LordYam Conan Show

[lordyam]

After a long pm discussion with Von Kamblach I decided to try another attempt at an outline for a show. I realized that one big mammoth post made it hard for people to give feedback. So I'm adjusting my approach. One Season per post; I'm also going to give details of what I'm trying to accomplish with each season. Good stories have a thematic core in them and I want to reflect that.

BIG heads up. I WILL be changing a few stories; while I understand that L Sprague De Camp made a lot of unnecessary changes to the stories the fact remains that there ARE instances when change is needed. A television show is NOT the same as a collection of short stories; continuity matters and while Howard's original stories were fine in short story format attempts to make a coherent chronology can get tricky (usually around the middle. The Thief stories and King Stories are pretty clear in terms of order). In addition, some stories were stronger than others; while some stories like Tower of the Elephant don't need changing (or if they do are so minor that they're minuscule) others (Vale of Lost Women, Devil in Iron) are either messes plot wise (Devil in Iron) or are revoltingly bigoted (Vale of Lost Women). I will try to keep the changes as minimum as possible but they WILL be there. Just getting that out of the way, so that no one gets upset.
You can keep the essence of Conan (a badass barbarian and rogue who has SOME good qualities) without neutering him and making him a joke.


So without further ado, let's dive in. This post will cover Seasons 1-2.

Feature Length Pilot: Tower of the Elephant.

This was chosen for 2 simple reasons. One, it introduces Conan in a way that establishes mystery. Who is this guy? What does he want? The one change I'd really put in is a flashback of Conan chatting with a court secretary. This would allow us to introduce Yara and his backstory. While Conan is lost in thought he wanders to the tower. Secondly, it's one of Howard's undisputed strongest stories. You want to get off on the right foot and this is easily the strongest possible foot to get off on.

Episodes Proper:

Episode 1: Conan Thief eAdventure. This would focus on the aftermath of the tower. Conan finds another thief (the guy who will show up in Black Colossus) and the guy mentors him. Unfortunately Yara's fall means that the King is reasserting himself (in this version the reason Zamora fell into decay was due to Yara's influence making the government collapse. Honestly, the idea that ANY race is genetically inclined to be thieving murdering raping etc is racist and you don't need to be PC to want to change THAT). Nestor is introduced. We get our first mention of Venarium, as (borrowing from Marvel) it turns out Nestor was one of the few survivors of that death trap.

Episode 2: The noose continues to tighten. Nestor sets a trap and runs Conan out of town. Conan manages to set a trap for him towards the end of the episode (The Halls of the Dead Opening scene), and the episode ends with Conan finding the city.

Episode 3: Conan explores the city; he runs into Nestor and they decide to work together. During this time Conan and Nestor get to talking, and Nestor mentions Venarium. We establish more of both men. Eventually he and Nestor run from the army. Conan returns to the city and flees after the incident with the Magistrate.

Episode 4: The Red City: Conan and his lady friend arrive in a city in Corinthia, and who should they run into but Nestor. They go into business together, and Nestor teaches Conan some more tricks (thieving, hand to hand combat, and even languages) through a montage. Conan's lady friend, however, is starting to grow dissatisfied with the arrangement. In order to avoid accusations of misogyny I'm going to at least TRY to make the ladyfriend at least somewhat sympathetic. We also find out Nestor’s backstory.

Episode 5: Venarium: Conan and Nestor both give their accounts of Venarium. It’s a tense moment between the two, as they argue the merits of what happened. Nestor points out that women and children died in the sacking, Conan points out that Cimmerian women and children also died in the taking of the valley, but insists he took no part in killing women and children.

