The Chained Watcher

Party Crashing

~~~

"Hey Grian, can you answer a couple of questions for us?"

"Depends on the questions. What've you got?"

Impulse and Tango had shown up a couple hours after their secret meeting, approaching him to ask questions. Hopefully they aren't trying to abuse his hints whenever they can't find an easy way forward, but if they are... Well, let's just say there would be consequences.

"We're trying to figure most of the stuff out without asking for extra hints, but we agreed to ask for clarification on a couple of things. First, could we get some kind of vague clue for searching for the 'different items' on Hypixel? The SMP map is massive, and we haven't found anything about them."

That was a valid problem, as it seemed. "They're mostly gathered in the same place, but don't expect to just find any lying around. To the factions that base there, anything weird or unusual is something to be hoarded, so check the ruins of bases for them, or if you're feeling daring, raid a vault yourself. Next question?"

They lowered their notepads before speaking again, "The other question is about whether a certain server has anything on it." Grian tilted his head slightly, trying to think of where else they could mean. Wait, were they talking about- "2b2t. You and Mumbo went there during the kidnapping incident, so we wanted to know if it was a valid search area."

"Technically, yes, but the chances of finding a clue there is... minimal, to say the least. I don't even know if the thing is still there anymore, or if it got destroyed at some point. Don't worry about me hiding more stuff there, it's more chaotic than even I like most of the time. Is there anything else?"

"No, that's all we've got. What's the point of making a challenge out of this if we don't bother to actually try to figure things out ourselves? Tailing you is fair game, don't get me wrong, but where's the fun in just asking for the answers?"

Grian chuckled. At least they knew better than to come to him with every little uncertainty. "Yeah, following me is perfectly within the rules, even expected. If I mess up and give something away, that's my own fault," he started grinning a sly grin, "Just don't forget you aren't the only side who can tail people."

"Wait, what does that-"

"Have fun!" Grian took off into the air, leaving the two hermits on the ground trying to figure out what hidden meanings his parting words could have. He took great pleasure in leaving people with cryptic words to decipher, then taking off before they could ask what he meant.

Winging off into the distance, he wondered when their next group meeting would be. They wouldn't mind him sneaking in, riiiight? Of course not, who wouldn't welcome his presence?

~~~

As it turns out, their next meeting was a week later.

Grian's only warning was his latest secret follower sneaking off, leaving towards the secret base's location. Took them long enough. He opted for his own invisibility, passing on the potions lest the particles give him away. It was funnier this way anyways, since he could make them wonder how he managed to get in there without anyone being the wiser.

Sneaking in behind Bdubs, he almost broke once he saw the strange costumes all of them wore. What were they even wearing? How could they move without stepping on their outfits? It was impressive that they could even get some of these on without help, with all the fancy bits sprinkled across their clothes.

Their secret base felt a lot smaller once everyone had filed in, and Grian had ended up perched on their chandelier to avoid bumping into anyone. Impulse hit a bell, and the rest of the hermits quieted down.