I, I can remember. Standing, by the wall.
Fisher turned in Kumonga’s saddle and looked back at the infirmary for the last time before stepping through the magic frame to return to Roscozenica Tower in Coxi. In this room, he almost lost his soul. Most definitely, he had lost a friend. Fisher’s memories of Esteban warred with his feeling of betrayal, still raw and sore. He pushed the sorrow down deep, where it would bother no one. The last few days since the battle while the party one by one went through the frame had given him time to reflect, but instead he used that time to look for Jacques.
What Fisher found was a trail of bloody death in the north quarter of the city, where the Red Raccoon gang had taken root. It led to their headquarters, a mansion which the plague turned into a squatters haven and then into a thieves’ den. Inside, not a soul lived. There was trace of a magical battle in the upper floor, an entire section seemed to be scooped out of the building. Beyond that, nothing of Jacques nor the mysterious Lady in Red who supposedly ran this bunch of thugs.
After the rescue of Oegraemo and his reinstallation as Mayor of Purskul, he presented the party to a recovering city to thunderous applause in the town square. The survivors shouted “Pride of Purskul!” and “Smallfolk Saints!”. Not bad epitaphs to add to Heroes of Coxi, for when the time comes. Obelix had gone around the city to spread the news of Oegreamo’s return and deliver the plague cure to those too ill to come to the infirmary. Wherever he spread his wings, he also spread the light of Moradin: people reaching out to touch his feathers also received pamphlets. Barrik helped Oegreamo establish a new city guard with recently cured guardsmen. With a Detect Poison & Disease spell, he could be relatively sure they were not yuan-ti, and Gnomardo made doubly sure by reading their thoughts. Roscoe conversed with Nahuel Huapi across the frame about how to prevent more yuan-ti coming through, since apparently they had another frame elsewhere and the ability to pass through more than one person a day. They settled on the conclusion that if they kept the frame between Coxi and Purskul continuously open, then hopefully neither could be overridden by the enemy. Meanwhile, the cure continued to be fabricated in Coxi and spread among the populace of Purskul. Soon, couriers could be sent to Athkatla and Esmeltaran with the cure as well.
They could not wait any longer. The dwarves needed to save their kin, Arapuca pestered Gnomardo continuously to be underway towards the psionic disturbance in the dessert, Roscoe was itching for revenge and Fisher… Well, the prospect of securing plumastone was slightly dampened by the shadow of Mictlantecuhtli, but being all the way in Faerun obviously did nothing to avoid the death god. With a nudge Kumonga stepped through the frame; Fisher trusted that Jacques could take care of himself.
And the shame, was on the other side.
After arriving in Coxi, the party rode to Patil where they then took the tzompantli portation circle to the ruins close to Pdapla, and from there to the capital Kultaka. Wandering aimlessly into the vast Sands of Itzcala was not a great idea, but there was a chance at a guide. The only dwarf they had come across in Maztica, the schizophrenic Tarj.
Obelix and Gnomardo found Tarj in his cell, as disheveled and incoherent as before. Tarj did not recognize them, and after a while it took Gnomardo quite an effort to delve into his mind to reach whatever part of his still grasped onto sanity.
Tarj’s mindscape was a blighted dessert, crisscrossed with a web of glowing violet chains from one horizon to another. The chains were all slowly being pulled to the north-west, the center of the web. In this dessert was a tiny rundown hovel of stone and mortar, the chains draped all over and around it. Gnomardo found a door and not without some mental effort managed to pry it open. Inside was a filthy room covered in refuse and a bed with soiled sheets. Paint peeled off the walls, it was plain to see that at one point this had been a majestic abode, but no longer.
There sat Tarj in a corner, mumbling to himself about being safe in here. Gnomardo was finally able to get his attention, and Tarj recalled who they were. Obelix listened to the one-sided conversation in Tarj’s jail cell in Kultaka, as Gnomardo spoke aloud while holding Tarj’s head, but Tarj in the real world was as incommunicable as ever.
In the mindscape, Gnomardo slowly started building up Tarj’s confidence. Gnomardo painted a window in the mindscape room, looking out over a chain free dessert to the south-east. Tarj started opening up on the visions he had, when he was connected to the chains and dared to let himself walk north-west before hitting his head against the cell walls. A tower in the distance, squat, wide, floating over a crater, and in that tower… chaos. A struggle. Gnomardo offered his paint supplies to Tarj to paint his vision in the tower, for they were of course only mental projections of paint supplies, and Tarj painted a mural of what looked like illithidi and yuan-ti in confrontation. Gnomardo then asked Tarj for a monumental favour: leave his cell and lead them to the source of the psionic chains, to the tower in the dessert that enslaved his people.
