Book - Forge of Spells Detailed Workings

The Forge of Spells – Detailed Working


This is an attempt to document how the Forge of Spells seems to work. Note that despite the many and varied experiments done in using the Forge, there is still a level of randomness associated with its enchantments, and there can be no guarantees as to the outcome. 

When the Forge was first discovered, by miners working the Wave Echo Cave silver lodes, it was simply an unusual green flame, rising through a crack in the rock floor. The flame seemed to be harmless to anyone caught in it, but it was discovered, rather by accident, that any weapon or armour item left in the flame for an amount of time seemed to gain a magic enchantment upon it. 

The Pact of Phandelver was formed between the dwarvish miners, gnomish engineers and human and elvish clerics and wizards to help investigate and refine this wondrous find. The dwarves and gnomes fashioned a brazier to contain and focus the flame, and a gnomish ‘key’ was created to further concentrate the power – without this key the flame is very weak, and any enchantment tended to wear off after just a few minutes. 

In this state it was found that the flame was able to restore the magical properties of anything that previously had magic associated with it. Magic that had been removed (for example, with a “Dispel Magic” spell) could be re-introduced into any object; Wands and staves that had used charges would have all of their charges restored etc, all by placing the item in the flame for ten minutes or more. It seems that you can do this as often as you wished, whenever you wished – the flame did not diminish with this work. 

In addition, it was found that any weapon or armour object placed in the flame for ten minutes could be enchanted permanently. Once this was done, however, the flame seemed to diminish and took about a day to recover. While in its diminished state, no further enchantments could be done. However, the enchantment placed on the item seemed somewhat random, and did not always work. It seemed there was a chance that a curse would be placed on the item, or that the item would be completely destroyed, or have no effect (and it was noted that if the attempt had no effect, no further re-attempts on that item would work).

At times, however, the item would be enchanted in some way – sometimes gaining a bonus in attacking or defending. That bonus may be specific to a particular creature, or damage type, or may be general. Sometimes a significant bonus would be imbued on the object, though that was rare. 

The human and elvish wizards investigated further, and found that if a valuable gem were consumed alongside the object (the gnomes created a ‘catalyst drawer’ in which such gems would be placed), the chances of getting a cursed item were much reduced, and the chances of getting a magically enhanced item were increased. The worth of the gem used seemed to influence this chance – the more valuable the gem, the more likely of a favourable outcome. 

It was found that low value gems (malachite, tigers eye etc) seemed to have little effect, whilst expensive gems (diamonds, pearls etc) seemed to increase the likelihood of a valuable item being created. Multiple gems could be used, and their benefits seemed to accumulate. 

This was an expensive process though – it cost a very large amount in gems to guarantee a good outcome, though the resulting item could be sold for a large amount. However, since it sometimes took a number of attempts to create such an item, each attempt consuming more gems, this increased the cost further. 

The forge was used in this way successfully for some years before the dwarven smiths managed to successfully route the power of their main smelter, driven by the water wheel, into the Forge of Spells. This additional power had the effect of greatly reducing the likelihood of cursed (which then became a very rare event), or destroyed, items, and made the Forge much more profitable. 

And this is how the Forge currently runs. Once per day, the power of the smelter is routed to the Forge, a valuable gem is used as a catalyst, and a magic item is created, usually under commission. The likelihood of a cursed or destroyed item is still there, and this risk is outlined and made clear to the customer – they provide the catalyst gem, or gems, and thus they can influence the likelihood of a cursed or destroyed item. It is suggested that gems of at least 100gp in value are used, to avoid the likelihood of the item being destroyed, and if you want an almost guarantee of a resulting beneficial item, a gem, or gems, to the value of at least 500gp be used. 

Items so produced are “Identified” by the wizards at the mine, which will indicate what, if any, magical ability has been imbued. They also are the first to touch the item, and as such, if the item is cursed, they will take on the curse (and they have plenty of “Remove Curse” spells available!). Obviously “Remove Curse” only breaks the curse for the user – the item itself remains cursed, and thus must be destroyed (or sometimes sold on – there is a black market in cursed items!)

Intensive research continues into how the Forge works. There is a fear that such research may stop the Forge from working altogether, but if the wizards can discover how the Forge functions, maybe more Forges can be created in other places.