Horatio follows, fists clenched and eyes wet. 

Animated pieces of the carnival continue to whirl around you chaotically as you make your way through it. This odd condition seems to have no effect on you or the carnival hands, who move about freely and safely while the carnival is being taken down. But the staff are equally animated, actively carrying things here and there and packing up their goods.

Burly the pumpkin-headed bugbear continues to accompany you, all the while grumbling about this "Thaco". He finally calls over a grumpy-looking middle-aged clown puffing on a bubble pipe and wearing oversized fairy wings. The clown looks with distaste at Matilda and Pud. "Unicorn, Bunny," orders Burly joylessly. Thaco nods humorlessly and begins to rapidly produce the desired shapes from a pocketful of balloons.

"Unicorn. Bunny." repeats Thaco, and hands the requested balloon animals to the party. 

Animals begin to be hitched to the wagons, which are rapidly being loaded.

Pud realizes Thaco is probably bummed that he didn’t request a balloon animal. He steps forward and clears his throat. 

“uh, Thaco is it? If you got the time, I’d like a balloon animal for a friend. Can you make me a butterfly? If not, it’s okay. I know y’all are closing up shop.”

"Yeah, sure, kid," says Thaco distractedly. He rapidly produces the requested butterfly. "Now go wash your hands and stay out of trouble."

Meanwhile, the party watches as the entire river encircling the carnival – some 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep – lifts out of the landscape and joins the maelstrom of flying carnival parts before it shrinks to a long, blue ribbon and begins to roll itself up onto a levitating spool. Trees grow bark-covered legs and gently walk forward to fill their space. The animals hitched to the wagons – both horses and foxes – grow butterfly wings and stomp their hooves and feet impatiently.

"See you in eight," adds the rumpled clown.

Ben:

Ben just watches in amazement, absently saying, “8 years?  Wow!”

"Amazing," Titaani breathes, cuddling her balloon animal to her chest as she watches this display. "Where to next, guys?"

Thaco climbs into a waiting wagon as you watch the entire carnival caravan lift off. The remaining trees fill in, setting roots and becoming ordinary, stationary trees once again.

High above, in orange skies lit by the rising sun, you see the caravan wink out, wagon by flying wagon.

You find yourselves in the woods. Ordinary, earthly woods, filled with dull leaves and boring brambles. But familiar woods, the forest of your childhood. You are not far from home.

" Ok......so what now?  I mean we just saved............probably........maybe......honestly who knows.......a whole friggin' fairy kingdom and now we're supposed to just go back to our sucky lives?"

She pulled the device holding her brother out once more and stared at it for some long seconds.....

" Well, I'm not going home, those people suck.  So I guess I'll go with Titaani as her boss seems like the only one that might be able to help........might....."

And here, my friends, is where we must end our story. We have completed the entire adventure, "The Wild Beyond the Witchlight", 6000 posts and four years later. I have tried to be as faithful to the adventure as written as I could be. I invite you to read it in its entirety: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/twbtw .  It should be shared with you. 

But what about Matilda's brother? And Ben's sense of wonder? And Titaani's focus?

It is not long after your departure from the carnival that you discover that you indeed have had the keys to your stolen things for some time now.

Titaani's focus was indeed locked in her new focus – her small birch wand she has been attuned to for some time, but was unused. Upon trying it, she finds she unlocks her ability to concentrate again.

The key to Ben's sense of wonder was a literal key – the Mystery Key – which upon using it upon the first lock he experiments on, regardless of whether or not he opens the lock (it has a 5 percent chance of unlocking any lock into which it’s inserted: 56 ), it does indeed unlock his lost sense of wonder.

And to find Matilda's brother, she finds she just had to use her Orb of Direction, which functions properly now that she's on the Material Plane. Following it for the first time, she finds it directs her not North, but rather to a secluded grove in the woods – not far from where the Carnival recently stood – where her bored, cranky, hungry little 4-year-old brother stands in the bushes, poking an insect nest, aged not a day from when he went missing. A flock of crows takes off as she approaches. It doesn't take long for her to remember just how annoying her little brother can be.

I invite you to write your own epilogue summary – what became of your character afterward?

And I invite you to read the published adventure and ask me any questions you want about your adventures, or my interpretation of this adventure – here or on Discord.

Let's keep the conversation going!