Episode 6: This episode would be told in flashbacks intercut with Conan narrating. We learn that Conan first went North to settle a debt with the Aesir (they were facing increased raids from a Vanir war chief.) And as such we get....the Frost Giant's daughter. I’d make it VERY clear Atali is using supernatural mojo and when Conan kills her brothers we get “I’ll just kill you” rather than “warm your body with my blood.” That would make things a bit clearer

Episode 7: Hyperborea: Conan's story continues. He tells Nestor that he set out into Hyperborea but wound up captured. He and others were forced to fight in the gladiator arenas for the noble's entertainment. The one sources of kindness were his fellow gladiators; we meet all of them and we find out that these guys (and one hyrkanian lady, Aygul) taught him Zamorian, Nemedian and Hyrkanian while they were trapped together. Eventually the time came for a slave breakout; in the ensuing carnage Conan and the Aygul were the only ones to escape. The rest of the prisoners were all butchered to a man. Conan took a ring from one of the prisoners back to Numalia. “It was there” Conan says, “That I had my first taste of betrayal.”

Episode 8: God in the Bowl Adaptation. Told through flashbacks; the fight sequence with the beast is extended but we don’t SEE the creature until the very end of the fight. “After that I decided I wasn’t going to let civilization beat me” Conan says.

Episode 9: Conan and Nestor go into business, kicking ass and taking names. However, eventually they hit too high profile a target. As such their fence betrays them. Nestor sacrifices himself to help Conan escape. Later, as Nestor is hanged Conan observes under a cloak, vowing revenge.

Episode 10: Conan kills the priest and gets captured. Murilo helps to spring him, and Conan goes after his girlfriend. He refuses to kill her not after mercy but because she’s just so pathetic that it’s just not worth it. Episode ends with Murilo being overpowered by Thak.

Episode 11: The rest of the story. Ends with Conan fleeing after cutting down Nestor’s body.

Episode 12: Homecoming: This is more of a brief coda; Conan returns home, he shares his roaring adventures with his family and the locals. We get a brief raid for action scene’s sake (wherein Conan gets slight vengeance for the death of his friends at Hyperborean hands by killing the general who carried out the massacre) and then Conan heads off into the East.



Season 2

Episode 1: Conan arrives in Agraphur, the capital of the Turanian empire. He gets caught committing robbery, but due to the need for soldiers he's offered a choice. Death or enlistment. Conan naturally chooses enlistment. The training montage is incredibly brutal, but it allows Conan to pick up archery skills, as well as hone his sword craft (even Natural warriors benefit with training; the trick is not becoming a slave to form). He also makes friends with some of his fellow mercenaries, while running afoul of others.

Episode 2: Conan and his unit are dispatched to aid in the fall of Secunderam (In the Conan RPG it's said Secunderam fell relatively recently and Conan should have some wars of conquest under his belt.) Conan plays a key role in the city's fall, and is duly praised by his commander.

Episode 3: Conan is dispatched to help crack down on some Hyrkanian tribes......but things get complicated when Aygul's tribe turns out to be one of the ones he's hunting. Conan ultimately betrays the Turanian army in order to help Aygul's tribe escape annihilation; however the captain deduces Conan's treachery and has him arrested.

Episode 4: Conan is sentenced to die, but Aygul's tribe launches a raid on the fort town and frees Conan. Conan fights his commanding officer and it's...honestly a rather tragic affair. Conan DID like the man, but he had to choose. Conan kills his commander but takes no joy in it. He heads back West.

Episode 5: Conan is part of an invading army that gets wiped out by demons defending the city of Yaralet. Conan finds a slave girl in the aftermath and saves her. We learn that Conan enlisted in a mercenary army hired by Strabonus to take the city of Yaralet through his conversation with the slave girl. Realizing that retreat isn't an option, he decides to take out Atalis and Than. He breaks into the city and manages to take out Than and Atalis.....but Strabonus is an ungrateful shitbag and gives him a mere pittance for his heroic efforts. This is the start of Conan's disdain for the greedy toad.

Episode 6: The Duke of Lions: Conan falls in with Amalric; Conan manages to rise up the ranks and also bonds with the rest of the unit, earning their respect. This is intercut with scenes of Shevetas searching for the city of Kuthchemes. It ends with him dying and Thugra rising up.

