Story Threads: The Old Guard

**Seventhday**, **the 31st of Eveningtide, 30 A.R.**

The adventure began in a run down inn within the Captain's Quarter known as The Styx Oarsman, with the soon to be brave heroes hunting for a job on a Deep Runner Crew. After a series of scuffles and misunderstandings, they were hired by a Goblin Captain by the name of Kryx Twiceburned to run the Deeps onboard a Sky Ship named the Gauntlet.

**Tideday, the 35th of Eveningtide, 30 A.R.**

Their first run was the forgotten **Village of Trillelah,** where they had their first encounter with the warped beasts that dwell within the Wyrdmists of the Abyss. They emerged victorious, and made it back to Spirithil after outrunning a rival Sky Ship known as the Sun Chaser that may have been looking to play pirate with their spoils.

**Seconday, the 38th of Eveningtide, 30 A.R.**

   Upon returning to Spirithil, they were attacked on the docks by a motley assortment of Wyrdbeasts, This unheard of event drew the attention of the Blackcoats, specifically the watch commander of the Captain's Quarter, an Genasi named Adeben Con’Trallah and his Goblinoid hating lieutenant Panya Gamal. The Gauntlet and her crew managed to avoid arrest, and went hunting the for a local thieves' guild named the Gurvaljin Ir. Rumor had it that the captain of the Sun Chaser had drawn most of her crew from the den of thieves, and that they might have a score to settle with her over it. Our heroes ended up doing a favor for the guild leader, a massive Orc by the name of Renke Drei’Pfennig, and learned that the Sun Chaser's captain, known as The Unslain, had a magic trick using a pair of linked stones that acted as a divining rod. Sure enough, they uncovered one of the stones on the Gauntlet.

   **Sixthday,** **the 40th of Eveningtide, 30 A.R.**

The crew of the Gauntlet took a Deep Run off of the Reclaimers, charged with escorting a scholar named Kamran Sassani**.** The Gauntlet traveled to Rhotudan, where they were supposed to pick up the scholar.

**Moonday, the 6th of Rise, 30 A.R.**

After a deep dive into the various hallucinatory substances available to those with coin within the Endless Market, they located the Scholar and dove into the Deeps at **the Village of Nabal**.

**Fourthday, the 9th of Rise, 30 A.R.**

There, they found an abandoned temple to The Harvest Queen. Kamran located what he was looking for, an altar upon which shards of red crystal were growing. He asked to be left in peace to study the altar and the circle behind it, and the party left him to deal with competition, for the rival Sky Ship the Efreeti had also landed in the village. Luckily, the Efreeti's crew were more interested in the spoils they'd looted than some scholar, and backed off without a fight. The fight came anyways when Kamran somehow opened a portal to another world, from which horrible creatures emerged. The Reclaimer assisted the party in defeating the horrors, and when the Red Shards were destroyed the portal was closed.

**Seventhday, the 12th of RIse, 30 A.R.**

The Gauntlet returned to Rhotudan, but shortly after arriving, three Sky Ships filled to the brim with Wyrd Beasts crashed into the Endless Market. The assault was unprecedented, and chaos and pandemonium rained. When the Wyrd Beasts were repelled, they found a Lothari named Arban Oyuunchimeg, who reported that she'd been stranded on the Sky Ships for three days. She told them that she heard human voices speaking Umari, talking about a book from the Great Library that they could not steal, and a scholar named Narantsetseg Luk.  She named the man Azbara Jos.

    **Thirday, the 18th of Rise, 30 A.R.**
After the harrowing invasion of Wyrd Beasts in Rhotudan, the Gauntlet returned to its port of call in the Great Roost, Spirithil.  No sooner had the party touched down, when they were taken into custody by the Aleph, the self-appointed guardians and de facto government of Spirithil.  Looking about, they saw wanted posters with Quaaark's beaked scowl on them, courtesy of the Laughing Sorceress. They were presented to the leader of the Blackcoats, the Water Genasi Sherrideen.  Sherrideen was capitalizing on Quaark's indiscretions to rope the party into a rescue mission for one of her agents, the watch captain of the Captain's Quarter Adeben Con'Trallah. Sherrideen was furious that Beasts of the Wyrd had been on her city, and wanted answers. She had sent Adeben into the Undercity two days previously, and was concerned that he had not returned. She did not wish to send more agents, for the Aleph already had a contentious relationship with the guardians of the Undercity, the Hovivner. Instead, she sent the party, conscripting them to the city's service.

    They traveled deep into the Undercity, finding the burrow of the Hovivner. It appeared empty, but they learned that it was filled with strangely silent gnomes. They met one of the leaders, an assassin named Anahit Avakian, who used her magic to silently show them where Adeben had gone. They found a sunken ruin, and overcoming it's many dangers, eventually finding a magic circle inscribed in chalk. Within floated a horrible creature, which promised to kill their enemies if they set it free. They declined, but opening the door found Azbara Jos and a number of disciples engaged in some strange and arcane ritual with a bound victim lying to one side. A battle ensured, and Azbara Jos, accidentally freed the horrible creature, which honored its word and promptly destroyed Azbara. The party fled, taking the captive with them, with the monster's laugh echoing in their minds. They discovered the captive was Narantsetseg Luk, the Lothari scholar Arban had overheard Azbara speaking of before the assault on Rhotudan.

    **Fourthday, the 19th of Rise, 30 A.R.**

They met with Sherrideen, who implored them to travel to the Great Turtle to find the source of these Sky Ships bearing hoards of Wyrd Beasts, and to see if Adeban could be rescued.  She offered to hire the whole Gauntlet for the task, at nearly double their standard rates for a Deep Run.  The party withdrew to the Three Sister's Inn to discuss their next move, but were accosted by a trio of form stealing shapeshifters. They chased the shapeshifters into the Gray Markets, finally capturing them at the Leaky Bucket. They had barely bound the captured monster when they were approached by a Probashi woman named Zoya Egorov, who asked for help proving her brother's innocence for a crime she believed the shapeshifters had committed. They were also accused of being slavers, as Quark's old ship the Bawdy Marauder was rumored to have taken to the trade. Deep in the Roost, they found the Sky Skip's First Mate Gasthyr about to sacrifice an Arran Knight in a ritual remarkably similar to the one they'd caught Azbara in the middle of. They stopped the ritual, and killed the cultists, freeing