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[kaian-a-coel]

I once again suggest to barricade and let them fight each other. Maher will probably deal quite easily with the mud golems.
Also no alliance. Maybe a cease fire once our fight has finished, but I'm not sure if Maher would accept it. He's probably not the type of guy to share. Plus, he's completely evil.

How's Tiberius doing? Make sure he is not overdoing it. Retreat when/if necessary.

Use some of the fire nectar to heal wounded people. We can't grow back hands yet, we swore not to intervene directly and that would count as such, I'm sure.

Right now why not design our afterlife while patiently waiting for grumugga to be annihilated?
I suggest a central volcano, with smaller mountains branching off in five direction, becoming smaller and smaller with the distance, finally becoming hills. The mountains are surrounded by forests, of various essences (pines, oaks, birchs...). But there is also, and mostly, plains filled with wild plants with harmless thorns and flowers. There will be firejackets and every benevolent creature we'll create. Our followers arriving here will find a couple villages, overwhelmed with plants, but never decaying. The plants are never a hindrance here, not restricting movement, not stinging, not poisoning... The animals as well are harmless. Our follower wont need to eat or drink, etc... But can still enjoy it. Basically it's like actual life, but in a flourishing, harmless environment.
Also they have nature and fire boons there, so they can make whatever plant they want grow and light fire wherever they want.
Chaos could be represented with random, yet innofensive, events. Such as sudden weather changes, random wildlife behaviour, unexpected plant growth (your strawberries patch being replaced with delicious fungus overnight for example). The randomnes will never be frightening, at most mildly annoying, but still funny. (when you can handwave away the mushrooms and make your sweet strawberries back, it's not an annoyance. And you'll have something to say at the next feast.)
One last thing: maybe adding "angels". Inspired by Tiberius, with a metallic (but here it's precious metal like gold or silver) "exoskeletton", and inside a living plant thing, burning with harmless multicolor flames, taking the form of beautiful humanoids. Think of the flame atronach from skyrim with plants inside the black armor. They'll serve the deads like kind, joyful maids.

[scapheap]

No alliance with the evil death god, if we find a good death god then fine but not the guy who tried to turn a village by staving them out.

Log I just putting links here and there for easy finding until it put in the OP.

[Corruptor]

Here's my plan for an afterlife:
We don't have one. Well, not a metaphysical 'you die and end up in heaven' deal.
No, my plan is that we create a bigass tree. Like a sort of beacon for our follower's souls. When they get consumed by it, they are reborn as something entirely different and unique(possibly with fire powers) to how they lived their lives before. A friendly chaos spawn creating tree, if you will.
Though, lets make a generic forest of metaphysical peace for anyone who doesn't feel like being reborn.

Anyway, far more relevant to the stuff at hand: consolidate our forces and barricade. Let Maher and the orc god smash their forces together. We can clean up anything that's left, if Maher doesn't give us a good reason to spare his priests. We may also want to point out to him that lightning and death rays might not work so well on mud golems, despite how cruddy they are.
Also, the guy missing his hand. He needs a new one. Make it happen.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Name: Donut

Sphere: Chaos, Fire, Life

Chaos skill: 2
Fire skill: 2
Life skill: 3

Mana: 1
Souls: 2
Mana Income: 32 + 31(Prayer) - 6(Boon upkeep) + 2(Souls)
Worshippers: 20

Notable Assets:

Azula: Major Fire Boon, Fire Skill 1, Health 95%
Eldrick: Minor Plant Creation Boon, Life Skill 1, Health 90%
Firejackets: 80 (20 recuperating)
Tiberius: Chaos Golem of Life and Fire, Combat Skill 5, Health 70%
Mile radius of corrupted trees around the village, hostile to everything.
Fungus Spawn: 7

"Seal up the walls and tend to the wounded," you tell the village. "Rest assured, I will fix any lingering wound short of death once I have replenished my power."

You spot Tiberius walking merrily towards the battlefield. "Let them fight," you hastily tell him, and the Chaos Golem slows to a halt, looking pensive. "Let them bleed each other's strength, and I promise you can...entertain the survivors."
Tiberius sighs, eyeing the frantic melee ensuing, but inclines his head, settling down to watch.

