[hr][hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/AnFLPzp.jpg?1[/img][/center][hr][hr][center][h2][color=ffdead][u]D[/u][/color] [u]E[/u] [u]S[/u] [u]E[/u] [u]R[/u] [u]T[/u] [u]E[/u] [u]D[/u][/h2][sub][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwdfZavyyug]♪[/url][/sub][/center][hr][hr]
They saddled up at the gatehouse and it was telling that the animals the small convoy mounted were camels and not horses. Lingering in some minds as they gazed out across the desolate terrain may have been the Warden's response to Ysilla's strange question from a few hours earlier. [color=f26522][b]"Everyday,"[/b][/color] he had said, narrowing his flinty eyes, [color=f26522][b]"I have nightmares of this place being consumed: swallowed by the shifting sands of los Páramos Sin Fin."[/b][/color]*[sup]1[/sup] He had shaken his head and his voice had lowered. [color=f26522][b]"You do not know it like I do, girl. I pray you never will."[/b][/color] He had moved on quickly.

It was near to midday as they set off, canopies above their heads, a couple of supply animals loaded down mostly with water. A distant breeze undulated across the shallow dunes, ghostly waves of sand writhing in its embrace. When it reached the group of ten - for Marceline, two guards, and a quiet, leathery-skinned ranger named Escarra were with them - it did not provide any relief. Hot air blasted them and they were forced to shield their eyes and clasp their lips shut until Jocasta drew from the desert and forced its winds to swirl around rather than through them.

As they ventured further into the desert, the midday sun beat down on them and Escarra stopped to check his map more than once, consulting with the guards or Marceline. The latter smiled and nodding, pointing this way or that, clearly happy to be out of the Refuge or perhaps to be in his company. The ranger, for his part, said few things once he had finished teaching some who had never ridden a camel before how to do it. He perched upon his camel like a lizard on a rock: barely moving at all but seeming to see everything. Occasionally, he would call out with a word or a hand gesture to marshal them to stay close. Given his taciturn nature, understated competence, and what they had already seen of this place, there was little argument.

The swirling sands gave way to something rockier, as outcroppings rose into the burning sun. Sips from flasks were stolen at increasing opportunity and animals were spotted here and there in the distance, particularly halassa. Marceline explained with great enthusiasm that windier days like this one were idea for them, as many smaller animals preferred to shelter or spent time shoring up their burrows and nests. It was easy hunting should they seek meet and there were more roots exposed should they have favoured that.

It wasn't long before the group's first encounter, and it was a harrowing one. As a set of low cliffs and hoodoos rose up around them, a pack of five halassa started to come uncomfortably close. These were driven off twice by Escarra and once by one of the guards. Then, one made a grab for one of the baggage camels and the crack of a rifle echoed through the dry air. Spooked, the giant tortoises backed off, only to begin doubling back some thirty seconds later. There were five of them and it would not be a pleasant fight. [color=598527][b]"Be ready,"[/b][/color] Marceline warned the others, and a few of them started to gather their magic. Escarra held a hand out in a placating gesture, however, and they saw him pull out his rifle. To his lips, he brought the whistle hanging from a colourful string around his neck. 

The halassa came closer and he blew a strange, deep note on it. Frozen for a second, the lead beast took a bullet perhaps an inch above one of its eyes. It grunted and snorted, flinching belatedy, and the entire pack scampered off into the desert. "Missed your shot, old man," teased one of the guards: a young guy with a large nose and a resting smirk. 

Escarra shook his head and spat. [color=a36209][b]"I didn't."[/b][/color] They continued into the heart of los Páramos Sin Fin and the winds picked up further. The grizzled ranger pointed in the direction of some shallow cliffs and the convoy turned to follow his lead. [color=598527][b]"Hey Manuel!"[/b][/color] called Marceline, [color=598527][b]"Are we gonna stop up there?"[/b][/color]

Escarra nodded.

Taking that as a cue, the guard who'd teased him spurred his mount on and took the lead. [color=7ea7d8][b]"Exploraré por delante."[/b][/color]*[sup]2[/sup] The senior ranger clucked his tongue and those closest to him could see his face tighten, but he said nothing. 

