The Smolderwood

The Smolderwood gives Ember without going down to the lava: in its Ember Seams, ember crystals grow right at the surface, and in the caves below every second crystal nest is Ember. Here too are wood that does not burn (smolder pine planks), dark Kilnstone for a house, Smolder Coal that burns twice as long as coal, and the Tollkeepers' kiln camps.

Ember

At night an Ember Seam shows from afar: a crack in the ground glowing orange. Hot ash lies along its rim: it burns like magma — walk around it or sneak across. Inside are Emberstone and ember crystals: a pickaxe takes shards from a crystal, Kilnstone and now and then a shard from Emberstone. Walk out of the crack toward its ends, where it is shallow.

Fallen brands give light (6) and set nothing alight; an axe splits a brand into one or two Smolder Coal, Silk Touch takes it whole. Smolder Coal burns in a furnace for 3200 ticks. A Kiln Brazier gives light 15. Fire does not spread in the Smolderwood: nothing that grows here burns, and fire brought in dies down sooner. Brandlings lie among the brands — smaller living brands with dim eyes: they rise against whoever comes close or chops a brand nearby, bite with fire, and when slain lie down as brands again. Water puts them out.

Centuries ago the Ember vein set this forest alight from below, and fire here flows slowly, like resin: embers smolder in the cracks of the black pines, coals rise from the ground, and at night ember moths gather to the smoldering trunks. The Tollkeepers came to take a toll from the fire too: their kiln camps — domed kilns of fired brick with reliquaries of Ember — are guarded by Toll Collectors and a Bailiff.

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