The Gold Goddess Chapter 1: "Xomec's Raiders" is issue 9 of Marvel's Further Adventures of Indiana Jones comic book series and forms the first half of the two-part story "The Gold Goddess". It was published in May 1983.
In 1985, TSR, Inc. released The Golden Goddess, role-playing game module based on the story.
Plot summary[]
Marrakesh, 1936[]
Some weeks after Indiana Jones lost the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol to Belloq in Peru, the archaeologist has picked up the artifact's trail in Marrakesh. Assisted by his friend Sallah, Jones breaks into the storeroom of local antiquities dealer Saad Hassim. When he's lowered down into the building, however, he sees that Hassim has been stabbed to death and realizes that he's been beaten to the idol by a pair of masked thieves in the middle of their heist.
Spooked, the thieves try to flee with the artifact but Jones quickly uncoils his bullwhip and brings down a large cat statue on top of them. He tosses the idol up to Sallah then has to rethink his own exit strategy as he discovers that the recovering thieves are armed. Jones kicks down the locked exit door and escapes into the street only to find that the thieves' backup car has arrived.
Jones tries to lose the vehicle by slipping into an alley. Faced with a dead end, however, the archaeologist instead hooks his whip onto a nearby drainpipe to scale the wall. After a momentary scare when the drainpipe can't hold Jones's weight and begins to collapse, Sallah pulls Jones back up to the rooftops just as the car slams into the wall below.
Sallah and Indiana Jones flee Marrakesh with the idol.
Jones and Sallah flee across the rooftops pursued by the armed thieves and soon run out of buildings to leap between. With no time to climb down to their waiting truck, the pair resign themselves to dropping off the edge of the building and smash through the canopy where their fall is cushioned by a load of camel straw.
The two thieves watch the truck escape into the Moroccan desert then unmask. The man, Xomec, bemoans that the Chachapoyan idol has gotten away from them but his female counterpart reassures him that the event may actually turn out fortuitous for the both of them. Having recognized the archaeologist from photographs, she explains that while Xomec will get the idol, she has the opportunity to get a victory of her own: the death of Indiana Jones.
New York City[]
Three days later, at a busy National Museum fundraiser being held at the Diamond Eye nightclub in a New York City high-rise, Marion Ravenwood complains to Marcus Brody about being stood up by Jones again. The museum curator can only sympathize: Brody had expected that Jones would be back with the idol days prior and is now faced with a room full of reporters that he invited but has nothing to show them.
The journalists all suddenly rush towards the elevator which Brody mistakenly assumes is an attempt to leave when a tuxedoed Jones steps out with the idol in hand. A relieved Brody gratefully receives the artifact from Jones then breaks away from the party to safely secure the idol which is to be showcased inside a replica of the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors. Inside the display room, however, Brody walks in on the body of its security guard lying on the ground and his attempt to go get help for the man is thwarted when a dart suddenly slams the door shut.
In nothing more than a loincloth and wristguards, Xomec, flanked on each side by a blowgun-wielding Hovitos warrior, angrily introduces himself to Brody as a descendant of the Chachapoyans and demands the idol which is sacred to both his and the Hovitos people. Brody begrudgingly hands over the relic but they're interrupted by commotion outside as the impatient reporters are keen to see the idol.
His attempt at a quiet infiltration frustrated, Xomec pulls out his pistol and fires blind at the display room door. Jones and Marion move to outflank the unseen assailants by approaching the display room window from the outside, 23-storeys above the Manhattan streets below. Jones leaves Marion on the roof while he carefully edges around the building exterior but Xomec and the Hovitos notice him as they make their escape out of the window with the idol.
Jones narrowly avoids a poison dart by ducking back around the corner. Though the move unbalances him, his fall is prevented by the timely arrival of Marion who catches him. Jones flaps his dinner jacket in front of his blind spot around the corner. With no bullets forthcoming, the archaeologist safely assumes that the three men have retreated by going around the far corner of the skyscraper ledge.
Privately relieved that the raiders aren't smart enough to leave someone to guard their escape, Jones realizes his error when he approaches the far corner only to be met by one of the Hovitos stepping back into view. The archaeologist manages to duck a dart then makes up for the absence of his bullwhip by improvising one with his jacket, snapping it into the face of his antagonist. The Hovitos falls, instinctively grabbing at the jacket and pulls Jones over the edge with him. Jones loses his jacket and his glasses but not his life as he manages to keep a hold of the ledge while the Hovitos isn't so fortunate.
The second Hovitos warrior arrives to take advantage of Jones' predicament and kicks at the archaeologist. Jones clings to the ledge with his fingertips only to have them crushed with excruciating pain under the stomps of the warrior.