Flamestone

The old merchant had timed our arrival at Potavoli well. The sun had just set and we were approaching the Trade Gate. Suddenly the walls and gatehouse sprang alight with green flames. I must have stood there gaping for at least a minute before the old man, grinning from ear to ear, snapped me out of it and told me that the city wasn't actually burning, but that the Potavoli had used special "Flamestone" from the mountains. I have seen other clever uses for the stone since, but the burning walls still impress me.

— from "Memories of a Caravan Guard" by Clais Hiltprandt

Properties

Material Characteristics

Flamestone is dark grey with small red flecks. In it's natural form the surface is very rough, but it can be shaped and polished just as well as regular stone.

Physical & Chemical Properties

Flamestone absorbs and stores heat, growing slightly warm to the touch just like regular stone. When the surroundings cool below the temperature of the stone the heat is released as flickering, translucent green flames. The flames give off no heat and are simply a visual phenomenon. The amount of heat absorbed determines how long the green flames persist, but it is usually not much longer than ten minutes.

Geology & Geography

The stone is found almost exclusively in the The Flaming Mountains and surrounding area. In most areas it is found as small veins surrounded by other types of rock. This is enough to make a whole mountainside seem to burn briefly at sunset, but not of much use for anything else. A few areas in the mountain have been found where flamestone is present in higher concentrations, and it is from these places that the stone for the walls of Potavoli have been quarried along with stone for other buildings and sculptures.

A few rare places, all underground, have been found where the veins of Flamestone are large enough that pure pieces of the stone can be quarried. All except one of these were controlled by the dwarves and lost when the goblinoids invaded during the Iron Crown Wars. The last place is somewhere deep within the caves that house the city of Darkharbor.

History & Usage

History

The church of the God of Fire has always considered flamestone to be sacred to their god. According to their stories flamestone was created during the First Divine War when the God of Fire flung a particularly powerful curse at the God of Mountains. The God of Mountains deflected the curse using a mountain range that then started to burn and never stopped. Priests of the God of Mountains dispute this and claim that their instead stole fire from the God of Fire and used it to light the mountain range as a sign that he had hidden a great gift, the Stone Anvil, beneath them.

Uses

The rarity of rock with enough flamestone to reliably see the green flames means that few buildings have been constructed using it. The best known uses are the city walls of Potavoli and the Grand Temple to the God of Fire. In many smaller temples to the God of Fire statues of varying sizes carved from rock with flamestone veins are placed at the alter.

Pure flamestone can be enchanted to continuously draw a small amount of heat from the Elemental Plane of Fire. This will cause the stone to burn indefinitely with a clear green flame. Most of the city of Darkharbor is lighted using lamps set with enchanted flamestone and it is rumored the same was true of the dwarven capital of Magh Doruhl. The process is difficult and expensive, making enchanted flamestone lamps vary rare in other places.

Powdered flamestone can be bought in most larger cities. It can be used by spellcasters as an additional material component when casting spells that deal with fire. In addition to allowing the caster to changes the color of the flames it is said to slightly increase the intensity of conjured flames. It is also rumored to be a component of many magic items that deal with fire.
Game Rules

One dose of Powdered Flamestone costs 25 gp. You can use a single dose of Powdered Flamestone as an additional material component when casting any spell that deals fire damage. Doing so allows you to change the color of the fire, although it cannot be made complete colorless. In addition when you roll a 1 or 2 on any damage die for this spell, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2.

Type

Stone

Rarity

Common around the The Flaming Mountains, very rare everywhere else

Related Locations

• The Flaming Mountains