Conan the Adventurer 14

Major Characters

 * Conan (Previous appearance CA-13; next chronological appearance SSOC-174).

Minor Characters

 * Shimata-Kawa, Welyn, Moru, Andamo, and Ixtastophanis (Previous appearance for all CA-13; all die in this issue).
 * The Patriarch and Little Shadow (Previous appearance for both in CA-13; both die in this issue).
 * Tolometh (First full appearance; no further appearances to date).

Location

 * The Citadel of Yondo.

Time Frame

 * A few hours.

Synopsis
As the gigantic form of the black god Tolometh slowly regains mobility in the far-off Vilayet Sea, the remaining Seekers and Conan fight a group of creatures blocking their passage in the Citadel of Yondo. Ixtastophanis is felled, but the four others fight back their demonic assailants. Unfortunately, they soon discover their way blocked by Andamo, who reveals his alliance with the Patriarch. Andamo and Moru resume their bitter rivalry, killing each other, as Welyn and Shimata-Kawa attack the grotesque Patriarch and his shadow-puppet companion, who seems to be immune to metal, but not wood. The Patriarch's magic sword cuts off Shimata-Kawa's head and Little Shadow nearly chokes the life out of Welyn using her own robes. Only Conan remains as the gigantic, dark god Tomoleth rises from the seas to reclaim his reconstituted Talisman. Before he died, however, Shimata-Kawa realized the secret of the magic sword - its scabbard - and managed to free the scabbard from the chain connecting it to the Patriarch's connecting wrist. Conan also draws the same conclusion, and, taking a moment to put a dying Welyn out of her misery, cuts off the Patriarch's hand with the wooden scabbard (revealing Little Shadow to be an alien creature sent by Tolometh to bend the Patriarch to his will) and stabs the Patriarch through the heart. Conan quickly uses the magic sword to shatter the Talisman (in reality Tolometh's mystic eye) once more, causing Tolometh to collapse back into the ocean, buried under tons of rubble. A weary Conan leaves the Citadel, which is even now collapsing, to seek his fortunes south -- in Arenjun, City of Thieves.