Midnight Recon (Slagbröder)

[Nadezhda]

There was little point in them all jumping to help. Nadya stands near the edge of the crumbling ground and keeps her eyes open for any threats that she can do something about.

[Corinna Cannstein]

Cloud-Dancer tried to keep her footing without slipping and sliding on the moving earth. She crouched low and attempted to jump clear of the pit, aiming towards Kamut.

[Shehrazad]

Cloud-Dancer manages to stay on her feet despite the crumbling and splitting earth, and makes a giant leap towards Kamut, who, along with Saxon, makes a quick grab for her outstretched arms as he backs away. His clawed hand closes around her wrist and he pulls her away from the growing pit.

Vasara and Anna don't fare as well. Anna doesn't manage to stay on her feet, as a rock beneath her shifts and almost sends her into the pit itself. Vasara grabs her just in time and tosses her towards Saxon and Nadya, but she falls a few metres short and lands on her face. Just as Vasara gets ready to jump, a loud, angry shriek rises up from the pit, and he sees the bane for the first time. He can barely stay on his feet, let alone jump, as the rocks beneath him cracked to reveal the bane's pit underneath. At first glance, he is reminded of an enormous crab the size of a van, except with a lot more pincers and accompanied by a sickening stench that rose from the depths. It rose from the ground at the bottom of the pit and shook the earth. It's plan became obvious. If they fell into the growing pit, they were as good as bane food.

With a struggle, Anna managed to reach out to her past, and they gladly came to her. They don't offer their advise freely however, No-Eyes chuckled at her situation before he spoke into her mind.
"You wish to know about a creature of the Wyrm - a creature of the entity I serve - so you can defeat it. Very well, I will be able to tell you all about it once you've watched it devour one of your packmates. That is, unless you've something else to offer me?"
The urgency of the situation seemed lost on him.

4 will left for Anna

[Tony Vasara]

"...filthy overgrown cockroach..." Vasara murmured as he shifted into form more suitable for tactical retreat. At least he got a good look at the Bane, now he just needed to take that image to others. On his wolf form he tried to keep his balance and move as fast as he could into solid ground. Anna was on her face but way closer to safety, she should manage to survive those two last meters.

(ooc: use 2 Rage. 1 Rage: shift instantly into lupus, Base action: get to the solid ground, Rage action: the same if base action fails. Use 1 Will on base action.)

[Anna]

"You can't ask me that," Anna scrambled to her feet. She couldn't think of what else he could possibly want from her, until she remembered that she was his eyes and ears now. The sick bastard just wanted to watch.

"That thing is going to eat me if you don't help me," she said, straightening up and taking another leap towards Kamut. As she did, she reached out with her arm.
"I can show something else," she said. "What would you like to see?"

[Kamut]

Kamut moves forward as far as he can without getting caught in the avalanche or giving up his footing, so he can catch Anna's out-stretched arm and haul her to safety. He just hopes Vasara can keep out of the pit for a few seconds longer.

[Nadezhda]

Nadya watches the scene, there's nothing she can do that Kamut and Cloud-Dancer taking hold of Anna. Then, since there was no sign of other threats, she tries something else. She crouches beside the edge of the crumbling earth. In a smooth motion she swings the denim jacket off her shoulders, catches the cuff in one hand and throws the other end to Vasara so he can bite on and have something nearer to grip. Her other set of claws seek whatever purchase they can so she doesn't lose her balance.
Though if he ends up pulling her in she'll kill him before the bane does.

[Corinna Cannstein]

"Thanks kid," Cloud-Dancer said as Shadow-Stalker pulled her out of the pit. She stepped back from the crumbling edge, and tried to get a good look at the bane. Most of it was out of sight, but she could make out the crab-like pincer.

"Keep an eye out for other threats," she barked at Saxon, as Nadya and Shadow-Stalker were pulling their packmates out of the danger zone. Once again she drew a long breath and exhaled a cold misty breath, which turned to a shard of ice as it left her mouth. She picked it up and hurled it at the bane with as much strength as she could muster. At least it might distract it from eating Vasara long enough for him to get to safety.

[Shehrazad]

The ground shook some more as Vasara shifted to his wolf form and made his jump towards safety. The bane swiped its pincer at him, but it was too slow and he was already gone. Cloud-Dancer's icy shard hit the pincer, but bounced off it harmlessly. The bane didn't even seem to realise it had been hit.

