Log line

Gods are real. They think they are running the show, but are they?

In short

Mahau – a peaceful vengeance god – wants nothing more than to care for his followers, but when other deities start to disappear, the powers above ask him to investigate, and he can’t refuse. Now, he has to find a serial god killer if he doesn’t want to disappear himself along with the rest of the pantheon.

Neda – Mahau’s headstrong priestess – has sworn to protect her god at all costs, even against himself. When she discovers her replacement is gone, she has to balance the need for her own continuing survival against her god’s well-being.

Arlon – a disowned god – is the perfect suspect in the serial god killer case, so he enlists Mahau to make sure he will be exonerated. But Arlon’s tumultuous past and his anger management issues can still create difficulties for him.

Forys – Arlon’s worldly priest – is caught between his duties for Arlon and his new interest for Mahau’s priestess Neda. When he discovers the strange relationship between Neda and her god, can Forys’ own faith in his god remain unchanged?

Act 1

Mahau, God of vengeance, is on a mission to kill a woman at one of his worshippers’ request. He doesn’t like this, but granting those requests is necessary to ensure his survival. Arlon is a regional god, robbed of his inheritance when his father ascended to become a greater god and split his possessions into five parts. Arlon spent years in court fighting his father’s decision, but lost his case. With his head priest – Forys – he visits one of his old opponents – Belis – and proposes a truce to the other god, hoping word of his good behaviour will spread to the other defendants.
Mahau goes back to his temple to find himself summoned to the greater gods council. Ordered to keep the summons quiet, he slips out of his temple without warning his high priestess Neda of his absence. The greater gods ask Mahau to investigate 3 gods disappearances. Mahau doesn’t want to comply but strikes a bargain with his superiors when he realises they won’t abandon their request. Arlon goes to Mahau’s temple when he learns that two of his old opponents have disappeared. He wants Mahau to help prove he is innocent of the disappearances. Mahau accepts to help him since he’s already investigating the same crimes.
Mahau goes to investigate the first disappearance scene with an angry Neda. They interrogate Cheal’s priests without success until they uncover a hidden trap door in Cheal’s room and find the god’s corpse there. They examine the body and determine the god was killed with very subtle magics.
Arlon waits for Mahau to bring him to the next disappearance site. Mahau wants to make sure Arlon wasn’t involved, so he questions Arlon and angers him. Arlon is on the brink of attacking Mahau when one look from Neda dissuades him.
Once in the second temple, they find another god’s corpse hidden in his chambers, his body reduced in size once again by a deft use of Shroud magic.
The next day, Arlon enjoys his breakfast when he is attacked and barely escapes an assassination attempt.
Mahau and Neda investigate the third disappeared god – Anroe – alone but find no evidence. When Arlon joins them and reports he was attacked, they decide Arlon’s attacker might have left clues, so they go search Arlon’s temple but find nothing. They come to the conclusion that the attack on Arlon was a mere warning.
Mahau reports his findings to the greater gods. They tell him that 3 other gods are missing. When he finds them unsettled, he interrogates them and they reveal that a balance exists between greater and lesser gods and that if enough lesser gods are killed, greater gods will vanish from existence and other lesser gods will die.
At Mahau’s temple, Neda feels something coming from her god’s room and enters it to find an intruder. When Mahau comes back home, he sees Neda lying on his bed and suspects a trap. He uses Shrouds on a hunch and attacks a blind spot in his room, collapsing the wall of his room. Mahau finds his shroud killed the attacker – Anroe.