Moments later, the lead guard and his camel went still. From around a small rise came a great angry snort. They had mere seconds to react before a Rhinodon came charging out. The foolish young guard who'd drawn its ire at least managed to save himself, but the angry herbivore continued its charge, forcing people to dodge or dive away. Even Zarina's attempts to calm it did nothing, and it skidded to a stop, turned, and began lining itself up for another charge.

It didn't follow through, however. Sniffing the air, it flicked its ears and its tail back and forth, before trotting briskly away. [color=a36209][b]"The hoodoos!"[/b][/color] shouted Escarra, [color=a36209][b]"now!"[/b][/color] and he coaxed his camel into a gallop. In the distance, what had seemed a large hazy ridge revealed itself as the leading edge of a sizable sandstorm. It gained on them with frightening speed, but they had enough of a lead that they reached the hoodoos, slipped in through a small gap, and were able to hunker down and ride out what ended up being a rather brief storm.

Interestingly, the winds had revealed ruins among the cliffs, built right into them and it was in the shade of these that they took an early afternoon meal - not deep inside, though, Escarra had warned, for there were a great many animals that liked to live in places such as that, and it was [i]their [/i]domain now.

Some people talked as they ate, and Marceline joined them belatedy, unable to walk without assistance and the Gift in the deep sand. The two guards played a card game, and Jocasta disappeared into a darkened room for a few minutes before returning and joining her peers. Escarra, meanwhile, sat off to the side, separate from the others but not entirely inaccessible to them. He spent most of his time cleaning his rifle and checking his equipment. His eyes scanned the area twice every minute and he ate mostly without chewing.

[color=a36209][b]"We ride two and a half more hours,"[/b][/color] the ranger said as they remounted their camels. [color=a36209][b]"If we don't find it, it's not in this direction."[/b][/color] The sun was now no longer directly overhead. It was towards the latter half of Oraff's hours and the sand, where it was not cloaked in shadow, positively boiled. Wrapped in desert whites, they could feel the heat rising from below. Those whose feet yet lived found it leeching up through their shoes.

They had been on the move again for scarcely more than five minutes when Jocasta and Marceline exchanged a look. The former rode towards the back of the group in a modified saddle, useless legs strapped to her animal, and the latter paced her. The two women looked to Yalen, who could yet ride normally, but all three tethered seemed to have a moment of agreement. [color=598527][b]"I can feel it,"[/b][/color] announced the youngest of the trio, moving up closer to the head of the pack. She pointed further down the canyon. [color=598527][b]"Not sure exactly how far."[/b][/color] She glanced back towards Jocasta and the older girl took a moment to catch up. [color=ffdead][b]"About...uh... eight miles away,"[/b][/color] she decided, and Escarra scowled, brow furrowed in momentary thought. [color=a36209][b]"Then we go,"[/b][/color] he announced. [color=a36209][b]"On the return, no dinner."[/b][/color] Suiting words to action, he coaxed some more speed out of his camel, and the group pressed forward.

The ruins faded from view and their world became the blue sky above, the greyish-gold sand below, and the steady rhythmic rocking of their mounts. To either side stretched increasingly imposing canyon walls and, occasionally, they would sight some animal scampering about. Most unnerving by far were the froabasses that roosted along the top. They had thus far managed to avoid any unpleasant encounters with the beasts, but the twenty to thirty foot dragons were known to be voracious predators. [color=aba000][b]"Into Ejiran's throat we go,"[/b][/color] murmured the older of the guards as a pair of them circled on the thermals overhead. He made the Sign of the Pentad.

Yet it was not the froabasses that troubled them. Two more hours and one quick water break passed in uneasy anticipation and they drew ever nearer to the aberration that was their goal. Once again, the Tethered were first to feel something and Jocasta leaned in towards their guide. [color=ffdead][b]"There is a wyrm,"[/b][/color] she told Escarra quietly, eyes sliding over to the others.

