Foxfire Charm (Patreon)

Wondrous item, common

This ebony charm is decoratively shaped into a fox's head and is always slightly warm to the touch. It measures 4 inches across and weighs 1/2 pound. If the charm is placed in a sufficiently hot fire, such as in a campfire, forge, or oven that fills up to a 10-foot cube, the charm begins to glow red-hot and creates a harmless, but comfortably warm, fire elemental in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the fire. The elemental is in the form of a fox and can't move farther than 100 feet from the fire in which its charm is kept. The elemental's singular goal is to supply this fire with fuel. If the fire begins to burn out, the elemental will search the surrounding area for fuel that isn't being worn or carried.

The fox uses the statistics for a cat, except that it's an elemental instead of a beast, is immune to fire and poison damage, and understands Common and Ignan but can’t speak. The elemental has advantage on ability checks to find fuel for its source fire and sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet. It can carry fuel back to the fire as normal, provided that it's appropriate to the elemental's size. If the elemental drops to 0 hit points, touches fire, or its source fire goes out, it vanishes and the charm grows cold and dark again until it’s placed in a new fire.

With Holly out on a personal request, Oscar was alone in his study, quill swirling. Well, not quite alone; when he'd admitted to her that he'd begun to feel her absence more keenly, Holly'd given him a companion: a fiery elemental in the form of a fox. As she said, "If I'm your light"—admittedly his own words—"you just need something brighter!"

Ever since, the space was truly comfortable, each warm nudge against his hand and bark of gratitude for gifts of scrap paper or wood were enough to make the room less cavernous while Holly was away.

Though today, he hadn't been so attentive, leaving Vulpes to her own devices to focus on his assignment. Despite her calls for attention, he continued to shift papers from his desk onto a stack to the side, uninterrupted until—

Holly's entrance was abrupt and enthusiastic; Oscar'd have it no other way. Bursting into the room, she reached across the desk to pat Vulpes's flaring fur before maneuvering pointedly between Oscar and the page, speaking quickly as she said, "I promised you I'd take you somewhere nice for dinner tonight, since we're… anyway, I promised, and you're not getting out of it!"

"I'm sorry, but I have just a few pages left on this report before I send it through the tube to Orostead."

Holly looked concernedly to the desk as Vulpes jumped down to tread towards the fireplace.

"Oscar… what report?"

He reached absentmindedly to pick up the pages he knew were there, saying "This, An Analysis of the Material Unconscious's Effect on Manifestations of the Outer Planes. It's a bit short, but—"

His hand met bare wood. He knew that instant he should be shocked, even frustrated. But, seeing Holly in the familiar moment before she burst into laughter, he felt a smile of relief steal over his face.

"That's… shorter than I thought, but it does mean I don't have much to work on."

The two locked arms, grinning like the children they were when they met as they left the study. And from the depths of the fire came a quiet, satisfied bark from the embers.