Shattered Star City, the Broken Cauldron Bar.
"Hey! Have you heard? The Six Great Pirates have teamed up to attack the Dark God Temple. I reckon it's done for this time."
"That news is everywhere already. Those religious nuts were never any good. I used to have a brother I'd risked my life alongside for years. Then he joined the Dark God Temple, and after one stint there, he came back calling me a heretic. Wouldn't that piss you off?"
"Yeah! The Dark God Temple is a cancer on the Shattered Star Region. Good riddance! Let them fight. The more of them die, the more room there'll be for small-time pirates like us."
"True enough. Still, things have really been lively lately. The Shattered Star Region's been fighting nonstop, and we even plundered the Locke Conglomerate. I heard you went over there to help yourself a while back too, brother. That was a grand occasion for us Shattered Star Pirates. You must've hauled in plenty, eh?"
"Heh! The Locke Conglomerate really is filthy rich. All I did was follow those big Pirate Crews and pick up a few scraps, and that was enough to upgrade the gear for the hundreds of brothers under me!"
"Congratulations on striking it rich! No arguing, then. Drinks are on you today!"
"Of course! Still, the Locke Conglomerate isn't easy to mess with. Every last one of their warships is elite. If I hadn't caught on early and pulled out the moment I saw Black Sail and the other big Pirate Crews retreating, I might really have been done for."
You have no idea what happened to the brothers who stayed behind. Less than thirty percent made it back in one piece!"
"Heh! Men die for wealth, birds die for food. That's our fate as