This pilgrimage is done in the name of Taal. It is one of the shortest in the Empire in terms of distance, but is among the most difficult. The pilgrim must journey through the wilderness to visit a series of 12 shrines located in the heart of Talabecland. Pilgrims are forbidden from using roads or taking boats—the journey must be done on foot, with the pilgrim using his skills in navigation and survival to make his way. Once the pilgrim visits the 12th shrine, he sacrifices a deer, stag, or wild boar that he hunted along the way, and bathes in the blood of the animal. Most who make this pilgrimage are so changed that they can never again set foot within a house or other trapping of civilisation; but then, perhaps only those who wish for that sort of life undertake the pilgrimage in the first place.[1a]