Murky Purple

The sun has long set in this alien land, and you're starting to give up hope of locating anyone else by the dim purple glow of starlight, but you've hardly cleared the gulch at the edge of the badlands when you find two women approaching you on along your normal route, which you've nearly beaten into a trail with your frequent traversing. The women, one named Fry and the other a boyish figure with the unlikely name of Jack, say they've lost two teammates. Fry says Jasper fell while holding off a crocodile-creature back in cave X. The apparently shell-shocked Jack is more vague about the other, saying "Tell them Richard's dead. He died somewhere in those badlands."

Fry has just finished telling you about the Nostromonium they had seen in cave X when a trandsimensional fiend pops out of nowhere, spears her with its fierce claws, and pulls her into the sky. "Not for me!" Jack howls, which doesn't make much sense to you, but she's clearly been affected by the ordeal. There's nothing you can do for Fry, so you drag the distraught Jack back to the lab, where it's confirmed that the entirety of the research party has been accounted for, either found and returned or known dead.

At this point there's nothing to do but explore the caves and return with the needed Nostromonium. You mark cave X on your map, and prepare to go spelunking.

Location(s)

• Astral Badlands
  

Notes

• One time adventure.
• Part of the Through the Dimensional Rabbit-Hole quest.
• Only occurs after Night is Coming.
• X is different from player to player. The relevant cave in the Mouths of Darkness is marked as full.

References

• The crew member names and the entire adventure reference the movie Pitch Black. The name of the adventure also hints at this.
• The one name that does not directly link to the above movie is Jasper. This might be a more involved reference. There is a character in the movie called "William J. Johns". This character's name is probably a nod to artist Jasper Johns, whose full name is William Jasper Johns, Jr., hence the name Jasper (source).