Conan the Barbarian 175

Major Characters

 * Conan (Previous appearance in CB-174; next appearance in CB-176).

Minor Characters

 * Tetra (Previous appearance in CB-174; next appearance in CB-176).
 * Delmurio (Previous appearance in CB-174; next appearance in CB-176).
 * Bracca (First and only appearance to date).

Locations

 * Zingara
 * Cascan, a town built into a cliff wall on the Thunder River
 * The Thunder River

Time Frame

 * Several hours

Synopsis
Conan, Delmurio, and Tetra are waylaid by a group of former fisherman put out of work by the Zingaran civil war. They soon realize the folly in their choice of victims, and the trio pass them to the cliffside village of Cascan, where Conan hopes to acquire a boat to travel down the Thunder River. Nobody is willing to give them passage, as something is destroying all the boats that have taken the journey, but one elderly blind man, Bracca, is willing to take them on. Bracca is the only survivor of a recent attack on the river, surviving but blinded. As they travel down the river they enter into a dense fog, and Conan sees them travel through a carved rock face that looks like a gaping maw. Suddenly, Conan stands in snowy mountains and is hailed by a group of Cimmerians who inform him they, too, were whisked away from a boat by a creature called the Scarlet Personage, and, when defeated by the Personage in battle, were forced to wander the hills for eternity. They try to get Conan to hide in a distant village but when Conan refuses, they tell him not to look at the Scarlet Personage in the face when he finds him. Conan finds the Scarlet Personage on a hill and attacks, although the battle does not go well for Conan as his sword is shattered and the masked villain begins to choke the life out of Conan. Thrashing, Conan manages to pull off the mask revealing a maggot-infested rotting skull, which causes the demon to shrink back and retreat to a hut. Conan takes up the creature's sword and follows, slicing the demon in half with the sword. It disintegrates leaving only a ring. Conan picks up the ring and suddenly finds himself back on the boat with Bracca, who tells Conan he was having a bad dream. Conan notices Bracca wears the same ring the Scarlet Personage wore and he rips off Bracca's hood, revealing the rotting face of the demon. Conan kicks him overboard as his companions wake up and the seas begin to churn...

Reprinted

 * The Chronicles of Conan 23 - Well of Souls and Other Stories