This was a task too big for Tarj’s mind to grasp, and he started to recede into himself again. By now, Tarj was speaking with his own voice in the cell in Kultaka, and Obelix could follow the full conversation. Gnomardo desperately tried to appeal to his sense of duty to dwarvenhood, but his grip on Tarj was fading. Then Gnomardo desperately said, “Don’t you want to be a hero?”
A flicker of awareness passed through Tarj’s eyes, and Obelix saw it. Instinctively, Obelix put his hand on Tarj’s shoulder in the real world, and somehow burst into the terrified dwarf’s mindscape to appear as an exalted paragon of dwarfhood. The dwaarvsimar’s radiant wings turned Tarj’s dreary room into a pool of holy tranquility.
“Tarj,” Obelix’s voice boomed across the hovel like the thunder of Moradin’s hammerfall, “WE COULD BE HEROES.”
Tarj fell to his knees at the blessed apparition in his mind. Gnomardo, shielding his mind’s eye with his mental hands, could do nothing but hold on desperately to the mind link throttling his psyche. In awe of Obelix, Tarj said nothing, but his eyes still betrayed a hint of fear. Seeing this, Obelix took a gentler tone. Holding out his hand, he said, “Just for one day.”
Tarj took his hand, both in the mindscape and the real world, and breathlessly whispered, “We can be heroes, just for one day?”
“We can be us, just for one day!” Obelix replied, lifting Tarj to his feet. “We can be heroes for ever and ever. What d’you say?”
Tarj stood to his full height of four foot six, and shouted “Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever!!”
Tarj then turned to Gnomardo, who was wincing with his hands over his pounding head. “Then we could be Heroes,” Tarj replied to Gnomardo’s request. “Just for one day.”
“We’ll take it one day at a time,” Gnomardo responded, and led Gnomardo out of his mindscape hovel, and out of his cell in Kultkaka.
Maybe we’re lying, then you better not stay
But we could be safer, just for one day
With a deep breath and a nod to Obelix, Tarj let the psionic compulsion take hold of him, and he led them north-west towards the Sands of Itzcala.
Reunited with the others, it was clear the heroes had a way to navigate the dessert, but getting to the dessert was another matter. The Axapoztlan Range stood between the plains of Kultaka and the dessert. They could either go north around them and extend their trip by many weeks, via New Waterdeep and the borderlands. Or they could cut across the mountains west, which were treacherous and rumoured to be a holy place for Zaltec fanatics. Or go south-west past Pdapla, to the frontline of the war with Nexal and then due north through a gap between the mountain ranges in to the dessert. This last option was only slightly longer than cutting through the mountains, and after an augury it was determined less dangerous than the mountains.
The heroes used their connections with War Chief Aconcagua to take supplies from the military convoy heading towards the front, and followed the freshly trained soldiers towards the smoking volcano of Mt Nexal.
They are brought to a wide room where a long table was dressed with an extravagant array of food. At one end sat a man, opulently dressed with a huge feathered headdress and a carved jaguar crown, rich skins, drinking out of clear crystal glass. There were guards in this room as well. A clerk sifting through scrolls pinned to a score board on one side fo the room. At the other side a smaller table where sat a simian person in a well tailored suit and bowler hat, staring wistfully at a pile of banana peels in front of him. RedDevil5 introduces the party and their host; “I present to you the most esteemed and honorble member of the Council of the Intra-nation Ballgame League, 
Quilmes smiled. “Yes, my dear, you are exquisite, and not so much lighter than your friend over there who’s tall as a palm tree but whose bones are hollow. It’s still a better deal than you would find in 10 years of caravan duty. I also have a few conditions. Firstly, that you do not inform the temples or the authorities. I want this quiet. Secondly, my associate 
Casting detect undead, they discovered that there was indeed an enemy in the sarcophagus. Yoliya had the brilliant idea of shrinking the sarcophagus and anything inside before opening it and killing whatever lay there. The spell caught hold and the sarcophagus shrank. The heroes lifted the now manageable stone lid and cast it aside. Iggy then assumed her constellation form and blazed like the sun in the room. The vampiric mummy, now the size of a halfling, had the rudest wake of his unlife as his bandages burst into flame. With his shriek of rage, the three statues transformed into zombie girallons. The battle was on.