Lumbering into the fray, the mud golems were huge but ponderous creatures. You estimate there are a little less than three dozen of them. The majority of the orcs lay slaughtered on the forest floor, and there were only around eighty skeletons left, along with four clerics. Grumugga's host had retreated behind the line of mud golems, shouting orders sporatically.

The battle between the golems and the skeletons looked slightly ridiculous, with the skeletons surrounding a golem and hacking at any mud-flesh in reach, while the mud golems stomped about, occasionally crushing a skeleton with the crashing blow of an arm.

The four clerics were wisely concentrating their fire, flinging bolts of Death-Lightning in an unrelenting assault at a single golem. The golem staggered as blooms of death and electricity exploded along its body, but kept on smashing skeletons right up until one well-aimed or lucky bolt flew into its head, before exploding a moment later and splattering mud over everything within a hundred yards. The headless golem fell, as if in slow motion, crashing to the ground in an inanimate heap.

The skeletons, meanwhile, were being massacred, dozens falling for every golem they managed to whittle down.

Now that they knew to hit the heads, the clerics rapidly dispatched a half-dozen more of the creatures, before suddenly stopping their fire, merely watching now.
"Did their daily boon magic run out?" Tiberius muttered.
"Maher has stopped casting as well," you reply slowly, sensing something amiss.
"Did he" run out of magic? Tiberius replied hopefully.
"Doubtful," you respond dourly.

The last skeleton fell, and the first vestiges of daylight began to brighten the westward sky. Grumugga crowed victoriously, but the four clerics merely stood calmly, before turning to their left and inclining their heads deeply. A lone figure emerged from the treeline, garbed in black and gold armor. Pale skin adorned with midnight-black hair and an aquiline facial structure were revealed as the figure removed his helmet, tossing it to the side with an idle motion and striding towards the mud golems. As he walked, he drew two kukri daggers, holding them reverse-gripped, and bared a set of fangs in a smile at Grumugga's forces.

Between the blink of one eye and the next, accompanied by the crack of thunder, he was past one mud golem. The golem turned to swing at him, but paused in confusion as it's head severed from the body, and then collapsed. The vampire blurred into motion again, and a battle ensued in which the ponderous mud golems could not begin to hope to keep up. Golem after golem crashed to the ground, while nary a scratch was inflicted on the newcomer.

Finally, as the last golem fell, Grumugga's host threw forward a hand, bellowing in rage. The ground began to quake, and boulders the size of houses ripped free of the earth, which promptly hurtled at the vampire with surprising speed. He dodged one boulder, twisted aside from another, and then shattered a third with a lightning bolt, never pausing in his rush towards Grumugga. Her host had time for one last look of rage and bewilderment before there was a dagger in his heart. The host fell to the ground, and a supernova of green energy burst out of it with a deafening scream of hatred, vanishing into the distance.

"At last," sighed the voice of Maher with a chuckle, his presence beside you again. "Some quiet, at least until she returns for another ill-conceived attack."
"One wonders why you haven't killed her," you mutter back. "I would be happy to assist in such an endeavor, if power is an issue."

Maher chuckled. "You don't seem to understand," he replied. "Grumugga is not a Goddess of Orcs. She is the Goddess of Orcs. All of Orckind worships her, and across this entire world their total population is in the millions."
You process that for a full minute, while Maher waits patiently.

"When- how- why hasn't she conquered everything yet, if that's true?!" you demand.
"There are many reasons," Maher answered. "Gods of other races, balancing powers and the like, but the simplest reason is that she has the intelligence of an Orc," he explained with a condescending laugh. "Still, her enormous pool of power to draw on makes her annoyingly difficult to kill."

The vampire turned and began to calmly walk towards the village. "...but I'll get around to the task one of these days," Maher finished. "Now onto ze main event! Donut, I'd like you to meet Laksus, one of my most talented lieutenants."

The vampire looked skyward and inclined his head with a smile, before continuing to stalk forward.

