Conan Against the Serpent Cult

The escalation from plunder to persecution as Conan's theft of the Eye turns a personal quest into open war with the cult of Set.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Sound of the Chant

The Sound of the Chant In a Shadizar boulevard, Conan hears the name Doom chanted by self-whipping fanatics. The Witch's Prophecy Fulfilled Zamora has indeed shown him the thing he seeks, but its shape is a death-cult with towers in every city. The Keen Wariness His barbarian senses read the procession as a wolf reads a trap.

The Profaned Tower

The Profaned Tower Conan steals the Eye of the Serpent and beheads the cult's great serpent. The Wounded Godhouse The temple's talisman is gone, its priest humiliated, and its guardian serpent dead. The cult cannot let this stand. The Hunt Begins Yaro's memory of Conan's face becomes a death warrant across every tower of Set.

The Cross on the Tree

The Cross on the Tree Doom nails Conan's palms to the Tree of Woe and leaves him to bake in the white waste. The Vulture's Blood Near death, Conan seizes a vulture and drinks its blood, a desperate act of refusal that is pure Cimmerian will. The Cult's Mercy Denied Doom considers the crucifixion a lesson, not a cruelty; Conan counts it as another debt to be paid.

The Army of the Mountain

The Army of the Mountain The cult sends its beast-men and riders to sweep the mound where Conan waits. The Trap and the Blade The hidden trench breaks the first charge; the shaman's spear kills from impossible distances; Conan uses his father's sword in the close-work. The Master's Intervention When the attack falters, Doom uses an unholy arrow rather than steel, revealing the cult's true weapons: sorcery and poison.

The Severed Serpent

The Severed Serpent Conan raises the Eye of Set before Doom's guards and commands them back. The Serpent Head Falls Doom's body shifts into a snake's form one last time, and Conan's sword removes the head. Sorcery loses to the steel of the man. The Faithful Released The cult's spell breaks. The worshippers throw their candles into the pool, and the empire of the serpent becomes a memory.

Conan's first encounter with the Set procession in Shadizar

during the night raid on the Tower of the Black Serpent

after Conan's capture in the Mountain of Power

the attack on the burial mounds

in the temple after the final confrontation