He nodded, unpanicked. [color=a36209][b]"How far?"[/b][/color]

[color=ffdead][b]"About a mile,"[/b][/color] she warned. [color=ffdead][b]"It was inert before. It has awoken."[/b][/color]

[color=a36209][b]"The storm,"[/b][/color] he replied, [color=a36209][b]"has stirred up the animals. It hunts."[/b][/color]

Marceline appeared beside them. [color=598527][b]"Uhhh, there's a sand wyrm,"[/b][/color] she warned. Jocasta twisted and nodded. [color=ffdead][b]"We know. It isn't headed toward us yet. Go tell the others."[/b][/color]
 
Escarra's eyes peered out through folds of white cloth, searching for something. He twisted in his saddle. then, after a moment, he raised his arm and pointed to an area some two to three hundred yards ahead where the cliffs tumbled down into the sand and there was ample rocky ground. The group began making their way and the progress was good. Everyone had gotten to be at last competent in riding by this point, and none questioned the instructions that had kept them alive to this juncture. 

Then the sand moved. 

Everybody froze for a moment, and the ranger held up a fist, demanding complete stillness. Necks craned hesitantly, waiting to see if it would come their way, but fate's dice refused to take their part today and, with a great tremor the sands of la Garganta del Ejiran*[sup]3[/sup] quivered. One of the camels in the baggage train panicked and began to gallop off in a different direction. [color=a36209][b]"Go!"[/b][/color] shouted Escarra, [color=a36209][b]"Go now!"[/b][/color]

A wave of sand built behind them and they set their camels on a gallop, the beasts' instincts doing most of the work. The wave gained but Zarina was not with them. Reaching out with words and, perhaps, the Gift, she brought the stray camel back down from its panic and hurried to catch up with the others. One by one, they reached the safety of the rocks, some with perhaps only a couple tens of yards to spare. The Sand Wyrm barely slowed at the lost opportunity, plowing forward in the shallow sand, and carving a great furrow behind it. It was lost upon nobody that the aberration was less than a mile distant and the enormous sand dragon was headed straight for it.

[color=7ea7d8][b]"Don Escarra!"[/b][/color] shouted the younger guard, [color=7ea7d8][b]"We have to stop it!"[/b][/color]

[color=aba000][b]"If it takes in the aberración,"[/b][/color] added the other, [color=aba000][b]"Who knows what-"[/b][/color]

[color=a36209][b]"Shut up!"[/b][/color] the ranger snapped, and it was jarring to hear him speak that way, so calm and steady had he been up to now. He gave the signal for complete quiet. His eyes were looking up.

Already, six or seven froabasses were in the sky, and more were joining them every moment, clacking and circling overhead. As the group watched, a pod of hibernating Sand Cows, their burrow revealed by the wyrm's path, began to stir. One of the froabases came streaking in like a comet and plowed into the sand not ten yards from the sheltering convoy. A great cloud was kicked up in the struggle and there were flashes of the dragon thrashing its prey about. 

Then, came the [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQPuRzzoGZQ]chittering screech[/url] of a dozen more of the beasts and they hit the sand like meteors, roaring, snapping, and feeding in a blood-crazed frenzy.

It was too much for the camels. In the immediate presence of a nearby predator, they panicked and bolted, an instinct to hug the cliff walls (where the froabasses could not swoop down on them) and run taking over. Only Escarra and Zarina managed to control theirs. Everyone else was exposed, and the results were grisly. First it was the older guard, ripped from his mount, struggling and screaming, and then the younger. He cried out for his mother and was torn in two as a second froabas came. The camels fared better, but not by much. One from the baggage train and one of the guards' met bloody ends, and it was chaos: all chaos. People attacked with what they could of the Gift. A couple were thrown by their mounts. Kaspar's was snatched out from under him and the Helbahnishman avoided death by perhaps inches, slamming it with a barrier and hurling himself into the sand.

All around, the dragons flapped and swarmed. There must've been more than two dozen. Magic speared more than one from the sky, or hammered them on the ground, but the beasts were durable, quick, and had some mana of their own, making many of the tactics that the students had employed the previous evening against the mad halassa unusable.  

Zarina hit on something else, though. As Escarra was controlling his camel, galloping about in a spiral pattern meant to distract the froabasses and shooting at them, one took notice and hurtled directly at him. Then, it pulled back. The closest half-dozen of the beasts did the same, tearing meat away from dead sand cows, camels, humans, and their own kin, satisfied with their meals. For a moment, it looked like the Virangishwoman had saved them. 

