The Candle of Eternal Flame
( The Candle of Eternal Flame 
| |
|---|---|
| Base item | magic candle |
| Affiliation | |
| When carried | |
| When used | (none) |
| When invoked |
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| Base price | 50000 zm |
| Weight | 2 |
The Candle of Eternal Flame is the Flame Mage quest artifact in SLASH'EM, SlashTHEM and Hack'EM. It is the prize for completing the Flame Mage quest, and is neutral for wishing purposes. Its base item is a magic candle.
Generation
For Flame Mages, The Candle of Eternal Flame is always guarded by their quest nemesis - the High Ice Mage in Hack'EM and the Water Mage otherwise - and is placed on their square atop the altar in the center of the lair on the Flame Mage quest goal level.
If the artifact is generated in a bones file that is discovered by a Flame Mage, it will always be replaced with its mundane base item.
Description
As indicated by its name, The Candle of Eternal Flame is always lit, and carrying the artifact grants warning, teleport control and cold resistance. Invoking The Candle of Eternal Flame summons a tame fire elemental - in SlashTHEM, it has a 1⁄4 chance of summoning a tame greater fire elemental.
Strategy
In SLASH'EM, the Candle of Eternal Flame and its slotless properties are fairly convenient to have for Flame Mages: warning can cover the gaps in extrinsic telepathy, and teleport control can be handy if dealing with teleportitis from eating tengu and giant shoggoth corpses; cold resistance can be obtained intrinsically from various sources, making it the most easily superseded property. Fire elementals are generally not remarkable as post-Quest pets, so the invoke effect is typically not of much use. A light source that is never put out by, e.g. engulfing or rust traps is a major plus as well. For other neutral roles, this artifact is generally not worth using a wish on.