Even with the party’s formidable holy powers which were well suited to vampires and zombies, it was a tasking fight. The girallons four arms took their toll and everyone was knocked out at one point before being healed and thrown back into the fray by another companion. The reduction spell wore off on the sarcophagus and vampiric mummy, and as they enlarged, Yoliya a discrepancy in space in the sarcophagus. There was a trap door to some other place, like a portal or demi-plane. Luckily, they managed to avoid the worst of the mummy rot, and by the time Tetzin came running down to join the melee, one of the zombie girallons was feared and ran out of the house. They considered splitting the party and running after it, but Yetla shouted from her hiding place in the sack that, technically, it wasn’t a vampire and thus not in their contract.
When the room was cleansed of undead, they heard RedDevil5’s voice shout down if they were doing OK. There was some giant undead gorilla terrorizing the city, and if they knew anything about that? In unison, the party all answered in ignorance. RedDevil5 then said to be wary if they went outside and let the city guards handle it. During the battle, Lorenzo discovered under the stairs that there were shelves of glass and fired clay jars, which had at one point held blood. The circle of candles had also turned off, for at one point a number of the candles had been knocked over.
There was a palpable tension in the air as the three walked along the docks in the late morning summer sun. People seemed to be doing more talking than actual working. Some kind of news seems to have spooked the entire city. They catch the word Zula a number of times, a city way south in Far Payit. Looking around for someone not preoccupied that may be able to tell them more, they see a feline person alone. She is looking in the sky as if searching for something. Interrupting her musings, they get to know 
Yoliya’s familiar panther 
The ruse worked, and Iggy was sold for a not inconsiderable sum, confirming their suspicions of this vampire being part of the blood dealing network. The referee did however pose Aquitz some questions as to their own situation, having recognized Aquitz by the smell of their blood. Apparently, Aquitz’ own blood had made it this far to feed this vampire. Keeping his rage in check, Aquitz fobbed off the questions as not a concern for doing good business, and the gold exchanged hands. Attempting to take control of Iggy, the vampire was flummoxed for a second at the lack of effect of his entrancement. At the moment of distraction, Iggy struck and the battle began.
Tetzin ran in to the sounds of battle, but it was over by the time he arrived. He helped heal his friends regain their health by laying on hands as they considered their next action. The vampire dead; the Ballgame player came out of his trance. He explained is name was Utiquetla, famous throughout Pezelac as 
“Thank you for that, friend. I needed one of these,” the figure said and stepped out of the shade of the doorway. Out in the sun, they saw him clearly. For a moment, Aquitz thought he recognized his friend 
The heroes gathered in the 
Zastania turned to the heroes, who were grabbing their weapons. “Utter fools! Yuan-ti alchemy is the finest is the world!” She screeched at the heroes. At that, ten snakes crawled out from under various beds and a basement door and shapeshifted into 
“What? Use what, Lucky?!” Roscoe stammered.
Downstairs they found 
Oegraemo never told them anything during the entire endurance. He kept faith in the smallfolk, he said, as he offered a closed fist to Obelix. Obelix realized that he was trying to open his hand, but it was clenched shut. He had not opened his fist throughout his trial. With difficulty, Obelix managed to pry it open, and found crumpled up the 
The first to go through the frame once it was set up in the tower was 
Roscoe was the last to go to Amn through the frame. He had been overseeing the laboratory and felt confident now in his staff. Nahuel had been observing him recast Galder’s Tower these past five days and had learned the spell herself, albeit with a plumaweaver’s flavour. The thatched roof was now thatched with feathers instead of hay, and the grey stone had turned adobe. She agreed to continue casting the spell and hopefully, if they could keep this up for a year, it would be permanent. Roscoe bid adieu and went through the frame into the infirmary. The smell of death still lingered here, as did many of the ill in their cots, some recovering faster than others thanks to RosCure, but not all. He went to their house across the street and found Gnomardo and Obelix preparing dinner. It was basic food compared to what they had gotten used to in 
The sand was undisturbed but for crab trails and a few rocky outcroppings. A seagull stood on a large boulder the size of a small boulder, cracking shells with its beak. It looked balefully at the intruders disturbing its breakfast. At the water’s edge, Xarry pointed out into the sea. “About six furlongs that way, give or take a pole.” The reed canoe they carried from Coxi thumped onto the sand. Another thump sounded from the boulder. They looked over, the seagull had flown away but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. Then to their surprise a Mind Flayer stepped out from behind the boulder, pointed at the ground in front of itself and a brilliant flash erupted. When the light died down, a floating horror made the heroes blanch as they unsheathed their weapons.
The mindwitness, for that is what it was but they did not know yet, was a large hovering mass of tentacles with milky white eyes on the end of some akin to a beholder. One massive pallid orb in the center focussed on the party. Underneath the monstrosity appeared five small figures. A brain with four chicken feet, and four gray skinned crawling humanoids covered in spikes. Fisher, Obelix and Barrik charged forward as the portation spell completed; Jacques, happy to have the illithid skull in his possession, hide behind some outcroppings and bid his time.
