Episode 2: Welcome to the Jungle!

Erden, his hand still crackling with electricity, grabs hold of Wormtail and sends the power through him (hoping to shock, not kill)

He turns to look at Ybus, "Ah well, I guess we'll have to save it for another time."

Ybus follows up with a light rap of his club against Wormtail's noggin, attempting to knock the creature out.

Urban throws up his hands in frustration.

"He cooperated - leave him be!"

Urban cannot help but be a bit disappointed. These are scoundrels, but Wormtail did not even attack, but was only fleeing for his life.

"I'm not going to kill him, but I sure as hell am not letting a crazed cultist go," Erden says, trying to placate Urban.

Baracus is confused as he often is by Urban's civilized morals. He sincerely asks "What's wrong about sending them to their god? I'll make it quick."

He turns to the cultists.

"What plane will your god take you to? Gruumsh will bring me to Acheron when I die, where I will join my father in the Endless War."

"Cooperated with something that wants to end the world." Rydler states deadpan "I do not think his punishment should be a slap on the wrist and a free pass to allow them the opportunity to kidnap more children and sacrifice them. They show no signs of reforming; he answered the question because he thinks we aren't a threat, he runs because we killed his god. In normal circumstances, I'd agree with you Urban; we aren't dealing with normal here though."

Ybus looks over at Baracus, palming Wormtongue's head like a ball and holding the cultist at arm's length, all while casually speaking to them as if nothing's the matter. Now that's strength.

Urban takes the rebuttal from Erdan, the chastising correction from Rydler, the question from Barracus.
Wormtongue suspended in the air with the moment between life or death balanced on the strength of Barracus' grip.
Wormtail terrified - being shocked and clubbed.
These are heinous men - they deserve it.
But this doesn't seem right, at least not for the scared one who had trusted him with the assurance that he wouldn't be hurt.

It's too much. Urban does not have the right words. He cannot even get the right thoughts.

Again, Urban fails. He does not know. Does not know what to do or what to say.

"Ahh..." , he throws up his hands and turns away. Embarrassed. Frustrated with the situation, but most of all with himself. He paces off to get some space.

He looks down, trying to remember one of the Measures of Teuser that could help him reset.

Instead he remembers his face again. Calisio. Choking.
His face turning pale. Blue.
Agony in his eyes, and fear.
Trying to beg for mercy, but no sound. He couldn't make a sound with no air - suffocating.

Seeing the pained look in his friend's eyes as he stalks off, Baracus realizes that this is a matter of honour for Urban, and while he doesn't understand it, he won't fuck with it either. Not even a little bit.

"Find a cage." he declares "Turn yourselves into rats and climb inside it. We are taking you to face the Golden Child."

He watches very carefully to make sure the cultists obey his words. Once the task is complete, he finds Urban and shows him the caged cultists.

"Witness."

His tone only rings with respect.

Ybus stretches and pops his back. "I'm gonna take a look around," he says. "The last time we were here, I thought I saw something over... there!" He picks an area at random and wanders off.

Erden holds Wormtail at arm's length and looks at the rat in distaste, "You will face justice, just you wait," he says with narrowed eyes.

Ybus happily sees the silver spoon, and sticks it in his pocket. "If that's everything, I left some of my stuff in the other room. I'll be right back," he says, skipping towards the laboratory and seeking the three kits that were there. And probably whatever contraband was removed from his person.

Baracus returns to the well room. Ybus, make this glow, he requests, holding up a glass beaker. If Ybus agrees, he tosses the glowing beaker into the well, watches as it drops. He is looking for signs of the dead god's corpse.

Ybus jumps up to high-five the beaker, applying the Light spell should he make contact.

Urban nods to Barracus humbly when the monstrous half-orc obliges his appeal for restraint against the captives. Urban knows that he has now placed an extra burden on the team. He commits to carrying as much of the load and responsibility of it as he possibly can.

Urban moves aside with Erden and discusses what he saw in the portal, the different places where this dreadful dark force operates. He explains his belief that this priest Shudraka must be a real villain, perhaps one who knows more about this terrible network of evil.

He asks Erden if he thinks the ally priests back at the Shandrana-Varhu temple might have a lead or know anything about Shudraka or the greater threat.

Erden can tell that Urban is quite unnerved by what he saw while he was briefly stranded adrift between worlds.

"It was something terrible," he says, "Something worse than we've ever faced before. We have to ... do something."

Urban struggles for ideas, and hopes that Erden will have a plan or a command to follow, an action that Urban can commit to.

Erden takes Urban's concerns very seriously, "I think the priests are the first place to start. Some of the things that you saw may mean something to them or at least give us an idea where to start looking. Don't worry, my friend, we'll figure it out one way or another."

Turning to the others, he says, "We'll do a quick search for anything we may have missed and then straight back to the temple. We've got some work to do."

After lifting the lid, Ybus calls out to the PHULES, "I think I found dinner!"

He pokes the top of the horse head with a Mage Hand. "Pickled fresh!"