If Horatio is present for any of the others' revelations about how to regain what was still missing for them it would ease his gnawing rage. Unluckily, he was not. As the carnival disappeared Horatio began to walk away from it all, fists still clenched. He had come to the Witchlight with a righteous demand for justice and left with a burning anguish at something he had never felt before. Hate. He hated for the first time. Not disgust, outrage, anger, or the feelings he had known at thugs, crooks, bullies, and the cruel of his world to date. He had never felt such terrible loathing for anyone so much as he did at that moment. He needed to get away from it. To think. He heard his friends talking about what would come next for them and he knew that if they took on another adventure into the places where the Fey lived his hate would only grow. A memory floated into his mind as he walked, and his eyes stung with the suddenness and bittersweet pain of it. His mother, telling him how wrong it was to hold on to anger. That hate would result, and that hate was the stuff of True Evil. Evil Gods, she warned, would see him and touch his life in terrible ways if he marked himself with feelings of hate. But they already have, mom. He thought to himself. They already have. As he walked, an idea began to take shape in his mind. He and the others survived terrible near-death moments. Though scarred by them, they had all kept it together. Adventuring, he thought, can be a way to get stronger. Then a second, darker thought came to him... And in eight years I can come back, that much stronger. I'll have money, and can hire many others too. I can come back and burn this damned thing down. His fist remained clenched as he walked, all the way back to town. 

Horatio would go on to become a mercenary soldier for the first three years, fighting in two border conflicts, and a war. After, he was recruited by a shadowy group that never had the chance to identify themselves to him. They hunted Zhentarim Black Network slavers, and Horatio experienced hate for a second time. His employers were too slow, and after a year with them, he formed a group of former slaves and those that felt just as much anger towards the Zhents as he did, and began hunting them in the open. The Black Network responded in kind, and Horatio's little band experienced terrible losses and setbacks for two more years. However, they also killed countless slavers across a half dozen countries and freed hundreds. The group disbanded after representatives of the Lords' Alliance offered them protection if they did so. Their efforts had made diplomacy for the nobles difficult. Having been a soldier and then a vigilante, Horatio and a handful of his fellows became adventurers. For two years they exclusively sought powerful magical items meant to augment their strengths and shore up their weaknesses. Horatio made sure to maintain good relations with his former network of allies. Every one of them knew of Horatio's childhood tale, and he made sure to only keep relations with those that shared a sense of injustice for what had gone unpunished. 

After two years, and many near death experiences, Horatio found himself back in that same sleepy town once again. The carnival would return any day, and he was as ready as he could be. Twenty-three hardened mercenaries paid in coin, eleven former Zhent hunters, and his adventuring party of four all camped together outside the town. To the untrained eye it seemed a gaggle of men drinking and having fun, waiting for a fantastical otherworldly carnival. To anyone with experience it was a war camp with scorpions and artillery shot, handheld bombs and poison gas grenades. An arsenal of destruction. Horatio's coin also paid off the local magistrate, and so he and his fellows had no concern about outside interference. 

As a scout returns to announce that the carnival had materialized and begun to set itself up, Horatio looks down at the map he had recreated of it. Now the Gods will decide what justice is, the good ones and the evil ones... Witch and Light, I'm coming for you. 

(Illustration by @Ashemaker19 !)

Ben:

Resolving to help Matilda find her brother, Ben finds his latest quest unexpectedly brief.  Once others’ lost items are found, Ben invites them back to his house to recover, rest, and reflect—though he is disturbed by Horatio’s abrupt departure.

Those who join him see Ben use his new key on the door to his house/store.  A look of intense wonder breaks out on his countenance as he sees his home and stonemasonry shop in an entirely new light.  Hosting his friends, Ben makes them comfortable and begins making new plans—and supporting theirs.

After a hearty breakfast and various conversations, Ben settled on his new plan for life…He will renovate his stonemason shop into an artistic wonder, crafting everything from stunning structural stonework in common materials to exquisite sculpture in exotic materials and everything in between.  As opportunity arose, he would travel and adventure, helping his friends and exploring the world, righting wrongs and striving to do the next right thing in an uncertain life.

Eight years later finds him back in his hometown, a more seasoned adventurer with a thriving business, a lovely wife, and two beautiful daughters.  Leaving his pregnant wife for the evening with his daughters, he promises to return and bring them all to the Carnival if, in his judgement, it has been properly reformed.  If it has not, well, he is equipped and prepared to bring judgement to the Carnival and Prismeer, righting the wrongs that he was too weak or uninformed to do before, even unto rendering judgement on Queen Zybilina herself should it become necessary.

Pud rejoiced as Matilda was reunited with her brother. He sent Rizzo out to find Horatio to deliver the good news, but she wasn’t able to track down him down. Pud wished Horatio well and he hoped their paths would cross once again some day.

