Savage Sword of Conan 123

=Secret of the Great Stone=

Creators
Writer: Larry Yakata

Artist: Ernie Chan

Letterer: Diana Albers

Major Characters

 * Conan (Previous chronological appearance in SSOC-70; next chronological appearance in first story of SSOC-189).

Minor Characters

 * Shaalu (First appearance; dies in this issue). Witch.
 * Veena (First and only appearance to date). Witch.
 * Hacima (First and only appearance to date). Tavern wench.

Location

 * The Kezankian Mountains.

Time Frame

 * Several weeks.

Synopsis
While traveling on the snow-topped Kezankian Mountains, Conan is set upon by bounty hunters. Conan holds his own but ends up toppling over a cliffside and breaking through to an ice cavern below. He is observed by two hideous witches, Shaalu and Veena, who seem to be intent on using Conan for their own purposes. The witches manipulate Conan through the cavern pasasges to a hot spring, where Conan dispatches a giant worm, and out to an inhabited valley where Conan take the opoprtunity to rest by a river near a large stone monolith. He is attacked first by snakes, then by bandits, and easily dispatches both, scattering the srviving bandits. Conan enters a small town, not realizing the bounty hunters have followed him, and have in fat allied with the bandits. A comely serving witch convines Conan to return to the monoloith at midnight, but her plan was evidently to feed Conan to the giant bat-demon that bursts from the structure. The creature attacks and kills the wench, but Conan kills it, which cause the locals to hail him as their king, to the delight of the witch Shaalu. Conan takes another tavern wench, Hacima, as his woman, and seems to take to his new life, until the witches reveal themselves and tell Conan his fortune was their doing, and that the former king disappeared searching for his child in another dimension. The witches claim the child was imprisoned because she was pure evil, and practically dare Conan to find the child. Conan decides he will, just because he can, and enters through a portal in the monolith, entering a dinosaur and monster-infested jungle land in which Conan spies a giant tower. He climbs the tower and finds the young girl, guarded by a one-armed ogre. Conan quickly ends the ogre's life and takes the frightened child back to the portal. When he returns through the monolith, he is ambushed by the bounty hunters and bandits, but defeats them, only to have the child revealed as a hideous demon who kills everyone in the town except for Conan and his woman in revenge for assisting in its imprisonment years ago. The creature leaves, and the witch Shaalu appears, furious that Conan made her lose her bet, which was that Conan would stay happy as a king instead of wander off. Conan promptly cuts her head off, but is unable to do so to Veena, who wisely vanishes in a puff of smoke. Conan and Hacima wander off.

Creators
Writer: Larry Yakata

Penciler: Mike Docherty

Inker: James Baldwin

Letterer: Janice Chiang

Major Characters

 * Conan (Previous chronological appearance in second story of SSOC-115; next chronological appearance in CB-38).

Minor Characters

 * Young widow and her two sons (First and only appearance to date). The eldest is named Salaam.
 * Various thieves (First and only appearance; all die in this issue).

Location

 * The territory north of Aghrapur.

Time Frame

 * Several days.

Synopsis
Conan comes across a group of thieves stealing a family's possessions. He defeats the thieves and discovers the widowed mother is not only blind, but that he had killed the woman's husband some months ago. The dying man begged Conan to take care of his pregnant wife, who was going blind with a disease, and Conan decides to help the family. He helps reinforce their shabby house, but then steals some jewels and leaves. The remaining thieves return that evening and prepare to exact their revenge on the helpless woman, but Conan bursts through the door and end things for good. He reveals that he used the jewels to purchase the expensive cure for the woman's sickness, and when she regains her sight, she realizes that Conan was the man who killed her husband. Conan rides off with the curses of the woman and her eldest son in his ears.

Reprinted
Conan Saga #76