The Jungle of Distress

Player Characters
David 'Dai' Bush
Joseph Connelly
Isabella Everitts
Tadim 'Tac' Cromwell

Moonbase Alpha, it is early morning...

Isabella finds herself in a dense jungle thicket, it is dark but something is moving in the shadows... a creature.. a giant plant, it's vines winding around the alien trees... suddenly the jungle bursts into flames... Isabel hears the words "Help us" followed by screams!

In this Episode...

An Eagle takes off...	An Eagle flies through space...	And and Eagle crashes...

Dai is walking through darkness, he is being pursued!  There is more than one, they are getting closer, Dai stumbles and is surrounded by tall reptilian creatures chanting in a strangle language, they are wielding flaming torches and create a ring of fire that closes in...

Crew of Alpha Moonbase have been having bad dreams, dreams about being trapped and burned alive in a jungle, and the moon is now moving through an area of radiation and electrical storms in space.

Dr. Russell calls Dai and Isabel to Medical to run some tests.  Doctor Russell is perplexed as she says the area of the brain being stimulated in the Alphans reporting bad dreams is believed to be used for telepathic contact, though no one on Moonbase has such abilities.

In Command centre Paul Morrow and Tac are concerned about the radiation and report the issue to Commander Koenig and Professor Bergman.  Bergman states that the bases shields should protect them, although it will be a power drain.

A day later a planet is detected. Commander Koening, Alan, Paul and Dr. Russell take Eagle One, the PCs with Dr. Kai and Akiko (co-pilot) in Eagle Five, to investigate the planet.  Eagle 5 struggles and upon entering the planets atmosphere and is struck by lightening exploding one of their engines, forcing a crash landing. It is of little surprise that it is a Jungle planet.

Kai is knocked unconscious in the crash, the others only slightly injured losing a couple of Spirit. Eagle 5 is beyond repair and they cannot contact the Commander. Isabel has a headache and can hear words "Help us."
 

Radiation is high, Isabel estimates they have three days before they start feeling the effects, survival past six days is unlikely!

Isabel send up a flair but still nothing from Koenig.

Joe spots a humanoid reptilian creature behind the crashed Eagle, when spotted it runs into the Jungle.

Isabel and Joe start to get headaches and hear voices "Help us." A strange 5 meter area of the jungle near the ship is seen to shimmer slightly.

It starts to get dark and the vines of the jungle can be visibly seen moving towards the ship...

The jungle slowly grows over the crashed Eagle. A group of primitive reptiles attack the Eagle with stones, and try to burn it by setting light to the plant vines on the ship. During the assault both Dai and Isabel are incapacitated with dreams of burning and cries of pain.

When daylight comes the pain has subsided and the reptiles have left.  Isabel links the cries to the plants burning, could the jungle itself be a living intelligence?  Concentrating, Isabel makes telepathic contact with the intelligent Jungle. The jungle is in pain caused by the reptiles, the reptiles burn the jungle and chop down the trees causing it pain.  Alas, the jungle cannot communicate with the primitive minds of the reptiles, but when the moon passed by they reached out to the humans for help.

Acting as a peace envoy the Alphans set off to find the reptiles, the jungle parts, creating a path to the cave of the reptiles, the jungle tells Isabel that Commander Koenig and Alan are being held captive there.

Arriving at a clearing before the cave entrance Tac spots several reptiles armed with clubs attempting to sneak around them, he fires a warning shot which terrifies the reptiles who flee.

They make their way into the caves eventually finding a large chamber.  A dozen reptiles are in the cave, Koenig and Alan tied up at the far side.  Several burning torches illuminate the cave, and a small fire is in the centre, sat before it is an elder reptile.

Tac manages to communicate with the reptile elder, and the prisoners are freed.

Dr. Russell suggests it may be possible to create a translator that translates the telepathic thoughts of the plants for the reptiles. Isabel, Dr. Russell, Joseph and Akiko are allowed to leave, they head back to Eagle One.  Dr. Russell assists Isabel building a small communication device which can use the radiation in the atmosphere to power it indefinitely.  Tac continues to build relations with the reptiles, explaining their actions are hurting the jungle.  The Elder appears to understand.

Isabel returns with the device and it does indeed allow the Elder to hear the jungle speak. 

The Alphans leave as soon as they can, before it is too late to return to Moonbase Alpha and they start to grow sick through the radition, with the intelligent jungle now able to talk to the primitive reptiles.

Alan Carter pilots the Eagle safely through the radiation storm back to Moonbase Alpha.