"Sandstorm" is the fifth mission of Season 9.
Your mission is underway, but a new country means new dangers.
Cast[]
Plot[]
Unknown Apocalypse[]
You've landed on the coast of Tunisia with Sam, Janine, Peter, and a copy of AI Veronica, who has a message from Amelia outlining your mission. Maxine has stayed on the boat to help with a measles outbreak. You need to head to a nearby settlement and then travel onwards to New Agadir where you can rendezvous with a contact.
Sandstorm[]
Sam worries about what happens if the real Death's Hand show up, but Peter tells him that Amelia is hiring them for a job in the UK to keep them out of the way. You hear someone calling you and realise that it's Frances who stowed away on the ship to join you. Janine breaks off from berating her when she realises the sky has gone white. There's a sandstorm coming and you need to shelter!
Subsumed[]
Veronica says that the region has become more prone to dust storms since the apocalypse. Janine tells you to switch to comms and wear your dust goggles and masks. She gives her own to Frances. Hopefully you can reach Kalaat El-Amal quickly!
Variant Strain[]
Veronica estimates that you have around a 3% chance of surviving the dust storm. Peter offers his goggles and mask to Janine; after all he is indestructible! Janine refuses, reminding him that he has a bomb in his body and inhaling sand might cause it to detonate. You hear a noise and realise that the sandstorm is carrying zombies! Even with your stocks of cure you have no idea if it's the same strain of the virus. Go!
Wall of Zoms[]
You manage to find Sam and Frances again after being split up, but there's no sign of Janine or Peter and the storm is interfering with comms beyond point blank range. Even Veronica is struggling. You hear Janine across comms for a brief moment and Veronica thinks she might be at the outpost. Get going!
Engulfed[]
You manage to keep hold of Sam and Frances, and Janine manages to get a message through. She and Peter have reached Kalaat El-Amal, and they are boosting the signal. However the gates of the settlement are closing quickly. You need to get inside! The zombie flesh has made the sandstorm potentially deadly.
Three Months[]
You make it through the gates and reunite with Janine and Peter. They explain that the locals are friendly, but the last few foreign traders brought diseases with them, so you've been quarantined for three months. You'll need to find a way out or your mission is over.
S09E05 // Rofflenet[]
Discussion regarding this mission can be found on Rofflenet
Transcript[]
[ship horn honks, waves crash on shore]
PETER LYNNE: Listen, all I’m saying is he could have dropped us off a little bit nearer.
JANINE DE LUCA: Our captain was clear from the outset, Peter. Our information on Tunisia is limited. He did not wish to deliver us to a port which might present unknown dangers. Or docking fees. Hence the empty stretch of coast we’ve landed on.
SAM YAO: Oh, it’s nice though, isn’t it? The sandy cliffs, the crystal blue sea, the rocky beach. Way better than that tiny ship’s hold. Not that I didn’t enjoy helping Janine tick “win 1,000 consecutive games of chess” off her bucket list. Oh, oh hey, careful how you carry the briefcase, Five. Remember, it’s got Veronica inside. [shouts] You okay in there, Veronica?
VERONICA MCSHELL: Sam, for the last time, this case contains hardware running a full copy of my personality connected to a full suite of sensor systems, including auditory. You do not need to shout. Janine, Amelia gave me a message to play upon our arrival in Tunisia. Stand by.
AMELIA SPENS: Hello, Tunisia team. Let’s make this super clear: you are not over there sightseeing. You’re infiltrating a secret base codenamed Red Scorpion at the behest of General Bakari. He’s directed you to a city near Red Scorpion called New Agadir. Until you reach New Agadir, where you must impersonate the mercenary group Death’s Hand, you should pretend to be independent UK traders.
This is a covert mission, so if things go badly, I can’t help you. Remember, the red fungus endangers the whole world. If it’s in Red Scorpion, we need to know. Don’t mess this up. Amelia out.
PETER LYNNE: Right, right, right. So just-just to make sure I’ve got this right, we’re in another country with no support and we left our only doctor on the boat. Fantastic!
