Blighted Desert

The Blighted Desert is a desert that's mentioned in Might and Magic: The Sea of Mist. It is the home of the dwarven village of Cor-Amyr, as well as the evil Black Forge dwarves.

When Praz-El was eleven, a dwarven mage at Cor-Amyr sent a message to his foster father, Magistrate Bo, telling him that the local miners had found a couple of old buildings underground. The buildings were slowly sinking into the shifting sands, and they wanted him to explore them. The area was dangerous, as the dwarves at Cor-Amyr had just been betrayed into slavery to the Black Forge dwarves, but Bo decided to travel there with his foster son.

While working on the excavation, the two were separated from the rest of the group, and a "freakish settling" of the sands left them trapped underground for more than a day. Depending on each other for survival, they fought against sand serpents and started digging from one room to another to avoid being buried alive.

When they reached the top of the building, and had nowhere left to go, Praz-El fell into a hidden treasure room. With only a few seconds to act, he grabbed a small glass tube filled with multicolored tiles, before fleeing the room. The two were buried up to their chins before they were rescued by the diggers.

When they got back, they realized that the tiles were the codex they needed to a long-dead minotaur language they might not ever have cracked. Praz-El considered the whole thing "a fine adventure".