"He's going to slaughter your remaining defenders and then the rest of the village," Maher continued, with no difference in tone. "That is, unless your remaining - albeit surprisingly formidable - forces can delay him until the sun rises."

Tiberius rose, and with a growl walked to block Laksus's path. Laksus advanced until he stood a foot away from the Chaos Golem, and then halted. "Begin!" Maher cried, and a latin choir begins chanting music. You don't know how or why Maher has a "Summon Epic Battle Music" spell... ((But you're fairly sure the song can be found on youtube, Blitzkrieg by Audiomachine))

Tiberius immediately fired a torrent of flame from his right arm, which the vampire ducked to the right of, slashing a ragged path along the Chaos Golem's armor with one of his knives. Seemingly unhurt, Tiberius's left arm reached for the vampire with a dozen thorn-vines, which the vampire contemptously dodged, until one streaked past his face and tore a gash on it with a wickedly curved thorn.

Laksus's eyes widened as a drop of blood fell to the ground, and then narrowed in fury. With a crack of thunder, he accelerated into a blur of motion that was difficult for even you to follow, cutting Tiberius's armor in a dozen places before leaping back from another gout of livid, white-hot flame.

Tendrils lashed out from Tiberius, meeting only open air as the vampire blurred forward, slicing at the same gash in the armor he hit last time, severing several internal thorn-vines before being knocked flying by a heavy kick from one of Tiberius's spiked, armored legs.

The Chaos Golem advanced, following up the strike with another burst of fire that burned even hotter - and rather than dodge it, the vampire snarled, motioned with both hands, and called forth a torrent of lightning that met the fire halfway in a cacophony of destructive energy. There was a frozen moment where the forces pushed against each other, and then they detonated, flinging both combatants backward.

Laksus landed gracefully, the gash on his face already healing, while Tiberius slammed into a tree, toppling it with a deafening thud of impact. The vampire strode forward, kukri daggers thrown to the side, with murder in his eyes. As Tiberius struggled to rise from the toppled tree, Laksus slammed him back down with an armored boot. "Not bad," he said dispassionately as he raised one hand, the electric power of a thousand lightning bolts kindling and consolidating into a dense, rotating orb of furious energy. "But you were no match for me, just as your deity is no match for my master."

A buzzing sound was the only warning he had as he raised the stormbolt to fire, whipping his head around just in time to see a speeding firejacket burst through the chestplate of his armor and out the back, leaving a trail of burned and bloodied entrails. Laksus staggered with a strangled gasp of pain, falling to one knee - and raised his head to see the rest of the swarm hovering angrily, a foot from his face. He barely had time to scream as he was buried under a mass of fiery chitin, his skin blackening and blistering as the fire engulfed him.

When the firejackets finally abated, there was nothing left but an empty suit of armor coated in ash. Tiberius stirred, and managed to push the tree off of himself, staggering to his feet.

There was silence, and then slow clapping. "Bravo bravo," Maher announced, every bit as cheerful as before the fight. "You're quite surprising, Donut - and not just because of your name, mind you."

His presence began to float away, and you sputtered "So you're just going to leave?!"
"I'd love to stay and chat, or possibly invade again," Maher called back. "But there's other battles ongoing, you know. Can't just sleep on the job."

He chuckled, and something flew at you from his presence. "But here's a souvenir, " he said. "For your trouble. Gather your strength, make some more hideous weapons of war, and we should do this again sometime!"

As he vanishes off into the horizon, you realize that the thing he left behind is a soul - a soul you recognize, Laksus...do you take it?

