The Creepiest Port on Khorvaire

Bloodcliff Bay. From here the Labyrinth of the Demon Wastes opens up. This is likely the closest thing to a “safe” harbor. The water, however, is tainted with a reddish substance the Ghaash’kala call taarik’urrva, which means “rosy molasses” in their tongue. Fitting because the stuff is viscous and sticky, like syrup, but deceptively dangerous, like a rose. Any creature falling into these waters is certain to exhaust itself and drown. Ships become mired here as if they ran aground, depending on the consistency of the “blood.” Some shipwrecks, decades-old, have not completely sunk, despite their crews being long dead. It is also one of the few areas in the Demon Wastes uninhabited by fiends. (Tucker & Booth, 2019)

A contingent orcs, half-orcs, and humans meet us once we get to shore (which is not easy). Khel is introduced and greeted with an obvious hopefulness in the eyes of the Ghaash’kala clan members. The rest of us are greeted with a slight bit of what appears to be pity. Okay then. From here we’re walking though the Labyrinth to Ghaash Dar. It’s only about 100 miles as the harpy flies but almost 400 through the Labyrinth. The orcs all laugh at this “joke” and I just put a stupid smile on my face and nod while Jhazaali grabs her gear and says we better get going then.

The Labyrinth is a maze of canyons, caves, and rock formations. Wind whips through the twisting passageways like a host of keening banshees, and dust often obscures vast stretches of the gnarled landscape. On our two-week journey through it, we encounter rivers of lava, open chasms, and treacherous rockfalls. In addition, we are pointed to some areas where, supposedly, the veils between worlds are thin enough to allow passage, leading to any number of potentially unpleasant destinations. So glad I came along.

There are a number of fights with fiendish looking creatures and bands of humanoids (the Carrion Tribes) that serve even greater evils. I quickly prove myself the softest of our gang and get a first-hand look at some salves and unguents that do a remarkable job at healing. I say “healing” because it makes me feel a little better about the whole experience, but just know that I actually had a finger bit off by a demonic dog-thing which caused some form of nasty poison to enter my system. The curatives used by the healers not only served to cure me of the poison but actually reattached my finger. It was only my pinky finger but still, I’m pretty glad to still have it. Plus, it works just as well as ever. No pain that let me predict the rain or nothin’. The fur directly around it is missing, so it looks like I wear a pinky ring from afar, but that’s not so bad. If not for Savarashi’s armor I doubt there would be any salve that could have helped me. Anyway, I also overhear them asking if they should bother using the stuff on me and Gort says I am the “interpreter of the glyphs,” so they nod and fix me up. When I ask him what that meant he just looked to the sky and said that I would understand in time. Okay then.

Beyond the hazardous terrain and the fighting for our lives, the rest of the trip is a breeze. Well, the demonic wails throughout the night kinda’ keep me up but after five days I’m so tired that it just fades into the background.