VERONICA MCSHELL: It’s fortunate Maxine was present to identify the measles outbreak on the ship. If we hadn’t left her to take care of it, it might have become a pandemic, Maintaining herd immunity via vaccination has proven almost impossible since the apocalypse.
JANINE DE LUCA: I see a road atop the hill heading west. Miss Spens’ preliminary scouting identified settlements on the Tunisian coast. That road leads to an outpost called Kalaat El-Amal. From there, we can arrange transport south towards New Agadir. Miss Spens also provided me details of a contact she’s established in New Agadir who can assist us, a man by the name of Muhammad Boujettif. We must find him there.
Aside from anything else, we may need him to take Dr. Myers’s place in Death’s Hand, although if he has no medical experience, that could prove difficult. The alias of the team member Dr. Myers was to impersonate is Doctor Death.
International subterfuge… it has been some time. Remember people, we do not know how the apocalypse landed here or what dangers await. Watch out for each other and keep your wits. Up the hill to the road, run!
~
SAM YAO: Oh, I thought the going would get easier once we reached the top of the hill, but now the road’s covered in sand!
PETER LYNNE: Well, there’s not much to stop it blowing in from the desert. As far as local scenery goes, you’ve got potholed roads and sand dunes and that’s basically all you’re going to get.
SAM YAO: So I get that we’re pretending to be traders for now, then when we reach New Agadir we’ll be impersonating Death’s Hand, but what do we do if the actual Death’s Hand show up? I mean, my briefing said my cover is someone called Sven Psychomountback, who I don’t exactly want to meet.
PETER LYNNE: Well, Amelia is recruiting the mercenaries now for a job in the UK. That’s a trap that’ll keep them out of our way. And they mostly work in the shadows, so their faces aren’t well-known. So in theory at least, we should be able to pass for them. And Bakari swears he can get them - by which I mean us - onto the base.
JANINE DE LUCA: Gamma 1 insertion protocols, as Tom would have said.
FRANCES DEMPSEY: (in the distance) Guys, it’s me!
SAM YAO: Does anyone hear that? Look, behind us. There’s someone coming up the road dressed like a deckhand from the ship, waving.
FRANCES DEMPSEY: Guys, it’s Frances!
PETER LYNNE: Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!
JANINE DE LUCA: Miss Dempsey, what are you doing here?
FRANCES DEMPSEY: I, uh, stowed away on the ship. Hid in a storage crate, swam to shore when I’d heard you’d landed. Bribed a sailor to tell me when you did. A bit wet from the swim. I know you didn’t want me to come, but I swear I’ll be useful.
JANINE DE LUCA: Miss Dempsey, this is unacceptable! You were expressly forbidden…
SAM YAO: Uh, Janine? Usually you don’t drift off when you’re berating people.
JANINE DE LUCA: The sky, it’s turned white. Winds are rising. If my memories of Algeria hold true, this indicates an incoming dust storm. We must get to cover quickly.
FRANCES DEMPSEY: Does that mean I can come?
JANINE DE LUCA: It means, Miss Dempsey, that since there is no way to get you back to the UK, you are unfortunately in danger with the rest of us. There, gleaming structures on the horizon. Kalaat El-Amal. All of you, in that direction. Run!
~
[wind blows]
SAM YAO: The outpost is ahead. Yeah, I think I see an outer wall. It’s hard to make out in this sand. [spits] It really gets in your teeth, doesn’t it, Five?
VERONICA MCSHELL: Changing global weather patterns, likely brought on by a large increase in methane emissions from decaying flesh, have left this region more prone to dust storms. My sensors should have alerted us to the stormfront. And I failed to predict Frances’s arrival.
FRANCES DEMPSEY: Um, quick question. Why is the suitcase talking?
PETER LYNNE: That’s our… computer expert, Veronica. She’s our expert… who is also a computer.
SAM YAO: Guys, look behind you. There’s-there’s like a solid wall of sand looping towards us.
JANINE DE LUCA: We’re on the storm’s periphery, but the eye is approaching fast and the dust already feels cutting in these winds. Everybody switch to comms, cover your mouths. You should have desert goggles and masks in your packs. Miss Dempsey, take mine. I will use my shirt.