While you linger in momentary indecision, the sun finishes rising, and 59 mana rushes into you, bringing the total up to 60.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Name: Donut

Sphere: Chaos, Fire, Life

Chaos skill: 2
Fire skill: 2
Life skill: 3

Mana: 60
Souls: 2
Mana Income: 32 + 31(Prayer) - 6(Boon upkeep) + 2(Souls)
Worshippers: 20

Notable Assets:

Azula: Major Fire Boon, Fire Skill 1, Health 90%
Eldrick: Minor Plant Creation Boon, Life Skill 1, Health 85%
Firejackets: 75
Tiberius: Chaos Golem of Life and Fire, Combat Skill 5, Health 10%
Mile radius of corrupted trees around the village, hostile to everything.
Fungus Spawn: 5

[scapheap]

Take the soul and start healing our people. And if we have mana left fix the remaining fields or fix the trees friend or foe targeting which ever take less mana to fix.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

Fixing the trees is our priority (after healing the wounded) It's not nice to be isolated

then we need afterlife to put those 2 souls inside... Vampire may be used in some better way

[Jbg97]

Yes, take the damn soul. And put him into a chaos golem. This time is different however. The golem shall have a steel endoskeleton the sane structure as a human, and a flaming exterior. The flames can change intensity and shape, he shall be the golem of Chaos and Fire. While Tiberius is slow, powerful and hard to kill, this one will be faster, more powerful, but a bit easier to kill than tiberius.

[Koliup]

I agree with handing out heals. Preferably of the 'plant cybernetics' type. But that's just me.
Then after that, making the forest slightly less deadly should be a priority, followed by fixing up the fields.
Anyway, I'd wager Lasus' soul is well trained in the arts of combat, and would make a decent servant. For his body, I would suggest a REALLY big(but still about 'man sized') hunched figure with two red beady eyes, long and sharp canine teeth, bat-like ears, long, wicked claws, and digitigrade legs. Basically a monstrous vampire body. We shouldn't have any rhyme or reason with our forces, above what's required to keep the bookkeeping easy. After all, we're a god of chaos.
Oh, we should also ask our followers what their previous god's spheres were. If it's the dying god we encountered earlier, then what a guy.
This game reminds me of Demonhood quite a bit(fire, randomness, EVIL CREATIONS). Fire fire, build-a-pyre.....

[kaian-a-coel]

Can you speak with the soul? If yes, do it. If not, take it. But no chaos-golem yet.

Heal the wounded, praise everyone (firejacket included), fix the trees to be mostly asleep, and have the firejackets nest in them+raise them from slumber+direct their fire. Later (with more mana to spend), make the fungus they fire leech death magic and turn it into chaos and life (making them super-useful against undeads, and less so against living.).
Fix the fields as well.

And make the afterlife as I described, and let the villagers burrow the two dead, without coffin and have everyone throw a seed of their choice in the grave before closing it.

I think the dying god earlier was their...

[Ukrainian Ranger]

I am suspicious of that gift... It's a soul of a being loyal to another deity. Turning it into a combatant is a dubious idea

Better put it in some kind of hell and take mana from  that...


I like this version of afterlife: every dead worshiper will rise as a fast growing tree in any place his body is buried.
Each tree should produce different magic fruits, based on the seeds thrown inside and character of the worshiper...  That soul will stay alive as long as this tree or any of it's descendants alive. In that way we'll get a nice garden eventually

That vampire may produce some useful fruits, too...

[scapheap]

Yes he want to kill us, but he a good sportman. He stuck to his rule only using spells against the interloper so that soul should be fine.

[Gentlefish]

Mahir is Death. We're Life. We can't ally him. We can trick the Water and Earth Goddess into allying with us, she seems gullible enough.

At least until we squash Mahir. Mahir's the biggest threat.

[scapheap]

I not saying we should ally with him, but he keep his word. He say it a gift it not going to stab us in the back.

[Gentlefish]

Oh, I see what happened now - I skimmed a little too much. So he's stopped invading now. It seems he's built a respect for us. We should be gentlemanly as well, he seems a respectable fellow, though we don't share the same interests.

But we must assimilate the orcish goddess. Srsly.

Also, vampire soul. What do? This seems an odd gift. Just convert it to mana to make our Soul Tree?

[scapheap]

We're chaos. We twist it into something we can use.

Killing Grumugga is going to be a long term goal.

[kaian-a-coel]

Just keep it somewhere and talk to it if possible to learn more about Maher and the vampire himself.
Also I'm against the magic tree idea, because it would be horribly vulnerable, mostly.