Alien Geology 101

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You're finally starting to get a feel for the mazelike badlands, when you practically stumble upon a woman resting in the shade of a large boulder. She introduces herself as Lambert, the team's navigator. She explains that an enormous snake had tracked her for miles through the dusty hills, and once she'd escaped it she'd been working her way back for hours.

It turns out you're only minutes removed from the research site, a slanted wall of rock riddled with caves. There's an enormous central cave, plus a rough array of a dozen other smaller caves, laid out in an eerily unnatural circle of dots. Lambert says it looked so much like a clock they referred to all the caves by number, using the clock layout. Bat-like creatures flit in and out of some of the caves, and warm, sulphurous water trickles from the mouths of nearly all of them.

The base of the wall is marred with the signs of a fight. Shattered remains of cloth, food, and electronics are scattered all over the place, and the entire place has been trampled with footprints--human and alien alike.

Lambert explains, "We set up camp here to explore the caves. They turned out to be full of creatures far more dangerous than we had expected. Most of us had backed out and tried to regroup here at camp when a herd of giant herbivores stampeded through this valley, being chased by all number of transdimensional beasties. Between the caves, the stampede, and the predators, it looks like everyone had to run away."

You escort Lambert back to the portal. Once she is safely on the other side, Susan elaborates on the value of the Nostromonium: "Our analysis of the alien terrain suggests there are whole crystals the size of your fist in those caves, at least as big as the one Ash found. If we can just get our hands on more of it, maybe three or four more big ones, we can ..." At this point Susan expounds on some science you don't really follow, but the gist of it is the Nostromonium can be used both to create a homing beacon strong enough for the scientists to follow home, and to somehow secure the dimensional gate.

At this point you have a choice: you can keep looking for the lost team members in the badlands, to find out what they know about the caves, or you can search the caves for the needed minerals, so that they can be used to shore up the gate, improve communications, and pull in the rest of the team. Either option has drawbacks, but either could work.

Location(s)

• Astral Badlands
  

Notes

• One time adventure.
• Having the ability to fly significantly reduces the time until you get this event. Further events in the Astral Badlands are not affected by this, however.
• Before you get this event, if you are flying, you get the following message after each combat:

Having the ability to fly lets you map this area much faster. Text from memory & currently no way to get again. Please verify/change accordingly.