Episode 7: The first ten minutes shows Thugra gathering his army; we see him strong arm numerous tribes into following him (he gorily kills quite a few who refuse to play ball, while in others he plays on the fact that the other city states regularly exploit them). The horde quickly gains in power, and so naturally Amalric decides to head south. We also see Akbitana fall in an incredibly bloody battle. The episode ends with Thugra appearing to Yasmela and creeping her out.

Episode 8: Yasmela meets Conan and persuades him to lead her army. The rest of it is basic buildup to the epic battle sequence that will occur next episode. Conan meets his old thief friend again, who helps Conan realize that Thugra is Natohk. He also reveals that there's a lot of discontent amongst Thugra's forces, and the heroes get welcome reinforcements for the battle from various Shemite tribes who fled north to escape Thugra (including some Asshuri).

Episode 9: Big badass battle sequence. Conan defeats Katuman and then pursues Thugra (like in Dark Horse i'd have it be that Thugra's mistake was trying to claim Yasmela rather than going around. It makes more sense.) Conan corners Thugra, who is kinda desperate at this point. Conan kills Thugra and he and Yasmela fuck on the altar.

Episode 10: A timeskip has passed and we find that Conan and Yasmela have become lovers. However Yasmela is feeling weary of the crown, and she wants her brother back. She and Conan are also having.....trouble. They're two very different people. Over the course of the episode things fray, and Conan decides to go to Kuthchemes to get the gold needed to pay for the ransom.

Episode 11: Conan and a select crew manage to go to Kuthchemes, battling numerous horrors. Sergius is one of them and he betrays them out of cowardice. Conan and the others retaliate by leaving Sergius to die in the desert (burying him up to his neck in the sand. Sergius swears that he will escape and get his revenge.) Conan returns with the gold, and Yasmela is able to use it to pay off Strabonus. However, Conan is kinda sick of this and so leaves.

Episode 12: This is basically the courtroom episode. We're shown what happens through flashbacks. Ends with Conan bursting out the door and riding off into the sunrise.

[lordyam]

Part 2:

Season 3: Queen of the black Coast

Episode 1: This covers the first chapter of the story. Conan manages to persuade Belit to spare the few crew members still alive (he's still haunted by having to kill a friend when making a painful choice). Belit agrees to the terms.

Episode 2: We learn more about Belit's origin story; N'Yaga was the one who raised her and he's pretty much the only person she'll listen to (and even then it's a mixed bag.) We see Conan and Belit doing more damage, raiding ships, living and laughing.

Episode 3: Rumble in the Jungle: Conan and Belit tangle with Thuthmekri over some treasure.

Episode 4: The Well of Skelos Part 1: Conan and Belit run into Kalanthes, and Kalanthes is able to persuade them to aid him in recovering a dangerous artifact from the Well of Skelos (They've been promised a lot of gold in exchange.) They enter the Island, but soon shit begins to get weird. Note: One thing I liked about Dark Horse was that it explained why Thoth would do something so stupid and reckless like wasting a child of the serpent on a plan that was bound to fail or had a high risk. I'd sort of do something similar in that it was part of a larger scheme in the war; Thoth was trying to keep Kal from returning with an artifact. One thing I would have is the reveal that Stygia WAS actually a nice place once upon a time for a short period before Thoth Amon rose to power and turned it into a shithole (I know book of thoth is controversial but having the Stygians as always chaotic evil raises a lot of unfortunate implications).

Episode 5: The Well of Skelos Part 2: Conan and Belit aid Kalanthes and his crew, journeying deeper into the temple. However, shit gets REALLY REALLY weird and between a horrific toad monster and Thoth's agents they barely make it out alive (though they do manage to get quite a bit of treasure in the process.) Kalanthes repays them for their service by placing Ibis's blessing upon them, so as to protect them from any magic attack that Thoth might pull on them.

