The player checks into a motel in the sleepy town of Cyclone, Arizona. An unfriendly clerk gives them a message: “I have your friends, only a warrior can free them.” After going to bed, the player has a strange dream involving a car wreck and a dead body.

When awake, the player is free to explore the town. The immediate goal is to find twelve bahos, or prayer sticks, hidden throughout Cyclone and return them to the sacred kiva in Devil’s Mouth Canyon outside town.

The bahos were hidden by Darkcloud, a mysterious figure wearing a kachina mask, as a test so the player may become “the warrior.” Becoming the warrior is said to allow the player to free the members of Trip Cyclone, who have been transformed into petroglyphs. The player must also determine Darkcloud’s true identity and his actual plan.