Category: Season 1

As a woman is walking through the woods one evening, she sees a ghost. She runs into the village tavern where Xena and Gabrielle are relaxing. When she tells everyone what she saw, Xena goes to investigate. The ghost is her friend Marcus. He tells her that there are problems on the other side and that he needs her help. As he is telling her to go to the Alconian lake, several other ghosts come and grab him. Xena watches helplessly as he disappears. Gabrielle doesn’t like the idea of how Xena must travel to the underworld. But she knows that the warrior needs to see how she can help her friend. The bard promises to make camp there and wait for her.

When Xena gets to the underworld, Marcus meets her. He tells her that Atyminius has stolen Hades helmet of invisiblity and with it he has sent the good souls to Tarturas while the evil souls are in the Elysian Fields. The two travel to the Fields and shortly thereafter Atyminius appears. He realizes that Xena is still alive and tries to get the others to kill her. But she diverts attention by getting the others to fight for the helmet. Atyminius makes himself invisible and leaves. Xena and Marcus then go to see Hades. He has been locked inside his castle. When he realizes that Atyminius may have returned to the world of the living, he tells Xena that the murderer can be killed again. The warrior asks Hades to give Marcus his life back so that he can help her. The god reluctantly does so, giving him only 48 hours to live.

Atyminius appears before Gabrielle. He intends for her to be his first victim. But she fights him off with her staff and tries to run away. He knocks her down and is prepared to kill her when Xena and Marcus return to the shore. The murderer again makes himself invisible, retreating after Xena and Marcus injure him. The trio tracks him through the forest by the blood from his wound. But the trail soon ends and they are forced to make camp. The next day they encounter some men who were attacked. They had been on their way to a festival celebrating a wedding. Atyminius’ favorite targets were usually brides on the night of their ceremonial bathing. They reach the village and go to speak to the father of the bride. They tell him it would be best if Xena took the bride’s place that evening for the bathing, hoping to use that to catch Atyminius.

written by R.J. Stewart
directed by Garth Maxwell
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Bobby Hosea (Marcus), Chris Graham (Toxeus), Michael Hurst (Charon), Erik Thomson (Hades), Paul Willis (Atyminius), Michelle Armstrong (Young Woman), Chantelle Brownlee (Bride), Geoff Clendon (Bride’s Father), John Palmer (Traveler)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

Xena asks Autolycus, the self-proclaimed king of thieves, to help her steal back a chest that was taken from some of her friends. The warlord, Malthus has it in his castle on an island and he plans to sell it to the highest bidder. Autolycus poses as the warrior philosopher Sinteres, and Xena poses as his assistant, Cherish. At the castle, Malthus tells the bidders that the chest is protected and that the bidding will start the next day. While Xena distracts him, Autolycus uses wax to copy the key to the chamber the chest is in. Later, when Xena and Autolycus go to steal the chest, they find Malthus has been murdered and the chest is already gone. Arkel, who worked for Malthus, has sent the boat away and started a search for the chest. Only when it’s found will the people be allowed to leave. Xena and Autolycus return to their chambers and discover that the chest was left there. They take it back to its original place in the castle. The bidders are allowed to leave the island. Arkel still wants to hold a demonstration, and he also has a couple of surprise guests, the real Sinteres and Gabrielle.

written by Steven L. Sears
directed by John Cameron
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Bruce Campbell (Autolycus), Grant Bridger (Sinteres), Arch Goodfellow (Kelton), Ian Harrop (Magmar), Patrick Khutze (Belart), Mark Raffety (Arkel), Crawford Thompson (Prognese)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

While traveling, Xena and Gabrielle encounter a giant wall of rocks. But before they can find another way to go, they are ambushed by highwaymen. As part of their ambush, the men have a large cart loaded down with logs that they will send at their victims. When the cart starts for the two friends, Gabrielle freezes and Xena has to knock her off of her feet. Seeing that the women managed to avoid their trap, the highwaymen run off. Gabrielle is bothered by the fact that she froze. She decides it’s best that she leave Xena or else face the possibility that she could get her friend hurt or killed. So she gathers her belongings and heads for home. On her way to Poteidaia, Gabrielle learns that the warlord Damon is in the area. She rushes to the village to warn her friends and family, but when she arrives the place is deserted. The people have all gathered in the tavern, waiting for the warrior Meleager to arrive. When he does, he’s drunk and passes out on the floor. Since she has been traveling with Xena, the townspeople expect Gabrielle and her sister Lila to take care of Meleager. Gabrielle is annoyed about that. And to add to her frustrations, her sister is jealous of her friendship with Xena.