Episode 6: The Walls of Khemi: Conan and Belit are being increasingly harried by the Stygian navy; Thoth can't go after them directly but he sure as hell can make their lives miserable by siccing the Stygian Navy upon them. As such they go on the offensive and manage to burn the Stygian Fleet in the dock.

Episode 7: The Fires of the Ultimate South: In the aftermath of the battle, the heroes head south to regroup and recruit more soldiers. They also manage to have an adventure down there. We flesh out N'Gora's character down here, as well as some of the black corsairs (hell maybe have one or two be gay.)

Episode 8: The death: One of the few GOOD things Brian Wood did was the death arc; the idea of Conan being out of his element by facing something like disease (which can bring down even the strongest of men and which can't be outsmarted or outfought). Belit pulls through thanks to aid from a local witchdoctor but Conan is unnerved by how utterly helpless he was in this situation.

Episode 9: Sack of Abombi: Conan gets over his BSOD by taking part in a raid; he saves Belit by facing his fears. One of the two chiefs shits his pants before fleeing in terror.

Episode 10: Belit faces her past with Conan's help

Episode 11: Filler Episode

Episode 12: Feature Length episode: covers chapters 2-5 of the original tale. Some changes that carry over from the pastiches are that Conan is saddened by having to mercy kill N'gora and Conan being unnerved at Belit's callous behavior. Ends with Conan walking into the jungle.


Season 4: I understand that Conan's not a modern man but when enduring a loss THAT devastating it's going to linger for at least a little while. Belit's death isn't going to dominate things and we'll still see Conan as the mirthful figure as well, but Belit's shadow WILL hang over the season. I borrowed from Taraniach a little in this department.

Episode 1: Conan and the Bamulah. Conan falls in with the Bamulah tribe. He doesn't shoot for leadership at this point; he's also a lot more ruthless. He has a "fuck it all" attitude and doesn't really care.

Episode 2: Vale of Lost Women. As said earlier I'm borrowing a little from Taraniach in that meeting Livia is what snaps Conan out of his funk and encourages him to start living again. I am changing a lot of details because a.) the original story was RIDICULOUSLY racist b.) given how the REAL Cynthia Ann Parker ended up using her in some "redemption" story is just sleazy and c.) I'm wondering if maybe Livia can become something more. Livia has adapted to life as a Bamulah; she's even pregnant with the chieftain's child. When the double cross occurs she flees with her son. Conan and some other warriors catch up after the monster creature attacks Livia is scared and begs for her life and her unborn child's. This helps Conan finally realize just how low he's sunk so he kills his fellow warriors and escapes with Livia, who dislikes him but realizes she has nowhere to go.

Episode 3: Snout in the Dark Part 1: Conan, Livia and her son make it to Shumballah and get dragged into the intrigues of the city. Conan starts having an affair with Queen Tananda, but it's purely physical. There's no emotional attachment at all.

Episode 4: Snout in the Dark Part 2: The rest of the story. Conan Livia Diana, and the remains of the royal guard take their leave of the city as it burns, and decide to head north.

Episode 5: Journey to the North: After the action packed last few episodes this is a bit more of a quiet episode, though our band of heroes have to sneak through Stygia to get back to Civilized lands. We get a bit of interplay between Diana and Livia, as both are noblewomen who are in unfamiliar situations (Livia also gives birth to her son in this episode). Diana is attracted to Conan but he's reluctant to form really intimate relationships (that is those that involve actual attachments) and so she ends up sleeping with Conan's second in command (we see this develop throughout the season).

