Ember Reach

Ash falls on burnt woods and cinder vents, and an obsidian forge glows in the west. The Ashen Magister makes Kilnhold feed his forge with its own homes, a brick a week. The forge itself is sealed by its heat until water washes the seal away.

Areas

• Ashfall Woods: Charcoal Stag, Cinder Fox, Ashwyrm
• The Cinder Vents: Slag Crawler, Bellows Imp, Cinder Fox, Ashwyrm, Crustback
• The Obsidian Forge: Anvil Golem, Bellows Imp, Slag Crawler, Verdigris Beetle

Notable places

The Kiln Road, The Smouldering Mound, Cindermane's Ring, The Forge Gate, The Magma Chamber, The Coal Hive Pits, Lashwick's Forge, The Kiln, The Warm Cave.

Bosses

• Guardians: Slag Matron, Cindermane, Lashwick, Coal Hive Queen
• Dragon: Kilnmaw
• Wizard: The Ashen Magister

Dungeons

• Slag Matron's Burrow: dungeon, Slag Matron
• Cindermane's Ring: dungeon, Cindermane
• The Coal Hive: dungeon, Coal Hive Queen
• Lashwick's Forge Hall: dungeon, Lashwick
• The Kiln: wizard's stronghold, The Ashen Magister
• The Ash-Buried Shrine: hidden chamber
• The Forge Vault: hidden chamber
• The Magma Chamber: hidden chamber

Spells

• Taught by its bosses: Flame Lash, Ember Mine, Comet Step, Magma Lob, Phoenix Spark, Furnace Breath
• Found at shrines: Cinder Bolt, Pyre Burst, Hearth Ward, Fire Column

Creatures

Anvil Golem, Ashwyrm, Bellows Imp, Charcoal Stag, Cinder Fox, Crustback, Slag Crawler, Stoker, Verdigris Beetle.

Quests

• The Charcoal-Burner's Prayer
• Brannoch's First Hammer
• The Slag Glass
• Brannoch's Bellows
• Ama's Oven
• Old Tib's Goats

Pieces of heart

Ember Reach has 1 challenge out in the open that pay out a piece of heart (ambushes to survive, lamp runs against the clock, buried hearts). More pieces wait in its dungeons, hidden chambers and quests.

Notes and inscriptions

A Smith's Tally (Ashfall Woods)

Scratched on a cooling stone: forty blades, sixty hinges, one bell for Kilnhold. The last line is a child's hand: and one horse, for me.

The Ash Letter (The Obsidian Forge)

A letter half burned in a tin: I am sorry the forge took so long. When the ash stops falling, come and see what I made you.

A Quench Note (The Obsidian Forge)

Pinned under a slag lump: never quench in the vent pools. The water there remembers fire.

A Smith's Tally (The Obsidian Forge)

Scratched on a cooling stone: forty blades, sixty hinges, one bell for Kilnhold. The last line is a child's hand: and one horse, for me.

The Ash Letter (The Slag Cairn)

A letter half burned in a tin: I am sorry the forge took so long. When the ash stops falling, come and see what I made you.

The Glass Ledge

A ledge of black glass the eruption missed. Lying on it, a smith's sample case: little squares of every glass the Reach could make, each one labelled with the vent it came from and the year.

The Smiths' Flue

An old flue the smiths walked into when the forges ran too hot. Scratched into the soot, a tally of shifts, and beside it a little shelf of good tools, oiled and wrapped, left for whoever came next.

A Smith's First Hammer (Ashfall Woods)

A hammer-head stamped with a kiln and three sparks. Kilnhold smiths bury their first hammer where they were born, so the ground knows who made the town's nails.

A Charcoal-Burner's Prayer (Ashfall Woods)

Burned into a board: 'Keep the wind at my back and the stags out of my stack.' Under it, smaller: 'Mostly the stags.'

The Smith's Mark (The Forge Gate)

The hot stone cracks as it cools and shows a smith's mark under the soot: a lamp with a crown of sparks, struck twice, as if for luck.

The Foundry Plate (The Cinder Vents)

Water hisses over a crust of old slag and it cracks away from a brass plate: Kilnhold Foundry, est. in the first year of the lamps.

The Charcoal-burner's Tin (Ashfall Woods)

The split stone was hollowed out once. Inside, a tin: a charcoal-burner's tally of sacks sold to Kilnhold, and a sprig of something green pressed between the pages, kept from before the ash.

A smith's ledger, scorched (Kilnhold)

A forge must be fed or it dies, and so must I. They give me their houses and I give them fire. Everyone burns for something. I am only honest about it. - the Magister

A Seat by the Road (Ashfall Woods)

A slab of cooled lava set like a seat. From it you can see the smoke over the Forge Gate, and the ash coming down slow as snow.

A Shelter on the Road (The Cinder Vents)

A lean-to of rough timber and a fire ring still warm. Scratched on the post: Water in the jar, and sweet. Leave it full.

Hidden things

Some spots answer to the right element. Cast it there and something comes back.

• The Forge Gate (Frost): The hot stone cracks as it cools and shows a smith's mark under the soot: a lamp with a crown of sparks, struck twice, as if for luck.
• The Cinder Vents (Water): Water hisses over a crust of old slag and it cracks away from a brass plate: Kilnhold Foundry, est. in the first year of the lamps.
• Ashfall Woods (Force): The split stone was hollowed out once. Inside, a tin: a charcoal-burner's tally of sacks sold to Kilnhold, and a sprig of something green pressed between the pages, kept from before the ash.