Cleric's Soft Wood Focus of Fire

Cleric's Soft Wood Focus of Fire rests on a carved palm-sized pedestal, its surface a warm, honeyed grain that catches the light like a settled ember. The wood—soft and pale—speaks of patient growth, its fibers so fine you can almost hear a whisper when you brush your fingers along the edge. The focus itself is a slender cylinder of polished bark and heartwood, lacquered to a satin gleam that invites a touch, not a grip. Tiny sigils coil along its length, etched with the care of a scribe who believed that flame begins in the quiet places of a tree. Inside, a faint glow flickers, as if a shy firefly has found a home beneath the wood’s smooth surface, and when you tilt it just so, you see a trace of red-light seeping through the grain, like a dawn-lit pine standing guard over a long night. The cap is capped with a brass veil, not heavy enough to weigh the hand, but enough to remind you that this is a tool meant for purpose, not display. Whoever carved it left a story in the knots—old wounds healed with resin—and the item wears that history like a patient healer wears a calm expression. Lore-wise, this focus is said to have been tied to the Hearth House, a modest temple where flame and mercy met in equal measure. Clerics there tended both the ceremonial fires and the wounded, insisting that warmth could be as healing as bandages and as guiding as a lantern. The Soft Wood speaks of patience—the way the flame licks through dry timber only after the wood has learned its limits. It’s rumored to be blessed by someone who believed that true fire should illuminate, not consume, and that a well-tended flame reveals more about a person’s character than any sermon ever could. In the hands of a patient caster, the focus channels heat with precision, shaping flames into controlled bursts and comforting embers that knit wounds together with warmth and light. The lore protests against reckless blaze; this is a focus for discipline, for healing through fire rather than anger tempered into ruin. In gameplay, it’s a tool that rewards restraint and timing. The Cleric’s Soft Wood Focus of Fire is said to amplify the synergy between fire-based spells and protective auras, letting a player weave a thread of warmth through the frontline—scorching threats while shielding allies with a tangible glow of protection. It’s not merely about raw damage; it’s about the narrative of flame as care—one moment a patient glow, the next a focused arc that clears a path for the party to advance. In skilled hands, the focus becomes a quiet partner: a spark that travels with the healer’s cadence and a beacon that steadies the group when fear flickers in the dark. Market talk at dawn often drifts toward Saddlebag Exchange, where traders haggle over relics as if each price already holds a memory. A wary buyer might offer a modest sum for keepers of warmth, while a collector’s eyes gleam at the prospect of a pristine, sigil-brushed relic. The whispers say a fair day’s price sits somewhere between a handful of silver and a modest pile of coins, depending on condition and recent demand. A veteran seller’s smile hints that value is less about coins and more about the next story the wood will light. Thus the Cleric’s Soft Wood Focus of Fire endures—a small, intimate flame tucked inside a quiet piece of wood, ready to guide a party through shadow with measured warmth and careful courage.