Conan the Barbarian 167

Major Characters

 * Conan (Previous appearance in CB-166; next appearance in CB-168).

Minor Characters

 * Fafnir (Previous appearance in CB-166; next appearance in CB-170).
 * Menskar (First and only appearance to date; dies in this issue). Nemedian con artist.
 * Noirelle (First appearance). Countess

Locations

 * Nemedia

Time Frame

 * Two days

Synopsis
Fafnir is still grousing about Conan interfering in his battle with Gargantax when Conan notices a man, Menskar, cheating at a supposed game of chance. Conan exposes the hustler, much to the amusement of the passing Countess Noirelle, who invites Conan and Fafnir to her mansion, which is full of mirrors and paintings of the apparently vain countess. Menskar vows vengeance against Conan for ruining his game while Noirelle explains she wants to hire Conan and Fafnir to retrieve a rare egg laid once every thousand years. To put the creature who laid the egg to sleep, they need to acquire illegal yellow lotus flower, and when Noirelle takes the men to a nearby field, they see the criminal traffickers using slave labor to harvest the drug. Fafnir, insisting he can do it alone, sneaks into the camp that night to steal a bag of pollen, but is discovered and is attacked by the slavers. Conan hurriedly frees the slaves to cause a distraction and the group escapes. Fafnir goes to a tavern to celebrate, while Noirelle takes Conan to her chambers, where they are surprised by Menskar and his men. Conan almost effortlessly kills them all and an impressed Noirelle reveals she is thousands of years old, only keeping her youth by bathing in the egg's fluid every millennia. Even now she is showing physical signs of aging. Back in the tavern, Fafnir is seduced by a tavern wench, and in his drunken state reveals he has a pouch of yellow lotus pollen, which the girl surreptitiously steals that night. The next day, Conan, Fafnir, and Noirelle trek to the mountains and encounter a dragon-like creature protecting its nest. Fafnir realizes the lotus powder is gone and is knocked into a large egg, which breaks apart and covers him with fluid. The creature grabs Fafnir and tosses him off the cliff into the foggy crags below, and Noirelle leaps after him. Alone, Conan faces the dragon, who grabs him, but Conan stabs the creature repeatedly until it crashes into the side of the mountain. Stumbling along the rocks, Conan vows to find his friends...

Reprinted

 * The Chronicles of Conan 21 - Blood of the Titan and Other Stories