What happens when a grabbed target of Avalanche Stomp is teleported?

Question

Avalanche Stomp is a power of the Stone Titan (all quotes are from the DDI Compendium):

Close burst 3; +21 vs Fortitude; 3d10+7 damage, and the target is grabbed by earth and stone. The stone titan does not need to use an action to sustain the grab. The earth and stone had a Fortitude and Reflex of 28 against escape attempts. Miss: Half damage.

To escape a grab:

This condition ends immediately on the creature if the grabber is subjected to an effect that prevents it from taking actions, or if the creature ends up outside the range of the grabbing power or effect.

I had a PC teleport from their currently grabbed square to a different square still in the original Burst 3 range. The question was immediately posed: did the PC escape?

Having moved to another square in the original Burst 3, my ruling at the table was: No, she did not escape.

Some considerations:

• Avalanche Stomp is not what's doing the grabbing. As stated, it's actually earth and stone. This is enforced by the fact that the escape attempt is vs. the earth and stone's Fort and Ref.
• Avalanche Stomp has no duration and therefore the power is instantaneous (I don't have the Rules Compendium in front of me, but I'm certain there's something in there in this regard).

Answer 1

Teleportation ends grabs. According to PHB page 286:

If you were immobilized because of a physical effect, such as a creature grabbing you, you can teleport away and are no longer immobilized or restrained, if applicable.

I guess you could say they didn't teleport "away" since they were still in the burst. However I'd say "away" means "out of the original location". Since the power let you grab them I'd imagine the force holding them in place doesn't teleport to the new location, whether it was in the original target range or not. The power went off and then the player, I assume, on their turn made a teleportation move. Avalanche Stomp doesn't get to "retarget" the grab to the new teleported location.

Answer 2

Teleportation does not automatically end a grab.

The Grabbed condition on DDI currently reads (in full):

While a creature is grabbed,

• it is immobilized.
• Maintaining this condition on the creature occupies whatever appendage, object, or effect the grabber used to initiate the grab.
• This condition ends immediately on the creature if the grabber is subjected to an effect that prevents it from taking actions, or if the creature ends up outside the range of the grabbing power or effect.

The Rules Compendium goes on to note that Teleport is one way to get outside of the grabber's range (along with forced movement).

The range of the grabbing power is 3, so as long as the target teleports and stays within 3, then the target is still grabbed.

As a side note, if a helpful warden should happen to slide the Stone Titan away such that it is no longer within 3 squares of, for example a battlemind, then the grabbed condition should end as well.

Answer 3

Teleportation doesn't always end the grab

Under Teleportation in the compendium:

Immobilized or Restrained: Being immobilized or restrained doesn’t prevent a target from teleporting. If a target teleports away from a physical restraint, a monster’s grasp, or some other immobilizing effect that is located in a specific space, the target is no longer immobilized or restrained. Otherwise, the target teleports but is still immobilized or restrained when it reaches the destination space.

Since the same effect was located in both the starting and the target it should still be restrained.