Savage Sword of Conan #178 alternate pencil Prelim cover Earl Norem

Savage Sword of Conan #unknown alternate pencil Prelim cover Earl Norem.
It's the ‘A’ version.
Got a very informative message on CAF today (5 June 2022): “hi! your unknown pencil SSOC prelim from Norem (was meant for the story in issue #178 "Pillar of the Sky" without any shadow of a doubt. The priests aka silent followers are tattooed, their mouths sewn shut, and they pray to "Bardisattva", some obscure hyperborean sky/thunder god, all of which are clearly depicted in this piece. The sacrificial stepped altar with a giant metal ring onto which the victim is to be bound, drawn by Docherty in the episode, is shown also here in the Norem prelim.” I will add the inside comic pics to this post.

Joe Chiodo did the cover, and Norem did the next cover #179.