Later, the villagers again gather at the tavern, while Meleager gives them advice on things they can use as weapons. Lila begins to fight with her sister, and the two only stop when they spot Damon’s scouts outside the village. Back in the tavern, the warrior has started drinking again and won’t be able help. But Gabrielle decides to rig him up and shouts out a warning to the scouts about Meleager and they retreat. When the warrior finally regains conciousness, he tells Gabrielle about his problems and she realizes that he lost his nerve. But she tells him that the town needs his help and that he can’t have any more wine until the job of getting rid of Damon is finished. Damon is surprised by the news of Meleager being in the area. He decides to see if he can convince the great warrior to join him and sends out men to capture him. Gabrielle, Meleager, and Lila head out to the woods surrounding Poteidaia to make plans for ambushing Damon and his army. The trio seperate to check things out. Lila is still jealous and starts to argues with her sister again. Gabrielle trys to work things out, and finally admits that she’s home for good. Suddenly they hear Meleager shout, and when they go to look for him, Gabrielle realizes that he has been kidnapped. She sends Lila back to the village to keep the people from becoming alarmed, while she heads off to Damon’s camp.

Damon makes his offer to Meleager, but before the warrior can accept, Gabrielle is dragged into the camp. Meleager says he’ll consider if he’s left alone with the bard. The two figure out a way to sneak out of the camp and return to Poteidaia. Under Meleager and Gabrielle’s direction, the villagers began to prepare traps for Damon’s army. But the warrior has realized that it probably won’t be enough. When the alarm is sounded the next morning, he is nowhere to be found. The townspeople are prepared to surrender, when Lila says that they don’t need Meleager, they have Gabrielle. The bard manages to rally the villagers and they prepare for Damon’s arrival. The traps work fairly well in slowing down the army, but when Damon himself arrives they regroup. Before they are able to start another attack, a javelin is thrown, spearing several soldiers in the process.

written by Chris Manheim
directed by John T. Kretchmer
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Willa O’Neill (Lila), Tim Thomerson (Meleager), Steve Hall (Damon), Anton Bentley (Athol), Margaret Conquest (Villager), Wally Green (Elderly Driver), Ashley Stansfield (Sentry), Barry Te Hira (Head Highwayman)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

Xena and Gabrielle’s morning of fishing is interrupted when some men chase a young boy into their area. After dealing with the men, they learn from the boy, Icus, that his father is going to sacrifice him and that was why he was being chased. Xena hides Icus and Gabrielle in a cave that she once used for her army, and goes to talk to the boy’s father. His father, Anteus, seems relieved that Xena and Gabrielle are watching over his son. Maell convinces the zealots that Xena must die. Gabrielle is telling stories to Icus, but the boy isn’t listening. He’s wondering about why his father wants to sacrifice him. The bard tries to reassure him that Xena will find a way to keep that from happening. She then wishes she had something to eat, since the fish that she and Xena caught were used as a weapon by the warrior. Icus says he has plenty of food that his mom packed for him. One of the things that he has to eat is a large piece of nut bread, one of Gabrielle’s favorite foods. The warrior finds his mother at the temple of Hestia. She tells Xena that the supreme one told Anteus to make Icus the next leader instead of his older brother Maell. She then asks Xena to take more nutbread to Icus. She has some that Maell had specially made for his father. Xena realizes that there is something wrong with the nutbread and races back to the cave. She finds Gabrielle asleep on the floor of the cave and Icus is gone. When she wakes the young woman, the bard acts strangely. She has no idea what happened to Icus. Xena tells Gabrielle to stay in the cave, while she goes to find the boy. Icus, concerned about his new friend has returned home to ask his mother to help Gabrielle. But the zealots come and grab him. One stands guard over his mother, while the others take him to Anteus. Xena takes care of the zealot, and goes after the ones who have taken the boy. She distracts them and is able to get Icus away from them. Xena and Icus find Anteus slumped over the altar. He’s exhausted and Xena helps him return home. She asks him again to spare his son, but he won’t. She tells him that she will stop him, and Anteus says part of him hopes she will succeed. Once the warrior has returned the father and son to their home, she explains that the nutbread that Maell has been giving Anteus is drugged. She’s interrupted by a knock on the door. It’s Gabrielle. She was told by a rock to come and find Xena. The warrior points out that the bard has been hearing voices because of the nutbread she ate. Icus spots his brother and the zealots outside. He runs out the other door and Xena follows him. He’s angry and says that everything would have been fine if she hadn’t interfered. Xena returns to the house and finds that Maell has Gabrielle with a knife to her throat. He promises he won’t hurt anyone as long as Xena cooperates. He has the two women thrown into the well.

