No! Don't touch the sand! It's too much of the chapter's identity.
I guess some ideas could include: Plopping Pent onto the fort and changing his AI to stand still. Although, he will still probably move off the fort to use an Elixir since the AI in this game seems to be set-up to run away from enemies before using a healing item. Also, changing the levels, class, equipment of the enemies that start around him to be easier. Depends on how much of a boost enemies are getting. I dunno, I am less concerned about Pent and more about Jaffar.
I won't lie, the first word to pop in my head was "Skank". LOL