On that note, how do the henchmen actually work? I have purposedly stayed away from trying out the early access in order to play it spoiler free but I have a big group of friends I want to play with and with the limited co-op we are interested in the whole henchmen deal.

So,

How do we get said henchmen? Can our extra two friends just jump in whenever?

How autonomous are these henchmen? I know they won't be able to interact with NPCs and take part in the dialogue but can they pickpocket? Steal? Move autonomously outside of battle?

Thanks in advance for the answers!