Fighters Can Be Thieves, Too - The Bloody Nipple Saga

I really like the rubber snake, here. Notice the fine wrinkles on its skin. I'm also quite happy with the screen capture of Arnold as he picks up the shining gemstone.

In the two panels, Subotai is actually carying his bow. For the story, I needed him not to be carrying it. I was just too lazy to attempt to edit it out.

If you're just joining the story, but know the film Conan The Barbarian, you may be wondering why Conan doesn't recognize the symbol on the jade necklace. In this comic's story, he doesn't have the whole evil-leader-killed-his-parents-now-he's-out-for-revenge story going.

I'm playing again with the background format. I just don't like putting the black borders around the frames. Here, I tried a drop shadow behind the frames, on a rich red backdrop. I think it works better than the black, as it's a bit easier to read, and I like it better than the white. I've been using the black background as a "cheat", so I could avoid the extra work of putting in borders. However, it makes the comic harder to read. The screen caps are already dark enough without adding in an extra dark background. Let me know what you think.

P.S. If you think this one has a lot of dialog, just wait for the next comic.

Transcript:

Scene: Conan and Subotai loot the treasure room, deep inside the Snake Cult Tower, which is guarded by a giant snake.

Conan:Look! Ointment!

Subotai:Maybe you can use it on your hemorrhoids.

Conan:Watch me get the stone!

Subotai:Hey, meat-head, let the thief take the hard-to-get stone.

Conan:No, really. I reach for it.

DM:Roll a percentile.

Subotai:I don't like this. I draw my bow.

DM:Hm.

Subotai:Oh, crap. I'm out of here.

DM:You remove the ruby.

Conan:Piece of cake! Any other loot?

DM:There's a jade necklace hanging behind you, above the entrance.

Conan:I take that one, too.

DM:As you remove the necklace, the snake rises up to strike!

Conan:The trigger was on the necklace?

Subotai:Next time, I'll be the thief.