Act 2

Now exonerated from the disappearances, Arlon decides to grab the dead gods seats and increase his followers base before new gods can be appointed. Before he can start his campaign, he has to answer a summons from the greater gods who called a complete assembly. He finds Mahau and discusses with him his views on godhood and followers.
Arlon mingles with the other gods and tries to gather support for his campaign. The greater gods announce that enough gods are dead that – unless new ones are found – five lesser gods and a greater god will vanish. Arlon decides that his position will be better if chaos reigns, so he decides to prevent the finding of new gods.
Neda finds out her whole family was assassinated and that no-one is left to take her place as Mahau’s hidden bodyguard when she dies. She will have to protect herself long enough to train a new protector for Mahau.
Forys follows Arlon to retake Anroe’s temple and they find it desecrated by the local population. Arlon orders the desecrators killed which unsettles Forys.
Mahau finds Neda in mourning, but even with her whole family dead, she insists on continuing the investigations with him. They decide that some clues might have escaped them at Anroe’s temple. They travel there to find Arlon
Arlon discusses his campaign with his advisers when Mahau and Neda arrive at Anroe’s temple. He’s not happy to find them meddling in his new temple but allows them to search nonetheless. After discussing with Neda, Arlon’s head priest starts to question his own relationship with Arlon.
Neda questions Anroe’s surviving priests and one – Filimon – agrees to talk on the condition he’s to be admitted into Mahau’s priesthood. Filimon reveals Anroe met with other gods for months to setup the plan to kill the other gods. When he understands the width of their enemy’s plan, Mahau falls to despair but Neda coaxes him back to action.
Back at her temple, Neda interrogates Filimon further. He tells her Anroe sent him to perform a minor ritual at an old shrine right at the time Anroe attacked Mahau. With Mahau still depressed, Neda decides to go investigate the shrine alone. Before leaving, she writes down everything she knows and slips the notes under Mahau’s door. Neda visits the shrine Filimon pretended to go to but finds no signs of the priest’s visit. She realises she has been tricked and hurries back to her temple, fearing for Mahau.
Mahau goes to his temple’s gardens to find some peace, but Filimon is waiting there ready to assassinate him. Filimon wounds Mahau and the gods falls unconscious to the ground. Neda comes back in time to stop Filimon before he kills Mahau. She fights the armed priest with her bare hands and barely manages to strangle the attacker.
Mahau regains consciousness in the temple’s basement and finds Neda watching over him before he falls unconscious again.
As Neda herself was shaken by her fight, Mahau sets her in a healing shroud. When she wakes up, she doesn’t realise she’s inside a shroud and almost kills herself stepping over the shroud’s edge.
Arlon recovers his father’s old temple and receives supplicants asking him to go to war against another country, which would provoke a war between gods. Arlon accepts and has a fight with Forys over his decision. Forys finds his faith in Arlon faltering.
When she recover her wits, Neda asks to examine Filimon’s body and finds a high priest mark hidden on the body. She doesn’t recognise the mark but knows the mark will identify Filimon’s patron god.
Mahau convinces the council to summon all the high priests and force them to reveal their own god’s mark in the hopes of identifying the god responsible. When the priests are assembled, Forys volunteers to be the first one to show his mark in the hopes of impressing Neda. All but a handful of priests comply. When the greater god Mandos strips their clothes away, two remaining priests jump at one another, hoping to scratch away their marks. Forys helps Mahau stop the fighting priests.
Mahau decides to interrogate the two fighting priests separately. As Forys knows one of them, Mahau asks him to perform the interrogation. During the interrogation, Forys realises one of the five greater gods is the enemy. He decides to report the information back to Arlon before passing it to Neda and Mahau.
Neda interrogates the other prisoner alone and seduces him enough to learn he’s one of Ghenda – an earth goddess – priests. The priest blurts that he belongs to a small group of priests serving Ghenda’s patron. Neda realises those priests bear two marks and that some of them passed the test and are about to be released. She warns Mahau, but is too late.
They find Forys’ prisoner dead and Forys gone. Neda assumes Forys killed his prisoner.
Despite being angry at Forys, Arlon refrains from killing his priest when he comes back. When Forys tells him his suspicions, Arlon sees the potential gains for him and forgives his priest.
Mahau decides to go see Ghenda and get some answers from the goddess herself. When confronted, Ghenda tries to kill herself but Neda stops her. Mahau takes the goddess prisoner and brings her out of her temple to be interrogated by the council. However, Ghenda is killed shortly after getting out of her temple. Mahau reviews his list of suspects and realises only a greater god knew Ghenda was under suspicion. He takes the goddess’s body and brings it back to the council.
Meanwhile, Arlon decides to blackmail the council with the information Forys brought back. He travels to the council’s chambers and asks to become a greater god. Forys insists he and Neda are to be raised to godhood.
Mahau tells the council Ghenda revealed her patron was one of them. When Arden – Arlon’s father – is the only one not to appear shocked, the greater god realises he is discovered. He tries to kill Mahau but his shrouds kill one of his greater gods colleagues – Debolah – before Neda can interpose herself. Arden flees the council, leaving the remaining greater gods to mourn their friend.

