After the war Robert “Rumy” Brandei sets out with his former commander of the privateer Raptor, Captain Rexor and many of their crew on a dilapidated brig to recover war loot that they had stashed on several islands. Shortly before reaching the first island the brig is attacked and destroyed by an airship flying House Lyrandar colors, the Stormfist. Rumy saves himself by jumping overboard and leaving his shipmates to their fate. He washes up on the island days later and finds himself a sacrifice by the Sahuagin to a large turtle creature. By dumb luck Rumy frees himself and manages to kill the beast as he is being swallowed by it. He hacks his way out of its long throat to find the Sahuagin swarming the dying creature. They haul him up and force him to take the first bite of its flesh. The Sahuagin then devour the beast.
Rumy lives with Sahmin, the Sahuagin mystic, for several months on the island learning some of their language and Sahuagin mysticism. He strikes a careful balance of bonding with the tribe but also being violent enough to remain “He who eats”. He relocates the loot cache to another place on the island and prepares for the inevitable arrival of adventurers who will attempt to retrieve it. When the adventurers arrive they are a miserable press-ganged crew led by a dangerous half-orc called Grotz. Rumy confronts them with a band of Sahaugin and announces that the crew can leave with the treasure and their lives if they replace Grotz with himself. Seeing little choice the crew turns on Grotz and he is killed with a little help from the Sahuagin.
Among this crew of twelve are two companions, the rogue halfelf woman Mira and her sidekick the halfling Arvel. True to his word Rumy lets the crew each have a share of the gold, even only taking one share for himself. The little sloop, the Ceri is restocked and loot is loaded. Before they leave the island Sahmin insists that the young warrior Huak goes to Stormreach with them.
The time in Stormreach was the happiest time the Ceri’s crew had spent in months. They wasted no time spending it on trinkets, drink, and pleasures. Meanwhile Captain “Rumy” Brandei and Mira Fox remained busy. The two were seen together as often as not. It was around this time Rumy was seen drinking often in the Wavecrest Tavern(pg 36). At this same time the barmaid Aida(pg 35) started asking about Rumy and Gimcrack the Sly(pg 35) publicly swore vengeance on him in a drunken rage. Rumy also performed some favor or errand for Nalia Dagoward(pg 33), owner of Dagowood’s Apothecary, for the crew knew that when he could not be found sleeping on the ship he was most likely sleeping in one of the beds at the Apothecary.
His scheming eventually came to fruition and Rumy somehow “acquired” a Stormreach guard uniform that fit Mira perfectly. Captain Rumy announced to his crew that they would soon depart to recover the rest of the war loot as soon as he and Mira completed one last task. Somewhere deep under the city in a secret prison, House Lyrandar was holding an old navigator of Rumy’s former ship the Raptor. The navigator was the only one left that knew how to reach the second cache of war loot. They left to find him and a day later Rumy returned by himself and ordered that the Ceri to leave with all haste. The crew and the halfling Arvel in particular were concerned about Mira’s fate. All Rumy would say is that she fell behind.
In truth, during the flight from the prison Mira did indeed fall behind but not very far. Rumy barred a certain grate behind him, not trapping or dooming the halfelf woman, but insuring that she would never arrive in time to board the Ceri before it cast off. Mira can still be seen around Stormreach patrolling in a guard uniform. Rumy has not met her again since the day he left Stormreach.
With a heading now set, the Sahuagin Huak navigates the Ceri through some of the most treacherous shoals of Shargon’s teeth. They arrive at the
The crew of the now ruined Ceri knew they had twelve hours before the soldiers of the Stormfist could pursue them into the caverns. It was useless to find and load the loot then since the attackers would be waiting for them outside. Instead Captain Rumy ordered the caverns to be fortified. Wards and traps were set up in all likely waterways. The young Sahuagin Huak suddenly vowed to bring the tribe to feed and jumped into the water without warning. Rumy has not seen him since that day and is not even sure whom Huak intended his tribe to feed on. The rest of the crew pulled up the boats near the entrance of the loot room and waited.
Hours later the tide dropped and the armed crew of the Stormfist stormed the caverns. Wards went off and traps were triggered. The invaders approached the loot room to be met with a withering hail of bolts and magic. The butcher’s bill was high for both sides but much more so for the Stormfist men. Finally the assault broke and the attackers retreated. Rumy’s crew rejoiced, as it was their finest hour. There were more sounds of struggle near the entrance of the cavern. Finally some Stormfist crewers approached with a banner of truce. Rumy went out to speak with them and met the First Officer of the ship, a dwarf named Brimus Ironheart. Ironheart explained that he was in fact Captain Ironheart now and that the Stormfist no longer flew the banner of House Lyrandar. He said that Rumy proved a wily and fearsome opponent and he could use such a man as quartermaster on his new airship. After a brief meeting with his men, Rumy agreed and the two crews became one. The loot was divided evenly except for a large magically sealed crate that was placed in the hold of the Stormfist. Nobody knew what it contained and the only men who could open it had died in the battle within the caverns. For the time being it sat undisturbed until someone who could open it could be found.
The Stormfist took off for more adventure for profit. Arvel the halfling returned to Stormreach after losing his hand in the cavern battle. He received two shares of loot in compensation. After wanting to kill each other, Rumy and Ironheart eventually grew to respect each other. Ironheart’s command of the Stormfist eventually ended when he was literally thrown off the ship by warforged under the command of Tyrna Wyborn. To the horror of the Stormfist’s crewers the ship was renamed the Stormcrow by Wyborn. She launched a campaign of terror that was ended when the Stormcrow was destroyed by an unnamed ship.
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