Episode 6: Conan and crew by pure chance run into Amalric's old unit. Conan is appalled at the wretched state of the unit, and it turns out that after Amalric died the guy who replaced him mismanaged the unit disgracefully. Conan feels obligated to step in, throwing Aratus (yes THAT Aratus) out on his ass and taking control. They manage to regain some credibility by taking a job for Khoraja on (We have a brief moment where Conan meets Yasmela again. Yasmela is accompanied by a small boy with brooding black eyes. Three guesses who the father is and the first two don't count.) Livia also leaves at this point back for Ophir; by this point she and Conan have managed to reach a grudging respect for the other (he admires how she was able to survive the long journey despite being a.) heavily pregnant and b.) a spoiled rich girl; she sees that there's more to him than a savage brute who just kills for the hell of it.)

Episode 7: This covers Conan's time with the Rebel Prince. Unfortunately Conan does TOO good of a job and as such Strabonus ends up suing for peace, which the Prince accepts. Conan decides to take the army east.

Episode 8: Return to Turan: Conan takes the crew east, where they start kicking ass and taking names all the way through Turan. We also meet Olivia during this point, and see the horrors she endures.

Episode 9: Conan and the others continue their escapades....but they are spied on by Sergius and Aratus. Seeing a chance to get revenge on Conan for what he did to them they sell him out to Shah Amurath.

Episode 10: Blood on the Illbars; the events leading up to the Illbars, and the Illbars itself. Everything goes wrong. Diana, the royal guardsmen who have been accompanying him since Snout in the Dark, the other mercs? They're all butchered to a man. Conan is the sole survivor.

Episode 11: The Crucible: In the aftermath of the Illbars River Massacre, Conan is at his lowest point. He has to avoid patrols, drink shitty water just to survive etc. However he does NOT give up. He then proceeds to rip Shah Amurath a new asshole when the chance arises.

Episode 12: Feature Length Adaptation of Iron Shadows in the Moon.

[themirrorthief]

cool...u are good at thinking of stuf

[lordyam]

Part 3

Season 5:

Episode 1: A pirate adventure on the Vilayet Sea. Conan and Olivia have become lovers and Olivia has really come into her own (she's scarcely recognizable as a princess, has some skills with a blade and even the other men follow her without question.) However, King Yildiz dies and Yezdigerd is determined to secure his empire. Part of this is cracking down on piracy.

Episode 2: Devil In Iron Part 1: This....would require an overhaul. The original story had WAY to many moving parts in it and it creates a kind of convoluted mess. So I'd change things somewhat while keeping the cool stuff like Khostra Khel. Basically Octavia escapes on her own initiative and flees to an island in the Vilayet with Jenhugir in hot pursuit. As it happens Conan and his crew have set up shop on the island for the night at the same time. However, this is complicated when Khostra Khel is revived from the dead, setting the stage for a glorious clusterfuck.

Episode 3: Devil In Iron Part 2: Basically everything explodes in a three way battle between Conan Jenhugir's forces and Khostra Khel. In the end Conan comes out on top, albeit with less soldiers than before. Octavia tries to make a move on Conan but Olivia VERY quickly stomps on that (we get a comical scene where she hits on Conan and Olivia holds a sword on her while saying "don't even think about it.")

Episode 4: Raid on Kharwezim: Conan manages to assemble a pirate fleet and they sack the crap out of the city (Octavia kills Ghanzavi). Most of the crew is able to retire from the profit but while Olivia wants to stay on (having acquired a taste) Conan's bored and wants to go back west. He and Olivia part amicably, with Olivia and the few pirates who didn't retire determined to start again....with her as the captain this time.

Episode 5: Conan and Octavia have their own adventure; in the process they develop a romance more gradually, with Octavia even realizing how shallow her life back in Nemedia was. This also fleshes out more of her backstory.

Episode 6: Conan and Octavia meet Taramis when Conan saves her from bandits; he impresses her to the point where she offers him a position in her guard. Conan has his run in with Vladislav's crew but doesn't meet the man himself.

Episode 7: Conan earns his keep in Taramis's guard; Taramis and Conan do NOT have a romantic relationship. Rather there's a genuine sense of friendship between them. Valerius has a crush on her but Taramis is oblivious. We also meet Khajara and establish her as this really sweet cutie who has a very idealistic view of the world (yeah it's not gonna last). However we also see Constantius arrive, we see him conferring in the shadows with an unknown partner.

