Shadowflame Coal
Shadowflame Coal is a magical variant of coal that is used in a variety of applications -- primarily for heating and working with magical ore that is normally unable to be worked over a conventional flame. It is found primarily under the mountains of the Great Divide and in the mountains near Wildshire. When used in a forge, it produces a dark blue flame and gives off a much more intense heat than a conventional fire, capable of reaching temperatures twice that of normal coal, but it has to be very carefully maintained and monitored. If the flame is not carefully maintained, it can not only melt the forge itself, but burn the smith alive! Smiths working with this material often require special protective equipment to avoid injury or death. Wealthier smiths can pay someone proficient in magic to enchant their forge to resist the heat, allowing it to be contained.
The primary reason smiths use Shadowflame Coal for magical materials is because some materials will resist enchantments. Once heated past a certain point with the Shadowflame Coal, the resistance weakens, allowing the metal to be enchanted. For clarification, it is not the higher heat which weakens the resistance of the material, but a property of the Shadowflame Coal itself that weakens the material's resistance to Flow. This is a volatile process, and requires meticulous monitoring of the temperature of the metal. The one exception is Shadesteel, which cannot take an enchantment whatsoever, and will melt long before it reaches the maximum temperature that Shadowflame Coal can produce.
This fantastic coal has a variety of uses in alchemy and enchantments that don't involve forging, as well. For example, Shadowflame Coal is added in small amounts to other catalytic ingredients to produce Alchemist's Fire, because with the addition of the catalyst, the powderized coal rapidly reaches very high temperatures, causing a volatile reaction that burns its surroundings. It is also used as a reagent to produce enchantments on items involving fire, such as wands that produce Fireballs. It can also be used in items to reduce a target's resistance to magical damage.
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