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The Servants of Bît-Yakin (circa "The Jewels of Gwahlur") Large Monstrous Humanoids Hit Dice: 3d8 +6 (20 Hit Points) Initiative: +1 (dex) Speed: 30 ft AC: 18 (+1 Dex, +7 Natural) Attacks: 2 Claws +10, Bite +7  melee Damage: Claw 2d6+8, Bite 1d4+4  melee Face/Reach: 5 ft by 5 ft/5ft Special Attacks: Improved Grab Speical Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +2 Abilities: Str 26, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 6, Wis 8, Cha 7 Skills: Move Silently +5, Spot +3, Jump +12 Feats: Multiattack Climate/Terrain: Keshan, Unknown Challenge Rating: 3 Treasure: None Alignment: Chaotic Evil Advancement: by Character class

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Conan Zargheba Muriela the Dancing Girl Gwarunga the Priest Thutmekri Gorulga the Priest The Servants of Bît-Yakin

"And slowly with the crawling light, figures became visible, like shapes growing out of the night and silence.  At first they seemed like gray stone statues, those motionless, hairy, man-like, yet hideously human; but their eyes were alive, cold sparks of gray icy fire, and as the the weird glow lit their bestial countenances, Gorulga screamed and fell backward, throwing up his long arms in a gesture of frenzied horror.  But a longer arm shot across the altar and a mishapen hand locked on his throat.  Screaming and fighting, the high priest was dragged back across the altar; a hammer like fist smashed down, and Gorulga's cries were stilled.  Limp and broken he sagged across the altar, his brains oozing from his crushed skull.  And then the servants of Bît-Yakin surged like a bursting flood from hell on the black priests who stood like horror-blasted images."        ~Robert E. Howard, "Jewels of Gwahlur" The servants of Bît-Yakin are not apes, nor are they men.  They are shambling horrors spawned in the mysterious, nameless jungles of the south, where strange life teems in the reeking rot without the dominance of man and where drums thunder in temples that have never known the tread of human feet.  They have a leprous gray body and the features of a carven, unhuman idol.  Their bones are like tempered steel.  They are fanged and they eat people.  They are gray, hairy devils that walk like men and speak a gibberish no human can understand. Bît-Yakin of Pelishtim had somehow managed to gain lordship over them (and earning an eternal exile from humanity for doing it) and took them to Alkmeenon.  Bît-Yakin died a hundred years past, and now his servants have free reign over the city, and they maintain the corpse of Yelaya.  The servants are effectively immortal, and do not die of old age, so far as anyone knows. The favored class for a servant of Bît-Yakin is Barbarian. Combat The servants of Bît-Yakin fight tooth and nail, in a burst of red abysmal ferocity.  The story "Jewels of Gwahlur" tells of one ripping a man apart into two pieces as one might tear a chicken. Improved Grab: If a servant of Bît-Yakin hits one person with both claw attacks, his opponent is grappled.  The servant can thereafter make grapple attacks to deal an impressive amount of gore damage (4d6+16).

Robert E. Howard's story, "The Jewels of Gwahlur," was first published in Weird Tales in March of 1935.   The story can also be found in the Ace/Lancer paperback "Conan the Warrior"; and the Burkley/Putnam edition, "The People of the Black Circle" and in Millenium's "Conan Chronicles 2: The Hour of the Dragon". This is considered a minor Conan adventure.  Even Weird Tales assigned the story a secondary position in the issue wherein it appeared.  The story lacks the precision of the later Conan stories, and some have wondered if it was written a lot earlier than it appeared, a story Weird Tales had held back for one reason or another.  In this story, Conan is again a thievish rogue and is after a cursed treasure.  It is very formulaic - a fabulous treasure, a lost city with labyrinthine passages, lurking peril, and a scantily clad lovely who requires rescuing.  However, the tale does move at a rapid pace.  The story is entertaining, but is not Howard's fiery best.

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