Conan the Barbarian #125 – “The Witches of Nexxx” – J.M. DeMatteis/John Buscema/Bob McLeod
This one starts where last issue left off, with the survivors climbing out of the caverns beneath the mines. Murilo has decided to go back to his adventurous life, sending Conan, Jonnwalli, and Dukenrik back to Pergona with Atreah’s charred corpse to pass off as his. Conan and his two companions do as Murilo asked, but they find the people at the palace (including Murilo’s wife Yvonna) curiously subdued, seemingly more interested in the young girl they found in the streets a couple issues back than in their dead lord. Jonnwalli is soon enticed away by a handmaiden he’s had his eye on for a while, but when they start making out she’s quickly revealed as an old crone in disguise. The young girl also turns out to be a disguised hag and another
one pops out to complete the trio. These are the people that have been looking for Jonnwalli and Dukenrik (as alluded to last issue) and it turns out they’re witches (the Witches of Nexxx to be precise). Conan resists the witches’ power, but is forced to surrender when they threaten the two boys. The head witch (with the unlikely but appropriate name of Greemoir) tells him how they serve the dark god Nexxx, who dwells in another dimension. They kidnapped a couple of women to be Nexxx’s brides and they were Jonnwalli and Dukenrik’s mothers. Nexxx wants the boys to inherit his evil power and had them raised in a harsh environment to prepare them, but they ran off to experience some of the heroic adventures they’d read about. Naturally, the boys don’t want to return to such a bleak future and when they can’t bring themselves to kill 
the witches, the hags realize these lads are too moral to make proper evil scions. The crones tell Conan that they’ll let the boys go if he retrieves a jade statue from a temple in Stygia. They let Conan take the boys with him so he knows they won’t just be kidnapped while he’s gone, and even provide transportation … a skeletal boatman in a flying barge. With their eerie transport, they reach Stygia quickly and find the right temple, where they’re welcomed by a grotesque servant called Liirix. He ushers them in and points them to an altar where they can find the statue they seek, but cautions them to walk a straight path to the altar, never deviating for even a moment. Naturally, they’re tempted to leave the path, by calls to adventure, pleasures of the flesh, and even a vision of Dukenrik’s mother. Conan has to save the two boys from monsters that grow from their visions, but all three make it to the treasure chest containing the jade statue of Nexxx. Another monster attacks Conan from behind and the boys decide they can’t be passive spectators forever, so they kill the monster to save Conan. But their first time shedding blood has a
strange effect, making them grasp the Nexxx statue which transforms them into his true children, demon-spawn who are ready to rule the world. Conan realizes he’s been tricked and fights the demons, but has a hard time against the two of them. He manages to force them through a dimensional mirror, sending them to some far off place where they might have a chance to really live instead of simply being pawns of their father. (in case you’re wondering about the three witches back in Pergona, they’re banished as soon as their scheme fails.) This is a decent issue, although DeMatteis once again leans on sorcery to move the plot. I’m hoping for a nice story of political intrigue, or outright warfare, just to get back to the old-fashioned Conan.
Conan the Barbarian #126 – “The Blood Red Eye of Truth” – J.M. DeMatteis/John Buscema/Bob McLeod
This one continues from the above story, with Conan stuck in Stygia with no way to return to Pergona. Liirix offers him a deal: if Conan will retrieve the eye of an idol in a temple (to a god called the Unknowable) in a nearby ruined city, Liirix will use his magic to send Conan back and even throw some gems in to sweeten the deal. Of course, the eye is guarded by acolytes of the Unknowable, but Liirix figures Conan can handle them. He rides towards the temple and runs into some acolytes, who were expecting him. They attack
and he kills them all, except the priestess (Shikar), who convinces him to take her to the lost city. Shikar tells him that the followers of the Unknowable are not feared in Stygia because they seek knowledge rather than power, but their god does inspire fear in most people who know of him. Shikar tells Conan how she was once a priestess of Set but craved deeper knowledge and wandered many lands before learning of the Unknowable. Her guards were taking her to the ruined city to die, which is how she will learn the ultimate, unknowable truth. Conan agrees to escort her (still wanting to get the eye from the 
statue) and has to kill a monster that attacks them soon after entering the city. They find the altar and Conan is impressed by the giant ruby in the statue of the Unknowable (which looks like a serpent), but Shikar urges him to abandon his quest and leave the ruby where it is. Conan can’t be dissuaded, but when Shikar dies on the altar, the statue comes to life to devour her body. Conan fights it and ends up crushing the giant serpent under a huge stone block. He retrieves the ruby and heads back to give it to Liirix, ignoring the fact that Shikar’s soul seems to be trapped inside the gem. Naturally, Liirix betrays Conan, but Shikar manages to save him from Liirix’s sorcery and Conan repays her by smashing the ruby, releasing her trapped soul and turning Liirix into a
statue of crystal. Shikar thanks Conan for freeing her soul and deposits him outside a city with some food, wine, and gold as a thank you. This is a pretty good story, showing Conan’s honourable side triumphing over his usual greed for riches. Of course, Liirix betraying him probably helped make up his mind, but I like to think he might’ve ended up freeing Shikar’s soul anyway.