On a small island far to the east of the mere of dead men, and far to the north of the moonshae isles lies the pirate cove of Tynder Island. Upon it, in the scum-covered town of Ekkert Fædur, the pirates of Tawnys Temper can be found.
Sett the Bastard, ruffian captain, sly, cunning, ready to piss off or punch up at anyone he meets.
Skylar Brigshaw, marksman of a new kind of weapon, a metal pellet propelled by an explosive powder.
Couatl, a scaled lizardmen with a hunger for human flesh and adventure alike.
Silent Stede and his parrot, Crack McCaw, whos annoyance knows no bounds.
Hafdan, half-orc, son of a storm giant and herald of the storm. Captain of the Orcs Revenge, a ship won from a slaver.
Klynneth Stonecarver, a cleric of Gruenmawg who made the earth. A militant out to build a temple and rule the world.
Zekia, dragon marked monk and survivor of death. She’s a hardass.
And Ianthe, the sea-witch, who knows things about the ocean, who wields fell sorcery at the peril of her crew.
While waiting for their boats to be repaired, the pirates have taken up a contract to deal with nearby lizardmen (the pesky things had been living here when the pirates moved in and haven’t left them alone since!)
At once, they’re off down the coast in their rowboat, the Plain Jane. Stede guides them through wilderness to a clearing where the lizards have been spotted. There are signs of an old campfire, but nothing living. It’s late, so the pirates make camp.
In the night, Zekia on watch, something approaches from the darkness. Three lizardmen, their presence betrayed by the shimmering disc reflection of the campfire in their eyes, perch in the edge of the darkness. When Zekia calls out, they ignore her. When everyone wakes up, Couatl is able to communicate with the lizards, who are of the people they seek. They offer a job, to retrieve their stolen brood clutch from a five headed beast. Couatl agrees, but Sett isn’t convinced.
The lizard chief meets them in her den. Walls of mud prop up an overturned longboat. The lizard queen sits cross legged, thinking, her eyes closed. A necklace of bone and pearl sits upon her breast. Sett interrupts her careful meditation.
“Look, I’m either here to kill you, or get your help in screwing over the guy that’s paying me a lot of money to come here and kill you. Your choice.”
He has never been one for subtlety. The lizard queen has no choice but to agree, but she is reluctant to give away the necklace.
“How can we know you ssspeak the truth, human?” She knows shes in no position to argue. Sett is a bastard, but he has an amount of empathy for the hunted. Or he wants this transaction to go smoothly.
“We’ll leave you collateral. Tomorrow morning we’ll come by and collect. Might even help you if you’re lucky.”
“There isss more we can tell you, if you retrieve our brood clutch. A five headed beassst is guarding it in the bay. We have some of your golden coinage, and other pricelessss heirloomsss.”
“We’ll see.”
The pirates leave behind all manner of personal belongings, the most extravagant of which is Hafdans Thunderous Hammer, a gift from his storm giant father.
Two nights later, they arrive back in Ekkert Fæddur, necklace in hand. Sett informs the others of his plan. They set it in motion.
Sett, Ianthe, Zekia, Stede, Skylar, and Couatl go to the commissioners office to hand in the necklace and collect their gold. 14,000 pieces for the apparent elimination of the lizardmen. The pirates won’t be here long enough for their lie to be found out. Sett engages the clirk in flirtatious smalltalk, waiting for the signal.
Klynneth and Hafdan find the wyvern they brought in some weeks ago (part of another job). It’s caged and chained, no longer fighting against it’s bonds. Two thugs sit at a small table playing cards.
Klynneth sits down, wagering his mace and some coin. He’s horrible at cards. It doesn’t matter. When Hafdan is finished circling around then, just as a thug collects his winnings, he brings his warhammer down on their heads. One guard is killed instantly, the other has his head bashed into the table and is finished off by another warhammer swing. There isn’t much time. They get to work on the wyverns chains.
The others are getting bored of listening to Sett talk before they hear a distant crash. Then a scream. Then the town bell starts tolling. In the distance, a seargent yells “Loose Wyvern!”
The pirates leap into action. Skylar’s black powder weaponry blows a hole in a man’s head. Couatl bits another near clean in two. Sett grapples the clerk and drags her to the vault, the fight raging behind him. Foolishly, the warden of Ekkert Fædur has left the key in care of the clerk. She is promptly relieved of it.
The vault contains uncountable riches - the sum total of an island of piracy. A wooden trolley is loaded with as much look as can be carried. 50,000 gold pieces in trade materials, metal bars and gemstones. Town bells still ringing, the pirates fight their way out of the commissioners office.
Speeding through town, they see the sillhouette of the wyvern thrashing through down. It has shed some of its chains, but still remains tightly wound. It’s flailing takes out several citizens, it’s venomous tail spilling blood.
The heavy loot trolley bowls over several guards as it makes its way down toward the dock. Klynneth, Hafdan and the rest of the crew are waiting to shovel it into the hold as soon as it arrives. Their boat leaves just in time, before the guards have a moment to spare for them.
As the pirates depart, they send several giant metal balls flying into docked ships, the product of their profound invention: cannon. They hope to ruin the fleet. To prevent whoever they royally pissed off coming after them.
In the distance, as the sun sets on ruined Ekkert Fædur, the wyvern flies eastward back to its mountain home. Chains rattling in the wind.
The next morning, a young man in pristine boots and coat stalks the docks. He is talking to witnesses. He hears many strange things - a man bitten clean in two, a clean hole through a mans chest that no arrow could cause. He returns to his crew with determination and anger. There’s only one captain who could crew such a ragtag bunch and still come out on top - Sett the Bastard. The man grimaces.
“Come men. We hunt the crew of the Tawny’s Temper, not for the navy, but for revenge.”