Act 3

Debolah’s death brings a temporary respite to the situation. With one dead greater god, no one will die at random.
Neda is feeling guilty because she failed to protect Mahau and her failure caused Debolah’s death. Mahau tells Neda he anticipated her sacrifice and placed her in a position where she wouldn’t be harmed.
Arden goes to visit Arlon and pretends the council accepted his terms, but that Arlon will have to kill a large number of gods to make it happen. Arden provides a list of gods Arlon has to kill. Mahau’s name is on Arlon’s list. Forys is suspicious of the whole situation but tells nothing to Arlon since his demands about Neda and him have been answered.
Arlon goes alone to visit Lady Bremory, the weakest god on his list and kills her with his bare hands. He leaves Bremory’s body on the scene. Forys follows Arlon’s trail after a few hours and finds Bremory’s body. He buries her and vows to bring Arlon back to his old self.
Mahau and Neda try to determine which gods are the most likely to be killed sooner and settle on Bremory. They go to her temple and find her corpse buried. Mahau detects a travelling shroud residue and follows it to Arlon’s new temple. Mahau convinces Neda to go seek Forys’ help even if she believes he betrayed her. Forys is happy to see her and tells her about Arden’s plan and how he fought to get her to become a god. Neda explains Arden is on the run and lied to his son. Forys believes Arlon will never believe his father tricked him. He proposes to stay behind to spy on Arlon.
With his name near the top of Arlon’s list, Mahau decides to go back home and prepare for an attack.
Forys tries to convince Arlon to stop his killings as the god waits for word from his father. Arlon is sent to Dreis’ temple in the desert and hopes to catch the young god by surprise for an easy kill, but Dreis is fully prepared to deal with him.
Dreis traps Arlon inside a shroud. By instinct, Forys kills Dreis. Once the god dies, Forys regrets defending Arlon at the cost of another life.
Mahau and Neda set traps in their temple and wait for Arlon to attack. Arlon finds Mahau in his hiding place. Mahau’s defences wound him but he isn’t stopped. He jumps at Mahau and starts to strangle him. Neda is knocked unconscious while trying to draw Arlon’s attention. Forys turns on his master and helps Mahau freeze Arlon.
Forys and Mahau decide to trick Arlon into telling them where to find his father. When Arlon wakes, he finds one of his legs was cut off. Forys insists on getting Arden’s help to heal Arlon. Arlon gives up his father’s location and finds he’s been tricked by his priest.
Before leaving to attack Arden, Neda sends a note to Mandos, asking for help.
Mahau and the two priests try to surprise Arden, but the greater god is ready for them. Forys and Mahau barely manage to survive Arden’s attacks. The greater god seems to sense shrouds coming at him even when he can’t see them. When he understands how Arden does it, Mahau manages to hit the greater god once but it isn’t enough. Forys collapses the roof to stop Arden, but the god is protected. Neda reaches Arden and tries to stab him but the protection around him stands. Arden is about to kill her when Mandos arrives.
Mandos engages Arden but he’s hard pressed too. Mahau lends Mandos some of his strength but it’s barely enough to keep the greater god in the fight. Mahau manages to cancel most of Arden’s attacks and Forys uses the opportunity to remove Arden’s protections one by one. Neda watches as her friends are about to fail, but as the last of Forys’ shrouds cancel Arden’s armour, she plunges her dagger in the greater god’s heart, killing him.
Mandos leads Mahau and the priests back to the council. The tally of surviving gods shows that enough remain to sustain two greater gods and that a new greater god can be raised if a human gets raised to a god. This has to be taken into account as they judge Arlon – sentencing him to death could offset the new balance.
Arlon is judged guilty of multiple murders, but Forys proposes to keep him alive in prison – a worse sentence than death for Arlon. In order to prevent him from escaping by shroud, the council orders Arlon’s hands cut off. Arlon tries to kill himself as the sentence is carried out.
The greater gods grant godhood to Forys. Once this is done, a new greater god place is created. As Neda touched a greater god blood, she is chosen to become a greater god. Mahau can go back to his temple and care for his followers.

Epilogue

Forys helps Mahau with his temple while the vengeance god adjusts to Neda leaving him. Neda tries to build a relationship with Forys.
Mahau goes back to help his followers, but Arlon’s need for vengeance becomes almost impossible not to notice.