JC and Harald, together again

Harald, Maidens, and assorted others left the Evlish temple after resting for a bit and healing up. Between the Ankh that powered the ghost pirate ship and the other ankh found in the trash heap under the temple Harald figures that they should be able to power up a half-buried metal ship they passed earlier. A short trip up the sea shore leads the party to said boat, and they promptly dig it out and power it up. The ankh fits in to a slot in the cabin, and th boat floats along the sea of glass at a fair clip. Harald picks up a wandreing Muslim cleric who is lost in the desert, and also finds Gur and JC. JC explains that he is on a quest to recover the Staff of the King of Cats, held by an imposter to the throne who has a dungeon nearby. The party decides to help out ol' JC, and many cat-themed monsters are fought and dispatched, including dire lions, were-tigers, cat-men, an invisible cat that really wanted to by Harald's familiar, and a really nasty guardian cat that sat atop the chest containing the Staff. Said guardian had nine lives, so that each time you kill it it comes back stronger. The chest was on a timer so that one could not merely take the staff and run without fighting the damn nine-lifer, but Harald broke open the lid, took the staff, and ran. The damn cat pursued us by apparently commiting suicide several times in order to reappear on the other side of doors, in our boat, etc. The higher level cats were quite tough, and the whole party was pretty ragged by the time we finished off the last of them. Just as we breathed a sigh of relief the pretender himself showed up. A major battle was fought wherein Harald summoned mammoths who beat the cat but also severly damaged our boat. Gur and our short-term Muslim buddy took off through the desert while JC flew away with the staff after a short rest. Harald and party turned West and took off through the Sea of Glass.