written by Chris Manheim
directed by Michael Levine
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: David Ackroyd (Anteus), Karl Urban (Maell), David deLautour (Icus), Teresa Woodham (Zora), Sean Ashton-Peach (Zealot #1), Jack Dacey (Brawny Zealot), Peter Ford (Zealot Guard), Graham Smith (Senior Zealot)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

The warlord Kirilus has just checked on the young women his soldiers captured to sell as slaves, when Ares appears. The god of war tells him of how pleased he is with the work Kirilus has done to assemble his army in such a short time. He then tells him he has found his successor. The warlord is upset. He tells Ares that no man could do a better job with his army. Ares tells him the one who will replace him isn’t a man. Kirilus realizes he means Xena. When Ares leaves, the warlord begins to make plans to prevent that from happening. Xena and Gabrielle are in a tree not from Kirilus’s camp. They heard the cries for help and are there to rescue the women. They notice a man come from out of the woods and confront the guards. When he begins to get into trouble, Xena jumps down from the tree and goes to help him. She brings him back to where Gabrielle is and treats his injured arm. When Gabrielle calls out her name, the man looks surprised. He tells Xena that he’s her father, Atrius. The warrior doesn’t believe him. Xena heads back to the camp. While she fights the guards, Gabrielle frees the captives. One of the women runs away from the group, and the bard orders the others to wait there. Xena arrives and sends them on into the woods. When Gabrielle catches up to the woman, one of Kirilus’s men starts after him. Atrius appears and knocks the man out. Xena arrives just in time to see that. Atrius insists on trying to help her and Gabrielle return the women to their village, but she refuses his help and continues to deny he’s her father.

Ares returns to Kirilus. He taunts the man about loosing his captives and about Xena taking over his army. Kirilus says he won’t take orders from Xena. The god of war tells him he won’t have to. He’ll be dead. When Xena and Gabrielle stops the group for a rest, the bard goes and talks to the one who ran away. Rhea explains that when Kirilus’s men came and grabbed the women, she volunteered to go. She tells Gabrielle that she did it for her sister. Gabrielle also manages to get Xena to talk about her father. She has a happy memory of him, but says that she was fine with him leaving. Suddenly Atrius appears on horseback. He’s being chased by a couple of men, as he calls for Xena’s help. The men accuse him of stealing the horse. Atrius insists that he won it from them. As the men are heading back to the village they came from, Xena stops them and they confirm that Atrius did win the horse.

Kirilus sends one of his men out with a dart blower out to kill Xena. But the warrior snatches the dart from the air, before it can hit anyone. She then locates the man and breaks the dart blower. Atrius corners the man. He’s angry that the man tried to kill Xena. They fight, and Atrius disarms him. Gabrielle enters the clearing in time to see Atrius stab the man, who was surrendering. When Xena approaches, the bard tells her what she saw. But Atrius says it was self defense – the man had a dagger. Xena rolls the man over, and sees the dagger on the ground. Gabrielle is puzzled. She didn’t think the man was armed. Atrius tells Gabrielle that he realizes that she and Xena are a team. And once the former captives are returned to their village, then he will leave. Gabrielle talks to Rhea and comes to a decision. She goes to Xena and tells her that she will take the women on to the village while the warrior and Atrius wait for Kirilus and his army.

written by Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster
directed by Charles Siebert
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Kevin Smith (Ares), Tom Atkins (Atrius), Stephen Lovatt (Kirilus), Sonia Gray (Rhea), Nancy Broadbent (Areliesa), Lutz Halbhubner (Tarkis), Heidi Anderson (Slave Girl), Robin Kora (Village Elder), John Manning (Ranch Hand #1), James Marcum (Warrior #3), Mark Perry (Warrior #1), Tony Williams (Warrior #2)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