PETER LYNNE: Wait, wait, wait. Janine, that’s ridiculous. She can have my mask.
JANINE DE LUCA: It is done, Peter, there is no time to argue. I see no rocks large enough for shelter. Our only hope is reaching Kalaat El-Amal before we’re subsumed. Run!
~
[wind whistles]
FRANCES DEMSPEY: God, it’s like being in a blender full of dust! Getting hard to balance in the wind. Five, grab my arm so we don’t get separated.
JANINE DE LUCA: I do not see the road! Does anyone have a visual?
VERONICA MCSHELL: Janine, I have run estimates on the wind speed and density of the storm. There is less than a 3% chance of our surviving.
PETER LYNNE: Oh, fantastic! Thank you, Veronica. Helpful as always.
VERONICA MCSHELL: If I’d warned you of the storm sooner, you might have been able to shelter near the cliffs. I’m sorry.
PETER LYNNE: Janine, not to seem overprotective, but obviously you should take my mask. I’m literally indestructible!
JANINE DE LUCA: You have an anti-P-type bomb in your body, Peter. Inhaling sand might damage it. We cannot risk that. I appreciate you’re afraid of losing me after the Hebrides. I let you join this mission because I trust you, but I’m as worried for you as you are for me. Do not disobey my orders!
[zombie shrieks]
SAM YAO: What was that?
PETER LYNNE: Look, those are human shapes being whirled about in the wall of sand behind us. Some are missing limbs or torn in half. They’re all thrashing about. Yep, they’re zombies.
JANINE DE LUCA: We cannot let them catch us. We have no idea if the zombie virus has variants here. Even if we survive the storm with our cure stocks intact, they might not be effective. Likewise Mr. Yao’s immunity. We can’t let them catch us. Go!
~
[wind whistles]
SAM YAO: Five! Five, is that you? If you can see me, I’m waving.
FRANCES DEMSPEY: Sam, we see you! Five and I are to your left. Keep moving through the dust.
SAM YAO: Oh, thank God. I can barely make out your outlines. I was worried you were zoms. Have you seen the others? We were trying to keep hold of each other, but the winds kept knocking us down. Storm’s interfering with comms beyond point blank range.
FRANCES DEMSPEY: Everyone’s been scattered, visibility’s practically zero.
VERONICA MCSHELL: I’m trying to calculate everyone’s probable vectors, but there are too many variables. At home, I would have more processing power, but this portable me can only handle so much.
During our voyage, I heard Peter talk about Frances’s desire to join the mission, but my limited resources did not allow me to model her probable behavior. I was also unable to perceive the worsening weather because my capacity was devoted to reviewing mission files. My limitations have undermined my usefulness.
FRANCES DEMPSEY: Not as much as this sand will if any of it gets in your circuits. We’ve got to get you inside, Veronica. Janine shouldn’t have given me her mask. What if she chokes? She’s the most important person to the mission.
SAM YAO: Don’t think like that, Frances. We just got here. We’re not losing people already, not like the Hebrides. I promised Sara we’d come home safe, that we’d bring her fun travel stories.
JANINE DE LUCA: [static] Repeat. [garbled audio] Repeat.
SAM YAO: Janine!
VERONICA MCSHELL: I am detecting faint electromagnetic activity. It may be the outpost.
[zombie growls]
FRANCES DEMPSEY: Sam, behind you!
SAM YAO: Oh God, that whirling wall of zoms is almost on us. Five, speed up! They’re just gristle and bone, the flesh is torn right off them. The wind’s tossing zoms straight at us. Run, everyone! Head south… gah! That way, I think. Just run!
~
[wind whistles]
SAM YAO: That’s it, Five, keep holding my hand. I’ve got Frances, we’re in a chain.
[zombies growl]
FRANCES DEMPSEY: Everybody duck! Oh God, did you see that? A flayed zombie torso, ripped to shreds by the sand. It flew right over our heads in the wind. I’m sorry, Sam, I shouldn’t have come.
