Worth the Candle

From the age of nine, Juniper Smith filled notebooks with worlds — first places of fantastical imagination, later expressions of ideas that grabbed his interest. For eight years he shared these worlds through twice-weekly tabletop sessions with his friends. Now at seventeen, he finds himself in Aerb, a world that appears to be an amalgam of those many notebooks, stuck trying to find the answers to why he's there and what this world is trying to say. The most terrifying answer might be that this world is an expression of the person he was back on Earth.

Juniper was always the Dungeon Master, never the player — a creator of worlds rather than someone who walked within them. Until now. Somehow transported into a world filled with the wildest fantasies a mind could produce, Juniper finds his own fingerprints all over it. Echoes of his ideas and plots leave him feeling one step behind, and bits of ancient influence appear in every town he passes through. One thing is clear: Juniper walks this magical world in someone else's shadow.

From the age of nine, Juniper Smith filled notebooks with worlds — first places of fantastical imagination, later expressions of ideas that grabbed his interest. For eight years he shared these worlds through twice-weekly tabletop sessions. Now at seventeen, he finds himself in Aerb, a world that appears to be an amalgam of those many notebooks, stuck trying to find the answers to why he's there and what this world is trying to say. The most terrifying answer might be that this world is an expression of the person he was back on Earth.

Juniper Smith is trapped in a prison that seems to be of his own design — everywhere he looks are bits and pieces of the game worlds he created back on Earth. Now on the run from the law and helping criminals, he is searching for magical solutions to centuries-old spirits trapped in bottles. With danger at every corner and trust hard to come by, even within a party that grows more like family every day, Juniper must decide who he can rely on.

From the age of nine, Juniper Smith filled notebooks with worlds — first places of fantastical imagination, later expressions of ideas that grabbed his interest. For eight years he shared these worlds through twice-weekly tabletop sessions. Now at seventeen, he finds himself in Aerb, a world that appears to be an amalgam of those many notebooks, stuck trying to find the answers to why he's there and what this world is trying to say. The most terrifying answer might be that this world is an expression of the person he was back on Earth.

Juniper Smith is finally starting to feel at home in the new world. But the last druid has died, and with her, a rare and precious magic is slowly seeping out of the world. The ritual to bring her back as an infant requires meddling with devils and hacking the game system on his own soul — practically routine by now. But the greater challenge is reaching the Bottomless Pit: a long train ride where any misstep could blow the party's cover, a descent requiring a flying machine and false pretenses, and at the bottom, one of Uther Penndraig's old strongholds — hopefully with a time chamber inside.

From the age of nine, Juniper Smith filled notebooks with worlds — first places of fantastical imagination, later expressions of ideas that grabbed his interest. For eight years he shared these worlds through twice-weekly tabletop sessions. Now at seventeen, he finds himself in Aerb, a world that appears to be an amalgam of those many notebooks, stuck trying to find the answers to why he's there and what this world is trying to say. The most terrifying answer might be that this world is an expression of the person he was back on Earth.

From the age of nine, Juniper Smith filled notebooks with worlds — first places of fantastical imagination, later expressions of ideas that grabbed his interest. For eight years he shared these worlds through twice-weekly tabletop sessions. Now at seventeen, he finds himself in Aerb, a world that appears to be an amalgam of those many notebooks, stuck trying to find the answers to why he's there and what this world is trying to say. The most terrifying answer might be that this world is an expression of the person he was back on Earth.

Contents: 105. Notes (2018-06-20) 106. The One-Hand Warder (2018-06-20) 107. Name of the Beast (2018-06-20) 108. The Dream That Skewers (2018-07-02) 109. The Veil of the World (2018-07-02) 110. Bubblegum (2018-07-17) 111. Peer Pressure (2018-07-17) 112. Egress (2018-07-17) 113. A Hell of a Time (2018-08-13) 114. The Meeting of Minds (2018-08-13) 115. Communicative (2018-08-13) 116. Therapy (2018-08-13) 117. Beast of Burden (2018-08-13) 118. Breaking Loose (2018-08-13) 119. Depths (2018-09-08) 120. Deceptions (2018-09-08) 121. Maddie (2018-09-19) 122. Raven (2018-09-19) 123. Medieval Stasis (2018-10-16) 124. Fight Club (2018-10-16) 125. The Remnants of the Past (2018-10-16) 126. Ever Onward (2018-10-16) 127. Full House (2018-10-25) 128. An Open Book (2018-10-25) 129. Schemata (2018-11-10) 130. The Abject Despair of an Uncaring World (2018-11-10) 131. A Cypress Waits (2018-11-10) 132. Uskine Nervedah (2018-11-10) 133. The Critical Path (2018-11-10) 134. Safe Mode (2018-11-10) 135. Holding (2018-11-18) 136. Krinrael (2018-11-18) 137. Darili Irid (2018-11-18)