A young woman finds Xena in the forest and begs her to save Lord Seltzer from the warlord Talmadeus. As she arrives in the village, Xena hears a familiar voice call out to her. Lord Seltzer is actually Salmoneus. While Xena fights off Talmadeus’s men, she is hit in the neck by a dart. She checks the dart and finds that it has been dipped in Talmec poison. The stoic warrior keeps this information to herself. Salmoneus tells Xena that Talmadeus is after him because he sold the warlord weapons and armor made from Talgamite. Talagmite dissolves in water, and it rained on Talmadeus’s army during a big battle. Xena decides to go find Talmadeus, and Gabrielle goes with her. The warlord and his lieutenant are out with a patrol looking for her. Xena fights the men, while Gabrielle watches from a distance. But when the warrior reaches Talmadeus, the poison begins to affect her. The warlord presses his advantage and is about to kill Xena when Gabrielle throws her staff at him and knocks his sword away. Xena recovers enough to kick Talmadeus in the stomach and whistles for Argo. She and Gabrielle retreat back to the village.

Gabrielle is angry that Xena kept the fact that she had been poisoned hidden from her. Xena isn’t sure how much worse she will get, but she knows that she is in no shape to take on Talmadeus. It’s decided that Gabrielle will dress as Xena and act as a decoy. They hope it will be enough to fool Talmadeus into thinking that Xena is well. Talmadeus is confident that he’s sent Xena on the run. He sends his lieutenant out on another patrol to find her. They encounter “Xena” and chase her back to the village. But the real Xena has rallied the villagers. Armed with seltzer bottles that have spikes in the corks, the villagers chase the warriors away. Xena tells Gabrielle that she needs to attack Talmadeus’s camp. She has had the villagers prepare incendiary devices to use in the attack. But Gabrielle is concerned about her friend. Xena tells her she needs to do this for these villagers in spite of her ill health.

Talmadeus is readying his army for an attack on the village, when he hears a familiar war cry. A ball of flame flies through the air and lands on a tent. Several more land on other tents and around the camp. He looks up to see “Xena” charging into the camp on her horse. He quickly grabs a staff and blocks the horse’s path. When the horse jumps over the staff, “Xena” is thrown into a horse’s trough. The warlord is surprised to see that the rider wasn’t Xena after all. In the warehouse at the village, Xena has managed to get out of her bed and has headed for her weapons. Two of Talmadeus’s warriors try to sneak up on her, but she manages to take care of them before collapsing to the ground.

written by Steven L. Sears
directed by Gary Jones
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Robert Trebor (Salmoneus), Peter McCauley (Talmadeus), Timothy James Adam (Kalus), Jonathon Hendry (Ness), Natalya Humphrey (Photis), David Mitchell (Gorney), Kenneth Prebble (Old Man)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

Taking a break in a tavern, Xena is accosted by a man, Melas, who insists that her army destroyed his village and killed everyone including his young son. Xena tries to tell him that it wasn’t her, but he says that every village from here to Corinth has a story of Xena and her army’s latest attacks. Xena and Gabrielle decide to head to Corinth to find out what is going on. On their way to Corinth, they encounter refugees from a village who fear Xena. Among the refugees is a young man, Joxer, who claims to be a great warrior and wants to join Xena’s army. She tells him to get lost. Melas tries to ambush Xena, but is thwarted by the warrior. She ties him to a tree and tells him she’s going after the imposter and that he should stay out of her way.

Xena and Gabrielle arrive in a village as it is under attack. While on horseback, Xena throws her chakrum to stop some of the warriors in their attacks. A blonde woman warrior, also on horseback grabs it from the air. Soon the two women are exchanging blows, that eventually send them to the ground. Xena questions her, and the warrior mentions Cirra, a name that Xena recognizes. Her new enemy flips back onto her horse and rides off, still holding Xena’s chakrum. Nearby, Gabrielle is having trouble fighting off one of the warriors. He sends her to the ground, but Xena intercepts his sword before he can kill the bard. Using her pressure point knowledge, Xena interrogates the man about the woman who just left. Her name is Callisto and her family died in an attack on Cirra. She plans on killing the oracle at Delphi the next day at the Apollo sacrifice with Xena’s chakrum. After she releases him, Melas approaches. He heard everything and wants to join Xena in getting rid of Callisto. The warrior lets him join her and Gabrielle, only to keep him safe.

