X. (Epilogue)

After the sonic disaster, the entire party was once again in Weylund's Inn, discussing what they'd do next.

"There's a portal right next to the building to Mahogany," said Jana.

"Trust a city of lunatics to have a portal to the realm of Selune, the moon goddess," said Urth.

"Hey," said Jana, "Do you think the phase of the moon over Mahogany affects the lunatics in Bedlam?"

"That's something for one of those addled guv'nors to look into," replied Siloqui, referring to the group dedicated to mastering the multiverse by divining all its supposed laws and manipulating them.

They went through the portal a little later, but found themselves in a swamp. A fairly pleasant one with only a few insects, not counting the very beautiful glowing sunflies, but still a swamp. Some distant copper-colored swamp birds with steam coming out of their beaks also turned to look at them. There was a flock of masked, serpentine rainbowed women with wings called lillend looking at them from the distance, too. They saw some people living in a giant pumpkin suspended in a large tree not far away, and people at a dock outside of it were already coming toward them in 3 punts.

"Oh, yeah, this is the far outskirts," said Jana. "They'll take us to the drier grounds for a piece of silver per passenger. Or sell us various curiosities they come across out here." She looked up to see a nearly full moon. "Good thing the moon's about full. That means most people will be in a good mood and things will go well. At full moon, the Silver Staircase opens up and there's a portal to everywhere. The Planewalker Guild can lead you right home. Or you can take one of the boats home. Or take the other portals."

As the punts took them to Mahogany, they talked about which way they would prefer to get home, and without the madness that haunted them in the wind blasted caverns of Pandemonium. Dariaza expressed a desire to see many places, and she was assured that they were all her friends who would give her a place to stay when she visited (though she'd have to disguise herself in Nidavellir). There was talk around visiting the realms of Sessrumnir of Freya and other abodes of deities of magic, too. Dariaza realized that for the first time she was truly reborn an elf and a new world beckoned her, one in which it was not only safe but desired to have friends and familiars and to know joy, love, and friendship. While she talked, she reached over and took Trent's hand, who grasped her own.

And then they quieted as a celestial rapidly approached, seemingly from the moon itself, resembling a massively muscular human, but the size of an ogre, with emerald skin that was completely hairless, and white-feathered wings. It was a planetar, a general in the fight against evil fiends, and everyone was suddenly nervous about being in the company of the half-fiends.

It flew around them all, looked them over carefully, especially lingering on Trent, Jesse, Jana, and Dariaza. Finally, it nodded and welcomed them all, healing them of injuries from their recent battles, and even curing the cook's arthritis. They watched it fly back into the moon until it could be seen no more. After that, they enjoyed the rest of the ride, staring at the natural moonlit beauty around them.

In Mahogany, as they went to get lodging until the full moon, Dariaza told Jana, "Thanks for telling me about the gods of magic and Eilistraee and all. When I lost all hope in the tunnels of Pandemonium, I called on them. It helped me. I don't know if meeting a priestess afterwards was coincidence or not, but I knew that while everything I had been taught in my life is a lie, I could trust you. So thanks for being true. You were the light in my darkest hour."

"Don't sweat it, berk," replied Jana. "You got passed by a planetar! We all did! My family would freak!" She laughed a little and added, "Probably best if they don't know about that."

"I expect my matron mother wouldn't be pleased, either," added Dariaza with a distracted tone.

Jana, still smiling, added, "Maybe I'll stay for awhile. We can go back to Sigil to get a few things, including my chaos cat, and then set up shop either here in Mahogany or in Svartalfheim. Mahogany is famed for its tolerance to those not here to cause trouble, and the dark elves of Svartalfheim sympathize with those persecuted for bad reputations that individuals don't deserve. What do you think?"

Dariaza shrugged, but was still a little too emotional to speak. For she had felt the planetar gaze upon her very soul and when it nodded to her there was a sentiment imparted to her that would be best summed up as Welcome Home.

END

La, la, la, la...

A quick note on the songs: The song sung in The Horn Dog (a name I got from the map of Carter County found in The Daria Database, btw) is "Megalomaniac" by KMFDM as it's actually sung. The song sung by Trent in Pandemonium is a very twisted version of "Cajun Hell" by Exodus. The song Trent sings later on is based on "Freakin Friends," which was first sung in Is It Fall Yet? (by Trent himself).

Much of the settings, creatures, spells, and the like were drawn from either D&D (especially Planescape) or Daria. About the only thing I invented for this was the "depravers." But it occurred to me afterward that the vampires in the first Blade movie did something similar. At the time I was just trying to think of what clubbing in the Abyss would be like and came up with "depraves" and the entire club scene that takes up a good portion of Chapter 5. In any case, I make no claim to it, should anyone want to use the concept or term in a game or whatever. (Frankly, I'd be surprised if it hasn't been thought of before.)