Bargaining for Survival in the Crater

Dust thins over the crater camp. The broken raider ring lies scattered beyond the trench, and the battered wall still holds, barely. Above, the sky darkens as a meteor shower gathers its first fierce sparks.

The Stone-Lieutenant drives a brace into the trench lip while the Miner hauls stone blocks into place. Both work fast, glancing up between strikes, knowing the wall must stand if the camp is to keep the vein.

Ankura Anura steps into the debris field, spell-burn stinging his arm, as the clan turns toward him. The camp waits for a final order, a final act, anything that turns this wound in the earth into a defended mine.

Far above, the first meteor streaks brighter, its burning path angling toward the crater camp. The next moment will decide whether the mining line survives the night.

Ankura Anura raises the call, and the camp answers at once. Braces scrape into place, stone shifts hand to hand, and the trench line tightens under his command. The wall is sealed with raw rock and packed dust, just as the first burning shard drops screaming past overhead.

A hard impact shakes the trench lip, and a spray of grit slaps across Ankura Anura's arm. The brace holds. One fresh crack flashes through the outer stone, but the line stays shut.

More miners crowd the wall, shoulder to shoulder, pressing in clay, stone, and splintered timber until the repaired seam looks blind and solid. The meteor shower burns brighter above them, but the camp does not yield.