Mumbo's amber eyes glinted as he grinned. "Thanks," he replied. "Sorry about how tedious it was to get here." He chuckled, and it was clear that he was not sorry in the slightest.

Grian laughed. "Eh, I had nothing else to do today. Why not wade around in a knee-deep pond of water for a few years?" His pants were still damp , and he shivered a bit. He glanced around. "So where are the dispensers? How is this gonna work?"

Shaking his head a bit, Mumbo explained, "Well... this'll work a bit differently than normal. I actually have a specific challenge I want you to do, and figured I'd like to just... say it out loud." 

Grian nodded. That was odd, but what wasn't, really? It was clear that this was no orthodox Hermit Challenges session, so why should he be surprised? He simply folded his arms. "Okay, go for it."

Mumbo smiled showing his crooked teeth. He looked Grian straight in the eyes, his eyes almost glowing with the similarly colored fire. Little streaks of silver glinted in his irises as he took a step towards Grian. Instinctively, Grian stepped back a bit, his own eyes slightly wide. What-

The moustached man stood straight up, keeping his gaze on Grian. He crossed his arms. "Grian," he began. His voice was quiet and laced with something that Grian couldn't quite place. "for your challenge, I want you to keep a secret."

Grian blinked. A secret? What could he mean by that? Breaking the gaze of the brit, he glanced around. Something-- actually many things-- seemed very off. It seemed almost sinister. Something was extremely wrong. This wasn't like Mumbo. He didn't act like this. The events of the past 2 weeks or so flooded back to him. He hadn't been acting right since he got back. Or had he? Grian couldn't remember. No, he hadn't. This Mumbo wasn't being normal. The normal Mumbo didn't drop you into a dark pit and leave you there to fend for yourself. The normal Mumbo wasn't good at not telling secrets.

Mumbo continued, despite Grian's clear discomfort. "Think you can do that?" 

Despite everything telling him to get out of there, Grian stood in place and nodded.

"Perfect. Well the thing is, Grian..." Mumbo's voice was sharp, and his words stabbed the builder as his heart raced in terror. "I'm not actually Mumbo."

-(Author's Rambling)-

Looks like the cat's out of the bag.