The small creatures scuttled forward in formation, straight to Gnomardo. Roscoe recognized the walking brain and saw the trap. An intellect devourer, and those spiked humanoids seemed to be guarding it. Roscoe shouted “Target the walking brain! Kill it first!!” and launched a fireball at the small creatures as they were halfway down the beach. Three of the humanoids were blasted to pieces, one a survived with a smoking hide and the brain shriveled to a husk but still was pressing forward. Xarry threw his spear but missed; Gnomardo started blasting eldritch magic at it and killed the thing. With a dagger throw from his hidden spot, Jaqcues killed the last humanoid.
The illithid responded with a mind blast, at the charging dwarves. They luckily shook off the stun effect and gritted their teeth through the pain of psychic power tearing their minds. As they closed in on the mindwitness they suffered various magical deteriorating affects, but once in close quarters they slaughtered the monster. Fisher raced past them and under suppressing fire from Gnomardo engaged the illithid. After slicing off a face tentacle, Fisher was perilously close to being grabbed but kept the enemy’s attention on himself until, as reliable as ever, Jacques’ blade opened the illithid’s back up. Soft sounds of calm waves lapping the shore replaced the din of battle; the assailants’ blood tried quickly in the rising sun.
Tetzin was a rugged looking combat-sailor, once dedicated to 
“What booze have you got?” they squawked quietly.
Then a strikingly beautiful lady walked in. She had dark olive skin, long white hair, and piercing golden eyes. As if nothing else could distract from her presence, two panthers slipped between her and the door. Everyone tensed for a moment before realizing that these panthers were not random encounters but seemed trained by her. One of them padded over to Aquitz and sniffed at his clawed feet. The other circled around the man with the box, who seemed not to pay any attention to the panther. The lady remained in the doorway, blocking the exit.
Roscoe stopped by a scribe shop to procure more spell scribing material, and browse the literature in his efforts to learn more of the Maztican languages. Having spent so much money in this scribe’s shop he received a stamp card. Just four more stamps and he would get a free beverage at the local 
He bit the mouse in half, spat the head on the floor and squeezed the blood out of the body in an upright circle creating a portal. On the other end of the portal was justmore jungle, but he beckoned the heroes to follow him through. When they did they found they were on the edge of the river Zlihi, with Coxi just beyond the river.
Once at the plantation they saw 
The Olmazca were masters of travel and built many tzompantli. Tzompantli were circular rooms wringed with skulls, hundreds of them if the room was big enough form top to bottom, all looking inward, and later discovered to also have skulls looking outward on the outer walls. Previously thought to be merely a sacrificial shrine, these were actually ingenious teleportation circles. Beams of light lanced from the skulls’ eyes and struck the person in the tower who could activate the circle. The person (or persons if one was being held on to) would appear to disintegrate. They would reintegrate in another tzompantli, completely unharmed and seemingly instantly. These tzompantli must be built on ley line crossings so presumably it worked like some variant of leywalker dweomers. We know for sure that it required a key to be activated and the memory of having been in a specific tzompantli. It is presumed that the great glyphs around the True World were used to navigate their golden eagles.
As everyone rouse to the smell of fresh cornbread, spiced xocoatl, and the cacophony of animals outside, their thoughts turned to their next move. There was much to do in different places, but one problem starred unfeelingly at the table before her, unable or unwilling to eat, to speak or, it seemed, to sleep all night. The little girl they rescued was catatonic. The last soldier, whose name was 
The Queen changed into a hybrid jaguar form, her fur was almost golden with deep black spots like shards of obsidian sprinkled over her shoulders. She breathed out a white haze around herself which spread out like a smoke circle enveloping Jacques, then the Moonlight siblings, then Roscoe, Fisher and Gnomardo. As the smoke clears, the grass seems more fluorescent, their senses seem to perceive everything deeper and there is the tingle of magic in the air. The Queen welcomes them to the umbra. Roscoe recognizes this as the feywild. Here the magic of the tribe is at its height and ceremonies are most hallowed. The Queen then pounces onto Jacques and bites down on his neck. He does not resist as blood gushes all over his boots, the Queen’s incisors ripping a massive gap in Jacques’ flesh. She holds on him as she concentrates on pushing the lycanthropy into his body. Jacques shudders for a moment as it takes hold. She lets go and he almost falls to the ground. Before he does, the Queen takes a small pearl in her hand and then utters a word. It shines a soft white light cupped in her hand so it only shines in Jacques’ face: full moon light.
The 
