The Tunnel of Despair is a long series of caves that begin in the southwestern hills of Beyond the Beyond and end in the Canyonlands in the cave where Kludd was killed in The Burning and his Final Ceremony was held in The Hatchling. The cave is said to transform those with evil in their cores who enter it and drink from the pools inside into horrible creatures, like hagsfiends and vyrrwolves. Its existence is a legend among Burrowing Owls, but is mostly thought to be just that - a legend.
Description[]
The inside of the caves are filled with a maze of passages, and the floor, ceiling, and sides of the tunnels are littered with strange, contorted rock formations that range from stalactites and stalagmites to odd "stone flowers". It was also observed by Gylfie that there were many cave dwelling creatures that lived in the tunnels, such as bats and insects, as well as blind fish and shrimp in the waters. The main chamber with the aforementioned transformation pools has an opening through which the moon shines. The pools in this chamber differ from the other bubbling pools throughout the caves, being deeper and having still water.
The Golden Tree[]
Coryn and the Band learn that the wolves Dunleavy MacHeath and Brygdylla had drank from the pool and become vyrrwolves. Upon returning to the MacHeath Clan, they urged the wolves to join them and drink from the caves, and all who denied were slaughtered, except for Cody. Cody was able to escape and warn the Band, who then sent Gylfie into the cave to investigate. Gylfie was the only owl who could go, with how narrow the cave would be to fly in, and her incredible navigation skills even without view of the stars. She saw the wolves drinking from the pool, who were also accompanied by Nyra.