Anna attempts to scrabble to her feet, dislodging some more rock and earth beneath her as she does. But she can't get her footing on the shaky ground. Meanwhile, the radius of the pit seems to grow, and Cloud-Dancer, Kamut, and Nadya have to keep taking steps backwards not to get caught in the shifting and sliding rocks.

Vasara's second jump places him within reach of Nadya's denim jacket. The bane still thrashes and screams behind him, not quite ready to let him go yet.

As his packmates struggle near the pit, Saxon is the first to catch sight of the others. The sounds of screams and angry Garou has drawn the rest of the banes near the wall. An assortment of horribly twisted and tainted spirits watch, although they don't seem to want to approach the pit.
"You'd better hurry, we've got company," Saxon warned, moving closer to Kamut.

"I was blinded in life, what makes you think I know anything about evading being eaten alive?"
No-Eyes laughed, a jarring sound in Anna's head.
"There is nothing I can do to help you now, though I assure you I would if I could. All I can say is, be sure you pull hard when you get a hold."
Her suggestion seemed to intrigue him, however.
"Maybe once you escape we can discuss what I'd like to see."

[Tony Vasara]

Vasara bit firmly the jacket and tried to use the support it gave to get to safety. Lupus head and one eye was now real hindrance as he found his head now locked in one direction. If he wanted to see anything around him he would have to let go and that right now seemed not to be an option.

"...stupid cockroach..." he grumbled through his clenched jaw and hoped that they got close enough look for the brainies to figure out what the hell that thing actually was.

(ooc: 4-paw drive! Using Will again to get out of the pit)

[Anna]

Anna didn't think she could get a hold without being eaten. She didn't want to get a hold anyway. Now she really just wanted to get away.

"Good," she said, pulling herself to her feet properly. "Do you have a name for this thing? And what the hell makes it so powerful?"
The fact that she could still keep up a conversation while running for her life surprised even her at this point. She wasn't usually known for keeping her wits about her.

(Spend a full action to stand, rage action to jump and spend willpower)

[Kamut]

Kamut grimaces with displeasure as he's forced to back away while Anna is stuck there amidst the debris. There was little he could do to reach her without doing something suicidally dangerous, however, so he's forced to stay there reaching as far as he can for her.

[Nadezhda]

Nadya leans back, claws taking whatever they purchase they can, and hauls Vasara to safety. She seems unnecesarrily pleased with saving his ass, but saves gloating for later.
"No time to be traumatised, it looks like we've got a fight either way."
She puts her (slightly torn) jacket back on and turns to the banes, sizing them up to see which is likely to be the weakest link - and so the best point to break out through.

[Corinna Cannstein]

"Give us a hand, big boy," Cloud-Dancer said to Saxon as she grabbed Kamut's arm and pushed him over the edge so he could reach Anna.

"Jump kid! We need to run! Now!"

She too had noticed the assembling banes. This was not good.

[Shehrazad]

Saxon took Kamut's arm too. Cloud-Dancer didn't look strong enough to support both Anna and Kamut in Crinos, and she didn't have Bear's strength behind her either. The earth beneath Kamut's feet continued to crumble, but he managed to stay on his feet mostly thanks to Saxon supporting him.

The bane continued to thrash after Vasara, making the ground crumble faster and the pit grow larger. Vasara and Nadya had to keep moving to avoid the bane's pincers.

Anna managed to get to her feet this time, and took a wild jump towards Kamut. She at least made it without falling on her face, although she was still out of Kamut's reach. She'll need to make another jump to catch hold of his arm.

Meanwhile, the other banes start circling. They don't approach the pit, but they seem to be looking forward to getting crabby's leftovers. Nadya doesn't know much about banes, but she can see a weak spot towards the southwest, where, if they run, they can probably make it through the gap in banes without getting ripped to shreds.

"I do."
He ignored her other question, however.
"So what could you show me that would satisfy me... you could carve glyphs of the Wyrm into your flesh, I would enjoy that. How about beheading your alpha, or pushing him into the pit? You could throw one of your packmates to those banes so they're distracted and you can avoid dying today. None of them are worthy of you, after all."
Though the voice was entirely in her head, making tone entirely in her imagination, there was no indication that he was mocking her. He seemed quite serious.