The Hanging Gardens appears only once a year--on the summer solstice--and the party had to race against the clock (which Failn purchased).
The party recruited Suha, for she carried a djinn knife called a mani, which is able to cut the veil between the material and spirit planes. Inside the Gardens were the remains (living undead, of course) of failed adventurers and treasure hunters, as well as the vampyric medusa Avan. The group wandered the halls of the Gardens trying to fight off Avan, whose gaze turned mortals to stone. Unfortunately, her petrifying visage affected Failn in combat, and the party in return decapitated Avan.
A portal to the floating Citadel of the Winds in the Garden took the party skyward, leaving behind (for now) their petrified comrade.
The Legend of Avan
The Creator fashioned the first humans from clay: Aden and
Avan. They lived in the paradise of the Middle World under the guide of the
Celestials. At some point, Ashnan brought the transplant of the Tree of Life to
the Hanging Gardens, where the Air Djinn watched over it and procured medicines
and potions. Avan was tempted by Vasuki,
the Naga King, to try a fruit from the Tree of Life, in the hopes of gaining
immortality like the Naga. She was so proud of her independent decision, away
from Aden, that she didn’t realize the curse the fruit would have. She remained
attached to the Hanging Gardens for all her long life.
When the Hanging Gardens were sealed away (when Kazim took
away the Sky Caliph’s power), Avan too was sealed away, forced to vampirically
feed on mortals who wandered in once a year.
