Q. What is the procedure for creating elemental fire?
A. In the Junior Quarters you find a locker, the latch of which is tied shut with a knot of white cord. A broad sheet of paper is pinned next to the locker:

> take broad sheet
This seems to be a practical assignment for the junior alchemists. "Today's friendly challenge for
the juniors: open your locker! The cord is white-fuse, a material which burns quickly and cleanly
- but only when ignited with elemental fire. I've left tomorrow's assignment in the locker, so
don't dawdle." You recognize Sergeant Brooks' handwriting. He really treats the juniors much
more kindly than the swabbies, doesn't he.

Printed on the back of the sheet are the formal instructions: "IGNITING ELEMENTAL FIRE: Fire
is the only pure element (of the European tradition) which cannot be refined from mundane
matter. It must be ignited, and only phlogisticated gold can support its combustion. If one has a
source of elemental fire, igniting a new wick is simple; but if not, the procedure is arduous. One
must place the phlogisticated metal in a vapor crock with a bit of camphrost and burning
blackwood - the only flame hot enough to begin the reaction. Seal the crock. Once the
camphrost's vapor pressure has built to the flash point, the metal will be ignited."

Aside from the phlogisticated gold, the rest of the items you need for this ritual are easy to find, and so is the (McGrew) crock. If you haven't found the phlogisticated gold rod yet, it's in the locked cabinet in the Materials Store. All you need to open that cabinet is the Alchemy File seal that was carelessly left in the Storage Nook. Oh, and you'll need the torch-lighter from the Under Ward. Once you have everything you need, head for the Pyrics Lab.

OK, now let's light the blackwood:

> ignite blackwood with torch-lighter
You hold the torch-lighter to the splinter of blackwood. But the blackwood refuses to catch light.

Hmph. So now you try to put it in the kiln, right? (I'm assuming you already tried to light the blackwood before reading this. If not, why don't you close this page and try a few more things? ;-) Still here? OK then, no doubt you also tried to get the little blighter lit by subjecting it to the inferno in Burning Hall East. That didn't work either, right? So perhaps the solution requires less drastic measures. Why don't you try lighting the other pieces of wood here, and see what happens. Go ahead, you can always extinguish a piece of wood right after you light it. And if not, you can always undo, restore... or reset.

So yeah, you eventually determine that the winter-oak burns the hottest of them all, and you can use that to light the blackwood. Well done! Now we're ready to perform the ritual. Be careful how you handle the camphrost though. It doesn't last very long in open air after you take it out of its storage container. So you'll want to have everything else all ready to go before you fetch it from the next room and put it in the crock. Anyway, here's how you set the phlogisticated gold rod alight to create elemental fire: Click here to show/hide ritual steps

Quite simple, actually, once you figure out how to ignite the blackwood. So let's go open that locker now: Click here to show/hide what's in the locker in the Junior Quarters

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