Pud would accompany Ben to his home and spend some time with him and whoever else would join them. He was quite impressed with Ben’s skill, precision and artistry. There’s no doubt in his mind that great things were in store for their hero. Pud couldn’t wait to find his little brother and share tales of the humble stonemason turned dragonslayer—hero of the realm.

For fear of overstaying his welcome, Pud would bid his friends farewell for now. He found a dusty old map and marked an X on the spot where they could find Pud’s hometown.

”Rivergate—that’s home right there. My house is right where the river forks. My papi’s shop is hard to miss. It’s the only tinker shop in town.”

Pud gets a little choked up and needs a minute to compose himself.

”I owe you guys everything. I mean it. Thank you for getting me outta that place.

I don’t think I can go back to there, so you’re not gonna find me here in 8 years. But if you need anything, just say the word and I’ll be there in a heartbeat.

You know where to find me. And I’ll know where to find you.” 

Pud gives everyone a big group hug and stealthily plucks a strand of hair off of everyone’s clothing.

He parts ways with a wink and a smile.

After a days travel, Pud reunites with his family. He’s dumbfounded that it seems like he was just gone for a day or two. Time was so weird in Prismeer. 

Though he’s happy to reunite with his family, Pud can’t help but feel out of place. He struggles to assimilate and never feels quite at home. Pud goes about his business taking over his papi’s shop and making all sorts of contraptions to help improve the livelihood of the people in his town.

As the years pass, Pud has a break through. After much studying of his grandfather’s old moldering journals, he finds what he’s been searching for.

One day outta the blue, wherever Ben, Matilda and Titaani find themselves, they receive a tiny package dropped off by a mechanical clockwork raven. The wax seal on the package reads “Papi & Archie’s Little Shoppe o’ Wonders.”

Inside the package, his friends would find a unique custom made sending stone and a small note that reads.

”To my dear friends. I hope this package finds you well. I am okay and making my way through life. I must admit, I miss you all so much.

If you ever need anything or just wanna check in and say hi, this sending stone will help keep us in touch. I created 5 of them, one for each of us. If anyone finds Horatio, please snatch a piece of his clothing or even a piece of his hair and I’ll use it to track him down and give him his stone.

I might be leaving town soon. I’m passing the shop onto my little brother. That boy is a savant and he’s gonna do well.

I feel lost, kinda like I’m drifting on a breeze and I need to sort things out. I wish you the best. Thank you again for saving me. I love you guys.

-Pud”

Titaani did not leave Matilda's side until she found her brother. "You're my sister," she had declared, taking Matilda's hands in her own. "So that means that he's my brother too." When they did discover the four year old, the warlock was quick to introduce herself to him after he'd reunited with his sister. She excitedly informed him that he could stay with her for as long as he wanted, and that she would love to have another sibling. Later, Titaani took Ben up on his offer, but it was a bittersweet moment for her when the paladin unlocked his sense of wonder. Though she was ultimately happy for her friend, she couldn't help but wish for her own focus back, even as her wand stayed tucked away in one of Tiny's pouches, untouched in favour of her reliable, comforting crystal...

The little gnome openly wept the next day as she bade Ben and Pud farewell. "I'll miss you both so much," she blubbered, her words muffled by heartfelt hugs. "Promise me we'll see each other again, and you'll come visit. I live in the forest not far from here, in a gnomish enclave. You will always be welcome there."

Drying her eyes as she left, Titaani was glad that at least one of her party members decided to stay with her. She lead her new siblings deep into the forest, following the path of the river until they at last emerged into a clearing, filled with adorable treehouses and smiling gnomes just like her.

Two women ran out immediately to greet the warlock, one with pale skin and blonde hair, the other with olive skin and brown hair, both wearing gnomish jewellery shaped to resemble fauna and flora. Titaani beamed as they embraced her tightly, desperately asking if she was alright and how her quest went. They were both shocked as Titaani ignored their questions and instead excitedly introduced her two new siblings. After a moment of gobsmacked silence, the brunette, who Titaani informed Matilda and her brother is Dianae, laughed and insisted that this conversation would be better over tea. Upstairs in their treehouse home above the family shop, Titaani told her mothers everything, letting Matilda fill in whatever details she forgot. After hearing the whole story, the couple scolded the warlock for getting herself into such terrible danger, but did not hesitate to hug Matilda and her brother and swear that they would have a home here for as long as they wanted. 

