Making Fire

Fire is borrowed from the sun, a little at a time. Ask for it properly.

Lay kindling and wood, then strike stone on stone or bring a flame.

A fire is not lit all at once. Kindling catches first, and the kindling lights the wood.

Lay the fire

• Heap at least three pieces of kindling together.
• Lay them on flat, solid ground. The top of a hearth stone will do.
• Lay your firewood on the kindling before you light it.

Kindling: dried grass, broom twigs, gorse kindling, forest leaves. Gorse burns hottest and longest. Leaves barely burn at all. Cut grass must be spread out to dry before it will burn.

Firewood: sticks, stick bundles and logs.

Strike it from stone

1. Hold a fire-starting stone in each hand: flint, chert or pyrite.
2. Look at the kindling and press Ctrl + right mouse. Each press is one strike.

• About one strike in four catches.
• When it catches, the stone in your main hand is spent.
• When it does not, the stone may crack and be lost. Carry spares.

Light it from a flame

With a lit torch in your main hand, Ctrl + right mouse on the kindling lights it at once. The torch is not used up.

Catching

Only the kindling is lit. It flares and burns out fast: grass in moments, gorse a little longer. If firewood is lying in it when it burns down, the wood catches and the fire takes hold. If not, the fire dies and leaves nothing behind.

1. Lay the wood first. Then light.

You cannot light a second fire where one is already burning.

Setting things alight

With a lit torch in your main hand, Ctrl + left mouse on something lying on the ground sets it burning, if it will burn. A log will. So will earthen armor. It burns until it is gone.