Episode 8: Salome reveals herself, and we get everything up to Conan's crucifixion and Olgerd saving him.
Notably Octavia replaces Igva (for the sake of pragmatism.)

Episode 9: This would cover two sections; on one hand we see Valerius trying to survive in the increasingly decadent regime. We also see some young women getting sold into slavery (one girl in particular, Khajara, will come back).

Episode 10: Setup for the battle. Conan usurps Olgerd but leaves him alive. Salome and Taramis have that scene in the dungeon but Salome also gives a bit of a motive rant. She rants that Taramis had EVERYTHING handed to her from birth whereas Salome had to whore herself out to survive, and how while Taramis had loving parents her father figure threw her aside like garbage because she didn't live up to his standards. It's clear that Salome is an evil bitch but it does give her a bit of pathos (I'm shooting for something like Reileen in Altered Carbon. She's still an absolutely evil bitch who needs to die but the viewer is able to understand WHY she became that person). Taramis also shows a bit more backbone, calling Salome out on the fact that her crappy childhood doesn't excuse her wickedness. Valerius learns that Salome is impersonating Taramis and the stage is set before the final battle.

Episode 11: Big final battle sequence; Thog goes down with more difficulty and Taramis does express a small bit of sympathy for Salome as she dies (i.e. "Yes she was a monster, but she was still my sister. And....maybe if she had been raised alongside me things would have been different.") Conan takes his leave after crucifying Constantius; Octavia, having grown close to Valerius during their time on the run in the city, opts to stay with him.

Episode 12: This is a denouement episode (To shake up the forumla a bit. Conan and the Zuagir manage to incorporate a massive band of Kozak into their unit by killing the chieftain. We also see how Taramis and the others are dealing in Khauran. Taramis is still traumatized and has to pull herself together to rebuild the kingdom. It also doesn't help that some of the citizens still don't trust her (many of them know the truth about Salome but Salome still ran the kingdom into the toilet during her 7 month reign.


Season 6:

Episode 1: We'd get a brief scene with Conan in it at the very beginning but that's all for the episode. Instead Khajara gets her focus, going through ABSOLUTE TORTURE in Turan as everything that can go wrong for her DOES go wrong (her master is a disgusting pig who rapes her). Eventually she reaches her absolute breaking point, but gets comforted by another slave in the household. The slave tells her "life's not a fairytale. It's brutal and cruel and you have to do whatever it takes to survive in this world." So she takes advantage, levying her natural charms, pretending to submit to her master while plotting his downfall, and finally succeeds by revealing her master's plan to assassinate Yezdigerd to the man himself. She parleys this into being a new concubine.

Episode 2:

A Plot: Conan and massive horde strike at a major Turanian fort, trying to strengthen their cause.

B Plot: Khajara continues to worm her way into Yezdigerd's heart. We also see a more human side to Yezdigerd that despite his cruelty he isn't just a monster for the hell of it. There's a scene where Khajara panics while being touched thanks to involuntary flashbacks of her previous master raping her. Yezdigerd shows surprising understanding and they end up simply talking. This helps build up a more organic relationship between the two and explains what happens in the mid season finale.

Eventually the plots join when Conan takes the fort. Yezdigerd dispatches his fiercest general, the Red Eagle, to destroy Conan.

Episode 3: The Red Eagle: Conan learns that the Red Eagle (one of Yezdigerd's greatest generals) has held several villages hostage to force Conan into a confrontation. Conan being Conan, he manages to outsmart the guy and kills him, sending Yezdigerd his head. We also see the Yezdigerd Khajara relationship develop to the point where they actually sleep together.

In the end Conan outsmarts the guy and kills him, sending Yezdigerd his severed head. At this point Yezdigerd is pissed off but Khajara makes a suggestion. Use stealth and destroy the horde from within (she even comments that she saw Conan from afar in the palace).