Then, the rest of the flock sensed weakness. Plunging down from every direction they came: nearly twenty of the beasts. Escarra kept firing, praying loudly in an unknown language as he went, but even his pinpoint accuracy did little. It seemed time for the students to make peace with their gods.

The froabases went still: frozen unnaturally in place. Sound deadened and one could not even hear his own breath. The very sky itself seemed to grow darker for a moment. Then, they saw it: Jocasta. The tethered girl rose into the air, hair writhing around her like golden snakes. Energy flooded into her small body like water spiraling down a drain. Escarra collapsed into the sand, wretching. Marceline staggered and fell. The pressure was immense! So much energy! It built in people's heads. It hammered their stomachs and organs: ungodly, unnatural! 

Their schoolmate trembled, drawing still more. Beads of sweat stained her skin and clothes. Her eyes grew bloodshot. Then, the energy changed. It was... more like what they had felt in the Paradigm's tower: a strange, forbidden magic. They blinked, or perhaps they did not, and the froabases were gone: gone as if they had never even been there.

A cool breeze swept the sands and whistled along the cliffs. Jocasta dropped to the ground, limp, with a light a thud. The sun burned in the sky with all of its usual vigour. 

Marceline struggled to her knees, hurrying over with the assistance of the Gift. Jocasta lay partially face down, crumpled in something like the fetal position, but she was breathing. Croucching in the lengthening shadows, the others turned her over. [color=ffdead][b]"I tried to get the wyrm,"[/b][/color] she rasped, [color=ffdead][b]"but I couldn't. The froabasses are... nine miles from here, with their food. They won't be bothering us anymore."[/b][/color] She blinked a couple of times, clearly woozy, and tried to sit up, but she needed help to do it. With a quick, brusque thanks, she brushed the hands away. [color=ffdead][b]"We need to stop the wyrm. It's headed for the aberration. If it gets there..."[/b][/color] She paused. A dark look had crossed Marceline's face. Kneeling in the sand, she knit and unknit her fingers and shook her head tightly. [color=598527][b]"I cannot sense the aberration anymore,"[/b][/color] she squeaked, looking to Yalen for confirmation. [color=598527][b]"I fear we are too late."[/b][/color]
[hr][hr]
[hider=Translations]1) The Endless Wastes

2) I'll scout ahead.

3) Eshiran's Throat[/hider]
[hr][hr]
[hider=Action Opportunities]The group has absolutely been through the ringer. They have faced down multiple dangerous beasts, a sandstorm, and the extreme deprivation of a desert voyage of some five hours. On that note, the hours of Oraff have come to an end and the hours of Eshiran are beginning. There are four hours remaining until dark. 

[u][b]The situation currently stands as follows:[/b][/u]

1) The two guards are now dead. There are eight people remaining and six camels, but one of them is the supply camel that survived. Water is not an immediate problem, but the group cannot afford to waste. A camel can support up to two riders but it will be slower unless boosted with the Gift.

2) The sand wyrm has consumed the aberration and it will go mad from this. It does not currently seem interested in the group, though it is only a matter of time before it finds its way to the Refuge. The group is excused from classes for up to a week in order to deal with the situation.

3) The warden is waiting back at the refuge for their debriefing. Amanda is ready for a visit this evening. She's had all day to think and has some ideas.

[u][b]Action Opportunities:[/b][/u]

1) Feel free to have your character describe any individual action they took during any of the fights or escapes. You have quite a bit of leeway here.

2) There was ample opportunity for social interaction with each other or the NPCs during the ride and lunch. Play this out, if you'd like.

3) Reactions to the wyrm, the ruins, the froabasses, or the reveal of Jocasta's true power are all very welcome.

4) Feel free to play out the journey back, right up to sighting the Refuge. Aside from any interactions you might have planned or want to collaborate on, it will be hurried, uneventful, and anxious. You will arrive just as dusk is fading to night and more of those accursed froabases are circling.

Happy writing![/hider]
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