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By Jamey Martin
The Legacy of Venom, part 1
Summer 1373DR
Making their way back to Hap, the band discussed the possibility that the CoT already possessed the Green Orb. In the end it was decided that they would act under the assumption that Bry'th was either talking about one of the other Orbs, and not the Green Orb, or that he had simply been lying to dishearten them. It seemed very unlikely given all they knew that the CoT had the Green Orb.
And so they continued on their way. During their stop in Essembra the band heard that the break of spring had brought a rash of murders and mass murders to the western Moonsea region. Each of these involved fanatical groups, or lone zealots, that proclaimed the return of the Tyrant-God Bane to the Faerunian pantheon and demonstrated the fate that awaited all who might dare defy his supremacy.
At last arriving back in Hap, the band discovered that the work had been proceeding well under the watchful eye of Brutus. And so, after relating the news of their journey, and with little else to do for the time being, the more able bodied members of the band set to work helping with the excavation of Venominhandar's lair.
Within a week it came to pass that the brittle remains of an elfin skeleton were found still encased in a noble suit of supple elfin chainmail, relatively untouched by time. Likewise the rune-cut longsword that was unearthed very near the elfin remains soon after. When the hasty hand of a worker sought to take up this sword -- clearly the moonblade of the elfin hero Jassin -- it rose up of its own accord. With a few swift, sure strokes the elfin blade hewed the Hapster down, following which it settled to the earth once more.
And so it was that a group of Hapsters, led by Lacander and Ellisha, set out for Seven Oaks to tell their elfin friends of this great and terrible find, in hopes that they might come and claim it.
In the meantime, the dig continued with hopeful zeal. Before long the cracked skull a dragon was unearthed, and then its entire frame. Furthermore, it was noted that the remains had all been found, not in the lair itself, but rather in a tunnel that most likely led into a greater cavern. And so it was that the digging continued further still, until at last they punched through a great whole in the granite floor which, long ago, had clogged with collapsing rubble, thus leaving the massive cavern whose floor rested some 60' beneath relatively untouched.
After obtaining some suitable ropes, Corwin, Voldreena, Tyros, Hector, and Brutus descended into the cavern along with a few workers. It did not take long for one of the workers to find an excessively large horde of coins and other precious items upon one of the caverns many large "shelves". As the others came over and began to delight in the sheer abundance of it however, a number of dark, eerie, and ghostlike shapes began to rise up out of the horde. Two workers immediately fell to the life draining touch of the horde wraiths. The third fell soon after. Thus was the unsuspecting band set into a quick and hasty retreat.
The content of And Dragons Shall Rule is the property and copyright of Jamey Martin, and is not to be published or redistributed without permission.