Episode 4: A Plot: Kerim Shah is dispatched to infiltrate the horde. He manages to subtly worm his way into the inner circle and manages to frame a rival who also has ambitions to rule the horde as a spy. Notably the audience only learns that Kerim is the spy in the very last episode when he subtly dispatches a raven with the message "I'm in." Until this the audience is fully convinced the other guy's the spy (Though Saavy Howardians will be able to pick up on the twist before it happens).

B Plot: Khajara is nearly killed by a jealous rival pretending to be her friend. As a sign of how devious she's become she pretends to be fooled, then come the night of a festival she does an incredibly sexy dance before making a request....her rival's head on a silver platter (the rival has a "oh shit" moment when she realizes she's doomed.) Yezdigerd agrees and the unfortunate girl is dragged away kicking and screaming. Later when the two are in bed they're presented with the concubine's severed head. Goes to show that she isn't the sweet girl from Khauran anymore.

Episode 5: The Trap is sprung. Kerim is able to subtly manipulate Conan into biting off more than he can chew and attacking Agraphur directly with his army. The trap is sprung and most of the horde is shattered, with only a few prisoners taken for public execution. Conan escapes, determined to save what few captives he has. Khajara however is on top of the world; Yezdigerd rewards her by promoting her to his Chief Wife.

Episode 6: Conan is able to rally his soldiers to at least help him save their compatriots; ultimately Conan is able to succeed by holding Khajara hostage during the wedding. As cruel as Yezdigerd is he DOES love her and so reluctantly orders the release of the hostages in exchange for her life (Conan has a dagger to her throat, and for emphasis draws a TEENY TINY bit of blood. Yezdigerd breaks and ultimately orders the captives released into the desert.) Conan takes his leave, avoiding capture. Conan and the others escape. Yezdigerd, showing yet more humanity does NOT blame Khajara for what happened. Instead he blames Conan. If things were bad before they're MUCH more personal now.

Episode 7: Journey to Vendhaya. Conan heads ever eastward and manages to fall in with a tribe of badass warriors.
He overcomes disdain in order to get the position but get it he does. However, Yezdigerd's suffering a bit of bad PR since Conan forced him to release the prisoners and so sets his sights on Vendhaya to hopefully distract people.

Episode 8: Conan exploits but we also see Kerim Shah (who's star has also risen) set things up with the Black Seers of Yimsha and poor Bundra Chan's condition worsens. The chiefs are also captured.

Episodes 9-11: People of the Black Circle adaptation: A lot of plot threads are tied up. Kerim Shah gets his comeuppance, and Conan is able to leave again. He and Yasmina have a complicated relationship. Yasmina is clearly attracted to Conan and is seriously considering his offer but she feels obligation. Still, she and Conan part under amicable terms.
These would be longer episodes than usual (a little over an hour.)

Episode 12: Conan heads back west. Meanwhile the B storyline ends on a rather sad note. Khajara and Yezdigerd make a diplomatic visit to Khauran, which has managed to somewhat heal from Salome's degradations. We get a moment when Khajara interacts with Queen Taramis (it's....frosty to say the least. Taramis profusely apologizes for her being sold into slavery. Khajara makes a comment about how "horrible things happened to me. I adapted, I survived and now I'm Queen of the Greatest Empire in the World".) She even meets her dad, who had given up hope of ever seeing her. But things end sadly. She's become much more ruthless and cruel, and her dad tells her that he can't even recognize her anymore (he's appalled by some of her stories, especially getting her rival killed). Things get even worse when she badmouths Conan and her father denounces this. Ultimately the meeting ends badly, and Khajara storms out in tears. She's gained a queenship, but lost her soul. But she can accept it.

Note: This was probably my second most ambitious season. Having a secondary protagonist was a risky move, and I felt it would help to not only show how people react to Conan but also give Yezdigerd a bit more humanity.