SAM YAO: Frances, it’s okay.
FRANCES DEMPSEY: Peter warned me it was dangerous. I just, I really thought I could help. But I know you’re all scared of losing people after the Hebrides, but you’re all at risk here and I’m making it worse.
JANINE DE LUCA: Mr. Yao, Runner Five, this is Colonel De Luca. Mr. Lynne and I have made it into Kalaat El-Amal. Can you hear? They have equipment monitoring your approach. They’re boosting our comms. They’re sealing the entrance against the weather and activating a signal beacon on the outer wall.
SAM YAO: There! Hard to tell in this suit, but those look like… yes, flashing yellow lights ahead.
JANINE DE LUCA: The gate is in front of you, but it is closing fast. If you don’t hurry, you’ll be trapped outside. Sensors indicate torn zombie flesh has made that swirling storm wall infectious. You cannot risk being engulfed. You must get inside. Run!
~
[alarm blares, gate creaks and slams shut]
SAM YAO: That’s it, Five, we’re in. Made it through that gate by inches. Don’t see anyone around, just a big metal room with big metal doors. Gate must be automatic. First bit of wider world we’ve seen since Z-Day, Five, give or take Finland. I wonder how people here are doing.
FRANCES DEMPSEY: Guess we’re about to find out. We’re okay, everyone’s okay. We all made it.
VERONICA MCSHELL: And my estimations of Kalaat El-Amal’s location were accurate. It will take me time to get used to operating at this capacity, but I will persevere. I am confident I can keep the team safe. After analyzing the Hebrides files, I know how much difficulty you all have without me.
[door rattles open]
SAM YAO: Janine, Peter!
JANINE DE LUCA: It’s good to see you all intact, including you, Miss Dempsey. It seems you’ve left me no choice now but to consider you one of the team. The locals were rather shocked to see us approaching through the storm.
SAM YAO: But they let you in, so they’re friendly, right?
PETER LYNNE: Oh, they are very friendly, and very worried. You see, apparently the last few foreign traders to visit Kalaat El-Amal carried serious diseases. Measles, flu, multiple poxes. So they’re putting us under quarantine until we’re vetted, for a period of no less than three months. That means if we can’t find another way out of here, the whole mission is over.
Codex[]
Letter[]
Hey Five,
I’m sorry there wasn’t time for a proper goodbye. One minute we were all up on deck, looking out at the beautiful North African coast, and the next, I’m building a makeshift infirmary in the hold to take care of a measles outbreak.
It’s as under control as it can be, and I’m glad I happened to be here to help, but… outbreaks like this are going to keep happening, and it scares me. I know it scares Paula. The zombie virus isn’t the only threat to people’s health, and the breakdown of healthcare infrastructure means it’s harder for us to respond when things do go wrong.
Still, worrying about it isn’t going to help. When we’re all back, I’ll talk to Amelia about practical steps the UK can take. In the meantime, look after the others for me, and…
…tell them to wash their hands.
Love,
Maxine
Supplies[]
The following supplies can be found in this mission.
(List may be incomplete.)
9mm Ammo
Bandages
Batteries
Bottled Water
Cooking knife
Laptop
Mobile Phone
Overcoat
Paint
Radio
Saucepan
Shorts
Sports Bra
Thermal underwear
Tinned Food
Trousers
Underwear
USB Key
Whisky
Base Unlocks[]
The following objects unlock for your Base upon completing this mission.
Therapy Office
- Description: Given the stress of living through the zombie apocalypse, and the toll taken on mental health and morale, it's no wonder that a therapist's office has been such a warmly-welcomed addition to the healthcare available in Abel Township. Here, Abel's citizens can work with qualified mental health care professionals to access support and treatment - whether that's working through trauma, processing the stress of the last few years of the apocalypse, or simply talking through their thoughts and feelings with a supportive and well-trained professional.
- Cost: 70 supplies, 2 materials (level 1); 0 supplies, 0 materials (level 2); 0 supplies, 0 materials (level 3)
- Effect: Increases morale (level 1); increases morale (level 2); increases morale and population by 20 (level 3).
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