Operation: Sandstorm! Report—Team One

By Vitora

The earthquake struck and the creatures were scattered.

Rydina Tainsun, a warrior in training for a desert tribe, was nearly lost in the sandstorm that followed, barely escaping the quake that killed her brother and her trainer.

A gypsy otter, Kaja Dantor, found himself hanging off the edge of a cliff and barely climbed his way to survival, using only his twin daggers and his wits to save himself.

The weasel composer Interdit Waters staggered away from the carnage of what had once been his group as he struggled to brave the remnants of the storm.

Marriote, a beret-wearing ferret warrior, found himself at the mercy of other creatures, creatures he detested and did not trust.

The happy-go-lucky squirrel father, Alam Oakback, swiftly offered his aid to Kaja, and the first relationship was forged.

A mousemaid from far off lands, Enzeru, was pulled to safety by Marriote and the two exchanged muted barbs—not an auspicious start to what would become a necessary partnership.

And a cowardly slave, Sandrose the sea otter, found herself trapped in the sand, barely able to breathe and powerless to free herself.

So the adventure began.

They started to cluster together, first the squirrel, male otter, and weasel. While Enzeru and Marriote caught up with the trio, Rydina pulled Sandrose from the sand, breaking the sea otter’s arm in the process. With the tension high between them, the two met the main group and Team One was formed.

Alam proved to be the only barrier between peace and total chaos as Rydina and Kaja sized each other up, vying for the position of leader. By default, and the fact that she had trained in her tribe, the Feroz’Gyrer, to become a leader when the current one died, the ratmaiden was soon silently elected to head up the party. But an unfortunate encounter with the tribe she fled proved to be fatal for one of their members and dangerous to her position of leadership.

First, however, an incident with Kaja and poisoned water sent a ripple of distrust through the group—this gypsy was obviously not a creature they could have faith in, and even Alam, who normally saw the good in everybeast, was reluctant to get near the male otter. Meanwhile, the group played a game, on the squirrel’s prompting, and began to learn about each other.

Wakening the next morning, the surly companions started on their way. With the sun blazing on their heads, moods were less than cheerful, and a fight over a map caused teeth to be bared and tempers to flare. When finally they stopped for the night, Enzeru snuck off and found that Rydina had been captured by the remnants of her former tribe. Determined to tell the others, the mouse turned to go, but was stopped and killed by a burly warrior of the Feroz’Gyrer, who met his own untimely death by drinking of the water Enzeru had brought with her—the same water into which Kaja had poured his poison.

Rydina raced back to the camp and warned the others. Sympathy at the mousemaid’s death caused all of them to be surprised with themselves; but this decent emotion did not last too far into the night as Interdit, his own selfish desires to compose music foremost in his mind, took off with Rydina’s sword in tow to bargain for charcoal. Angered by the loss of her weapon, Rydina snapped—literally—at Alam and the others and then marched off to find the renegade weasel.

Reluctant at first, the rest followed. Upon reaching the camp of the Feroz’Gyrer, the party formed a plan and set out to put it in motion: Kaja and Alam would distract the desert rats, Rydina and Marriote would sneak in and steal the supplies they needed, and Sandrose would keep watch, alerting the group with a seagull’s harsh cry if somebeast approached. At first, it seemed if all would go well; the rat and ferret penetrated the camp and got what they needed, while Kaja’s “invisible beast” act had the Feroz’Gyrer in hysterics.

But then Melanie Rose, a preocious little vole who had just escaped a band of flesh-eating lizards, ran into them—literally. With her former captors in two, the volemaid brought trouble anew to the team. The Feroz’Gyrer guards were alert now, and Rydina and Marriote were forced to kill them—one of whom was Serith, Rydina’s childhood friend. Racing into the desert, the pitiful band was nearly killed when a wave of lizards—Melanie’s pursuers—rushed over the Feroz’Gyrer and left the rat tribe scrambling to prepare their weapons against this new foe.

Spurred on by the thought that there was still hope, the team pounded towards a distant pine grove. More knowledge of each other was gained as Marriote, Alam, and Interdit shared some of their story. But basic needs plagued them—thirst, most especially—and the ferret warrior strode off into the woods to find a stream.

He did not return. Unable to shake the feeling that something has gone wrong, Alam and Rydina gathered up the weary band and trekked into the woods. It didn’t take them long to find the spear-filled body of the ferret, hung in a tree; grieved, they buried him and set off in pursuit of the enemies who had murdered their friend: the jerbilrats.

They found the ‘rats by the stream, and Kaja tried to bluff his way out of trouble by utilizing a talent he picked up during his gypsy days: acting. But the jerbilrat leader was not fooled, and the group was saved from death only because of Kaja’s other skill—healing. This the otter put to work on the brother of a youngster named Justin.

Interdit, confused as emotions conflict inside him, wandered off. Rydina and Alam were forced to pursue him, to find him before the angered jerbilrats did. Unfortunately, they arrived to find one of the jerbilrats dead and Interdit gone crazy, speaking only one word to himself: “Deirdre.” The two were unable to stop a battle and were nearly killed before the ‘rat leader called a halt to the fight.

Meanwhile, Kaja and Melanie worked feverishly on the sick creature forced upon them, accompanied by a useless Sandrose. They barely succeeded to placate the worried, angry jerbilrat tribe; and then the group containing Interdit had returned and once more the weasel had gotten in trouble—this time for burying their only water canteens beneath the body of Marriote.

Another battle ensued, or nearly did, before the chieftain and Rydina reached an agreement: her group would be allowed two hours to leave the pines before the ‘rats would attack again. And so they fled, taking the jerbilrat Justin and his brother with them, towards the stream.

A rest by the water in relative safety resulted in two new allies—a pair of bats, who called themselves the Lord and Lady of the Dunes. They offered shelter to the weary creatures, and the pawsore team agreed, but once across the river they learned that Sandrose would not be coming. The sea otter had found the only place of happiness for her, the water, and refused to leave. Heartbroken, Kaja and Rydina said their farewells…and walked directly into the claws of an angry buzzard.

Melanie was taken down by the bird’s wrath, and the Lord of the Dunes swiftly retreated, luring the buzzard away. Now the companions had another to bury, and this task was done by Kaja and a tearful Alam. Finally, they moved on again, following the Lord and Lady to their cave.

At the back of the bats’ cavern was an incredible crystal wall, which mesmerized all of the travelers—except for Interdit, who followed the Lord to a secret storeroom and shared a beaker of elderberry wine with the male bat. Finally, the group was able to sleep safely, without worry of being attacked.

And now the team is on the move again. How will Sandrose, abandoned at the stream, react to finding a new group stranded in the desert? How will the others survive long enough to forge good relationships with each other? Find out by reading Operation: Sandstorm!