It was only later that night that Siljira, the warlock's practical, blond haired mother, while setting up a bed for Matilda in Titaani's room, asked her why she never tried using her wand to unlock her focus. With a gasp of shocked revelation, Titaani bounded out of bed and onto her balcony. Screwing her eyes shut, she cast her favourite spell, eldritch blast, into the night sky, where it exploded like a firework. In that moment, the little gnome finally felt herself mature. She was still the same excitable, cheerful gnome, but there was a level headedness to her now. When she speaks, her words are careful and thoughtful, her actions no longer reckless. As the days passed, she revelled in her regained ability to concentrate, and finally, finally, focus. 

A little less than a year later, on her eighteenth birthday, Titaani received a vision of Titania in her sleep. The warlock found herself face to her face with her patron, standing before her in the halls of her palace, just as it was all those years ago. "So you have finally grown up, and regained what you have lost, little one," the fey queen smiled at her. "Well done. I am proud of you, for your name is now associated with glory and honour befitting my own." 

"I can't take all the credit. I couldn't have done any of it without my friends," Titaani replied, "And without you, my queen."

After that, the warlock received frequent quests from the archfey, leading to her and her trusty giant rabbit travelling often. Visiting both the Feywild and the material plane, but never losing sight of home, Titaani became a messenger for the queen and a skilled, charismatic diplomat. An ambassador to Titania and the bridge between both worlds, the gnome uses her newfound maturity to seek peace and harmony wherever she can. Throughout her travels, she makes sure to visit Pud and Ben, and is impressed by all of their own accomplishments. Yet in the back of her mind, Horatio's sudden departure remains an old wound. Everywhere the gnome goes, she keeps her ears tuned for any word of the man she once fought beside. 

When she isn't travelling, Titaani spends as much time as she can with her family, including her siblings who have now had permanent rooms built into the treehouse for them (significantly bigger than any room a gnome has ever had to build before). She also looks after the children of the grove, telling them stories of her adventures and encouraging those with magical talents to foster them. The warlock sees her old self in them, and is careful to warn of the dangers of the Feywild alongside the wonders of it. 

Eight years later, Titaani Leelathae is a young adult. Her blond hair has grown long, decorated with beads and crystals from her travels, and her ears are pierced now, studded with gnomish jewellery to remind her of home. Her crystal no longer rests on her neck but is now embedded within a magnificent wooden staff. Her fingers rake through Tiny's soft white fur - her constant, ever faithful companion. "How about it, old friend?" Titaani whispers, a familiar glint of mischief in her eyes. "Shall we pay the carnival another visit?"

Stung a little by Horatios departure Matilda nevertheless was happy to accompany her other friends, though they drifted off one by one to find their own paths....she found her brother and that was a mixed blessing to be sure as he did get under her feet a lot but the home that Titaani gifted her with was so very, very different to the one the two of them would have grown up in.....still, they weren't gnomes and they were both growing up much faster than their peers and Matilda used every skerrick of her patience to instruct the little bugger on how to conduct himself.....and dammit if he wasn't taller than her by the time she thought about heading back out into the world.

She had repaid Titaani and her Mothers kindness by doing her absolute best to keep any and all dangers away from the village and sometimes that meant scaring away bandits and other times it meant sliding a blade between someones vertebrae and leaving them for the badgers......she didn't mention the latter to the others....but the time in the other world had hardened her perhaps more than expected and though she could still let her guard down and play and do stupid things and run around with piles of gnomish girls of her own 'age'....there was a core of ice within that told her she had grown up too hard and too fast to ever be truly happy not doing WORK.

She'd grown a little, filled out a very little....she would always be slight but she was stronger, more wiry......she had a few more scars from her patrols when they hadn't gone as well as expected and her hair had lightened and her skin tanned further from the constant sun.

So when Titaani mentioned revisiting the carnival she left her brother in the care of Titaanis family....though they had her pity as he was a basically a teenage boy at that point and positively disgusting of habit and demeanour....she had approved use of cantrips and blunt objects on him but they insisted they would be fine.

She knelt down and kissed Ariza goodbye, promising her she'd be careful.....love, romantic at least,  was new to Matilda and she wasn't really sure she made a very good girlfriend herself....but she was happy......and she hoped Ariza was, she certainly said she was.

She donned her golden armour once more, brushed over with brown wood stain and under a green and brown cloak that helped her move through the woods like a shadow.....she had collected a lot of blades over the years from her 'pruning' patrols and every belt, sheath and hidden pocket she had was filled with them and she carried two sharp black curved blades she had taken off a particularly disagreeable druid who was trying to release some sort of toxin into the stream that ran through the village....he wouldn't need them any more.

She nodded to Titaani as they set off, " Lead the way, Sis."