The Danger Gang narrowly avoid a trip to Qaf
The next morning the Danger Gang are rested and start flying their way through the mountains once more. It is a peaceful, if chilly journey.
In the early afternoon they pass a cliff face with a round hole right through it. Deciding that it merits further investigation they dig around it to find that it is in fact the giant hip bone of a, well, giant skeleton, long dead and not really doing much of anything. After making certain he isn't laying on some kind of loot or something, the Gang returns to the air. After a few more hours, Zombres' magic is expended and the party is weary from travel. They make camp for the night. Karl and Marcella keep watch.
Around midnight, like something out of an Utagawa Kuniyoshi woodblock, a giant freaking ghost skeleton rises into view scaring the ever-loving bejesus out of the two fighters. They go tearing off into the mountainous wastes. Meanwhile the still-slumbering party is rudely awakened by the fists of a giant skeleton ghost.
After Gershom fails to turn the thing, the (non-feared members of the) party does its damndest to put the sucker down -- which they do -- but by this time Karl and Marcella are off in the distance... and being approached by djinn type individual.
They attempt to explain themselves to him once the fear dissipates, but are soon hurtling through the air in the djinn's power, headed, he explains, to the Garden of Roses in Qaf. So that doesn't sound so bad.
Fortunately, the remainder of the party is alerted to their position when Karl flashes a lightstone, and Zombres manages to teleport on to (not /into/) a nearby cliff face. Happily, he fumbles the djinn and, after some convincing, the fellow agrees to break bread with the party.
He identifies himself as Karkhel the Djinn, an outland border guard of Qaf (it's a living). He explains that Qaf is not a city but an entire kingdom with a number of cities in it (for instance, Farhat, Merassa, Zerin and Gohar). The party encountered an Anuz -- a giant ghost -- who was probably miffed about having his bones disturbed. They are problems in these parts, although he hasn't had too much trouble with them.
Karkhel identifies the tower from the previous day as belonging to the wizard Ablar, who was also rumored to possess a ring made of frozen dew from the dawn of time(!). He hasn't been seen in a while, and was rumored to have been killed along with the other wizards of Domdaniel. His note seems to point to the Nart city of Qayduk and another wizard, Oqba, who was rumored to be from 400 years previous and spent much of his time around The Roof of the World.
Of the djinn like himself, he recounts their extensive history as the Pre-Adamite Kings with such figures as Daki, Rahd and Zahn ben Zahn. At some point in their history they suddenly blew up and it was only through Solomon's help that they returned to their original form. A djinn named Sahul bin Sharuk is emperor of Qaf, Abdul Rahman is his vizier. Qaf itself he describes as a Tilism, possessing of the Zandan of Solomon -- also known as the 40 Wonders of Solomon (which does sound pretty cool).
Oh, yeah, and that Garden of Roses; it's actually a bit of a prison. In Arabic, it'a known as "Ghulistan", or you know, Land of Ghouls. Wonder what you'll find in there? That sounds pretty bad, really.
They pass the time amiably, until all are tired and Karkhel returns to his rounds leaving the Danger Gang to their own devices. Fortunately, there are no further encounters that evening.
