Legend 81 - The Terror of Vendor

**Legend 81: The Terror Of Vendor**

As the Age of Man dawned Vendor grew in prosperity, becoming a gathering place place for local tribes and a well known trading post – where everything was available, for the right price.
One trader who set up in Vendor was a kindly looking old man, Toscin by name. His speciality was rare plants, herbs and spices and he soon
rose in regard within the township and his wealth grew. But for every
person who admired him, there were others who were envious.
Now Toscin had a hobby, and that was alchemy, he would freely admit to
His friends that he had no great skill but that did not lessen his
enjoyment in the practice and his search for new concoctions. One day he received a visitor who brought him a small sample of the plant known as mithrilleaf, a rare variant of silverleaf. There was not enough in the sample to be worth trading but Toscin knew of a number of alchemical recipes that might be enhanced through its incorporation and so after much haggling he purchased the sample, along with a guarantee that he would be the sole recipient of any further finds.
Once his visitor had left, Tocsin immediately shut up shop and hastened to his personal laboratory. For two days he remained inside, not allowing any visitors. Early morning on the third day saw him emerge from his laboratory, tired and obviously frustrated as nothing had seemed to work. Such was his foul temper that even his friends that he met in the street were given no greeting as Toscin returned to his dwelling. But then there came a rumbling from Toscins laboratory and even as Toscin turned around a muffled explosion was heard from within and flames engulfed the small hut. The smoke from the flames was thick and glistening with silver motes it rose into air but then settled quickly back to the ground to move sluggishly with the morning breeze and dispersed only slowly. Unfortunately, where the smoke came to ground was around the central well, many were there gathering the morning water and whilst most fled from the smoke cloud a number got caught up in it. All who breathed in the thick silvery fumes died, their flesh wasting away, as the smoke cloud finally dispersed all that remained of the many women and children around the well was dessicated corpses – almost skeletal in look.
Toscin, short of sleep and foul of temper was only considering the ruins of his laboratory and did not register the deaths at the well. As he returned to the site of his experiments, he raged at the absent peddler who had passed on the mithrilleaf, for obviously, at least in Toscins mind, the samples had been contaminated.
One local clansman, a hill farmer, who had been in Vendor with his family had lost both his wife and their two sons to the cloud and in a rage he accosted Toscin, demanding that Toscin make reparations. Toscin simply swore at him, and made to push him away…
What happened next is unclear, certainly that clansmans dogs sensing the mood in the air would have reacted badly to Toscin seemingly attacking their master, but whether the clansman ordered them to attack is unknown. Whatever, in a matter of seconds Toscin was down on the ground being savaged by three hunting dogs, and it was only when the largest dog ripped out Toscins throat did the clansman call them off. Such was the shock amongst the people of Vendor at the days events that nobody sought to sanction the clansman, indeed some may have even cheered his actions.

The clansmen left Vendor to return to his herds in the hills – he was never seen again. Toscins body was thrown onto the still burning remains of his laboratory and Vendor made an attempt to recover.

Six months later, the mithrilleaf peddler returned to Vendor, which by now had recovered from the tragedy. However, on his first night in Vendor he was waylaid and the next morning residents found his bloodless corpse hanging from the well rope.

Since that day, Vendor was terrorised by a vampiric beast, that the residents decided was the returned spirit of Toscin. By the time that the beast was dealt with, it was too late for Vendor to recover its fame or glory and the town shrank into obscurity…..