Plot summary
Xena and Gabrielle rescue a boy being pursued by a group led by his own older brother. He explains that his father believes their god has ordered him to sacrifice his youngest son. Xena hides the boy with Gabrielle and sets out to learn why a peaceful religious leader would accept such a command.
The father appears ill and conflicted, while the older brother is openly violent. Gabrielle accidentally eats bread intended for the father and begins hallucinating. The boy goes home for help and is captured again. Xena realizes that the older son has been drugging his father and using false divine messages to turn his jealousy into an apparent religious duty.
The scheme relies on a bullhorn and a sheet of metal that imitates thunder. The deceived father prepares to carry out the sacrifice. Xena confronts the older brother, who falls into a gorge after refusing her attempt to save him.
Xena and Gabrielle still cannot reach the altar in time. Just before the father kills his son, a powerful voice tells him to stop: his faith has been proved. He embraces the boy instead.
The rescue leaves the two travelers puzzled. Xena knows she did not use the bullhorn, and Gabrielle confirms that she did not either. They look upward, unable to explain the final intervention as part of the dead brother's hoax.
Credits
Adapted from Legendary Journeys Wiki contributors, Altared States. Complete episode narrative, rewritten and condensed for clarity; causal developments and the episode's ending retained. Illustrations, dialogue quotations and non-story metadata omitted.