Contents: 138. Stats for Nerds II (2018-12-02) 139. Piece of Mind (2018-12-02) 140. Commingling (2018-12-02) 141. Monty Haul (2018-12-02) 142. Sound and Silence (2019-01-05) 143. Manifold Paths (2019-01-05) 144. Skewered (2019-01-05) 145. Freshman (2019-01-05) 146. Terrors of the Black Age (2019-01-30) 147. Good Vibrations (2019-01-30) 148. Sing For Your Supper (2019-03-16) 149. I Have to Hand it to You (2019-03-16) 150. Than One Innocent Suffer (2019-03-16) 151. The Mind's Eye (2019-03-16) 152. The Time to Talk (2019-03-16) 153. The Temple (2019-03-16) 154. Above From Below (2019-03-16) 155. Mome Rath (2019-03-31) 156. Mome Rath II (2019-03-31) 157. The Bird on the Fence (2019-05-18) 158. OP (2019-05-18) 159. The Dome Away From Home (2019-05-18) 160. On the Merits of Oblivion (2019-05-18) 161. Reimer (2019-05-30) 162. Deus Ex (2019-06-19) 163. Level Heads (2019-06-19) 164. In the House of God (2019-06-19) 165. Politics, blah, blah, blah (2019-06-19) 166. Brownian Motion (2019-07-03) 167. Beached (2019-07-03) 168. Hollow (2019-07-03)

Contents: 169. The No Sleep Club (2019-08-15) 170. On Treating With Dragons (2019-08-15) 171. Blood is Thicker Than Water (2019-08-15) 172. Respec (2019-10-27) 173. Passions (2019-10-27) 174. The Blade of the Self (2019-10-27) 175. High Concept (2019-10-27) 176. Warrens (2019-10-27) 177. The Erstwhile Manor (2019-12-28) 178. The White Room (2019-12-28) 179. Hilbert's Paradox (2019-12-28) 180. Dumbest Entad (2019-12-28) 181. To Sleep, Perchance to Dream (2019-12-28) 182. Painless (2019-12-28) 183. Transgressions (2019-12-28) 184. The Further Adventures of Valencia the Red (2020-01-12) 185. Mirror Room (2020-03-01) 186. Paladin (2020-03-01) 187. Penndraig's Rules of Order (2020-03-01) 188. Common Law (2020-03-01) 189. B-Side (2020-03-01) 190. To Know One's Onions (2020-03-01) 191. Overwhelming Violence (2020-03-01) 192. Cooldown (2020-03-28) 193. Coda I (2020-03-28) 194. Coda II (2020-03-28) 195. Family (2020-03-28)

Contents: 197. Second Degree (2020-04-29) 198. Prurient Interest (2020-04-29) 199. Nearest and Dearest (2020-04-29) 200. Feeling Blue (2020-04-29) 201. The Aviary (2020-05-02) 202. Star Pupil (2020-05-02) 203. Where the Streets Run Red (2020-05-02) 204. Open Veins (2020-05-02) 205. A Bloody Mess (2020-05-02) 206. Parallel Lines (2020-08-12) 207. An Elevated Monologue (2020-08-12) 208. On the Merits of Eternal Suffering (2020-08-12) 209. Orison (2020-08-12) 210. Push and Pull (2020-08-12) 211. Gilding the Lily (2020-08-12) 212. Spilled Ink (2020-08-12) 213. The Endless Toil (2020-11-25) 214. Glass Houses (2020-11-25) 215. Post (2020-11-25) 216. Bureaucratic Melees (2020-11-25) 217. A Dragon's Roost (2020-11-25) 218. A Grueling Calm (2020-11-25) 219. Homecoming, Part I (2020-11-25) 220. Doecent (2020-11-25) 221. Targets of Opportunity (2020-11-25) 222. Clerical Errors (2021-03-24) 223. A Lost Friend (2021-03-24) 224. We're Here, We're Deer, Get Used to It (2021-03-24) 225. Runination (2021-03-24) 226. Fires of my Heart (2021-03-24) 227. Homecoming, Part II (2021-03-24) 228. The Fel Seed Incident (2021-03-24) 229. The Road (2021-04-18) 230. The Palace (2021-04-18) 231. Hellfall (2021-04-25) 232. Department (2021-04-25) 233. Tartarology (2021-04-25) 234. Heck if I Know (2021-04-25) 235. Interval (2021-04-29) 236. More Dakka (2021-05-02) 237. Long Story Short (2021-07-06) 238. A Certain Kind of Longing (2021-07-06) 239. Old Sins Cast Long Shadows (2021-07-10) 240. The Long Haul (2021-07-10) 241. Long Shot (2021-07-13) 242. A Long Row to Hoe (2021-07-13) 243. Long Memory (2021-07-15) 244. Long Pig (2021-07-15) 245. Long Live the King (2021-07-15) 246. Reflection at the End (2021-07-17)