Callisto’s lieutenant, Theodorus, arrives back in the camp. He tells Callisto of Xena’s interrogation. The warrior is pleased. She believes she knows every move that Xena will make. Before she can discuss the next day’s plans, Joxer is brought to her. He had been sneaking around because he wants to join her army. Callisto says he can join her but he has to bring Gabrielle back to the camp. That evening, Gabrielle tries talking Melas into resting. But he won’t until Callisto is dead. The bard then moves to Xena and asks her about Cirra. The warrior explains that about ten years before her army attacked that village. During the raid a fire was started, but she wasn’t sure how. There were strong winds, and the village was quickly destroyed. Callisto was apparently one of the few survivors, and wants revenge against the person she blames for the death of her family.

Xena, Gabrielle, and Melas arrive the next morning in Delphi. They spread out to look for Callisto. As Gabrielle is searching through the village, Joxer grabs her in a net. She frees herself, and easily defeats the young man and goes to search for Xena. Xena is looking around the temple. The oracle has just been placed in her position at the altar, when the warrior hears the chakrum. She throws a dagger that intercepts the chakrum’s path, and deflects it back to her. Spotting Callisto, Xena darts off after her, out of the temple. The two race out of Delphi on horseback.

written by R.J. Stewart
directed by T.J. Scott
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Hudson Leick (Callisto), Ted Raimi (Joxer), David Te Rare (Theodorus), Ian Hughes (Melas), Kenneth McGregor (Aketeon), Patricia Donovan (Old Woman), Michael Hallows (Tall Villager), Toby Mills (Tall Man), Henry Vaeoso (Fat Warrior)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

As Xena is explaining to Gabrielle about how she is able to catch arrows, sometimes without seeing them, an archer fires upon them. To the surprise of the bard and the warrior, Gabrielle catches the arrow on the end of her staff before Xena can catch it. The assassin runs from his hiding place and attacks the warrior. While she is fighting him, another runs up behind Gabrielle and the bard has to defend herself. When Xena knocks her attacker out, she notices he is wearing a mask that she recognizes. The sound of the struggle between the bard and her attacker sends the warrior running to help. But Gabrielle doesn’t need it. Xena questions the man about the mask. It was given to him by the warlord, Cortese. His army is attacking a village nearby. Xena tells Gabrielle that Cortese’s army was the one that destroyed her village. It was in that same attack that her brother, Lyceus, died.

Xena rides into the village and attacks the raiders. When Gabrielle reaches the village, she sees that a young girl is about to be run over by one of the raiders on horseback. The bard manages to get the girl out of the way in time and hands her over to her mother. She then joins Xena in trying to stop the raiders. Suddenly one of the raiders calls out for a retreat. And the men dart out of the village just as the king’s army enters it. One of the men stops and watches Xena. He knows who she is, and goes to tell Malik, Cortese’s second in command. The raiders return to camp, and Malik reports to Cortese. The warlord interrupts when Malik tells of Xena’s appearance in the village. While Xena and Gabrielle are traveling through the forest, one of Cortese’s men appears. The warrior is suspicious of the man, and she approaches him carefully. She’s shocked when the man removes his mask and reveals that he is her long lost older brother, Toris. He explains that he joined the raiders to get to Cortese to kill him. Xena has Toris take her back to the raiders’ camp as his prisioner. She wants the chance to look around for herself. Malik is pleased that they have Xena, but he threatens Toris and sends him away. When Malik goes to see Xena, however, she knocks him out and escapes.

Toris paces by a lake while waiting for his sister to return. Gabrielle begins to tell him about how much she’s learned from Xena, but it just upsets him. He insists that Xena is treating her just like the people of Amphipolous when she created an army to defend against Cortese. Xena returns and tells them that she found the royal crest on pieces of paper and carrier pigeons. Thinking that someone in the castle must be a spy, she and Toris go there while Gabrielle returns to the village they saved earlier.

written by Peter Allan Fields
directed by Stewart Main
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Joseph Kell (Toris), Michael Lawrence (Cortese), William Davis (Malik), Doug McCaulay (Aescalus), Elizabeth Skeen (Sera), Peter Needham (Village Elder)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell