Noel managed to stay ahead of the eruption as the ground broke apart under her feet, moving from patch to patch of not yet unstable ground and avoiding the purple flare-ups that burst forth between them. Just when she had almost reached Khonnir at the edge of the danger zone, he pointed at something behind her, "Watch out-!"<br/><br/>Something hard struck the back of her head and then all she knew was darkness.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><em><span class="bbc_u">Eight days later</span></em><br/><br/>"Noel! Noel, you're waking up! Can you hear me?" Noel woke up to the sight of a worried Val fussing over her. She was back in her own room in her own bed. "Take it slow, you've been out for a week out, we've all been so worried..." Val lifted a simple mug of refreshing water to Noel's parched lips.<br/><br/>Val was eager to share with Noel what she had missed while she was unconscious. "You got knocked pretty bad by a stray stone during the eruption, we were all so worried when you wouldn't wake up. Not only that, but the torch just... went out afterwards, and nobody knows why or when it'll turn back on, if ever. Get this, father found a bunch of tracks leading down into Weeping Pond but not out, so he searched deeper and found an underwater tunnel leading under Black Hill! A bunch of adventuring teams went in to explore, father even led one of the teams himself trying to find answers, but only his team came back out, bringing some sort of weird metal golem they found inside. Then father and his team went back in on their second delve a couple days ago, but they haven't returned yet..."<br/><br/>A half-elf with a prosthetic arm entered the room, a member of one of the other blacksmithing families in Torch, prompting Val to introduce him. "Ah, you've met Zed before, right? He's just helping out around the place while father's away."<br/><br/><hr/><br/>For Zedik, it had been a long week of sitting around doing nothing. He had just managed to finish his apprenticeship and crafted his very first skymetal bauble, ceremonially marking the transition to journeyman, a day before the violet flame of Torch extinguished itself, taking with it the only heat source in town strong enough to work skymetal and leaving his entire future career in question. One adventuring party after the other had delved the tunnels beneath Black Hill, all to no avail. Even town councilor Khonnir Baine had disappeared on his second expedition, and now there was a hefty reward for anyone who could rescue him.<br/><br/>A couple days ago Val had enlisted his help keeping the Baine business running while they were undermanned, what with her father missing and her sister in a coma. Now Noel had finally woke up, and events would starting moving once more.